WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man accused of threatening to “blow up” the White House has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison.

A court filing shows Brandon Koss of Wichita was sentenced Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of willful interference with the protective work of a Secret Service agent.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a felony charge of threatening the president after Koss pleaded guilty in December to the lesser offense.

Koss admitted in his plea deal that he called the White House in January 2018, used a profanity when addressing the woman who answered the phone, and said: “I’m going to blow up the White House.” He also admitted that he lied to a Secret Service agent about who made the phone call to the White House.

RENO COUNTY —Authorities at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) confiscated a large amount of contraband including inmate-made weapons Tuesday during an unannounced search of HCF’s largest housing unit.

According to a media release, the search involving more than 1,000 general population inmates in HCF’s Central Unit was conducted by officers from HCF who were assisted by officers from Ellsworth Correctional Facility, Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP).

The search yielded 46 weapons, numerous pills and packages of illicit drugs, drug paraphernalia, 10 cell phones and eight phone chargers.

“The introduction of these items into any facility threatens the safety and security of the facility itself, staff and inmates,” Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz said. “We are very appreciative of the thoroughness and professionalism of the officers conducting the search.”

“These items are typical of what we find in a correctional facility, but the facility is absolutely safer when we can stem the flow of contraband.”

Inmates found in possession of contraband will receive disciplinary reports although not all items could be connected to a specific inmate.

While Tuesday’s search involved special security officers from other correctional facilities and KHP troopers, HCF regularly conducts searches, HCF Warden Dan Schnurr said.

The facility recently had to halt visitation privileges temporarily and restrict the movement of inmates in its Central Unit due to several inmate fights that broke out among two to three inmates in each incident.

“The facility was already in the process of organizing a large-scale search prior to the incidents,” Schnurr said. “However, the incidents did prompt us to move up the schedule.”

The search Tuesday also marked the first time that the Kansas Highway Patrol joined in on a search at HCF.

“This kind of collaboration helps all involved gain additional knowledge and demonstrates how we can work together to keep Kansas safer,” Schnurr said.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue their investigation into a Sunday hotel fire that sent one man to the hospital.

As fire crews arrived to the Best Western Hotel in the 4700 Block of South Emporia in Wichita they found the man hanging from a third-story window and smoke coming from the room, according to Lt. Jose Ocadiz.

The man, who has not been identified, fell and was transported for treatment for injuries primarily due to the fall. He remains hospitalized. Ocadiz had no update on the man’s condition early Thursday. Authorities have not reported an arrest.

Crews and the hotel sprinkler system were able to contain the fire to the room of origin.

The cause of the fire is believed to have been intentionally set due to some tampering with the sprinkler system, according to Ocadiz.

Most of the $100,000 in damage at the hotel was from the sprinkler system. Damage to contents was estimated at $25,000.

 

 

By JIM MCLEAN

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas Department of Transportation officials outlined plans Wednesday for putting a state highway program abandoned by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback back on track.

Years of lean budgets prompted annual raids of the state highway fund. With more than $2 billion siphoned off since 2011, it became known as the “bank of KDOT.”

“By reducing transfers from the state highway fund, we move closer to closing the bank of KDOT,” Kelly said at a news conference staged at the transportation agency.

Kelly said her plan to stop diverting highway dollars would pave the way for restarting T-WORKS. The 10-year transportation program was launched in 2010, but stalled a few years later when Brownback’s tax cuts tanked the state budget.

The new governor’s proposed budget reduces KDOT transfers by $160 million in the coming budget year with a goal of phasing them out entirely by 2023.

“To be clear, we still have a long way to go in order to get our transportation system where we want it to be,” Kelly said. “But this is an important incremental step.”

The immediate infusion of cash, said KDOT Secretary Julie Lorenz, would allow the agency to resume work on four of the delayed T-WORKS projects.

Work to expand a section of US-54 in Seward County and modernize a stretch of US-169 in Anderson County would start this fall. Work to modernize a portion of US-281 in Russell County and to expand a section of US-50 in Lyon County would begin in the spring of 2020.

Those projects are first in line, Lorenz said, because they are, “the only four we have ready to go immediately.”

Another 17 projects remain on the unfinished list.

The loss of funding made it impossible for the agency to complete all the preliminary work needed to get those shovel ready, Lorenz said.

“We need assurance that we’re going to continue to have stable, reliable funding so that we can continue to push forward to complete the designs and acquire the right-of-way for the remaining T-WORKS projects,” she said.

A special legislative task force on transportation recently issued its recommendations. At the top of the list was increasing funding for the “heavy maintenance” work that KDOT does to preserve roads and bridges.

The agency needs $500 million a year to keep up with the needs on the system, the secretary said. It currently has only $350 million, but Kelly is proposing an additional $50 million in her budget.

That’s enough, Lorenz said, to maintain another 200 miles of roadway.

Sen. Carolyn McGinn, the chair of the task force and the Kansas Senate’s budget writing committee, said the funding restoration proposed by the governor are the first steps in a long rebuilding process.

“Today is a new day,” said McGinn, a Wichita Republican. “I’m excited that we’re moving forward.”

In addition to the four major projects and the additional maintenance, the plan outlined Wednesday includes money to help cities maintain the state highways that pass through them.

That’s welcome news to Donald Roberts, the mayor of Edgerton, a Kansas City suburb that serves as a freight distribution hub for railroads and trucking companies.

“We’ve got to start somewhere,” Roberts said, emphasizing the need to get KDOT’s maintenance funding back to adequate levels.

“That’s a ‘pay me now’ or ‘pay me a lot more later’ situation,” he said.

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.