JACKSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of burglaries and have suspects in custody.

Sunday night, Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputies served a search warrant at a residence located at 307 Highland Avenue in Denison, according to sheriff Tim Morse.

Deputies seized property believed to have been taken in the three burglaries including a Sunday morning burglary to the Muleskinner Lodge, 10910 W. Road in Denison.

The lodge in recent years had been operated as a bed and breakfast facility. Trevor James Hurteau, 18, and Christopher Lee McGee, 18, and a 15-year-old boy, all of Denison were arrested on burglary, theft, criminal damage to property and trespassing charges, according to Morse.

The trio allegedly broke into the lodge after 1:30 am Sunday morning and removed property from the premises. Hurteau and the 15-year-old allegedly committed two additional burglaries, thefts, trespassed and damaged property at the same location between November to mid-December of 2018.

Hurteau and McGee are currently being held in the Jackson County Jail. The juvenile is being held in a juvenile detention facility. All three subjects are awaiting bond at this time.

WASHINGTON — In a bid to break the shutdown stalemate, President Donald Trump offered to extend temporary protections for young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children and those fleeing disaster zones in exchange for his long-promised border wall.

Over the weekend, republican members of the Kansas congressional delegation offered their support of the proposal.

I applaud @realDonaldTrump for moving this forward & hope my Democrat colleagues will join in reopening the government with this assured border security.

— Senator Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) January 19, 2019

Today, @POTUS outlined a viable plan to secure our borders, provide protections for DACA recipients and reopen the government.

— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) January 19, 2019

Today, President Trump delivered a thoughtful offer to secure our border and reopen government. The president was clear that he is willing to find common ground to solve this problem by addressing points Democrats have long called for.

— Rep. Ron Estes (@RepRonEstes) January 19, 2019

Once again, the President is showing an extreme amount of patience and desire to work with Democrats on a reasonable solution to the crisis on our southern border. We are waiting for Democrats to act in good faith and get onboard with these negotiations.

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) January 19, 2019

Democrats were quick to dismiss the proposal as a “nonstarter.” Kansas Third District Congresswoman Sharice Davids has not released a statement on the President’s proposal.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The only total lunar eclipse this year and next came with a supermoon bonus.
On Sunday night, the moon, Earth and sun lined up to create the eclipse, which was visible throughout North and South America, where skies were clear. There won’t be another until the year 2021.
It was also the year’s first supermoon, when a full moon appears a little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position.
The entire eclipse took more than three hours. Totality — when the moon’s completely bathed in Earth’s shadow — lasted an hour. During a total lunar eclipse, the eclipsed, or blood, moon turns red from sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere.
In addition to the Americas, the entire lunar extravaganza could be observed, weather permitting, all the way across the Atlantic to parts of Europe.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The celestial curtain will be rising soon on a lunar extravaganza.

Sunday night, the Earth will slide directly between the moon and the sun, creating a total lunar eclipse. There won’t be another until 2021.

It will also be the year’s first supermoon, when a full moon appears a little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position.

Total #lunareclipse between 8:30pm and 2am tonight–but high clouds will limit viewing in northeast KS. #kswx pic.twitter.com/phg72cvzf1

— NWS Topeka (@NWSTopeka) January 20, 2019

The entire eclipse will exceed three hours. Totality — when the moon’s completely bathed in Earth’s shadow — will last an hour. Expect the eclipsed, or blood moon, to turn red from sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere.

Everyone everywhere can catch the supermoon, weather permitting. But the entire eclipse will be visible only in North and South America, and across the Atlantic to western and northern Europe.

KANSAS CITY – A Kansas man has been sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing crack cocaine and a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Antonio E. Wills, 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018, to 19 years in federal prison without parole. Wills was sentenced as a career offender due to his prior felony convictions. The court ordered the federal sentence to be served consecutively to the upcoming sentence in the District of Kansas for violating his supervised release in a separate federal case.

On Feb. 9, 2018, Wills pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Wills was a passenger in a vehicle that attempted to avoid a DUI checkpoint on March 19, 2016, by making a U-turn in the middle of Main Street.

Kansas City, Mo., police officers stopped the vehicle and directed the driver back to the checkpoint. Officers at the checkpoint smelled a strong odor of marijuana and observed Wills trying to conceal something inside his front hoodie pocket. Wills and the driver were both instructed to get out of the vehicle, at which time an officer saw a clear plastic baggy that contained cocaine in Wills’s hand. An officer instructed Wills to drop the clear bag. Wills failed to comply and placed the bag back in his front hoodie pocket. The officer attempted to take Wills into custody, but he refused to comply and a struggle ensued. Additional officers responded to assist with taking Wills into custody.

When officers searched Wills, they found another clear plastic baggy that contained cocaine in his cargo shorts pocket and a loaded Glock .45-caliber handgun (with an obliterated serial number) in his waistband. They also found marijuana and $2,186 in Wills’s pocket. Wills was in possession of 71.5 grams of powder cocaine and 7.7 grams of crack cocaine.

At the time of his arrest, Wills was on supervised release after being convicted in a separate drug-trafficking case and serving more than 10 years in prison. A federal warrant had been issued for his arrest, based on his absconding from supervision.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Wills has prior felony convictions for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, possession of a controlled substance and driving while a habitual violator.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Beer snobs are raising their mugs to a stronger brew in three states that once forbade grocers from selling anything but low-alcohol brands, and the changes could indirectly chill the industry in two others where such regulations remain.

Until October, Oklahoma grocery and convenience stores could stock beer with only up to 3.2 percent alcohol content — considerably lower than even leading light beer brands. Liquor stores were able to sell stronger 8.99 percent beer but were prohibited from selling cold beer of any strength.

Voter-approved changes now allow stronger ales to be sold in Oklahoma grocery and convenience stores. And many of the changes are being adopted this year in the adjoining states of Colorado and Kansas.

The beer revolution will leave just two states — Utah and Minnesota — where only 3.2 percent beer may be sold in grocery and convenience stores. Beer industry observers say how lawmakers in those states react to the changes could determine whether the future of low-point beer in the U.S is as flat as a week-old lager. Half of the nation’s 3.2 beer market was in Oklahoma and an additional 20 percent was in Colorado.

“It is a dramatic drop,” said Brett Robinson, president of Beer Distributors of Oklahoma, which represents some beer distributors in the state. “In Oklahoma now, beer is just beer. There is no more definition or classification.”

Oklahoma was the first of the nation’s five 3.2-beer states to make the switch. That’s ironic considering alcohol was illegal until voters repealed statewide prohibition in 1959 — 26 years after Prohibition was repealed nationally.

“It was a long time coming,” said Lisette Barnes, president of the Oklahoma Beer Alliance, a beer industry trade association. “It’s refreshing. I think overwhelmingly people are excited about it. It’s been a good thing for both industry and consumers.”

As the market for “baby beer” continues to shrink, brewers must decide whether it’s profitable to continue to make it — a decision that could cause low-point beer supplies to dry up in Utah and Minnesota.

Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest beer producer, said it will work to meet the needs of consumers in 3.2 percent beer states even amid declining demand.

“While we will continue to produce 3.2 percent beer, regulatory and legislative changes in Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas that affect demand for 3.2 percent beer will impact our national production,” the company said in a statement in December.

But some brewers are already cutting back on their 3.2 percent beer production. Oklahoma City-based craft brewer COOP Ale Works, which distributes in six states, including Oklahoma and Kansas, has discontinued two of its three 3.2 percent brews.

“The only reason we produced those other two beers was to have beer in grocery and convenience stores,” said Sean Mossman, director of sales and marketing for COOP. “Now that we can sell our more popular styles in the grocery stores, we just don’t see any need to continue manufacturing those beers.”

And selling COOP’s flagship beers in grocery stores “has been a boon for us,” Mossman said. He said the brewer’s business has increased 50 percent in the months since Oklahoma grocers began stocking its stronger beers. New regulations go into effect in Kansas in April, when grocery and convenience stores can start selling beer with an alcoholic content of 6 percent.

“Overall, we’re very happy about the death of 3.2 beer,” he said. “The death of 3.2 beer is good for us.”

Dwindling supplies of low-point brew is something state regulators have considered.

“That’s the question we’ve been facing for a couple of years.” said Terry Wood, director of communications for Utah’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. “Business decisions may be made that make it just a financial choice for the breweries to stop producing 3.2 beer.”

Former Minnesota state Rep. Jenifer Loon, who authored legislation that repealed a longstanding ban on Sunday liquor sales in 2017, said regulatory changes in other states will likely force Minnesota lawmakers to consider allowing full-strength beer in grocery and convenience stores.

“The market’s probably going to control this. Within the foreseeable future, there probably will have to be a change,” Loon said.

Grocers have expressed support for selling strong beer in the past, but any effort to expand beer sales will probably be met with stiff opposition, she said.

“It’s been very difficult to kind of drag our liquor laws into the 21st century,” Loon said.

For now, low-point beer will continue to be produced by the New Belgium Brewing Co., a craft brewery based in Fort Collins, Colorado, spokesman Bryan Simpson said. Production of 3.2 percent comprises just one-half of 1 percent of the brewery’s overall production, and the company will shop it exclusively to Utah, Simpson said.

“It makes sense for us to do it because we want to have a presence there,” Simpson said. He said the company’s breweries are already set up to produce low-point beer and “there’s really no sense to hit the brakes.”