WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has told Donald Trump Jr. at a fundraising event that he wants to do for Kansas what the president has done for the country’s blue-collar workers.
The president’s son arrived nearly two hours late for a Wichita fundraiser for Kobach’s campaign for governor after weather delayed his flight. The two sat down for friendly public chat before more than 250 supporters.
Kobach used the occasion to claim the American Civil Liberties Union had sent mailers supporting Gov. Jeff Colyer in the race — something both the ACLU and Colyer’s campaign vehemently denied.
The ACLU does not endorse candidates and says its mission is to educate voters on candidate positions on civil liberties issues.
Colyer’s campaign has called Kobach’s claim “dirty tricks.”
Today A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. East southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
In addition to locally heavy rain chances late this afternoon and evening, a few thunderstorms could produce large hail and damaging winds. pic.twitter.com/i2abBIhNoa
TOPEKA – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to nine years and two months in federal prison for escaping from federal custody and robbing a bank before he was recaptured, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Dukewits-photo Shawnee Co.
Daniel Lee Dukewits, 40, Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of escape from custody and one count of bank robbery. In 2010, Duke was sentenced to 125 months in federal prison for armed robbery. In 2017, he was living at the Mirror Inc. residential re-entry center in Topeka where the Bureau of Prisons had placed him. On Nov. 4, 2017, he turned up missing and his GPS tracking device was found in a trash can in his room.
On Nov. 15, 2017, Dukewits went into the Azura Credit Union at 3623 SE 29th Street in Topeka and demanded money. He was arrested within minutes of the robbery after a pursuit during which he rammed a police car.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — The former director of the Emporia State University’s early childhood center has been granted diversion for failing to report suspected child abuse or neglect at the center.
Keely Persinger -photo ESU
Keely Persinger’s record will be cleared if she successfully completes the plea agreement.
A pretrial conference for Kimberly Schneider, a former teacher at the center, was continued to Aug. 20. She is charged with five counts of child endangerment.
Teacher’s aides and parents have said they reported their concerns to the state that a teacher was not treating the children correctly. Persinger was charged with not investigating the complaints or filing necessary documentation.
Four families have sued Emporia State and the center, claiming Schneider physically and emotionally abused four children.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is distributing $5 million in state grants for security features to improve the safety of children and staff in school buildings operated by more than 150 districts.
The state Department of Education began distributing the grants Monday for new doors, windows, security cameras, intercoms and other safety features at schools. The appropriations authorized by lawmakers must be matched by districts submitting requests to the state Board of Education.
A total of 153 public school districts have sought $13 million in grants, with a formula devised to bring grant awards within budget.
Two districts originally proposed part of their funding be used to buy firearms, but an Education Department spokeswoman says those requests were removed after representatives from partnering agencies rejected the idea.
WICHITA, KAN. – A Wichita lawyer and a computer software engineer were charged today in a federal indictment alleging they were responsible for cyberattacks on web sites that posted information critical of the lawyer’s work, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Wichita Attorney Bradley A. Pistotnik, 62, and David Dorsett, 36, Wichita, Kan., co-founder of a company called VIRAL Artificial Intelligence, are charged with five counts of computer fraud and two counts of conspiracy. In addition, Pistotnik is charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI.
The indictment alleges Pistonik and Dorsett are responsible for cyberattacks on Leagle.com, Ripoffreport.com and JaburgWilk.com. The indictment alleges Dorsett filled the web site’s in-boxes with threats.
One of the emails read: “Remove this page and we stop” and “if you don’t remove it we will begin targeting your advertisers and explain that this will stop happening to them once they pull their ads from leagle.com or leagle.com kills this page.”
The indictment alleges that when an FBI agent questioned Pistotnik he made false statements including:
o Pistotnik claimed Dorsett told him about a negative posting on Riffoffreport.com and offered to remove it. In fact, Pistotnik told Dorsett about the negative posting and said to Dorsett, “tell me how to get rid of it.”
o Pistotnik claimed that it was a week after Dorsett told him the negative posting had been removed that an attorney for Ripoffreport.com contacted him. In fact, the company’s attorney contacted Pistotnik during the attack and before Pistotnik paid Dorsett for his services.
o Pistotnik claimed he received two emails from Dorsett relating to the attack on Ripoffreport. In fact, he received four such emails, including an invoice for the attack and one referencing the invoice as well as the method used to make the attack.
Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Computer fraud: Up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
Conspiracy: Up to 10 years and a fine up to
$250,000.
Making false statements: Up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
The FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting.
After another round of cuts, the Ellis County Commission moved forward with its 2019 budget at Monday’s commission meeting.
At last week’s meeting, the county commissioners sent the budget back to staff and called for an additional 1 percent cut in general fund spending. That was after already directing staff to keep 2019 budget requests similar to 2018.
According to County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes, all but three departments submitted a budget that contained the reduction while the rest were close to the 1 percent mark.
County Commissioner Barb Wasinger read a prepared statement and called on the county to take action now.
“Each and every elected official and department head needs to change how they operate,” she said. “I know that department heads have started working on this, but it was also made abundantly clear that this is not a popular idea with elected officials or employees.”
Wasinger also said it is necessary to get control of spending now and not place the burden on future commissions.
“We were elected by the taxpayers of Ellis County to make hard decisions when it comes to spending and that’s what we need to do now and in the future,” she said.
Watch Wasinger’s full statement below
In her prepared statement, Wasinger also address a letter sent to Smith-Hanes and the commission from County Attorney Tom Drees. Wasinger called the letter a threat.
“I believe this thinly veiled threat of legal action is unappreciated, unwise and in very poor taste,” said Wasinger. “Particularly with a requested budget of $924,787, which has risen steadily every year from his budget of 2015.”
In an interview after the meeting, Drees said the letter was not a threat but instead an attempt to inform the commission that his office might not be able to come in at the proposed budget level.
“I was simply pointing out that the statute requires the county to ‘adequately fund the county attorney,’ ” said Drees. “This was not a threat, veiled or otherwise, as to legal action. I was simply advising them that at this 1 percent cut it’s a very real possibility I will come in over budget.”
According to Drees, his budget was cut by just less than $15,000 from his original request. That request contained an additional request of $38,000 to bring his assistant county attorney’s to the mid-level on the pay scale.
One of the goals the commission laid out in the beginning of the budget process was to bring all employees to the mid-level, but the $38,000 request was cut from the proposed budget in the first budget meeting by the commission.
According to Drees, many county attorneys offices in counties comparable to Ellis County have larger budgets and more staff.
In fiscal year 2017, Ellis County ranked 15th in the state in the number of criminal and civil prosecutions or settlements but ranked 21st in population.
Commissioner Dean Haselhorst and Marcy McClelland said they agreed with Wasinger’s statement.
Haselhorst also said they may have to look at the commission taking a 2 percent pay cut in the future.
But because both Wasinger and McClelland are involved in political races, he did not want to implement changes to could affect future commissioners without their involvement.
The budget that will be published for the public and subject of a public meeting Aug. 6 is $22.1 million and does not contain a mill levy increase for the general fund or Fire District No. 1.
In other business, the commission:
• Approved the purchase of natural gas for November 2019 through March 2020 and November 2020 and March 2021 for the price of $3.20 from Secure Energy. The commission locked in the price of $3.57 for the 2018-2019 winter months.
• Approved County Counselor Bill Jeter to continue with an upcoming tax foreclosure sale. He said they currently have 20 properties eligible for sale this year.
• Signed a letter of support for the city of Hays for a BUILD Grant for improved for the north Vine Street corridor.
WICHITA – Michael D. Golightley, 34, Larned, Kan., is charged with seven counts of damaging a protected computer and one count of threatening to damage a protected computer. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in March 2017 in Ellis County, Kan.
According to a July 17 news release from U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister in the District of Kansas, the indictment alleges Golightley hired an entity known as DDosCity to carry out a series of denial-of-service attacks against computers served by an internet service provider called Nex-Tech.
Nex-Tech provided backup and monitoring Service for Ellis County’s Emergency Medical Service administrative voice lines, Russell County’s hospital voice lines, the Quinter hospital’s voice lines, the Grove County Sheriff’s administrative voice lines, the Russell County Sheriff’s administrative voice lines and the administrative voice lines for the police and fire departments of Russell County.
The indictment alleges Golightley sent an e-mail to Nex-Tech stating: “Take down my ad again when my description doesn’t violate copyright (and) I will violate this site by bringing it offline.”
If convicted, he faces up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the counts. The FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger is prosecuting.
HARVEY COUNTY — Authorities are investigating a Kansas sheriff’s deputy for alleged criminal threat.
Herring-photo courtesy Harvey County Jail
Just after 11p.m. Monday, North Newton police were made aware of situation involving alleged criminal threat involving a Harvey County Sheriff’s Deputy, according to Police Chief Randy Jordan.
After an investigation, interviewing the alleged victim and discussion with the Harvey County Attorney, police made an arrest.
Deputy Levi Herring is being held for alleged criminal threat toward an individual. The threat came from text message on cell phone, according to Jordan.
“I want to extend my thoughts to the victim of the incident. It saddens me that this incident happened, but it’s important to me to let the people of Harvey County know,” said Sheriff Gay.
“Ultimately, it’s my responsibility to uphold the integrity of the sheriff’s office. We have to be accountable and trustworthy at all times, every hour, every day. We will continue to work to be worthy of that.”
Herring is on administrative leave, according to Sheriff Gay. He is being held without bond prior to an appearance before a judge.
Norton resident Lenora E. Hansen passed away Monday, July 16, 2018 at the Andbe Home in Norton, KS at the age of 93.
She was born Oct. 26, 1924 in Hazelton, KS, the daughter of Joseph & Elsie (Webb) Robinson. She married Earl Hansen on Oct. 7, 1942 in Smith Center, KS. Earl preceded her in death along with son, Joe, and grandson, Jeff Bourelle.
Survivors include her children: Sharon Bourelle of Stromsburg, NE; Lavern Hansen of Hays, KS; Earl Hansen, Jr. of Norton, KS and Lois Ellis of Lebanon, KS; 18 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great-grandchildren; and her sister, Joan Rathburn of Smith Center, KS.
Funeral services will be held Friday, July 20, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. in the Norton Christian Church, Norton, KS with Pastor Leslie Ellis officiating. Burial will follow in the Norton Cemetery.
Mrs. Hansen will lie in-state on Thursday, July 19, from noon – 9 p.m. at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg.
Memorials may be given to the Norton Senior Center. Online condolences to: www.olliffboeve.com.
Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg, is in charge of arrangements.
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects in a fatal shooting.
Andres Chavez -photo Finney County
Just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday, at approx. 1:40 a.m., Finney County Sheriff’s Deputies were advised of a shooting that had just occurred in the area of the 1600 block of West Highway 50 near Garden City, according to Sheriff Kevin Bascue.
Deputies were advised that someone from another vehicle had
shot at a vehicle while traveling eastbound on Highway 50. Deputies
were dispatched to meet with Garden City Police officers in the 2000 Block of North 3rd Street as the victim vehicle had stopped at that location due to Garden City Police officers at that location.
Anthony Chavez-photo Finney County
Finney County EMS and a police officer were rendering first aid to a victim identified as 17-year-old Ramon Enriquez of Garden City, according to Bascue.
EMS transported Enriquez to St. Catherine’s Hospital where he died.
Investigators determined Enriquez was a passenger in a blue Chevy Yukon when suspects fired shots into the passing vehicle.
At approx. 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Garden City/Finney County Swat team with assistance from Dodge City and Ford County executed a search warrant at 1410 B street to locate suspects of the shooting.
Deputies arrested at this location 21-year-old Anthony Chavez and 20-year-old Andres Chavez, both of Garden City.
They are being held in Finney County Jail on requested charges of one count each of first-degree murder, according to Bascue.
