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Kansas City crash sends $25,000 in coins onto highway

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City police say a crash involving an armored truck sent thousands of dollars in coins spilling across a highway.

Photo courtesy KCPD

The accident Thursday when the armored truck stopped at an intersection in northern Kansas City was hit from behind by a truck.

The force of the collision dumped about $25,000 in coins onto Missouri Highway 152. The highway was closed for about four hours as employees from the armored car company used shovels, brooms, leaf blowers, and then vacuums to clean it all up.

The driver of the truck was critically injured. The armored truck driver was not injured.

Kan. man accused of abusing girlfriend’s 4-year-old

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged child abuse of his girlfriend’s daughter.

Yohe-photo KDOC

On May 23, a woman took her 4-year-old daughter to a Wichita hospital for treatment of facial injuries, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Following a report to law enforcement, police arrested the woman’s 21-year-old boyfriend Dylan Yohe.

According to the Sedgwick County booking report, Yohe was jailed Wednesday on requested charges of child abuse and failure to appear. Total bond is $102,500.

Yohe has five traffic related convictions and a weapons conviction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

LETTER: Thinking about existing businesses over development in roundabout debate

I just wanted people to know this this roundabout will affect several businesses on Vine, maybe more than Pheasant Run Restaurant. We have operated our business on this corner for 36 years and always been operated by the Jordan family.

Many businesses have come and gone, but we held in there. Sometimes not so well. When the City of Hays did Vine Street for beautification, it took six months. I know this will take longer.

The construction part will kill us. They will take one of my entrances. I know 32nd and Vine is a bad intersection — I myself have been hit there.

Pheasant Run has great employees and customers. There are not many family-owned restaurants around. I would love to keep mine in my family. I have worked hard for this little corner and so has my family.

It just seems to me that the city is wanting to do the roundabout for developing where the old Ramada Inn was and not thinking of the existing businesses.

This doesn’t mean I can do anything about the roundabouts, but I must say what I feel. Maybe that is all I can do.

Sue Jordan and the Jordan family

RELATED: City hires engineer for roundabout project.

KDA photo contest accepting entries

KDA 

MANHATTAN — Kansas farmers and ranchers know there is great beauty in agriculture, and photographers are encouraged to capture that beauty and share it with others through the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s annual photo contest. KDA will continue accepting entries until the end of August.

This year’s KDA Photo Contest categories were selected to promote different aspects of Kansas agriculture.

Agriculture in the Fields, Animals of Agriculture, Agriculture in Town, Water in Agriculture, and County Fair categories will showcase the many places and ways we experience agriculture across the state of Kansas — from the crops in the fields to the animals on the ranches, and from the farmers’ markets and agribusinesses in communities across the state to the critical role water plays in Kansas agriculture.

And for the first time we have a category to capture the magic of the county fair. In addition, there will be a separate Youth division, for young photographers age 19 and under.

Prizes will be awarded to the top two winners in each of the six categories.

KDA serves to advocate for agriculture, the state’s largest industry and economic driver. Photos which best capture the categories will be used throughout the year as we tell the story of Kansas agriculture. After submission, KDA is granted permission to use any photograph for publications, social media, websites, displays, etc. without payment or other consideration from the photographer.

Photo entries should be sent in .jpg format to [email protected]. Entries must include a title and brief description, where and when the photo was taken, the photographer’s full name and age, entry category hometown and email address.

Guidelines for the KDA Photo Contest, including deadlines, divisions and prizes, can be found at agriculture.ks.gov/photocontest. Voting to select finalists will begin on KDA’s social media sites in September.

For more information, contact Heather Lansdowne, KDA director of communications, at [email protected] or 785-564-6706.

Hays, area towns included in Kansas National Guard Band summer concert series

35th Infantry Division Band, official band of the Kansas Army National Guard

KNG

TOPEKA – The 35th Infantry Division Band, the official band of the Kansas National Guard, has announced its summer concert series.

The free public summer concert series will be presented in a number of communities across the state. Audience attendance for past concerts has averaged from 400-500 people per concert.

The Marching Band will be presenting the National Anthem July 4 at the Kansas City-T-Bones game and July 6 at the Kansas City Royals game.

The Music Performance Teams of the 35th Division Band and the music each plays include:

· Concert Band – Military, Contemporary, Popular

· Bullseye Brass (Brass Quintet) – Chamber, Contemporary, Popular

· Heartland Brass (Brass Quintet) – Chamber, Contemporary, Popular

· Prairie Winds (Woodwind Quintet) – Chamber, Contemporary, Popular

· Sounds of Freedom (Small Brass Ensemble) – Chamber, Contemporary, Popular

· Hard to Handle (Rock Band) – Top 40 Hits

· Night Breeze (Jazz Combo) – Jazz Standards

All concerts will last approximately an hour and 15 minutes.

The summer schedule is:

July 8

Scott City – El Quartelejo Museum, 902 W 5th St., 2 p.m. – Heartland Brass and Prairie Winds

Cimarron – Cimarron Crossing Park, South Main St., 7 p.m. – Sounds of Freedom and Bullseye Brass

Sublette – Municipal Park, 7 p.m. Night Breeze

July 9

Greensburg– Twilight Theater, 200 S. Main St. 7:30 p.m. – Concert Band

July 10

Dodge City – Public Library, 1001 N. 2nd Ave., 12 p.m. – Prairie Winds

Dodge City – Wright Park, 7:30 p.m. – Concert Band

July 11

Hugoton – Senior Center, 624 S. Main St., 11:30 a.m. – Sounds of Freedom

Liberal – Tobias Park, 430 N. Grant St., 12 p.m. – Night Breeze

July 12

Larned – Fort Larned Historic Site, 1767 Hwy 156, 7 p.m. – Heartland Brass

Hugoton – City Park, 300 S. Main St., 7 p.m. – Hard to Handle

Johnson – Stanton County Junior/Senior High, 200 W. Weaver, 7 p.m. – Bullseye Brass

Leoti – District Courthouse Lawn, 206 S. 4th St., 7 p.m. – Sounds of Freedom

July 13

Great Bend – Public Library, 1409 Williams, 10:30 a.m. – Bullseye Brass and Prairie Winds

Garden City – City Park, 7 p.m. – Concert Band

July 14

Liberal – Liberal High School, 1611 W. 2nd St., 7 p.m. – Concert Band

July 15

WaKeeney – Trego Community High School, 1200 Russell Ave., 7 p.m. – Concert Band

July 16

Hays – Schmidt Gallery, Hays Public Library, 1205 Main St., 12 p.m. – Bullseye Brass

Smith Center – Wagner Park, 200 E. 3rd St., 1 p.m. – Hard to Handle and Night Breeze

Hays – Fort Hays State University, 600 Park Street, 7 p.m. – Concert Band

July 17

Hays – Schmidt Gallery, Hays Public Library, 1205 Main St., 12 p.m. – Night Breeze

Great Bend – Courthouse Square, 1400 Main St., 7:30 p.m. – Concert Band

July 18

Hays – Fort Hays Historic Site, 1472 Hwy 183 Alt, 11 a.m. – Prairie Winds and Heartland Brass

Oakley – Fick Fossil Museum/Library, 700 W. 3rd, 12 p.m. – Hard to Handle

Russell – Public Library, 126 E. Wisconsin, 1 p.m. – Sounds of Freedom

Colby – Colby Community College, 1255 S. Range Ave., 7:30 p.m. – Concert Band

July 19

Hays – Schmidt Gallery, Hays Public Library, 1205 Main St., 12 p.m. – Hard to Handle

Logan – Public Library, 109 W. Main St., 1 p.m. – Prairie Winds

Phillipsburg – TBD, 12 p.m. – Heartland Brass

Goodland – Public Library, 812 Broadway, 7 p.m. (Mountain Time) – Bullseye Brass

Osborne – City Park, 325 W. Main, 7 p.m. – Heartland Brass and Sounds of Freedom

Dighton – Lane County Fairgrounds, 7 p.m. – Hard to Handle

July 20

Wichita – Kansas Bandmaster’s Association, Doubletree Hotel, 2098 S. Airport Road, 7 p.m. – Concert Band

New clinic brings medical detox program to Kansas

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new center in Wichita will be the first in the city to offer medically monitored detox for people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction.

The Fieldview at Holland treatment center will offer medically monitored detox, with staff available at all times to provide medications to ease withdrawal symptoms.

Currently, Wichita organizations offer only social detox, which focuses on therapy and counseling and doesn’t use medication.

Fieldview will offer 64 beds of detox and residential treatment, making it Wichita’s largest residential treatment facility.

Executive director Diane Peltier says the privately-owned center hopes to start accepting patients next week. It already has a waiting list.

Besides, medication, residents will be offered behavioral therapies, outpatient therapies and help with mental health disorders.

Kansas Connections Academy to host free family information session

Kansas Connections Academy, a tuition-free K-12 virtual public school, will host a free information session for families interested in learning about its online program and individualized approach to education. Kansas Connections Academy is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), an accrediting division of AdvancED.

The non-traditional learning environment can be a great fit for many types of students, including those who are significantly ahead or behind in the classroom, those who need a flexible schedule, those who learn at a different pace from their peers or need more individualized attention, and those who live in rural settings. Home-bound and previously home-schooled students can also thrive in Connections Academy’s program.

The information session will provide families with an opportunity to meet with a Connections Academy teacher, thoroughly explore the school’s program and curriculum, and learn about the enrollment process. Other topics covered include: how teachers interact with students in the virtual environment, personalized learning opportunities including options for accelerated learning and gifted programs, college preparation, socialization, the role of the parent or other Learning Coach, and the use of technology.

Information Session

Tuesday, July 14, 2018

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Hays Holiday Inn and Suites

4650 Roth Ave.

For more information call 1-800-382-6010 or go to https://www.connectionsacademy.com/kansas-online-school/home.aspx

https://www.connectionsacademy.com/kansas-online-school/events.aspx

Bombshell: 1,300 Public Defender Calls Recorded at Kan. Prison

By DAN MARGOLIES

More than 1,300 phone calls between public defenders and inmates awaiting trial at the Leavenworth detention facility were improperly recorded over a two-year period, according to newly disclosed information in a civil lawsuit.

The blockbuster revelation comes as the Federal Public Defender’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas seek to resolve a long-running and contentious dispute over audio and video recording of attorney-client meetings and phone calls at the prison.

The Leavenworth Detention Center houses inmates awaiting trial.
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The stakes are enormous: If it’s found that prosecutors impermissibly listened in on privileged attorney-client calls, that could result in those clients’ charges or convictions being thrown out.

The latest disclosure emerged last week in a lawsuit against the detention facility’s operator, CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America, and the contractor responsible for its phone system, Securus Technologies Inc. The lawsuit was filed in 2016 by two attorneys, David Johnson and Adam Crane, who alleged their phone calls and meetings with clients were impermissibly recorded.

Crane no longer is a plaintiff, but Johnson last week moved to have the suit certified as a class action on behalf of all attorneys whose conversations or meetings were recorded at Leavenworth. In his motion, he said that, based on records obtained during discovery, 1,338 phone calls placed by detainees to their public defender attorneys had been recorded between 2011 and 2013.

The disclosure came as news to the Kansas Federal Public Defenders’ office, which, in turn, moved for a protective order in separate, ongoing litigation over the recordings at Leavenworth. That litigation, which prompted the judge to appoint a special master to investigate the issue, seeks a complete accounting of the recordings and the extent to which inmates’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel may have been violated.

In its motion, the public defender’s office says that “well before 2011,” it had asked to have its phone numbers placed on a list of attorney numbers not to be recorded, in accordance with CoreCivic (CCA) protocol. CoreCivic operates the Leavenworth Detention Center on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service.

“Having complied with CCA protocol,” the motion states, “we understood that CCA phone calls from our clients would not be recorded.”

The public defender’s office says its motion serves to notify the U.S. Attorney’s office, the U.S. Marshals Service, CoreCivic and Securus that its attorneys’ phone calls to the detention facility, “regardless of any recorded preamble, is constitutionally and statutorily protected as attorney-client communication and as attorney work-product. Any access to, review of, or production to any other person or entity violates those protections.”

A spokeswoman for CoreCivic said the company does not comment on active litigation. An attorney for Securus did not return a phone call seeking comment. Melody Brannon, who heads the Kansas Federal Public Defender’s office, declined to comment.

As part of his investigation, the special master, David R. Cohen, had found that some 200 attorney phone calls had been recorded at Leavenworth — and those phone calls included not just those involving public defenders but other criminal defense attorneys as well.

Cohen, asked about the discrepancy between the 200 phone calls he uncovered and the more than 1,300 uncovered in the proposed class-action lawsuit, said they almost certainly referred to “different universes of calls.”

“I examined about 49,000 phone calls that the government produced to me, which it had obtained in connection with their investigation into the (Core Civic) drug conspiracy case,” Cohen said, referring to the case in which the disclosures that attorney-client calls had been recorded first surfaced.

“I suspect (the class-action lawsuit) is referring to all of the calls that Securus recorded during some time period, not just the ones the government gave me in connection with their drug conspiracy investigation.”

Cohen said the larger number suggested that “the issue of the government having access to or possibly listening to calls between inmates and their attorneys may be more widespread than my numbers reflected, because I was only looking at a specific case and a limited collection of calls.”

It’s unclear whether this latest revelation about the extent to which attorney-client calls were recorded at Leavenworth will have an effect on negotiations between the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Federal Public Defender’s office to resolve the issue.

Last month, the U.S. Attorney for Kansas, Stephen McAllister, said that his office was prepared to work out an agreement with the public defender’s office. His announcement came midway through a hearing in which the the public defender’s office asked the judge to find McAllister’s office in contempt after it ceased cooperating with Cohen’s investigation.

McAllister’s office has been at the center of the tapings controversy because, in at least a handful of instances, it has acknowledged that prosecutors listened in on some of the taped calls.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson, who appointed Cohen as special master, directed him to look at whether CoreCivic had turned over privileged recordings of attorney-client meetings and calls to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The U.S. Attorney’s office and the public defender’s office have been at loggerheads since the initial revelations of the tapings surfaced nearly two years ago. The U.S. Attorney’s office wants Cohen’s investigation limited to editing out and retaining privileged attorney-client matters. The public defender’s office wants him to examine whether CoreCivic routinely recorded attorney-client meetings and turned them over to prosecutors.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies

Verna Mae Clanton

Verna Mae Clanton, age 62, of WaKeeney, passed away Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital, WaKeeney. She was born October 6, 1955, in Hays, Kansas, to Vern LeRoy and Azilee Alberta (Moler) Williams.

Verna was a graduate of Hays High School with the class of 1973. On July 3, 1973, she was united in marriage to Bobby Lee Clanton, in Hays. They enjoyed 38 years of marriage together. Bobby preceded her in death on October 30, 2011. Verna loved the outdoors. She always looked forward to fishing and camping trips with family and friends. Verna was a caregiver to many. Her duties as a C.N.A. were done from the heart, as she truly cared for the patients, treating them like family. She cherished time with family, especially her grandchildren.

Left to mourn her passing are her mother, Azilee; a son, Robert Eugene (Lisa) Clanton of Oxford, Nebraska; three daughters, Angela Marie Hafliger of Ingalls, Kansas, Cynthia Mae (Kirk) Knouf of Quinter, Kansas, and Jamie Lee Poage of Catharine, Kansas; eleven grandchildren, Abigail Hafliger, Caleb Knouf, Alyssa Hafliger, Austin Clanton, Kaylee Knouf, Emily Clanton, Christapher Poage, Matthew Clanton, Dakota Poage, Tommie Poage, and Phillip Poage; sister, Shirley (Jim) Black, of Bakersfield, California; and mother-in-law, Ann Clanton of Rathdrum, Idaho. Verna was preceded in death by her father; her husband; mother-in-law, Lois McIntyre; and father-in-law, Tommie Clanton.

Funeral service will be 11:00 a.m., Monday, June 11, 2018 at Schmitt Funeral Home, WaKeeney. Burial will be in the WaKeeney City Cemetery.

Visitation will be Sunday evening, from 5 to 7 at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Trego Hospital Endowment Foundation. Checks made to the foundation may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.schmittfuneral.com.

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