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Kansas man admits posting child porn on Twitter

WICHITA – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Haskins from a 2001 Kansas Department of Corrections photo. He has a previous conviction for aggravated battery.

Joshua A. Haskins, 42, Wichita, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of using the internet to target a 12-year-old child for sexual exploitation.

In his plea, he admitted he posted child pornography on his Twitter account. Twitter reported the images to CyberTipline (report.cybertip.org(link is external)), a web site where electronic service providers and the public can report child pornography.

Haskins also used his account on a photo-sharing website based in Russia to upload a picture of the Instagram account of a 12-year-old girl. He included the girl’s name and her electronic email address, urging other users to “talk her into nudes” and “send me pics if u do.”

 

Ellis mayor elected president of Kansas Mayors Association Board of Directors

Dave McDaniel, Ellis mayor
LKM
TOPEKA – At this weekend’s Governing Body Institute and Kansas Mayors Conference, Hesston Mayor David Kauffman was named 2018 Mayor of the Year. Annually, the Kansas Mayors Association (KMA) selects a Mayor of the Year to recognize a Kansas mayor who has uniquely contributed to their community and the Kansas Mayor’s Association.

The 2018 Board of Directors for the Kansas Mayors Association was selected at the conference. Mayor David McDaniel, City of Ellis, was elected President. The First Vice President is Michael Smith, City of Lansing; and Second Vice President is Jeff Longwell, City of Wichita.
McDaniel was selected by his peers to lead the organization in 2018. He said he’s proud to serve the organization.

“The Kansas Mayor’s Association was created to provide focus, unity, and shared knowledge across the State of Kansas. Approximately 350 of the 625 mayors in the state are members of the KMA,” said Burt Ussery, Mayor of Clearwater and Past-President of the KMA. “Each year this professional group takes the opportunity to recognize one individual who epitomizes the essence of leadership to their city.”

This year’s winner was selected by his peers based on his exemplary leadership in transitioning the city through periods of calm and chaos. Kauffman consistently demonstrated superb leadership skills in unifying his city behind programs and projects that have been divisive in the community for decades. His nomination form describes Kauffman as a “dynamic leader who works to convene stakeholders, build alliances, and as someone who understands and implements the principles of public engagement and public service. He is a public servant who sets an example above reproach. He fully understands his circle of influence, and his passion is infectious.”

Kauffman is described as a servant leader, or someone who leads to ensure that other people’s and the community’s needs are met ahead of their own interests. He does not hesitate to volunteer for numerous boards and commissions which foster community goals and economic development initiatives. In his nomination form, several issues were noted to illustrate his leadership skills including the community conversation on a water treatment plant upgrade and encouraging the community to “build for the future,” ensuring the plant could handle population growth in the coming years. He also led the city through a highly controversial issue which took underutilized land and established safe, energy efficient, and affordable housing in his community. The city also gained centrally located additional acreage which can now be used for retail and commercial growth – something that was non-existent previously within city limits.

Kauffman also led the community through a conversation about recreation and residents’ priorities. He brought community leaders from the school board, recreation commission, and city council together to discuss the needs of the community. The resulting discussion led to a $6 million facility upgrade and new swimming pool opening in 2018.

Kauffman also served as the city’s spokesperson during the 2016 Excel Industries active shooter incident. Although no elected leader wants to hear the words “active shooter” and manage the chaos and confusion that such an event brings, Kauffman became the “Face of Hesston” representing the city, staff, and investigative officials. His compassion and well-managed response was admirable and was necessary to lead the community toward healing and recovery after a tragic event.”

FHSU, area towns and counties awarded KDHE solid waste grants

KDHE

TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Bureau of Waste Management is pleased to announce that 24 public and private applicants will receive grants in 2018 to reduce landfill disposal of solid waste. These grants were designed to support existing recycling and composting programs, and encourage the start-up of new programs especially in small and medium size communities. This year the grants totaled $409,439.

Area grant recipients include Fort Hays State University which will use its $22,973 to purchase a bale processor and supplies for one existing and one new composting site at the university.

Bird City, Oakley, Osborne County, Phillips County, Smith County and Thomas County also are grant recipients.

These competitive grants are authorized by state law and funded by the $1.00 per ton landfill tonnage fee. Hundreds of communities have received waste reduction grants from the late 1990s to the present to improve local waste reduction practices in nearly every Kansas County. These grants along with local commitments to reduce waste and years of technical training has yielded a statewide recycling rate of about 31 percent.

Each grant application required an educational component to increase awareness of the benefits associated with recycling, composting, or other waste reduction activities.

For a list of grantees visit https://www.kdheks.gov/waste/about_grants.html and click the link titled “Round 1 – State Fiscal Year 2018” under the Grant Awardees heading.

For more information on KDHE’s waste reduction grant opportunities and application procedures, contact the Bureau of Waste Management at (785) 296-1600, or visit www.kdheks.gov/waste.

Kan. welfare chief seeks $24M more in funds to prevent abuse

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top child welfare official on Monday proposed $24 million in additional spending over three years and said her agency needs to hire dozens of workers who are not licensed social workers to conduct investigations into reports of abuse and neglect.

 

 

 

The measures outlined by Gina Meier-Hummel, secretary of the state Department for Children and Families, would be on top of the two-year, $16.5 million package she and Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer announced in January. Their first plan was designed to address ongoing problems in the state’s foster care system.

Meier-Hummel became DCF secretary in December, after months of growing criticism of the department and her predecessor in the wake of several high-profile deaths of children in abusive homes.

Meier-Hummel acknowledged that dozens of children in state custody still slept in foster care contractors’ offices overnight temporarily in recent months, even after she publicly declared it an “unacceptable” practice. As of Monday morning, the state still had 74 runaway foster children missing, with number as high as 90 in recent months.

The secretary said the department is working on speeding up children’s placement with relatives or foster homes. But she said DCF has more than 200 child protective services jobs open and cannot find enough licensed social workers to fill them — prompting its plan to hire workers with four-year college degrees outside of social work.

“I think it’s more concerning not to have the positions filled,” she said.

Much of the $24 million sought by DCF would allow it to improve the child welfare system’s information technology systems. It also would allow the department to give child protective services workers pay raises — and pay more to new workers, including the non-social workers.

Legislators would consider the extra spending after returning from their annual spring break Thursday to wrap up their business for the year.

Meier-Hummel said DCF can change its hiring practices on its own. She said Kansas is among a handful of states hiring only licensed social workers for protective services and that consultants have advised it to make the change.

But Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly expressed concern, saying social workers are trained to understand family dynamics and using other workers “can backfire in a lot of ways.”

Lawmakers also were upset to learn last year that dozens of children in the state’s care had to sleep overnight in contractors’ offices this year because foster homes weren’t immediately available and that dozens were reported missing from the state’s foster care system. The  problems have persisted.

“That means we’re not going in the right direction,” Kelly said Monday.

Meier-Hummel told reporters that DCF is making progress in addressing the problems.

———–

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top child welfare official is proposing additional spending and says her agency needs to hire workers who are not licensed social workers to conduct investigations.

Department for Children and Families Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel outlined initiatives Monday that would cost $24 million over three years.

The new spending would more than double the size of a $16.5 million package of initiatives for that she and Gov. Jeff Colyer outlined in January to improve services for abused and neglected children.

Some of the new funds would go to hire child protective services workers to conduct abuse and neglect investigations. She said the state has more than 200 positions to fill and cannot find enough licensed social workers.

Legislators would consider the new proposals after their annual spring break ends Thursday.

For the first time, Facebook spells out what it forbids

NEW YORK (AP) — If you’ve ever wondered exactly what sorts of things Facebook would like you not to do on its service, you’re in luck. For the first time, the social network is publishing detailed guidelines to what does and doesn’t belong on its service — 27 pages worth of them, in fact.

So please don’t make credible violent threats or revel in sexual violence; promote terrorism or the poaching of endangered species; attempt to buy marijuana, sell firearms, or list prescription drug prices for sale; post instructions for self-injury; depict minors in a sexual context; or commit multiple homicides at different times or locations.

Facebook already banned most of these actions on its previous “community standards” page , which sketched out the company’s standards in broad strokes. But on Tuesday it will spell out the sometimes gory details.

The updated community standards will mirror the rules its 7,600 moderators use to review questionable posts, then decide if they should be pulled off Facebook. And sometimes whether to call in the authorities.

The standards themselves aren’t changing, but the details reveal some interesting tidbits. Photos of breasts are OK in some cases — such as breastfeeding or in a painting — but not in others. The document details what counts as sexual exploitation of adults or minors, but leaves room to ban more forms of abuse, should it arise.

Since Facebook doesn’t allow serial murders on its service, its new standards even define the term. Anyone who has committed two or more murders over “multiple incidents or locations” qualifies. But you’re not banned if you’ve only committed a single homicide. It could have been self-defense, after all.

Reading through the guidelines gives you an idea of how difficult the jobs of Facebook moderators must be. These are people who have to read and watch objectionable material of every stripe and then make hard calls — deciding, for instance, if a video promotes eating disorders or merely seeks to help people. Or what crosses the line from joke to harassment, from theoretical musing to direct threats, and so on.

Moderators work in 40 languages. Facebook’s goal is to respond to reports of questionable content within 24 hours. But the company says it doesn’t impose quotas or time limits on the reviewers.

The company has made some high-profile mistakes over the years. For instance, human rights groups say Facebook has mounted an inadequate response to hate speech and the incitement of violence against Muslim minorities in Myanmar. In 2016, Facebook backtracked after removing an iconic 1972 Associated Press photo featuring a screaming, naked girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam. The company initially insisted it couldn’t create an exception for that particular photograph of a nude child, but soon reversed itself, saying the photo had “global importance.”

Monica Bickert, Facebook’s head of product policy and counterterrorism, said the detailed public guidelines have been a long time in the works. “I have been at this job five years and I wanted to do this that whole time,” she said. Bickert said Facebook’s recent privacy travails, which forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify for 10 hours before Congress, didn’t prompt their release now.

The policy is an evolving document, and Bickert said updates go out to the content reviewers every week. Facebook hopes it will give people clarity if posts or videos they report aren’t taken down. Bickert said one challenge is having the same document guide vastly different “community standards” around the world. What passes as acceptable nudity in Norway may not pass in Uganda or the U.S.

There are more universal gray areas, too. For instance, what exactly counts as political protest? How can you know that the person in a photo agreed to have it posted on Facebook? That latter question is the main reason for Facebook’s nudity ban, Bickert said, since it’s “hard to determine consent and age.” Even if the person agreed to be taped or photographed, for example, they may not have agreed to have their naked image posted on social media.

Facebook uses a combination of the human reviewers and artificial intelligence to weed out content that violates its policies. But its AI tools aren’t close to the point where they could pinpoint subtle differences in context and history — not to mention shadings such as humor and satire — that would let them make judgments as accurate as those of humans.

And of course, humans make plenty of mistakes themselves.

Cloudy, windy Tuesday with a chance for showers

Today Showers likely, mainly after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 58. Light north wind becoming north northwest 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Tonight Showers likely, mainly between 11pm and 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. North northwest wind 11 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Wednesday A 30 percent chance of showers before 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. North northwest wind 10 to 14 mph.

Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. North northeast wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light and variable.

Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. Southwest wind 7 to 12 mph becoming north 13 to 18 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.

Thursday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 36.

FridaySunny, with a high near 67.

Kan. deputies jail 4 on drug distribution allegations

Samantha McMahon
Eric Swarts

GEARY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating four suspects on drug charges.

Just after 1a.m. Sunday, deputies stopped a vehicle on U.S. 77 in Geary County.

Deputies arrested Eric J. Swarts, Enterprise and Samantha A. McMahon, Manhattan, on  different counts ranging from Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute to Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute.

Tyler Hann

Deputies arrested Lauren A. Ginesi, Manhattan, on suspicion of Possession of Methamphetamine, Drug Paraphernalia, and Marijuana, and Tyler J. Hann, Wichita, on suspicion of Possession of

Lauren Ginesi,

Methamphetamine, Drug Paraphernalia and Marijuana.

UPDATE 4 Kan. children hospitalized after deer crash through van

STAFFORD COUNTY — Five people were injured in an accident just before 6p.m. Sunday in Stafford County.

Van involved in Sunday crash -Photo by Dakota Tucker – Eagle Radio

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by Nathan Stoney, 27, Kingman, was southbound on U.S. 281 ten miles south of Great Bend.

A deer ran out from west ditch, collided with rear passenger side of van, entered the van and exited out the rear hatch window.

Stoney and passengers Eli Stoney, one-month; Dylan Stoney, 2, Owen Sikes, 6; and Zoey Sikes, 8, all of Kingman, were transported to Great Bend Regional Medical Center.

All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Births in Kansas down in 2017

KDHE

TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has published the 2017 Kansas Preliminary Birth Report.

The report reveals there was a 4.1 percent decrease in births in 2017 as compared to 2016. The birth rate in Kansas is now 12.5 per 1,000 population, down from 13.1 in 2016.

The number of teen births decreased slightly from 2,126 in 2016, to 2,054 in 2017, with an overall percentage of 5.6 percent.

This report is a preliminary analysis of these data as collected by the KDHE Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics. The full report can be viewed online at https://www.kdheks.gov/phi/download/Preliminary_Birth_Report_2017.pdf.

Great Bend upsets Hays girls soccer in OT


By JEREMY McGUIRE
Hays Post

GREAT BEND, Kan.-Hays High couldn’t get their offense in going in a 1-0 overtime loss to Great Bend on Monday evening in Great Bend. The Lady Indians, who were without three starters (Kallie Leiker-DECA Nationals, Karee Dinkel-Sickness, Hannah McGuire-Injury), were able to mount some offensive runs in both the first and second half but were not able to take advantage of them.

As the two teams entered overtime it was apparent that fatigue was becoming a factor. Great Bend made a run on the right side of the field and was able to sneak a shot in for the winning goal. With the loss Hays fall to 7-3-1 on the season. They will host TMP on Thursday afternoon.

Kan. man charged with stealing Civil War artifacts from museum

SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) — A former volunteer at a small Missouri museum has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of Civil War and World War I artifacts.

A warrant was issued Monday for the arrest of 38-year-old Terry Cockrell, a 2010 Sedalia mayoral candidate who volunteered for eight years at the Pettis County Museum before moving last fall to Coffeyville, Kansas. He’s charged with two felony counts of stealing $750 or more. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Police say some of the items missing from the museum, including a surgical kit, firearms and a sword, were tracked to a Tennessee collector, who bought them last summer without realizing they were stolen. Museum co-curator Charles Wise says display cases had been rearranged to conceal the thefts, which weren’t reported until last month.

Sedalia police Det. Jill Green said in the probable cause statement that Cockrell falsely told the collector that he received the items as a gift from a neighbor who gave them in return for a favor. Green said Cockrell was tied to the theft by a form he signed that stated he was the true owner of the sword and had obtained it legitimately.

Green said Cockrell initially said he had been given the artifacts by someone who died 20 years ago but later admitted to removing them from display case. The collector is helping to return as many of the items as possible after re-selling some of the antiques to buyers in other states. A revolver and a World War I era flare pistol also were reported stolen but weren’t sold to the collector.

The Pettis County Historical Society, which operates the museum, is now considering new measures to prevent future thefts. Wise said that the museum didn’t regularly check its inventory in the past and fully trusted its volunteers.

Police arrest Kan. woman after 4 young children left home alone

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child endangerment charges.

Woods-photo Saline Co.

Just after 5p.m. Sunday, police responded to a call from a neighbor concerened about children at a home in the 900 Block of Pontiac in Salina, according to Police Sergeant Jim Feldman.

The police discovered children ages nine, six, four, and one left unattended for extended period of time. Police were also concerned about the condition inside of the home, according to Feldman.

Police located and arrested the mother 24-year-old Kayan Woods on requested charges of with endangering a child and interference with law enforcement.

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