LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say charges have been dropped against a teen initially accused of being among a group who brought guns onto Lee’s Summit High’s campus.
Landon Mikle
The Kansas City Star reports that 18-year-old Landon Mikle no longer faces a felony weapons count. The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office says a closer review of evidence led to the dismissal.
Eighteen-year-old Tynan B. Mullen, 17-year-old Tanner Nicholson and 19-year-old Scott Ryan are still each charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a felony count punishable by up to four years in prison.
A witness reported seeing suspects in a car with an assault-style rifle, a shotgun and a handgun after classes ended for the day on March 1 at the school. Court documents say at least one suspect threatened a person and flashed the guns.
Lee’s Summit police later tracked down the car at a home and found the AR-15 rifle and other weapons.
GEARY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child sex allegations.
Samuel Ruggero-Geary Co.
On Thursday, members of the Junction City / Geary County SWAT executed a search warrant at a home in the 8000 Block of Nelson Road, according to Police Captain Trish Giordano.
Police arrested Samuel Ruggero, 43, on suspicion of Aggravated Indecent Liberties of a Child.
He is being held on a bond of $100,000 at the Geary County Detention Center.
The Geary County Sheriff’s Department, Grandview Plaza Police and the KBI High Risk Warrant Team assisted with the warrant and activities leading up to the execution of the warrant.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The Johnson County Health Department says eight measles cases have been confirmed in the eastern Kansas county.
The department said Thursday that seven of the cases were reported at a child care facility. The other case was associated with the center but was seen at a doctor’s office and is being investigated to determine if the child was the source of the exposure.
The department said three of the cases reported were in children less than a year old, who are too young to be vaccinated against the disease.
The affected children and others who may have come in contact with them will be barred from the center for 21 days following the last exposure to the disease.
Johnson County is part of the Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area.
The Heartland Community Foundation, which serves Ellis, Rooks and Trego Counties, will accept applications for spring grants from March 15 to May 15, 2018.
Grants will be awarded from the Dane G. Hansen Community Grant Fund, the Heartland Area Action Fund and the Heartland Healthy Living Fund. Focused on improving quality of life, funding will support education, health care, community social services and security, conservation and environment, arts and culture, and community beautification. Nonprofit organizations, government and public entities, educational institutions and churches are encouraged to apply.
Funding is limited to projects in Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties. Grants will be awarded through a competitive application process. Applications are due online by Tuesday, May 15, 2018. The grant application and detailed criteria are available at https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/search-apply-for-a-grant/.
During its fall grant cycle, the community foundation awarded over $145,000 to 30 nonprofit organizations in the area.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue to ask the public for help with any information on a missing Kansas boy. Five-year-old Lucas Hernandez was last seen one month ago.
Lucas Hernandez
Wichita Police Department spokesman officer Charley Davidson reminded the public Friday the case is still an active investigation. “We still need information from the community.”
Police continue to work with the volunteers from Texas EquuSearch on the case.
When he was last seen on February 17, Lucas was wearing a gray t-shirt with a bear on it, black sweat pants and socks. Lucas is missing his top / front teeth, and he has silver caps on his remaining teeth. He also has a small scar on his upper / left abdomen from a prior medical procedure. If you have seen Lucas or if you know of his current whereabouts or if you have any information whatsoever concerning his disappearance; please call 620-267-2111 or 268-4407.
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing Cardiologist Dr. Rashmi Thapa, MD; from the DeBakey Heart Institute at HaysMed, by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
The certified public accounting firm of Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered (ABBB) is pleased to announce that Jessica Dennis has been voted in as a firm principal.
Dennis joined ABBB in 2004. She works in the firm’s tax department, providing tax and accounting services to clients in a variety of industries. Dennis also chairs the firm’s Tax Advisory Board and co-leads the firm’s Tax Service Line.
“Congratulations to Jessica on this significant achievement,” said Brian Staats, CPA, CGMA, managing partner of ABBB. “We look forward to our future success as a result of her leadership, determination, and technical expertise.”
Dennis attended Fort Hays State University, graduating summa cum laude in 2004 with Bachelor of Business Administration degrees in both Accounting and Finance. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Kansas Society of CPAs (KSCPA), and the Central Kansas Chapter of the KSCPA. Outside of the profession, Dennis is a member of the Hays Area Young Professionals and serves as treasurer of the Hays Sunrise Rotary Club. Dennis currently resides in Hays, Kansas, with her husband and daughter.
Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered provides a wide range of traditional and non-traditional CPA and consulting services to clients throughout Kansas, including agriculture organizations, construction companies, feed yards, financial institutions, governmental and not-for-profit organizations, manufacturers, medical practices, oil and gas companies, professional service firms, real estate companies and small businesses. Founded in 1945, today the firm maintains 15 office locations throughout the state. For more information about Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, please visit www.abbb.com.
CORRECTION: Headline corrected to reflect correct title, March 19.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
“This Reuben sandwich,” said the New Yorker, “is better than we get back in New York.” That is high praise, for this sandwich comes from a store in the middle of the country. Not only does this place provide great sandwiches, it provides the experience of entering an old-time general store with lots of classic products.
Dan Hohman is founder and owner of Sugar Creek Country Store in St. Marys, Kansas. In 1992, Dan and his wife Jen relocated their family from Pennsylvania to St. Marys because of the school system. They were seeking the traditional Catholic education that is offered at the St. Marys Academy.
Dan’s background was in the industrial hydraulics business. After coming to Kansas, he eventually launched his own company which specializes in recruiting engineers and technical sales people for the fluid power industry. For more information, see www.fluidpowerjobs.com.
One year when Dan and Jen went to visit their oldest daughter in Minnesota, they came across something remarkable. It was like an old time country store furnished with Amish goods and located out in the middle of nowhere. Dan thought that a store with those types of goods would be a wonderful addition to his hometown of St. Marys.
When he got back to Kansas, Dan connected with a local businessman and investor named Ken Moats and explained his vision to Ken. Ken ended up buying and renovating a historic downtown building. This became the location of Dan’s store.
“We wanted to create a design like a general store in the early 1900s,” Dan said. He had learned that the original St. Marys Mission to the Native Americans was located at Sugar Creek, Kansas, near the Missouri border. After facing a number of challenges there, the priests had prayed for guidance and come north to relocate the mission along the Kansas River in 1848. Eventually the town of St. Marys grew at this new location.
Using the historic name Sugar Creek, Dan set out to create the new store. He connected with Amish vendors and consulted with the Kansas Small Business Development Center. Ken Moats worked on renovating the old historic building.
“Ken was wonderful,” Dan said. “We found this beautiful, native stone wall on the west side of the building. I suggested we put a window in the inside wall so people could see it. ‘Ken said, no let’s not cover it up at all.’” The stone wall was painstakingly restored and now is attractively lit for display. Several original columns and the original wood floor are beautifully restored and in place.
Sugar Creek Country Store opened in July 2016. It specializes in bulk foods, classic food items, a deli and specialty groceries. “We want to offer great quality products at a reasonable price,” Dan said. “We get many products from the Amish, because they have lots of simple, good-tasting foods without a bunch of preservatives.”
This includes Amish deli meats, cheeses, and sauerkraut. Together with select marble rye bread, this creates the Reuben sandwich which was proclaimed by one New Yorker to be better than those from the Big Apple. The deli offers various kinds of ham, beef, turkey, bologna and specialty meats. Cheeses include traditional Swiss, smoked, cheddar, hot cheeses, and more.
Bulk foods include lots of goods and spices. The store offers party trays, gift boxes, and specialty items like Rada knives.
“Every one of our 10 children, either directly or indirectly, has had a hand in this store,” Dan said. His four youngest children are now working in the business. The goal is excellent customer service. “We go above and beyond to make sure our customers feel like they are part of the family,” Dan said. It’s added a new attraction to the rural community of St. Marys, population 2,627 people. Now, that’s rural.
For a New York-style Reuben that tops New York, one can visit the Sugar Creek Country Store in St. Marys. We commend Dan Hohman and family for making a difference by blending modern entrepreneurship with great sandwiches and a trip back in time.
March madness has many Kansans filling out their NCAA brackets. Kansas lawmakers are considering legislation that could tap into that market by legalizing sports gambling in the state.
A bill before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee would allow sports betting through the Kansas Lottery. At least one major professional league says it wants some input on the rules, and a cut of the winnings.
Federal law doesn’t allow legal sports betting in most states — yet. FILE PHOTO by SAM ZEFF
Currently, federal law bars most states from allowing sports gambling. However, a lawsuit surrounding a New Jersey law and pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could knock down the federal rule. That would let Kansas and other states authorize sports gambling, and to tax it.
“You never know what the Supreme Court’s going to do, but a number of states have kind of jumped on the bandwagon looking at this,” said Republican Rep. John Barker, chairman of the Kansas House committee considering the bill.
Yet Barker said he doubts the bill will make any headway. He said he’s still considering his stance on the issue, but he said the committee could consider other proposals this year to allow sports betting.
“There’s a possibility,” Barker said. “It’s a great revenue source. It would not be a big revenue source, but it would be a good revenue source.”
The hearing Tuesday had the attention of some major sports organizations. Major League Baseball sent Bryan Seeley, its senior vice president of investigations and deputy general counsel.
He said the league has opposed gambling for years, but he didn’t urge lawmakers to reject the idea. Instead, he said if Kansas legalizes sports gaming it needs to put controls in place so games aren’t fixed.
“Anything that gives players an incentive to not perform at their absolute peak is a huge danger to our business and can cost us tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars,” Seeley said.
Fixing can be more subtle than deciding the winner of a game, or even the point spread, Seeley said. Pro sports officials fret about much more specific bets — over a single pitch in a baseball game or the first foul in a basketball game.
“Those are the kind of bets we worry about,” Seeley said. “That’s why we want to have a say in whether casinos can offer those kinds of bets.”
The league wants rules over data sharing so they can spot betting trends that might indicate a player or umpire was planning to make a pre-arranged move.
Seeley said all that number crunching won’t be cheap. So MLB is also asking for a cut of the gaming revenue to help cover the league’s costs.
That didn’t sit well with Richard Klemp, director of governmental affairs for Boyd Gaming. The group owns the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane. He said the firm opposes the so-called “integrity fee” going to sports leagues because there’s no such fee for sports gaming operations in Nevada.
“Which have been operating for decades in Nevada with a spotless record in terms of integrity,” Klemp said.
Casino representatives and MLB also disagreed on how the gaming should take place. Seeley argued for mobile apps allowing people to gamble on their phones. Without that, he said, people would continue to use illegal gaming apps for convenience.
Whitney Damron spoke to lawmakers on behalf of Kansas Entertainment, the company that owns the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas. He said sports gaming should take place inside casinos or other gaming facilities.
“The public does have an interest in this kind of wagering,” Damron said. “It can be provided in a protected manner.”
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.
Fort Hays State University’s Management Development Center will offer a new workshop, “Intermediate Excel: Data Analysis,” from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 11, in McCartney Hall, room 116.
Dr. Emily Breit, associate professor of finance, will teach participants how to utilize different elements of Microsoft Office Excel, such as pivot tables, vlookup, what-if-analysis, goal seek and scenario manager.
Participants will learn how to use these functions to solve real-world problems and to increase productivity and efficiency.
The workshop is $119 and includes a certificate upon completion as well as three continuing education units.
To register, visit www.fhsu.edu/mdc. For more information and to learn about upcoming trainings, contact Hannah Hilker, MDC senior administrative assistant, at 785-628-4121 or[email protected].
The Management Development Center at FHSU is recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management to offer professional development credits for SHRM Certified Professionals and SHRM Senior Certified Professionals.
For more information about certification or recertification, visit shrmcertification.org.
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing Cardiologist Dr. Rashmi Thapa, MD; from the DeBakey Heart Institute at HaysMed, by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
