NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — A homeless man who murdered a Kansas woman and her 4-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Keith Hawkins was sentenced Friday for capital murder in the August 2017 deaths of 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and her daughter, Zaylynn Paz.

The victims’ bodies were found at their duplex in Newton, Kansas. Police said the girl was stabbed and her mother was strangled.

Hawkins was arrested in Texas. Authorities said he was homeless and was visiting Runyon.

The victims’ families agreed to a plea deal that dropped two counts of first-degree murder in exchange for his guilty plea to capital murder.

Authorities said Hawkins was a sex offender but his prior conviction was not placed on the public offender registry.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita church preschool director has resigned as more concerns surface about a fired employee who’s accused of sexually assaulting two children at a YMCA child care.

Caleb Gaston, 21, was fired in October from his job at Plymouth Learning Center after an inappropriate touching complaint. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment couldn’t substantiate the allegation.

The Greater Wichita YMCA says it wasn’t notified about what happened before Gaston was charged with raping a 4-year-old. He’s also been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting another child at the YMCA.

Plymouth Congregational Church senior minister Don Olsen says he’s reported to the state that a couple other parents say their children may have been touched inappropriately. He provided no details on the director’s resignation.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – The reward for information in the death of a 9-year-old boy fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire in Kansas City has increased to $10,000.

Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers says those with tips that lead to an arrest or the filing of charges in the death of Dominic Young Jr. could be eligible. Dominic’s father told police he was driving with his son last month when people in two other vehicles began shooting at each other.

The father didn’t initially realize that his child had been caught in the crossfire and continued driving to suburban Grandview. When his wounds were discovered, the boy was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Crime Stoppers says elected officials and a pastor are among those contributing to the reward.

 

BY STEPHEN KORANDA

The Kansas Supreme Court could soon decide whether there’s a right to abortion in the state constitution.

Gov. Jeff Colyer wants lawmakers to consider amending the constitution to establish that such a right doesn’t exist.

In his first address to lawmakers this week, the Republican governor called for amending the state constitution to help protect Kansas abortion restrictions.

That came in response to a case pending before the Kansas high court. Justices are considering a lower court ruling that recognized a right to abortion in the state constitution.It’s an outgrowth from a legal fight over the state’s so-called “dismemberment abortion” ban, which bars dilation and evacuation procedures.

If the court rules the Kansas Constitution includes a right to abortion, that could put many state abortion restrictions on the books in jeopardy.

Colyer, speaking to a joint session of the legislature, said the lower court ruling “cannot stand.”

“This is violence against basic facts,” Colyer said. “The stakes are so high, the issue is so foundational, the people of Kansas must have the final say.”

Republican Rep. Chuck Weber of Wichita said he’s been talking with other legislators about an amendment if the court finds a right to abortion in the constitution.

“(That) would definitely stoke the conversation,” Weber said. “I haven’t heard a lot at this point to push it without that.”

The legislature has approved additional abortion restrictions in recent years and Weber said he believes a constitutional amendment would have broad support.

“A constitutional amendment … would just take this question out of the hands of unelected judges in the future,” Weber said. “It would really reflect the will of the people.”

Democratic Rep. Valdenia Winn of Kansas City, Kansas, said a constitutional amendment would draw the state back into fierce abortion debates.

“Here we’re going to have a fight over, as far as I’m concerned, current law,” Winn said. “Forces that think like me are not going to be intimidated.”

It takes a two-thirds majority of lawmakers and a vote from the public to approve constitutional amendments. House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a Republican from Dighton, agrees there could be wide support for a constitutional amendment on abortion.

“Whether it’s enough remains to be seen,” Hineman said. “It’s a high bar. It’s a high bar for a reason.”

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda. 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Topeka police officers who fatally shot a man have returned to work with the police department.

City spokeswoman Molly Hadfield said Thursday that officers Michael Cruse and Justin Mackey returned from administrative leave on Wednesday. She would not reveal their duty assignments.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports officers were placed on leave Sept. 28 after Dominique White was shot and killed near a park in Topeka.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay ruled in December that the shooting was justified. He said while White was fleeing from the officers, he moved his hand over a pocket that contained a gun.

In January, city officials said an internal police investigation found the officers followed department policies during the confrontation.

White’s family has consistently questioned whether the shooting was justified.

NEW YORK (AP) — The flu has further tightened its grip on the U.S. This season is now as bad as the swine flu epidemic nine years ago.

A government report out Friday shows 1 of every 13 visits to the doctor last week was for fever, cough and other symptoms of the flu. That ties the highest level seen in the U.S. during swine flu in 2009.

And it surpasses every winter flu season since 2003, when the government changed the way it measures flu.

This season started early and has been driven by a nasty type of flu that tends to put more people in the hospital and cause more deaths than other more common flu bugs.

But its long-lasting intensity has surprised experts, who are still sorting out why it’s been so bad. Flu usually peaks in February.

Some doctors say this is the worst flu season they’ve seen in decades. Some people are saying that, too.

Veda Albertson, a 70-year-old retiree in Tampa, was sick for three weeks with high fever and fluid in her lungs. She said she hadn’t been this sick from the flu since the 1960s, when she was a young mother who couldn’t get out of bed to go to the crib of her crying baby.

“It was like ‘Wham!’ It was bad. It was awful,” she said of the illness that hit her on Christmas Day.

Heather Jossi, a 40-year-old Denver police officer and avid runner, said her illness last month was the worst flu she’s experienced.

“I don’t remember aches this bad. Not for four days,” said Jossi. “It took me out.”

Last week, 43 states had high patient traffic for the flu, up from 42, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Flu remained widespread in every state except Hawaii and Oregon and hospitalizations continued to climb.

So far, however, deaths this season from the flu and flu-related pneumonia have lagged a little behind some recent bad seasons. There are as many as 56,000 deaths connected to the flu during a bad year.

The CDC said the amount of suspected flu cases at doctor office and hospitals last week matched that seen in 2009, when a new swine flu epidemic swept the country and panicked many people. Swine flu, also called pandemic H1N1, was a new strain that hadn’t been seen before. It first hit that spring, at the tail end of the winter season, but doctor visits hit their height in late October.

This flu season, hospitalization rates have surpassed the nasty season of the winter of 2014-2015, when the vaccine was a poor match to the main bug.

Health officials have said this year’s vaccine targets the flu viruses that are currently making people sick. However, preliminary studies out of Australia and Canada have found the shot was only 10 to 20 percent effective in those countries. How well it is working the U.S. won’t be known until next week.

This year, illnesses are commonly being reported in people who got a flu shot. Albertson said she did in late October. Jossi didn’t.