Dr. Brett Bruner, director of transition and student conduct at Fort Hays State University, recently received the 2018 National Student Success Award from the American College Personnel Association: College Student Educators International Coalition for Multicultural Affairs – Latin@/x Network.
The award is given to a campus program or office that has significantly impacted the collegiate experience of Latino or Latina students.
“Over the past two years, FHSU’s Hispanic College Institute has done amazing things to focus on providing access to Hispanic college students,” said Bruner. “We are very excited and feel extremely honored to receive this award from the ACPA.”
The ACPA, according to its website, is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery.
Bruner will receive the award Monday, March 12 at the ACPA Annual Convention in Houston.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man for alleged child sex crimes.
An investigation by the Wichita Police Department and Sedgwick County Sheriff joint Internet Crimes against Children Task Force into allegations of child pornography led to a search warrant being served Tuesday in Derby, according to officer Charley Davidson.
During the search warrant, the suspect identified as Cody Chitwood, 37, was contacted. Police then booked Chitwoood a Derby Middle School teacher into the Sedgwick County Jail for two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, according to the jail booking report.
The case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office upon completion of the investigation, according to Davidson.
The school district said Chitwood was not in school Tuesday and was not taken into custody on school property. He has been suspended with pay. School officials believe the matter doesn’t involve any students or staff.
Monday afternoon fire in Lawrence-photo courtesy KCTV
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Investigators say it is too dangerous and would be too expensive to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed a Lawrence hotel.
The city announced the cause of the Jan. 15 fire at the Americas Best Value Inn was officially undetermined. No one was injured.
Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Marshal James King said Monday extensive excavation would be needed before investigators could go inside the three-story building, which largely collapsed after the fire.
He says investigators so far found no evidence of arson, so officials decided the expense of the excavation wouldn’t be justified.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports King said investigators would have pursued the excavation if they strongly suspected criminal activity.
The building is a total loss but investigators had not yet calculated a dollar figure for the damages.
Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino- photo Kansas City Police
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The father of one of five people allegedly killed by a Mexican national who was in the country illegally is suing federal immigration authorities.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Kansas City, Kansas, claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had two chances to detain and deport 42-year-old Pablo Serrano-Vitorino before March 2016, when four men were killed in Kansas and one in Missouri.
Serrano-Vitorino is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the deaths. The lawsuit was filed by the father of Austin Harter, one of the men killed.
The lawsuit says ICE didn’t follow proper procedures, allowing Serrano-Vitorino to be released from jail twice before March 2016.
A spokesman for ICE said Tuesday the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man who lived in base housing at McConnell Air Force Base was sentenced Monday to 30 years in federal prison for sexually abusing two teenage girls, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Random Shane Smith, 38, Wichita, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse. In his plea, Smith admitted using force to make the two 16-year-old victims have sex with him. The assaults took place in base housing.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers in Kansas outlined proposals Tuesday for making state government more transparent after Republican leaders said they’re taking steps to give the public more information about who is behind the legislation being considered.
The Democratic proposals included measures designed to make police body camera footage more accessible to the public and to require law enforcement agencies to tally and report what property they seize as a result of their criminal investigations.Democrats also are pushing for tougher lobbying laws and changes in how the Legislature itself operates, including a bill that would prevent the House, Senate and their committees from taking unrecorded votes on bills and amendments.
Their Statehouse news conference came a day after House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., an Olathe Republican, announced that he has directed all committees to keep a written record of which lawmakers requests bills and on whose behalf. The Legislature has faced widespread criticism for its common practice of allowing committees to sponsor bills without disclosing the lawmakers or groups behind them.
While lawmakers and advocacy groups have pushed open-government measures for years, interest snowballed after The Kansas City Star published a series of stories in November and said Kansas has “one of the most secretive state governments in the nation.”
“One of the cornerstones of democracy is the people’s right to observe their government in action,” said House Minority Leader Jim Ward, a Topeka Democrat.
Access to body camera footage has become an issue because of several fatal shootings by law enforcement officers. A state law restricts who can see body camera footage without a court order, and in Topeka, the father of a 30-year-old man fatally shot by police Sept. 28 was not able to view footage from the incident for almost three months.
Rep. John Alcala, a Topeka Democrat, said he wants to ensure that body camera footage can be viewed within 48 hours of a written request, while Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, said he is working on his own proposal to loosen restrictions.
House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a Dighton Republican, said he’s open to considering changes but the desire for transparency in such cases must be balanced against privacy rights.
“I think those are areas where we proceed very carefully,” Hineman said.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing federal charges after a Wichita television news anchor told local police that he was sending her sensitive law enforcement material and text messages that were sexual in nature, newly released court documents show.
KAKE-TV Anchor Deb Farris was interviewed by the Wichita Police Department in March during which officers photographed about 185 screen shots of text messages between her and ICE Agent Andrew J. Pleviak, according to a probable cause affidavit. Farris also told police she was contemplating applying for a protection from stalking order, but had not yet done so. It is not clear if authorities are still investigating the alleged harassment.
Farris told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Pleviak first came to her asking to be her source, saying he had all kinds of information she would need for future stories.
“Then all of a sudden it turned inappropriate and he was texting me things that made me uncomfortable and I got scared,” she said, adding she contacted the Wichita Police Department who advised her to put up security cameras and make a police report. She then agreed to be interviewed by police.
The probable cause affidavit was made public Monday after authorities filed in court the executed search warrant that was sent to Apple Computer Inc. Apple granted authorities access to Pleviak’s iCloud storage account that he had allegedly deleted from his government-issued cellphone.
Federal prosecutors indicted Pleviak in July with two counts of exceeding authorized access to a government computer for accessing information from the National Crime Information Center and one count of destruction of records in a federal investigation. He was jailed after allegedly violating his bond conditions and now faces a competency hearing on Feb. 5. It is unclear whether he is still employed with ICE.
ICE emailed a statement saying all Department of Homeland Securities employees are held “to the highest standards of behavior and ethics,” but declined to comment on his employment.
Pleviak’s defense attorney, Stephen Ariagno, declined to comment.
The case had not been reported by the media until The Associated Press on Monday found the search warrant case during a routine check of new court filings. The indictment against Pleviak did not identify him as an ICE agent, and it had scant details of the nature of the charges against him.
KAKE News Editor Anthony Maisel said the station did not report the story at the time because they were concerned for Farris’ safety and did not want to antagonize the situation.
“There is a difference between being a source and providing information for the good of the public and for a source to go off the rails and become a threat,” Maisel said. “What people tell us is in confidence and we don’t share that information with anybody. But if that source became an unstable source, certainly we would look out for the welfare of our reporters.”
Homeland Security Investigations Agent Brian Beach wrote in his probable cause affidavit supporting the search warrant that Pleviak provided Farris in November 2016 with copies of computerized criminal history reports for suspects. He was responding to text messages from Farris on two murder cases being investigated in Wichita involving immigrants in the country illegally.
“We never used a single thing he gave — nothing was really relevant,” Farris said.
Two days after Wichita police interviewed Farris, Pleviak’s supervisor ordered him to immediately relinquish his government-issued iPhone according to the affidavit. Beach’s affidavit also cited a September email in which Pleviak allegedly admitted remotely deleting information from the phone.
When prosecutors sought in October to revoke his bond they alleged Pleviak had been released from an inpatient substance abuse program for violations of rules and concerns he could be a risk to female residents of the program. The petition noted his wife had also reported he was trying to obtain a firearm and that he had been arrested in October by Wichita police, but court records do not show any other publicly-filed state charges.
In a separate case filed in 2014, an international college student from Kenya who overstayed his visa sued Pleviak and others for violently attacking him at ICE’s office in Wichita. The civil lawsuit filed by immigrant Justine Mochama was ultimately dismissed.
Phillips County resident Loren H. Grau passed away Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 at the Phillips County Hospital in Phillipsburg, KS at the age of 89.
Loren was born Nov. 27, 1928 in Phillips County to Theodore & Ida (Beyerlein) Grau. On April 26, 1964 he married Frances I. Keeten in Glade, KS. Loren was a career farmer.
He is survived by his wife, Frances, of their home in rural Phillipsburg; daughters, Linda Heersink of Stuttgart, KS and Sonja Jackson of Olathe, KS; grandson, Trent Heersink and granddaughter, Lauren Heersink.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, Jan. 27, at 10:30 a.m. in the Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Stuttgart, with Pastors Lee Bennight and Lorna Paulus officiating. Burial will follow in the Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery with military honors by Fort Riley.
Mr. Grau will lie in-state on Thurs. & Fri., Jan. 25 & 26, from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be given to the church or the Phillips County Retirement Center. Online condolences to: www.olliffboeve.com.
Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg, is in charge of arrangements.
Edward Cross is President of the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association.
By EDWARD CROSS Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association
During the give and take of public discourse, few truly stop to think how absolutely essential oil and natural gas are to our lives, to our prosperity and security, and to our future. Oil and natural gas are the foundation of our energy-dependent economy. They profoundly affect how we live and work. They are key to our mobility, to keeping our homes and businesses warm, to providing us with electric power, and to supplying the raw materials for countless consumer and industrial products.
The energy policy choices our nation makes today are among the most important and far-reaching policy decisions we will make in the 21st century. If we are to continue our nation’s positive energy trends, we must implement energy policies based on current reality and our potential as an energy leader. American energy policy should focus on what’s important: American jobs, American energy security, and American global energy leadership.
Building a better future takes energy, and oil and natural gas are central to continued progress. To do this, we need policies based on science and the free market to continue the positive effects of American energy abundance. We appreciate both the Trump Administration and members of Congress from both parties for recognizing the benefits of domestic energy abundance and its role in national security.
Policymakers at the federal and state levels can move forward and build upon our nation’s new era of energy abundance, self-determination, and global leadership. The Trump Administration, the 115th Congress, and state policymakers have a unique opportunity to find solutions for many of today’s most prominent issues such as creating middle class jobs, ensuring affordable and reliable energy for consumers, and enhancing our national security. And for all of these goals, and more, the 21st century American energy renaissance offers a solution.
The good news is that recent polls show that the American voter clearly want policymakers to set aside outdated assumptions and partisan talking points and work together on safe, responsible, and fact-based energy policy that grows our economy, creates well-paying jobs, and maintains our nation’s global energy leadership.
Voters’ clearly expect their elected leaders to place what’s best for our state and nation’s economy and energy future above partisan ideology and political posturing. I strongly believe that the American people need and want moral, intellectual, and strategic clarity and courage from our policymakers.
A growing world demand for energy is why energy experts, economists and government agencies around the world, including the U.S. government’s own Energy Information Administration (EIA), estimates that fossil fuels will continue to provide most of the U.S. and world energy needs far into the future.
Worldwide energy consumption will increase 27% by 2040, and 77% of that energy consumption will be met by fossil fuels. The world will need more energy in the future and oil and natural gas are poised to be the primary sources for that energy for decades to come.
Beyond consumption we continue to make and pursue advancements in energy efficiency. A recent EIA study indicated the U.S. used 15% less energy and emitted 23% fewer energy-related CO2 emissions in 2015 than in 2005. Methane emissions too have declined even as oil and natural gas production has soared.
According to the EIA, U.S. air pollutants have fallen by 70% since 1970. Further, thanks in part to the increased use of domestic natural gas, ozone concentrations have dropped by 17% since 2000; all of which makes the U.S. not just an energy superpower, but also a global emissions reduction leader.
The fact is our nation’s 21st century oil and gas renaissance has made domestically produced oil and natural gas economical and abundant. This market-driven success has helped our nation achieve significant emission reductions. The oil and gas industry has helped prove, conclusively, that oil and natural gas production and environmental stewardship are compatible. Clearly, a majority of Americans reject the stale mindset of last century’s thinking peddled by some that oil and natural gas production and environmental stewardship are not compatible.
Going forward into 2018, we need smart pro-growth energy policies. If our nation is to achieve energy security and maintain competitiveness and not let our standard of living slip, we need a well-reasoned, fact-based energy policy that recognizes the central role that fossil fuels will play in meeting future energy demand.
Americans support developing domestic energy resources and believe that can be done in a way protective of our environment. Policymakers at all levels should pursue energy policies that drives economic growth, lower costs for consumers, protects the environment, increases American competitiveness, and uses our considerable energy resources as a way to lift people up. American energy policy is not a Republican issue or Democrat issue. It is an American prosperity and leadership issue.
Edward Cross is President of the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association.
Police on the scene of the investigation Tuesday in Topeka-photo Deneysha Richard- courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that sent two men to the hospital.
Just after noon Tuesday, police responded to a residence in the 2000 block of south Kansas Avenue in Topeka on a report of a shooting, according to Police Lt. Jennifer Cross.
Two victims were transported to a local hospital and listed in critical condition, according to Cross. At least one victim was suffering from injuries believed to be life threatening.
Witnesses described a black male wearing a brown jacket leaving the area to the north just after gunshots were heard.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police Criminal Investigation Bureau at 785-368-9400 or Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007.
