SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and continue the search for one suspect.
Zachary Jacob McFall photo Topeka PoliceJohnson photo Topeka Police
Just after 3:30p.m. July 25, police were dispatched to SE 37th and SE Pennsylvania in Topeka located a white passenger car with 16- year-old Joaquin Aj McKinney suffering from life threatening injuries. He was transported to a local hospital where he died.
On July 27, 2019 a suspect in the case, 16-year-old Zachary Jacob McFall turned himself in to law enforcement. He is being held in the Juvenile Department of Corrections for 1st Degree Murder.
On July 28, 2019 officers located and arrested an additional 16-year-old suspect in the case. He was transported to the Juvenile Department of Corrections for 1st Degree Murder.
Police are attempting to locate 22-year-old Lavonte D. Johnson for questioning in the case.
Police said if you know his location, please do not attempt to apprehend him, call 911 to report his location
It is with great sadness that the family of Mary Leora (Copelin) Speed passed away at the age of 92. She was born in Villisca, Iowa on June 25, 1927, and passed away on Saturday, July 27, 2019 at her home with her son and daughter by her side. She was a resident of the Sheldahl and Huxley communities from 1958-2015, at which time she moved to Larned, Kansas to reside with her daughter, Joan.
Mary was united in marriage in June of 1949 to Robert M. Speed, they later divorced. Together seven children were born.
Mary will be lovingly remembered by children Noel Speed, Joan Basgall, Vivian Valfre, Jane Sexton, John (Vicki) Speed and Gordon Speed. She will also be lovingly remembered by numerous grand, great grand, and great-great grandchildren.
Mary is preceded in death by daughter Joetta Flotho, granddaughter Jodi Bedore, John Sexton (Jane’s spouse), Gerald Basgall (Joan’s spouse), and Tessie Speed (Noel’s spouse). She is also preceded in death by parents John and Effie Copelin, siblings Darwin and Delbert Copelin (infant twins), Ruth Speed, Joe Copelin, and Lila Johnson.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 10, 2019, 10:30 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Sheldahl, Iowa. A private family inurnment will be at a later date. The family requests no flowers. Memorial donations can be made to the Sheldahl United Methodist Church, in care of Janice Halverson, P.O. Box 302, Slater, IA 50244.
President Donald Trump congratulates himself on his appointment/U.S. Senate confirmation of more than 100 federal judges, including two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Now, it appears that Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly might be able to tout, maybe more discreetly, her success in packing the Kansas Supreme Court.
With the retirement in September of Justice Lee Johnson, and the just-announced retirement of Chief Justice Lawton Nuss in December, Kelly will get final say on two appointees to the court that often battles the Legislature with decisions that kill laws the Legislature passed. Look at abortion, look at school finance.
Now, if there’s something that the Legislature hates, it is any institution that has veto power over its action. That’s just the three-division state government at work — the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches. Legislators have always thought that they are the big dogs in the management of the state, and lawmakers growl at any other branch that won’t bow to their authority.
Lawmakers weren’t happy with the abortion decision, which essentially guarantees the right to abortion in Kansas. At least a majority of them, and the Republican leadership.
Oh, and lawmakers also want the court out of the business of deciding what is “adequate” in the way of state financing of public education. The court has loudly and frequently said it will determine just what is adequate to provide every Kansas schoolchild access to a good education from border to border.
So, having a Democrat governor with the power to appoint Supreme Court justices is a big deal. And now Kelly gets to appoint two justices to the seven-member court, and likely have a chance to make those appointees see state law the way she sees it.
The Legislature, or at least its overwhelming Republican majorities in each chamber, is not happy that a Democrat governor gets to interview and find a candidate for the court that is likely to be less conservative than the majority of legislators.
Already, the Senate has a proposed constitutional amendment warming up that would give the Senate the final say—to confirm or reject—a gubernatorial appointment to the high court. Sounds a little like conservative Republican state senators want to have the same power as federal senators, doesn’t it?
It takes a constitutional amendment, which means that if lawmakers OK the proposal, it will be November 2020 before it can be put before voters in the state to empower the Kansas Senate to have the final say on who gets to wear those nice black robes.
By that time, Kelly’s appointees to the Supreme Court will have already redecorated their offices and gotten comfortable on the bench. Oh, Kelly’s appointments will have to stand for retention to their posts to earn their full six-year terms on the court, but that’s not a major issue…justices face conservative opposition, but haven’t been tossed off the court by voters in recent memory.
So, Kelly, and her moderate Republican and Democrat predecessors, will retain the majority on the court. Former Gov. Sam Brownback got just one Supreme Court appointment, his former chief counsel Caleb Stegall, arguably the most conservative justice in recent memory.
The nominations for Kelly to choose from for each job? We won’t know who they are until the five-lawyer, four-nonlawyer Supreme Court Nominating Commission winnows the jobseekers to just three for each chair to present to the governor for her selection.
It looks like the court will retain its socially moderate position and not be afraid to take a swipe at the conservative GOP legislature for the next few years.
Wonder how that’s going to work out…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
ATCHISON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 6p.m. Monday in Atchison County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Polaris ATV driven by Jentri Lynn Fowler, 19, Cummings, was westbound in the 13000 Block of 214th Road.
The driver lost control and the vehicle. It entered the south ditch and rolled.
Fowler and passenger Jaycee Ernzen, 18, Cummings, were transported to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph where Fowler died. Another passenger Ashley Peiper, 18, Cummings, was transported to the hospital in Atchison for treatment of minor injuries. A third passenger Caden McAfee, 19, Valley Falls, was not injured.
Former member of the Kansas Board of Regents, trial lawyer and litigator with wide experience in civil law, criminal law, estate matters, dispute resolution and more – Joe Bain will now bring all this experience to his new post as general counsel of Fort Hays State University.
His appointment was announced this week by FHSU President Tisa Mason.
“I say often, and honestly, that FHSU had a transformative effect on me,” said Bain.
“This university has a history of providing access to a quality higher education for many first-generation, lower income and diverse-background students,” he said. “It is an honor and a privilege to serve this university and to be on the team responsible for taking FHSU into the future.”
“As a member of the Kansas Board of Regents, Joe was able to experience at first hand the challenges, expectations and successes of higher education,” said FHSU President Tisa Mason. “His service with the Regents and his wide legal experience, and his status as an FHSU alumnus, make him an ideal choice as the general counsel for Fort Hays State.”
Bain grew up in Ness City and graduated from Ness City High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from FHSU in 2002, graduating summa cum laude. His Juris Doctor, 2005, is from the University of Kansas School of Law.
His career includes a judicial clerkship in the Seventh Judicial District of Kansas and working as a summer associate for a Kansas City law firm before his graduation from the KU School of Law.
After graduation, he was an associate at Warden, Triplett, Grier, PA, in Overland Park. From 2009 to 2011 he was a senior attorney for the Black & Veatch Corp., an international engineering and construction firm in Overland Park.
Since 2011, he has been a member, vice-president, attorney and co-manager for Cure & Bain, P.C., in Goodland. He is licensed in Kansas, Missouri and Colorado. He was a member of the Kansas Board of Regents from 2014 to 2018, and since 2017 he has served as Ness City Municipal Court Judge.
SALINE COUNTY —A small earthquake shook portions of central Kansas Tuesday morning. The quake just before 4:30a.m. measured a magnitude 3.1 and was centered approximately 5 miles west of Solomon.
The quake was felt over a wide area. The Saline County Sheriff’s office said they received several calls about the quake. There were no reports of damage or injury.
LINN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Monday in Linn County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Edward W. Lewis, 56, Blue Mound, was eastbound on Kansas 31 Highway two miles west of Blue Mound.
The motorcycle crested a hill and rear-ended a 1999 Ford pickup driven by Jacob R. Robinson, 17, Mound City.
Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Schneider Funeral Home.
Robinson was not injured. Lewis was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.
ELLSWORTH COUNTY —Emergency responders are currently searching near the middle ramp of the Minooka campground at Wilson Lake for a person reported missing just before 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Keith Haberer, Russell County emergency management coordinator, said emergency responders are gathering to assist in the search, and asked the public to avoid the area.
The area has suffered from flooding in recent months, but campsites near the ramp are set to open this week, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On July 31 last year, a Great Bend man died at the reservoir while trying to swim to a boat that floated away.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A third Kansas man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the death of a Joplin, Missouri, man during a robbery.
Forester -photo Jasper Co.
Twenty-one-year-old Azaiah Forester, of Columbus, Kansas, was sentenced Monday in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Taven Williams in January 2017.
Williams was killed when the three suspects and a fourth unidentified person went to the Joplin home of Paul Haney to rob Haney of marijuana. Williams was shot when he tried to help Haney, who survived a gunshot wound to the shoulder.
Two other defendants from Columbus, 21-year-old Brock Robinson and 24-year-old Erik Jones, were each sentenced previously to 15 years in prison.
Robinson claimed it was Jones who shot and killed Williams.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Max Falkenstien, the affable and silver-tongued “Voice of the Jayhawks” who brought Kansas football and basketball into the homes of fans for six decades, died Monday. He was 95.
Max Falkenstien, who broadcast University of Kansas football and men’s basketball games for 60 years, died Monday afternoon. He was 95 photo University of Kansas Athletics
The school announced his death in a statement. No cause was given.
Falkenstien did his first broadcast of a Kansas basketball game during the 1946 NCAA Tournament in Kansas City, where the Jayhawks played Oklahoma A&M. He took over as the play-by-play voice the following spring, and would hold the job for 39 years before switching to the commentator’s role in 1984.
He retired from Jayhawk Radio Network broadcasts after the 2005-06 basketball season.
“I’ve known Max since 1985, and back then, even being young in the profession, I quickly realized that Max was as big a part of the great history of KU basketball and football as the players and coaches were,” Jayhawks basketball coach Bill Self said. “He was an absolute joy to be around, and he will be remembered as an absolute treasure. He was loved by everyone.”
Falkenstien was a banker by trade, retiring from the Douglas County Bank in Lawrence in 1994. But his passion was broadcasting the Jayhawks, and fans across the country simply adored him.
He’s the only non-player to have a jersey — No. 60 — hanging in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse.
“He was one of a kind,” former basketball coach Larry Brown, who guided the Jayhawks to the 1988 national title. “When I got the job at Kansas, coach (Dean) Smith told me about all the great people at KU, the love they had for the school and for basketball. When you talk about those great people, and everyone connected with all that tradition, Max is one of the first people you think about.”
Falkenstien, whose father worked for Kansas Athletics for 33 years, was born and raised in Lawrence and enlisted in the Army Air Corps after high school. He earned a mathematics degree from Kansas in 1948, a full two years after he was on the microphone for his first basketball game.
Falkenstien also did TV play-by-play commentary for the Big Eight’s basketball game of the week in the 1960s and ’70s, and for three decades he hosted football and basketball coaches’ shows for everyone from Pepper Rodgers and Mike Gottfried to Ted Owens and Roy Williams.
“Just the mention of his name will always make me smile,” Williams said.
His last football broadcast came in 2005, the Jayhawks’ win over Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl, and his final basketball broadcast came on March 17, 2006, when Bradley upset Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Over those 60 years, Falkenstien’s downhome voice broadcast games featuring the likes of Gale Sayers and John Riggins, Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning.
Falkenstien continued to sit courtside for home basketball games for many more years.
“His personal touch made every fan, player, coach and administrator feel like they were part of the KU family,” Self said. “I hope Max realized the positive impact he had on KU and everyone connected with it. He’ll be missed but his legacy will never be forgotten.”
Falkenstien is survived by his wife of 70 years, Isobel. The couple had two children, Kurt and Jane, along with three grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have three suspects in custody.
Lloyd photo Sedgwick Co.Dailey photo Sedgwick Co.
Just after 2 a.m. Monday police responded to report of a shooting in the 2400 Block of East Shadybrook in Wichita, according to office Charley Davidson. Upon arrival police found a 25-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his foot. EMS transported him to a local hospital for treatment.
Investigators learned a disturbance occurred outside a home in the 2400 Block of East Shadybrook between the victim and Broderick Lloyd when a gun was fired. Lloyd left the scene in a grey Pontiac. A short time later, officer located and stopped the vehicle in the area of 17th and Hillside, according to Davidson.
During the traffic stop, officer contacted two 18-year-old females in the front and suspects Lloyd, 18-year-old Adonis Dailey, 18, and 19-year-old Deandre Greenley in the back. Officers also found drugs and a gun in the vehicle.
Police arrested Dailey on requested charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, Greenley of Shawnee, OK., on requested charges of possession of marijuana and Lloyd, 19, on a requested charge of aggravated battery, according to Davidson.
Police do not know if the incident is gang related. The two teenage women were not arrested, according to Davidson.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The former leader of a national disability rights group has become the first Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas.
Sara Hart Weir
Sara Hart Weir kicked off her campaign Monday in the 3rd Congressional District in the Kansas City area. She served more than four years as president and CEO of the National Down Syndrome Society before stepping down earlier this year.
The 37-year-old Weir touted her work on legislation in 2014 to create savings accounts with tax advantages for the disabled and their families.
Davids is the only Kansas Democrat in Congress. She ousted Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder last year and gained national attention as a Native American and LGBTQ lawmaker.
Former Kansas Republican Party Chairwoman Amanda Adkins also is considering running for the seat.
