HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Law enforcement and school district officials continue to investigate vandalism to a music room at Pretty Prairie High School and have identified four students involved. It is still up in the air whether at least one student can even be prosecuted.

Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder says he has only received a brief narrative of what happened at this point and says he has only been told about three suspects: an 8-year-old, a 10-year-old and an 11-year-old.

Under Kansas law, Schroeder says he cannot prosecute the 8-year-old. He says that would fall under a child-in-need-of-care case.

“I can’t comment too much on the case because it involves juveniles,” Schroeder said.

The paperwork will eventually be sent to the District Attorney’s Office for possible legal action, however, how that will be handled is unknown.

USD 311 is also taking appropriate action against the students involved. The damage is estimated to be between $50,000 and $75,000, according to the sheriff’s department.

A GoFundMe pagehas raised over $5000 to help the students and school.

 

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RENO COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities and school officials are investigating vandalism at Pretty Prairie High School.

 Just after 9:00a.m. Saturday, deputies were dispatched to Pretty Prairie High School for a criminal damage to property case, according to a media release.

Deputies met with Principal Kevin Hedrick who said he was giving a tour of the school to the up-coming freshman class when he noticed the band room had been vandalized. It appears that the school was entered between the hours of 1:00am – 3:00a.m. Saturday.

The entire band room received severe damage. Several different colors of paint were thrown across the floor, walls and over equipment. The majority of the drums, if not all, had holes punched in them. Some of the drum heads had painted hand prints left on them. Several different musical instruments were completely destroyed.

Fire extinguishers were discharged on the building and inside of a recently purchased Van that belonged to the school. Both in the band room and in the van, items within had been thrown around. Although it is going to take a bit to see what if anything has been stolen, we believe items have been taken.

The school gave a rough estimate of damage to be between $50,000 and $75,000 and could be more.

If anyone has information regarding this case please contact the Reno County Sheriff’s Office at 620-694-2735 or Crime Stoppers of Reno County at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Detectives are continuing to investigate this case.

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RENO COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities and school officials are investigating vandalism at Pretty Prairie High School.

Many instruments were damaged or destroyed in the school’s music room over the weekend, according to the school’s social media page.

Vandals threw paint on pianos and destroyed music instruments along with causing extensive damage to that area of the building.

“We just got permission from the sheriff’s department and from our insurance agency to start the cleanup process and then start the inventory of what’s broken, what’s not, what can be repaired, what can’t,” USD 311 Superintendent Randy Hendrickson said. “Hopefully our goal by the end of the day is to have a list of what we need to get back into the kids hands so we can get back to normal as quickly as possible.”

While the music room was off limits, music classes were moved to the school’s auditorium. Area schools have sent emails and calls of support in an effort to help including Burrton USD 369 who was working to provide students in Pretty Prairie with replacement instruments. They have also volunteered to help restore the school’s music room.

If you would like to help the Pretty Prairie music department you can do so by calling Pretty Prairie High School at 620-459-6313 or the USD 311 offices at 620-459-6241.

 

LENEXA — After a request for assistance, the Lenexa Police Department reported they have identified a man suspected of taking photos or videos of women in a department store changing room.

Can you help us ID this man? He is suspected of taking pics/vids of women in a department store changing room in Lenexa. He left the scene in a black SUV, possibly an Audi. If you know who he is, please contact us at 913-825-8097 or send us a DM. pic.twitter.com/GrcADLjfxA

— Lenexa Police (@LenexaPolice) April 17, 2019

Anyone with additional details about the man in the video below is asked to call (913) 825-8097

GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) — The federal agency that manages dams along the Missouri River received stern criticism from several U.S. senators Wednesday during a hearing held in Iowa to examine the massive spring flooding this year that caused more than $3 billion in damage in the Midwest.

Watch the hearing here.

The flooding and actions taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has been bitterly criticized in the wake of the flooding, are the focus of the U.S. Senate hearing. Critics have demanded that the agency make flood control its top priority, though Congress would have to act to change the Corps’ priorities.

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said flooding shouldn’t be such a regular occurrence along the Missouri River, saying: “The trend of flood and rebuild, flood and rebuild must end.” Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand added that the Corps should be more aggressive in preventing flood damage and consider the effects of climate change.

“They are too slow, too bureaucratic and they don’t have enough money,” said Gillibrand, who is running for president and was in Iowa touring flood damage. She took part in the hearing because she serves on the committee that oversees the Corps.

The sentiments may be appealing in Midwestern states that have endured flooding along rivers that the Corps is charged with managing, but they may not be as popular with supporters of other approved uses of the river, such as protecting endangered species and navigation.

The Corps’ John Remus said the agency works to balance all the uses of the river and maximize the benefit to several when possible. But flood control is the main concern anytime flooding is imminent along the Missouri River.

“The number one priority of the Corps in its operations is life and public safety,” Remus said.

The Corps has also said that much of the water that caused the Midwest flooding in March came from rain and melting snow that flowed into the Missouri River downstream of all the dams it controls. At the same time massive amounts of water was filling the reservoirs and some had to be released.

Farmer Leo Ettleman said the Corps should have made significant changes to its operating manual after the historic 2011 floods, but neither the Corps nor Congress took action. Ettlemen said the kind of flooding the area saw this spring will continue unless changes are made.

“In the past eight years, Congress has done little or nothing except to offer prayers and thoughts, which are appreciated, but won’t fix the problem,” said Ettleman, who farms near Percival, Iowa, and joined a lawsuit against the Corps after the 2011 flood.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst farms near the Missouri River. He said the lessons from this year’s flooding should lead to changes about where levees are built and how the river is managed.

“When flood recovery is complete, we will have failed if every structure is the same as it was and if the management of the river has not changed,” Hurst said. “To do the same things and expect better results is the triumph of hope over experience.”

Mike Peluso, a longtime professional fisherman who runs an outdoors and guide service in North Dakota, said he doesn’t want to see management of the river “swayed one way or the other” for political reasons.

“They are more populated down south, I get that,” he said. “But it’s the same river regardless of whether or not you’ve got a million people or 100,000 people. It needs to be managed from the top down.”

He added, “I have a hard time believing with all the technology and brainpower we have we can’t find a balance there” between flood protection and other interests like recreation.

Greg Power, fisheries division chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said he believes the Corps does “a pretty good job” of managing the Missouri River system.

“Flood control is still a high priority within the Corps, I know that,” Power said. “Some of these water years are pretty incredible themselves and I would hate to be a Corps person, to be honest.”

Rep. Sam Graves, whose district includes the northwestern Missouri area ravaged by flooding in March, introduced a bill this month that would remove fish and wildlife as an authorized management priority on the Missouri River and make flood control the highest priority. The bill would require revision of the Missouri River Master Manuel within 90 days of enactment.

“Time and again, we continue to see fish and birds take precedence over people and property when it comes to managing the Missouri River,” Graves, a Republican, said in a statement. “This latest round of flooding has devastated communities up and down the river. We already know that the management practices are contributing to it.”

Area politicians have said repeatedly since the flood that flood control should be the Corps’ top priority.

Robert Criss, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who has been studying flooding for more than two decades, said there may be a more important factor than how the Corps’ priorities are ranked.

The Missouri River has been made narrower over the years, Criss said, and the Corps has worked to maintain a defined channel for barge traffic even though few barges ever cross the river near Iowa and Nebraska.

“We’re having this problem because we messed with the rivers too much,” Criss said.

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By DAN MARGOLIES
Kansas News Service

Kansas has dropped its effort to terminate Planned Parenthood’s participation in Medicaid, ending a three-year-long court battle that the state lost at every turn.

The change in policy wasn’t announced publicly but rather came in the form of a joint stipulation to dismiss Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit challenging the state’s move.

Ashley All, a spokeswoman for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, said the state’s decision to end the litigation came after multiple court rulings against the previous administration.

“To continue with this costly litigation would be unwise and out of step with the priorities of Kansas,” All said. “Gov. Kelly is focused on expanding healthcare options to women, not limiting them.”

Still up in the air is the extent to which Kansas will be required to reimburse Planned Parenthood for the legal fees it incurred. Both sides have requested an additional 60 days to resolve the matter. The legal fees are likely to amount to several hundred thousand dollars, if not more, since the case has been litigated for three years and gone all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We’re really pleased that this case has come to a resolution,” said Rachel Sweet, regional director of public policy and organizing for Planned Parenthood Great Plains in Overland Park, one of the two affiliates whose Medicaid funding Kansas sought to cut off.

“We believe that all Kansans deserve access to high-quality health care. and it shouldn’t matter where they live or how much money they make,” Sweet said. “If Medicaid is your insurance, you should be able to get the best care possible and we’re glad that this politically motivated fight is coming to a close.”

The legal saga dates to May 2016, when the administration of then-Gov. Sam Brownback notified Planned Parenthood Great Plains and the Planned Parenthood affiliate in St. Louis that it was terminating their Medicaid provider status.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains had several hundred Medicaid patients at the time – adults with monthly income of no more than $768 who were pregnant, disabled or parents. And though based in Missouri, Planned Parenthood in St. Louis operated a health center in Joplin, Missouri, near the Kansas state line, and served a small number of Kansas patients.

Both affiliates immediately sued KDHE, alleging the terminations were unlawful and based on spurious grounds. KDHE had cited the Overland Park’s alleged failure to cooperate with a solid waste disposal inspection and potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims submitted by the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Oklahoma and Texas as reasons for the terminations.

Planned Parenthood responded that it had cooperated with the solid waste disposal inspection, although it said it refused to allow inspectors to take photographs out of concern for patients and staff privacy and safety. And it said the affiliates in Oklahoma and Texas had no connection to the affiliates in Overland Park and St. Louis.

The move to end Planned Parenthood’s participation in Medicaid came not long after Brownback, in his State of the State address in January 2016, accused Planned Parenthood of trafficking in “baby body parts” and vowed to defund the organization.

Brownback made his remarks after anti-abortion activists in 2015 released a highly edited undercover video purporting to show that Planned Parenthood clinics illegally sold fetal tissue for profit.

A dozen states, including Kansas, launched investigations, but none of them – including Kansas – found evidence for the video’s claims. A Houston grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing and indicted two of the makers of the video instead; those charges were later dismissed.

In July 2016, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson blocked Kansas’ effort to cut off Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding, ruling the move likely violated federal law. A federal appeals court upheld her injunction in February 2018, finding the Medicaid law’s free-choice-of-provider provision gives Medicaid patients the right to seek family planning services from the “qualified” providers of their choice.

Kansas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review that decision. But the court in December declined to hear the case, setting the stage for the lawsuit’s dismissal last week.

Kansas retained a high-powered East Coast law firm to represent it in the litigation. The firm, Consovoy McCarthy Park, was retained by President Donald Trumpearlier this month to fight House Democrats’ demand for six years’ worth of his tax returns.

The firm doesn’t come cheap. In the first three months after Kansas hired it, Consovoy billed Kansas more than $272,000, according to invoices obtained by KCUR under the Kansas Open Records Act. At that rate, assuming the firm continued to represent the state through last December, Kansas would have spent about $2.8 million in legal fees on the case.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

 

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing and asking the public for help to locate a suspect.

Just after 6a.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 900 block of Essex Court in Lawrence for reports of a stabbing, according to a media release.

Responding officers made contact with the 28-year-old woman who had suffered multiple stab wounds, inside her residence.

The victim was transported via ambulance to an area trauma center with injuries that are reported to be possibly life threatening. Police have no suspect information available.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the Lawrence Police Department at (785) 832-7509, or Crime Stoppers of Lawrence and Douglas County at (785)843-TIPS. Tips to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.