Average Kansas gas price rises 6 cents to $2.25/gallon in the past week; up 30 cents in past month
AAA
WICHITA – Kansas motorists continue to see more expensive prices at the gas pumps. The Sunflower State’s 6-cent increase in the past week was the fifth largest jump in the nation, and Kansas gas prices have risen 30 cents in the past month.
Whereas Kansas usually enjoys gas prices among the top 10 cheapest in the nation, this week’s average price registers 13th cheapest, still 18 cents less than the national average of $2.43.
“Pump prices rose steadily in Kansas and across the country in February, a month that saw a number of refineries undergoing planned and unplanned maintenance, and an increase in crude oil prices,” said AAA Kansas spokesman Shawn Steward. ““Gas prices have been pushed higher this week due to reduced gasoline stock levels and increased demand. Motorists can expect gas prices to continue to increase as refineries gear up for spring gasoline production and maintenance season.”
Of the 10 Kansas cities regularly highlighted by AAA Kansas (see chart below), eight experienced price increases at the pump. The largest price jumps were seen in Pittsburg (+12 cents), Kansas City, Kan. (+10) and Wichita (+10). Hays (-3) and Salina (-4) gas prices fell from one week ago.
According to AAA Kansas, this week’s Kansas gas price extremes are:
HIGH: Kensington (Smith County) – $2.51
LOW: Mullinville (Kiowa County) – $2.10
National Perspective
The national gas price average has increased nearly 20-cents since the beginning of the year, which is the largest jump during the January-February timeframe since 2015.
Today’s national average is $2.42, which is three-cents more expensive than last week, is 17-cents more expensive than a month ago, but 10-cents cheaper than a year ago.
Quick Stats
The nation’s top 10 largest weekly increases are: Florida (+13 cents), Alabama (+11 cents), Mississippi (+8 cents), Louisiana (+8 cents), Kansas (+6 cents), South Dakota (+6 cents), Texas (+5 cents), North Dakota (+5 cents), Colorado (+5 cents) and Michigan (+5 cents).
The nation’s top 10 least expensive markets are: Missouri ($2.17), Arkansas ($2.17), Utah ($2.18), Mississippi ($2.19), South Carolina ($2.19), Texas ($2.19), Virginia ($2.20), Colorado ($2.20), Louisiana ($2.21) and Tennessee ($2.22). (Kansas is 13thcheapest this week.)
RENO COUNTY — An attempt to thaw frozen water pipes led to a Kansas house fire.
Just before 5p.m. Monday, fire crews were dispatched to a home in the 1500 Block of East 4th Street in Hutchinson for a structure fire, according to Battalion Chief Jeremy Unruh.
Initial arriving crews found heavy smoke showing from the attic of a single-story residential home. Crews made an aggressive interior attack and controlled the fire within minutes of arrival. The fire was located in a bathroom and had traveled to the attic. There was significant damage to both the bathroom and attic.
The home was occupied at the time of call. Maintenance personnel advised that they were thawing frozen pipes in the bathroom with a heat gun when items in their work area ignited. The occupants exited the building without injury, according to Unruh.
Parts of East 4th Street were blocked for approximately 2 hours.
Hutchinson Fire would like to remind residents to never use an open flame or high heat source (blowtorch, kerosene or propane heater, charcoal stove) to thaw frozen pipes.
If using an electric hair dryer or portable space heater to thaw pipes, keep away from flammable materials and never leave space heaters unattended. If you are unable to thaw the pipe, call a licensed plumber.
Constance J. “Connie” Thompson, 75, passed away March 4, 2019, at the University of Kansas Health System – Great Bend Campus, Great Bend. She was born October 24, 1943, at Great Bend to Joseph F. and Opal M. (Schroeder) Denney. Connie married Kenneth Lyle Thompson Jan. 8, 1960, at Great Bend.
Connie, a lifetime resident of Great Bend, was a homemaker and most recently worked for the USD 428 food service department. She was a gifted artist, especially enjoying crafts and painting.
Survivors include her husband, Kenneth of the home; two sons; Allen Thompson and Steven Thompson both of Great Bend; one daughter, Terri Fritz and husband Ken of Great Bend; seven grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Jerry Denney; daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Daryl Ferguson; and step father James Queen.
Funeral services will be 1:00 p.m. Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Bryant Funeral Home, with Rev. Kurt Spivey. Interment will follow at Great Bend Cemetery, Great Bend. Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at Bryant Funeral Home, with the family receiving friends from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Memorials may be directed to the Dementia Society of America, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
Ivan E. “Ike” Penry, 77, died Monday March 4, 2019. He was born January 20, 1942, in Hoyt, Kansas, the son of Irenious Claude and Alberta (Smith) Penry. He joined the Marine Corps in 1959 and retired as a Gunnery Sergeant in 1979 after proudly serving three tours in Vietnam.
Ike married his wife Norma (Alger) Riedl on November 26, 1982. Together they owned and operated a variety of businesses including Suburban Amusements until their retirement in 2010.
Ike is survived by his wife Norma, five children, two step children, three siblings, and several other family and close friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents, three siblings and a step son.
Friends may call 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, with family to receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m.
Graveside service will be 3 p.m., Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Hoisington Cemetery, with military honors conducted by the United States Marine Corp Honor Guard.
Memorials may be made to the Clara Barton Hospital Foundation in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.
Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 24. Wind chill values as low as -14. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west southwest in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 7. Wind chill values as low as -4. South southwest wind 5 to 7 mph.
Wednesday Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Wind chill values as low as -1. South southeast wind 8 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Wednesday NightMostly cloudy, with a low around 20. East wind around 10 mph.
ThursdayPartly sunny, with a high near 33.
Thursday NightA slight chance of snow and freezing rain before 7pm, then a slight chance of snow between 7pm and midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a first-degree murder charge against a second suspect in the deadly shooting of a Topeka woman.
Rahnel Rayford photo Shawnee Co.
Monday’s decision to drop the charge against 28-year-old Rahnel Erik Rayford comes less than a week after a murder charge was dropped against 31-year-old Justin Lee McCoy. The dismissals were done in such a way that the men could be charged again in the death last May of 37-year-old Patricia Sanders.
McCoy has been freed, but Rayford remains jailed on an attempted first-degree murder charge. The defense also wants that charge dropped.
The recent dismissals mark the second time charges have been dropped in the case. The men were released previously after a judge found there wasn’t probable cause to hold them. A grand jury then indicted them.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell was found not guilty Monday on nearly all charges of taking campaign funds for his personal use.
Michael O’Donnell-photo Sedgwick Co.
A federal jury acquitted O’Donnell on 21 counts of wire fraud, but deadlocked on two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns. Prosecutors alleged he took $10,500 of campaign funds to put into his personal checking account or give to friends.
U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release that his office will evaluate the results of the trial to determine whether to take the case to trial again on the counts in which the jury did not reach a verdict.
“As always, our office takes very seriously the determinations made by a jury of our citizens, and we will consider the jury’s decision here carefully in deciding next steps for our office,” McAllister said.
O’Donnell and his family cried as the verdicts were read in the courtroom.
“I’m obviously very relieved. It feels good to be vindicated,” O’Donnell told reporters as he walked away from the courthouse.
One of his defense attorneys, Mark Schoenhofer, called the acquittals a win even though the jurors got stuck on a few counts.
“But overall, we consider this a victory,” Schoenhofer said. “We’re very happy with the jury and how hard they worked on this case.”
O’Donnell took the stand in his own defense to argue the payments were legitimate campaign expenses . In at times combative testimony, he criticized U.S. Justice Department and federal agents for not reaching out to him before the indictment so he could explain the payments.
He contended the many of those checks were retainers or bonuses given to staffers who worked on his campaign and helped him with his official government duties.
Prosecutors highlighted the testimony of people he had paid who said they either did no work for the campaign or were not actually working at events such as ball games as O’Donnell had claimed.
Several people, including then-Gov. Sam Brownback and other state officials, received notification letters in 2017 from the Justice Department telling them that the federal government intercepted phone calls between them and O’Donnell’s phone number. O’Donnell, a conservative known in part for championing tougher rules for welfare recipients, was a political ally of Brownback who won his legislative seat in a 2012 purge of Senate moderates.
“The Democrats were foaming at the mouth to get me,” O’Donnell told jurors. “I was very stressed knowing I was the most targeted senator in the state.”
The Wichita Republican was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell was found not guilty Monday on nearly all charges of taking campaign funds for his personal use.
A federal jury acquitted O’Donnell on 21 counts of wire fraud, but deadlocked on two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns. Prosecutors alleged he took $10,500 of campaign funds to put into his personal checking account or give to friends.
O’Donnell took the stand in his own defense to argue the payments were legitimate campaign expenses . In at times combative testimony, he criticized U.S. Justice Department and federal agents for not reaching out to him before the indictment so he could explain the payments.
He contended the many of those checks were retainers or bonuses given to staffers who worked on his campaign and helped him with his official government duties.
Prosecutors highlighted the testimony of people he had paid who said they either did no work for the campaign or were not actually working at events such as ball games as O’Donnell had claimed.
Several people, including then-Gov. Sam Brownback and other state officials, received notification letters in 2017 from the Justice Department telling them that the federal government intercepted phone calls between them and O’Donnell’s phone number. O’Donnell, a conservative known in part for championing tougher rules for welfare recipients, was a political ally of Brownback who won his legislative seat in a 2012 purge of Senate moderates.
“The Democrats were foaming at the mouth to get me,” O’Donnell told jurors. “I was very stressed knowing I was the most targeted senator in the state.”
The Wichita Republican was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County jury will be back in court to continue deliberations in the fraud case of County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell.
O’Donnell faces 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns.
The case went to the jury late Friday.
Prosecutors allege O’Donnell used $10,500 in campaign funds for personal expenses and gave some money to friends.
O’Donnell testified last week that the payments were legitimate campaign expenses.
The Wichita Republican served in the Kansas Senate from 2012 to January 2017. He term on the Sedgwick County Commission began in 2017.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An Ohio man whose online video game dispute allegedly led to a deadly hoax call has told a federal court in Kansas that he plans to change his plea.
Police body camera images of The December 2018 fatal response to a hoax call -courtesy Wichita Police
A court notice posted on Monday sets an April 3 change-of-plea hearing for 19-year-old Casey Viner of North College Hill, Ohio. He is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, wire fraud and other counts.
Prosecutors allege Viner became upset while playing the Call of Duty WWII video game and asked 26-year-old Tyler Barriss of Los Angeles to “swat” 20-year-old Shane Gaskill in Wichita. Police shot the Kansas man who lived at the old address.
The case drew attention to the practice of making a false report to get emergency responders to descend on an address.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A man was charged in federal court Monday with the arson at the Columbia Health Center, operated by Planned Parenthood Great Plains that also provides services in Wichita and Overland Park.
Kaster -photo Boone Co.
According to the United State’s Attorney, Wesley Brian Kaster, 42, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo., with one count of maliciously damaging a building, owned by an organization the receives federal financial assistance, by means of fire or an explosive. Kaster, who was arrested on Saturday, March 2, 2019, remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday, March 7, 2019.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, surveillance video from Planned Parenthood and from neighboring businesses recorded Kaster in the early morning hours of Feb. 10, 2019. He parked his Toyota Sienna minivan (missing the right front passenger-side hubcap) nearby at about 2:30 a.m. and carried a seemingly heavy white bucket to the north exterior door of the Planned Parenthood building. Kaster broke the front door, the affidavit says, placed the bucket inside the building, and threw a Molotov cocktail-type device inside the building. Kaster remained standing on the sidewalk outside the door, watching the inside of the building. Kaster then allegedly entered the building through the broken door. No explosion or fire was visible at this time.
At approximately 2:52 a.m., the affidavit says, two unidentified pedestrians approached and Kaster fled east across Providence Road. Kaster walked to where his vehicle was parked and drove away. At this time, there was no discernable smoke or active fire at the Planned Parenthood building.
Kaster returned at about 4 a.m., according to the affidavit. Surveillance video recorded Kaster walking to the Planned Parenthood door with what the affidavit describes as “an undiscernible item in his left hand.” At 4:03 a.m., smoke is visible billowing from the broken glass door of the Planned Parenthood building. Kaster fled north along the west side of Providence Road, and west along 4th Avenue, out of view.
The Columbia Fire Department received the fire alarm at the Planned Parenthood building at approximately 4:05 a.m. Firefighters observed that the north exterior door of the building, which was constructed of glass inside a frame, had been shattered and an accelerant fueled the fire that was set inside. The fire was fully extinguished by a fire sprinkler system before firefighters arrived, and only moderate fire damage was observed to the room and its contents. Among the evidence collected at the scene by investigators were two five-gallon buckets that had contained gasoline, one inside of the other, found lying on the floor just inside the broken doorway. Investigators also recovered the remains of a Molotov cocktail.
Investigators identified 55 Toyota Sienna minivans registered by Columbia residents, one of which was registered by Kaster. Investigators also received records from Lowe’s for a list of all recent purchases of five-gallon buckets from area stores in 2019, which included a purchase by Kaster. Surveillance videos related to that purchase, according to the affidavit, clearly captured Kaster’s face and physical features.
Investigators contacted Kaster’s employer, a light manufacturing business in Jefferson City, where he works as a floor supervisor in the welding shop. According to the affidavit, Kaster had acquired a pair of Ansell HyFlex gloves, which are cut and abrasion resistant, which were the same make, model, color and size gloves recovered from the Planned Parenthood building.
Investigators searched social media accounts connected to Kaster. On Oct. 25, 2015, a picture was posted to the Facebook page of Kaster’s wife depicting a handgun and the words, “Guns Don’t Kill People, Planned Parenthood Kills People.”
Multiple federal search warrants were executed on Saturday, March 2, 2019. Investigators searched Kaster’s minivan a few minutes after he left his workplace that morning and took Kaster to obtain hair specimens. Investigators searched Kaster’s residence, the affidavit says, where numerous items of evidence were collected that definitively tied Kaster to the crime scene at Planned Parenthood. Based on these facts, Kaster was arrested at 11:07 a.m.
TOPEKA – Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Acting Secretary Laura Howard announced today she has appointed Lesia Dipman to serve as Acting Superintendent of Larned State Hospital.
Dipman has served the State of Kansas for 34 years, starting her career at LSH in 1984 where she has worked in various positions, from food services to the nursing department, and multiple departments, from the State Security Hospital to the adolescent unit to the youth center. She attended Fort Hays State University and Kansas State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from KSU in 1994. By 2004, she was promoted to Director of Social Services at the hospital, and a year later earned a master’s degree in social work from Newman University in Wichita.
In 2006, Dipman transferred to the State Security Program at LSH as the Administrative Program Director, her most recent position before being named acting superintendent by KDADS Acting Secretary Howard. Dipman replaces Bill Rein, who served as superintendent at the hospital from June 2016 until January this year.
“In naming Lesia Dipman Acting Superintendent at LSH, we have found someone with more than three decades of distinguished service to the people of Kansas, to this hospital and to the surrounding community,” Acting Secretary Howard said. “I have every confidence she will bring the continuity we need to keep moving KDADS forward on the hospital’s important mission to provide a safety net of mental health services for Kansans.”
Acting Secretary Howard said the agency will begin the process of identifying candidates to serve as permanent superintendent for LSH immediately.
Oil prices rose Monday, boosted by reports of a possible agreement as early as this month to end the U.S.-China trade war. Supply cuts from OPEC and its non-member allies continued to support oil futures as well. A tanker was seen Friday off-loading U.S. Eagle Ford crude oil into a port in China, which Reuters said what would be the first Chinese import of American crude oil in months. The Russian energy minister told Reuters they are increasing the pace of oil production cuts under the “OPEC-plus” agreements, and should post a higher compliance rate in March.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports a dip in its active rig count for the week, with just two rigs working in eastern Kansas, down one, and 23 west of Wichita, down six. Drilling is underway on one lease in Russell County. Operators are about to spud a new well in Barton County and one in Stafford County.
Baker Hughes reports 1,038 active oil and gas drilling rigs across the U.S. on Friday, a decline of ten oil rigs. Canada checks in with 211 active rigs, down one. The count in Texas was down five. The total in Oklahoma was down two.
Regulators approved 18 drilling permits for new locations across the state last week, just one east of Wichita and 17 in Western Kansas. That’s 133 new permits year-to-date, about half the total last year by the end of February.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 48 new well-completions for the week, 24 east of Wichita and 24 out west., including one completion in Barton County, three in Ellis County, and three in Russell County.
The government last week said U.S. crude oil production last week reached an all-time high of just under 12.1 million barrels per day. That’s up 104 thousand barrels per day over the week before, and an increase of 1.8 million barrels per day over last year at this time. The Energy Information Administration said commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 8.6 million barrels from the previous week to about 3% above the five year seasonal average. Imports averaged 5.9 million barrels per day, down by 1.6 million barrels per day from the previous week.
A coalition of environmental groups is fighting a tight oil project near the Utah-Colorado border by a company with ties to Estonia in eastern Europe. The company has invested $60 million to date in the Utah project, which would produce an estimated 50,000 barrels a day if the site is fully built out. Opponents say the plan would drain billions of gallons of water from the Green River, threaten endangered species and generate enormous amounts of greenhouse gas pollution.
Operators in New Mexico could soon be required to chip in a little more to help the government’s efforts to regulate that state’s booming oil and gas industry. A new bill would allow regulators to collect application fees, administrative filing fees, and permit fees to cover the costs regulating the patch. Supporters say regulators’ workload has quadrupled, while top employees are leaving for bigger paychecks in the private sector. According to the Web site “New Mexico In Depth,” lawmakers in Santa Fe are exploring just how much to charge. Some are questioning why fees should be used instead of a regular budget line-item, calling the bill a “license to steal,” and a “self-licking ice cream cone.”
An effort to ban hydraulic fracturing in New Mexico was met with scorn from the oil and gas industry and local boom towns. Such a move could cost the state about $3.5 billion in lost revenue, and could set back local governments more than $300 million, according to a committee report. That report prompted lawmakers to pull the bill off the legislative calendar.
Canada’s energy regulator has endorsed the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that would almost triple the flow of oil from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Coast. The National Energy Board said the expansion is in the country’s national interest, but set out 16 new conditions after a court found it had not properly determined how killer whales would be affected by additional tanker traffic. The court also said there had been insufficient consultation with indigenous communities. As oil flow increases from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day, tanker traffic will balloon from about 60 vessels to more than 400 vessels annually.
S&P Global Platts reports the Saudis continue their efforts to increase oil and gas acquisitions and upgrades in the U.S., despite strained political relations. Through a subsidiary, Aramco already owns the US’ largest refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, and is in the early stages of an ambitious $6.6 billion petrochemicals expansion there. Aramco is on the lookout for natural gas assets, having previously been linked to potential stakes in two large producers. But the kingdom is also pivoting to Asia, with several refinery and petrochemical deals announced recently. Those projects are seen as key to gaining outlets for Saudi crude in Asia, at a time when booming shale oil output here has reduced the U.S. reliance on supplies from the Middle East. Platts reports Saudi Aramco aims to nearly double its global refining footprint to nearly 10 million barrels per day.
Chloe Lynn Rolf, newborn, received her angel wings on February 17, 2019. She was born the daughter of Joseph Allen Rolf and Joanna Renae Simmons.
Survivors include her parents; sister, Claire Simmons; paternal grandparents Allen and Carolyn Rolf of Parker; maternal grandparents Brian and Yvonne Simmons of Great Bend; uncles and aunts, Matt Simmons and wife Janell of Topeka, David Simmons of Great Bend, Jacob Simmons of Wichita, James Howard and wife Amanda of Garnett, Joshua Howard and Natasha of Parker, Jessica Miller and husband Willis of Richmond and Jonathan Rolf of Parker.
Funeral services will be held 11:00 am Friday, March 8, 2019, at Heritage Baptist Church in Great Bend, with Rev. Ken Gray. Interment will follow at the Great Bend Cemetery, Great Bend. Memorials may be directed to the Family Expense Fund, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
