SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting and have identified the suspect.

Just after 10:45a.m. Tuesday, a police officer witnessed a maroon passenger vehicle stalled out in the intersection of NE Grant and NE Monroe in Topeka, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel. The Officer went to make contact with the occupants of the vehicle.

At that time, a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper responded to the area, because a Trooper attempted to stop that vehicle earlier in the morning, but the driver of the vehicle later identified as Jarmane Dyane Logan, 35, Topeka,  fled and evaded the Trooper.

As the Trooper and Officer were speaking to the occupants of the  vehicle, a silver SUV approached them at a high rate of speed, almost striking them.

The occupants of the maroon passenger car attempted to flee and get into the SUV.

As the Trooper and Officer tried to intervene, the Trooper and Officer were dragged by the SUV. The trooper shot and injured the Logan.  He was transported to a local hospital by ambulance and died, according to Beightel.

 

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after an officer-involved shooting.

Just after 10:45a.m. Tuesday, a police officer witnessed a maroon passenger vehicle stalled out in the intersection of NE Grant and NE Monroe in Topeka, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel. The Officer went to make contact with the occupants of the vehicle.

At that time, a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper responded to the area, because a Trooper attempted to stop that vehicle earlier in the morning, but the driver of the vehicle fled and evaded the Trooper.

As the Trooper and Officer were speaking to the occupants of the  vehicle, a silver SUV approached them at a high rate of speed, almost striking them.

The occupants of the maroon passenger car attempted to flee and get into the SUV.

As the Trooper and Officer tried to intervene, the Trooper and Officer were dragged by the SUV. The trooper shot and injured the driver of the SUV.  The suspect was transported to a local hospital by ambulance.

The condition of the suspect is unknown at this time. Beightel did not release the names of the suspect or officers involved.

 

 

 

 

 

LINCOLN COUNTY, NE — The Nebraska State Patrol says troopers have seized nearly 80 pounds of marijuana in two traffic stops on Interstate 80 near North Platte.

According to a media release, the first traffic stop occurred when NSP received a report of a Chevrolet Impala speeding and failing to maintain a lane while traveling eastbound on I-80. A trooper located the vehicle and made contact with the driver at exit 179. During the encounter, an NSP K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle.

Troopers searched the vehicle and found 48 pounds of high grade marijuana concealed in luggage. The driver, Doreen Cahill, 27, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, was arrested for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. Cahill was lodged in Lincoln County Jail.

Information on the November 18 traffic stop could not be released previously because of an ongoing investigation.

The second traffic stop occurred at approximately 1:10 p.m. Monday, November 26, when a trooper observed an eastbound Chevrolet Equinox fail to signal near mile marker 189 on I-80. During the traffic stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity. A search was conducted and revealed 30 pounds of high grade marijuana. The driver and passenger were both arrested and interviewed.

Following interviews, the driver was released. The passenger, a 17-year-old juvenile from California, was lodged in Lincoln County Jail for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp.

WICHITA – A Kansas woman was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison on drug and firearm charges, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister. 

Kimberly R. Phillips, 35, Hutchinson, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and one count of carrying a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

In her plea, Phillips admitted investigators found 64 tablets of oxycodone when they searched her residence. She also admitted that when investigators stopped her car they found her Derringer handgun and methamphetamine. She told investigators she was selling drugs to pay back her bondsman.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is recalling hundreds of vehicle license plates on the streets containing the “JAP” lettering in the wake of complaints that they are offensive to Japanese Americans.

The Kansas Department of Revenue said there are 731 active registrations containing that random letter combination on standard license plates. Vehicle owners were sent a letter dated Tuesday asking them to return the plate to their county vehicle office within 30 days for replacement at no cost.

The issue arose last year when a motorist spotted a car with the Kansas plate in traffic near his home in Culver City, California, and took a photo of it. A Kansas woman of Japanese heritage contacted the state after seeing the picture and story in the newspaper put out by the Japanese American Citizens League.

By DAVID PITT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — American farmers still working to get out their remaining soybeans after a weather-plagued harvest season are struggling to figure out what to do with a record crop now their traditionally dominant export market is largely closed.

Usually by this point in the year, 100-car trains filled with North Dakota soybeans would be moving to ports on the West Coast destined for China. This year is different because that leading soybean customer has all but stopped buying American soybeans in response to President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

Some farmers are storing unsold beans, hoping prices will improve and markets open. But with farmers already in debt due to high costs but falling net income, economists are warning they could be forced out of business by the export crisis.

By ANDREW DALTON
AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES — Stephen Hillenburg, who created SpongeBob SquarePants and the absurd undersea world he inhabited, has died at age 57, Nickelodeon announced Tuesday.

Hillenburg died Monday of Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS, the cable network said in a statement. He was 57.

Hillenburg had announced he had the disease in March 2017. His death comes just weeks after the passing of another cartoon hero in Marvel creator Stan Lee.

An Oklahoma native with a love of both drawing and marine biology, Hillenburg conceived, wrote, produced and directed the animated series that began in 1999 and went on to spawn hundreds of episodes, movies and a Broadway show.

“He was a beloved friend and long-time creative partner to everyone at Nickelodeon, and our hearts go out to his entire family,” Nickelodeon’s statement said. “Steve imbued ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere. His utterly original characters and the world of Bikini Bottom will long stand as a reminder of the value of optimism, friendship and the limitless power of imagination.”

The absurdly jolly SpongeBob, his starfish sidekick Patrick, and a vast cast of oceanic creatures quickly appealed to college kids and parents as much as it did kids.

“The fact that it’s undersea and isolated from our world helps the characters maintain their own culture,” Hillenburg told The Associated Press in 2001. “The essence of the show is that SpongeBob is an innocent in a world of jaded characters. The rest is absurd packaging.”

Born at his father’s army post in Lawton, Oklahoma, Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University in California in 1984 with a degree in natural resource planning with an emphasis on marine resources, and went on to teach marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute.

He shifted to drawing and earned a master of fine arts degree in animation from the California Institute of the Arts in 1992.

That same year he created an animated short called “Wormholes” that won festival plaudits and helped land him a job on the Nickelodeon show “Rocko’s Modern Life,” where he worked from 1993 to 1996 before he began to build SpongeBob’s undersea world of Bikini Bottom, which showed off his knowledge of marine life and willingness to throw all the details out the window.

“We know that fish don’t walk,” he told the AP, “and that there is no organized community with roads, where cars are really boats. And if you know much about sponges, you know that living sponges aren’t square.”

The show was an immediate hit that has lost no momentum in the nearly 20 years since its creation. Its nearly 250 episodes have won four Emmys and 15 Kids Choice Awards, and led to an endless line of merchandise to rival any other pop cultural phenomenon of the 2000s.

In 2004, the show shifted to the big screen with “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” and a 2015 sequel, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.”

A musical stage adaptation bowed on Broadway in 2017, with music from such stars as Steven Tyler, Sara Bareilles and John Legend. It earned 12 Tony Award nominations, including one for best performance by a leading actor for Ethan Slater.

“I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of Stephen Hillenburg,” Slater said in an email Tuesday. “Through working on ‘SpongeBob,’ I got to know him not only as a creative genius, but as a truly generous and kind person. He warmly embraced us on Broadway as the newest members of his wonderful ‘SpongeBob’ family, and made it so clear from the get-go why he is so beloved: genuine kindness.”

Hillenburg is survived by his wife of 20 years Karen Hillenburg, son Clay, mother Nancy Hillenburg, and a brother, Brian Kelly Hillenburg.