Sarah McClure’s father speaking out about the lawsuit in June-image courtesy KSHB
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former student who claims the school didn’t do enough to protect students from sexual assault.
Former Kansas rower Sarah McClure filed the lawsuit after she reported being raped by a former football player. Another former rower, Daisy Tackett, later filed a similar lawsuit, claiming she was raped by the same person.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the university filed a motion Friday arguing McClure’s lawsuit should be dismissed. The university has filed a similar motion in Tackett’s lawsuit.
Spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Paterson said the university believes it met its obligations to both women.
The university investigated the reports and the suspected assailant was expelled. He has not been charged with any crimes.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City man pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to aiming his laser pointer at a Kansas City Police Department helicopter, according to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Jordon Clarence Rogers, 26, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer to the charge contained in an Oct 29, 2014, superseding indictment.
By pleading guilty, Rogers admitted that he aimed the beam of a laser pointer at a Kansas City Police Department helicopter on Oct. 8, 2013.
Rogers struck the helicopter three times with a green laser light. He twice hit the eye of one of the pilots, causing eye strain that lasted for hours after the incident.
Under federal statutes, Rogers is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has blocked Kansas, Georgia and Alabama from requiring residents to prove they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote using a national form.
The 2-1 ruling late Friday is a victory for voting rights groups who sued a U.S. election official after he changed proof-of-citizenship requirements on the federal registration form at the behest of the three states.
Other states only require people registering to vote to swear they are citizens, not show documentary proof.
A federal judge in July refused to block the requirement while the case was being decided.
The League of Women Voters and civil rights groups argued that the requirements could lead to the “mass disenfranchisement” of thousands of potential voters — many of them poor, African-American and living in rural areas.
TOPEKA, Kan. – (September 8, 2016) The Kansas Department of Health and Environment samples publicly accessible bodies of water for blue-green algae when the agency receives reports of potential algae blooms in Kansas lakes. Based on sampling results, KDHE reports on potentially harmful conditions.
Lakes under a Warning are not closed. Marinas, lakeside businesses and park camping facilities are open for business. If swim beaches are closed, it will be specifically noted. Drinking water and showers at parks are safe and not affected by algae blooms. Boating and fishing are safe on lakes under a Warning, but contact with the water should be avoided. It is safe to eat fish caught during a harmful blue-green algae outbreak, as long as the fish is rinsed with clean water; only the fillet portion is consumed and all other parts are discarded. Hands should also be washed with clean water after handling fish taken from an affected lake. Zoned lakes may have portions fully open for all recreation even if other portions are under a Warning.
Kansans should be aware that blooms are unpredictable. They can develop rapidly and may float around the lake, requiring visitors to exercise their best judgment. If there is scum, a paint-like surface or the water is bright green, avoid contact and keep pets away. These are indications that a harmful bloom may be present. Pet owners should be aware that animals that swim in or drink water affected by a harmful algal bloom or eat dried algae along the shore may become seriously ill or die.
Public Health Warning: High levels of toxic blue-green algae have been detected. A Public Health Warning indicates that activities like boating and fishing may be safe; however, direct contact with water (i.e., wading, skiing and swimming) is strongly discouraged for people, pets and livestock.
Kansas public waters currently under a Warning status:
MILFORD RESERVOIR (Zone C), Clay, Dickinson and Geary Counties OVERBROOK CITY LAKE, Osage County SOUTH LAKE (Overland Park), Johnson County
When a Warning is issued, KDHE recommends the following precautions be taken:
Lake water is not good to drink for pets or livestock
Lake water, regardless of blue-green algae status, should never be consumed by humans
Water contact should be avoided
Fish can be eaten as long as they are rinsed with clean water, consume only the fillet portion, and discard all other parts
Do not allow pets to eat dried algae
If lake water contacts skin, wash with clean water as soon as possible
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A transgender soldier imprisoned in Kansas for leaking classified information to the WikiLeaks website says she is on a hunger strike until her treatment improves.
Chelsea Manning says she began the hunger strike Friday because her pleas for better treatment at Fort Leavenworth have been ignored. She says she will not voluntarily consume anything except water and prescription medication.
In the statement supplied by her ACLU attorney, Manning says the hunger strike will continue until she receives the “minimum standards of dignity, respect and humanity” and she is prepared for the possibility of dying.
Manning, arrested as Bradley Manning, was convicted in 2013 in military court of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents.
Army spokesman Wayne Hall said Friday he was looking into the situation.
A federal judge says she will appoint a special master to investigate possible Sixth Amendment violations stemming from recordings of attorney-client meetings at the pretrial detention facility in Leavenworth. BIGSTOCK
One attorney said she’d never witnessed anything like it in her 26 years of practice.
Another said it was extraordinary – and painful – to watch.
Both were referring to a court hearing Wednesday in which a federal judge excoriated federal prosecutors for their handling of a drug smuggling case at the privately run Leavenworth Detention Center.
Disclosures that the pretrial detention facility taped phone calls and made video recordings of meetings between inmates and their lawyers have outraged criminal defense attorneys. And the disclosures have led to a series of extraordinary hearings about both the center’s conduct and that of federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas City, Kansas.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson, who is overseeing the case, said Wednesday she will appoint a special master – basically an independent third party – to investigate whether inmates’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated. And she said she would make the U.S. Department of Justice pay the special master’s fees, which could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Robinson also said she would empower the special master to look into ethical violations and to propose remedies, up to and including the dismissal of the case.
In doing so, the judge rejected federal prosecutors’ recommendation that the scope of the investigation be limited to determining what recordings were privileged and excluding them as evidence in the case.
Many of the recordings were turned over to prosecutors after they subpoenaed video and audio recordings made at the detention facility, which is run by Corrections Corporation of America.
Prosecutors say they obtained the privileged attorney-client recordings inadvertently. But testimony at the hearing indicated that the phone calls of at least one attorney who requested that his calls to clients not be monitored or recorded were, in fact, recorded.
Prosecutors said they were unwilling to consent to the broad scope of Robinson’s order. The Federal Public Defender’s office, which has taken the lead in pushing for the appointment of a special master, said it did.
Making the U.S. Justice Department pay for the special master would be extraordinary. In civil cases, the consent of both parties is required before a special master can be appointed. And typically payment is allocated among the parties – although the court can take into account which party is more responsible.
In its brief proposing the appointment of a special master, the Federal Public Defender said that even without both parties’ consent, the court can appoint one if it’s warranted by “some exceptional condition.” And the recordings of attorney-client meetings and phone conversations, it said, presented just such a condition.
Wednesday’s hearing was just the latest instance of Judge Robinson displaying growing displeasure with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas City, Kansas. On Tuesday, in an unrelated drug case, she rebuked the office for its practice of telling defense attorneys in drug cases not to provide their clients copies of discovery items – evidence that each side is required to disclose to the other.
“The Government offers several justifications for its requirement that defense counsel first review the videos and that the videos not be made available for copying. Although these justifications center on the Government’s general concerns about informant safety and the safekeeping of evidence, they do not justify the discovery restrictions that the Government advocates for in this case,” she wrote.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
DICKINSON COUNTY – Three people were injured in an accident just after 7 p.m. on Friday in Dickinson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Ford Fusion driven by Paige A. Woodbury, 18, Liberty, MO., was westbound on Interstate 70 two miles west of Chapman.
The driver lost control of the vehicle. It crossed the median, traveled onto the eastbound lanes and hit a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe driven by Ellen I. Taylor, 26, Salina, head-on.
Taylor was transported by Life-flight to Salina Regional Health Center and then transported on to Wichita
A passenger in the Hyundai Jordan F. Theim, 10, was transported to Geary Community Hospital and then flown to Stormont Vail in Topeka.
Woodbury was transported to the hospital in Abilene. She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Lawrence mayor has pleaded not guilty to a federal embezzlement charge, but his attorney says his client might reconsider.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports Jeremy Farmer is accused of stealing money from Just Food, a Lawrence food bank, and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors say Farmer, who was hired as executive director of Just Food in 2011, embezzled money from the nonprofit food agency beginning in 2013 and ending in 2015. He is accused of taking more than $55,000 in funds.
Farmer appeared in federal court in Topeka on Thursday to face one charge of interstate travel of embezzled funds.
Planned Parenthood’s midtown Kansas City clinic, photo MATT HODAPP
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Planned Parenthood Great Plains says it will absorb three clinics in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.
The organization said Friday it will take over the clinics Oct. 20.
In July, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri took over Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma and created Planned Parenthood Great Plains. With the new merger, the organization will oversee 12 health centers in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the latest expansion involves clinics in Fayetteville and Little Rock, Arkansas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said its headquarters will remain in Overland Park, Kansas. She says no layoffs are expected and more staff might be hired in the Kansas City office.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The man who stabbed his wife at a Lawrence motel will serve intensive probation.
Navinkumar Patel, of Shawnee, was sentenced Thursday to five years and eight months of probation in Johnson County. He stabbed his wife twice in the abdomen at a Super 8 Motel in June 2015. He pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree murder and criminal threat.
Douglas County District Court Judge Robert Fairchild’s sentence came after a doctor who performed a mental health evaluation said Patel was unlikely to re-offend — if he stops drinking and takes medication.
The Lawrence Journal reports testimony indicated Patel suffers from bipolar disorder.
His attorney, John Kerns, told Fairchild that in Patel’s Hindu culture, his wife and children would also suffer if he were sentenced to prison.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Catholic university in Wichita canceled a scheduled talk by Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier because of concerns about a backlash from people who oppose abortion.
Beier was scheduled to speak Friday as part of Newman University’s Constitution Day. She was to discuss the role of the judiciary and how to get into law school.
The Wichita Eagle reports Newman vice president and provost Kimberly Long became concerned about the tone of opposition expressed on social media. Long says she was worried that Beier would not be treated well and for the safety of those who attended the speech. She declined to reveal specific content of the messages.
Long said most of the unsettling messages came from people not affiliated with Newman students or faculty.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a computer scam that allegedly cost the victim over $15,000.
A 68-year-old man reported he called a number he thought was a Microsoft Operating Systems 24-7 support line after experiencing problems with his computer, according to
Salina Police Captain Chris Trocheck.
He was instructed to call another number and spoke to two males that requested he send two iTunes cards for $100 each and the computer issue would be resolved.
After requesting his bank account information, thieves then credited the man’s checking account with $10,000. They called him back a short time later requesting he send the money back. He sent $18,000 using iTunes cards as he was instructed to do. The man found out later that the original $10,000 came from another account of his.
Someone claiming to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that requested that an additional $2,000 be sent contacted the man again on September 4.
After deciding that he had been scammed, he contacted authorities instead, but not before leaves had removed about $15,000 from his account.
