PRATT COUNTY – The Kansas State Fire Marshal is investigating a suspicious fire in Pratt County.
Just after 5:30 a.m. on Friday, Pratt City Fire, Pratt Police Department, and the Pratt County Sheriff’s Office responded to the report of a fire on the east side of Lemon’s Park, according to a media release.
On arrival officers found a pickup completely engulfed in flames.
The vehicle had driven through two fences, coming off Country Club Road just south of the city limits.
The make, model or owner cannot be determined at this time, according to the Sheriff.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new book says the BTK serial killer planned to kill an 11th victim by hanging her upside down in her Wichita, Kansas, home. It’s a story police heard from Dennis Rader himself in 2005, but decided at the time to suppress to protect the woman.
The story was made public in “Confessions of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer,” which has a scheduled release date of Sept. 6. The book was written by professor of forensic psychology Katherine Ramsland.
The author says lust and a desire for fame and power drove Rader to kill 10 people in Wichita from 1974 to 1991.
Rader’s daughter, Kerri Rawson, told the Wichita Eagle her father cooperated on the book because he’s proud of his murders.
All 3 were students in Silver Lake -photo GoFundMe
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Family and friends have established fundraisers to help the families following Thursday’s fatal accident in Shawnee County.
Four people died in an accident just after 7:15 a.m. on Thursday.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Subaru Impreza driven by Devin Michael Greeve, 17, Topeka, was westbound on U.S. 24, two miles east of Silver Lake.
The vehicle crossed the centerline.
An eastbound 2007 Pontiac Vibe driven by Lance Jason Lenard, 47, Rossville, struck the Subaru on the passenger side.
Greeve and Lenard were transported to Stormont Vail, where they died.
Computer giant Hewlett Packard Enterprises has entered into a $215 million contract with the state of Kansas to upgrade a Medicaid computer system that tracks patient claims payments to providers.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Hewlett Packard Enterprises recently announced a $215 million contract to upgrade a Medicaid computer system that tracks patient claims payments to providers. HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISES
According to a recent news release from the California-based company, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, or HPE, will work with partners that include Kansas City-based Cerner Corp. to overhaul the state’s Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) to meet new federal standards.
“HPE will strengthen the state’s ability to manage Medicaid policies and finances across disparate programs and agencies,” the news release said.
Angela de Rocha, a Kansas government spokeswoman, said the state will fund about 20 percent of the project with the federal government picking up the rest.
Kansas officials signed a contract of similar value in 2011 with Accenture to replace the computer system used to determine Medicaid eligibility with an upgrade called the Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System, or KEES.
That system went live last year after significant delays. It has failed to live up to the original promises of processing speed and accuracy , which has contributed to a backlog of thousands of Medicaid applications.
Developers who worked on KEES expressed concerns in emails about the program’s ability to communicate with the state’s current MMIS, which eventually will be replaced by the new HPE software.
The HPE software, known as the Kansas Modular Medicaid System, will take approved applications and enter them into a database of the state’s more than 400,000 Medicaid recipients. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the three private insurance companies that administer Kansas Medicaid, or KanCare, will use it to track and pay Medicaid claims to providers.
In the news release, HPE promises to deliver a product that is more flexible than the current system. It said the new system has the potential to swap out individual portions of the program and update them to interact with other software without taking down the whole system.
“Kansas will have a new information technology foundation for our Medicaid enterprise that will allow us to communicate targeted, actionable information from more sources in near real time to decision-makers,” KDHE secretary Susan Mosier said in a statement included in the news release. “This foundation will support changes over time to meet future program needs. By selecting HPE, we have partnered with an innovative company that understands the unique technological challenges of Medicaid delivery.”
Heartland Health Monitor partner KHI News Service requested information from KDHE about the funding sources for the HPE project. That request is pending.
HPE also said that Cerner, which specializes in electronic medical records software, will ensure the new system can organize Medicaid claims data from multiple sources into a single patient record.
A Cerner program called HealtheEDW will give system users at KDHE quicker access to data related to patient care and health outcomes, assisting the state’s efforts to steer Medicaid patients toward the right treatments at the right time.
Zane Burke, president of Cerner, said partnering with HPE on the upgrade will create an “unprecedented opportunity” to improve the delivery of health care services through KanCare.
“Historically, states collected analysis based on retroactive claims data,” Burke said in the news release. “Working with HPE, Kansas’ Medicaid program will be able to produce intelligence based on claims plus clinical and financial information in near-real time.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Former Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle has pleaded not guilty to several Kansas charges.
Randle on Friday pleaded not guilty to a criminal threat charge stemming from accusations that he threatened to kill a Sedgwick County jail deputy.
The Wichita Eagle reports Randle also entered not guilty pleas to charges accusing him of backing into three people with his car and kicking in the door of a Wichita home earlier this year. And, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of interfering with law enforcement in March.
Randle, who is from Wichita, is being held on $50,000 bond. He’s scheduled for trials in all three cases September 19.
The former NFL running back was released by the Cowboys last year.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has ruled there’s enough evidence to try former Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle on charges from two different cases.
KSN-TV reports that Randle was charged with aggravated battery in February in Sedgwick County. Police say he backed his car into three people while leaving a party.
Judge John Kisner said after a preliminary hearing Thursday that there is enough evidence to bind Randle over for trial in that case.
The judge also bound Randle over for trial on a count of interfering with law enforcement for dodging a warrant. Court dates weren’t set.
Kisner did not rule on whether Randle will stand trial in a third case involving a criminal threat against a Sedgwick County detention deputy.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating a Friday morning shooting and looking for a person of interest.
Just after 7 a.m. on Friday, police were dispatched to Stormont Vail Hospital after a person walked into suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a media release.
Police identified Matthew Jon Kolbek, Jr., 20, as a person of interest in the case, according to a media release. He was driving a black 2009 Chevy Cobalt with Kansas Tag 318JKB.
The shooting occurred at the Carriage House Apartments, 1601 SW 37th Terrace, in Topeka.
The wounds were non-life threatening, according to police.
Name of the victim was not released early Friday.
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SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating a Friday morning shooting.
Just after 7 a.m. on Friday, police were dispatched to Stormont Vail Hospital after a person walked into suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a media release.
The shooting occurred at the Carriage House Apartments, 1601 SW 37th Terrace, in Topeka.
The wounds were non-life threatening, according to police.
OSAGE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Osage County helped with a water rescue of stranded boaters and made an arrest on Tuesday night.
The motor quit on a boat on Melvern Reservoir late Tuesday, according to Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn. Deputies and a Kansas Game Warden helped rescue the boaters.
After checking, authorities determined one boater was wanted on a felony warrant in Shawnee County, according to Dunn.
Joel Davidson, 38, was wanted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Shawnee County Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.
It was a routine check of a driver’s license, according to Mike Miller with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
Davidson was taken into custody without incident and transported to Shawnee County.
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OSAGE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Osage County helped with a water rescue of stranded boaters and mane arrest on Tuesday night.
The motor quit on a boat on Melvern Reservoir late Tuesday, according to Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn. Deputies and a Kansas Game Warden helped rescue the boaters.
After checking, authorities determined one boater was wanted on a felony warrant in Shawnee County, according to Dunn.
It was a routine check of a driver’s license, according to Mike Miller with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
The wanted suspect was taken into custody without incident and transported to Shawnee County.
Officials in Shawnee County not respond to request for the name of the suspect or information on the warrant.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — U.S swimmer Ryan Lochte has apologized for his behavior surrounding a late-night incident at a Rio de Janeiro gas station, saying he should have been more careful and candid about how he described what happened.
Lochte said in a lengthy post on social media Friday that he was apologizing for his role in taking the focus away from other Olympic athletes.
The 12-time gold medalist reiterated his view that a stranger pointed a gun at him and demanded money to let him leave.
But Lochte says he should have handled himself more responsibly.
Brazil police have said Lochte lied by saying he and three other swimmers were robbed. They vandalized a gas station bathroom and were confronted by security guards.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A southern Kansas man has been ordered to spend decades in prison for the 2014 death and sexual assault of a 100-year-old woman.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 37-year-old Kasey Nesbitt was sentenced Thursday in Sedgwick County for first-degree felony murder, rape and aggravated burglary with the intent to commit a sexual assault. Under the sentence, his earliest chance for release would come when he is around 86.
Prosecutors said Martha Schell of Wichita died from blood clots that formed after Nesbitt kicked in her door and assaulted her in September 2014. The attack left her with a broken back and other injuries. DNA evidence connected Nesbitt to the attack.
District attorney Marc Bennett said Thursday that Schell’s family remains “very upset” and is “still grieving” her death.
ELLSWORTH COUNTY – A Kansa man was injured in an accident just before 11p.m. on Thursday in Ellsworth County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Chevy Camaro driven by Gordon R. Haight, 58, Topeka, was being pursued by KHP troopers southbound on Kansas 14 at 10th Street in Ellsworth.
The vehicle left the roadway and hit a tree.
Haight was transported to the hospital in Ellsworth.
He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Additional details on what prompted the chase was not released early Friday.
HUTCHINSON — A Kansas man charged in a child sex case was bound over for trial on the four counts against him on Thursday and then arrested on two new charges filed by the state.
Tanner Ward, 23, Hutchinson, faces arraignment for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated burglary and criminal threat. The charges involving a child 14 to 16 years of age are alleged to have occurred on January and January 11.
The aggravated burglary is alleged to have occurred on June 23 where he allegedly went into a home in the 100 block of East 5th to allegedly intimidate a victim or for a sexually motivated crime, according to police. The mother of the victim found him in her daughters bed. He was later found inside the garage of that home.
The final charge of criminal threat is alleged to have occurred on February 15, where he allegedly threatened to cut another person’s head off. Saying once all this is over he would go to the victim’s mothers home and take care of her.
In another instance, Ward was originally arrested for burglary after he allegedly stole some copper pipes from the construction site at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, took the pipes to Midwest Iron and Metal and sold them for cash. In doing so, he apparently signed papers saying the items were his.
District Attorney Keith Schroeder told the court that had Ward agreed to plead to one charge of indecent liberties with a child, he would have dropped the other charges and not file any new ones. Ward turned it down, so with this case, the state charged him with making false writing.
Ward is also alleged to have made contact with the alleged victim urging her to not show in court to testify telling her she wouldn’t be in trouble if she told them she simply forgot. Schroeder charged him with another count of Intimidation of a witness.
Arraignment on the original charges will be on September 6, and the new charges will added to a waiver-status docket on September 7.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The former owner of Ziggies restaurants in Kansas and Missouri has been sentenced to about three years in prison for failing to pay more than $1 million in federal payroll taxes.
Agim Zendeli of Springfield pleaded guilty earlier to failing to pay payroll taxes that he collected from his employees from 2004 to 2014. He was sentenced Wednesday to three years and one month in federal prison. He also has to pay about $1.3 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
He operated Ziggies restaurants in Springfield, Joplin, Carthage, Nevada, Republic, Willard, Marshfield, West Plains, Rolla and Poplar Bluff in Missouri, and in Pittsburg and Fort Scott in Kansas from 1998 to 2014.
PRATT COUNTY – The Kansas State Fire Marshal is investigating a suspicious fire in Pratt County.
