GEARY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a suspect in connection with alleged attempted murder and assault on law enforcement officers.
Police in Junction City arrested Daniel Genson, 22, Junction City, in connection with the stabbing of two people on Wednesday.
Just after 9:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to the area of 938 East 4th Street in Junction City and found one male victim who had been stabbed and another female victim also was stabbed trying to break up the incident, according to Police Detective Lieutenant Jeff Childs.
The male victim was transported to Geary Community Hospital where he underwent surgery, while the female victim was not transported by ambulance but did later seek medical treatment elsewhere.
When officers arrived on the scene they located the suspect who still had the knife in his hand, wouldn’t follow directions, and had to be tased, forced to the ground, and taken into custody, according to Childs.
The Geary County Booking Photo report released Thursday morning indicates Genson was arrested on suspicion of two counts of Attempted Murder in the 1st Degree, seven counts of Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, and two counts of Aggravated Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer.
Genson is expected to have a first appearance in Geary County District Court on Thursday.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling about 830,000 vehicles in the U.S. and Mexico because the side door latches can break and the doors can open while the vehicles are moving.
The recall covers certain 2013 to 2015 Ford Escape SUVs and C-Max cars, and 2012 to 2015 Focus cars. Also included are 2014 to 2016 Ford Transit Connect vans, and Ford Mustang sports cars and Lincoln MKC SUVs from 2015.
Ford says a tab inside the latch can break, stopping the door from latching. The company says the rate of problems is higher in states with high temperatures, so the recall is focused on 16 states mainly in the south and west.
Dealers will replace all latches in the recall states. In other states they will replace the latches if they break.
Wednesday accident scene -photo Saline Co. Sheriff
SALINE COUNTY –Two people were injured in accident just before 1p.m. on Wednesday in Saline County.
The driver of a semi Joe P. Grimes, 69, Junction City, was northbound on Burma Road and failed to stop at the stop sign at Crawford, according to Saline County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Smith.
The semi struck an eastbound 2008 Cadillac Escalade driven by Terrah May Martin, 34, Ellsworth.
Both vehicles rolled into the northeast ditch at the intersection.
The top and driver’s compartment of the Cadillac also impacted a utility pole.
Both drivers were pinned inside their vehicles, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Grimes was transported to Salina Regional Health Center. He remains in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit, according to Smith.
It took first responders more than an hour to extricate Martin from her vehicle. She was flown from the scene to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, where she remains in critical condition.
Burma Road and Crawford Street remained closed overnight as crews worked to clean up the accident scene.
Smith said investigators have not yet been able to determine what caused Grimes to run the stop sign.
ANDERSON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and State Fire Marshal are working at the scene of an explosion and fire on Tuesday at a home near Greeley in rural Anderson County.
While initially working to determine the cause of the fire, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department opened a narcotics investigation, according to a media release.
One white, male was transported to a hospital for treatment, according to Anderson County Sergeant-Detective Wes Mclain.
WASHINGTON -President Barack Obama on Wednesday commuted the sentences of 214 people serving prison time for federal crime convictions.
Among them were five from Kansas or the Kansas City area., according to the White House press office.
(Click here for the entire list)
Richard L. Reser – Sedgwick, KS
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; possession of firearm while trafficking in drugs (two counts); possession of a firearm by a felon; distribution of methamphetamine; conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; District of Kansas
Sentence: 480 months’ imprisonment; eight years’ supervised release (December 20, 1989)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on December 1, 2016.
Lavon A. Crockett – Kansas City, KS
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of a mixture and substance containing cocaine base (“crack cocaine”); District of Kansas
Sentence: 188 months’ imprisonment; four years’ supervised release (December 6, 2005)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on December 1, 2016.
Michael L. Franklin – Kansas City, MO
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; Western District of Missouri
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (January 3, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on December 1, 2016.
Thomas R. Fuller – Kansas City, MO
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine; aiding and abetting to distribute crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime; felon in possession of a firearm; Western District of Missouri
Sentence: 300 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (August 7, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on December 1, 2016.
Frederico Johnson – Kansas City, MO
Offense: Distribution of five grams or more of cocaine base; Western District of Missouri
Sentence: 262 months’ imprisonment; eight years’ supervised release (July 23, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to a term of 188 months’ imprisonment.
Scene of Thursday morning fire in Hutchinson- photo courtesy KWCH
HUTCHINSON – Investigators are working to determine the cause of a house explosion and fire at a home in Hutchinson.
The fire at 1502 East 2nd was reported just after 2a.m., according to Hutchinson Police.
Fire crews found the house fully involved with fire venting from all windows of the structure, according to a media release.
Crews brought the fire under control in approximately 25 minutes before entering the structure to complete work on extinguishing the fire.
Thursday morning fire in Hutchinson- photo courtesy KWCH
The only occupant of the home had been removed from the structure prior to fire crews arriving with the assistance of an unknown person.
The woman was located three houses down at a neighbors where Reno County EMS assisted her. She received burns according to fire officials and was transported to a Wichita hospital.
Cause of the fire has been ruled undetermined and officials are not ruling out a gas explosion from a loose fitting on an interior gas line. The home will more than likely be a total loss.
No value on the home was available early Thursday.
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HUTCHINSON – Investigators are working to determine the cause of a house explosion and fire at a home in Hutchinson.
The fire at 1502 East 2nd was reported just after 2a.m., according to Hutchinson Police.
One woman was transported to a hospital for treatment. Her condition was not available early Thursday.
PLATTE COUNTY, MO – Law enforcement authorities in Kansas City have arrested a Kansas man in connection with the death of a woman on Saturday in Topeka.
According to inmate records Clarence James Foy, 26, Paola, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon and is being held in the Platte County Jail.
A suspicious vehicle was spotted in the Northland shortly after 11am. The occupants failed to stop for officers and a chase ensued. The vehicle had been reported stolen in Topeka, according to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office.
Two men inside the vehicle ran after a crash and disappeared into a wooded area near 9 highway and N.W. Coffey.
One suspect was taken into custody shortly after 1:30 p.m., and the other was arrested at about 6 p.m.
On Saturday police found the body of Sarah Cheyenne Crawford, 18, Paola, in a room of the Ramada Inn, 605 SW Fairlawn in Topeka, according to a media release.
Police say Foy and Crawford were acquainted and her death was the result of an argument.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy is under investigation amid allegations that used excessive force against an inmate.
Sheriff Jeff Easter said Wednesday the deputy faces accusations of excessive force in his handling of an inmate in the Sumner County Jail in Wellington on Monday. Easter says the incident is alleged to have occurred when prisoners were being loaded for transport to Wichita.
Sumner County Sheriff Darren Chambers said in a statement that Sumner County Jail staff saw what they felt was “excessive force.”
The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office says the inmate wasn’t injured.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the case is being investigated by Sumner County and will be presented to the Sumner County attorney, who’ll decide if charges will be filed.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating an armed robbery.
On Wednesday afternoon, police in Topeka responded to Topeka Escrow Service, 1415 SW Topeka Boulevard after report of an armed robbery, according to a media release.
Staff members described the suspect as a black male, 5’7” tall and approximately 150 pounds. At gunpoint, he took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot.
KANSAS CITY – A Kansas man who shot his way out when a gas station clerk tried to lock him in the store was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Nathaniel Germany, 27, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. In his plea, Germany admitted that on Sept. 1, 2015, he pointed a gun at a driver parked at the BP Gas Station at 900 N. 5th Street in Kansas City, Kan. Germany took the driver’s car and fled.
On Sept. 7, 2015, a clerk at the BP Gas Station recognized Germany when he came into the store with another man. The clerk, who was behind bullet-resistant glass, used a button to lock the men in the store while he called police. Germany produced a .40 caliber handgun and fired two shots into a glass door in order to escape.
Three days later, Germany’s parole officer recognized him and his tattoos from surveillance photos and notified police, who arrested Germany.
Beall commended the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Kansas Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra Morehead for their work on the case.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A mathematician whose legal effort to audit voting machine results was rebuffed has surveyed primary voters outside a Wichita polling station to see if the official count falls within her survey’s calculated margin of error.
The Wichita Eagle reports that Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson set up the anonymous Citizens Exit Poll to validate the accuracy of voting machines used at a polling station in Tuesday’s primary elections.
Clarkson went to court to get access to the paper audit trails from voting machines in 2014 after she found what she called inexplicable discrepancies between results of large and small voting stations. A district court ruled Clarkson couldn’t have access to those paper trails.
Clarkson then decided to create her own paper trail with an exit poll.
Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman says she welcomed the exit poll.
Missouri must pay more than $156,000 in attorneys’ fees after losing a court battle against Planned Parenthood over the revocation of its abortion license in Columbia, Missouri, a federal judge has ruled.
Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, says the court’s ruling is yet another confirmation that Missouri violated Planned Parenthood’s equal protection rights. CREDIT COURTESY PLANNED PARENTHOOD GREAT PLAINS
U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey on Monday awarded Planned Parenthood Great Plains (formerly Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri) all but $157.50 of the legal fees and expenses it sought after it prevailed in the case.
In May, Laughrey issued a permanent injunction blocking the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) from revoking Planned Parenthood’s license to perform abortions in its Columbia clinic.
Laughrey found that the department had submitted to political pressure when it sought to revoke the clinic’s license. She ruled that it violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause by treating the clinic differently than other ambulatory surgical centers.
Afterward, Planned Parenthood, as the prevailing party, asked her to award it $156,788 in legal fees and expenses. DHSS argued that the amount should be reduced because Planned Parenthood didn’t actually benefit from her order. It said the clinic didn’t have a physician with admitting privileges to provide abortions, as required by Missouri law, so her ruling made no difference.
Laughrey rejected that argument, saying that by prevailing in the case, Planned Parenthood was able to retain its legal status as an ambulatory surgical center.
She also rejected the department’s claims that the legal fees were excessive – although she did reduce them by $157.50, representing a half-hour’s work by one of Planned Parenthood’s attorneys.
Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, says Laughrey’s ruling is further “confirmation that Planned Parenthood’s equal protection rights were violated by the state of Missouri.”
The ruling, she says, shows “not only that the law will work to protect access to safe and legal abortion in Missouri, but that the law will also provide accountability.”
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster’s office, which defended DHSS in the case, declined to comment.
Despite Laughrey’s permanent injunction against the state, the Columbia clinic has not resumed providing abortion services.
Under pressure from Republican state lawmakers, the University of Missouri last September stripped hospital admitting privileges from the doctor providing abortion services at the Columbia clinic, Dr. Colleen McNicholas. The lawmakers questioned whether the university should have any ties to Planned Parenthood.
McNicholas has appealed the decision to the university, but it’s not clear her privileges will be restored.
McQuade says Planned Parenthood is considering “all legal avenues” to reintroduce abortion services in Columbia, but adds that is only one piece of the puzzle.
“We’re looking not only at immediate relief for the Columbia center but for the potential to roll back, more generally, admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical requirements in the state,” she says.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 3p.m. on Wednesday in Shawnee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported 2005 Chrysler Pacifica driven by Lyman E Boursaw, Jr., 84, Topeka, was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of Auburn Road.
Two KDOT trucks were stationed partially in the left lane.
The Chrysler attempted to merge back into the right lane and collided with the KDOT truck in the left lane.
Boursaw was transported to Stormont Vail.
The KDOT truck driver Toby Joe Martin, 21, Topeka, was not injured.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
