The Wichita Eagle reports that eight tornadoes touched down in the state in July. Three tornadoes touched down in Greenwood County on July 7, including and EF-2. An EF-3 tornado also hit the county.
One tornado touched down about four miles east of Syracuse in Hamilton County on July 15, but it didn’t do enough damage to warrant a damage survey by the National Weather Service. Jeff Hutton with the Dodge City branch of the weather service says that it was officially recorded as an EF-1.
Jeff Hutton of the National Weather Service’s Dodge City branch says the EF-2 and EF-3 tornadoes in Greenwood County and the one near Syracuse “were definitely stronger than you usually see in July.”
RILEY COUNTY – A Manhattan man was injured in an accident just after 10:30a.m. on Monday in Riley County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Ford F 150 driven by Gilberto Rodriguez-Martinez, 33, Manhattan, was westbound on Kansas 18 seven miles northeast of Interstate 70.
A box of nails fell out of the truck.
Rodriguez-Martinez made a U-turn through the median and double backed to pickup the box of nails.
He parked the vehicle on inside shoulder of eastbound K18, exited the vehicle, crossed the median and proceeded to pick up nails which were thrown across the inside lane of westbound K18.
A 2003 Ford F150 driven by Jacob Worcester, 23, Manhattan, was westbound on K18. He did not realize Rodriguez-Martinez was in the roadway.
The driver side mirror of the pickup struck the Rodriguez-Martinez. And pulled off on the north shoulder of the road.
Rodriguez-Martinez was transported to Via Christi in Manhattan.
Worcester was not injured and properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
DICKINSON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Dickinson County are investigating a child’s death in a car on Sunday evening.
Just after 6:15 p.m. deputies were notified of a child found not breathing in a vehicle at a rural residence in the 2800 Block of Lark Road, according to Dickinson County Sheriff Gareth Hoffman.
After an investigation, the child was identified as 18-month-old Olivia Ann Engstrom.
“The child and her siblings were playing outside and the parents were inside the home,” said Hoffman. “At some point the toddler got into the vehicle and the doors were shut.”
The National Weather Service indicated temperatures at that time on Sunday were in the upper 90s.
The child was not transported to a hospital.
Deputies conducted numerous interviews on Sunday evening.
“We are working on being extremely compassionate to the family,” said Hoffman.
“The siblings are very young.”
An autopsy will be conducted.
“Unless there is something we missed, the death will be considered a tragic accident,” said Hoffman.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that a body found in the Arkansas River is that of a missing theology student.
Police said Monday that the body has been identified as that of 24-year-old Brian Bergkamp, a native of Garden Plain. He had been scheduled to enter his third year of theology study at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
He was found last week after being reported missing July 9 when the Arkansas River was swollen by recent rains.
Fire officials say two men and three women in separate kayaks were floating on the river Saturday when they hit churning water.
Officials said one of the women fell into the swirling water, and Bergkamp left his kayak to assist her. She and the other kayakers made it to shore.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating after several thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes were stolen from a parked delivery truck.
Three cases of cigarettes were taken from an unlocked and unattended delivery truck owned by DSG Transportation-St. Joe Distributing while it was parked on July 28, in the 2100 block of West Crawford, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
Three cases contained 900 packs of miscellaneous cigarettes valued at $3,000.
They came north from McPherson and south from Cloud County. East from Hays and west from Topeka.
From the far-off reaches of Kansas’ 1st Congressional District, representatives of the state’s agriculture interests met on a recent July morning in a small storefront in Salina, making history.
Photo by Peggy Lowe/KCUR Eric Pahls, press secretary for Roger Marshall, takes a photo of the members of a coalition of agriculture groups Marshall calls his “Farm Team.” The coalition endorsed Marshall over incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp.
“You drove all this way,” said Roger Marshall, “you have to get your photo taken!”
The event was a circling-the-wagons endorsement for Marshall, a political newcomer and obstetrician who is challenging GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp. For the first time in anyone’s memory, the Kansas Farm Bureau — one of the state’s most powerful political and business groups — gave its nod to an outsider over the guy it helped put in office in the first place.
Because there’s no Democrat in the race, the Aug. 2 primary could settle this battle for the western Kansas seat before the general election. There is a Libertarian candidate to meet in November, but many are betting on Marshall.
“The entire Kansas agriculture community has risen with one voice to say, ‘Enough. Enough of the political games,’” Marshall said. “They’ve risen to support our team because the clarity of purpose, to restore our representation, our reputation and influence over federal farm policy.”
Marshall, 55, has traveled to 50 of the Farm Bureau’s counties and will have the support of the group, which counts 40,000 members, said Stacey Forshee, a Kansas Farm Bureau board member.
“Kansas Farm Bureau believes that we need honest representation and a strong leader in Washington, D.C., someone willing to listen to our concerns and actively participate in making the agriculture industry stronger,” Forshee said.
Huelskamp, 47, who won his seat in the tea party wave of 2010, is now fighting for his political life in what’s called “the Big First,” a 60,000-square-mile area that covers 63 Kansas counties, two time zones and has more cattle than people. Huelskamp’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“A lot of our frustrations, honestly, started with no representation on the Ag Committee,” Forshee said.
Photo by Heartland Health Monitor File Photo Tim Huelskamp speaks at a town hall meeting last year in Salina.
Huelskamp lost his seat on the House Agriculture Committee in 2012, pushed out by then-Speaker John Boehner because Huelskamp didn’t back GOP leadership. Huelskamp retaliated, helping lead the “Freedom Coalition,” which ousted Boehner last year.
At stops out on the campaign trail, Huelskamp has said that he will get his seat back on the Ag Committee. But House Speaker Paul Ryan has remained mum on the issue.
Huelskamp failed to do what most young congressional members do — keep their heads down and learn the ropes, said Joe Romance, an associate professor of political science at Fort Hays State University.
“That is not Huelskamp’s personality, and it’s not the personality of the tea party group who want to go in there and shake things up,” Romance said.
Many voters in this conservative district say they are still aligned with Huelskamp’s social beliefs — opposition to abortion and gay marriage, support of gun rights. And he has some key endorsements, including the anti-tax Club for Growth and Koch Industries, home of the Wichita conservatives who, with a $10,000 campaign donation, are among his top donors.
But many of the farm and ranch groups have tired of the “selfish agendas and me-first attitudes,” said Katie Sawyer, an agriculture advocate who farms with her husband in McPherson County.
“I want a congressman who won’t be met around every corner with closed doors and burned bridges,” Sawyer said.
The farm groups also are angry that Huelskamp hasn’t supported one of the state’s biggest projects, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, the Department of Homeland Security’s billion-dollar animal disease research facility being built in Manhattan. Another problem for them is Huelskamp’s vote against the 2014 Farm Bill, which offered farmers protections in the form of crop insurance.
— Peggy Lowe, investigations editor at Harvest Public Media, is based at KCUR.
PAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement officials in Pawnee County including the State Fire Marshal are investigating three suspicions fires on Sunday in Larned.
All three fires were reported over a 20-minute period just after 2 a.m., according to police chief Charles Orth.
The first fire at a residence in the 500 Block of west 12th Street destroyed a car parked in a driveway. It also damaged a neighbor’s vehicle parked nearby and a city trash can.
A few minutes later, officials found a rag left burning in the street near the location of the car fire along with an incendiary device or Molotov cocktail in the 200 Block of west 17th Street, according to Orth.
The State Fire Marshal will focus their attention on the car fire and the connection between the fires.
HARVEY COUNTY – Four people were injured in an accident just before 8 p.m. on Sunday in Harvey County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Ford Escape driven by Heather M. Nichols, 43, Gypsum, was stopped turning left onto Ridge Rd from U.S. 50 three miles west of Newton.
A 2007 Chevy Cobalt driven by Courtney C. Seever, 20, Burlington, rear-ended a 2009 Dodge Caravan driven by John R. Kraft, 64, Rose Hill, and pushed it into the Ford Escape.
Nichols and passengers in the van Larry L. Nichols, 39, Sadee R. Nichols, 36, and Thomas J. Nichols, 39, all of Gypsum were transported to Newton Medical Center.
Seever and Kraft were not injured.
The occupants in the van were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas legislators are waiting to learn whether state tax collections in July fell short of expectations.
The monthly report due Monday afternoon from the state Department of Revenue could complicate the state’s financial picture and lead to a fresh round of budget adjustments.
Tax collections have fallen short of expectations for 10 of the past 12 months.
In June, they were $34.5 million below the official state projections made in a fiscal forecast issued by officials and university economists in April. The shortfall was 5.7 percent.
June’s shortfall prompted Brownback’s administration to delay $260 million in state aid payments to public schools. It also diverted money for highway projects and funds within the Department of Corrections to avoid a deficit at the end of June.
Fire on Sunday in Hodgeman Co.- photos KDWP&T Game Wardens
HODGEMAN COUNTY – Fire crews extinguished a grass fire in Hodgeman County on Sunday.
A Hodgeman County Game Warden was patrolling Horsethief Reservoir when he heard a call go out about a fire at the west end of the reservoir, according to a social media report.
The Game Warden was able to use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames and waited for the Jetmore Fire Department to put out the remaining smoldering areas.
It appears as though a campfire was not completely out and started the fire, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Game Wardens. No injuries were reported.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – Two people were injured in an accident just after 5p.m. on Sunday in Sedgwick County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Buick Regal driven by Jay Morris, 33, Flagstaff, AZ., was southbound on Interstate 135 just south of 125th Street North in Wichita.
The Buick drifted to the right and struck a 2015 Dodge Durango that was stopped on the right shoulder.
The collision pushed the Dodge into a pedestrian Hugo St. Germain, 42, Wichita, and a 2011 Toyota Camry that was also stopped on the shoulder.
Morris and St. Germain were transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
Morris was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
HARVEY COUNTY – A Kansas county has dedicated a new memorial that honors the homeless people who died there.
The memorial along the Osage walking path was dedicated on Friday July 22, and six individuals were finally laid to rest at a serene and beautiful place, according to a report on social media.
The memorial will honor the homeless and indigent people who died in Harvey County and whose remains were never claimed.
The memorial includes a large engraved stone on a concrete pedestal, with concrete benches on either side.
In the past, after cremation, ashes were stored with the Sheriff’s Office.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating an alleged homicide.
Just after 3:15p.m. on Saturday, police responded to the Ramada Inn, 605 SW Fairlawn in Topeka for report of a deceased person in one of the rooms, according to a media release.
After investigation, police were able to identify the victim as Sarah Cheyenne Crawford, 18, Paola.
The death is being investigated as a homicide and a person of interest was identified as Clarence James Foy, 26, Paola.
Police say the two were acquaintances and her death was the result of an argument.
Authorities are asking the public for help with information in the case.
