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WASHINGTON -On Wednesday, Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) chaired a Small Business Subcommittee hearing entitled “Audits and Attitudes: Is the IRS Helping or Hurting Small Businesses?”

“In the administration of the tax code, the IRS has dual roles: collection and enforcement,” said Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access Chairman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) in his opening remarks. “Small businesses have a right to be treated fairly on both counts. Unfortunately, that is often not what happens.”

“To this day, taxpayers and advisers continue to report on troublesome developments in IRS audits that range from isolated cases to broader policies,” testified Pete Sepp, the President of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).

Based on National Taxpayers Union’s review of research literature, statistical analysis, oversight reports and hundreds of anecdotes, Pete Sepp pointed to “uncertainty” in the tax collection and enforcement and “intimidation tactics” by the IRS.

Huelskamp commented after the hearing, “It’s evident that the IRS is a plague to small businesses. Because small businesses don’t have armies of lawyers and tax professionals to bargain with the IRS on their behalf, audits can be a great burden for them. I’ll keep fighting to protect small businesses from the heavy hand of the IRS.”

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A Reno County jury has found a Hutchinson man guilty of a lesser charge of criminal restraint after he was originally charged with aggravated kidnapping for not letting his girlfriend out of the car during an argument.

Arthur Pina Jr., 27, was also convicted on one count of domestic battery and on counts of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

The victim testified that she and Pina got into an argument while they were driving and smoking marijuana in November 2015. She said it escalated into a physical altercation in which he punched her in the face and put her into a headlock.

Authorities say they found drug’s in Pina’s vehicle.

Pina’s sentencing is scheduled for July 29.

ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is planning to use provisional ballots during the upcoming elections and then throw out all of the votes for state and local races cast by the thousands of voters who register to vote at motor vehicle offices without providing proof of citizenship.

An email sent Wednesday from Kobach’s office to county election officials outlines the state’s proposed plans for implementing a two-tiered election system in the wake of a federal court order requiring Kansas to allow these voters to cast ballots at least in the federal races.

Kobach plans to use a process that allows election officials to go back into those ballots and count only votes cast in federal races.

The move comes despite a Kansas judge ruling that Kobach had no such authority.

BUTLER COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident in just before 5p.m. on Wednesday in Butler County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Toyota Tundra driven by Douglas J. Goetzinger,56, Augusta, was eastbound on US 54 one mile west of Augusta.

The truck left the roadway and vaulted over a driveway. It continued in the ditch before vaulting over another driveway and rolled.

Goetzinger was transported to Wesley Medical Center.

He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders have authorized a record $900 million in temporary borrowing to cover the state’s expenses through June 2017.

Brownback and the leaders met Wednesday as the State Finance Council and voted 8-1 to loan the state’s main bank account the money from other, idle funds. It’s a move the state has used repeatedly to cover bills when cash is projected to be tight.

The vote was 8-1. The only dissenting vote came from Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican.

The vote came after Budget Director Shawn Sullivan said the state likely would have to divert transportation funds and Medicaid fee funds and delay payments to school districts until next month to avoid a projected short-term deficit of $45 million on June 30.

RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A U.S. Senate oversight committee is demanding information about how state lotteries are increasing security after an insider allegedly rigged jackpots for years.

Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, says fraud allegations in lottery games raise serious concerns. Yet he says it’s not clear what the Multi-State Lottery Association is doing to address them.

In a letter to association leaders obtained by The Associated Press, Thune says his committee wants answers to several questions by July 7.

Investigators say the association’s former security director, Eddie Tipton, installed software code that allowed him to predict winning numbers on specific days of the year. A jury has convicted Tipton of rigging a $16.5 million jackpot, and he’s charged with manipulating games he fixed in , Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

MANHATTAN -Gates at Tuttle Creek State Park near Manhattan open at 1 p.m. Thursday for Kicker Country Stampede.

As aways big name acts will be performing over the three-day period of the country music festival. See the full lineup here.

Stampede President Wayne Rouse said there are two headliners performing the first evening. “Sam Hunt and Dierks Bentley on Thursday, Tim McGraw on Friday, and then Chase Rice and Jake Owen on Saturday. I really believe every night is going to be a good night.”

Thousands of country music fans will attend the festival each day.

Set up for the festival has been challenging in the hot weather, explains Mick McCallister, who has worked for 20 years at Stampede. “I have set up and tear down. It takes about 36 to 40 people, and we have 10 days to set everything up and tear everything down.” McCallister added, “This year been a little bit brutal. It’s been hot, it is a very difficult job, it’s very labor intensive. It’s the heavy lifting of putting on a concert and taking it down.”

Temperatures have hovered around the 100 degree mark in recent days.

SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating two suspects in connection with reported purse thefts.

Wichita Police arrested two suspects Wednesday afternoon in west Wichita in for the alleged purse snatching cases that were reported at Dillon’s and Wal-Mart in the 10000 block of west 21st Street North, according to a social media report.

The suspect vehicle has also been located and police offered citizens appreciation in helping in locate the suspects.

HUTCHINSON – Police arrested A Kansas man after he allegedly caused an explosion in a downtown Hutchinson apartment building around 4p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

Case Coble, 22, did not make a court appearance Wednesday because of a power outage at the Reno County Correctional Facility.

He is jailed for aggravated arson and possession of explosives.

The chemical explosion set off the fire alarms in the Plaza Towers building just east of Main at 2nd Street, according to Hutchinson Police Detective Jamie Schoenhoff.

Hutchinson Fire units arrived and thought Coble might have been making methamphetamine, so they called police.

Schoenhoff was called in based on his experience with the drug unit and he determined it wasn’t a meth lab, but possibly something more sinister.

Coble was apparently mixing chemicals to cause explosions.

Local officials brought in other investigators including the Kansas Fire Marshal, the South Central Kansas Homeland Security Council, Sedgwick County Fire, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms officials and the FBI.

Schoenhoff says they believe he was communicating with other individuals in other states, giving them advice on how to make chemical explosions.

Schoenhoff says they are looking at one person in particular in Minnesota.
Apparently, this is not the first time an explosion has occurred in that building. Coble told officials it had happened in the past as well.

Coble is a student at Hutchinson Community College apparently studying chemistry, but Schoenhoff says he has attended colleges in other places.

Bond in the case set at $12,500. He is expected to be in court on Thursday.

 

By BRYAN THOMPSON

SALINA – Saline County residents peppered state and local health officials with questions about lead exposure at a public meeting in Salina Tuesday evening.

The meeting was organized by KDHE after tests done by local doctors found elevated lead levels in the blood of 32 Saline County children—most of them from Salina. Questions from the public reflected a lot of unease…

Some comments and questions from the public included: “The battery manufacturer who has, I know, been under investigation for lead contamination in the past—is that something you’re going to be looking into?” “So why didn’t we have a group like this in 2014, when we had 38, and now we have 32 more?” “The health department is going to do blood lead testing for the next two days, but you guys do not do that anymore. Do you see that changing in the future?”

So far, officials have not been able to identify any pattern to suggest where the lead exposure might be coming from. Next month, investigators hope to do three-hour interviews with each of the affected families. They’ll also be testing their homes and water samples for lead.

Bryan Thompson is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Key Republican legislators say they’re close to an agreement with Kansas school districts on a plan aimed at satisfying a court mandate to help poor schools.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ty Masterson said Wednesday that he’s optimistic about a deal on a $38 million proposal.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ron Ryckman Jr. said the plan is likely to shift some existing education dollars to poor districts to provide extra aid.

They said they’ve been negotiating with multiple districts.

The Legislature convenes Thursday for a special session to address a state Supreme Court ruling last month that the state’s school finance system remains unfair to poor school districts.

The justices warned that schools might not be able to reopen after June 30 if lawmakers don’t make more changes.

MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are staging a sit-down protest, seeking a vote on gun control measures following the Orlando nightclub shooting.

A group of about 30 Democrats led by Georgia Rep. John Lewis demanded a vote on gun control measures before sitting down and “occupying” the House floor Wednesday.

Rep. John Larson of Connecticut says lawmakers are “calling for the simple dignity of a vote” in the House on measures to block gun purchases by some suspected terrorists.

Larson says, “Rise up Democrats, rise up Americans. We will occupy this chamber.”

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland says, “We will not be shut up. We will not be shut down.”

The House was not in session when the Democrats held the demonstration. Republican leaders ordered C-SPAN cameras turned off.