CORRECTION: An earlier version incorrectly identified Collins as the rider who swerved.
A corrected version of the KHP report is below.
JEFFERSON COUNTY- Two Kansas men were injured in an accident just before 4p.m. on Saturday in Jefferson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Devin Belknap, 28, Bonner Springs was northbound on Ferguson Road in Jefferson County.
Belknap and a northbound 2012 Harley driven by David Kyle Collins, 44, Edwardsville, were passing a car with another motorcycle when a southbound vehicle came into view.
Belknap attempted to avoid a collision. His motorcycle struck Collin’s motorcycle. Both riders were ejected.
Collins and Belknap were transported to Stormont Vail in Topeka. They were not wearing helmets, according to the KHP.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) sponsored a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution this week to formally object to the Obama Administration’s latest regulation, which redefines exemptions to overtime rules. The rule will have negative consequences for Kansas nonprofits, higher education institutions and thousands of employers and hard-working Kansans.
“This new Department of Labor rule is the latest example of this administration’s misguided approach to federal regulations that forces Americans to endure the costs of bad policies,” Sen. Moran said. “Though the goal of helping low- and middle-class workers is commendable, the real-world application of this rule would do harm to the very Americans it claims to protect. This legislation will give Kansas organizations, employers and workers a voice against this detrimental act of government intrusion.”
On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finalized an update to its overtime rules increasing the minimum threshold salary by which companies must provide overtime compensation to its employee from $23,660 to $47,476 annually. The practical effect is that thousands of Americans will have their work arrangement flexibility restricted and their weekly hours slashed by companies moving to comply with the new rule. Furthermore, the rule will cost many colleges and universities millions of dollars per year in additional operating costs, threatening to raise tuition costs for college students at a time when many can scarcely afford such a hike.
Sen. Moran has been actively fighting against this overtime rule for several months. In April, he sponsored the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act (S. 2707), which would prevent the DOL from finalizing a proposal that will limit opportunities for employees and place significant burdens on job creators.
The passage of this resolution of disapproval signals Congress’ intent to stop DOL from implementing the rule. Under the CRA, the House and Senate vote on a joint resolution of disapproval to stop, with the full force of law, a federal agency from implementing a rule or regulation or issuing a substantially similar regulation without congressional authorization. The resolution of disapproval must also be signed by the president; if vetoed, Congress can only overturn that act with a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Seward County are investigating the murder of a woman and the attempted murder of a man on Monday. The search for a suspect has ended, according to a media release.
Just after 4pm on Friday, Christopher Dewayne Hoskins was arrested at a residence in Wichita. The arrest occurred without incident. No injuries were reported, according to Liberal police.
Hoskins was taken into custody with the assistance of the Wichita Police Department and the United States Marshals Service.
Hoskins is being held at the Sedgwick County Jail under a $500,000.00 bond.
Just before 1:30 p.m. on Monday, emergency responders were called to 188 West Pancake in Liberal for a reported shooting.
Responding officers found a 27-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman had been shot, according to a media release. Both victims were transported to Southwest Medical Center by Seward County EMS in serious condition and then transferred to Wesley Medical Center.
Investigators learned on Monday afternoon that the female victim had died. Her name is being withheld until the family has been notified. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.
Investigators learned that a dispute between several people occurred in the parking lot when the shooting occurred.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas wildlife officials say it will take weeks and perhaps months to determine why 30 federally protected egrets turned up dead in Wichita.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is trying to pinpoint what killed the birds last week in a residential area.
As the department’s law enforcement chief, Larry Hastings says uncovering what caused the deaths could take some time. He says the probe would entail interviewing people and finding any witnesses.
Hastings says the investigation likely will involve federal wildlife officials because of the birds’ protected status.
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, harming or disturbing the birds is punishable by up to $500 in fines or up to six months in prison.
SCOTT MAYEROWITZ, Associated Press
JOAN LOWY, Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) — The Obama administration has granted permission for the first U.S. airlines to start the first scheduled flights to Cuba in more than five decades.
The Department of Transportation said Friday that six airlines have been selected for routes to nine Cuban cities other than Havana. They are American, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest and Sun Country.
Arrangements must still be worked out with the Cuban government, but the carriers say they plan to start selling tickets in the next few weeks while they wait for signoffs from Cuba.
Currently, all flights operating between the two countries are charters.
U.S. airlines have requested more routes to Havana than the 20 daily roundtrip flights available, complicating the selection process. A decision on the Havana routes is expected later this summer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kansas and Nebraska are among 21 states suing the State of Delaware to give back more than $150 million in uncashed money orders.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday the states are suing Delaware over an escalating dispute involving uncashed money orders from Dallas-based MoneyGram.
MoneyGram has been submitting unclaimed money to Delaware, where the company is incorporated. The other states argue that the money should go back to the state where purchased.
Abandoned property is the third-largest source of general fund revenue for Delaware and is expected to total more than half a billion dollars in the current fiscal year. The huge amount stems from Delaware’s status as the legal home to more than 1 million businesses.
An audit shows that if other states join the lawsuit, the lawsuit could threaten an even larger portion of Delaware’s budget. $400 million could be slashed out of Delaware’s budget if the remaining states were to join the lawsuit and win. That amount would be equal to one-tenth of Delaware’s $4 billion budget.
Of the 21 states listed as plaintiffs, Texas would receive $10 million. Other states in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Photo by Elle Moxley/KCUR Frances Burnett, 91, of Arlington, switched her party registration from Democrat to Republican so she could vote in the Senate District 34 primary for Ed Berger.
For the first time in more than 30 years, there’s a Democrat running in every Kansas Senate district. But their fellow left-leaning Kansans might not be voting for them in August. That’s because some are so fed up with Gov. Sam Brownback, they’d rather switch parties to vote for a moderate Republican in the Aug. 2 primary than allow the governor’s supporters to stay in the Legislature.
A lifelong resident of Arlington, 91-year-old Francis Burnett laughs when asked if she’s a Democrat. “I’m a Republican right now,” she says. “There’s no way in this state to change anything by being a Democrat.”
Becoming a Republican
Fewer than 500 people live in Arlington, a sleepy town 20 miles southwest of Hutchinson in Reno County.
There’s not much on Main Street — a cabinet shop, a salon, a newly-opened consignment store — but there is Carolyn’s Essenhaus, a Mennonite bakery-cafe where the coffee’s free.
A Democrat hasn’t represented District 34 in the Kansas Senate since the early 1980s.
Burnett says she was at the library for her book club when she overheard someone talking about re-registering as a Republican. “A big lightbulb came on,” Burnett says. “I thought, ‘If I change parties, I can vote in the primary.’”
In August, Burnett plans for vote for Ed Berger. She doesn’t know him, but she likes him better than incumbent Terry Bruce, the Senate Majority Leader she believes is in lockstep with Brownback.
Courting Democrats
“A 90-year-old lady and her friends are changing party affiliation so they can vote too,” Berger says. “That’s pretty humbling.” In Hutchinson, Berger is a familiar face. He used to be president of the local community college.
At Scuttlebutts Coffee, the baristas chirp “Hi Ed!” when Berger walks through the door for a meeting with educators.
He tells the teachers he’s not a career politician.
“If I was going to do that, I should’ve done it 20 years ago,” Berger says. “I think change happens when you see things with outside eyes.”
Photo by Elle Moxley/KCUR Ed Berger responds to a message sent to his campaign’s Facebook account. Berger is a Republican candidate for Senate District 34 in Reno County.
Berger considers himself a lifelong Republican, but he’s convinced Brownback, Bruce and other ultra-conservative politicians are having a ruinous effect on Kansas.
“I perceive things are that bad,” Berger says. “I think unless change takes place very soon, we’re going to get into a very deep hole, very hard for us to get out.” Bruce didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Reno County Election Office doesn’t track how many voters switch from one party to another. But there were 201 fewer registered Democrats last week than there were in mid-April.
There are 173 more Republicans. While those fluctuations can’t be solely attributed to party switching, it was pretty clear whom Berger was courting at Scuttlebutts as he offered up forms to those wanting to change their affiliation.
The real race?
Former Republican Senate President Dave Kerr is supporting Berger’s bid for his old seat. “My races were always the general,” says Kerr, who unseated a Democratic incumbent in 1984.
That’s changed, Kerr says. In recent election cycles, Democrats haven’t been able to field a full slate of candidates.
This year the minority party does have candidates in all 40 Kansas Senate races, but there’s only a Democratic primary contest in five of those districts, and District 34 isn’t one of them.
“A lot of people have really not realized that the race that matters is the Republican primary,” Kerr says.
“That’s the one where the race is decided.”
Democrats file
Leaders for both parties, however, are quick to dismiss party switching. Clay Barker, executive director of the Kansas Republicans, wrote in an email that even “FDR condemned party flipping as unethical.”
Kerry Gooch, executive director of the Kansas Democrats, called from Southwestern Kansas, where he was recruiting candidates the week before the June 1 filing deadline.
“One of the stories that’s been told around the state is most elections happen in the Republican primary, and we want to show people that’s not true,” Gooch says.
Gooch’s efforts paid off in District 34. If Berger does manage to oust Bruce, he’ll have to go a round in the general against Democrat Homer Gilson.
Elle Moxley is a reporter, and partner with KHI News Service in a statewide collaboration covering elections in Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are investigating reports of overdoses and deaths involving widely used anti-diarrhea drugs, a bizarre manifestation of the nation’s drug abuse problem.
The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors and patients Tuesday that the over-the-counter and prescription medications, including Imodium, can cause potentially deadly heart problems when taken in large doses. The agency has received 31 reports of people hospitalized due to the heart problems, including 10 deaths over the last 39 years.
But national poison centers report a 71 percent increase in calls involving the drug between 2011 and 2014.
The primary ingredient in the drugs, loperamide, is intended to control diarrhea. But the drug can reportedly cause euphoric highs, similar to opioid drugs like morphine, when taken at massive levels.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court says Kansas cannot prevent thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots in the November federal election because they didn’t prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote at motor vehicle offices.
Friday’s ruling from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily upholds a federal judge’s order that required Kansas to allow those individuals to vote. The state has said up to 50,000 people could be affected. The court agreed to quickly hear the appeal.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled earlier this year that enforcement of Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship law had disenfranchised more than 18,000 otherwise eligible voters. She ordered the state to comply with her ruling by June 14.
Four states have such laws, but Kansas is the only state that fully enforces it.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say high numbers of mosquitoes known to transmit West Nile virus have been found in traps in Sedgwick County.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday that the rise in the number of Culex mosquitoes is likely to be statewide, increasing the risk of a higher number of West Nile virus cases this year.
KDHE says the Culex species isn’t known to transmit Zika virus.
West Nile virus is commonly spread to people through mosquito bites and is not transmitted from person to person.
Cases are most common in the late summer and early fall.
The 57 West Nile virus cases in 2012 were the most since the virus came to Kansas. There were 34 cases in 2015, half of which included hospitalization.
HORTON, Kan. (AP) — Kickapoo tribal leaders have filed additional counts against three former tribal leaders accused of misusing federal money.
The tribe said Thursday it’s filed the additional counts against Steve Cadue, Adolph Cadue Jr. and Bobbi Darnell. Steve Cadue is a former chairman of the tribe, which maintains a reservation in northeast Kansas. Darnell was the treasurer, and Adolph Cadue Jr. was tribal council secretary.
The three were charged in March with fraudulent handling of recordable instruments and tampering with records. They’re accused of using federal burial funds to subsidize payroll and other tribal expenses in violation of tribal law.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the tribe added more counts to the complaint. It’s unclear if the defendants have lawyers, but Steve Cadue said earlier he and the others denied the allegations.
BARTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating suspects on drug and theft charges.
On Friday morning, deputies were investigating a stolen ATV when a traffic stop was conducted.
The traffic stop let to the arrest of four suspects and deputies issued a search warrant for a residence in the 100 block of South U.S. 281, according to a media release.
Deputies found methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, the stolen A.T.V. was recovered and substantial amount of currency seized.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) sponsored a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution this week to formally object to the Obama Administration’s latest regulation, which redefines exemptions to overtime rules. The rule will have negative consequences for Kansas nonprofits, higher education institutions and thousands of employers and hard-working Kansans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kansas and Nebraska are among 21 states suing the State of Delaware to give back more than $150 million in uncashed money orders.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court says Kansas cannot prevent thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots in the November federal election because they didn’t prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote at motor vehicle offices.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say high numbers of mosquitoes known to transmit West Nile virus have been found in traps in Sedgwick County.
