ALLEN COUNTY- A Kansas man and woman were injured in an accident just after 2:30p.m. on Monday in Allen County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Harley Davidson driven by Devon Loren Matthews, 26, Bronson, was west bound on Delaware Road eight miles east of Humbolt.
The motorcycle struck a deer and traveled into the north ditch.
Matthews and a passenger Kallie Allyson Williams, 22, Mapleton, were transported to Neosho County Hospital.
They were not wearing helmets, according to the KHP.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A trial is scheduled for this fall for a former physician’s assistant accused of sexually abusing patients at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas.
The Leavenworth Times reports that an Oct. 31 trial was set Friday in Leavenworth County District Court.
Mark Wisner is charged with a felony count of aggravated criminal sodomy and three misdemeanor charges of sexual battery related to his alleged misconduct in 2014 at the Eisenhower VA Medical Center.
Wisner surrendered his medical license last year after at least seven patients accused him of abusing them. He faces several federal lawsuits accusing him of abuse.
Wisner is seeking to have the civil proceedings halted until the criminal case is resolved.
ABILENE -Authorities are searching for a missing Abilene woman.
Joanna Cramer37, was last seen in Abilene on May, according to family and friends.
It is believed that she may still be in Abilene or the Salina area. Her purse was located in Salina and turned into the Salina Police Department shortly after her disappearance.
Cramer is 5’5″ tall and weighs 150 lbs. She has shoulder length brown hair with blonde highlights and brown eyes. She may be missing a front tooth. She has a tattoo of a Chinese symbol on the back of her neck and a tattoo of a tribal cross on her upper right shoulder. She is known to wear several pieces of jewelry, including necklaces and bracelets, on a regular basis.
Anyone with information regarding Joanna Cramer’s disappearance is asked to call the Salina Police Department at 785-826-7210 or the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department at 785-263-4041.
ELK COUNTY – A man died in an accident just before 2a.m. on Monday in Elk County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Polaris UTV driven by Trevor Allen McCoy, 29, Meeker, CO., was eastbound on Quail Road just west of Road 32 and struck a deer.
The driver lost control of vehicle. It rolled and the driver was ejected.
Meeker was pronounced dead at the scene and transported Country Side Funeral Home
WASHINGTON, DC – To encourage Kansas veterans to share their stories with the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) interviewed U.S. Senator Bob Dole (R-Kan.) to preserve his recollections of service for future generations. Senator Dole served in the Army in World War II and Senator Roberts is the most senior Marine in the Congress.
“I asked Senator Dole to share his inspiring story in his own words so that it would be preserved for all to see and hear alongside those from veterans across the country,” Roberts said. “Looking ahead to Memorial Day, I encourage all veterans to share their stories and honor our comrades in arms and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice by sharing their memories and experiences with the Veterans History Project.”
To download a high resolution short video about this effort, go here.
The Library of Congress’ Veteran’s History Project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.
In the coming months, Senator Roberts will interview other Kansas veterans for the project and will encourage others to visit his website for information so that they too can share their oral history with the Veteran’s History Project put on permanent display in the Library of Congress.
“Inspired by Bob Dole’s visits with honor flight veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, I wanted to help encourage veterans to share their stories with future generations of Americans,” Roberts said. “So many veterans come to visit their memorials in Washington and reflect upon their service. Some tell of their experiences for the first time ever. These recollections should be preserved for future generations of Americans. What better way to honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the military than by adding their personal voices to our nation’s archival records?”
Senator Roberts’ district offices will also help collect veteran’s firsthand accounts to add to the national project.
LINN COUNTY – One person was injured in an accident just before 5:30p.m. on Sunday in Linn County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Yamaha ATV driven by Eric John Zinn, 36, Kansas City, was southbound on Robideau Lane at a high rate of speed.
The driver attempted a left turn onto E 1400 Road.
The ATV overturned and the driver was ejected.
Zinn was transported to Research Hospital in Kansas City.
He was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.
The Senate race in Kansas isn’t expected to be competitive and the governor isn’t on the ballot this fall. So, the hardest fought statewide campaign might just involve four people you’ve never heard of.
For the first time ever there will be a coordinated effort to oust state Supreme Court justices.
The bad blood between the state Supreme Court and conservatives in Kansas goes back ten years to when the justices ordered the state to pump more than $500 million dollars more into public education.
Conservatives were furious and tried to amend the state Constitution to limit what the Supreme Court could do in a school finance case.
And the relationship between the two branches has continued to sour.
So much so that at the state Republican convention in Topeka May 14 the delegates voted to make ousting four high court justices a priority.
“What we’re going to see in November, without a doubt, we are going to see a tremendous amount of money spent on judicial elections — retention elections — in Kansas,” says University of Kansas political science Professor Burdett Loomis, who leans Democratic.
Republicans are now committed to booting four justices off the Supreme Court: Carol Beier, Dan Biles, Marla Luckert and Chief Justice Lawton Nuss.
Also up for retention is Justice Caleb Stegall. He was appointed by Gov. Sam Brownback so conservatives want him to stay on the bench. This complicates the campaign. It will be harder to for voters to make a distinction between Stegall and the four targeted justices.
It will be a three pronged attack.
The Republican Party will coordinate the effort.
Koch brothers interests will help fund the campaign, many expect at least a half-million dollars to be spent.
And an old high court adversary will do the field work.
Mary Kay Culp, Executive Director of Kansans for Life will help lead the effort to oust four Kansas Supreme Court justices. CREDIT SAM ZEFF
Lead by Mary Kay Culp, Kansans for Life tried to boot Justice Beier from the Bench six years ago for her votes on abortion but failed.
Culp says conservatives are mounting the campaign because of the justices opinions and votes on school finance, the death penalty and, of course, abortion.
“We passed serious laws. Laws people really care about and then you go to the courts and they say, sorry. It’s like pulling the rug from out from under you after you’ve passed these laws,” says Culp.
Culp says they’ll make phone calls, probably spend money on radio ads and send out postcards.
While this might feel like a regular political campaign, it’s far from it.
This is a retention election and that means Kansans will vote yes or no on whether these justices should keep their jobs.
But justices can’t campaign, so others have to campaign on their behalf.
“We have three branches of government in this state. Not two branches and a twig,” says Ryan Wright who is Executive Director of Kansans for Fair Courts.
Up until this year, he’s been battling attempts by the legislature to make it easier to impeach Supreme Court Justices, to defund the whole system, or restrict the authority of the chief justice.
“They’re not equipped to have a fair fight because they’re not politicians. That’s by design. We don’t want our judges to be politicians,” says Wright.
Although they used to be exactly that.
Before a scandal in 1956 justices ran in partisan elections.
Since then, after the people changed the state constitution, Kansas has used a merit selection process; a committee recommends three candidates and the governor chooses from that list.
But Brownback and legislative Republicans have suggested two alternatives; the federal system where the chief executive appoints and the senate confirms or to a system where the voting public outright elects justices.
Both, says Wright, are bad ideas.
Which brings us back to pure politics. Politicians on all sides expect this Supreme Court retention battle to get nasty.
“There’s going to be a lot of name calling. There’s going to be a lot of political posturing,” Wright says.
But the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Right now conservatives hold the governor’s office and the Legislature.
Democrats, moderate Republicans and progressives fear that losing these four high court justices would push all of state government far to the right.
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas businessman says he is rebuilding what will be the deepest-diving submarine owned by a private individual once it’s done.
KSHB-TV reports Salina resident Scott Waters bought a Pisces VI submarine from storage and had it shipped to his hometown in middle of the country.
Waters, who owns several Kansas hardware stores, says he paid $30,000 for a sub that cost about $2.5 million to build in the 1970s.
He estimates it will take about four years and $130,000 to rebuild and fully test the submarine before it’s finished.
Waters takes a pragmatic approach to his love of submarines by saying he’s equally close to either ocean.
Several years ago he built himself a submarine that can dive to 300 feet.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate’s top Republican is pushing to override GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill enmeshed in a multi-million dollar tax dispute involving a retired pizza magnate.
Senate President Susan Wagle said Brownback “turned his back on Kansas taxpayers” earlier this month when he rejected the bill over a provision dealing with how tax disputes are handled. Lawmakers expect to vote on overriding the veto Wednesday.
The provision would have ensured that any taxpayer losing a dispute before the Board of Tax Appeals could have another full trial in district court before a limited review by the state Court of Appeals.
Legislators are considering the issue as ex-pizza magnate Gene Bicknell is asking the state Supreme Court to order the state to refund $42.5 million in income taxes.
OTTAWA COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 2 p.m. on Sunday in Ottawa County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Harley Davidson driven by Stanley K. Britt, 62, Salina, was eastbound on Kansas18 eight miles east of Bennington.
The driver lost control of the motorcycle. It entered the south ditch and overturned.
LAVERNE, Okla. (AP) — Two Kansans have died following a motorcycle crash in northwestern Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says 63-year-old Bill Meggenberg of Meade, Kansas, was dead at scene of the crash on Highway 64 north of Laverne.
The OHP says 70-year-old Susan Meggenberg of Meade died later at an Oklahoma City hospital where she was taken following the crash.
A police report says the two were westbound on the motorcycle Saturday afternoon when the rear tire apparently deflated and the motorcycle overturned several times.
The report says the weather was clear and the road was dry at the time of the crash.
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — A Lenexa-based jewelry company that was one of the Kansas City area’s more successful startups has announced plans to close.
Silpada Designs Inc. says its business model that involved jewelry-sales parties hosted at home has become outdated. The company said women increasingly work outside the home, making sales parties more difficult to host than when Silpada formed in 1997.
Andrea Carroll, the company’s vice president of design, product development and marketing, told The Kansas City Star no particular event triggered the board’s decision Tuesday to halt its business.
The retailer grew to become one of the largest party-planning sellers of sterling silver jewelry in North America. It was acquired by Avon Products in 2010 for $650 million but was reacquired by the founding families in 2013.
