NEW YORK (AP) — A study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finds that people who put their cars up as collateral for what are supposed to be short-term emergency loans are being hit with interest rates of 300 percent.
Like payday loans, borrowers have a high likelihood of renewing the loan instead of paying it off. They wind up getting mired in debt and have a high rate of repossession.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Colleagues of a slain Kansas police detective say the late officer’s handcuffs will be used on the man charged in the killing when the suspect is released from the hospital.
Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Terry Zeigler described the plan in a tweet that says “words cannot express what this means to our department.”
The Kansas City Star reports that it’s not yet clear when 28-year-old Curtis Ayers will be released from the hospital.
Ayers is accused of fatally shooting Kansas City, Kansas, police Detective Brad Lancaster. Ayers has been hospitalized since being shot by police hours later in Kansas City, Missouri, during his May 9 arrest.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor says claims of sexual discrimination raised in a lawsuit by two former employees are inaccurate and unsubstantiated.
The two-term Democrat said Wednesday the lawsuit had nothing to do with his decision, announced earlier this month, not to seek re-election. He says he made it clear when he ran that he would only serve two terms.
Recent filings in the 2012 federal lawsuit have made public alleged sexist comments and other issues the two women contend created a hostile work environment. Those details surfaced as Taylor seeks to have the case decided in his favor.
The fired employees say Taylor made derogatory comments about women. Taylor says their court filing is nothing more than muckraking, and he looks forward to the judge’s summary judgment.
MCPHERSON COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities were on the scene of an incident in the unincorporated McPherson County community of Roxbury late Wednesday afternoon. A suspect was arrested, according to the sheriff’s department.
The Kansas Highway Patrol assisted the McPherson County Sheriff’s Department after reports of shots fired.
Multiple Troopers have gathered in Roxbury, Ks to ASSIST McPherson County Sheriffs Dept following reports of gun shots in town.
— Trooper Ben (@TrooperBenKHP) May 18, 2016
Several streets were blocked off in the downtown area that is located approximately 14 miles east of Lindsborg.
No other information has been released.
MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are considering legislation that could lower the number of students receiving free and reduced-price meals at school.
Legislation debated by the House Education and Workforce Committee on Wednesday aims to save money by scaling back the number of schools in which all students receive free or reduced meals.
A proposed Republican amendment to the bill would go even further, allowing a trial period of so-called block grants for school meals in three states. That would mean those states wouldn’t receive unlimited federal dollars for students who qualify for the free and reduced-price lunches.
Hunger and nutrition advocates from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the American Heart Association have criticized the legislation.
The committee was scheduled to vote on the amendment and the overall bill Wednesday.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a couple from India and now living in Kansas illegally obtained their U.S. citizenship and committed bank fraud.
Sixty-year-old Ajay Dave and 59-year-old Parul Dave of Overland Park are charged with two counts each of bank fraud and making false statements on their U.S. citizenship applications. They also are charged with four counts involving obtaining U.S. citizenship by fraud.
Court documents allege the Daves provided false financial information and tax returns to a bank to get a $417,000 mortgage loan on their home. They also allegedly provided false information to obtain a $238,500 loan to refinance a Topeka home.
Prosecutors allege the Daves came to the U.S. in 1999 and didn’t reveal the alleged bank fraud while applying to become naturalized U.S. citizens in 2012 and 2013.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is criticizing the Obama administration’s directive on the treatment of transgender students at public schools as “an unprecedented example of executive over-reach.”
The U.S. departments of justice and education said last week transgender students must be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity because federal law prohibits discrimination against those students. The administration says schools that refuse to comply could face federal lawsuits and lose federal aid.
Brownback said in a statement Wednesday that states, not the federal government, have primary responsibility for education policy. He says local schools, communities and parents are best equipped to respond to situations involving gender identity.
The statement did not indicate that the governor plans to take any specific actions on the issue.
ANDERSON COUNTY – A Kansas man died in an accident just after 12:30p.m. on Wednesday in Anderson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Dodge Durango driven by Richard D. Crabtree, 80, Kincaid, was southbound on U.S. 59 just north of Garnett.
The vehicle left the roadway, entered the west ditch, hit a road approach and rolled onto the passenger side.
Crabtree was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to First Call in Kansas City.
He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
By MIKE SHERRY
The Overland Park City Council on Monday set 21 as the minimum age to buy tobacco products, meaning that a regional campaign has now upped the legal age in the metropolitan area’s five largest cities.
The council approved the ordinance Monday on a 9-3 vote, with council members Dave Janson, Fred Spears and Dan Stock voting against the measure.
Tobacco 21|KC is an initiative of Healthy KC, a partnership of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, and more than 150 businesses, health care organizations, hospitals and government agencies.
The local effort is part of a national campaign, and proponents hope it will cut down on the number of people who develop long-term addictions to tobacco products.
Overland Park’s passage makes it the 11th area community, including the five most populous, to adopt the ordinance.
The other big municipalities are Kansas City, Missouri; the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas; Olathe; and Independence in approving the measure . Along with Overland Park, their population exceeds a million people.
So far, the only city to have considered the measure and turned it down is Gardner, Kansas. In March, the city council unanimously defeated it, calling it an infringement on personal freedom.
Health experts say preventing children from starting to smoke is one of the best ways to prevent them from picking up the habit as adults. The Institute of Medicine says that of adults who become daily smokers, about 90 percent say they began smoking before they reached the age of 19 and nearly 100 percent before the age of 26.
Mike Sherry is a reporter for KCPT television in Kansas City, Mo., a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
SHAWNEE COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating two suspects in connection with a shooting.
Just after 9p.m. on Tuesday officers responded to the 300 Block of Southeast Lawrence in Topeka after reports of gunshots, according to a media release.
A male victim Tony Martez Dennis, 29, Topeka, was transported to a hospital for treatment of possible life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Malik T. Yates, 23, Topeka, was arrested and booked on charges of second-degree murder, interference with a law enforcement officer, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and battery.
Joshua Valdivia, 28, was arrested and booked on charges of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated robbery and interference with a law enforcement officer.
DICKINSON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Dickinson County are investigating a suspect in connection with the death of a 13-month-old.
Just after 10p.m. on Monday, personnel at Abilene Memorial Hospital notified sheriff deputies after a 13-month-old child was brought into the emergency room, according to Dickinson County Sheriff Gareth Hoffman
Family members brought the baby to the hospital from a residence in Enterprise, according to Hoffman.
The baby was unresponsive upon arrival at the hospital and died a short time later.
The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department determined the child’s death was suspicious in nature and immediately opened an investigation.
Hoffman said several interviews were conducted and an autopsy was performed.
Based on evidence obtain through the investigation, the child’s mother Jessica Stinnett, 29, Enterprise, was arrested and booked into the Dickinson County Jail on requested charges of first-degree murder and child abuse.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has vetoed a bill that included provisions prompted by a multi-million dollar tax dispute with pizza magnate Gene Bicknell.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the bill that Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed on Tuesday was designed to help taxpayers challenge rulings of the Board of Tax Appeals. Under the ruling, taxpayers would be allowed to appeal decisions from the governor-appointed board to district court, where they could present new evidence.
Bicknell supported the measure. He once owned the largest number of Pizza Hut franchises in the nation.
The bill would not directly affect Bicknell’s tax dispute either way because it is currently being reviewed by the Kansas Supreme Court. Tens of millions of dollars are at stake.
HARVEY COUNTY- Two people were injured in an accident just after 9p.m. on Tuesday in Harvey County.
The Harvey County Sheriff Department reported an ATV driven by a 39-year-old man from Nickerson was accelerating up a hill on private property near North Burmac Road and Northwest 12th Street when it rolled.
Air ambulance flew the 40-year-old male passenger and ATV owner from Hutchinson to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
A private vehicle transported the driver to Wesley Medical Center.
Alcohol may have played a part in the accident, according to the sheriff’s department.
Names of the victims have not been released as the accident remains under investigation.
