KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The former controller of a Kansas company has been ordered to serve a year and three months in federal prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $135,000 from his employer.
Forty-three-year-old Alan Wenk was sentenced Monday in Kansas City, Kansas. That’s where he pleaded guilty in February to two counts of bank fraud.
Wenk has admitted the crimes happened while he was working as regional controller and corporate accounts payable manager for Performance Contracting Group Inc. in Lenexa.
Prosecutors say Wenk caused the company to issue 20 fraudulent checks to him and business entities he controlled.
Airlines canceled and delayed fewer flights in March and consumer complaints were down.
The Department of Transportation said Monday that 81.5 percent of flights on the main airlines arrived on time during March, up from 78.7 percent in March 2015. Hawaiian Airlines was the best performer, while Spirit Airlines finished last.
About 1 percent of flights were canceled during the month, an improvement from 2.2 percent a year earlier.
The figures don’t include more recent periods, in which thousands of passengers have missed their flights because they were stuck in long security-checkpoint lines.
The government says it got 1,055 consumer complaints about U.S. airlines, down from 1,378 in March 2015 — a reversal from rising complaint rates earlier this year.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal Election Commission data shows that Kansas residents have donated more than $1.8 million to presidential candidates and hundreds of millions more through PACs and super PACs.
The Wichita Eagle reports that Kansas ranks in the bottom 10 among states’ donations between January 2015 and March 2016.
Less than 4,000 Kansas residents made donations to individual candidates. The most common individual donation was $50. About two-thirds of all donations were $50 or less.
But the average donor gave money to their candidate five times, and the most common total amount given was $250.
At this point in the 2012 campaign, Kansas residents had donated $2.4 million. Nearly twice as many Kansas residents gave money in this election cycle than in 2012, although each person has given less.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill Monday that he said is aimed at freeing more people from poverty, but opponents argue the new welfare restrictions leave families without a safety net during financial difficulties.
Under the new law Kansans will be limited to 24 months on cash assistance over their lifetime. The previous limit was 36 months.
Able-bodied recipients of food assistance also will be required to participate in an employment or training program and not quit a job that offers at least 30 hours of work per week.
The Brownback administration estimates that about 9 percent of the approximately 4,900 households receiving cash assistance will reach the new lifetime limit within the next year.
SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a reported Sunday afternoon robbery.
Just after 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Mary Jones, 51, Salina, went to the home of an acquaintance, in the 1400 block of Beverly in Salina and demanded that that the homeowner give her his credit cards, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
When he homeowner refused, Jones allegedly picked up a candlestick holder and threatened to hit him with it.
The homeowner then picked up a .22 caliber revolver.
A struggle for the gun ensued, causing the weapon to discharge three shots into a ceiling inside the home.
After the struggle, the homeowner locked himself inside a room and Jones fled the home with several items including the gun, the candlestick, a holster and a Samsung flip phone.
She was located Sunday evening at her home in the 700 block of Fairdale. The items were recovered and she booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges of robbery and criminal trespassing.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The two-decade-old dissertation of Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp is being used against him as he seeks re-election.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Huelskamp rails against New Deal-era agriculture subsidies and price supports in his 400-page essay on congressional agriculture committees. He completed it while he was a Ph.D. student at American University in Washington.
To continue representing the 1st Congressional District of western and central Kansas, Huelskamp must overcome Great Bend obstetrician Roger Marshall in the Republican primary. One issue that’s emerged is Huelskamp’s removal from the House Agriculture Committee after he clashed with former Speaker John Boehner.
Marshall noted that Huelskamp, citing research from other scholars, said in his dissertation that the House and Senate agriculture committees “over-represent rural and agricultural interests.”
Huelskamp calls the dissertation questions “outrageous.”
Advocates for transgender rights are glad the Kansas legislature did not pass bills that would have determined which bathrooms transgender people can use. However, they are looking ahead toward an uncertain future.
Elliot DeCosta, a transgender man and recent Lawrence Free State High School graduate, said the Student Physical Privacy Act, introduced in House Bill 2737 and Senate Bill 513, would put transgender people in harm’s way.
“One of the biggest, most talked about, most well-known issues in the [transgender] community is finding spaces that are safe for [transgender] people to use,” DeCosta said.
Last session, the House and Senate bills proposed new laws that would have required public school and college students across the state to use restrooms that matched the biological sex they were assigned at birth, regardless of whether individuals identified as a man or woman.
The bills said if a transgender person used the wrong gendered bathroom, it could create “potential for disruption of educational activities and unsafe situations.” The bills proposed a $2,500 fine for individuals who disobeyed the bill. It also said students could request alternative or separate bathroom accommodations if their parents approved.
The bills were left in committee at the time the legislature adjourned. But advocates fear they could be reintroduced in the next session.
“There’s always a risk for [transgender] people, whether they’re in school or out of school. But in schools, [transgender] kids can be particularly vulnerable. High schools and middle schools are perfect places for harassment and bullying,” said Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas.
DeCosta said the alternative accommodations proposed by the legislature are not always available, and even if they are, they might cause transgender people to out themselves in order to use them.
This was DeCosta’s experience at his high school during the 2014-2015 school year.
He said the only option for a unisex bathroom was the one wheelchair accessible bathroom in the school, which required a key.
“I had to have a parent come in and support me with a statement so that the school would give me a key. Essentially, if you’re not out at home, then you have no hope of accessing these resources,” DeCosta said.
Such an arrangement makes bathrooms anything but accessible. DeCosta said he had to explain his whole life story and situation so access to the bathroom could even be considered.
“Anytime you are forced to out yourself where it is not your choice, or you have to talk about incredibly personal details of your life that are traumatizing and really damaging … and [have] to get documentation from a medical professional to document the need to use a bathroom, any bathroom, is too much work,” he said.
DeCosta said the sentiments in HB 2737 and SB 513 encourage people to be unkind those who do not align themselves with “who they think should be using that bathroom, especially [transgender] women.”
“That’s always how it is with anything in the trans community. People who don’t align with the cis-standard are going to be affected the most. But especially trans women – their safety is going to be put in a place that is so abysmal, that is just terrifying to think about,” DeCosta said. Cisgender refers to people whose sexual identity matches their biological sex.
Transgender women are already targeted at such alarmingly high rates, DeCosta said, that the reality of the idea of a trans women having to use a men’s restroom in order to comply with the law is incredibly dangerous.
“[These bills] are essentially telling trans women that it’s okay if anything happens to them,” DeCosta said.
Former University of Kansas student Leah Albee has argued that the he/she dichotomy in society isn’t necessary. Albee does not identify as male or female.
“The binary isn’t real, and all restrooms should be gender-neutral, period. You can’t tell what a person’s gender is by looking at them,” Albee said.
Albee said if there are no gender-neutral restrooms available, transgender students would have to decide whether to leave campus every time they need to use the restroom or be in fear for their safety.
“That’s if you can leave, if you can’t you’re forced to make the choice between harming your body by not going to the restroom when you need to or threaten your safety,” Albee said.
If any citizens are concerned about the future of bills like this being introduced into politics in Kansas, Witt encourages them to contact Equality Kansas to learn about how to get involved.
“[Equality Kansas] is the only LGBT+ organization in the state that works on these issues directly at the statehouse,” Witt said.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A multimillion dollar income tax dispute involving a former Kansas businessman could influence whether Gov. Sam Brownback signs a bill allowing taxpayers to challenge rulings of the state’s Board of Tax Appeals.
Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley told The Wichita Eagle the governor hasn’t decided whether to sign a bill that passed on the final night of the legislative session this month.
The measure would allow any taxpayer appealing a decision by the tax board to have a new trial in district court, where new evidence could be presented.
The governor’s office tried to restrict such trials to property tax appeals.
Pizza magnate Gene Bicknell is suing to force the state to refund $42 million he paid in 2013 after an unfavorable ruling by the then-Court of Tax Appeals.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is ridding itself of a knotty dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control. The court is asking lower courts to take another look at the issue in a search for a compromise.
The justices on Monday issued an unsigned opinion in a case over the arrangement devised by the administration to spare faith-based groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans.
The major confrontation over an element of President Barack Obama’s health care law is ending with a whimper and with no resolution of the issue the court undertook to decide. The case almost certainly would not return to the Supreme Court until after the 2016 presidential election.
The outcome suggests the court lacked a majority for a significant ruling and is perhaps another example of how the court has been affected by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka homeless shelter employee is seeking to give children hope with a new book.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that “In Darkness, a Light Still Shines.for Kids!” features 52 short chapters. It’s the creation of Jessica Hosman, who is director of children’s ministries for the Topeka Rescue Mission.
The book has child-friendly replications of stories found in “In Darkness, a Light Still Shines,” which was written by the mission’s executive director, Barry Feaker, in 2012. Feaker wrote stories about homelessness, depression, poverty, hunger, mental illness and other challenges confronting those coming to the mission.
Hosman says the children’s book is intended to be read as a weekly devotional for children ages 6 to 12.
Book sale proceeds will support a day care facility for homeless children.
BUTLER COUNTY – Law enforcement and school district authorities are investigating another social media threat at a Kansas middle school.
Over the weekend a student posted a potential threat to the Andover Middle School on social media, according to a social media report to parents.
The threat was reported to the authorities and all have cooperated fully with the investigation, according to the school district.
The school reported that at this there was no immediate danger to students and staff, but for extra precaution the school will have additional security on Monday.
The situation has been handled, all individuals involved, including parents, have been cooperative, and that there is no reason for the community to be concerned about children’s safety, according to a social media report from Andover Police.
Last week, four Kansas middle schools students were taken into custody after officials became aware of social media posts threatening violence at Haysville Middle School.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a homicide in Topeka.
Topeka police said in a news release that officers were dispatched early Sunday to a reported shooting and found 34 year old Tevon D. Stokes, of Topeka, dead. Another victim was transported to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
No additional information was immediately released. Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The former controller of a Kansas company has been ordered to serve a year and three months in federal prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $135,000 from his employer.
