TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka city councilman charged with child abuse is resigning from the City Council.

Jonathan Robert Schumm announced during a council meeting Tuesday that his resignation would be effective noon Wednesday. He said he is leaving his position to best serve his family’s needs and to honor an agreement he reached with the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office.

Schumm and his wife, Allison Nicole Schumm, are charged with one criminal count each of aggravated battery and four counts of endangering a child. Court records show that Jonathan Schumm is accused of choking a child and threatening to “kill him.”

He has denied the allegations.

A Shawnee County judge dismissed a civil action to remove Schumm from his position on Jan. 8.

ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Target is making a stand on the debate around what type of bathrooms transgenders can use.

In a statement posted on its company website Tuesday, the discounter, based in Minneapolis, said transgender employees and customers can use the restroom or fitting room facility that “corresponds with their gender identity.”

The statement comes as a national debate is heating up over whether to restrict transgender people from using public bathrooms that only match their gender at birth. North Carolina is facing backlash for its recent ban on local anti-discrimination ordinances. And other states are considering legislation similar to that adopted by North Carolina.

Target Corp. says it regularly assesses issues and considers many factors that would impact business, customers and workers.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police are looking for a woman who they say stole a purse from another woman who had collapsed and died before entering a Wichita building.

According to authorities, a woman in her 50s was about to walk into the Inter-Faith Villa Courts building around 7:15 a.m. Saturday, when she died of natural causes. Police say that about 15 minutes later, a woman in her mid-20s walked around her body and stole her purse.

Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow said Tuesday that when first responders arrived at the scene, a person told authorities about the theft.

Woodrow says the deceased woman has been identified, but her name has not yet been released.

 

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials are bracing for a new fiscal forecast for state government that is expected to force Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to outline new proposals for avoiding a budget deficit.

State officials, legislative researchers and university economists were meeting Wednesday to draft revised projections for tax collections through June 2017. The new forecast is expected to be more pessimistic than the current one issued in November.

Budget Director Shawn Sullivan then is expected to outline budget measures.

The state’s tax collections for the current fiscal year have fallen $81 million, or 1.9 percent, short of expectations.

The new forecast could leave the state with a projected budget deficit for the next fiscal year beginning July 1.

Legislators return next week from their annual spring break to tackle budget issues.

CANEY, Kan. (AP) — A small southeast Kansas school district will have a four-day week for the rest of the year to save money.

The Wichita Eagle reports the Caney Valley school board voted to add 10 minutes to each school day and cancel classes for the next five Fridays.

Superintendent Blake Vargas says the district, which has about 800 students, is facing a $70,000 budget shortfall. He cited adjusted enrollment, bus costs and years of educational funding cuts for the shortfall.

Other school districts also are considering schedule changes or other measures to reduce costs.

Jim Freeman, chief financial officer for Wichita schools, says that district cold end this school year early, and his staff might propose lengthening the school day but shortening the next school year.

LAWRENCE — Larry Singell is the second of three candidates for provost and executive vice chancellor of the Lawrence campus, according to a media release.

He has served as executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington since 2012. Singell, an economist who studies the economics of higher education, had previously been associate dean for social sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and head of the economics department at the University of Oregon. Other details about the candidate, including a complete curriculum vita, are available at provostsearch.ku.edu.

Singell will deliver a public presentation to campus from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. A reception will follow from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Traditions Area on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union.

For those with a KU online ID, the presentation will be live-streamed via video, and an archived video link will be made available after the presentation is over. Links to the live stream and archived video will be available at provostsearch.ku.edu, as well as an online evaluation form. Evaluation forms will be accepted until April 28.

Singell joins Neeli Bendapudi as named candidates for the position.

A search committee chaired by Steve Warren, professor of speech-language-hearing and investigator in the Life Span Institute, identified the three candidates. The committee was assisted by the executive search firm R. William Funk and associates.

The final provost candidate’s public presentation is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday, April 25, at the Summerfield Room in the Adams Alumni Center. The name of the remaining candidate will be announced on Friday, April 22.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today released a statement after receiving a letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspector general regarding the Agency’s taxpayer funded, anti-farmer campaign.

“I am pleased the EPA inspector general agrees that an investigation into the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission’s questionable use of millions in taxpayer funded grants for political purposes is warranted,” Sen. Roberts said. “In the days since Sen. Inhofe and I called for an investigation, farmers and ranchers have contacted my office to thank us for standing up for them. We already know this campaign was malicious. Now we need to know what role the EPA had in it and whether they are properly monitoring the lawful use of federal funds.”

“It is important that the EPA inspector general get to the bottom of how taxpayer money was used to criticize farmers and promote the agenda of environmental activists,” Sen. Inhofe said. “In a hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee this morning, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted that EPA has halted payments to the grant organization due to the concerns the inspector general will be investigating. That’s an important step, but EPA needs to prevent similar mismanagement for occurring in the future.”

Roberts and Inhofe on April 5 sent a letter to Arthur A. Elkins, Jr., the inspector general of the EPA, requesting an audit and investigation of an EPA grant to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission used to support an anti-farmer advocacy campaign in Washington state. The campaign included billboards and a website that support increased regulation of agriculture in Washington state. The inspector general has confirmed that it will answer the questions raised in the Roberts and Inhofe letter as part of an audit into the $20.5 million in grants awarded to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A second member of the University of Kansas rowing team has filed a lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted by a football player at the school.

The Kansas City Star reports the student isn’t named in the lawsuit filed Monday. Her attorney, Dan Curry, says the woman was assaulted Aug. 29 in her room at Jayhawker Towers.

Curry filed lawsuit in March for former Kansas rower Daisy Tackett, who said she was assaulted at Jayhawk Towers in 2014. Curry says the women were assaulted by the same football player, who agreed in March to be expelled. His name hasn’t been released.

University spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson declined to comment on individual sexual assault investigations. But she says the university tries to investigate and quickly resolve all reports of sexual assault.

(AP) — UnitedHealth, the nation’s biggest health insurer, says it will remain in public health insurance exchanges in only a handful of states next year after expanding to 34 this year.

CEO Stephen Hemsley says the company cannot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion because of the higher risk that comes with its customers.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. has estimated that it could lose as much as $475 million on its public exchange business this year and expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last.

SALINA -An inert 105 mm artillery shell brought to a Salina home on Monday afternoon, prompted authorities to evacuate a half dozen homes, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

A woman who said the shell had belonged to her husband, who recently passed away, asked a man to get rid of it.

He took it to a residence in the 1200 Block of Talley Drive and just before 3:30 p.m. called police for help.

The Kansas Highway Patrol and the Fort Riley Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit were called to remove the shell.

While the shell was inert, the trigger device was still live, which means it could have still been fired, according to Sweeney.

The shell was taken to the Smoky Hill Weapons Range for disposal.

MANHATTAN – A Kansas middle school alerted parents and staff after report of a bacterial infection.

A member of the staff and student at Anthony Middle School in Manhattan have had confirmed cases of Clostridium Difficile (C.dif), according to school Principal Vickie Kline.

C.difficle is a bacteria that can cause symptoms such as watery diarrhea and mild abdominal cramping. Illness from C. dif most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long-term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications.

C. difficile bacteria are found throughout the environment — in soil, air, water, human and animal feces, and food products, such as processed meats. A small number of healthy people naturally carry the bacteria in their large intestine and don’t have ill effects from the infection.

C. difficile infection is most commonly associated with health care, occurring in hospitals and other health care facilities where a much higher percentage of people carry the bacteria.

However, studies show increasing rates of community-associated C. difficile infection, which occurs among populations traditionally not considered high risk, such as children and people without a history of antibiotic use or recent hospitalization.

The principal also included a link the Riley County Health with information on C. dif from the Mayo Clinic where she acquired most the information listed in the first two paragraphs.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/c-difficile/basics/symptoms/con-20029664?reDate=19042016
Anthony Middle School is following the prevention procedures recommended by hospitals and other health care facilities. Preventive measures include hand-washing and thorough cleaning of surfaces with bleach. We have also in been contact with the Riley County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

DICKINSON COUNTY -Law enforcement and first responders are on the scene of an accident on Interstate 70 after a high-speed chase, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The chase involving a vehicle from Florida started just after 11 a.m. west of Milford Lake Road in Dickinson County.

The chase ended just east of Solomon Road when the vehicle flipped, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Information on what prompted the chase and any injuries is not available.

Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.

SALINA -The youngest of five men accused in the shooting death of a Salina teenager pleaded no contest to felony murder on Monday.

Andrew Woodring, 18, was among a group of five men seeking revenge for a fight when 17-year-old Allie Saum was fatally shot on May 6, 2015, in what prosecutors allege is a case of mistaken identity.

Woodring was 17 at the time of the shooting.

In August, Saline County District Court Judge Rene Young ruled that Woodring would stand trial as an adult in the case.
Woodring faces a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years served. His sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. July 8.

Under the plea agreement, charges against Woodring of attempted first-degree murder of Vince Johnson Jr., criminal discharge of a firearm and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery were dismissed.

Another of the five men, 19-year-old Stephen Gentry was found guilty on Friday for his involvement in Saum’s death.

He was convicted on all counts, including the first-degree murder of Saum, attempted first-degree murder of Johnson, criminal discharge of a firearm, and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Gentry is also due to be sentenced at 9 a.m. July 8.

According to testimony at his trial, Gentry was among the group of young men that were seeking revenge on two men for the earlier fight.

One of the men had allegedly punched Gentry in the face. The pickup Saum and Johnson were riding in was mistaken for the truck in which the two men were riding.

23-year-old Macio Palacio Jr. is accused of firing five shots at the vehicle as it passed through the 500 block of Russell, one of which fatally struck Saum in the back of the head.

Palacio Jr. is set for trial on May 9.

Jerome D. Forbes, 19, is scheduled for trial August 17.

Daniel A. Sims, 20, will be entering a plea agreement. He is scheduled for a court hearing June 17.

Garcia-Ferniza, 22, was convicted on March 30 of interference with a law enforcement officer for her role in the crime.

According to testimony in her trial, Garcia-Ferniza removed Palacio’s gun out of the box where he kept it and hid it in a bathroom cabinet.

She then put it in her pajama pants just before leaving her parents mobile home when police arrived to search the premises in the early morning hours of May 7, 2015.

Palacio was arrested from the home earlier that morning.

Police recovered a .45-caliber Glock 30 handgun from Garcia-Ferniza, which had one bullet in the chamber and four more in the gun’s magazine.

Garcia-Ferniza is scheduled for sentencing on May 31. She faces a prison sentence ranging from 7 to 23 months.