WABAUNSEE COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 10p.m. on Sunday in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Toyota 4-Runner driven by David K. Roguet, 56 Topeka, was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of Snokomo.

The SUV left the roadway to the right and struck the exit sign.

Roguet was transported to Stormont Vail.

He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

HARVEY COUNTY– Law enforcement authorities in Harvey County have implemented one of the first Unmanned Aerial Systems programs in the region, according to a social media report from Newton Police.

They promised transparency regarding the use of their UAV program.

Just before 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 25th, the program was put to use to document evidence at the scene of an injury accident on I-135 just south of the Hesston exit.

Officers were able to obtain a birds eye view of the scene, observing skid marks, and viewing the relative positions of where vehicle’s came to rest is valuable to the investigation.

The UAV is also able to record GPS coordinates of vehicles and other points accurately documenting their position. Our small UAV can be deployed and record this data in minutes, providing not only accurate information, but also speeding up the investigation to relieve traffic congestion.

This technology used by the Harvey County Emergency Response Team provides expanded and unique capabilities to a wide range of Emergency Services, better enabling them to provide assistance in a safe and efficient manner, according to a social media report.

Imagine the following:

• Being able to use a thermal imager to search an entire field for a missing child, or locating victims after a tornado in mere minutes 
• Finding an armed suspect and implementing a plan to safely apprehend him without risking lives
• Viewing the totality of a large grass fire in real time, and directing resources more efficiently

• Documenting the scene of a fatality accident from an overhead

perspective.
This new program meets all of these objectives and more.

We would like the people we serve to know we are aware of privacy concerns and have drafted a strict policy governing the use of these aircraft. The aircraft will not be used for routine patrol activities.

Pursuant to our policy, we can only operate these aircraft for training purposes, or pursuant to a search warrant or exigent circumstance (emergency situations). When we operate the aircraft we will do our best to be transparent and notify the public via social media.

Any images recorded which are not of evidentiary value, or of legitimate training value will be deleted within 24 hours to protect your family’s privacy. We will be scheduling several information and demonstration events to answer any questions and receive feedback to better develop the program.

This week saw the culmination of this 7-month project, and there are 6 certified UAV pilots selected from the Newton Police Department and Harvey County Sheriff’s Office.

MELISSA HELLMANN, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are considering a measure aimed at limiting wrongful convictions by requiring law enforcement agencies to create written policies for dealing with eyewitnesses to crimes.

Innocence Project policy advocate Michelle Feldman says eyewitness misidentification accounts for the majority of convictions overturned nationally based on DNA evidence since 1989.

The bill would create safeguards against law enforcement sending subtle clues about which suspects in lineups are thought to be the perpetrators. Witnesses would also be informed that they’re not required to identify someone from the lineup.

The House Judiciary Committee and the full Senate have approved the measure, which will get further consideration when lawmakers return from a break on April 27.

MEDICINE LODGE, Kan. (AP) — Firefighters making headway in trying to snuff the biggest wildfire in Kansas history may not get much help from the weather in coming days.

Forestry officials in Kansas and Oklahoma say the fires that have scorched 620 square miles in the two states are 45 percent contained. That includes the roughly one-third of the fire in hardest-hit Barber County in south-central Kansas.

But the National Weather Service says shifting, stiffer winds are looming, potentially reigniting hot spots or extending flames beyond the fire line.

Around Barber County, winds on Monday could gust to 15 to 25 mph, then increase to 30 to 45 mph the next day. Any chance of precipitation in that area could come Tuesday night, but that moisture is expected to be very isolated.

DAN SEWELL, Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — Tea party activists are heartened by a federal appeals court ruling that strengthens their legal push against the Internal Revenue Service for alleged targeting in past election cycles.

A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals chastised government foot-dragging while ordering the agency to give attorneys for tea party groups details on tax-exempt applicants. A U.S. district court judge in Cincinnati earlier this year certified the case as a class action.

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin praised the original plaintiffs for “relentless pursuit of the truth.”

The 2013 lawsuit was among litigation, congressional hearings and federal investigations over treatment of conservative groups who said they were singled out for extra IRS scrutiny. The Justice Department decided against any criminal charges after its probe.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police have been cracking down on the sale of drug paraphernalia businesses in Wichita.

Police said complaints from the community led to the recent crackdown on some products sold at new vape shops as well as convenience stores and other businesses.

Capt. Kevin Mears says the state passed a law in 2008 against selling products designed to use illegal drugs, and Wichita also has a law.

He told The Wichita Eagle that as part of the renewed effort against the paraphernalia, the city is distributing fliers with what is and isn’t allowed to be sold at businesses. If businesses don’t comply, Mears said police will seize the paraphernalia, and store owners will face fines or jail time.

ENID, Okla. (AP) — Three small earthquakes have been recorded in northern Oklahoma.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 3.6 quake was recorded at 1:01 a.m. Sunday 12 miles northeast of Enid and a 3.3 magnitude temblor was recorded in the same area eight minutes later.

A 2.7 magnitude quake was recorded at 2:20 a.m. near Blackwell, near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line.

No injuries or damage are reported.

The number of magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes has skyrocketed in Oklahoma, from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 900 last year.

Scientists have linked the increase to the underground disposal of wastewater from oil-and-gas production and state regulators want oil and gas companies to reduce their wastewater disposal operations.

MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are investigating a suspect in connection with an aggravated kidnapping.

Police reported Sergio Guerra, 38, Wichita, was was arrested late Friday, according to a media release.

Just before 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, police in Manhattan received an emergency call about a woman who had been dragged by her vehicle after attempting to flee an attacker who was not known to her.

Police responded to the 500 block of Richards Drive in Manhattan and found that several bystanders were assisting a 19-year-old woman who had received non-life threatening injuries. She was treated and released, however, the injuries were significant. This victim’s personal information has been withheld due to the nature of this crime.

Officers found that sometime after 11:00 p.m. the woman was approached by an unknown hispanic male while she attempted to start her car while in a parking lot on Richards Drive.

This suspect took her mobile phone and forced her to move to the passenger seat of her vehicle. The man then sat in the driver’s seat and began to drive out of the parking lot, according to police.

At that time the 19-year-old victim attempted to flee her vehicle, however, was unable to completely exit through the passenger side door and fell to the ground while a portion of her body was still inside. She was dragged for approximately 800 feet while the male suspect traveled south on Richards Drive and then west onto Fort Riley Blvd. when she was able to free herself. Bystanders then tended to her and contacted police. The suspect fled the scene and law enforcement later recovered the vehicle in the Redbud Estates neighborhood.

Guerra was booked on counts of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated battery, according to police in Manhattan.

Bond for Guerra was set at $500,000 and he is currently confined at the Riley County Jail.

 

By JIM MCLEAN

A new organization is forming to strengthen the lobbying effort for Medicaid expansion in Kansas.

The Alliance for a Healthy Kansas will focus on passing an expansion bill in 2017, not in the waning days of the current session, according to Billie Hall, the chief executive of the Topeka-based Sunflower Foundation.

In an email sent Wednesday to approximately 2,000 people registered to receive updates from the foundation, Hall urged individuals and organizations from across the state to join the alliance so that it can mount a strong lobbying effort next year.

“This conversation must continue through the summer and fall so that we can make a difference in 2017,” she wrote.

The alliance’s website is designed to “bring the voices of Kansans into this important policy discussion,” Hall wrote.

In addition to Sunflower, several foundations are funding the alliance, including the Wichita-based Kansas Health Foundation.

The website features a list of 70 current alliance members, which include a wide range of large and small advocacy groups, health care providers, unions and foundations.

To date, the Kansas Hospital Association has been the most visible advocate of expanding KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. It has funded research detailing how expansion could benefit health care providers and the Kansas economy. It also has commissioned multiple surveys, each of which has shown that a majority of Kansans support expansion.

However, those efforts have failed to substantially move the needle on the issue. Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican legislative leaders remain steadfastly opposed to expanding KanCare coverage to an estimated 150,000 Kansans, most of whom are low-income but non-disabled adults.

Brownback reiterated his opposition to expansion in his session-opening State of the State speech.

“It was Obamacare that cut Medicare reimbursements to rural hospitals,” Brownback said, referring to reductions in Medicare payments included in the Affordable Care Act. “It was Obamacare that caused the problem. We should not expand Obamacare to solve the problem.”

Brownback’s remarks were designed to counter claims that expanding KanCare would bolster the finances of many struggling Kansas hospitals and could have prevented the closure last fall of Mercy Hospital in Independence.

Kansas is one of 19 states that so far have rejected Medicaid expansion.

Missing out on the first three years of expansion has cost the state more than $1 billion in additional federal money, according to the hospital association, which keeps a running total on its website.

Editor’s note: The Kansas Health Foundation is the main funder of the Kansas Health Institute, parent of the editorially independent KHI News Service, one of the partners in Heartland Health Monitor.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

In 2015, Kansas fire departments responded to nearly 6,000 vegetation-related fires that resulted in 21 reported injuries, and $4.9 million in property loss and damages.

See the Wildfire Prevention Guide here

According to fire officials, nearly ninety-five percent of all wildfires result from the activity of people and, subsequently, a significant number could be prevented through taking proper actions towards fire safety.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal and Kansas Interagency Wildfire Council offer the following tips and best practices for helping farmers and ranchers to have safe and successful prescribed burns of their fields and pastures, ensuring a burn doesn’t become a wildfire:

Know all state and local fire restrictions. Check with county officials who are charged with deciding whether burning is permissible based on local conditions.
Notify neighbors as a courtesy prior to burning.
Postpone the burn if unsure of the fuel and weather conditions.
Check the weather forecast, not just for the day you will be burning, but for a couple days afterward as well to avoid “holdover” escapes from burns that were completed and forgotten about a day or more prior.
Have adequate resources and equipment available to prevent escaped fires.
Consider smoke management to avoid unsafe roads and air quality conditions.
Do not burn to the ends of the field. Setting boundaries, “back burning” and keeping the fire off of fence rows will prevent out-of-control burns.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A western Kansas woman is suing the state and some of the agencies involved in questioning and removing her 11-year-old son from her home after he spoke up at school about her marijuana use.

The Wichita Eagle  reports that Shona Banda’s federal lawsuit alleges the state and the agencies are depriving her of her civil rights to treat a debilitating condition.

The Garden City woman also claims officials have infringed on her parenting, and that local police and school employees improperly questioned her son without her permission in March of last year.

Spokespeople for Garden City public schools and Gov. Sam Brownback’s office are declining comment, citing the pending litigation.

Banda is acting as her own counsel in the lawsuit.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Before starting their annual spring break, Kansas lawmakers approved an education funding plan designed to satisfy a state Supreme Court mandate to help poor school districts.

The also approved an overhaul of the juvenile justice system and new protections for religious groups on college campuses.

But the Republican-dominated Legislature is likely to face difficult budget issues when it reconvenes April 27 to wrap up its business for the year.

Legislators approved a bill last month to balance the state’s $16 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. But state tax collections have fallen short of expectations 11 of the past 12 months.

Lawmakers also have a host of other issues to consider. They include grounds for impeaching state Supreme Court justices and marijuana laws.

MEDICINE LODGE, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on efforts to contain prairie wildfires that have scorched Oklahoma and Kansas (all times local):

4 p.m.

An 87-year-old man who lost his 19th-century home to a prairie fire that has scorched a large swath of southern Kansas is recounting how he narrowly escaped the flames with his wife.

Korean War veteran Don Gerstner says the blaze that spread into Kansas from Oklahoma advanced quickly Wednesday on the Barber County home near Medicine Lodge he has shared for 54 years with his wife, Carol.

Gerstner says that when he looked out the kitchen window, he saw what he described as a wall of fire coming. He yelled for his wife to get her pocketbook, and the couple fled with their dogs, at times driving through flames to escape.

Gerstner says the couple watched from afar as the fire consumed their home, much of it built with bricks from the county’s old courthouse.

___

2:30 p.m.

Oklahoma Forestry Services says several structures, numerous cattle and more than 1,000 bales of hay have burned in a wildfire that has scorched about 620 square miles in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Forestry services spokeswoman Michelle Finch-Walker said Saturday the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management is still assessing the damage. She said officials estimate that 36 percent of the fire is now contained.

Livestock producers should contact their county Farm Service Agency, which has programs to assist producers who have lost cattle.

There is also a hay donation repository that’s been established west of Alva to accept donations of hay to producers.