SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect allegedly involved in a violent attack in a Salina home on Thursday.
Clinton Cheney, 31, Lincoln, is alleged to have threatened a woman with a knife and strangled her almost to the point of unconsciousness, according to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
Cheney also reportedly refused to allow the woman, who is in 30s, to leave the home.
Cheney is an acquaintance of the woman.
Cheney left the home and the woman called police.
He was arrested in Lincoln County Thursday evening and was booked into jail on requested charges of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, domestic battery, aggravated kidnapping, and criminal threat.
FINNEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Garden City are investigating an injury accident involving children.
Just after 6 p.m. on Thursday, Officers of the Garden City Police Department were dispatched to 4101 E Hwy 50 reference a child being struck by a car as it backed out of a driveway, according to a media release.
When Officers arrived on scene they located a 3-year-old child with injuries to his head.
Finney County EMS responded and transported the child to St Catherine Hospital where he was treated and released.
The investigation revealed the victim was one of several children playing in the street at the time of the accident.
No charges are expected to filed, according to police captain Randy Ralston.
TOPEKA – Legislators and proponents of a bill that seeks to create language assessments for children who are deaf or hard of hearing expressed outrage Tuesday that the students are routinely neglected in language education.
Senate Bill 444 would establish an annual language assessment, which would be administered by the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
However, lawmakers Tuesday focused their attentions on data from the Kansas State Department of Education which, though limited, show that deaf students graduating from high school can read and understand language at a third-grade level, on average.
“If we’ve had data proving there was this major of a problem, I’m very concerned as to why we’ve waited this long to act,” Sen. Dennis Pyle, R- Hiawatha, said at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Education.
Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, agreed with Pyle and heavily criticized members of the Kansas State Board of Education and the Special Education Advisory Council for not acknowledging the problem sooner.
Ken Willard of the Kansas State Board of Education told lawmakers board members also are outraged. He said the board wasn’t aware of the problem until this bill was created.
“In the 14 years I’ve been here, this issue has never been brought to the attention of the board,” Willard said.
Supporters of the bill urged legislators to bridge the gap between age and literacy levels in children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
“Children with language delays have issues for the rest of their lives,” said Ann Cooper, president of the Kansas Association of the Deaf. “We need a system that tracks data and gives statistics on this problem.”
Scott Plumber, father of three deaf children and a deaf man himself, testified that he sees language deprivation problems occurring in students at his children’s schools.
“Language deprivation is a major problem,” Plumber said. “We need state assessments and monitoring to make sure children’s needs are being met.”
All proponents on the bill agreed that the language assessment would finally give the state the accurate numbers it needs to track the problem of illiteracy among deaf and hard of hearing children.
“It’s time for change in the lives of our deaf children,” said Sandra Kelly, executive director at the Deaf Cultural Center. “This language assessment is a game changer for education.”
HUTCHINSON- Law enforcement authorities in Hutchinson are Police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred at the
Main Street Dillon’s Store.
According to HPD a store employee ran into the street to flag down a patrol officer telling him they had just been robbed.
According to police a man walked into the store around 11 a.m. and said he had a weapon inside his waistband and demanded money. The man then left the store heading west on foot.
The robbery forced Hutchinson Middle School 8 to go into lockdown temporary lockdown that was lifted just after noon.
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HUTCHINSON –. – An incident in the neighborhood of the middle school in Hutchinson has prompted a temporary lock-down of the school located at 14th and Adams Street.
The school sent a notice to parents.
“Hutchinson Middle School is operating with locked exterior doors today and not allowing anyone in after receiving a call from police about a situation in the neighborhood.
We will continue to operate this way until police tell us otherwise.
If you need to pick up a student early, they ask that you call them first at 615-4800 and let us know you are on the way.”
For the record, all exterior doors at HMS-8 are locked during the school day with visitors needing to be “buzzed” in.
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Hutchinson Middle School 8
HUTCHINSON –. – An incident in the neighborhood of the middle school in Hutchinson has prompted a temporary lock-down of the school located at 14th and Adams Street.
The school sent a notice to parents.
“Hutchinson Middle School is operating with locked exterior doors today and not allowing anyone in after receiving a call from police about a situation in the neighborhood.
We will continue to operate this way until police tell us otherwise.
If you need to pick up a student early, they ask that you call them first at 615-4800 and let us know you are on the way.”
For the record, all exterior doors at HMS-8 are locked during the school day with visitors needing to be “buzzed” in.
Photo by Andy Marso Tim Wood talks to Kari Ann Rinker, a lobbyist for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, at the statehouse. Interhab announced Thursday that Wood will become the organization’s executive director in September, replacing Tom Laing, seated at left.
The state’s largest organization representing developmental disability service providers announced its new leader Thursday.
Interhab, a Topeka-based non-profit that has been active in statehouse lobbying on behalf of Kansans with disabilities, announced that Tim Wood will take over as executive director in September.
Wood, a disability advocate who also has been active in Topeka for several years, will replace Tom Laing. “I have big shoes to fill,” Wood said.
“I want to provide solid leadership like my predecessor Tom Laing and move the organization forward. Obviously there are a lot of tough issues we’re dealing with but I’m optimistic and really up for the challenge.” Service providers for Kansans with developmental disabilities face a number of regulatory changes at both the state and federal level.
Wood said the main focus, though, will be on the state’s plan to collapse seven Medicaid waiver programs for Kansans with a variety of disabilities into two: one for kids and one for adults. A news release from Interhab said Wood will take on the public advocacy role that now falls to Laing, who has led the organization since 1993.
Wood is coming to Interhab from Johnson County Developmental Supports, where he is director of the county’s Community Developmental Disability Organization.
He previously worked for the Topeka-based Disability Rights Center’s End the Wait campaign, which sought to convince legislators to fund waiting lists for home- and community-based services for Kansans with disabilities.
Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A 16-year-old Kansas girl has pleaded no contest to killing her younger sister.
The Salina Journal reports that Sierra Niehaus entered the plea at an early March status conference that had been scheduled in advance of her Saline County District Court trial.
Prosecutors allege Niehaus stabbed her 13-year-old sister, Galazia, to death at the family’s rural Saline County home on Aug. 1, 2014.
A judge ruled in April that she could be tried as an adult on a first-degree murder charge. She pleaded no contest to amended charges of second-degree murder, felony theft and two counts of interference with law enforcement.
Saline County Attorney Ellen Mitchell said Thursday the state will be seeking a total sentence of more than 15 1/2 years for Niehaus.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has stalled an effort by Kansas legislators to override one of his vetoes by warning that it could hurt the state’s credit ratings.
The developments Thursday in the Senate involved a bill to protect the aging Docking State Office Building near the Statehouse from demolition.
The demolition was part of a $20 million project to replace Docking’s power plant for nearby government buildings with a new plant. Bipartisan opposition prompted Brownback to cancel it.
The bill tied the project’s cancellation to lawmakers’ refusal to provide money for it. Brownback vetoed it last week, saying it was unnecessary.
Supporters of the bill wanted to vote to override the veto Thursday, but Brownback’s warning about the state’s credit ratings caused them to drop the effort until next week.
KANSAS CITY. – Two men and a woman were charged here today in a federal criminal complaint alleging they robbed a bank, engaged in a high-speed chase with a 19-month-old child in their car, and fired at police officers who were pursuing them, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.
Jacob L. Smith, 18, Kansas City, Kan.; Gary Jordan, 39, Kansas City, Kan.; and Danille Morris, 26, Kansas City, Kan.; are charged with one count of bank robbery and one count of brandishing firearms during the robbery
A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges Jordan and Smith were armed with handguns on March 9 when they entered the First National Bank at 7460 W. 199th Street in Stilwell, Kan.
Morris and her 19-month-old daughter waited outside in the getaway car. Morris had helped to case the bank before the robbery.
Smith and Jordan held the tellers at gunpoint before fleeing with cash stuffed in a backpack. Jordan took the wheel of the getaway car. During the next 25 minutes, the robbers were pursued by the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Leawood Police Department and other law enforcement agencies as they fled across the Kansas/Missouri state line. During the chase, Smith fired at officers from the car. After the car overturned on a sharp turn, the defendants were arrested. Throughout the chase, the child was in a car seat fastened to the back seat of the defendants’ car.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 25 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the bank robbery charge, and a penalty of not less than seven years and not more than life on the brandishing charge. Agencies assisting in the investigation include the FBI, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Leawood Police Department and the Kansas City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Catania is prosecuting.
It’s a sign of the season – campaigning to support your favorite political candidate. However, if your plans involve placing a political sign, the Kansas Department of Transportation reminds you to make sure it’s not located on highway right of way.
By law, all right of way on state highways is to be used exclusively for public highway purposes. Only regulatory, guide signs and warning signs are allowed on the state highway system.
KDOT has jurisdiction over all interstate, Kansas and U.S. routes on the state’s 9,500-mile system. The public should be aware that all political campaign signs or billboards are prohibited on the state right of way.
When KDOT maintenance crews find political or business advertising on state right of way, the signs will be removed immediately without notice. All such signs will then be taken to the closest KDOT subarea office where they can be picked up by the owner with the agreement they will not be placed on state right of way again.
All political campaign signs not picked up will be disposed of after the election.
Political campaign advertising is allowed on private property bordering state right of way. However, people erecting signs on private property must first obtain permission from the property owner.
American Airline jet landed safely on Thursday in Manhattan
MANHATTAN- For the second time this week an airplane made an emergency landing in Kansas.
Just before 5 p.m. on Thursday an emergency alert was issued to fire and rescue in Riley County to respond to the Manhattan Regional Airport.
An American Airlines flight was inbound for landing and had a warning light come on for a possible a hydraulic failure.
Fire crews and medical response vehicles arrived prior to the landing to assist and at approximately 5:15p.m. flight AA3559 from Dallas did land safely, according to Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Almes.
For precautionary reasons, the aircraft was towed to the parking apron near the terminal where passengers safely exited the plane.
On Monday at 7a.m., an American Eagle regional jet carrying 55 people made an emergency landing in Wichita after a smoke alarm for the jet’s baggage compartment was activated.
A Wichita Airport Authority spokeswoman says the jet was flying from Grand Island, Nebraska, to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport when the alarm sounded.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita woman accused of abandoning her 5-year-old grandson while fleeing a Kohl’s store after a shoplifting incident has been sentenced to nearly three years in jail.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 42-year-old Kathleen Williams received a 32-month sentence Thursday. She had pleaded guilty in January to a charge of theft after prior conviction and a charge of contributing to a child’s misconduct or deprivation.
Prosecutors say she tried to steal clothing from the store before fleeing, leaving the clothes and her grandson behind in June. She eluded police for nearly three months.
Williams’ grandson was placed in foster care as a result of the incident.
MCPHERSON – Law enforcement authorities in McPherson County are reminding residents of state hunting laws.
This week a resident in McPherson observed a fox caught and injured by a trap, which it was dragging in the vicinity of a community park, according to a social media report from McPherson police.
Officers were able to find the animal, remove it from the trap, and transport it to the McPherson Animal Shelter.
Unfortunately, the damage was done and the animal suffered a broken leg and jaw.
The female kit was treated for its injuries; the limb was amputated and the jaw was sutured. She is recovering at a rehabilitation facility and will be taken to a wildlife sanctuary after recovery, according to police.
Police remind residents per Kansas’ statute, “Unless and except as permitted by law it is unlawful for any person to take or use, at any time or in any manner, any game bird, game animal, coyote or furbearing animal, whether pen-raised or wild.”
Trapping season for fox closed last in February and regardless, there is no hunting or trapping inside city limits.
Setting traps in the area of parks where other wildlife, pets, adults, and children frequently visit is carelessness at its worst and dangerous.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas would stop observing daylight savings time after this year under a bill being pushed by a prominent Republican legislator.
The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee heard testimony Thursday from Republican Sen. Ty Masterson of Andover in favor of his bill.
Masterson said there’s little evidence that moving clocks forward an hour each spring saves energy or increases productivity, and it interrupts people’s sleep cycles and could cause health problems.
Lawmakers in other states also are considering proposals to move away from the twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks. Daylight savings time begins this weekend.
Masterson is chairman of the powerful budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Committee.
But he was the only person to testify in Thursday’s hearing, and the panel doesn’t yet plan to take up his bill.
