Sens. Moran, Gardner and Daines meet Feb. 29 with Joint Task Force Guantanamo Commander Rear Adm. Peter J. Clarke, and Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Jeffrey W. Burkett.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran says his visit last week to U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was an “eye-opening experience.”
The Kansas Republican told Leavenworth community leaders in a telephone conference call Monday that visit reaffirmed his belief the detention facility is necessary.
Without elaborating, Moran says he received a high-level classified briefing while at the prison that showed its value for analyzing intelligence.
President Barack Obama submitted a plan last month for closing the prison to Congress, which quickly rejected the proposal. The plan was Obama’s attempt to make good on an unfulfilled campaign promise.
Moran told local officials who worry that detainees would be relocated to Fort Leavenworth that the president is legally prohibited from closing the Guantanamo detention facility and bringing them to the United States.
BUTLER COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in Butler County and officials with schools in Andover are investigating an alleged threat to schools in USD 385, according to an online note sent to parents, students and staff.
A voicemail, which sounds to be a child’s voice, has led administrators and police to work together on what is believed to be a threat against staff at all schools in the district, according to the memo.
School employees are following protocol, and all schools are on alert, which means students are continuing their lessons in classrooms with their teachers.
The memo reminds parents that safety of students and staff is a top priority and the staff members are doing a great job keeping students safe.
RICE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities spent the weekend searching along the Arkansas River in Rice County for a missing woman, according to a social media report from Kansas Game Wardens.
“We had planned this search based on a tip we received,” said Rice County Under Sheriff Brian Treaster.
The Sheriff’s office had no additional details to report on Monday morning except that the search for Megan Fogleson, 23, Alden, continues. She was reported missing in November.
The Reno and Barton County Sheriff’s Offices, Lyons Police Department, Kansas Search and Rescue Dog Association and Kansas Game Wardens participated in the search.
GEARY COUNTY- Two students were injured in a school bus accident just after 6:30 a.m. on Monday in Geary County.
The Geary County Sheriff’s Department reported a 1999 GMC school bus driven by Dana Pleas, Junction City, was westbound in the 14000 Block of Moyer ranch Road.
The driver lost control of the vehicle and hit an embankment.
Two juveniles were transported to Geary Community Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
The sheriff’s office reported no additional details
TOPEKA – The House is debating a bill that aims to streamline the way mortgage lenders do business in Kansas.
Senate Bill 369 would make changes to the Kansas Mortgage Business Act (KMBA). The bill provides that anyone licensed under the current Kansas Uniform Consumer Credit Code would become licensed under KMBA. The change, legislative analysts say, would remove duplicate reporting requirements and fees and would streamline business for the state’s mortgage companies. Analysts say 150 companies that do business in Kansas would no longer be required to file duplicate forms and fees.
Supporters spoke about the bill Thursday at a hearing in the House Committee on Insurance and Financial Institutions. They said the proposed legislation updates and removes outdated terminology in state laws and seeks to simplify and reduce the regulatory burden on the mortgage business.
Jennifer Cook, deputy commissioner of consumer mortgage and lending in the Office of the State Bank Commissioner, told lawmakers that SB 369 makes common-sense changes. The bill, she said, cuts back on unnecessary reporting for mortgage companies but will continue to protect consumers in an ever-changing industry.
Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, sees SB 369 as a necessary update to existing laws. He said the bill will make the lending system more efficient. Also, he noted that technology has replaced work that lenders had to do in the past and the bill recognizes that.
“It’s just updating modernization and streamlining, and it happens a lot,” said Schwab, who chairs the House committee. “Sometimes when you get into banking or financial institutions you, end up having layer and layer of laws over 20 to 40 years, and you realize you have created duplications of paper work. Now, you have technology to have things filed digitally which makes it easier.”
If approved, SB 369 would take effect in fiscal year 2017. The Office of the State Bank Commissioner estimates it will decrease the license fee for revenue for the bank commissioner fee by $362,000 in 2017.
SB 369, which was introduced in January, was approved by the Senate in February. The vote was 40-0. If the House committee approves, the bill will go to the full House for a vote.
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — Jurors are scheduled to hear testimony in the trial of an eastern Kansas man accused of killing four people, including an 18-month-old girl.
The Kansas City Star reports opening statements start Monday in the capital murder trial of 30-year-old Kyle Flack, who is charged with killing 31-year-old Kaylie Bailey and her infant daughter, Lana, on May 1, 2013.
He also is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shotgun deaths of 30-year-old Andrew Stout and 31-year-old Steven White, who were killed days earlier.
The three adults were found at a farmhouse outside Ottawa, and the baby was found a week later inside a suitcase floating in a rural creek.
The trial in Franklin County District Court in Ottawa is expected to last several weeks.
Sunday fire in Butler County-photos Andover Fire-Rescue
BUTLER COUNTY- A large grass fire that stretched over 20 miles in portions of Butler, Greenwood and Cowley counties on Sunday was contained over night, according to a social media reports.
The fire temporarily shut down a portion of Highway 400 in Butler County, according to a social media report.
No homes were damaged and no injuries reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s office was on the scene of Sunday’s Marion County grass fire. The blaze consumed over 1200 acres and was deliberately set, according to a report from the fire marshal’s office.
GEARY COUNTY – Two women from Barton County were arrested over the weekend.
The Junction City Police Department reported the arrest of Julie Ann Huntwork, 53, Hoisington, on suspicion of Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
The arrest occurred at 8:52 p.m. Saturday at 500 East Chestnut Street.
Tia Lilley- photo Geary County
At the same time and locatiuon Tia L. Lilley, 48, Great Bend, was arrested on suspicion of Possession of Methamphetamine and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
BOSTON (AP) — An 80-year-old man who admitted running a sprawling multistate marijuana-dealing operation faces sentencing this week.
Marshall Dion pleaded guilty to several charges under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
A federal judge postponed Dion’s sentencing scheduled for last month. She asked prosecutors and Dion’s lawyers to submit written arguments on why the proposed sentence in the plea agreement is up to seven years in prison when federal sentencing guidelines call for 30 years.
A stop for speeding in 2013 in Junction City led authorities to Massachusetts and Arizona, where they found about $15 million in cash, nearly 400 pounds of marijuana and ledgers detailing drug deals going back to 1992.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Dallas Cowboys running back has been arrested in his Kansas hometown for failure to appear in court.
Sedgwick County Jail records indicate 24-year-old Joseph Randle of Wichita was booked at 1:44 a.m. on Sunday. Bond is set at $150,000.
Randle was charged Feb. 22 with four counts of aggravated battery and other charges after police say he backed his car into three people the previous day while leaving a party.
Police say he later returned to the Wichita home he’d been asked to leave and forced his way inside.
A judge rejected his request to reduce his $100,000 bond because Randle hadn’t hired an attorney or applied for court-appointed counsel. Randle posted bond and was released early last week.
ELMDALE, Kan. (AP) — Well-heeled patrons can sign up for a luxury, weekend-long encampment when the Kansas City Symphony makes its annual journey to the Flint Hills to perform.
The Kansas City Star reports that the “Out of Africa” experience will run $5,000 per couple. Up to 20 15-foot, air-conditioned Belgian tents will be erected in a remote prairie a few miles from this year’s June 11 concert site near the Chase County town of Clements. The all-inclusive camping experience will begin the Friday before the Saturday concert and wrap up that Sunday.
The tents will offer 360-degree views of natural rock outcroppings and a small pond.
Lodging is an ongoing challenge for the event, which each year draws 7,000 people to remote areas where accommodation options are few.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Legislature is considering a bill that would require cities and counties to obtain a warrant to inspect rental properties.
The House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee conducted a hearing on the bill Wednesday.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the bill would prohibit cities and counties from adopting local laws that allow periodic inspection of rental housing without a search warrant, and it would declare any existing rental licensing ordinances that don’t meet the bill’s standards null and void.
The bill would also allow tenants to retain the right to request an inspection as long as they are not subject to an eviction order.
The committee took no action on the bill Wednesday.
