TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The director of Kansas psychiatric hospital has resigned, leaving a facility hurt by staff shortages without a superintendent.

Angela de Rocha, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, says superintendent Tom Kinlen is no longer with Larned State Hospital.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the department’s commissioner of behavioral health services, Bill Rein, will serve as acting superintendent until the position is filled.

Rein and secretary of the department, Tim Keck, testified before legislators in January, facing questions about state hospital staffing shortages.

Keck said staffing issues are caused by several factors, including low employment, pay and respect shown toward employees.

Kinlen took over as director of the hospital in 2012 after staffing issues forced out superintendent Chris Burke.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Donald Trump plans to have a rally Saturday in Wichita as Republicans prepare to vote in the state’s presidential caucuses.

The billionaire businessman’s campaign for the GOP nomination announced the event Friday, as rival and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was campaigning in the state.

Trump’s campaign posted a statement on a website but did not provide additional details.

Republican candidate Ted Cruz also planned to be in Wichita on Saturday to speak at the Century II arena caucus site as voting opens at 10 a.m.

Cruz had a campaign stop Wednesday evening in Olathe, followed by a rally at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park.

Rubio’s rallies Friday were Topeka, Wichita and Overland Park.

They’re vying for the state’s 40 delegates to the GOP National Convention this summer.

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DETROIT — The Republican establishment and its last best hopes to defeat Donald Trump spent a long and extraordinary day on Thursday denouncing the billionaire businessman as dangerous, a “phony” and a “con man” unfit for office. They forgot to mention he doesn’t know how to spell.

Trump or the staff member in charge of his social media  apparently does not know much about Kansas or how to spell the name of the state’s largest city.

Check out the twitter comment below Wichita is misspelled.

My friend, & great businessman, Phil Ruffin is speaking today in Kansas for me at the Witchita Pachyderm Club. He lives there and loves it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2016

 

Trump hopes voters know how to spell his name during the Kansas Caucus on Saturday.

 

 

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government is investigating complaints that the brakes can fail on Ford’s F-150 pickup truck.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe covers about 420,000 pickups with 3.5-Liter engines from the 2013 and 2014 model years.

The agency says it has 33 complaints about the problem, including some drivers reporting that the pedals can suddenly go to the floor with a complete loss of braking. Four drivers reported that the problem caused crashes, although there were no injuries.

Some of the drivers reported that mechanics told them brake fluid had leaked from the master cylinder to the brake booster, causing the problem.

The agency will check into how often the problem happens and whether a recall is necessary. Messages were left Friday seeking comment from Ford.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police are investigating the death of a 35-year-old man whose body was found in a southeast Wichita yard as suspicious.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the discovery was made late Thursday. Wichita police Lt. Jeff Allen says officers were dispatched to the area for a reported shooting and found the man unresponsive.

He says emergency responders attempted to resuscitate the man before he was eventually pronounced dead. Police weren’t immediately able to determine the nature of the injuries the man sustained.

A woman who was with the man was taken in for questioning.

Allen says the case will likely be worked as a homicide.

HUTCHINSON — A Reno County jury on Thursday returned with a guilty verdict against a Kansas man on all counts against him in a home invasion robbery and attack on the resident.

The crime occurred in May of 2015 at a home in the 3400 block of North Waldron in Hutchinson.

Fredrick Lemons Jr., 21, Hutchinson, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and two counts of aggravated battery, criminal threat and two counts of criminal damage.

The victim testified that he still suffers from his injuries and hasn’t been able to work since October.

Sentencing in the case is set for April 22.

 

RENO COUNTY -On Thursday, Reno County fire crews responded to a fully involved vehicle fire at Castleton and Sterling Road, according to a report on social media.

Upon arrival fire crews found a welding truck with 100 gallons of diesel on fire.

Welding gas bottles were exploding making it difficult to get close. Truck mounted nozzles were used to cool the bottles allowing crews to extinguish the truck.

No injuries were reported.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Republican hopeful Marco Rubio are following GOP rival Ted Cruz to Kansas in the final days before the state’s presidential caucuses.

Watch Bernie live at the Future to Believe In Rally in Lawrence, Kansas here: https://t.co/86Wj3ibzlj #BernieInKS pic.twitter.com/z81Z3w4k4a

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 4, 2016

Hundreds of people attended a Sanders rally Thursday evening in Lawrence. The Vermont senator’s supporters hope to overcome the backing former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enjoys among establishment Kansas Democratic Party figures such as former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Rubio expanded his planned campaign swing Friday to three events. The Florida senator’s visit comes after Cruz, the Texas senator, visited a barbecue restaurant Wednesday in Olathe, and had a rally in Overland Park.

The state’s caucuses are Saturday. Here are some details.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has approved a bill addressing concerns about refugees settling in the state.

The bill approved Thursday would allow local governments to seek a one-year moratorium of refugee resettlements if the community doesn’t have the capacity to handle the influx. It also would create a state office for refugees and authorize Gov. Sam Brownback to name a state refugee coordinator.

The Wichita Eagle reports opponents say the bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory and un-Christian.

Supports say the bill would coordinate local and state governments work with federal authorities to resettle refugees, while giving the state a way to oversee the process.

Under the Refugee Act of 1980, only the federal government has authority to manage refugee resettlement.

HARVEY COUNTY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6 p.m. on Thursday in Harvey County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Ford passenger vehicle driven by Kurt Eugene Walters, 46, Erie, was eastbound on U.S. 50 just west of Meridian Road in the construction zone.

The Ford turned through the intersection at Cow Palace Road to cross the westbound lanes.

A 1983 Toyota passenger vehicle driven by Justin Wade Becker, 36, Sedgwick, that was westbound on U.S. 50 collided with the Ford.

Becker was transported to St. Francis Medical Center. Walters was not injured.

Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The embattled dean of the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare is resigning to return to the faculty.

Paul Smokowski says he is resigning because of declining finances for the program and his desire to do more research.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports student protesters have demanded Somokowski’s resignation, citing inequities within the school effecting students of color. He said the school is working hard on social equality issues and he hopes his resignation will make that process easier.

His resignation will take effect July 1 but until then he will relinquish his duties as dean to focus on special research initiatives. Stephen Kapp, social welfare professor and associate dean of academic programs, will be acting dean for the remainder of the academic year.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former tribal casino employee has pleaded guilty to embezzlement in a scheme involving fake “players cards” at a northeast Kansas casino.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 32-year-old Donald M. Collins, of Wetmore, entered the guilty plea Wednesday.

The embezzlement occurred while Collins worked as players club manager at the Sac and Fox Casino, which is owned by the Sac and Fox Nation of Kansas and Nebraska.

Collins is accused of making counterfeit cards valued at about $13,326. The cards allow bearers to play various casino games.

Prosecutors allege that about $17,443 was fraudulently won by people using them.

Sentencing is set for July 7. He faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 23-year-old man has been charged with fatally shooting a 26-year-old man in Wichita.

The Wichita Eagle  reports that Travis Montez Johnson was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder in the killing of JaRon V. Sanders.

Sanders was shot once in the head last month when an argument broke out as he stood in the street in front of his house after a party. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Other charges against Johnson include criminal possession of a firearm and a probation violation.

While appearing Wednesday in Sedgwick County District Court via a video link from the jail, he answered “yes, sir” and “no, sir” in response to questions from the judge. Bond was set at $400,000.

He is due back in court March 16.

Great Bend Post

ELLSWORTH COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Ellsworth County are wrapping up their investigation on the reported sexual assault on a Great Bend Activities bus.

The alleged incident occurred in Ellsworth County and Sheriff Tracy Ploutz has been handling the case.

Ploutz said Thursday afternoon that his investigation is not complete but he had enough finished to hand over to the Ellsworth County Attorney.

While criminal charges are a result of the investigation, Ploutz found no reason to believe sexual assault occurred.

“In my opinion I could see there was anything of a sexual nature,” he said. “That met the requirements under state statute.”

Ploutz said he found four victims of battery, five suspects committing the battery, two victims of criminal restraint, and three suspects for the criminal restraint.

Ellsworth County’s investigation involved the incident that took place on February 6 while the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is handling a separate report of sexual assault on a Great Bend High School bus on February 3.

As to what exactly happened on the bus that has five suspects for battery, Ploutz said he could not reveal that information.

The Ellsworth County District Attorney Joe Shepack will have final say on determining the charges.

USD 428 recently stated they are in the process of changing bus policies to prevent similar behavior.