SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A man serving almost six years in prison for setting fires to a vacant Salina motel has pleaded guilty to burning down a vacant house and a mobile home in rural Reno County.
Dustin J. Gordon pleaded guilty to one count of felony arson on Thursday. Gordon was accused of setting fire to a vacant two-story farmhouse and a mobile home used for storage on May 28, 2014. Reno County Senior Assistant District Attorney Stephen Maxwell said that both properties were destroyed.
His sentencing hearing is set for April 8.
Gordon was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison in October after pleading no contest to charges related to fires set to the former Flamingo Motel in Salina in 2014.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is criticizing a legislative effort to block his administration’s effort to lure the American Royal horse and livestock exhibition out of Kansas City, Missouri.
But the Republican governor said Thursday that he’s willing to work with lawmakers to overhaul a program in which the state authorizes bonds backed by sales tax revenues to help finance economic development projects. Brownback said the so-called STAR bonds program is “loose.”
Legislators included a provision in budget legislation that blocks Brownback’s administration from issuing such debt for any Wyandotte County project through June 2017 unless lawmakers tighten up the STAR bonds program.
The governor said it’s inappropriate to single out a single county. A recent Department of Commerce report showed a site in Wyandotte County for an American Royal development.
OTTAWA COUNTY – Five high school students were injured in a school bus accident just before 3pm. on Thursday in Ottawa County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy School bus driven by Shirley J. Kuder, 55, Minneapolis, was west bound on Kansas 106 one mile east of Minneapolis.
The vehicle entered the south ditch and struck the guard rail.
Students from Minneapolis on the bus Taton Smith, 15, Morgan Kelly, 17, Cassidy Johns, 18, Camryn Nace, 18, and Kerrigan, Kelly, 16, were transported to Salina Regional Medical Center for treatment of non life-threatening injuries.
Kuder was not injured.
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OTTAWA COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating an injury accident involving a school bus in Ottawa County, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Some high school students from USD 239- Minneapolis were transported to area hospitals.
Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A group affiliated with Big Tobacco spent more than all other organizations lobbying the Kansas state government last year, followed by an organization that opposed efforts to expand state liquor laws.
A report released Wednesday shows that lobbyists spent a total of $1.74 million last year to curry favor with state lawmakers. That’s far higher than the nearly $1.2 million they spent in 2014 and more than the previous record of $1.4 million set in 2010.
Altria Client Services LLC, whose clients include Phillip Morris, led all organizations with just over $223,000 in spending. The Kansas Association for Responsible Liquor Laws, which fought efforts to expand sales of liquor, wine and full-strength beer to grocery and convenience stores, spent nearly $185,000 on that campaign.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has struck down a law that shielded some residents from property tax hikes.
The high court ruled Wednesday that the law unconstitutionally granted preferential treatment to “a discrete group of taxpayers.”
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that nearly two dozen counties across the state asked the court last year to consider the constitutionality of the state law, which was passed by the Legislature in 2014 and imposed a two-year moratorium on increases in tax valuation for citizens who requested, and won, a valuation appeal.
The state’s high court sided with the counties on a 5-2 vote and found that the law was a violation of the Kansas Constitution’s guarantee of “uniform and equal” property valuation and taxation.
HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man who waived his preliminary hearing and entered a plea in a marijuana distribution case was sentenced Thursday to just over 12-years in prison.
Gerardo Saucedo, 33, Hutchinson, entered pleas in the case as charged and was order to prison by Reno County Judge Tim Chambers.
Saucedo was arrested after a search warrant was served on his home and was convicted of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute, and no drug tax stamp.
He had around 90 pounds of marijuana in brick form believed to be from Mexico.
Police reported they also found numerous containers of high-grade marijuana which were found scattered throughout the home, as well as new packaging materials, a digital scale and weapons.
SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect for alleged lewd behavior.
Just before 7:35 a.m. on Wednesday, police officers were sent to the Salina Public Library, 301 West Elm Street on a report of a man standing outside on the south side of the library by a window, exposing his private parts to those inside the building, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
When officers arrived they found Darris C. Thomas, 29, Salina, was still exposing himself.
He was arrested on a requested charges of lewd and lascivious behavior and for outstanding warrants.
The Senate has approved a bill creating a new category of addiction counselor, after adding an amendment to prevent privatization of Osawatomie State Hospital.
Senate Bill 449 would create the designation of master’s addiction counselors, who could counsel people with substance abuse disorders but would have to work under supervision to diagnose substance use disorders. They could be supervised by a licensed clinical addiction counselor, a psychologist or a person licensed to practice medicine or provide mental health services.
After Sept. 1, Kansans who hadn’t obtained a license as a master’s addiction counselor wouldn’t be allowed to practice addiction counseling. A licensee would have to have at least a master’s degree and continuing education related to addiction issues. The bill wouldn’t apply to work by religious figures, unless they represented themselves as licensed to provide counseling.
Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican, amended the bill to prevent privatization of Osawatomie State Hospital. Speculation has swirled that the hospital, one of two that treats Kansans with severe or persistent mental illness, could be privatized after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ended Medicare payments to the hospital due to safety concerns.
Tyson quoted astronaut Alan Shepard’s observation that it didn’t make him feel particularly secure that every part of the rocket he flew in was built by “the lowest bidder on a government contract.”
“Our state hospital would be run by the lowest bidder,” she said.
‘Updates and standardizes’
Under SB 449, licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists who want to supervise people completing their postgraduate work would have to complete coursework on supervision skills and gain approval from the state Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board as clinical supervisors.
The bill also would standardize the reasons a license wouldn’t be renewed for counselors, licensed master’s social workers, marriage and family therapists, addiction counselors, psychologists and master’s level psychologists.
It also would allow, but not require, the regulatory board to do fingerprinting and run background checks on applicants, and require a two-thirds vote by the board to reinstate someone’s license after a felony conviction.
Sen. Michael O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, said the bill “updates and standardizes” the board. It also establishes reciprocity so that professionals who are licensed in another state can practice if they move to Kansas, he said.
In other action
The Senate passed several other health-related bills on voice votes:
A substitute for Senate Bill 103 would address cost limits for prescription drugs. Pharmacy benefit managers use “maximum allowable cost” lists to limit how much insurance companies have to reimburse pharmacists for generic drugs.
Senate Bill 407 would reinstate the process for reviewing if a person can be released from the state’s sexually violent predator program. A bill last year inadvertently dropped language about the program’s release phases.
Senate Bill 402 would allow medical providers to receive eight hours of continuing education credit for providing charitable care. Dentists could earn up to six hours of continuing education credits. It also would exempt community mental health centers from liability while providing charitable care. Other medical providers already are exempt.
Megan Hart is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach her on Twitter @meganhartMC
RILEY COUNTY- A Kansas man accused in the shooting death of a Riley County man appeared in court on Thursday for a plea hearing.
Tierre Wall, 26, Fort Riley, plead no contest in front of Judge David Stutzman to one charge of voluntary manslaughter and one charge of attempted aggravated assault in the shooting death of Casey Lindley, 27, Ogden.
On March 10, 2015, law enforcement officers were dispatched just after 2a.m. to Ogden after receiving reports of a shot fired.
Police found Lindley suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a Topeka hospital where he died of his injuries.
Wall was arrested after turning himself in at a police station in Georgia.
He faces 55-247 month in prison, a $350,000 fine or both for the voluntary manslaughter charge, and 5-17 months, a $100,000 charge or both for the charge of attempted aggravated assault.
BARTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating a head-on collision that sent two people to area hospitals.
The Barton County Sheriff’s office reported just after 6p.m. on Wednesday, a 2007 Chevy Impala driven by Akia Blackburn, 17, Ellinwood, was southbound in the 300 Block of Northeast 10 Avenue.
The driver lost control on the gravel road near the West Walnut Creek bridge. The vehicle crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a northbound 2012 Lincoln driven by Gina Westhoff, 39, Great Bend.
Blackburn was initially transported to the hospital in Great Bend and then transferred to a hospital in Wichita.
Westhoff was transported to the hospital in Great Bend.
Speed was a contributing factor in the collision, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The accident remains under investigation.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, this week introduced the Protecting Our Security Through Utilizing Right-Sized End-Strength (POSTURE) Act of 2016 (S. 2563). The POSTURE Act would reverse ongoing and future reductions to end strength levels in the Active U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. Army National Guard, Active Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve. U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), also a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, is a cosponsor of the POSTURE Act.
Senator Moran also questioned Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday about a number of issues of importance to Kansans
“President Obama’s tenure is marked by across-the-board spending cuts to our military in the face of increasing threats to our national security,” Sen. Moran said. “Given the volatile, uncertain, and dangerous developments over the past several years, the readiness of our Armed Forces, particularly land forces in the Active and Reserve Components of the Army and Marine Corps, must not be not jeopardized. This legislation would help safeguard our nation while global threats demand America’s full vigilance and capabilities.”
“The president’s primary responsibility is to keep Americans safe,” Sen. Blunt said. “Yet the steep defense cuts he has proposed would do just the opposite, undermining our military readiness at a time when we face more threats, coming from more directions, than ever before. The POSTURE Act would reverse dangerous end strength reductions to our Armed Forces, ensuring our military leaders have the personnel they need to carry out their missions.”
Companion legislation was introduced in the House (H.R. 4534) by Reps. Christopher Gibson (R-NY-19) and Michael Turner (R-OH-10). This bill is supported by the National Guard Associated of the United States (NGAUS) and the Association of the United States Army (AUSA).
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A transgender activist is suing Kansas over its refusal to update her gender on her birth certificate.
Topeka resident Stephanie Mott filed the lawsuit against the Kansas Department of Health and Environment last week.
The Wichita Eagle reports KDHE denied Mott’s request to amend her birth certificate to list her gender as female. The Transgender Law Center says the Kansas agency has made that type of change to birth certificates in the past, but stopped doing so shortly after Gov. Sam Brownback took office in 2012.
A KDHE spokeswoman says the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Mott ran unsuccessfully for a vacant seat in the Legislature last year. She says it’s important that her birth certificate reflects her authentic self.
