By Jessica Larson

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – In recent years, bullying has become cyberbullying, and stalking has become cyberstalking. Legislation to protect Kansans from such crimes has struggled to keep up with the changing climate, but a bill passed in the House this week will change this.

The House passed a bill 113-11 to further legal protection for Kansans against crimes committed on electronic devices.

Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, supported House Bill 2501 and said electronics are specified because they can create crimes that have never existed.

“Most of the laws that were written years and years ago did not address electronics. We didn’t have cyber sex crimes or anything like that,” Ballard said.

HB 2501 broadens definitions of crimes in Kansas, including blackmail, to include distribution of materials online. It also prohibits the dissemination of private photos in cyberspace without consent.

“These crimes are new,” Ballard said. “And they are new every day.”

Shawn Sullivan, director of the budget, wrote in a fiscal note that the bill could result in additional charges in existing cases. He said it could also create more revenue for the state through docket fees and fine revenue.

The House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice introduced the bill at the request of the Kansas attorney general’s office. There were no opponents to the bill during public hearings.

The bill will be heard in the Senate next. The Kansas Sentencing Commission said in a supplemental note that if the bill passes the Senate, it could result in a higher prison population. This information is based on the commission’s Prison Population Projection report, which estimates that Kansas prisons will exceed their capacity for male prisoners in 2017 by 516 inmates.

 

– Edited by Leah Sitz

SALINA -The cause of Wednesday’s fatal mobile home fire remains under investigation.

Despite an extensive investigation, fire officials have not been able to definitively determine the cause of the fire that killed a 3-year-old boy and sent two other people to the hospital, according to Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams.

“We dug and dug and dug and just haven’t been able to figure it out,” he said.

Williams said it appeared the fire started in the front of the mobile home, but how is a question that has yet to be answered.

Just before 11:45 a.m., fire crews responded to the blaze in the 900 Block of North 13th Street.

Two mobile homes were fully engulfed in flames.

Firefighters located a 3-year-old boy in one home, according to Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams.

The child was transported to Salina Regional Health Center where he died a short time later.

A 3-month-old infant was transported to Wichita by ambulance for treatment of smoke inhalation.

The children’s grandmother has been flown to Wichita for treatment of second and possible third degree burns over 40% of her body and a 5-year- old girl was also treated for minor injuries, according to Williams.
Williams said the mobile home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived. That home was destroyed. The fire quickly spread to a second mobile, which was severely damaged.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Wichita high school music teacher has pleaded guilty to attempted unlawful sexual relations with a student.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Alan Martens entered his plea Monday. He had been charged with two counts of unlawful sexual relations. Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, said that one of the charges was amended as part of a plea agreement and the other charge was dismissed.

Prosecutors say Martens exchanged text messages that were sexual in nature with a female student at Wichita Heights High School. It’s illegal in Kansas for teachers to have sexual relationships with students, even if the student is old enough to give legal consent. The age of consent in Kansas is 16. Court records say the student was at least 16.

Martens’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for April.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has refused to lower the bond for a former Dallas Cowboys running back accused of hitting three people with a car while leaving a party earlier this week in his hometown.

Joseph Randle is being held on $100,000 bond for four counts of aggravated battery and one count each of criminal threat, criminal damage to property and possessing marijuana.

Police say the 24-year-old backed into three people with his car early Sunday, then returned to the Wichita home he’d been asked to leave and forced his way inside.

Randle asked a Sedgwick County judge Wednesday to lower his bond to $5,000, but the judge refused because Randle hadn’t hired a lawyer or filled out an application for a court-appointed attorney.

The Cowboys released Randle last year.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Delphos man has pleaded no contest to five felony counts in connection to the robbery and sexual assault of a convenience store employee and the kidnapping of a female customer at a Salina Wal-Mart.

The Salina Journal reports that 31-year-old Jerrid W. Logan entered his plea Tuesday. He was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, robbery, attempted rape and aggravated criminal sodomy.

Logan was accused of approaching a woman in July and leading her into a Wal-Mart at knifepoint. Authorities say she pulled away and Logan punched the woman before fleeing.

Later that day, prosecutors say Logan entered a convenience store and took a female clerk, at knifepoint, into a back room. Authorities say Logan took money that the clerk offered and then sexually assaulted her.

He is scheduled to be sentenced May 2.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The great-grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower will serve as Kansas’ next aviation director.

The Kansas Department of Transportation says Merrill Eisenhower Atwater of Basehor will become part of the agency’s staff in his new job. The Lawrence Journal-World reports  he will work with the Federal Aviation Administration and other aviation groups, as well as overseeing the transportation department’s aviation programs.

Atwater’s last job was national sales director for Housby, a Des Moines, Iowa, company that handles Mack and Isuzu truck retail sales, truck maintenance, auctions and more.

Atwater replaces Tiffany Brown, who went to work for the FAA in Denver.

President Eisenhower spent his boyhood in Abilene, where his presidential library is located.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Six states have filed a new lawsuit against the Obama administration over the Affordable Care Act.

The complaint that Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Texas takes issue with the Health Insurance Providers Fee assessed to health insurers to cover federal subsidies.

The lawsuit says nothing in the Affordable Care Act’s language provided clear notice that states would have to pay the fee.

The suit seeks an injunction against the federal rules that say states are responsible for the fee. It also asks for states to be refunded for what they’ve already paid.

The suit says the fee is projected to allow the federal government to collect between $13 billion and $15 billion from states over the next decade.

MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The flu vaccine is doing a better job this year.

Preliminary data suggest it is 59 percent effective. That’s a big improvement from last winter’s nasty flu season when the vaccine was less than 20 percent effective.

Unlike last year’s vaccine, this year’s is a good match to the strains making people sick.

It’s been a milder flu season so far, though health officials said it has not yet peaked.

The numbers were presented Wednesday at a medical meeting in Atlanta.

WABAUNSEE COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 3p.m. on Wednesday in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Jeep Wrangler driven by James A. Goble, Jr., 61, Lawrence, was westbound on Interstate 70 just east of Snokomo Road.

The vehicle entered the grass on the shoulder, went airborne, rolled end over end several times and ejected the driver.

Goble was transported to Stormont Vail. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report forecasts the 2015 value of field and other crops in Kansas at $6.48 billion.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service said Wednesday that its estimate for the state is down less than 1 percent from 2014.

The agency said it anticipates the value of the state’s corn production at $2.18 billion. That is up 2 percent from the previous marketing year. It projected the Kansas corn price at $3.75 per bushel.

The value of winter wheat production in Kansas trailed behind at $1.56 billion, up 4 percent from the previous marketing year. The average wheat price is projected to average $4.85 per bushel.

BARTON COUNTY -When Brandon and Megan Fyler found out they were expecting quadruplets, the couple said there was silence and then pure shock.

Megan’s pregnancy has been followed closely by thousands via Facebook and the Albert, Kansas parents were finally able to announce the four Fyler boys were welcomed into the world early Tuesday morning.

The first boy Ayden was born at 1:22 a.m. Tuesday, February 23, and Braxton, Cameron, and Dexter were all born less than 30 minutes later.

The Fyler parents say all four babies are doing fine in the NICU at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

The four babies already have an older brother Colton who is 2 ½ years old.

The Barton County couple has been amazed by the support they have received from friends, family, and even strangers.

A Go Fund Me webpage has been formed and multiple organizations are forming fundraisers to help with the family’s medical expenses.

The Fylers expect to bring the boys home in six weeks. Each boy weighed close to three pounds at birth. Fyler said there were over 30 people that piled into the operating room to witness and assist with the quadruplet’s birth. Megan gave birth to the four boys completely natural with no epidural.

In addition to the Fylers Go Fund Me page, they are selling bracelets for $5.

All the proceeds go to the medical expenses for the babies.

Bracelets are available at Kansas Land Tire, Roth Embroidery, Hair Eclips, Krebaum Chiropractic, and Credit Union.

BROWN COUNTY –Two people died in an accident just before noon on Wednesday in Brown County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Ford SUV driven by Douglas L. Rehfeld, 47, Overland Park, was westbound on Kansas 246.

The driver failed to stop at a posted stop sign, entered U.S.75 and was struck broadside by a 1998 Dodge Truck driven by James F. Hunter, 80, Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Rehfeld and Hunter were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Popkess Mortuary.

A passenger in the Dodge Carol S. Martin, 70, Council Bluffs, IA., was transported to the hospital in Sabetha.

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

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A hearing for a woman accused in the 2014 killing of another woman has been pushed back to April.

The Lawrence Journal World reports that 39-year-old Angelica Kulp appeared in court Tuesday, where her attorney asked for an upcoming hearing to be pushed back to allow more time for discovery.

Douglas County District Court Judge Kay Huff granted the attorney’s request, scheduling Kulp’s next court appearance, where a date will be set for her preliminary hearing, for April 12.

Kulp is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 56-year-old Christine Kaplan, who was found dead at her Lawrence home. The cause of Kaplan’s death has not been released.