SUMNER COUNTY – One person died in an accident just before 9a.m. on Monday on Sumner County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Chevy pickup driven by Daniel J. Santiago, 27, Alva, OK., was westbound on U.S. 160 seven miles west of Wellington.
The pickup rear-ended a westbound 1997 International semi that was westbound, stopped and getting ready to turn south on Mayfield Road.
Santiago was transported to Shelly Funeral Home.
The semi driver Van Galliardt, 53, Matfield Green, was not injured.
Santiago was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas legislators from different parties are suggesting that the state has mismanaged its two mental hospitals to justify a turning them over to private companies to operate.
But one of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s top social services administrators told a House committee Monday that there’s nothing to the allegation.
Both Democratic Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita and Republican Rep. Scott Schwab of Olathe suggested the hospitals may have been deliberately mismanaged.
Secretary Tim Keck said the Department for Aging and Disability Services sees privatization to as an option for Osawatomie State Hospital about 45 miles southwest of the Kansas City area, but not for Larned State Hospital in western Kansas.
Dozens of positions are open at each hospital, and the federal government decertified the Osawatomie Hospital in December.
MCPHERSON COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 12-noon on Monday in McPherson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer driven by Marjorie Huelsmann, 69, Salina, was southbound on Interstate 135 two miles north of McPherson.
The driver was attempting to pass a southbound semi when it moved over to pass another vehicle and struck the Trailblazer.
The Trailblazer traveled into the median and rolled.
Huelsmann was transported to the hospital in McPherson. The semi driver from Nebraska was not injured.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
GREAT BEND -USD 428 held a press conference Monday afternoon in response to an alleged incident that took place aboard a district school bus on February 6. A Great Bend High School freshman was allegedly sexually assaulted by other members of the boys swim team.
Superintendent Brad Reed took no questions from the assembled media and read from a prepared statement in which he addressed three issues that he called false statements.
The first concerned whether or not the district had tried to sweep the incident under the rug.
Brad Reed Audio
The second issue that Reed referred to as a false statement, was the accusation that the district had not issued any statements regarding the issue and was trying to hide something.
Brad Reed Audio
Reed also addressed reports of students being allowed to participate in the state swim meet this weekend even though they had committed serious infractions. Reed said no student in USD 428 who should receive discipline would ever be allowed to represent the school or the district.
Reed said swim coach Steve Beaumont, Principal Tim Friess and Athletic Director Dave Meter have been on top of the incident from the time it happened, and have handled it in an appropriate and swift manner.
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GREAT BEND -U.S.D. 428 Superintendent Brad Reed addressed the media Monday afternoon at the district office in Great Bend on the alleged sexual assault that occurred on a Great Bend High School activity bus.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is throwing his support behind Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for president.
The governor issued a news release Monday endorsing Rubio, of Florida, as a “true conservative” who can unite the party and beat the Democratic nominee in the fall.
Brownback also lauded Rubio’s “proven track record of protecting life, defending religious liberty and undoing Obamacare.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas law enforcement would be required to file a missing person report within two hours of receiving a minimum amount of information under a bill approved by a Senate committee.
The measure that passed Monday in the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee sets a specific time period in which the report must be provided to the National Crime Information Center and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Under current law, reports simply need to be entered “as soon as practical.”
Overland Park Republican Senator Greg Smith is chairman of the committee and wrote the current law, which went into effect in 2013. His daughter was abducted and killed in 2007.
The committee on Tuesday will debate changes on a bill that would overhaul the juvenile justice system.
HUTCHINSON– A large crowd gathered on Monday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena to celebrate the signing of a new contract between the American Legion and the National Junior College Athletic Association.
The agreement will keep the NJCAA men’s basketball tournament in Hutchinson for the next 25 years.
The contract follows a promise from the NJCAA that they would keep the tournament in Hutchinson if improvements were made to the sports arena
The planned improvements include replacing the plumbing, electrical and heating systems and adding air conditioning and new locker rooms. Additional plans include a new main entrance, lobby and ticketing area, multi-purpose rooms, more restrooms, three full-sized practice gyms, a Hall of Fame and a new weight room. Additional seating compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act will be also be created on the upper level of the arena.
It also means a long-term commitment for the American Legion.
Tournament Director Jerry Ricksecker says they are ready to fulfill the contract with special wording in place if that were to change.
The contract calls for a provision for the Legion to partner with another organization or even pass it on to another entity if they ever cannot fulfill their obligation.
Monday’s ceremony included comments from NJCAA Executive Director Mary Ellen Leicht, City Manager John Deardoff, and Chamber President Jason Ball.
The NJCAA is the second-largest intercollegiate athletic association in the United States, with over 500 member colleges, and nearly 60,000 student-athletes competing in 48 national championships each year.
NEWTON – Law enforcement authorities in Harvey County are investigating a series of burglaries and made an arrest on Sunday.
Corey Michael Youngblood, 28, was arrested in McPherson County on Sunday, according to a social media report from police.
Youngblood was expected to be transported back to Harvey County to face charges.
Police thanked everyone in the community who provided tips about the suspect and reported that in the last week they apprehended three suspects, with the public’s help, in
TOPEKA – Approximately 200 playgrounds in Kansas use shredded rubber from old tires for artificial surfaces. As more facilities switch to recycled tire products, environmental groups and health advocates are concerned with the lack of studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the prolonged health effects of recycled tire scraps.
And Kansas lawmakers are asking questions as well.
“I’m concerned … soccer players and others are clearly developing cancer, and our kids are playing on these (turfs) on the playgrounds,” Rep. Annie Kuether, D-Topeka, said last week.
Kuether asked the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to provide information on health concerns for recycled rubber products. Gary Mason, deputy secretary for the environment at KDHE, said he doesn’t have sufficient data to answer.
Rep. Annie Kuether
Some of the compounds found in crumb rubber, which can be used in synthetic turf, have been identified as known or suspected carcinogens – substances capable of causing cancer, experts say. These include benzothiazole (the compound significant in medicinal chemistry) and 9-octadecenamide (the substance that has industrial uses, including as a slip agent). Other chemicals and metals, such as lead, create additional health concerns, including severe irritation of the respiratory system and the eyes, skin and mucus membranes, as well as negative effects on the liver and kidneys. In the United States, more than a hundred soccer players have developed cancer after playing on synthetic turf fields, according to news reports. However, despite an ongoing study, not enough research has been conducted to conclusively establish if more people have been affected.
In 2013, the EPA backed off its statement that recycled tire products are safe to use in playgrounds. EPA spokesperson Laura Allen said that the studies were “limited” and that additional testing should be a “state and local decision.”
The use of rubber mulch over alternative products for playgrounds has a benefit in that it helps manage waste tire problem. Rubber mulch is a durable product that provides protection during falls, and it inhibits mold, weed and fungus growth, experts say.
The Bureau of Waste Management (BWM) has awarded more than $2.6 million in waste-tire recycling grants to municipalities and school districts across Kansas to help fund the purchase of waste tire products for playground surfaces, its website says. The purpose of the grant program has been to drive the market for recycled rubber products as an alternative to landfilling.
Ken Powell, public service executive and section chief at the waste reduction and assistance section at BWM, hopes that recycled rubber could be put to more uses.
“Most of our tires, regretfully, go into landfills,” Powell said. “In Kansas you’re looking at about 2.6 million tires generated per year, but most of those go to, what we call, a monofill which is a landfill that only takes tires, or it goes into just a regular municipal solid waste landfill.”
Justin Glasgow, owner of Performance Tire and Wheel in Topeka and board member of the Mid-America Tire Dealers Association (MATDA), told the house Energy and Environment Committee that tire dealers “support any processes that are environmentally and economically sound.” The use of recycled tire products benefits both communities and the tire industry, he said.
“It costs a lot of money to recycle tires. It’s an expensive product, but it lasts forever and it does work,” Glasgow said. “The rubber mulch you see in playgrounds is really thick. You compare that to a wood mulch – wood mulch is going to rot every year. Ours won’t.”
On Monday, legislators discussed the tire tax reduction bill, which would remove the waste tire grants. The grants have helped provide both the private and public sectors with rubber for playground surfaces.
If the bill passes, schools won’t be able to apply for grants anymore. By matching 50 percent of the funds from the state program, communities were able to build playing surfaces that, otherwise, they would not be able to afford.
Kuether was not thrilled with the possibility of removal of the grants. She said it could take away any responsibility from KDHE for liability of the health hazards of rubber mulch.
“I’m sorry that schools won’t be able to apply for grants anymore. Certainly that’s another knock on their budget so that concerns me,” Kuether said.
The need to find a solution to the nation’s increasing stockpile of scrap tires is a growing problem and could mean an increase in illegal tire piles, as well as health and environmental risks, such as mosquito breeding and fires.
WASHINGTON —The White House says President Barack Obama will nominate a successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia “in due time,” once the Senate returns from recess.
Obama says he intends to fulfill his constitutional duty.
Sri Srinivasan, a 1985 graduate of Lawrence High School, was the among the first names mentioned to become the new Supreme Court justice, according to a social media report from the high school alumni association.
“35,000 LHS and Liberty Memorial alumni are supporting you, Sri,” they wrote.
Srinivasan was appointed as judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2013. He graduated from Stanford University in 1989 and Stanford Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1995, according to his bio from the U.S. Circuit Court.
Following graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In 1998, he joined the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. From 2002 to 2007, he served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. In 2007 he returned to O’Melveny & Myers as a partner, later becoming chair of the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice. From 2011 until his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge Srinivasan served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He has taught appellate advocacy at Harvard Law School.
The death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia means next month’s Supreme Court arguments over contraceptives, religious liberty and the health care law appear more likely to favor the Obama administration. Without Scalia’s vote, a case that conservatives might have won 5-4 could end in a 4-4 tie, leaving in place the conflicting decisions of lower courts.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A union representing Kansas teachers has filed two district court lawsuits alleging three teachers were removed from their positions without independent hearings, even though they earned tenure before the state Legislature repealed teacher protections in 2014.
The lawsuits filed by the Kansas National Education Association come as the union and the state prepare for a showdown before the state Supreme Court over the 2014 law.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the lawsuits filed against school districts in Wyandotte and Butler counties say three teachers were denied due process. The union argues teachers who earned tenure before 2014 can’t be denied those rights now.
The union contends in the Supreme Court case that the Legislature’s decision to remove the teacher protections is unconstitutional.
Oral arguments for the case haven’t been scheduled.
Shona Banda in June, after she was booked into jail and released when she posted bond. The Garden City, Kansas, resident, who uses cannabis oil to treat her Crohn’s disease, faces criminal charges related to her marijuana use. CREDIT JAMES DOBSON / GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM
A Garden City mother facing criminal drug charges said this week that she still intends to file a lawsuit in federal court asserting a constitutional right to use marijuana to treat her Crohn’s disease.
Attorneys for Shona Banda prepared the suit months ago and posted a draft version online.
Lawrence attorney Sarah Swain teamed up with Long Beach, California, lawyer Matthew Pappas on the suit and Banda said the delay in getting it filed is largely due to logistics.
“I guess they’re trying to find out exactly how to go about it,” Banda said in a recent phone interview. “They have to be in the same building at the same time and they both have such hectic schedules.”
Law enforcement officers searched Banda’s house and found marijuana and a device for turning it into oil after her son spoke up about her use of it during an anti-drug presentation at his school last year.
Banda’s son was removed from her custody and she has a pending court date in Finney County on the criminal charges resulting from the search. Banda was already a prominent voice in the medical marijuana community when she was charged, having posted online and written a self-published book about how she created her own oil derived from marijuana to treat the symptoms of Crohn’s, a painful bowel ailment.
The suit prepared by Swain and Pappas names Gov. Sam Brownback, Department for Children and Families Secretary Phyllis Gilmore and Banda’s local police and school officials as defendants.
Banda said she “absolutely” still intends for the lawsuit to be filed.
“They need to be held accountable,” she said. “Otherwise it’s going to continue to keep happening to some people.”
Swain and Pappas did not respond to requests for comment.
When news reports first surfaced about the draft lawsuit in September, Swain posted a link to a Garden City Telegram story written by Heartland Health Monitor partner KHI News Service on her law office’s Facebook page.
“This lawsuit can and will change the course of history,” Swain posted above the link. “The time to end prohibition is now.”
Broad bills legalizing marijuana for treating a wide range of illnesses have been introduced in the Kansas Legislature several times in the past five years but have gone nowhere.
A narrow bill that would legalize low-THC marijuana oil for use in treating seizure disorders only passed the House last year, but has stalled this year after one Senate committee hearing.
Banda said she doesn’t support the oil-only bill because it’s far too restrictive and called it “the biggest farce ever.”
Hearings in Banda’s criminal case are scheduled for late July. The judge has ruled she will be allowed to submit evidence of marijuana’s medicinal benefits.
Banda said she’s aware using marijuana to treat her condition is illegal, but not using it is worse than any legal consequences.
“I don’t want to get sick again,” Banda said. “I’m not afraid of prison. I’m afraid of my own personal hell and I never, ever will go back.”
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
GREAT BEND -The alleged sexual assault that occurred on a Great Bend High School activity bus has more than just the Great Bend community in an uproar.
image from the Change.org petition
People from across the state are receiving more details on what happened to a freshman swimmer on February 6 during a the swim team’s return from Manhattan.
Victims, supporters, and community members now want answers.
O’Neil said her son’s backpack was thrown to the back of the school bus and when he went to retrieve the bag he was thrown down to the floor. His teammates eventually pulled his pants down and proceeded to sexually assault him.
When O’Neil went to pick her son up she said she was shocked that law enforcement had not been contacted.
“There is no question that it happened,” she said. “The boys who did it have even sent my son text messages asking for forgiveness and facebook messages saying they are sorry.”
Since the alleged assault happened on a highway in Ellsworth County, the Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office is handling the case.
The Sheriff’s Office will file their investigation with the Ellsworth County Attorney to determine what criminal charges to seek.
O’Neil said she is upset with how USD 428 handled the incident, from supervision on the bus to the lack of letting the public know what happened.
Two of the four students allegedly involved have been served with a five-day school suspension and kicked off the state swim team, according to O’Neil. She also said she was informed the other two accused students are still on the team.
A petition at change.org has over 2,400 supporters as of Sunday evening. The petition’s asks to keep the alleged assault offenders from going to the state tournament this week in Topeka.
Great Bend students have planned a march to USD 428’s superintendent’s office Monday afternoon to demand a stricter punishment for those involved and more transparency with the case.
SUMNER COUNTY – One person died in an accident just before 9a.m. on Monday on Sumner County.
