TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man on parole for killing a Topeka man and removing his tattoos and teeth to prevent identification has been arrested.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 60-year-old Kenneth Cook is jailed in Sedgwick County after a drunken driving crash on Sunday. Cook wasn’t hurt, but the other driver was. Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Adam Pfannenstiel says Cook’s case is under review.
Cook was convicted of the 1992 killing of 33-year-old Charles Duty, whose body was found in the Wakarus River.
Cook’s initial sentence left him ineligible for parole for 40 years. But the Kansas Supreme Court found that post-death mutilation doesn’t warrant a “Hard 40” sentence. Later the first-degree murder sentence also was overturned, and Cook was retried for second-degree murder. He was paroled last year.
BUTLER COUNTY -One person died in an accident just before 6p.m. on Tuesday in Butler County.
A 2000 Ford Van driven by Steven Childers, 49, Springfield, MO, was eastbound in the 1500 Block of South East 54 Highway just west of Leon, according to Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet.
The van was passing in no passing zones, on the shoulder of the highway and was hit head-on by a westbound semi driven by Miguel Sandoval, 36, Brawley, California.
Childrers was airlifted to Wesley Medical Center where he died.
Sandoval and a 69-year-old female passenger were treated at the scene and released.
The van was licensed to a Springfield, Mo., remodeling company.
Kansas health authorities say they are investigating what appears to be another food-borne outbreak of gastrointestinal illness in Overland Park.
The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment says at least 10 people who ate at the Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar at 105th Street fell ill, including students from the Shawnee Mission School District.
JCDHE said it began getting reports of illness on Jan. 29 from people who became ill the day before. In a statement, Lougene Marsh, director of JCDHE, said that these types of gastrointestinal illnesses were common at this time of year.
“Proper hand washing and staying home from school, work and public places, like restaurants, when you are ill are the best ways to prevent the spread of these types of illness,” she said. “We encourage food service facilities and restaurants to take additional precautions to ensure the safety of their customers.”
The department says there are no confirmed cases of norovirus associated with the outbreak.
More than 600 people who attended the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park in January have fallen ill from the norovirus, according to Kansas health officials. The popular dinner theater has since hired a private contractor to clean the facility with an EPA-approved disinfectant that is safe for food establishments.
Norovirus is highly infectious and can cause diarrhea and vomiting, among other symptoms. Transmission can occur through food or water or by touching contaminated surfaces.
Dan Margolies is editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota is recalling about 320,000 trucks and SUVs because the roof-mounted air bags can inflate without a crash.
The recall covers the 2005 and 2006 Toyota Tundra and Sequoia, the 2003 through 2006 Land Cruiser, and the 2004 through 2006 4-Runner. Also included are the 2003 through 2006 Lexus LX 470 and the 2004 through 2006 GX 470.
The company says improper programming in the air bag control computer caused the problem, which could increase the risk of driver and passenger injuries.
Dealers will replace the computer at no cost to owners. Owners will be notified by letter about when they can bring their trucks in for repairs.
TOPEKA — Republican Sen. Mitch Holmes apologized for his proposal that there be a dress code for women, but some believe the comment points to an underlying negative attitude toward women in Kansas policy.
Holmes’ formal apology attempted to placate an uproar emerging inside and outside the Capitol, but there are those who say the apology falls short.
“I’m sure he found out people were upset. You can’t single out women like that,” said Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Democrat from Douglas County.
Sen. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Shawnee County, agreed. She said she was in a state of shock and dismay when Holmes proposed a dress code. She said she was “shocked because of the gender specifications that were targeted and dismayed because this was indicative of the kind of ‘women-unfriendly’ policy Kansas created.”
The controversy began last week when Holmes, chair of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, proposed an 11-point code of conduct for witnesses appearing before the committee.
“For ladies, low-cut necklines and mini-skirts are inappropriate . . .” said Holmes of Stafford County. He added that “provocatively clad” women are a distraction from committee work.
On Tuesday, Holmes said he was sorry.
“My failure to clearly specify that all conferees, regardless of gender, should strive to present themselves professionally is unacceptable. I apologize and meant no offense. I have decided to retract the conferee guidelines.”
Kelly said she’s glad Holmes apologized, but she still has concerns about women’s welfare in the state.
“School teachers, low-income families often run by single mothers, and the elderly are having policies (benefitting) them attacked,” she said.
Jennifer Parson, state coordinator for the National Organization for Women in Kansas, said she, too, has concerns about the larger issue of women’s welfare.
“While I am glad Sen. Holmes has retracted his guidelines, this has revealed deeper attitudes that women are objects to be regulated,” she said. “I encourage the senator and his colleagues to be more self-aware of these attitudes in the future and work to treat women as valued colleagues and constituents.”
With the controversy subsiding, legislators ultimately want to keep the peace in the Capitol.
“I hope Senator Holmes is generally contrite. . . . This whole situation is very unfortunate. It was a distraction from what we should have been focusing on. This state is in a world of hurt, and we should be focusing on fixing that,” Kelly said.
OGDEN- The Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the cause of a fire on Tuesday at a gun range in Riley County.
Fire crews responded just after 6p.m. to Ogden’s Best Gun Range, 215 Fort Riley Avenue in Ogden, according to Pat Collins, Emergency Management Director for Riley County.
The area was evacuated
The fire in a storage room caused approximately $25,000 in damage to the room and smoke damage to the range.
The Ogden, Tattarax and Keats departments stations responded to the fire while the Manhattan and Fort Riley departments were called in to aid, according to Ryan Almes, Deputy Fire Chief of MFD, 32 firefighters responded in total.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence woman accused of fleeing to Europe with her two daughters has pleaded guilty to forging her ex-husband’s signature on official documents when she fled.
Thirty-three-year-old Samantha Elmer pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors say Elmer forged her husband’s signature on a document to obtain passports for their 9- and 11-year-old daughters.
Authorities say Elmer took the girls in October and boarded a flight from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to Vienna, via Istanbul, ahead of a custody hearing and a trial on theft charges in Missouri.
The girls were reunited in December with their father, who lives in Smithville, Missouri.
A sentencing hearing for Elmer will be scheduled later. She faces a maximum of two years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss is preparing to give his annual State of the Judiciary address with legislators considering a change in how the court’s members are selected.
Nuss was delivering his speech Wednesday in the Supreme Court’s chamber. The address gave him a chance to discuss funding issues and the high court’s initiatives in administering the judiciary.
But his address was scheduled to start just after a House debate on a proposal to change the process for selecting justices.
Under the current system, an attorney-led nominating commission screens applicants for Supreme Court vacancies and names three finalists. The governor must pick one, and legislators have no role.
The House proposal would abolish the nominating commission. The governor would appoint the justices directly, subject to state Senate confirmation.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Wichita City Council has voted to approve the construction of a $33 million central library.
Council members voted 5-2 Tuesday. The city approved initial plans for a new library about 10 years ago and bought the land for $3.69 million in 2008.
The council will have to vote again in a few months to approve a contractor before construction begins.
Don Barry, chairman of the Wichita Public Library Foundation board of directors, said that ground could be broken on the project as early as this summer and that it could be completed in 2018.
The city will finance the library with more than $36 million in bonds, part of which will be recouped through fundraising by the library foundation.
It is unclear what will happen to the current central library building.
TOPEKA–Kansas Securities Commissioner Josh Ney and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) have teamed up for a series of public service announcements about investment fraud surrounding the release of a new ABC miniseries profiling Bernie Madoff, America’s most notorious fraud artist.
ABC’s television miniseries, titled “Madoff,” airs Wednesday, Feb. 3 and Thursday, Feb. 4 from 7-9 p.m. on local ABC providers. “There is much to be learned from this real-world story of a complex fraud that stole billions of dollars out of the pockets of real investors,” said Ney.
Josh Ney, KS Securities Commissioner
Alongside Commissioner Ney, Senator Moran feels this is an opportune time to help educate Kansans about the dangers of financial crimes. Serving on the U.S. Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investments, Senator Moran is involved in Congressional oversight of federal efforts to protect investors. “Financial education is an important aspect of consumer protection. I am committed to making certain Kansans have the resources necessary to be financially informed,” Senator Moran said.
The Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner (KSC) exists to protect and inform Kansas investors. Financial crimes can be devastating, and unfortunately, they have one of the highest rates of being unreported and undetected. This is often due to the fact that it can be very embarrassing to victims to be duped by con men. Ney encourages Kansans to be on the lookout for signs that an investment may be fraudulent. Here are five red flags to watch out for when citizens are considering investing:
1. If an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Be wary of investments with incredibly high returns.
2. Who is offering the investment? Is the individual registered with the KSC? If not, that could be cause for concern. Investors can check the registration status and conduct a background check on financial professionals by going to the KSC’s website: www.ksc.ks.gov/BackgroundCheck.
3. Is what is being offered exclusive, rare, or scarce? Don’t be pressured to act quickly. Take time to check out investments. As the Madoff character says in the movie trailer, “You want to know how to get people to trust you with their money? You present it as an exclusive thing.”
4. Are you really interested in the investment or are you feeling pressured that “everyone else is doing it?” A widely used persuasion tactic is social consensus, which is when one feels peer pressured into making a decision because others are doing it and not that it is necessarily in their best interest.
5. Is there a gift involved? As they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Be aware of situations where something is being offered for free. Don’t feel pressure to invest just because the pitch involves receiving a gift that does not come close to equaling the amount being asked to commit to.
“See how many of the above tactics Madoff uses as you watch the movie,” said Ney. “Then try and recognize these red flags when seeking out your own investment opportunities.”
State and federal authorities need your help detecting financial crimes. If you run into an investment that you believe might be a fraud, contact the KSC at 1-800-232-9580 or by email at [email protected].
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are among those in several states considering measures to prohibit local governments from refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
One bill would ban so-called sanctuary cities. The other would also withdraw state funding from cities that don’t cooperate with immigration officials.
It’s the latest in a series of anti-sanctuary measures across the nation following the July killing of a San Francisco woman. The man charged is a Mexican man living in the country illegally. At least a dozen states, including Wisconsin and Florida, are considering similar legislation.
Rep. Charles Macheers, a Shawnee Republican, said he wants to ensure Kansas communities comply with federal law.
Some Kansas sheriffs began refusing immigration officials’ requests after a federal ruling in Oregon that holding a woman violated her constitutional rights.
PAWNEE COUNTY – A semi driver was injured in an accident just before 12:30p.m. on Tuesday in Pawnee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Peterbilt semi driven by William R. Holloway, 63, Kersey, CO., was eastbound on Kansas 156 three miles west of Rozel.
The vehicle went off the south side of the roadway. The driver tried to correct the vehicle back onto the highway. The vehicle’s load shifted the truck rolled into the south ditch.
Holloway was transported to Pawnee Valley Hospital in Larned and then flown to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
MCI Terminal A Conceptual Layout; Expansion Inside the Ring- courtesy Wood Bagot- Click to ENLARGE
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A consultant for airlines that use the Kansas City airport says a plan to renovate the airport is unacceptable.
Lou Salomon, chief operating officer of AvAirPros, said Tuesday a plan submitted by Crawford Architects did not address the airport’s future needs for such things as gates, concessions and room for larger aircraft.
City and aviation officials have been discussing for more than four years a plan to demolish the airport and replace it with a single terminal. Some citizens want to keep the current three-terminal design.
Crawford suggested expanding Terminal A and doing similar work on Terminal B in the future.
The Kansas City Star reports Salomon told the Kansas City Council’s airport committee the plan would cost about $984 million, not the $672 million estimated by Crawford.
