HUTCHINSON– A motion hearing for the case against a Kansas teen charged with two counts of first-degree murder and aggravated arson was held Monday in Reno County.

Samuel Vonachen, 16, Hutchinson, is accused of setting fire to his family’s home, which killed his mother and sister.

He was 14 at the time of the alleged crime and the state has charged him as an adult for those crimes.

During Monday’s hearing, Judge Trish Rose granted a defense request for a gag order in the case.

The defense also wanted the judge to place any future court filings under seal meaning they would not be available to the public or the media.

They also indicated that some hearings should be closed over those motions. The Judge denied that request.

The state then argued a motion for forcing the defendant to hand over writings or a journal that that the defendant has been working on since his arrest.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell argued that this is not for the state or their case, but rather for the doctors doing a mental evaluation to see if the defendant is competent to stand trial.

The defense called them privileged information and asked that the state’s request be denied.

On the suggestion of the state, Judge Rose told the defense to provide the writings to her first and then she’ll rule whether they can be released to the doctors.

The case centers on Vonachen allegedly spreading gas through the downstairs of his family’s home, then setting it on fire on Sept. 26, 2013.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect in connecting with stealing gas from a rural home.

A resident in the 500 Block of North Niles Road reported gas was taken from a storage tank on January 9 and 16, according to Saline County Sheriff’s Captain Roger Soldan.

On Saturday deputies staked out the location from a nearby dead end road and just before 7a.m. Jason Buster, 31, Salina, showed up in a car with an empty gas tank and five empty gas cans.

Buster was arrested before he could take any gas.

He is being held on requested charges of theft, attempted theft, trespassing, and an illegal tag on his car.

MEADE COUNTY – Two people were injured in an accident just before 6a.m. on Monday in Meade County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta driven by Scott Emmanuel Chavez-Gonzales, 20, Wichita, was eastbound on U.S. 54 four miles west of Meade.

The vehicle traveled left of center and struck a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer driven by Tonya Denice Mousel, 31, Cimarron, in the westbound lane.

Chavez-Gonzales and Mousel were transported to the Meade County Hospital.

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

TOPEKA –  The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) will launch a new employment and training pilot program today called GOALS to help low-income Kansans who currently receive food assistance, according to a media release.

“GOALS (Generating Opportunities to Attain Lifelong Success) will help eligible residents get on a path to successful careers that pay living wages and offer advancement opportunities,” said DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore.

 

GOALS program offers opportunities to SNAP recipients, businesses & communities https://t.co/P9WJXnaWSq #ksleg #snap pic.twitter.com/E0QZOj7mA6

— DCF Kansas (@DCFKansas) January 22, 2016

 

With the backing of a $13.5 million grant that was announced in March, GOALS will work in tandem with DCF’s current job training program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The current SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) program has produced a 67 percent employment rate with a budget of just $500,000.

“We are proud of the success SNAP E&T has had in helping Kansans develop the skills and tools necessary to work,” Gilmore said. “GOALS will serve as a launching pad to develop a much broader impact and provide more extensive assistance to people who have the potential to be tremendous employees.”

Kansas was one of 10 states awarded a competitive grant by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to develop and test innovative SNAP E&T strategies. The pilot program will serve approximately 4,000 food assistance recipients in 36 counties across both urban and rural areas over three years. The GOALS pilot will serve some clients, while the traditional E&T program will continue to serve others, with the purpose of testing and demonstrating the effectiveness of the more extensive GOALS strategy.

According to SNAP E&T Program Manager Ruth Arensdorf, the E&T program has focused on teaching participants soft skills such as employment readiness and self-confidence, as well as helping them write resumes, plan job searches and improve their interview skills. It also has provided limited financial assistance for travel and clothing.

In a much more robust approach, GOALS services will be individualized to each participant’s needs, with a Career Navigator providing guidance and support through four service phases—Stabilize, Train, Place and Sustain. GOALS will also be tailored to meet the needs of each community, using a collective impact approach to engage employers and other partners in sustainable strategies for matching participants with labor market opportunities.

Eligible participants will have a chance to access:

​A Career Navigator specifically assigned to assist participants on a path to a better career;
Career guidance and training based on eligibility, individual assessments and labor market demands;
Employment supports such as child care assistance, uniform and tool payments, transportation assistance and help with other barriers as needed, such as addiction counseling
Employer Liaisons dedicated to building relationships with employers and finding job opportunities;
Continued support after employment, such as peer mentoring and problem-solving guidance.

Arensdorf said a significant aspect of GOALS will be that it will offer assistance for those with mental health and substance abuse barriers to employment, something the E&T program lacks the funds to provide.

“We’ve shown we can successfully help people find and keep a job,” said Gilmore. “This new pilot will give us the funds to go out and do it on a much broader scale, and to help people with some roadblocks to employment that we couldn’t previously address.”

Food assistance recipients interested in finding out more should contact Kansas DCF’s customer service line at 1-888-369-4777 and ask about GOALS. Employers, agency partners and others interested are encouraged to contact program manager Ruth Arensdorf at [email protected]. More information may also be found at www.goals.ks.gov.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A group of Chinese students is visiting Kansas as part of a two-week trip to experience American education and see some sites.

The students from Shanghai Southwest Weiyu Middle School are studying at The Independent School in Wichita.

Teacher Helen Huang Xujuan says the program might someday lead to a semester- or year-long exchange program between the Chinese middle school and Kansas schools.

The Hutchinson News reports  the students are staying with host families in Wichita. They visited the Comosphere in Hutchinson Saturday.

The teacher says the students aren’t sure what they will do after school but many may try to attend college in the U.S.

The students will fly to Denver Friday before flying home to China.

NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — Newton police are urging residents to lock their doors as they search for a man suspected of at least 16 burglaries since mid-September.

Police Lt. Scott Powell says the burglar always enters homes through open garage or sliding glass doors. He generally steals only cash and has been seen inside homes only three times. He is about 5-foot-8, 200 pounds and in his 50s or 60s, with shaggy gray hair and a scruffy gray beard.

The Wichita Eagle reports the last burglary was Jan. 7.

During one burglary, the family was at home and confronted the man but he was able to get to a car and drive away.

Powell says despite publicity of the crimes, officers still find between six and 15 garage doors open every night.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A man has been taken into custody after authorities say he threatened several people with a knife in a university residence hall in Lawrence.

Lawrence Police Department Sgt. Ted Bordman says the 23-year-old was arrested around 5 p.m. Sunday.

Bordman says several people were threatened with a knife in a dorm room in a Haskell Indian Nations University residence hall. No one was injured.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the suspect was being held without bond in the Douglas County Jail on Sunday night.

The suspect doesn’t have any criminal history listed in Douglas County Court records or in the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration wants to expand the federal Pell grant program to help more students graduate from college — by providing them with more money to attend classes year-round and reward them for taking more credits.

Two new proposals announced by the Education Department would expand the $29 billion program by $2 billion in the new fiscal year. They’ll be part of President Barack Obama’s budget proposal next month.

One proposal would help low-income students earn Pell money for a third semester in an academic year. Many exhaust their eligibility after two semesters. The other proposal would give a $300 bonus to students taking at least 15 credits per semester in an academic year.

Pell grants are for low-income people. They don’t have to be repaid.

ST. JOHN, Kan. (AP) — A small central Kansas town is scrambling to find ways to respond when its only grocery store closes Feb. 6.

More than 200 people attended a town hall meeting Sunday to discuss the closing of a Dillon’s Market store.

KAKE-TV reports Mayor Juliann Owens says the store was closing for financial reasons and because the small store can’t be expanded.

When the store closes, St. John residents will have to drive more than 25 miles to Great Bend or Pratt, or 12 miles to a small grocery store in Stafford.

For now, residents are planning ways to help those who can’t drive to get groceries. The St. John city council will discuss funding a bus to take people to the other towns for groceries.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to get underway in the trial of two men charged with trying to kill a Wyandotte County deputy.

Deputy Scott Wood was shot seven times last March when three armed men tried to rob a convenience store where he had stopped after work.

The Kansas City Star reports jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of 25-year-old Dyron M. King, and 36-year-old Cecil D. Meggerson, who are charged with attempted capital murder of a law enforcement officer.

A third defendant, 19-year-old Charles Bowser, faces the same charge, but his trial’s delayed.

The sheriff’s office says Wood is still recovering from gunshot wounds to the jaw, shoulder, abdomen and lower chest.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate panel will consider a measure aimed at banning discrimination against gun dealers and manufacturers.

The measure would function like laws that prevent religious or racial discrimination and allow gun dealers to sue when they feel discriminated against.

The Wichita Eagle reports (https://bit.ly/1JvEUnq ) the bill will be heard Thursday by a Senate committee.

Sen. Jacob LaTurner says the measure was in response to a 2013 federal initiative aimed at preventing fraudulent businesses from using the banking system.

The National Rifle Association and others have said that initiative has encouraged banks to sever ties with businesses deemed high risk by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

But a recent FDIC audit found no instances where the FDIC pressured banks to decline services to a firearms or ammunition dealer.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some lawmakers say efforts to repeal the Kansas death penalty may be stymied by the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding three Kansas death sentences.

A bill repealing the death penalty in Kansas was introduced Friday in the House. The Lawrence Journal-World reports  the measure would prohibit death sentences for any crimes committed after July 1.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a Kansas Supreme Court ruling and upheld the death sentences of three convicted Kansas murderers, including Jonathan and Reginald Carr, who killed five people in 2000. A third death sentence was also upheld.

Co-sponsors of the repeal say it may be hard for some to vote for repeal without appearing like they’re letting the Carr brothers off the hook. The measure, however, wouldn’t apply to the Carrs.