WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he has no plans at this time to ask lawmakers to ban voters who use a federal form to register from casting ballots in state and local elections.
Kobach said Wednesday that he believes a judge made legal errors when he ruled last week in favor of voters who challenged his office’s “dual registration” system. He says he may appeal or ask the judge to reconsider.
The court found last week that the right to vote under current Kansas law is not tied to the method of registration.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the fact Kobach is unwilling to go to the Legislature shows just how arbitrarily his office has been behaving, and that they do not believe lawmakers would authorize it.
MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities in Riley County have made arrests in connection with a five-month drug investigation.
Detectives found that approximately $300,000.00 had been transferred across state lines in order to facilitate the distribution of illegal drugs locally in the Manhattan and Riley County area, according to a media release.
Police in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Tuesday in the 2100 Block of Sloan Street and arrested Daniel Bigley, 20, Manhattan for the allegedly distributing a certain hallucinogenic, use of a telecommunication facility to facilitate a drug transaction, possession of hallucinogenic drugs, and use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia. He was given a bond of $11,000.
Arturo Green Jr., 29, and Joseph Lee, 31, both of Manhattan were also arrested.
Green for the offenses of distributing certain hallucinogenic drugs, use of a telecommunication facility to facilitate a drug transaction, and possession of hallucinogenic drugs. His bond was set at $8,000.
Lee was given a bond of $12,000 and had been released at the time of this report after being arrested for the offenses of distributing certain hallucinogenic drugs, use of telecommunication facility to facilitate a drug transaction, distributing certain hallucinogenic drugs, use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia, and possession of a hallucinogenic drug.
Several grams of methamphetamine and marijuana were seized as a result of this investigation.
SALINA –Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a business burglary.
Police responded to an alarm just before 3:30a.m. on Wednesday Callaberesi Heating and Cooling on Armory Road, according to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney
When they arrived, officers saw a man leaving the business, but when he noticed police, he went back inside.
After obtaining a key to get inside, police searched the building and found Ryan Howser, 30, Salina, in the attic hiding behind boxes.
Police also found a tan canvas bag near a door which contained heating and cooling items valued at $1,429.
Howser was arrested on requested charges of burglary, theft, and obstruction.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican legislator in Kansas has outlined a proposal to cut the number of local public school districts in the state by more than half.
Rep. John Bradford of Lansing said the plan he introduced Wednesday would leave the state with 132 school districts instead of the current 286. Ninety-nine of the state’s 105 counties would have only one district.
Bradford said the state can achieve significant savings by reorganizing school districts because there would be fewer administrators and administrative buildings. He said the plan would not close individual schools.
Some fellow Republicans said they are interested in looking at how local school districts can operate more efficiently.
But Kansas Association of School Boards lobbyist Mark Tallman said there’s no evidence that Kansas residents want to consolidate districts.
Nearly one-quarter of social workers with the Kansas Department for Children and Families left the job in a yearlong period ending Dec. 1, 2015, and job vacancies increased by more than two-thirds at the same time.
DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore told the House Children and Seniors Committee on Tuesday morning that recruitment and retention were areas of focus for the agency, and its strategic plan also pointed to a need to hold on to employees. But that’s a challenge for DCF in part because social workers can make more money with other employers, she said.
“One of the problems for our agency is needing more social workers,” she said. “We are not really competitive with salaries.” Most DCF social workers earn $38,000 to $50,000 annually, department spokeswoman Theresa Freed said. The numbers include social workers in child protective services, adult protective services and independent living and foster care programs, she said.
The turnover rate for DCF social workers was 24.4 percent from Dec. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2015, according to the agency. That was a slightly higher rate than in the previous two years. Vacancies also rose, and the number of social workers employed at DCF fell. On Dec. 1, 2014, there were 373 social workers and 40 vacant positions.
A year later, DCF had 323 social workers and 67 vacant positions — a 67.5 percent increase in vacancies. Turnover among social workers hasn’t caused safety concerns, Freed said. “Although we are working hard to fill our social work vacancies, child safety has not been compromised due to the shortage of social workers,” she said.
DCF has taken steps to improve retention, including equipping social workers with mobile devices, Freed said. Those will allow social workers to fill out reports without driving to a DCF service center and to contact law enforcement if they feel unsafe while on the job, she said.
The department also has offered incentives to social workers willing to work in areas of the state where recruitment is particularly difficult, such as rural regions of western Kansas, Freed said.
The incentive varies by area and position but could be as much as several thousand dollars in additional salary, she said. DCF also expanded the definition of who could serve as a child protection specialist to include licensed social workers with a bachelor’s degree, licensed master’s-level psychologists, licensed clinical psychotherapists, licensed professional counselors, and licensed marriage and family therapists.
When DCF announced the expansion in November, Gilmore said people in those professions are qualified to do child welfare work. “We are excited to welcome these professionals who are well-trained in the world of child welfare to work alongside our social workers who are often overburdened with heavy caseloads,” she said in a news release. “
As a licensed social worker, I know the job can be physically and emotionally draining, and our social workers deserve to feel supported.”
Sky Westerlund, executive director of the Kansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, questioned whether counselors and therapists would be able to do social work. DCF social workers have to recommend services to help a family to function or recommend removing a child if that isn’t possible, she said.
“Those professions are skilled in conducting therapy and their license allows for therapy work, but (child protective services) is not a job in therapy,” she said. “Rather, child welfare work involves a great deal of assessment, engagement with reluctant families, asking questions and evaluating the very safety of a child or children.”
Social workers also need to know how to write the reports the court system would use in child placements, Westerlund said, and are required to complete safety training because they enter potentially volatile situations.
“Changing the title does not change the work, and it is social work, not therapy,” she said. Social workers generally get into the profession because they want to help families, Westerlund said, but need small caseloads and adequate time, resources and training.
Comparatively low pay also may drive some to leave state employment, she said. “That is not likely the first reason, but it can be the final motivator to find a different job for better salary and job satisfaction,” she said.
“DCF is only one of many options for licensed social workers to begin and build a career.” Special investigators and other support staff also have helped with case management duties to free social workers’ time,
Freed said. Special investigators aren’t required to have a college degree, though DCF says most have a background in social work or law enforcement. The number of social workers employed at DCF has fallen since 2012. According to department data, it employed 402 social workers on Dec. 1, 2012; 373 on the same date in 2013 and 2014; and 323 on the same date in 2015.
Vacancies have fluctuated in both directions, from 57 in 2013 down to 40 in 2014, and up to 67 in 2015. Some of the fluctuations may have come from decisions to eliminate vacant positions, however, because the total of filled and vacant positions has fallen from 430 in 2013 to 390 in 2015. Turnover rates were 20.1 percent in the year ending Dec. 1, 2013, and 18.8 percent in the year ending in December 2014.
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
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Kansas officials seeking to reinstate the death penalty for three men, including two brothers convicted in a crime spree known as the “Wichita massacre.”
In an 8-1 ruling, the justices say the Kansas Supreme Court was wrong to overturn the sentences of Jonathan and Reginald Carr, for murders in Sedgwick County in December 2000 and Sidney Gleason, who was convicted for murders in Barton County in February 2004.
The state court said juries in both cases should have been told that evidence of the men’s troubled childhoods and other factors weighing against a death sentence didn’t have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The lower court also had ruled that the Carr brothers should have been sentenced separately.
Reginald and Jonathan Carr
The Supreme Court says the Kansas court’s reasoning was flawed on both counts.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors say they may upgrade murder charges against a Kansas man and wife accused in the death of a child who authorities believe is the man’s missing 7-year-old son and may have been fed to pigs.
Wyandotte County Deputy District Attorney Sheri Lidtke told a judge Tuesday that charges against Michael and Heather Jones may be upgraded to premeditated first-degree murder in the coming weeks.
She didn’t say what evidence prosecutors may have to support the new charge, which carries a minimum 50-year prison sentence. The Joneses are currently charged with felony murder, which carries a life sentence but parole eligibility after 20 years.
Authorities found remains of a juvenile on the family’s property in November. Tests to identify the remains are pending.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Washburn University will offer early retirement incentives to help balance its budget while enrollment is declining.
The university’s Board of Regents approved the incentives Tuesday. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports employees over 61 who retire at the end of the spring semester will receive a lump-sum payment worth 100 percent of their annual base salary, or up to $125,000, whichever is less.
Employees who retire in June 2017 will receive half that amount.
Washburn also will contribute to the health care coverage of employees who retire before they reach 65, until those employees become eligible for Medicare.
School employees have until Feb. 19 to decide if they’ll accept early retirement. The school expects to save $1.2 million annually by leaving vacancies unfilled or hiring younger employees who earn less.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A former Hutchinson teacher has left nearly $1.4 million to three Hutchinson groups.
The Hutchinson Daily News reports money from Deborah Mosier will go to the Hutchinson Public Library, The Boys and Girls Club and the Hutchinson Community Foundation.
Library director Gregg Wamsley says the gift comes without any designations for how it should be used. The gift comes just as the library is starting renovations to its building.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would lessen the state’s penalties for marijuana possession and allow the limited use of marijuana for medical purposes.
The Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee was meeting Wednesday for the first of two days of hearings on the marijuana legislation. The panel was taking testimony from supporters first and hearing from opponents Thursday.
The House approved the bill last year.
The measure would decrease the maximum penalties for first-time, misdemeanor marijuana possession to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine from a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. A second possession conviction would no longer be a felony.
The bill also would allow cannabis to be used in treating seizures and set up a program to research industrial hemp production.
Callie C. Harvey, 30, Latoia L. Thomas, 34, and Devion T. Toy, 31, are being held on suspicion of Possession of Heroin With Intent, Possession of Cocaine With Intent, No Drug Tax Stamp and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
HUTCHINSON— The state has formally charged a Kansas man arrested after a domestic incident just days after he held police at bay for nearly six-hours on Christmas Eve.
Charles Mendenhall III, 34, Hutchinson, was arrested again on Jan.10, and now faces charges of aggravated battery, aggravated burglary, interference with law enforcement, violation of a protection from abuse order, criminal restraints and battery of a Hutchinson Police Officer.
The most recent case comes after he allegedly broke a window to enter a home at 707 Pierce in Hutchinson and attacked the woman resident.
She attempted to leave the home, but he then pulled her back inside and pinned her to the floor. Police came and he struggled with them to the point he had to be tased and was finally taken into custody.
Mendenhall is already facing a charge of kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal discharge of a firearm and criminal threat and two counts of aggravated endangerment of a child for the incident on Christmas Eve at that same home.
He’s jailed on a $100,000 bond and the most recent case will also be placed on a future waiver-status docket.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The head of the Kansas Department for Children and Families is defending the agency’s efforts to ensure the safety of children in the foster care system.
The Wichita Eagle reports that agency Secretary Phyllis Gilmore spoke Tuesday to the House Committee on Children & Seniors. The appearance came less than a week after another committee approved an audit of the agency.
Gilmore called the state’s foster care system one of the safest in the nation.
A November report showed five children died in the foster care system during the 2015 fiscal year, which ended in June. Only one death was attributed to maltreatment. Other reasons for fatalities included illness and car accidents.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he has no plans at this time to ask lawmakers to ban voters who use a federal form to register from casting ballots in state and local elections.
