WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man in a Kansas prison for the 1984 murder of a Sedgwick County man now faces another murder charge in the Missouri death of a teen who disappeared more than 30 years ago.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 57-year-old Martin Priest has been charged with capital murder in Missouri.

Court documents say Priest killed the teen, identified as “T.R.,” by strangling her in May 1984 in Eldon, Missouri.

Priest could face life in prison if convicted.

Priest has been in prison since being convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of 25-year-old William Mayhugh on Christmas 1984. He could be released on that charge as early as August.

Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Adam Pfannenstiel says Priest could be transferred to Missouri to face the charge.

 

WASHINGTON — President Obama wants to require background checks for guns purchased from dealers even if they’re bought online or at gun shows.

On Tuesday, he announced a series of long-awaited executive steps aimed at curbing gun violence despite opposition in Congress to new gun laws. Several members of the Kansas congressional delegation reacted to the move on social media.

 

I will fight every proposal that threatens Americans’ right to self-protect & fails to curb the real problems that fuel gun violence.

— Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) January 5, 2016

    It’s an outrage that the president is again going around Congress & taking unilateral action to infringe on #2ndAmendment rights of Kansans. — Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) January 5, 2016

Obama is more concerned about widows on social security getting guns than ISIS members posing as #SyrianRefugees. #2A

— Cong. Tim Huelskamp (@CongHuelskamp) January 6, 2016

    President Obama is attempting to restrict our #2A rights. I’ll continue to fight against any attempt to restrict our Constitutional rights. — Lynn Jenkins (@RepLynnJenkins) January 4, 2016

   

I will fight any attempt by #POTUS to sidestep Congress, SCOTUS, & US Constitution to restrict Kansans’ #gunrights https://t.co/c0ReEQG6Xa

— Mike Pompeo (@RepMikePompeo) January 5, 2016

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is preparing to start a new program to provide mentors for poor residents receiving cash assistance from the state and for foster children reaching adulthood.

Gov. Sam Brownback and officials from the state Department for Children and Families officials were having a Wednesday afternoon news conference to discuss the details of the new program. First lady Mary Brownback also was expected to participate.

Brownback said in October that his administration was working on a mentoring program for the poor after seeing similar programs help hundreds of adult prison inmates and juvenile offenders. Brownback said then one issue would be finding enough volunteer mentors.

The department said the new mentoring program also would help formerly abused and neglected children who are too old to stay in foster care.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 31-year-old Johnson County man will serve at least 40 years in prison for sexually molesting an 8-year-old girl.

Robert Donovan Burton was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years for abusing the girl at an Olathe home in late 2012 and early 2013.

The Kansas City Star reports it was Burton’s second conviction for a sex crime involving a child. In 2005, he pleaded guilty in Johnson County District Court to attempted rape of a child younger than 14. In that case, his 12-year-old victim later gave birth to a child fathered by Burton.

The girl in the latest case reported to authorities that Burton molested her after showing her pornographic videos on his cellphone.

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) — A Wichita native has developed an online directory of farmers in hopes of connecting them with digital consumers.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 31-year-old Mikel Bowyer started working on the ICT Food Circle project after joining a civic hacking organization that aimed to improve the community through public data projects.

The site currently allows consumers to browse and contact farmers based on what products they sell. In the future, Bowyer wants to offer consumers a look at each farms’ real-time inventory.

Bowyer has been working on ICT Food Circle as a side project to his part-time and full-time jobs. He hopes to eventually register the site as a nonprofit.

RILEY COUNTY- Two people were injured in an accident just before 4:30p.m. on Tuesday in Riley County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Suzuki Equator driven by Isis Iantha Mueller, 39, Herington, was eastbound on Kansas 18 four miles west of Manhattan.

The vehicle left the roadway. The driver overcorrected. The vehicle went back into the south ditch, rolled several times and the driver was ejected.

Mueller was transported to Stormont Vail in Topeka. A passenger in the Suzuki Athena Mueller, 8, Herington, was transported to Via Christi in Manhattan.

The driver was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report shows the Kansas winter wheat crop is faring mostly well so far this winter. Cattle and sheep are also mostly in good shape.

The report released Monday by the National Agricultural Statistics Service comes after a month in which temperatures averaged six to eight degrees above normal across the eastern half of Kansas. Temperatures were closer to normal in the western half of the state in December.

Winter wheat condition is rated as 8 percent excellent and 46 percent good. About 38 percent is rated fair, 7 percent as poor and 1 percent as very poor.

Cattle and calf statewide are rated 6 percent in excellent and 63 percent in good condition, with 30 percent rated as fair. Just 1 percent are in poor condition.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County commissioners will try for the second time to sell or lease the former Judge Riddel Boys Ranch.

The county commission closed the home for troubled boys in 2014 after a dispute with the Legislature over funding to operate it.

The ranch provided educational and other social service programs for troubled juvenile boys.

County officials said Tuesday they will write a request for proposals for real estate developers and nonprofits to determine interest in the 38-acre property near Goddard.

The Wichita Eagle reports the county tried before to lease the ranch but did not receive any proposals. The property has sewer and air-conditioning problems and might not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The county hopes to have a draft request done by mid-February.

MANHATTAN -A Kansas man found guilty in November of attempted First-Degree murder and battery had his sentencing delayed on Tuesday.

A motion to continue the sentencing for Samuel Dartez, 31, Manhattan, was granted by Judge Stutzman Tuesday in Riley County District Court.

The defense requested the continuance for Samuel Dartez, 31, Manhattan, while they await a report from a psychologist, which could affect the sentencing.

Dartez refused to come out of his cell at the Riley County Detention Center Tuesday morning, failing to appear in person.

After granting the continuance Judge Stutzman explained that because the case was continued and they did not move forward with the sentencing, he will address Dartez’s absence when he next appears in court at 9 a.m. on January 29th.

Dartez was arrested on November 13, 2014, after the Riley County Police Department received a 911 call in reference to a domestic violence incident in the 600 block of Yuma Street in Manhattan.

A 27 year old woman was found at the Manhattan Public Library with multiple puncture wounds to her neck and face.

Later that day, Dartez was stopped by authorities in Morris County and after a standoff he was taken into custody. He was found guilty on November 19, following a four-day jury trial.

ATCHISON COUNTY -A Kansas boy has been released from the hospital after being hit by a truck Monday afternoon.

Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson said the accident took place around 2:50 p.m. at the intersection of 5th Street and Santa Fe Monday as the 12-year-old boy was walking home from school.

He was hit making his way east on the crosswalk by a 2000 Chevy Pick up driven by John Van Dyke, 55, Atchison traveling southbound on 5th Street.

The boy was flown to a Kansas City hospital for treatment but has since been released.

Van Dyke was issued a municipal court citation for failure to exercise due care regarding pedestrians.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republican legislators are preparing to push for huge changes in Kansas’ education system.

And other lawmakers warned Tuesday that a coming debate over funding could center on proposals they see as hostile to public K-12 schools.

Proposal under consideration include junking current standardized testing for students, turning over some school services to private companies and forgoing federal dollars to avoid federal education requirements.

A joint legislative committee set up to study what students should be learning and the best way to fund schools met briefly Tuesday to review a draft report from its Republican chairman. The report calls for overhauling how the state distributes more than $4 billion in aid annually to its 286 local school districts.

The committee tabled the report until at least later this month.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two counties are asking the state to reimburse them for legal expenses caused by sexually violent predators.

The fees stem from cases where the individuals challenge their confinement to the state’s Sexual Predator Treatment Program at Larned State Hospital.

Counties where the patients’ case originated must pay the legal costs. But in the past, the Attorney General’s office reimbursed the counties through a state fund. However, lawmakers didn’t appropriate any money for the fund during the current fiscal year.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports representatives from McPherson and Butler counties asked a legislative committee on Monday to reimburse their costs.

The committee can only recommend to the full Legislature whether to appropriate the funds to the counties.

GEARY COUNTY- A woman from Milford died in an accident just before 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Chevy Impala driven by Gina M. Wertz, 31, Milford, was eastbound on 12th Street just east of Milford.

The driver failed to yield right of way at stop sign at U.S. 77.

A 2003 Toyota Tacoma driven by Cory I. Pettit, 39, Clay Center, that was southbound on U.S. 77, hit the Impala on the driver’s side.

Wertz was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

Pettit was transported to the Geary County Hospital.

Wertz was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
—————–

GEARY COUNTY- The Critical Highway Accident Response Team from the Kansas Highway Patrol is responding to a fatal, two-vehicle crash on U.S. 77 near the Milford turnoff.

One person died in the accident just after 7a.m. on Tuesday and another was transported to Geary County Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges.

“We’re diverting traffic through Milford due to a fatality accident at the intersection,” said Berges.

Drivers using U.S. 77 are being diverted through the City of Milford, and then back either north or south.

Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.