WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County jury has recommended a Hard 50 prison sentence for a Wichita man in the abuse death of his 17-month-old daughter.
The jury made the recommendation in the case of 30-year-old Jonell Lloyd, who attacked his daughter, Chavira Brown, in July 2008 for wetting her pants. Prosecutors say he beat and choked the girl, tied her in plastic bags and left her in an attic to die.
Lloyd was sentenced by a judge in 2009 to life in prison with no parole for 50 year. He was resentenced after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that jurors, not judges, must determine if a Hard 50 sentence is warranted.
HUTCHINSON- Law enforcement authorities in Reno County continue to investigate a Thursday morning stabbing in Hutchinson.
Just after 2:30 a.m. Toby Darwin Hippen, 28, forced his way into the residence of Megan Drach, 26, at 1301 East 25th Street, according to a media release from the Reno County Sheriff.
Once inside the home, Hippen beat and then repeatedly stabbed Drach and then fled the scene.
Hippen was located at 714 West 5th Street in Hutchinson and after an extended standoff surrendered to police without incident.
Drach was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and then transferred to a Wichita area hospital in serious condition .
Hippen initially was arrested for one count Aggravated Burglary and one count Aggravated Battery. As the investigation matured Hippen’s charges were amended to one count attempted first-degree Murder.
Hippen remains in the custody of the Reno County Sheriff.
JUNCTION CITY – Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a fatal motorcycle accident.
A Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Benjamin Locke, 40, Fort Riley, was traveling at the intersection of North Washington Street and West 18th Street
The motorcycle collided with a 2012 Toyota Camry driven by a Rural Geary County woman, according to Junction City Police Detective Lieutenant Jeff Childs.
“From interviewing witnesses it appeared the car turned in front of the motorcycle, causing the accident,” said Childs.
Locke was transported to Geary Community Hospital where he died. The driver of the Toyota was not injured.
The Geary County Attorney’s Office will determine if any charges will be filed.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A nearly 100-year-old theater is gearing up for a $14 million capital campaign to complete a renovation of the auditorium.
The Wichita Eagle reports (https://bit.ly/1RdGmwC ) that $1.5 million has been raised for the Orpheum Theatre’s restoration so far.
The theater’s president, Jennifer Allen, says it will ideally take two years to raise the funds. The goal is for all of the Orpheum’s restoration to be completed in time for its centennial in 2022.
The theater recently completed a $500,000 restoration of the auditorium foyer and east stair tower.
The Orpheum was built in 1922 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It closed in 1976 and was slated for demolition before volunteers stepped up to try to renovate the building. It was reopened in 2000.
Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita renewed his request for an audit of the Kansas foster care system at a Thursday meeting of the Legislative Post Audit Committee. ANDY MARSO HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
By ANDY MARSO
The Legislative Post Audit Committee voted Thursday to delay considering an audit into allegations of bias at the Kansas Department for Children and Families against adoptions by same-sex couples.
The panel of legislators instead voted to create a subcommittee that will develop a proposal for a broader investigation of the state’s foster care and adoption system that will be ready for an up-or-down vote in January.
“When we do it, we have to do it right,” said Rep. Peggy Mast, a Republican from Emporia. “It should be comprehensive.”
Mast added, “It looks like it’s a system that needs to be fixed.”
The same committee rejected a broader audit of DCF requested by two Democrats in July.
One of those Democrats, Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita, was back Thursday before the committee to renew that request, while adding one focused on investigating whether DCF is attempting to steer children away from adoptive parents in same-sex relationships.
DCF officials have repeatedly said they have no formal policy to take sexual orientation into account when making recommendations for foster care or adoption.
But Ward presented the committee with a list of 21 attorneys and social workers who believe a pattern of discrimination can be proven if those with evidence are provided the anonymity of an audit.
Ward said confidentiality clauses in cases involving children are good policy but have prevented those attorneys and social workers from publicly airing their concerns about anti-gay bias and DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore.
“If you were to open an audit, I think you would find out from people who were in the room when this happened that the (DCF) secretary said, ‘We are going to begin to screen applications to find out if they’re homosexual,’” Ward said. “That she went to a staff meeting and discouraged adoptions by gay and lesbians, and when asked by a professional who’d been in the department for years why she would do this, she said, ‘We’re doing things differently now.’”
Ward said he was OK with developing a broader audit, as long as the question of bias against same-sex couples is part of it.
“The frustrating thing is we wait yet again, and nothing changes,” Ward said. “There’s no questions being asked (of DCF) — there’s questions about the questions to ask.”
Ward’s request comes after media reports on custody cases involving same-sex couples. In one case, DCF removed a baby from the home of lesbian foster parents in Wichita and recommended the child be placed with some half-siblings who lived in a 2,200-square-foot Topeka home with more than a dozen children in it.
The owners of the home, Topeka City Councilman Jonathan Schumm and his wife, were charged last month with child abuse.
Ward also cited a Johnson County case in which a judge said DCF officials conducted a “witch hunt” against another lesbian couple. The judge’s sealed decision includes emails among DCF officials in which they cite the potential adoptive mother’s sexual orientation as something to note and seek more information about the percentage of out-of-home foster care placements going to same-sex couples.
Ward, an attorney, said he also knows of a case in which a grandmother was denied custody because she was in a same-sex relationship.
Republicans on the committee said they had other concerns about DCF, including the “warehousing” of foster children in some homes and the rising number of out-of-home foster care placements.
“I’m a little bit concerned that if we look at only what’s in this scope statement, then that comes back and whatever that audit covers we move on and we don’t look at the other areas, that I think are equally or maybe even more important,” said Sen. Jeff Longbine, a Republican from Emporia.
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
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita State University student who died after trying to stop a suicide bomber in Saudi Arabia will receive an honorary degree.
Wichita State officials announced Thursday that 22-year-old Abduljaleel Alarbash also will have a room in Jabara Hall on the college campus named for him.
Alarbash, an electrical engineering student, was killed in May when he tried to stop the suicide bomber from entering a mosque in his native Saudi Arabia.
He was in that country to be married and planned to return to Wichita to continue his education.
His posthumous degree will be awarded during Wichita State’s fall commencement ceremony Sunday.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Student leaders at the University of Kansas have passed legislation that seeks to improve inclusion on campus just hours after a student protest.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Student Senate unanimously approved a motion Wednesday night to create a wheelchair basketball team. The Student Senate also passed a bill to expand adoption of gender-neutral language. Student leaders are waiting until January to further discuss impeachment proceedings against three top leaders.
Hours earlier about 100 student protesters marched in the chancellor’s officer and demanded more and faster action on diversity issues. The group dispersed after securing a sit-down meeting with incoming interim provost Sara Rosen.
The students’ concerns include issues of diversity, inclusion and instances of alleged racism at the university.
The law will change the way teachers are evaluated and how the poorest performing schools are pushed to improve.
Obama calls the law a “Christmas miracle.” He’s praising Republicans and Democrats for coming together to pass the long-awaited legislation.
Obama says the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law had the right goals. But he says in practice it fell short and used a cookie-cutter approach.
The new law turns more decision-making powers back to the states.
In a media release, KNEA President Mark Farr said, “The dedicated professionals working in Kansas public schools continue to push for what’s best for all students. Parents and teachers want equal opportunity for all of our students to succeed, this federal legislation gives us a foundation to provide that opportunity.”
This legislation begins to close the opportunity gaps for students by providing a new system that includes an ‘opportunity dashboard’ with indicators of school success and student support. Not only does it reduce the amount of standardized testing in schools, but it decouples high-stakes decisions and statewide testing so students have more time to develop critical thinking while educators do what they love — inspire a lifelong love of learning.
Leading up to ESSA’s passage, educators mobilized in Kansas and across the nation, using face-to- face meetings with lawmakers, phone calls, petitions, emails and social media to urge Congress to bring the joy of teaching and learning back to the classroom and help close opportunity and resource gaps so that all students have access to a well-rounded education. Educators nationwide made nearly a half million individual contacts to members of Congress. Utilizing its statewide education advocacy messaging platform (at www.joinusks.org), nearly 1,000 citizens and members of KNEA were urged to push for the passage of ESSA on behalf of Kansas’s students.
“The U.S. Senate took a bold and historic step to usher in a new era in public education,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “This is a deserved victory for public education because the Every Student Succeeds Act will ensure all students have equal opportunity to a high-quality public education regardless of ZIP Code.”
HUTCHINSON— The Kansas State Fair is losing another top official.
Assistant General Manager Lori Hart is leaving the fair to become the new Director of Education for the International Association of Fairs and Expositions in Springfield, Missouri, according to a media release.
Hart has been with the fair for 18 years. Hart said she knew of potential changes that were going on in Springfield, and that prompted her interest.
However, she says it was after the fair that she was approached about the job and decided it was a great opportunity. Her last day with the Kansas State fair is Dec. 19.
Hart says she will be staying in Hutchinson and will be able to work from home, but will do a lot of traveling from Hutchinson to Springfield and other locations. Hart’s job will be to employ professional development for fair and expo leaders and staff, in order to obtain and maintain accreditation.
The International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE) is a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation, serving state, provincial, regional, and county agricultural fairs, shows, exhibitions, and expositions. Its associate members include state and provincial associations of fairs, non-agricultural expositions and festivals, associations, corporations, and individuals engaged in providing products and services to its members, all of whom are interested in the improvement of fairs and allied fields.
The IAFE began in 1885 and today, represents more than 1,100 fairs around the world, and more than 900 members from allied fields. Throughout the years, the IAFE has remained true to its purpose of promoting and encouraging the development and improvement of agricultural fairs, shows, and expositions.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has named interim secretaries for the state Department of Corrections and the Department of Aging and Disability Services.
Brownback’s office said in a release Thursday that Tim Keck will be interim secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and Johnnie Goddard will be interim secretary for the Kansas Department of Corrections. They start their new positions Jan. 1.
Keck replaces KDADS Secretary Kari Bruffett, who’s leaving Dec. 31. Keck has been deputy chief counsel at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment since 2011.
Goddard replaces Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts, who’s retiring. Goddard has been deputy secretary of facilities management for the Corrections Department since 2012.
Keck and Goddard will serve as interim secretaries until Brownback appoints his nominees for the positions.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka city councilman has denied allegations that he physically abused his 12-year-old son.
The Topeka Capital Journal reports that councilman Jonathan Schumm denied the accusations in answers filed by his attorney, Thomas Lemon, to a petition seeking to have Schumm removed from his post. The councilman and his wife have been charged with aggravated battery, or the alternative charge of abuse of a child, for incidents that reportedly happened in October.
They were booked into jail on Nov. 20, but posted bond on the same day.
Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor and senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt filed a civil action in November to suspend Schumm as a city councilman, and then to oust him from office. They cited the alleged violence in the filing.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers tasked with making school finance recommendations have heard conflicting arguments about whether more money for schools means better student performance.
The Kansas City Star reports that the Legislature’s Special Committee on K-12 Student Success heard from the Kansas Association of School Boards on Wednesday. The association says more school funding does lead to better student performance, depending on how it’s spent.
Dave Trabert with the Kansas Policy Institute, a think tank, said more funds over the last decade have not led to better results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Kansas currently has a block grant funding plan for schools while the state designs a new formula.
The committee plans to hold two more meetings before the legislative session begins in January.
