WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal from parents from the Shawnee Mission School District.
The parents asked the court to consider their case challenging a state cap on the amount of local property tax money that the district can spend on education. The court’s decision Monday not to hear the case leaves in place a decision from the U.S. Appeals Court in Denver. The appeals court ruled in June that the federal court couldn’t override the state’s funding plan
At issue is a 2010 lawsuit arguing that the state could not limit local school district funding because it creates a new inequality that punishes school districts. The parents also argued that the funding restrictions violated their federal constitutional rights.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson during a Monday briefing
ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department is announcing a new terror alert system.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says details about the new system will be announced soon. He says the change is needed to better inform Americans about the country’s security posture.
This will be the third terror alert system put in place by DHS since the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The much maligned color-coded system was replaced in 2011 by the National Threat Advisory System.
Johnson says terrorist threats to the U.S. have evolved and terrorist-inspired threats are a growing concern. He says the changes to the system will keep the public better informed. He didn’t provide specific details.
Johnson made the announcement Monday at a Defense One magazine forum.
LIBERAL, Kan. (AP) — A man is set to be sentenced next month for killing a Liberal woman whose death initially appeared to be a suicide.
The High Plains Daily Leader reports that Foster Everette was convicted Thursday in Seward County District Court of second-degree murder in the January killing of 31-year-old Andrea Garrison. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 4.
Liberal Police Capt. Pat McClurg said in a news release that police responded Jan. 2 to a possible suicide. Garrison was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy was completed Jan. 5.
McClurg said there were “suspicious circumstances.” He said that after talking to witnesses, conducting search warrants and collecting evidence, investigators determined Garrison was the “victim of foul play.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from gun owners who challenged a Chicago suburb’s ban on assault weapons.
The justices on Monday refused to hear the case of a Highland Park, Illinois, pediatrician who objected to the city’s 2013 ban on semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.
The federal appeals court in Chicago upheld the Highland Park law, ruling that local governments have leeway in deciding how to regulate firearms.
In October, the federal appeals court in New York largely upheld similar laws in Connecticut and New York, among a handful of states that ban semi-automatic weapons.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly turned away challenges to gun restrictions since two landmark decisions that spelled out the right to a handgun to defend one’s own home.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — More than 40,000 people are expected to descend upon Lawrence in July 2017 after the city was selected to host the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic Championships.
The city beat out Des Moines, Iowa, to host the event. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the nation’s top track and field athletes between the ages of 7 and 18 will compete at Rock Chalk Park in northwest Lawrence.
Organizers say about 9,500 athletes and 33,000 family members, coaches and spectators are expected to attend the championships.
Lawrence will have about 1,400 hotel rooms by 2017, far short of what is needed. The city’s visitor’s bureau is working to arrange rooms in Topeka, Overland Park, Olathe and Kansas City during the championships, which will run July 23 through July 30, 2017.
WICHITA— A teenager remains hospitalized after being shot by police as he ran with a gun toward the doors of Wichita West high school where a girls’ basketball game was being played on Friday.
The teen fled after police pulled over a pickup truck that was pulling into the West High School parking lot around 6:30 p.m.
There were four people in the truck, and one got out with a handgun and started running toward the south doors of the school, according to Deputy Police Chief Hassan Ramzah.
Multiple shots were fired at the teen after he ignored verbal warnings to stop and got closer to the door. He was taken to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis in critical condition.
Crime scene photo Wichita Police
Police are expected to release additional details on Monday.
WICHITA – A Kansas man died in an accident just before 11:30p.m. on Sunday in Sedgwick County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Ford Escort driven by Shane D. Smith, 41, Wichita, was entering onto the ramp from Lincoln to Southbound Interstate 135.
The driver lost control of the vehicle. It struck a curb and partially overturned.
Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police have arrested two men in connection with a double homicide that occurred in Wichita last week.
KAKE-TV reports that 24-year-old Brent Carter and 19-year-old Jamion Wimbley have been charged in the home shooting death of Betty “Ann” Holloman and a 24-year-old man last Tuesday.
Carter has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and criminal discharge of a firearm. Wimbley faces charges for two counts of first-degree murder, criminal discharge of a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm.
The men were booked into the Sedgwick County Jail Friday evening. It was not clear whether either of the two men arrested have attorneys.
Police are searching for a third suspect in the double homicide.
GRANT COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 6p.m. on Sunday in Grant County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Honda Civic driven by Oreste Albisa-Mora, 36, Ulysses, was westbound on Kansas 190 six miles west of Satanta.
The driver failed to negotiate a curve. After striking a KDOT sign, the vehicle re-entered the roadway and rolled.
The driver was not wearing a seat bend and was ejected from the vehicle.
Albisa-Mora was transported to the Satanta Hospital.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on President Barack Obama’s Oval Office address on the threat of terrorism and the government’s response following attacks in California and Paris (all times local):
8:20 p.m.
President Barack Obama says the U.S. can and must make it harder for would-be mass shooters to kill by making it harder for them to obtain guns.
Obama gave an Oval Office address on terrorism and the U.S. response following attacks in California and Paris. He called for Congress to prohibit people suspected of terrorism or on the no-fly list from buying guns.
Obama says he knows some people reject all gun safety measures. But he says no matter how effective law enforcement and intelligence is, they can’t identify every would-be shooter. Obama says it’s a matter of national security to prevent those people from getting guns.
Obama has urged stricter gun laws following the California shootings, but like previous mass shootings, those calls have met resistance from gun control opponents. Gun rights advocates oppose the no-fly list proposal because they say it violates the rights of people who haven’t been convicted of a crime.
8:15 p.m.
President Barack Obama says he understands why Americans are worried about the threat of terrorism but is reassuring Americans the U.S. will overcome it.
Obama says “we will prevail by being strong and smart.” He says Americans cannot give into fear.
8:10 a.m.
President Barack Obama says it’s clear the two killers in the California shootings had gone down the “dark path of radicalization.”
Obama is giving an Oval Office address on terrorism and the U.S. response following attacks in California and Paris. He’s calling it an “act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people.”
Obama says the killers had stockpiled weapons and ammunition. But Obama says there’s no evidence the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas. He says there’s also no evidence they were part of a broader network in the U.S.
7:30 p.m.
The podium is set in the Oval Office for President Barack Obama’s address on terrorism and the threat posed by the Islamic State group.
Obama is scheduled to speak to the nation at 8 p.m. EST. The address comes as recent attacks in Paris and California have raised concerns that the U.S. and other countries aren’t doing enough to prevent terror attacks.
This is only the third time Obama has given an Oval Office address, an event reserved for major, serious topics.
Typically, the president delivers Oval Office addresses from behind his desk. But Obama’s staff arranged a podium in the Oval Office where Obama will stand, with his desk and the American flag behind him.
Administration officials say Obama will focus on the evolving terrorist threat and what government is doing to keep people safe. He’s not expected to announce major policy changes.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers and corrections officials are looking for ways to address overcrowding in state prisons as the adult population is expected to be nearly 1,700 inmates over capacity by the middle of the next decade.
The Legislature has taken some measures to address shrinking bed space, but it has not been enough to curb growth. The Wichita Eagle reports that as of Friday, the state’s men’s prisons were 99 inmates above capacity.
There are a number of options lawmakers will consider when they convene in January, including housing more inmates in county jails, building additional jail space, reducing sentences for lower-level crimes and increasing the amount of time an inmate can cut from a sentence for completing rehabilitation programs.
Make your way to Memphis in early January to watch K-State in the Wildcats’ first ever appearance in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, according to Kansas State University Athletics.
K-State earned its sixth straight bowl berth after defeating West Virginia to finish the season on a three game winning streak.
K-State’s seating allotment for the Liberty Bowl includes a total of 8,000 tickets. All fans who placed a pre-order will receive the number of tickets that were requested. The K-State Athletics Ticket Office will work over the next week to assign specific seats based on the athletic department priority points and mail pre-ordered tickets. Detailed information regarding bowl ticket order fulfillment has been emailed to fans who placed a pre-order. Public tickets for K-State fans who did not place a pre-order are available now at the K-State Online Ticket Office and through the K-State Athletics Ticket Office in Bramlage Coliseum or via phone at 1-800-221-CATS between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., on Sunday and beginning again at 8:30 a.m., on Monday. Fans are strongly encouraged to order through K-State’s official allotment to ensure that all Wildcat fans are seated in the official K-State sections of the stadium. The location for K-State’s ticket allotment at the Liberty Bowl is among the best of any bowl game with prime sideline seating locations available for $85.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two cases headed to Kansas appellate courts next week are expected to put the judges in a political spotlight that could have an impact on their careers.
All 14 judges of the Kansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday will hear the state’s appeal of a lower court ruling striking down a new abortion law. The next day the state Supreme Court will consider a case regarding the court’s own power to supervise lower courts.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports a majority of the jurists will be up for retention votes next year.
Some experts are predicting those elections will draw a flood of money from outside interest groups seeking to change the makeup of those courts.
Last year Gov. Sam Brownback campaigned against the retention of two Supreme Court justices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal from parents from the Shawnee Mission School District.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers and corrections officials are looking for ways to address overcrowding in state prisons as the adult population is expected to be nearly 1,700 inmates over capacity by the middle of the next decade.
