A number of students were injured and taken to local hospitals. The students ranged in age from elementary school to high school. The Kansas Highway Patrol reported they are meeting with students and parents and asked for privacy during their investigation.
TOPEKA–The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us and Kansas families will be coming together for a time of celebration and thankfulness. The hours spent in the kitchen preparing turkey, mashed potatoes, pies and all the other fixings, however, comes with an increased risk for household fires. The Kansas Fire Marshal would like to remind Kansans of the importance of taking safety precautions to ensure a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.
Cooking is, and has long been, the leading cause of home structure fires and home fire injuries, and according to the records collected from reporting fire departments in Kansas, home cooking fires increase significantly around the times of major holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter.
In 2014, Thanksgiving Day was the second busiest cooking fire day across the State of Kansas. Nationally, Thanksgiving was the leading day for home cooking fires, with three times as many fires occurring on this holiday as any average day of the year.
Overall, according to the Annual Report for the Kansas Fire Incident Reporting System, 28% of structure fires in 2014 started in the kitchen with a reported $4,263,469 in damage, three deaths, and 28 civilian injuries.
“With Thanksgiving being such a hectic holiday, with all the activity and guests in a home, it can be easy to get distracted and lose track of what is cooking in the oven and on the stovetop,” said Doug Jorgensen, Kansas Fire Marshal. “We encourage all Kansans to take common sense precautions to prevent a fire tragedy on their holiday.”
The Office of the State Fire Marshal recommends the following safety tips for cooking on Thanksgiving:
· Keep an eye on what you fry. Always stay in the kitchen while frying, grilling or broiling food. If you have to leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
· Keep things that can catch fire such as oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels and curtains away from the cooking area.
· Be alert when cooking. If you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don’t use the stove or stovetop.
· Consider installing an automatic suppression unit attached magnetically to stovetop hoods. Shaped like small tuna cans, these units automatically put out fires when flames reach the hood.
If you have a small (grease) cooking fire and decide to fight the fire:
· On the stovetop, smother the flames by sliding a lid over the pan and turning off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.
· For an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed.
· If you have any doubt about fighting a small fire: Just get out! When you leave, close the door behind you to help contain the fire. Call 9-1-1 or the local emergency number from outside the home.
The Kansas Fire Marshal also discourages the use of turkey fryers which can lead to devastating burns and the destruction of property due to the large amount and high temperature of oil used. Those who prefer fried turkey should look for grocery stores, specialty food retailers and restaurants that sell deep-fried turkeys.
For more fire safety tips, visit the Website for the Office of the State Fire Marshal at https://firemarshal.ks.gov.
HUTCHINSON – A Kansas man arrested in a home invasion case was before a judge in Reno County on Tuesday requesting a bond reduction.
Wayne A. Sprague, 25, Beloit is charged with aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated battery, criminal threat and possession of methamphetamine.
Local attorney Ben Fisher represented him in court where he asked that the $60,000 bond be reduced for the defendant if he can attend drug treatment in either Norton or Mount Hope.
Fisher said Sprague would agree to be monitored by Court Services as well as a bonding agent.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell was opposed, telling the judge that he broke into this home and had no connection to the occupants and nearly killed the female victim when he choked her. He says the defendant is a danger to community.
Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen agreed with the state, saying she can’t think of anything scarier than someone breaking into your home. She denied the request.
A Hutchinson woman reported to police that she found Sprague inside her home just before 7 a.m. on September 13.
She ran to her bedroom where her husband was still asleep.
Police say Sprague followed her, allegedly forced her onto the bed and began choking her.
The victim’s husband work up and then began struggling with Sprague.
When police arrived, they first took Sprague to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center to be checked out, and then to the Reno County Correctional Facility.
Both the victim and her husband were in court during the brief hearing Tuesday.
With the judge’s ruling, Sprague will remain jailed on the $60,000 bond and the case is scheduled as part of a waiver-status docket on Dec. 30.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — That other Thanksgiving tradition — congested highways and jammed airports — is getting underway with gas prices low and terrorism fears high.
An estimated 46.9 million Americans are expected to take a car, plane, bus or train at least 50 miles from home over the long holiday weekend, according to the motoring organization AAA. That would be an increase of more than 300,000 people over last year, and the most travelers since 2007.
Among the reasons given for the increase: an improving economy and the cheapest gasoline for this time of year since 2008.
When it comes to projected driving delays, the three worst U.S. cities are in the West, according to the traffic data company INRIX. In San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle, out-of-town trips Wednesday afternoon are expected to take about 40 percent longer than a normal commute.
Anyone trekking to a major airport should factor in 50 extra minutes on the road, according to INRIX — and that’s just getting to the airport, never mind getting through security.
Though there have been no changes to the nation’s terror alert status, the recent attacks in Paris, West Africa and elsewhere prompted the State Department to warn American travelers about the risks overseas.
Airfares have increased just 69 cents on average since last year, according to the Airlines Reporting Corp., which processes ticket transactions for airlines and travel agencies.
SALINA –Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating an alleged case of bank fraud.
Police in Salina reported five worthless payrolls checks on cashed on a closed business account.
Four Hispanic men and one woman cashed five payroll checks on November 15 at Fiesta VIP, 1515 W. Crawford, on a business account from Nuno Landscaping and Cleaning Services of Abilene, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney,
He said the checks were written on a closed account at Bank of the West in Wichita.
The total amount of the cashed checks is $2,829.38.
BARTON COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities are searching for a suspect wanted in connection with alleged drug crimes.
The Barton County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s assistance in locating Jessica Chapman, 30, who is wanted for a parole and probation violation in connection with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and forgery.
She is a white female, 5 foot five inches tall and weighs 250 pounds. Her eyes are hazel.
Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Jessica Chapman is encouraged to call local law enforcement or Crime Stoppers at 620-792-1300.
HUTCHINSON- Hutchinson Regional Health Care Systems has announced that Ken Johnson has
been named President and CEO.
The 54-year-old Kansas native has been serving in the interim capacity since Kevin Miller resigned in June. Johnson has been with the system since 2011 starting as CFO. He was named Chief Operating officer in 2014.
The systems Board of Directors did not conduct a search for a new leader, instead opting to evaluate Johnson in his interim position. Board Chair Kim Moore said it became evident that Johnson was the man they wanted to lead the Hospital and its connected services. This is actually Johnson’s second stint with the Hospital as he started his career with Hutchinson Hospital Corporation in 1983.
Johnson has also worked at St Francis Regional Medical Center, Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center in Anniston, Alabama; along with Via Christie Health Care and Galichia Heart Hospital, both in Wichita.
Johnson and his wife Carolyn have two grown children. He also serves on the board of New Beginnings and is involved in the Circles of Hope anti-poverty program.
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — Hundreds of Franklin County residents are expected to receive jury summonses for the capital murder trial of a man accused of killing four people.
Kyle Trevor Flack’s trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 1, 2016. He’s charged with capital murder in the 2013 slayings of 21-year-old Kaylie Smith Bailey and her daughter, 18-month-old Lana-Leigh Bailey. He’s also charged with premeditated first-degree murder in the deaths of 30-year-old Andrew A. Stout, and 31-year-old Steven White.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that summonses for 600 Franklin County citizens are expected to be mailed next week. Questioning of the possible jurors will start Feb. 1 and is expected to last 12 days.
Also Tuesday, a Franklin County judge granted prosecutors permission to show jurors security video clips depicting three of the victims.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is urging the Kansas Supreme Court to let the governor and lawmakers decide whether schools are getting enough money.
Lawyers for the state argued in a brief Tuesday that if the court wants to make that decision, then the evidence students are excelling should convince it that the funding is sufficient.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt contends the Kansas school finance system satisfies the requirement for adequate funding in the state Constitution.
It urged justices not to allow a small number of districts to second-guess the Legislature’s judgment.
The new school funding law took effect in April and scrapped the old per-student formula for distributing aid in favor of predictable grants for each districts.
A lower-court panel invalidated parts of the school financing law enacted by the Republican-dominated Legislature.
Pres. Obama during Tuesday’s White House press conference
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey points to an “ongoing problem” with Russia’s airstrikes in Syria.
Obama says Turkey “has a right to defend its territory and its airspace.” And he says that Russia is operating very close to the Turkish border as it goes after moderate opposition groups that are supported by Turkey and a wide range of countries.
The president says that if Russia would instead concentrate its airstrikes on the Islamic State group, then mistakes would be “less likely to occur.”
Obama is urging both Turkey and France to take measures “to discourage any kind of escalation” over the downing of the Russian warplane.
And Obama says that the downing of the plane underscores the importance of moving forward on efforts to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria.
The president spoke during a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 32-year-old Wichita man faces about 2 ½ years in prison for a fatal shooting in June.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office says Justin Rourke also was ordered to pay about $12,000 in restitution in connection with the June 11 shooting death of 41-year-old Roman Padilla.
The Wichita Eagle reports that police have said Rourke pulled a handgun and shot Padilla and a dog after he and others went to a house to retrieve the pit bull puppy. Padilla later died at a Wichita hospital.
Rourke has said he fired in self-defense. He turned himself into police after the shooting and pleaded guilty in August to involuntary manslaughter.
The arrest of a Topeka couple on child abuse charges has raised new questions about a custody battle that some say illustrates a
Photo by City of Topeka Jonathan Schumm, a member of the Topeka City Council, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of child abuse. One of the children was involved in a 2014 custody case pitting Schumm and his wife against a lesbian couple from Wichita who had cared for the child since she was 5 days old.
pattern of discrimination against gay Kansans seeking to adopt children.
The 2014 custody case pitted a lesbian couple from Wichita, Lisa and Tesa Hines, against Jonathan and Allison Schumm of Topeka for custody of the Hineses’ foster child, 10-month-old Isabella, who had been in their care since she was 5 days old.
The Hineses were married in 2008 in California, but in 2014 Kansas did not recognize same-sex marriages, so Lisa Hines pursued the adoption as a single adult. But after a months-long battle, the court granted custody to the Schumms on the recommendation of the state’s Department for Children and Families.
Last week, the Schumms were arrested and charged with multiple counts of child abuse, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Kari Schmidt, Lisa Hines’ attorney, said she was “heartbroken” when she learned the Schumms had been arrested.
Looking back, Schmidt said she was concerned about the Schumms’ ability to care for another child when the court approved their adoption of Isabella. At the time, the couple had 14 children — 10 adopted and four biological — a number that disqualified them from acting as foster parents for the baby but not from adopting her.
Schmidt’s clients were both licensed social workers and were raising no other children.
“Contrast that to the home she was placed in,” Schmidt said in a phone interview Monday. “It defied logic to me. That’s why to this day I firmly believe it was a pretext to deny a lesbian couple a child they had bonded with.”
Tesa Hines believes that too.
Photo by Andy Marso Jonathan and Allison Schumm and 16 children live in their 2,200-square-foot Topeka home.
“I believe it was very political,” Tesa Hines said. “I believe they did not want us to adopt her mostly because we were lesbians. I think also because we were outspoken black women, both of us.”
Johnathan Schumm, a Topeka City Council member who is out of jail on bond, said the Hineses aren’t victims of discrimination.
In a brief interview Monday outside his home, he said the couple’s sexual orientation was not a factor in the custody decision.
“That case was argued solely on whether or not we qualified as family based on her siblings,” Schumm said, before declining further comment.
Court documents show that state officials urged the court to place Isabella with the Schumms because the Topeka couple already had adopted some of her half-siblings. Schmidt argued that should have had no legal bearing on the case because Isabella had never known or lived with her siblings.
State officials pushing for Isabella’s placement with the Schumms seemingly ignored some warning signs, including previous allegations of abuse.
Asked for comment, Theresa Freed, a spokesperson for DCF, said the agency is prohibited from talking about specific cases.
Warning signs
In a blog called The Schumm Explosion, Allison Schumm wrote about the couple’s financial problems and their difficulty dealing with and disciplining so many children. In an April 5, 2013, post titled
“Loving the Unlovable (Bonding Part 2),” Allison Schumm wrote about one of the early days when the couple had started fostering three children they eventually would adopt.
One day, a police officer came to the house to question Allison Schumm about a pile of rocks in the yard and a dozen broken windows in the building next door.
When the children denied having anything to do with it, Schumm concluded that she and her husband had “taken in furious vandalizing thieves and liars” and had to devise a suitable punishment.
“After carefully thinking about it and realizing that they were never going to be able to pay for it, Jonathan and I decided in loving our children they would have to fill 12 40-pound cat litter buckets with rocks and carry them across our 1-acre parking lot of a yard and dump them,” Allison Schumm wrote.
A year later she wrote about the stress of dealing with an abuse investigation.
Eventually, she wrote, “two very kind ladies from DCF showed up” to wrap up the investigation. “They talked to our boys, then talked to my husband and I about our discipline techniques, thanked us and told us that we would receive a letter within the next few weeks stating that all changers (sic) were unfounded,” she wrote.
A few months after that post, a DCF contractor recommended that Isabella be placed with the Schumms instead of Hines.
Social engineering
Schmidt said she believes the Hines case is part of a concerted effort by officials in Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to steer children away from gay couples, but it’s an effort that’s been complicated by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that compels states to allow and recognize gay marriage. Schmidt isn’t alone in her concerns.
In July 2013, Johnson County District Court Judge Kathleen Sloan removed a child from state custody after finding that DCF officials had gone to extreme lengths to build a case against a woman in a same-sex relationship seeking to adopt her foster child. In the ruling, Sloan cited an email from a DCF official to DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore in which the official mentioned the foster mother’s sexual orientation as a concern.
Sloan said in the ruling that DCF officials had abandoned the state’s legal directive to act in the best interests of the child and instead pursued a larger social agenda.
“They were clearly alarmed that this child might be adopted by a gay couple,” Sloan wrote. “DCF worked hard to try and build a strong psychological and medical case against these women.” The Hineses say DCF was similarly biased against them, with one social worker telling them at the beginning of the process that their petition to adopt Isabella was going nowhere. “She basically told us the Schumms were going to get the baby,” Lisa Hines said.
“That’s just the way it is.” In July of this year, another judge raised questions about DCF policies towards gay Kansans.
Douglas County District Court Judge Peggy Carr Kittel sent a letter asking officials to respond to reports that the agency was preparing to allow only married couples to act as foster parents.
“With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, Kansas must recognize same-sex marriages, so I assume then that same-sex married couples will qualify,” Kittel wrote.
Around that time, Rep. Barbara Bollier, a moderate Republican from Mission Hills, emailed Gilmore to say she was hearing from constituents with similar concerns — that gay couples were on the verge of being shut out of the foster care and adoption process.
Gilmore insisted at the time that DCF didn’t consider sexual orientation when making foster care and adoption placements. She said much the same thing last week when testifying at a legislative hearing where some lawmakers raised questions about the ability of same-sex couples to be good parents.
“The formal policy is we follow the law, and that will continue to be true,” Gilmore said.
Still, questions persist about the administration’s attitudes toward gay Kansans. Brownback, an opponent of gay marriage, rescinded anti-discrimination protections for gay state workers and moved the authority for licensing foster homes from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to DCF, a move that heightened concerns among same-sex couples seeking to foster or adopt children.
Those concerns are unfounded, Gilmore said.
“We are reviewing from bottom to top the entire licensure system, but I think that is a myth that is just sort of self-perpetuating,” she said. “We’re focused on the safety of children in the best possible way. We really want to focus on family preservation and children not even being removed from the home.”
However, a former highly placed official at DCF said the agency’s leaders and other top officials in the Brownback administration oppose allowing gay people to adopt children. “There was not a general attitude against gay people,” said the former staffer, who requested anonymity.
“But there was a general attitude against gay relationships, gay marriage, having gay people bringing up children, that type of thing.”
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
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
