TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has chosen not to hear an appeal of a case addressing the validity of a petition drive seeking a public vote on Topeka’s proposed purchase of Heartland Park Topeka.
The court on Wednesday denied Chris Imming’s petition seeking a review of a Kansas appeals court decision that went against the Topeka resident, who led the petition drive.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Imming, the city and Jayhawk Racing have tried to get the Kansas Supreme Court to hear the case, even though Topeka’s city council voted May 5 not to buy Heartland Park.
Shawnee County District Court Judge Larry Hendricks ruled last November that Imming’s petition was invalid because initiative petitions can’t be filed against administrative ordinances, and in March the Kansas Court of Appeals agreed.
PRATT- A Kansas man died in an accident just before 1:30p.m on Thursday in Pratt County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol a 2013 Nissan Altima driven by Sean Shores, 38, Wichita,, was eastbound on U.S. 54 seven miles east of Pratt.
The Altima collided with a 2015 Ford F250 driven by Brent Carpenter, 21, Wichita, and pushed it into a 2007 Ford Edge driven by Frances Zbiegien,70, Holiday Hills, IL., that were stopped in line by a construction zone flagman.
Shores and Zbiegien were transported to Pratt Regional Medical Center where Shores died.
A personal vehicle transported Carpenter for treatment.
Shores was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal agency is investigating a report of a carbon dioxide leak at a General Mills plant in Kansas City.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it’s looking into the incident at the General Mills plant that led to the evacuation of 110 employees Wednesday after a carbon dioxide alarm went off.
No injuries were reported.
Jean Williams, OSHA’s acting area director in Kansas City, says the agency will determine if federal standards were violated leading to the incident.
The agency says carbon dioxide is a colorless, odorless, incombustible gas used in food refrigeration. Symptoms of exposure can include headache and shortness of breath.
GEARY COUNTY-Four Kansas City area men have been arrested by Geary County Sheriff’s Deputies on suspicion of Exceeding Creel Possession Limits.
They include Jayson Martin and Jerry Martin of Kansas City, KS., and Rohn Celestine and Danny Dohres of Kansas City, MO. All four were arrested at the Milford Outlet Park early Wednesday evening.
According to Tony Wolf, Geary County Sheriff, the four men were arrested for allegedly being over the limit on wipers. They had caught 77 wipers. The limit was two.
RENO COUNTY-The Reno County Sheriff’s Department reported the arrest on Thursday of 45- year-old Karl Dean Ahrens.
Law enforcement authorizes reported on September 11, Ahrens was wanted on an arrest warrant. He was taken into custody in Wichita. The details surrounding his arrest were not released.
Ahrens has previous convictions for criminal threat in Kingman County in 2012 and drug possession in Reno County in 1999, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The head of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue says his organization and the Center for Medical Progress are “taking down” Planned Parenthood on a $120,000 budget. That is the amount he says was raised over three years for the undercover video operation that has set off a national uproar over use of tissue from aborted fetuses.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman also serves as secretary of the California-based center that released the hidden-camera videos.
Newman cited the undercover operation and its cost Thursday while calling Wichita-based Operation Rescue the most effective anti-abortion organizations in the country on the smallest budget.
He made the comment in an interview after his group sent out an email Thursday seeking donations to pay expected fines following his deportation from Australia.
ST. MARYS- Two men were injured in an accident just before 9a.m. on Thursday in Pottawatomie County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Dodge truck driven by Jeffrey Lee Freeman, 52, Topeka, was northbound on Maple Hill Road one mile south of St. Marys. The Dodge went left of center.
A 1987 Ford pickup driven by John C. Rookstool, 62, Wamego, was southbound on Maple Hill Road and went left of center to avoid the Dodge.
At the same time the Dodge corrected and reentered the northbound lane. The Dodge hit the Ford head-on.
Rookstool was transported to St. Marys Community Hospital.
Freeman was transported to St. Marys and transferred to Stormont Vail in Topeka.
Freeman was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a teenager for alleged theft and drug possession.
Police say Jennifer K. Sharp, 18, Salina, was arrested just after 3a.m. on Wednesday after officers noticed the license plate on the 2006 pickup she was driving in the 1200 block of North 9th Street had been reported stolen.
When the officer turned around to make the traffic stop, Sharp turned off of North 9th Street onto the 400 block of West Euclid, got out of the pickup, and hid, according to police.
She was quickly found and arrested on requested charges of possession of stolen property and possession of methamphetamines
The pickup had been reported stolen from the parking lot of Wilson Hall on the Kansas Wesleyan Campus Tuesday evening, according to police.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state of Kansas will issue birth certificates to two same-sex couples but will continue to study similar requests on a case-by-case basis.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says the birth certificates in the two cases will list both members of the same-sex couples as parents of their children.
The two couples were part of pending lawsuits in state and federal court. They argued the state’s refusal to issue the birth certificates violated a recent Supreme Court ruling that states must recognize same-sex marriages.
Department spokeswoman Sara Belfry told The Lawrence Journal-World the department decided to issue the birth certificates in the two cases after reviewing applicable law and existing court orders.
But she says the state’s general policy has not changed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a stunning move, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has withdrawn his candidacy for House Speaker.
GOP lawmakers said McCarthy told colleagues at the start of the conference Thursday that he was not the right person for the job. He recommended that the election be postponed and Speaker John Boehner delayed it.
FALL RIVER – A Kansas woman died in an accident just before 7a.m. on Thursday in Greenwood County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Chevy Blazer driven by Sharlene Ione Buckmaser, 49, Fall River, was eastbound on 15th street one mile north of Fall River.
The SUV traveled left of center and left the north side of the road.
The driver overcorrected, the SUV rolled and the driver was ejected.
Buckmaster was transported to Fredonia Regional Hospital where she died.
She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas had more than 300 vacant teaching positions at the beginning of this school year.
Officials from the Kansas Department of Education said the numbers showing there were 317 vacant teaching positions in early September are from the first stage of a study the department is conducting to determine why some districts can’t fill certain positions.
The Wichita Eagle reports the state Department of Education previously administered a survey for the U.S. Department of Education on teacher demographics. But this year the state started conducting its own deeper survey.
School districts reported their vacant teaching positions as of Sept. 1, and in February will tell the district whether they filled those positions and if not, what factors were responsible.
The Wichita school district had the most vacancies with 64.
GEARY COUNTY- One person died in a 2-vehicle collision just after 3:30a.m. on Thursday in Geary County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Ford F-150 driven by Thomas J. Packer, 26, Tama, IA, was south bound on U.S. 77 nine miles north of Junction City.
The pickup left the west edge of the road and entered the ditch. The driver overcorrected back onto U.S. 77.
A northbound semi collided with the pickup on the passenger side. Both vehicles came to rest in east ditch.
Packer, a soldier at Fort Riley, was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home
The semi driver Johnson, Robby R. Johnson, 49, Augusta, was transported to Geary Community Hospital.
Packer was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
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GEARY COUNTY –Law enforcement and emergency personnel remain on the scene of a two-vehicle head- on collision, which claimed the life of the driver of a pickup truck.
Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges reported the fire at the scene of the accident has been extinguished, and a Kansas Highway Patrol accident reconstruction team is on the scene working to determine what occurred just prior to the accident.
Southbound traffic is being detoured at the K-82 exit into Wakefield west, while northbound traffic will be detoured around Milford Lake from the U.S. 77 – K-57 intersection on the northwest side of Junction City.
The semi-tractor trailer involved in the accident was carrying frozen hot dogs. Those will have to be cleaned up and removed from the scene.
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GEARY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities and first responders are investigating an accident that occurred just after 2:30a.m. on Thursday in Geary County.
The head-on collision involved a pickup and a semi on U.S. 77 just south of the Kansas 82 junction, according to Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges.
“The driver of the pickup died in the crash. The semi driver suffered minor injuries,” he said.
U.S. 77 is closed in both directions until approximately 9 or 10 a.m. Thursday. .
Drivers coming from the north are being diverted through Wakefield.
Names of the victims have not been released
Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has chosen not to hear an appeal of a case addressing the validity of a petition drive seeking a public vote on Topeka’s proposed purchase of Heartland Park Topeka.
