OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An August survey suggests there will be little or no economic growth over the next three months in a nine-state region of the Midwest and Plains.
A report issued Tuesday says the overall Mid-American Business Conditions Index dropped to 49.6, compared with 50.6 in July.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota companies reported growth last month, but businesses in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and Oklahoma reported less economic activity,
The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth. A score below that suggests decline.
The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas priest has been charged with alleging stealing nearly $151,000 from his two parishes and the Catholic Diocese to fund his extensive gambling.
A criminal information filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas charges Father Thomas H. Leland with bank fraud. The court issued a summons for a Sept. 23 initial appearance.
Leland was assigned in 2010 as the sole priest at St. Francis Parish in St. Paul and St. Ambrose Parish in Erie, both located in southeast Kansas.
Court records do not show a defense attorney, and church officials had no contact information for him.
Prosecutors allege that between 2012 and April 2014, Leland embezzled funds by taking overpayments of his salary and of stipends for conducting Mass. He also alleged took unauthorized reimbursements for personal expenses.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A January trial date has been scheduled for three men accused of trying to kill a Wyandotte County sheriff’s deputy.
The Kansas City Star reports Wyandotte County Deputy Scott Wood was shot March 4 at a convenience store. The three men charged with attempted capital murder in the shooting are 18-year-old Charles D. Bowser, 24-year-old Dyron M. King, and 35-year-old Cecil D. Meggerson.
Wood was driving home from work when he stopped at the convenience store. Three robbers soon walked in. Wood was shot several times and survived.
The three men are being held on $1 million bond on charges of attempted capital murder. Their trial is scheduled to start Jan. 25.
Wichita – The Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) has evaluated additional efforts to reduce flooding concerns south of Emporia following a fatal crash on July 10.
The Kansas Highway Patrol and Kansas Turnpike Authority reported an accident on July 10 killed a driver in flash floodwaters after sliding off a wet stretch of Interstate 35. Zachary Clark, 21, Keller, TX., died in the crash.
The KTA reported in a media release today that items evaluated were additional water monitoring systems, permanent flood warning signs and guardrail. These items are in addition to the installation of 16 additional digital message signs, changes to weather warning notices and planned culvert improvements.
During internal discussions and review, KTA also made a notable change to its drainage structure designs. Current national guidelines call for drainage structures on Interstate highways to accommodate water from a 50- year storm. However, KTA will be shifting its focus from the design of the structure to the result of that design on the roadway – which ultimately is what’s important to travelers. The new focus is to keep water off the roadway during a 100-year storm, regardless of how the structure is designed. Five of the six drainage structures to be installed in 2016 meet this goal. The remaining structure, located at MM 116, will be redesigned prior to installation.
Other determinations made by KTA are listed below and can also be found at: https://bit.ly/1EvBo9D
GUARDRAIL NEAR MM 116-118: KTA and consulting engineers reviewed the possibility of guardrail installation to protect motorists from water on or near the roadway due to flooding. Because guardrail itself can be a roadway hazard, it should only be installed when the object it is designed to protect can’t be removed, i.e. bridge pillars, permanent body of water, tree or steep slope. Therefore, guardrail will not be installed to protect against potential flooding that is already being addressed with these drainage structure improvements.
ADDITIONAL MONITORING SYSTEMS: Two water alert systems are already in place at MM 116 and 199 to notify key KTA personnel when water begins to rise at those locations. An additional stream monitor will be installed at MM 118. This monitor will be operational mid-September.
PERMANENT FLOOD WARNING SIGNS: KTA has selected the type of permanent caution signage to alert travelers to the potential for flash flooding. These will include a total of six signs, four of which will have flashing lights that are activated when the stream monitors at MM 116 and MM 118 indicate the culvert is half full. These signs will be installed by mid-September.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas collected $30 million less in taxes than anticipated in August, but officials said larger-than-expected income tax refunds were largely the reason.
The state Department of Revenue reported Tuesday that tax collections were about $418 million last month, compared with the official projection of $448 million. The shortfall was 6.8 percent.
Budget director Shawn Sullivan noted during a news conference that the shortfall was offset by budget adjustments he announced last month. When those adjustments are considered, the state’s total revenue shortfall was roughly $6 million.
Department of Revenue officials said the state paid out $22 million more than expected in income tax refunds.
The figure included nearly $14 million to a company receiving a corporate income tax credit for investing in its Kansas facilities. Officials declined to name it.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An upcoming trial for a Topeka man accused of kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old child has been delayed.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Jeremy James Lindsey faces several charges, including rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary stemming from the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of the child in September 2014 in southeast Topeka.
His trial was scheduled to start Monday, but was delayed when Lindsey sought to fire his attorney, who also had filed a request to withdraw from the case.
His new attorney is Don Hoffman. A new jury trial date will be scheduled Thursday.
A co-defendant, 24-year-old Michelle Harris, is charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated endangering of a child. Harris will next be in court Sept. 9 for a pre-trial hearing.
GREAT BEND -Sign vandalism continues to be a problem in Barton County. During his county services report to Commissioners on Monday, Administrator Richard Boeckman informed the board that 12 road signs had recently been vandalized South and East of Claflin resulting in almost $1,800 damage.
When asked by Commissioner Homer Krukenberg if his office is having any luck tracking down the vandals, Sheriff Brian Bellendir said it is difficult to do. “It can be long time before someone or the county crews notice a sign is down and some of it is not vandalism but oil field and farm activity,” said Bellendir. “It’s sporadic and all over the county, it’s difficult to get enforcement on it.”
Last year 268 signs were vandalized at a cost of $40,000. The budget for replacing signs was only $30,000. A new stop sign costs $150.
Some of the damaged signs are recycled or donated, while signs with graffiti on them can be refurbished at half the cost of a new sign.
Dear Dave,
I’ve heard you talk about extreme spenders and extreme savers. Exactly what do these terms mean? Marianne
Dave Ramsey
Dear Marianne,
Some people have a tendency to live in the moment, while others think more about the future. Financially speaking, those who live in the moment tend to be spenders, while the other type tends to be savers. When you take these kinds of behaviors to unhealthy extents, you have extreme spenders or extreme savers. Either one can be an unhealthy thing.
Extreme spenders may need to slow down, grow up and learn the value of money by living on a budget, setting savings goals and working to meet these goals. Extreme savers often operate out of fear and uncertainty. In some cases, they may have an even worse spirit in their lives — greed. They have to learn that it’s okay to have a little fun spending and to give generously.
When it comes down to it, there are only three uses for money: spending, saving and giving. You have to do some of all three in order to have a truly happy and healthy life! —Dave
Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business. He has authored five New York Times best-selling books. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 8.5 million listeners each week on more than 550 radio stations. Dave’s latest project, EveryDollar, provides a free online budget tool. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com.
Photo by Dave Ranney Lucille Peschel, 4 months, was the youngest participant in a Kansas Action for Children-sponsored forum. Monday’s forum focused on upcoming reforms in the federal government’s support for child care assistance and early childhood development programs. She was accompanied by her mother, Patty Peschel, who runs the Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities program in Manhattan.
A national expert on the federal government’s plan for reforming its support for child care says Kansas has a lot to be concerned about.
“When you look at Kansas, you see that you’ve lost lots of children who were receiving child care assistance and that you’re paying very low rates to child care providers who serve families getting assistance,” said Helen Blank, director of child care and early learning at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C.
“You don’t want that, and you don’t want that to be cut any further.” Blank addressed a forum Monday in Topeka on policy issues tied to the federal government’s pending rollout of its Child Care and Development Block Grant program, which generates about $42.2 million annually in federal funds for early childhood development and child care assistance programs in Kansas.
The forum was a project of Kansas Action for Children, an organization that advocates for children and families. About 40 people — a mix of child care providers, education officials and early childhood development instructors — attended the four-hour session.
Blank and Stephanie Schmit, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Law and Social Policy based in Washington, D.C., asked the group to realize that while many of the reforms built into the federal reauthorization are meant to improve quality and expand access to services, the measure does not guarantee additional funding. So the challenge that child advocates and state officials now face, they said, is to find a way to finance the mandated improvements without cutting state-funded support for child care services.
Kansas child advocates, Blank said, should resist “being embarrassed” about asking lawmakers for additional funding. It’s not yet clear how much the mandates are likely to cost. Most of the mandates are expected to focus on tightening background checks for child care providers, exposing providers to additional on-site inspections, ensuring low-income families’ access to child care assistance and increasing pay for providers.
Some of the changes may mean that lawmakers will have to alter provisions in a recently enacted welfare reform law. In early August, Kansas Department for Children and Families officials shelved enforcement of a provision that would have blocked families on public assistance from using their state-issued debit cards to withdraw more than $25 a day from an ATM.
The new law, called the Hope Act, also reduced low-income families’ access to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families from 48 months to 36 months. In Kansas, the numbers of children in families on TANF have fallen significantly in recent years from roughly 13,600 children per month in 2011 to 5,000 per month in 2015.
The number of families receiving child care assistance also has declined, said Amanda Gress, a policy analyst with Kansas Action for Children, going from 21,200 in 2008 to 12,800 in 2014.
Gress also noted that state-sanctioned surveys have found that DCF’s child care assistance program pays providers between 35 percent and 40 percent of what families not on public assistance pay. After the federal reauthorization takes effect, the state will be expected pay close 75 percent of the market rate.
In Kansas, families are eligible for child care assistance if their incomes fall below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $3,100 a month for a parent with two young children. Payments vary depending on the number of children and their ages. Most parents have co-pays.
Congress agreed to both reauthorize and reform the grant program in 2014, directing states to file new plans by June 2015. The deadline was later pushed back to March 2016 due to delays in crafting rules and regulations that define what states will and will not be allowed to do.
Kansas Action for Children’s chief executive, Shannon Cotsoradis, said Monday’s forum was meant to set the stage for a discussion in both the public and legislative arenas on how the state will respond to the reauthorization act.
“There is no indication at this point that we can count on additional federal dollars coming in,” Cotsoradis said. “That’s not to say they won’t be there, but there’s no guarantee. So the state needs to devise a plan that recognizes that those dollars may not be forthcoming.”
Last week, Cotsoradis let it be known that a months-long efforts to include DCF officials in the discussion had been unsuccessful. Though they were invited, no one from DCF or the Kansas Department of Health and Environment attended Monday’s forum.
Theresa Freed, a spokesperson for DCF, said the department’s Child Care Licensing Systems Improvement Team will host a similar forum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Kansas Association of School Boards office, 1420 SW Arrowhead Road, in Topeka. The meeting, she said, will be open to the public.
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
SALINA- Law enforcement authorities in Saline County have made an arrest of a burglary suspect who turned himself in.
Police placed a picture of the burglary suspect on the department’s Facebook page.
Late Monday morning a neighbor of a resident that lives in the 600 block of Charles Street, watched 35-year-old Brian Ebel climb over a fence and enter the garage.
The neighbor took a picture of Ebel and then called police.
When Ebel became aware of the photo on the Facebook page, he turned himself in.
Ebel booking photo
Nothing was taken from the garage.
Ebel was booked into the Saline County Jail on a requested charge of burglary.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s nominee for Kansas commerce secretary has withdrawn from consideration for the job over what the governor’s office says is potential conflicts of interest.
Brownback’s office announced Tuesday that Leawood businessman George Hansen asked the Republican governor not to submit his appointment to the state Senate for confirmation.
The governor’s office said Hansen cited what he called extensive business dealings between the state Department of Commerce and a member of his extended family.
Hansen said in a news release distributed by the governor’s office that Brownback needs a full-time commerce secretary and not someone who would have to continually remove himself from decisions.
Brownback appointed Hansen last month after Pat George stepped down as secretary.
Hansen has been president and CEO of a Johnson County venture capital organization.
MANHATTAN – A former Kansas State University student who drove drunk and killed two people in a head-on collision was resentenced on Monday.
Theurer was 23 on May 14, 2012, when he drove in the wrong lane through a construction zone along Kansas 18 while returning to Manhattan after a night at a Junction City strip club.
Authorities say Theurer’s vehicle collided with a car at 2:45 a.m., killing Elizabeth Young, 31, White City and Michael Stanley, 32, Ogden.
Theurer served 60 days in the county jail and has been under house arrest since pleading guilty in Riley County Court to two counts of Involuntary Manslaughter and DUI.
According to Court Services, Theurer received zero violations during his house arrest and gave 41 speeches about the accident as part of the original sentencing.
Judge Bosch sentenced Theurer to 41 months for each count of Involuntary Manslaughter and the DUI sentence to run concurrent with 36 months of post release supervision.
Theurer will be granted time off his sentence for time served at the county jail and time served under house arrest.
Theurer was also allowed self-surrender to authorities on Monday, September 5 at 9 a.m. He also has 14 days to appeal his sentence.
Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Mike King
TOPEKA – Garden City and Great Bend have been selected as finalists for development of transload shipping centers.
The two communities emerged from a group of seven cities, whose representatives made formal presentations in August before the Transload Facility Site Analysis Selection Committee, which includes private sector representatives. The seven cities are among 111 sites that were initially proposed.
The Kansas Department of Transportation, along with the Kansas Turnpike Authority and departments of Commerce and Agriculture, served as advisors to the team.
In the coming weeks, Garden City and Great Bend leaders will be asked to provide business plans and financial models that will detail the development costs and the projected increase in related rail service and business opportunity. Based on that and other relevant information, the state will determine the amount of funding to contribute to the projects.
“I’m confident the cities, state and rail providers will develop a funding package that will allow these projects to move forward,” said Kansas Transportation Secretary Mike King.
Transloading is the process of moving goods from one mode of transportation to another, or in this case, from truck to rail and rail to truck. By blending the benefits of shipping by rail and local/short haul trucking, a transload facility can provide more flexible and cost-effective solutions for customers who may not have local access to freight rail service or those who need expanded warehousing.
“I was extremely pleased with the process and partnerships with the trucking industry and the railroads,” said Secretary King of the proposals. “We learned a great deal about railroad operations, expectations and the potential we have in our state.”
The Transload Facility Site Analysis Selection Committee comprises Kansans from industry, finance, transportation, technology, agriculture, banking, development and energy.
