HARVEY COUNTY- Storm clouds over south central Kansas produced a funnel cloud south of Newton.
The funnel was reported near SE 36th and Interstate135 just before 7 p.m.
No damage or injuries reported from the storm, according to Harvey County officials.
GEARY COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a man seen throwing things off an interstate overpass on Friday.
Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf reported Sheriff’s deputies observed someone throwing items from Kansas 18 bypass over Interstate 70 Friday afternoon.
When deputies went to check, the suspect jumped into a vehicle and took off west bound on Interstate 70.
After exceeded speeds of 90 mph at times on the interstate, the suspect then exited I-70 at exit 295 and headed south on US 77.
The suspect eventually turned off U.S. 77 onto Highway 4 and stopped.
He was then taken into custody without incident.
The suspects name has not been released.
By Michelle Andrews, KAISER HEALTH NEWS
When kids start school this fall, it’s a sure bet that some won’t have had their recommended vaccines because their parents have claimed exemptions from school requirements for medical, religious or philosophical reasons.
Following the much-publicized outbreak of measles that started in December at Disneyland in California, these exemptions have drawn increased scrutiny.
That outbreak, which eventually infected 147 people in seven states, was a wake-up call for many parents, who may not have realized how contagious or serious the disease can be, and for states as well, say public health officials.
“States are beginning to realize that they have effective measures to combat these outbreaks, and philosophical exemptions are eroding these protections and resulting in significant costs to states,” said Dr. Carrie Byington, professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah and chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases.
In addition, research shows that eliminating vaccine exemptions or making them harder to get can improve vaccination rates and reduce disease outbreaks. California and Vermont passed laws this year eliminating exemptions in 2016 for philosophical reasons; California’s law eliminates religious exemptions as well. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides suggested vaccination schedules for children and adults, but there’s no federal requirement that parents vaccinate their children.
All states, however, have laws or policies requiring that children be up-to-date on recommended vaccines in order to attend school or day care. Unvaccinated children can generally attend only if their parents have obtained a vaccination exemption approved by the states.
Every state allows medical exemptions for children whose immune systems are compromised because of congenital problems or cancer treatment, for example. Nearly all states allow exemptions from vaccinations because of religious beliefs; excluding California and Vermont, 18 permit exemptions because of parents’ personal or philosophical convictions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Just three states — West Virginia, Mississippi and now, California — allow vaccine exemptions only for medical reasons. In recent years, exemption rates for children have soared, but they vary. On the low end, New Mexico’s rate was less than half a percent in 2012, while the top state rate was Oregon’s at 6.5 percent, according to a study this month in the journal Health Affairs. Local rates may be much higher, though.
There are pockets in California and Colorado, for example, where the exemption rates top 30 percent, said L.J Tan, chief strategy officer at the Immunization Action Coalition, an advocacy group that works to increase immunization rates.
But because in most places the percentage of children getting the recommended vaccines tops 90 percent for most diseases, many parents have never seen someone with, for example, measles or whooping cough and may not understand their dangers.
“In the absence of disease, the alleged risks of the vaccine become easier to sell,” Tan said. Those risks are real, said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that advocates that people be able to decline mandatory vaccines based on their philosophical or personal beliefs. Fisher testified before the California State Assembly against the new law, which takes effect in July.
“Some people are more susceptible than others to injury or death from vaccines,” Fisher said. “But it’s not clear who is at higher risk.” For the vast majority of people, however, vaccines are very safe, and studies have failed to show a link to autism, a common concern of parents who don’t vaccinate their kids.
“The risk of getting the disease is higher than the risk of getting a vaccine,” said Dr. Mark H. Sawyer, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego.
The Health Affairs study analyzed elements of state rules to tease out the extent to which they affected vaccine exemptions. It found, for example, that policies that required the state health department to approve nonmedical exemptions or permitted exemptions only for specific vaccines rather than all vaccines had a significant effect on reducing vaccine exemptions.
So too did laws that imposed civil or criminal punishments such as expulsion from school (for the child) or criminal negligence charges (for parents) for not complying with vaccination rules. The threat of penalties alone may be enough to deter parents from refusing vaccinations, said study co-author W. David Bradford, a professor of public policy at the University of Georgia.
The more restrictive policies were reflected in lower rates of whooping cough. States with the most effective exemption policies had an average incidence of 7.3 pertussis cases per 100,000 people from 2002 to 2012, while states with the least effective policies had an incident rate more than twice as high at 16.06 cases, the study reported. More broadly, the study shows that there are tools that work. “
There is room for lots of states to improve their policies in ways that encourage people to get their kids vaccinated,” Bradford said. “I take that as encouraging.”
GIRARD- A woman was injured in an accident just before 1a.m. on Saturday in Crawford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 BMW driven by Michelle R. Looney, 45, Wagoner, OK., was southbound on 140th Road one mile south of Girard.
The vehicle left the roadway, entered the west ditch, continued through a barbed wire fence, and hit a large tree stump.
Looney was transported to the hospital in Girard.
She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, is pleased to announce a decision by a federal judge to halt the damaging ‘Waters of the U.S.’ (WOTUS) rule from implementation in 13 states.
Just a day before the WOTUS rule was set to go into effect, North Dakota District Court Judge Ralph Erickson yesterday issued a preliminary injunction to stop the WOTUS rule in North Dakota, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming and New Mexico.
“This is great news for parts of agriculture and rural America,” said Roberts. “I have been opposed to this ridiculous rule from its inception. The WOTUS rule is nothing but a land grab under the guise of the Clean Water Act, and I’ll continue to keep fighting the good fight to push back against EPA’s federal overreach.”
The WOTUS rule, which expands federal jurisdiction over land and waterways, has received considerable criticism from a variety of industries – including agriculture. Kansas’ lawsuit was filed with several other states in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, which denied the plea. Multiple rulings undoubtedly leads to added confusion for landowners and farmers and ranchers.
The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on the WOTUS rule in March. Roberts introduced legislation in April to stop implementation of the WOTUS rule, which was approved by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee and is now waiting on the Senate floor.
WINCHESTER- A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just after 9 p.m. on Friday in Atchison County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Honda Civic driven by Ashton Rene Brown, 17, Nortonville, was northbound on Monney Creek Road four miles northeast of Winchester.
The driver lost control on the gravel and the vehicle left the roadway, went into the ditch and rolled.
Brown was transported to the Atchison Hospital. A passenger in the vehicle Kayla Hutzell, 15, Winchester, was not injured.
Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities will seek the death penalty against a man charged with killing five people in a quiet south Kansas City neighborhood.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced the decision in a news release Friday. Brandon Howell is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the September 2014 killings.
Prosecutors allege Howell beat an 86-year-old woman and her 80-year-old husband before fatally shooting three others outside their homes.
Howell was arrested hours later. Prosecutors said he had fled in the couple’s SUV. The couple initially survived but died after being taken off life support.
Michael Barrett, the director of Missouri’s Public Defender System, didn’t immediately return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of the Obama administration in a dispute over the bulk collection of phone data on millions of Americans.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court ruling that said the program likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches.
But the impact of the ruling is uncertain, now that Congress has passed legislation designed to replace the program over the next few months.
The court sent the case back for a judge to determine what further details about the program the government must provide.
The uproar over the surveillance program began in 2013 when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked details to news organizations.
By Michael Pagels, Little Apple Post
MANHATTAN -A new bike sharing program has started in downtown Manhattan, and it looks like a hit! 
There are bright green bike stations in several areas right now; including in front of Civic Plus, at the Bluemont Hotel, next to Varney’s and at the intersection of 4th and Leavenworth at McCullough Development.
According to their Greenapplebikes.com, each station will be home to five bikes, and there will be more than 40 of them once the bikes are all put together.
The bikes are 1-speed beach cruisers, with front brakes and a basket. You can borrow the bike for as long as you need, and when you are done with it you just drop it off at another green station!
“Bike share is an important part of Manhattan’s integrated public transportation network, connecting communities to more destinations across the city. Bike sharing is ideal for short distances, allowing users the ability to pick up a bicycle at any “self-serve” station and return at their convenience. Bicycle maintenance is provided by volunteers.”
BILL DRAPER, Associated Press
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A white supremacist charged with killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City last year has testified that he wishes he could have killed more.
Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., who is acting as his own attorney, called himself to the stand, where he was also cross-examined by the prosecutor.
Miller has admitted that he killed the three in April 2014, but says he was compelled to act because of his belief that Jewish people are trying to wipe out the white race. None of the victims was Jewish.
He detailed Friday afternoon how he went to the two sites and shot the people because he thought they were Jews.
He later rested his defense.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices surged again Friday, a day after recording their biggest gain in more than six years.
U.S. crude rose 6.3 percent to finish at $45.22 per barrel after climbing 10.3 percent on Thursday. That was the biggest one-day gain for U.S. oil since March 2009.
The price of U.S. crude is still down 15 percent in 2015.
Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils imported by U.S. refineries, rose 5.2 percent to $50.05 a barrel. Brent also rose 10.3 percent Thursday.
U.S. oil had fallen to a 6 ½ year low on Monday because of a global supply glut and worries about the health of China’s economy.
The gains ease some concerns about the economic impact of falling oil prices on oil-producing regions and the economy at large.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge is suggesting that the independence of the state’s courts is at stake in a dispute over an administrative policy imposed on them by legislators.
An attorney for District Judge Larry Solomon of Kingman County on Friday asked District Judge Larry Hendricks of Shawnee County to strike down a 2014 law changing who selects chief judges in the state’s 31 judicial districts. Solomon is chief judge in the 30th District in south-central Kansas.
Hendricks had a hearing in a lawsuit by Solomon against the statute and said he will rule soon.
Judges in each district now pick their chief judges. The Kansas Supreme Court previously did.
The state contends there’s no attack on judicial independence.
But lawmakers tied the court system’s budget to preserving the policy change.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas court is having a hearing in a judge’s lawsuit against an administrative policy imposed upon the state’s judiciary by legislators.
The hearing Friday afternoon in Shawnee County District Court concerns a 2014 law under which the district judges in each of the state’s 31 judicial districts pick their chief judges. Before the law, the Kansas Supreme Court chose them.
District Judge Larry Solomon of Kingman County contends the law violates a provision of the state constitution giving the Supreme Court general administrative authority over the judicial branch. Solomon is the chief judge in the 30th District of south-central Kansas.
The Republican-dominated Legislature passed another law earlier this year that attempts to make the court system’s entire budget for the next two years dependent upon the policy surviving.
HUTCHINSON -Two officers of the Hutchinson Police Department have earned a life saving award for their actions that saved a woman’s life last month, according to a media release from the police department.
The life saving award is the fourth highest award given to officers in the Hutchinson Police Department.
On July 26, a concerned citizen observed a distraught woman at a bridge.
Hutchinson police officer Bobby Jarmer was the first to arrive on the scene.
He found the woman hanging off the side of the bridge, with her elbows over the railing.
The bridge was high enough that if she fell it would cause great bodily harm and more than likely, death, according to police.
Officer Jarmer spoke to the woman in a calm and reassuring voice, but she did not respond to him.
Officer Todd Allen was the next to arrive. He and Jarmer quickly and quietly devised a plan to save the woman.
She closed her eyes, which she later told officers that her intentions were to let go and harm herself.
The officers seized the moment when she closed her eyes and quickly closed the distance, grabbing her, pulling her over the rail to safety.
The officers acted very quickly with no regard to their own safety.
The son of the concerned citizen who called 911 to report the woman hanging from the bridge called the Hutchinson Police Department Friday morning.
The caller expressed concern that his father should also be recognized for his actions.
The concerned citizen who called 911 to report the woman hanging from the bridge is Kirby Kerschner.
Police Department officials say they appreciate the willingness of citizens to report any item of concern.
