KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police are investigating the shooting of a 12-year-old boy who was riding four-wheelers with an adult relative Thursday evening.
The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Thursday night.
Police Officer Thomas Tomasic said the boy was shot in the stomach and the adult was grazed by a bullet.
Manhattan, Kan.— Due to severe flooding and uncertainty of the safety of event grounds, Country Stampede officials have announced an alternative location for the 2019 music festival, according to a media release on the festival web site.
The festival set for June 20-22 will be held at the Heartland Motorsports Parklocated at 7530 SW Topeka Blvd, Topeka, Kansas.
“Safety is our main concern. The severe weather prompted us to partner with the good folks over at Heartland Motorsports in Topeka, just 45 minutes away to insure all of our concert goers will be out of harms way.
We are maintaining the integrity of what we currently have in place to our new location,” says Wayne Rouse, president of Country Stampede.
For any other questions, email [email protected] or call 800.795.8091.
Hays Post is partnering with Grow Hays to help employers find workers and workers find careers.
Hays Has Jobs offers a comprehensive listing of employment opportunities in the Hays area, ranging from education to health care, service to manufacturing.
Aside from job listings, the site also includes the latest business opportunities in the area and tips for job seekers. Users also will find information on the latest job fairs locally and around the region.
Hays Hays Jobs, which is refreshed continually as new job opportunities are added, can be found under “Hays News” on HaysPost.com.
SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two juveniles for burglary.
Just before 4a.m. Thursday, police responded to a burglary in progress call Mayberry Middle School in the 200 Block of South Sheridan in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
When officers arrived, they observed a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old exiting one of the school’s doors. The 12-year-old boy had three laptop computers from the school, according to Davidson.
When the two saw police, they ran. Police chased the down and arrested them. In addition to recovering the computers, investigators also discovered damage inside the school
They are being held in the Sedgwick County Juvenile Detention Facility on requested charges of burglary, theft, destruction of property and curfew violation. The 12-year-old was also listed as an active runaway.
PHOENIX — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran is recovering from surgery after the 65-year-old has suffered an ankle injury while hiking on a mountain in Phoenix Thursday.
On social media, Senator Moran’s wife shared he was in Arizona to meet with U.S. Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration at the border. As is his daily habit, the Senator went for a morning workout before his day’s work. He decided to do a hike up and down a nearby mountain. About ten minutes from the end of the hike, the Senator stepped over a rock and his ankle snapped. He couldn’t walk and couldn’t get down the mountain.
The Senator was in surgery Thursday for his fractured ankle and torn ligaments. He is expected back in Kansas Friday to return to work.
Firefighters used a wheeled litter to transport him off the mountain. He was then transported to a hospital for further evaluation, according to Phoenix Fire and Rescue.
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PHOENIX (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran’s office says the 65-year-old has suffered an ankle injury while hiking on a mountain in Phoenix.
Moran spokeswoman Morgan Said said the Republican injured his ankle Thursday morning while doing a workout on Camelback Mountain, a popular hiking spot.
The Phoenix Fire Department said in a statement that a 65-year-old man couldn’t walk due to an injury but did not identify him by name. Firefighters used a wheeled litter to transport him off the mountain.
He was then transported to a hospital for further evaluation.
Said said Moran was in the Phoenix area for meetings with law enforcement officials and had to cancel them. She said he plans to return to Kansas on Friday for scheduled meetings and events.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprise announcement that could derail a major trade deal, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.
He said the percentage will gradually increase — up to 25% — “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”
The decision showed the administration going to new lengths, and looking for new levers, to pressure Mexico to take action — even if those risk upending other policy priorities, like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that is the cornerstone of Trump’s legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his reelection effort. It also risks further damaging the already strained relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, two countries whose economics are deeply intertwined.
Yesterday, Border Patrol agents apprehended the largest group of illegal aliens ever: 1,036 people who illegally crossed the border in El Paso around 4am. Democrats need to stand by our incredible Border Patrol and finally fix the loopholes at our Border! pic.twitter.com/6K1rIUzorM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
Trump made the announcement by tweet after telling reporters earlier Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” so far on the border.
“On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP,” he wrote. “The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded in a public letter late Thursday, telling Trump that “social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures” and alluded to the United States’ history as a nation of immigrants. “The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol,” he wrote. He also said he was dispatching his foreign relations secretary to Washington on Friday to try to negotiate a solution.
In his growing fury over an increase in border crossings that he has likened to an “invasion,” Trump has blamed Mexico for failing to stop the flow of asylum seekers from countries like El Salvador and Honduras who pass through its territory. And he has been itching to take increasingly radical, headline-grabbing action on the issue, which he sees as critical to his 2020 campaign because it energizes his base.
But the sudden tariff threat comes at a peculiar time, given how hard the administration has been pushing for passage of the USMCA, which would update the North American Free Trade Agreement. It comes less than two weeks after Trump lifted import taxes on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum, a move that seemed to clear an obstacle to its passage, and the same day that both Trump and López Obrador began the process of seeking ratification. The deal needs approval from lawmakers in all three countries before it takes effect.
“The tariffs certainly put the USMCA on ice,” said Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who panned the move but said Trump does have the legal authority to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by citing a national emergency.
“The drama is legal, but it’s preposterous,” he said.
Daniel Ujczo, a U.S.-based international trade lawyer, said the threat would likely slow the deal’s progress in Mexico and put U.S. lawmakers who want to vote “yes” in a difficult position because companies in their districts will end up paying the tariffs.
Still, Ujczo and others wondered whether Trump — who has a habit of creating problems and then claiming credit when he rushes in to solve them — would go through with the threat.
“This seems more theater and tactics than a strategy to solve the migration crisis and rebalance North American trade,” Ujczo said.
It wouldn’t be the first time Trump has punted on an immigration threat. In late March, Trump threatened to shut the entire U.S.-Mexico border if Mexico didn’t immediately halt illegal immigration. Just a few days later, he backed off the threat, saying he was pleased with steps Mexico had taken in recent days. It was unclear, however, what Mexico had changed.
Indeed, on a briefing call with reporters Thursday evening, administration officials said Mexico could prevent the tariffs from kicking in by securing their southern border with Guatemala and entering into a “safe third country agreement” that would make it difficult for those who enter Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S.
“We’re going to judge success here by the number of people crossing the border and that number needs to start coming down immediately, in a significant and substantial number,” said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
He also insisted that tariffs were “completely” separate from the USMCA because one pertained to immigration and the other trade.
Still the threat drew a withering response from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a usual Trump ally, who slammed it as “a misuse of presidential tariff authority” that would burden American consumers and “seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA.”
Mulvaney said the White House had briefed a number of Republicans on the plan and acknowledged that some — particularly in the Senate — had raised concerns about the president invoking such powers.
The threat comes at a time when Mexico has already been stepping up its efforts to crack down on migrants, carrying out raids and detaining thousands of people traveling through the country en route to the U.S.
The crumbling city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, has become the epicenter of the crackdowns, with thousands of migrants stranded because the Mexican government isn’t providing them visas to travel. In addition, the Mexican government has allowed the U.S. to send back hundreds of asylum seekers from Central America and other countries, forcing them to wait out their cases in Mexico.
But that hasn’t satisfied Trump, whose White House laid out an escalating schedule of tariff increases if his demands are not met: 10% on July 1, 15% on Aug. 1, 20% on Sept. 1 and 25% on Oct. 1.
After that, the White House said, “tariffs will permanently remain at the 25% level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.”
By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — A lot is at stake as the Missouri River continues to rise at St. Joseph.
The river is expected to crest today at just over 29 feet, approaching the crest at the height of the 2011 flood. The highest crest was reached earlier this year in March, just over 32 feet, slightly higher than the previous crest reached during the 1993 flood.
State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville, who recently toured the levees protecting St. Joseph with Gov. Mike Parson, says those levees are protecting valuable assets.
“I think the levees are protecting about $2 billion worth of assets,” Luetkemeyer tells St. Joseph Post. “It really goes to show you how important flood control is for the river and one of the things I’ve been very vocal on, both myself and Sen. (Dan) Hegeman, is that the Army Corps of Engineers needs to reprioritize its Master Plan for the river, to make sure that flood control is the number one priority.”
Luetkemeyer says the widespread flooding this year and the devastation it is leaving in its wake, should help the Corps listen perhaps more than it has in the past.
“To me, it’s common sense. Sometimes common sense doesn’t get through in Washington, D.C.,” Luetkemeyer says. “But, I think if enough people speak loud enough with enough voices in unison I’m hopeful that we’re going to get some movement.”
Both in March and in 1993, the Missouri River rose above 32 feet at St. Joseph.
Click here for the National Weather Service website on the Missouri River level at St. Joseph.
KANSAS CITY AP) — Federal prosecutors in Kansas City say a Lee’s Summit woman is among three Kenyan nationals indicted in a marriage fraud conspiracy.
35-year-old Nellie Mbote has been charged in a four-count indictment: conspiracy, making false statements, making a false oath related to naturalization and unlawfully procuring citizenship.
The indictment says Mbote and two other people entered into fraudulent marriages arranged by Delmar Dixon of Kansas City. Mbote married in 2009. Prosecutors say Mbote and the others paid Dixon to arrange their marriages, then paid their U.S. citizen spouses $1,000 at the wedding and $100 a month until their permanent residency or U.S. citizenship process was complete.
Dixon was sentenced in 2017 to three years in federal prison for arranging up to 40 fraudulent marriages.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will be honored for his work as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
The Hindu American Foundation plans to give Brownback its Mahatma Gandhi Award for Advancing Pluralism.
The foundation said Thursday that the award recognizes individuals or institutions that foster America’s “inclusive and pluralistic character.” It is named for the Indian leader whose commitment to nonviolent resistance became a model for the U.S. civil rights movement.
The foundation praised Brownback’s advocacy for Hindu minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim majority nations.
President Donald Trump nominated Brownback to the ambassadorship in July 2017, but Brownback wasn’t confirmed by the U.S. Senate until January 2018. He faced strong opposition from Democrats because of his record of opposing LGBT rights.
TOPEKA – A Topeka man is facing federal charges after he imported devices from China that for $19 a piece can turn a Glock pistol into a fully automatic machine gun, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said today.
The defendant was indicted yesterday in U.S. District Court in Topeka.
Jacob Gragg, 33, Topeka, is charged in a four-count indictment with one count of unlawful possession of a machine gun, one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered machine gun, one count of unlawful possession of an explosive and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
The indictment alleges investigators seized seven so-called “Glock switches” and half a pound of Tannerite, which is a binary explosive, from Gragg. Gragg bought the Glock switches from a company in Shenzhen, Gaundong Province, China. On a website, the company advertised the “Glock Auto Switch,” saying the product would convert all models of Glock pistols to “Full Auto.” The device operates by applying force to the trigger bar to prevent it from limiting the weapon to firing only one round each time the trigger is depressed.
The indictment alleges Gragg was prohibited from possessing the explosive because he had prior felony convictions in Shawnee County District Court and Morris County District Court.
If convicted, he faces the following penalties:
• Unlawful possession of a machine gun (count one) and unlawful possession of an explosive by a prohibited person (count three): Up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000
• Possession of an unregistered machine gun (count two): Up to 10 years and a fine up to $10,000.
• Possession with intent to distribute marijuana: Up to five years and a fine up to $250,000.
Investigating agencies included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the Topeka Police Department and the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Skip Jacobs is prosecuting.
By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa — Between the country’s trade dispute with China and the seemingly endless storms that have drenched the central U.S., Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt has had plenty of time to think about whether it’s too late to plant this season, how much federal aid he might get if he does or whether to skip it altogether and opt for an insurance payment.
Instead of driving his tractor, he’s driving a truck these days to earn a living while wondering how long it will be before he can return to his fields.
“Sometimes I think, what the heck am I doing farming?” he said recently by phone while returning home after hauling a shipment of dry ice to Chicago. “When you owe the bank money, you do some pretty crazy stuff.”
Ewoldt is one of thousands of Midwestern farmers facing such decisions as they endure a spring like no other. It started with poor corn and soybean prices falling even further as the U.S. and China imposed new tariffs, and was compounded by torrential rain and flooding that has made planting impossible and killed off crops that were just starting to emerge.
Conscious that the trade dispute was devastating American farmers, President Donald Trump promised $16 billion in aid — an increase over last year’s $11 billion in aid — but the promise has only added to farmers’ confusion about how to approach this strange spring.
That’s because details about how much money farmers would receive won’t be released until later, to avoid influencing what crops they decide to plant. While there’s a rationale behind keeping the aid details secret, it adds another layer of uncertainty for farmers already guessing about the weather, future crop prices and how much they would get in insurance payments if they don’t plant a crop.
“It’s a take what you can get and keep moving year,” said Todd Hubbs, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois. “Depending on how the payments and everything break out, each farm is different.”
In the 18 states that grow most of the nation’s corn, only 58% of the crop had been planted as of last week — a far cry from the 90% that would ordinarily be planted by that point. In states that grow nearly all of the soybeans, less than half of the normal crop had been planted. Farmers have even taken to Twitter — creating a #noplant19 hashtag — to commiserate and share photos of their swamped fields.
For Jeff Jorgenson, it’s an all-consuming question of how much of his roughly 3,000 acres of southwestern Iowa land he can profitably farm. About a quarter of it can’t be farmed due to Missouri River flooding, and much of his remaining property has been inundated with rain and water from the neighboring Nishnabotna River.
Navigating muddy roads in his pickup truck this week, he tried to figure out whether it would be worth pumping water off his land or whether that would even be possible. Normally it wouldn’t be worth the effort, but with the prospect that the Midwest’s miserable weather will reduce the nation’s fall harvest, corn and soybean prices have started to rise and planting every acre possible has become more attractive than settling for insurance that would pay roughly half the revenue of a normal crop.
Jorgenson, 44, said it’s a puzzle trying to figure out how much land should remain unplanted and eligible for insurance payments, how much should be planted, how much money in federal aid will be available and whether those funding sources will be enough to cover his operating loan.
“Honestly, 24 hours a day, this is all you can think about,” he said.
Since Bob Worth started farming in 1970, this is the first year he’s opted not to plant on most of his 2,300 acres near the southwestern Minnesota community of Lake Benton. It was a difficult choice, but one Worth said he felt obligated to make given the ducks that are swimming where his corn and soybeans should be growing.
“I’m not going to try to destroy my ground to get a crop in,” he said, noting that planting equipment would rut and compact his land.
Despite insurance payments he will receive, Worth, 66, said he’ll need to refinance loans and lose some of the equity has built up on land that has been in his family for generations.
The deadline for not planting and taking an insurance payment without a penalty varies depending on the state and crop, but the decision time has either passed or is approaching. Hubbs, the Illinois economist, said choosing to opt out, especially when prices are rising, is agonizing for farmers but may be the right choice because of the risk of a poor harvest when planting late in soggy ground and the possibility that the farmer won’t be able to harvest the crop before the weather turns cold.
Hubbs said planting late won’t work out for many farmers unless summer and fall weather conditions are nearly perfect — a scenario that he said seems hard to imagine, given that “storms just keep firing up and moving through.”
Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, said he worries that the federal aid Trump announced will encourage some farmers who would normally forgo a crop to instead risk planning on wet land. That’s a tough decision for individuals, but collectively it could reduce the supply of corn and soybeans and lead to higher prices.
“We’ve been stuck in a pattern of overproduction, and this could change that,” Hart said.
Ewoldt, who farms on about 1,100 acres he rents from relatives near the Mississippi River outside Davenport, said he hopes he can figure out what’s best for his farm and his family. Ewoldt, 47, said he’s good at producing a crop but that figuring out what to do in the coming weeks seems like guesswork.
“You’re trying to do the algebra equations and figure things out, but you have too many unknowns right now,” he said. “Nobody has a clue what we’re doing.”
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Associated Press writer David Pitt contributed to this report.
STERLING (AP) — Roads are closed in central Kansas and a community is in danger of losing much of its golf course because of continued flooding.
Officials said flooding remains a concern across Kansas because of severe storms that moved through the state earlier in the week and spawned a large tornado in northeast Kansas.
Rice County Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Klein said the Arkansas River is out of its banks and there is flooding along Cow Creek.
He said floodwaters are flowing through the Sterling Country Club and, “They’re going to lose part of their golf course.”
He said most of the dirt roads and many of the blacktop roads in the southern part of the county remain closed. A portion of Kansas 14 south of Sterling also was closed.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A public advisory board in Wichita is now recommending that officers involved in shootings should not be named, citing worries about possible death threats to the families of the officers.
The Citizen Review Board has changed its position after previously suggesting that police create a new policy where names would generally be released. The new recommendation came after Police Chief Gordon Ramsay raised concerns about officer safety.
Ramsay’s proposal, approved by the board last month, calls for releasing some information about the officer, such as age, gender, race and years of service, along with discipline history in use-of-force cases and previous involvement in shootings.
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