Governor Larua Kelly was busy Memorial Day. She toured the areas around Tuttle Creek, Perry and Milford lakes. On social media, she encouraged residents to be cautious and make safety a priority as we deal with widespread flooding across Kansas.

Once again we flew @GovLauraKelly and @KansasEmergency to observe some of the reservoirs in the state. Today we flew to Tuttle Creek Lake, Milford Lake, and Perry Lake. The video shows the release of water from Perry Lake this afternoon. #kswx pic.twitter.com/A9BVTJcQzx

— KHP Air Support Unit (@KHPAircraft) May 27, 2019

DECATUR COUNTY, IA — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a man for attempted murder after an altercation with sheriff’s deputies.

Just after at 3 p.m. Thursday, The Decatur County Iowa Sheriff Ben Boswell and two deputies were dispatched to 14163 -128th Avenue in rural Grand River following a 911 call with a report of an altercation between family members, according to a media release from the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

The initial responding deputy was confronted by 54-year-old Gerry Greenland, who was driving a John Deere 4250 tractor that was outfitted with a front-end bale spear.

As the deputy drove up the driveway, Greenland drove the tractor towards the deputy’s vehicle. The deputy took evasive action to avoid contact with the tractor.

Greenland then drove the tractor towards the vehicle occupied by Sheriff Boswell that was stopped on the grass next to the driveway.

Greenland struck Sheriff Boswell’s vehicle, forcing one of the bale spear tines through the driver’s door and pushing Sheriff Boswell and his vehicle more than 100 feet.

When the tractor and impaled vehicle came to a rest, deputies were able to get Greenland from the tractor and take him into custody without further incident. Sheriff Boswell was unharmed.

The Iowa State Patrol and Division of Criminal Investigation charged  Greenland with one count of Attempted Murder.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Over the past three decades, federal and local governments have poured more than $5 billion into buying tens of thousands of properties that are susceptible to flooding.

An analysis of federal data by The Associated Press shows those buyouts have been getting more expensive. Many of the costliest have come during the last decade after strong storms pounded heavily populated coastal states such as Texas, New York and New Jersey.

This year’s record flooding in the Midwest and Plains states could add even more buyouts to the queue.

The purchases are happening as the climate changes. Along rivers and sea coasts, some homes once considered at little risk of flooding are now endangered due to water that is climbing higher and surging farther inland than historic patterns predicted.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal officer involved shooting.

Just before 1:30 a.m. Monday, police responded to a shooting call in the 1900 Block of South Glenn Avenue in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

A 49-year-old man was reportedly firing a gun outside the residence. When officers arrived, they observed the man entering and exiting the home and firing a gun. At one point, the man exited his home and ran south on Glenn Avenue toward police. The officers immediately issued verbal instructions to the man who was armed with a handgun. The man then turned and ran northbound and he encountered police again at the intersection Glenn and Dora Street, according to Davidson.

Although police issued verbal commands to the man again, he pointed the handgun at officers. Wichita police officers and Sedgwick County deputies fired weapons at the man and killed him, according to Davidson.

Police know that two other homes in the neighborhood were struck by gunfire. There are no other injuries reported, according to Davidson.

The neighborhood is closed off as authorities including the KBI continue to investigate. Davidson released no additional information early Monday.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

In April, the Kansas Supreme Court said the state’s constitution gives women a right to abortion.

That landmark ruling bolsters an ongoing lawsuit to expand access to abortion in Wichita. The case aims to clear the way for a clinic there — unable to find any willing, local doctors — to lean more on physicians in other states.

“People struggle to get access to health care,” Trust Women CEO Julie Burkhart said. “We want to be able to broaden that access for people in Kansas so they can continue to make decisions about their lives and their health care.”

At issue is a state ban on telemedicine abortions — in which a physician isn’t on site at the clinic where a woman takes medication to induce abortion. Instead, the physician consults with her, observes her ultrasound, reviews her medical records and guides her procedure over a remote video connection.

Kansas lawmakers banned telemedicine abortion years ago, but a judge blocked the ban pending a court challenge.

That case is ongoing. But a second lawsuit arose recently because Trust Women fears some state and local agencies won’t follow the judge’s injunction.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office has argued the years-old injunction isn’t valid anymore and doesn’t apply to all state and local agencies.

The odds of the state winning either of these cases narrowed significantly last month when the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that women have a right to abortion under the state constitution.

The Attorney General’s Office has been arguing in ongoing lawsuits that no such right exists. It withdrew that argument on Wednesday at a hearing in one of the two ongoing lawsuits related to telemedicine abortion.

Wednesday’s hearing was the first in the new lawsuit, which could go to trial by the end of this year.

Trust Women said its staff and physicians already face regular harassment from protesters, and in recent months, they’re facing an investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, too.

The Board won’t publicly confirm an investigation, what might have prompted a probe and who might be a focus.

Lawyers for Trust Women say the investigation relates to telemedicine abortions, but they declined to elaborate.

Trust Women flies in doctors to Wichita from other states to offer abortions in person there two days a week. It says those hours were too limited, making it difficult for many women to schedule their procedures.

So last October, the clinic added more days by connecting out-of-state doctors to their patients through telemedicine. The clinic stopped at the end of the year for fear of legal trouble.

The clinic has struggled to find doctors based in Wichita. Abortion provider George Tiller — Burkhart’s boss at the time — was murdered at his church in Wichita by an anti-abortion extremist 10 years ago this month.

If it can resume telemedicine abortions, Trust Women hopes eventually to provide abortion in more locations through that means. Namely, remote and rural parts of the state.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ or email celia (at) kcur (dot) org.

TOPEKA — Governor Laura Kelly has sent a request to President Donald Trump asking for emergency federal assistance to help address the widespread severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that have plagued Kansas in recent days.

Surveying the severe floods impacting KS communities and farmland with @KansasEmergency officials. We’re doing all we can to ensure Kansans are safe and have the resources they need. #kswx #ksleg pic.twitter.com/yhAYTHWgVV

— Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) May 26, 2019

The letter details the events leading up to the request and asks for Direct Federal Assistance for:

(1)  Swift water rescue support;

(2)  Shelter management support including short-term housing assistance;

(3)  Mass care and human services support through commodities;

(4)  Technical support and possible staffing for state logistics staging areas;

(5)  Possible technical support regarding hazardous materials spills and orphan containers.

The request also anticipates the need for debris removal, which poses an immediate threat to lives, public health, and safety.

“Kansas is experiencing damage from severe weather and historic flooding due to extended heavy rain,” Kelly said. “Today I sent a request to President Donald Trump for emergency federal assistance for response and recovery. We are working with our local, state, and federal partners to ensure Kansans have the resources they need at this challenging time.”

Named in the request are the 46 Kansas counties listed in the state declaration originally signed by Kelly May 9 and later amended. These counties include Allen, Anderson, Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley, Crawford, Dickinson, Doniphan, Elk, Franklin, Geary, Greenwood, Harvey, Jefferson, Kingman, Lincoln, Lyon, Marion, McPherson, Meade, Montgomery, Morris, Neosho, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Riley, Rush, Saline, Sumner, Wabaunsee, Wilson, and Woodson.

The request was made under the provisions of Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5208 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35. Also today, the Kansas Division of Emergency Management sent out a request through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact for an advanced team to assist with coordinating interstate resource requests, and geospatial information system specialists to assist with development of mapping products.

“In order to proactively expand our resources and ensure the Kansas Division of Emergency Management has everything it needs to assist local partners and keep people safe, we have requested through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact an advanced team to assist our personnel. As we work with impacted communities, I want to ensure that every resource is being brought to bear to assist local emergency personnel so we can keep people safe and limit damage to property.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One year after Kansas lawmakers agreed to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, the state has paid two claims, is negotiating one and is fighting two others.

Kansas agreed to pay $1.1 million to Richard Jones of Kansas City, who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2000 robbery that he says was committed by someone who looks just like him. This week the state agreed to pay $1.03 million to Floyd Bledsoe , who spent nearly 16 years behind bars for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl — a crime that his brother claimed in a suicide note.

Among the remaining claims is one seeking $1.52 million for Lamonte McIntyre , who spent 23 years in prison for a 1994 double murder in Kansas City, Kansas. A local district attorney later called the case an example of “manifest injustice.” No physical evidence was presented and the case was based on allegedly coerced testimony.

The Associated Press obtained records from the Attorney General’s office on the cases through a request under the Kansas Open Records Act and from court filings.

Jones, Bledsoe and McIntyre testified at the Legislature last year in support of a bill to compensate former inmates who have been wrongfully incarcerated. The law provides for $65,000 for each year a person spent behind bars along with health insurance benefits, financial assistance for higher education and various social services.

When signing the bill last year, then-Gov. Jeff Colyer publicly apologized to McIntyre, Bledsoe and Jones — saying “we will make it right.”

But the cases have taken time to wind through the system.

“The law moves slowly, from what I can tell you,” said Cheryl Pilate, one of the attorneys representing McIntyre. She said her dealings with the attorney general’s office have been cordial, adding there is no need to have “an adversarial” hearing in McIntyre’s case.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Republican who helped write the law, said legislators wanted to make sure the process to pay claims was thorough and involved people outside the attorney general’s office.

The state is challenging two claims from former inmates.

Bobby Harper, who spent nearly two years in prison before his 1987 burglary conviction was reversed by the Kansas Supreme Court, is seeking $75,000 and other costs. The attorney general’s office asked a court to reject Harper’s claim because it says Harper cannot prove he’s “actually innocent,” as the compensation law requires. The state argued the statute was not intended to apply to people whose convictions were overturned by insufficient evidence or a legal technically, as in Harper’s case.

Harper’s attorney has not yet responded in court to the state’s filing and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kansas is also disputing the claim brought by Michael Mata, who as a juvenile in 2011 was incarcerated for less than a year before his conviction for aggravated indecent liberties with a child was overturned on appeal. Mata is seeking $40,246 in compensation.

The attorney general’s office has asked a court to dismiss Mata’s claim, arguing his adjudication as a “juvenile offender” and his relatively short time at a juvenile correctional facility do not satisfy the elements for recovery of damages under the law. Mata’s attorney, Lora Ingels, said in a court filing that the state was “basically saying a juvenile’s life and liberty is not as valuable as an adult’s life and liberty.”

Meanwhile, Jones, — whose wrongful conviction became known as the “doppleganger” case because of his mistaken identity — has new legal problems. Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged Jones in a new five-count indictment on weapons and drug charges.