SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcment authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have released the name of the victim.
Scene of police investigation into the Saturday night shooting photo courtesy WIBW TV
Just before 9:30p.m. Saturday, police responded to 1235 SW Huntoon in Topeka for a report of a shooting, according to Lt. Aaron Jones.
Bystanders were attempting to treat a single shooting victim identified as 34-year-old Darton A. Fields II of Topeka.
EMS transported Fields to a local hospital where he died, according to Jones.
The Topeka Police Homicide Unit is reviewing all investigative leads and evidence. Jones encouraged anyone with information to contact the Topeka Police.
Standing near the corner of his property in southeastern Reno County, Nick Egli looked east and pointed to the proposed locations for several 500-feet-tall wind turbines.
Nick Egli stands in front of the grass airstrips he’s worked 10 years to establish. BRIAN GRIMMETT
Egli is standing on a grass airstrip he’s spent the last 10 years building. He pictures a few more homes, some hangars and, eventually, a residential community for pilots of small planes.
“If there’s turbines there, you’ve completely killed everything I’ve been working on the last 10 years,” he said.
It’s the latest of several projects NextEra has already completed in the state. And the company isn’t alone.
Businesses from all over the world have cashed in on Kansas’ abundant wind in the past decade. Most projects went up without much fanfare.
But stiff opposition facing the Reno County project has raised some anxiety in the industry as companies consider its implications for future development.
NextEra developer Spencer Jenkins addresses the Reno County Planning and Zoning Commission
CREDIT BRIAN GRIMMETT
Over the past 4 years, NextEra Energy signed deals with Reno County landowners to plant giant wind turbines on their property. It’s one step in a long process that needs a go-ahead from county officials.
Developers chose this part of Reno County because it has plenty of wind, it’s close to transmission lines that transport the electricity to places that need it, like Wichita, and it had enough willing landowners.
“Farming has not been an especially lucrative income producer,” Randy Jackson told the planning commission during one of several hours-long public hearings. “To continue to own our property, we need to take advantage of every income potential we have.”
But Jackson was among the few to speak in support, and most of those were landowners benefitting from the project.
The majority of speakers voiced their opposition.
“We could have chosen to live anywhere but we chose to live here,” Matt Amos said. “Had I known that this was going to happen, I would have not have chosen to live here.”
One after another, the stream of voices filled the conference hall.
“Why is this wind farm being built so close to concentrated populations of people and wildlife?” Darcy Gray of Andale asked. “I’m not opposed to wind energy, but the location does not make sense.”
Nick Egli also spoke at the hearing. But he ultimately blames his neighbors who signed leases, not county officials.
He recalled what one of his neighbors told him.
“He said, ‘Well, I’m going to make $4,500 a quarter,’” Egli said. “Really? That’s what you’re selling me out for?”
Egli isn’t against renewable energy. He’s actually an electrician and has installed solar panels on the roof of the house he’s building. It will provide him with enough electricity that he won’t need to connect to the grid.
He just wants what he calls sensible setbacks.
A setback is the distance a wind turbine has to stand from something, like a property line, road, or house. Egli thinks that if turbines are placed 3,000 feet away from the property lines of people who didn’t lease their land to NextEra, it would resolve concerns about noise and shadows.
But while he calls it sensible, a 3,000-foot setback from property lines would be the largest in the state. That type of setback in Kansas typically runs about 500 feet.
Setbacks have been a sticking point from the beginning, including for the Reno County planning commission. After failing to reach a consensus, the commission rejected the proposal.
He said this is the first project in the state he’s ever seen rejected by a county planning commission. Previously, if projects got enough landowners to sign leases, it was generally a sign the community was on board.
A decade and a half ago, local officials did stop a wind farm in Waubansee County. It created a controversy that led to a case that went all the way to the Kansas Supreme Court. But the trend has been decididly more pro-wind since.
While the decision in Reno County was unexpected, Peterson doesn’t think it’s a sign developing future wind projects is going to get harder in Kansas.
“It may be new to these portions of the state,” he said, “but we develop as an industry in many communities that are very similar.”
And NextEra’s Reno County project isn’t dead yet. The three-member county commission has the final say and will take up the issue June 11.
Like the landowners who support the project, Reno County stands to gain financially from its approval. Tax revenue from the turbines will generate as much as $39 million over the next 30 years.
But for those still opposed, it’s about more than just what the county will gain. It’s about what they could lose — a quiet home on a lonely prairie.
“I’m going to be able to tell our kids that I did everything I could,” Egli said, “before I had to sell our place I built for generations.”
LAWRENCE – The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will welcome Dirk Wouters, ambassador of Belgium to the United States, for a public program this summer.
Wouters will deliver remarks at the institute at 2 p.m. June 13. The program is free and open to the public, and a free livestream of the event will be available.
In his talk, Wouters will highlight some of the current challenges facing the European Union and developments in the U.S. that have affected transatlantic relationships. This will include the current U.S. presidential administration’s approach to relations with Russia and China, trade deficits, NATO and Europe’s energy dependence.
The ambassador was appointed to his position in September 2016. He represents the king of the Belgians and Belgium’s federal government in the U.S. and in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. He is responsible for the direction and work of the embassy and its consulates, including bilateral political and economic relations.
Prior to his current assignment, the ambassador was permanent representative of Belgium to the European Union (EU). Wouters has served his nation’s international interests extensively, having joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980. In 1986, he began his efforts representing Belgium in European affairs, and he later received an assignment in Rome dealing with political and economic issues. Beginning in the mid-1990s, he served as deputy permanent representative of Belgium to the United Nations (UN) in New York City.
The ambassador’s work would shift to the EU in 2003-2009, where he served as permanent representative of Belgium to the Political and Security Committee. He would later join the office of the Belgian prime minister as a diplomatic adviser, and later, the office of the minister of foreign affairs as chief of staff.
The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting political and civic participation as well as civil discourse in a bipartisan, philosophically balanced manner. It is located in KU’s West District and houses the Dole Archive and Special Collections. Through its robust public programming, congressional archive and museum, the Dole Institute strives to celebrate public service and the legacies of U.S. senators Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole.
More information on all programs, as well as ongoing additions to the schedule, can be found on the Dole Institute’s website, www.doleinstitute.org.
DODGE CITY – A Dodge City man was sentenced this week to 154 months in prison for distribution of methamphetamine, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Roman Del Real photo Ford County
Roman Del Real, 33, was sentenced by Judge Sidney R. Thomas in Ford County District Court. Del Real pleaded guilty in February to one count of distribution of a controlled substance.
The crime was committed in October 2016. The charge stemmed from an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Garden City Police Department, Dodge City Police Department, Ford County Sheriff’s Office, Finney County Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Department of Revenue Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Assistant Attorney General Melissa G. Johnson, former-Assistant Attorney General Jason B. Oxford and late-Assistant Attorney General Steven W. Wilhoft prosecuted the case.
DOUGLASS, Kan. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that a weak tornado touched down Friday afternoon in a rural area near Douglass in southeastern Kansas.
Storm damage near Douglas photo courtesy National Weather Service
An EF-0 tornado, with winds from 65 mph to 85 mph, hit about 4:20 p.m. Friday and stayed on the ground only a couple of minutes. The weather service says the damage was relegated to trees in the area. No injuries or building damage was reported.
Meteorologists say heavy rains — which could worsen flooding — as well as strong winds and hail could be seen Saturday evening into Sunday for parts of eastern Kansas. Dry weather is expected Monday and for several days after that.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A new television series with Ethan Hawke starring as the fiery abolitionist John Brown is set to film in Virginia.
Image courtesy Penguin Random House
Brown led a raid in 1859 on a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, in what is now West Virginia, hoping to start an armed slave rebellion. The rebellion didn’t happen, and Brown was later hanged for treason.
Before the raid, Brown and a group of abolitionist settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers in Kansas in the Pottawatomie massacre.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eight years to the day after a devastating tornado killed 161 people and injured more than 1,100 others in Joplin, another big twister ripped through Missouri — this time the capital of Jefferson City — but with a far different result: no deaths or serious injuries.
Tornado approaching Carl Junction, Missouri Wednesday night photo courtesy Sarah Harreus
The two storms hit Missouri cities roughly the same size on the same day of the year, May 22. And they both ravaged residential neighborhoods and business districts. But several factors created completely different scenarios — factors that worked against Joplin and helped spare the lives of Jefferson City residents like Debra Gary, who along with her husband, mother and four kids hunkered down in the basement before emerging to find their home badly damage.
“I always tell my kids, ‘Keep God first,’ because God was there for us,” Gary said Friday. “He kept us and our home safe when the tornado was going on.”
The Jefferson City twister was a big one, an EF-3 with winds estimated at 160 mph. But the Joplin tornado was a rarely-seen monster, an EF-5 with winds in excess of 200 mph. It was on the ground for 22 miles and 38 terrifying minutes, tearing through one-third of the town.
Then there was the timing. The Joplin tornado hit on a Sunday afternoon, as people were out and about, including hundreds who had just left the high school’s graduation ceremony.
“You had many more people potentially in the path, in vulnerable locations,” said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The Jefferson City twister arrived in the middle of the night, which was actually a good thing, said Brian Houston, a communications professor and director of the University of Missouri’s Disaster and Community Crisis Center.
“We think of nighttime tornadoes being pretty dangerous because people might be asleep and not aware of them, but one of the good things is people tend to be at home, in structures,” Houston said. “It’s always better to be inside somewhere when a tornado strikes, rather than being out.”
The ability to find safe refuge from the storm also favored Jefferson City. Joplin sits in an area of southwestern Missouri where the soil is rocky, so basements are uncommon. In 2011, only about one in five Joplin homes had basements, which forced people to take shelter in far less secure places like bathtubs and closets. Basements are far more common in Jefferson City, which was built on rolling hills along the Missouri River.
Bunting and Houston agree that technology also was a factor that helped in Jefferson City. Smart phones are now omnipresent, and many people have alerts on their phones that warn of approaching weather danger.
Those warnings are now more precise, too. Houston said storm warnings are now more localized, meaning people “are hopefully more likely to take it seriously because you’re not getting these warnings for a tornado that’s on the other side of the county that might be dozens of miles away.”
National Weather Service image shows the track of the deadly storm moving from Kansas to Jefferson City-click to expand
Radar is more advanced, too. Forecasters were warning as far back as last week that the Plains and Midwest faced a highly dangerous storm scenario. On Wednesday night, central Missouri TV stations tracked the approaching storm and sirens in Jefferson City first sounded at 11:10 p.m., which was at least 30 minutes before the first property damage was inflicted. Gov. Mike Parson credited the warning system for saving lives.
As Jefferson City residents began the long task of cleaning up, they faced additional challenges: Flooding and heat.
The Missouri River topped a levee on the north side of town, threatening the airport and a few homes and businesses, including a golf course and events center Danny Baumgartner owns.
“It’s part of Mother Nature — these things happen, and you make the best of it and help each other out,” Baumgartner said. “With the tornado and this going on, it’s a lot of activities for a small community. But we’ll all make it.”
Flooding also forced the closure of some roads around the state Capitol, though the building itself sits on a bluff overlooking the river, out of harm’s way. The tornado also spared the Capitol building.
Ameren Missouri crews worked in sweltering humidity with a temperature nearing 90 degrees, replacing about 200 broken power poles and re-stringing lines in Jefferson City and Eldon, another central Missouri community hit by a tornado.
Ameren Missouri division director Chip Webb said it may be late Saturday before power is fully restored in Jefferson City.
LAWRENCE — When University of Kansas professor John James Kennedy began working in rural China, he would get introduced to villagers with multiple children – despite the country’s strict one-child policy.
“Some of these villagers would have three kids. They’d introduce eldest daughter and youngest son by their name, but the middle daughter was the nonexistent one,” said Kennedy, associate professor of political science.
“They’d call them that with a nod and a wink: ‘hei hu’ — ‘the black child.’ When saying that, they meant unregistered.”
While China’s controversial mandate has led to an estimated 20 million “missing girls,” Kennedy asserts at least half of them aren’t truly gone. Instead, they are more a product of policy noncompliance between families and local officials to keep the births covered up.
That’s the contention of Kennedy’s debut book, “Lost and Found: The ‘Missing’ Girls in Rural China” (Oxford, 2019). The paperback, co-written with Yaojiang Shi of Shaanxi Normal University in China, publishes June 3.
Kennedy and Shi started researching this topic in 1995 and continued into 2015, mostly in the Shaanxi province in northern China. They interviewed residents, hospital employees, family planning administrators, registration officials and those responsible for issuing birth certificates – from the national, county and village levels.
He said this one-child policy, instituted in 1979 to curb the country’s rapid population growth, was easier to implement in cities because urban employment was connected to housing and social welfare. However, the execution of this proved far trickier in agrarian areas.
“The assumption was rural farmers had a son preference,” said Kennedy, who is also the director of KU’s Center for East Asian Studies. “The reason was they didn’t have insurance or pensions like urban folks, so they relied on their sons in old age to take care of them. Daughters were married out so they don’t live with their natal family; they take care of their husband’s family.”
By the mid-1980s, the government realized it was too hard to enforce this singular policy in rural areas. So they decided if the firstborn was female, families could have a second child without a fine. Families would have a girl, then go for a second child. If that baby was a girl, they would not register the infant.
Whereas urban households attempting this tactic had a much greater chance of getting caught, those in rural communities proved more successful.
“It’s because the street-level bureaucrats are not just agents of the state, they’re also villagers. They have to live with these people,” he said. “But by mutual noncompliance, they’re turning a blind eye to the deeper issues.”
Although estimates have often been inflated by academics and the media, many demographers believe the number of missing girls is in the 20 million range.
“They are either nominally missing – in that they are hidden – or are truly missing, which is through sex-selective abortion or infanticide,” he said.
Despite researching this topic for decades, Kennedy said the subject was previously too sensitive for his Chinese colleagues to publish at the time. The one-child policy ended in 2015, prompting greater scrutiny of its consequences.
A Los Angeles native who has taught at KU since 2003, Kennedy actually lived with the Chinese family who is featured on the cover of “Lost and Found.” He said this quintet was a fitting example of his findings: The son was registered as a second child, the oldest daughter as a first child, and the middle daughter went unregistered.
Kennedy, who is fluent in Mandarin and an expert in Chinese local governance, said of his inaugural book, “I hope it opens a broader discussion about our assumptions of villagers and their behavior.”
Graduation weekends are upon us. This is a time of year to celebrate the hard work and dedication of students and teachers and congratulate those we know who have succeeded at earning a degree and advancing into their next phase of life. For some that can mean going on to college, technical school, or a higher degree. And while these are worthy pursuits, the reality is they usually come with a pretty big price tag attached.
Paying for college is a big endeavor for most, but with some planning and foresight, it doesn’t have to be impossible. The State of Kansas offers some very simple solutions for getting a jumpstart on college savings, and the sooner you get started the better. Here’s a brief summary of a couple of very easy options and how they work:
529 Accounts: These are investment savings accounts you as a parent or grandparent can contribute to, tax-deferred. Put a little bit in automatically from each paycheck or set aside something each month to contribute. Large or small, these investments earn dividends over time and you get to choose how and when to contribute. With regular contributions to this kind of investment, you can watch your money grow into an amount that could fund your child’s future educational goals, at accredited higher education institutions anywhere in the United States. These funds can be used for qualified expenses at 2- or 4-year college, vocational school, technical college, graduate school, and even K-12 education institutions. The state of Kansas also allows you to take an annual tax deduction of up to $3,000 in 529 contributions if you’re single or $6000 if you’re married.
K.I.D.S. matching grants: The State of Kansas wants college to be achievable for all students. For families that may struggle financially to come up with the money to fund a child’s higher education goals, K.I.D.S. matching grants are a wonderful option to grow your money faster than you could on your own. You must live in Kansas and earn an income less than 200% of the federal poverty level. With these qualifications you can open a 529 account with any amount you wish and the state will match whatever you contribute, up to $600/year.
Year after year there are success stories of students graduating whose parents and grandparents took the time to think ahead on their behalf, putting away a little at a time and watching that money grow into a debt-free college experience for their new graduate.
Elaina was one such student. Her grandmother, Guadalupe Martinez started an account for her when she was little, contributing $25 per paycheck whenever she could. Upon Elaina’s graduation from high school, her grandmother presented her with a check that brought Elaina to tears. It was enough to get her through college debt free, which she did.
This is not an uncommon tale.
Kids across Kansas have been blessed with the opportunity of education because of the wise planning of someone in their life who cared enough to think ahead and save. Whether it is one of the above options or another kind of savings vehicle, I challenge Kansans during this special time of year to think ahead for someone they love and find a way to save. Every little bit adds up, and investing in a child’s future education now is one of the best gifts you can give them.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas online gamer whose dispute over a $1.50 bet sparked a hoax call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his old address has struck a deal with prosecutors that could allow the charges against him to be dropped.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren approved on Friday the joint motion for deferred prosecution that had been filed earlier in the day by prosecutors and the attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita.
Such agreements typically result in charges being dropped if a defendant fulfills all its conditions.
The judge deferred court proceedings and discovery during a period ending on Dec. 31, 2020 and ordered Gaskill to pay $1,000 in restitution, costs and penalties as required under the agreement.
The death of Andrew Finch, 28, in Wichita drew national attention to the practice of “swatting,” a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address.
“I think the diversion agreement recognizes in part that Gaskill’s involvement in swatting was less than the others,” said Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.
Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statements.
The other online player, Casey Viner, 19, of North College Hill, Ohio, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice under a deal in which both sides recommend two years of probation. He will be sentenced on June 26.
Authorities said Viner recruited Tyler R. Barriss to “swat” Gaskill in Wichita stemming from a dispute on the game Call of Duty: WWII. Barriss, a 26-year-old Los Angeles man with an online reputation for “swatting,” called police from Los Angeles on Dec. 28, 2017, to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at that Wichita address. Finch, who was not involved in the video game or dispute, was shot by police when he opened the door.
Barriss was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 51 counts for making fake emergency calls and threats around the country, including the deadly hoax call in Kansas.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The government has agreed to an alternative to prosecution of a Kansas online gamer whose dispute sparked a hoax call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his former Wichita home.
Police body camera images of The December 2018 fatal response to a hoax call -courtesy Wichita Police
A joint motion filed Friday by federal prosecutors and the attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita asks the court to approve the agreement.
Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statement during an investigation.
Deferred prosecution agreements typically result in charges being dropped if a defendant fulfills all its conditions.
Under terms of Gaskill’s May 15 pretrial diversion agreement, the government agreed not to pursue prosecution for at least 18 months.
Gaskill agreed to waive any speedy trial defenses and pay $1,000 in restitution, costs and penalties.
Passenger trains will keep rolling through rural communities in Kansas, for now. But Amtrak still hasn’t committed to operating the long-distance routes that connect small towns to larger cities long-term.
Train station in Garden City -photo courtesy Kansas News Service
Earlier this year, Congress agreed to an additional $50 million to keep the Southwest Chief, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles with stops in several small Kansas cities, running through September.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and a handful of his senate colleagues then pressed Amtrak for answers about future plans for long-distance routes. The rail service responded with a letter this week.
CEO Richard Anderson wrote that Amtrak will not alter or truncate any long-distance routes before the end of the 2019 fiscal year. But he didn’t make any promises beyond that.
Instead, the head of the federally funded rail service pushed questions back at Congress about whether to maintain current routes or make changes.
“While we strongly believe that there is a permanent place for high-quality long-distance trains in our network,” Anderson wrote, “the time to closely examine the size and nature of that role is upon us for numerous reasons.”
Amtrak is slated to submit its proposal for reauthorization later this year.
In his letter, Anderson highlighted the increased demand for services in metropolitan areas, where the majority of its ridership occurs on short-distance routes such as the Northeast Corridor.
The long-distance routes, he wrote, ate up nearly $922 million in the 2018 fiscal year — nearly half the $1.94 billion in federal support for Amtrak’s network, while accommodating a relatively small share of passenger trips, 4.5 million rides annually.
While ridership numbers have fluctuated from year to year, Anderson noted the number of long-distance passengers fell 4 % between fiscal years 2017 and 2018.
The rail service is eyeing the development of new routes to meet demand for shorter trips in areas of the country where the population is growing.
Anderson wrote that routes connecting cities and towns within 400 miles or less are the “sweet spot” for passenger rail. He identified a number of new potential corridors, including a route between Fort Worth, Texas — now a stop along the Heartland Flyer — and Newton, Kansas, which is currently a stop along the Southwest Chief.
Moran said he expects Congress to agree to continued funding for Amtrak to support current long distances routes, but that it would be a “battle.”
“I need to make sure that Amtrak, its board of directors, its management has a commitment to long-term passenger services in places in the country in which it’s not probably ever going to be profitable,” Moran said in an interview.
The senator got some of the assurances for the continued operation of the Southwest Chief he wanted from a meeting with Anderson Wednesday.
But Moran said through a spokesperson later that while the meeting was a, “step in the right direction,” it prompted further questions. The senator is keeping holds on nominees to Amtrak’s Board of Directors while he awaits more answers.
Corinne Boyer is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow her @Corinne_Boyer or email [email protected]
TOPEKA – The Kansas Water Office is currently accepting applications from those who would like to participate as a member of one of the 14 Regional Advisory Committees (RACs) which are established by the Kansas Water Authority (KWA). Interested individuals are encouraged to apply soon as the deadline is only two weeks away.
These committees play a key role in advising the KWA on implementation of each region’s water supply priorities as part of the Kansas Water Vision and the Kansas water planning process as a whole. They help identify and provide input on other emerging water resource related issues and concerns. The committee selection process will ensure all of the water users and interests within the region are represented.
Kansans can have a definite lasting impact on the future of water resources through RAC membership.Interested persons can apply at www.kwo.ks.gov. The application deadline is May 31, 2019.
As the state’s water office, KWO conducts water planning, policy coordination and water marketing as well as facilitates public input throughout the state. The agency prepares the Kansas Water Plan, a plan for water resources development, management and conservation.
CLOUD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after an arrest.
Mark Kearn photo Marshall County
Just after 8:30a.m. Thursday, a Cloud County Sheriff’s Deputy located a vehicle where an individual appeared to be slumped over in the driver seat in the 300 block of West 6th Street in Concordia, according to a Sheriff Brian Marks.
While doing a public safety check, deputies arrested 40-year-old Mark Kearn of Concordia on requested charges that include possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Kearn has previous convictions for aggravated endangerment of a child, battery and intro contraband; non firearm, ammo, explosive, controlled substance by non employee, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
He remains jailed in Cloud County Law Enforcement Center.
