Sedgwick County —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have a Kansas woman in custody.
Sharon Wells -photo Sedgwick Co.
Just after 12:15 a.m. Friday, police responded to a shooting call at a residence in the 1400 block of north Battin in Wichita, according to office Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival, officers located a 45-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. He was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and remains hospitalized.
The investigation revealed a disturbance occurred between the suspect 45-year-old Sharon Wells and her boyfriend. During the disturbance, Wells retrieved a handgun and fired it, striking her boyfriend.
Multiple individuals between the ages of 12 and 18 years old were in the home at the time of the incident, according to Davidson. They were not injured. Police also recovered a handgun at the home.
Police arrested Wells on a requested charge of aggravated battery.
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas community college released a summary of its internal review into the heatstroke death last year of a football player who collapsed after the first day of practice, saying the coach reported that players were provided with water.Braeden Bradforth, 19, of Neptune, New Jersey, was found unconscious outside his dorm room following the Aug. 1 practice. He died that night at a hospital.Garden City Community College said in its summary that the temperature was 84 degrees at the start of practice with 10 football coaches in attendance that day. Head Trainer T.J. Horton said 60 gallons of water, 10 ice towels and an ice chest with injury ice and bags were on hand. Trainers had large Gatorade containers on the sideline and each student helper had six water bottles in their carrier, according to the summary.
Bradforth and his mother after his graduation from Neptune High School -courtesy Joanne Atkins-Ingram
But some players told KCUR that they were denied water during conditioning drills.
“When we first started, I thought they were crazy,” said Johnny Jean, a player from Florida. “I ain’t never been at practice when they said we couldn’t get water.”
Jean also told the radio station that Bradforth struggled during practice.
But the school’s internal review said neither the head trainer nor the head coach ever noticed him “drop a knee to the ground, or complain about the drills.”
The practice began at 7 p.m. with a workout that consisted of 36 50-yard sprints, with 30 seconds of rest between each sprint, according to the summary. Practice ended shortly after 9 p.m., with a team meeting immediately following in a lecture hall across from the football field.
As they were walking from the football field, coach Caleb Young noticed Bradforth stumbled a little before regaining his balance. Young told him, “Hey, you’re good. Let’s go,” according to the report. Bradforth reportedly responded back, “Yeah, I’m good. I’m good.”
Bradforth started walking toward the dorms, and shook his head when Young asked him if he was quitting. At the team meeting, Young told another coach that Bradforth had apparently quit the team and walked to the dorms.
A lawyer for Bradforth’s family, Jill Greene, said in a letter to the college’s attorney that the college’s internal report “makes a mockery of Braeden’s death.”
“It’s self-serving fluff,” she told KCUR.
The college said it has taken several steps as a result of its review, including hiring an additional trainer and a conditioning coach, training all coaches in CPR and first aid, and developing a protocol to recognize and treat heat-related illnesses.
On Tuesday, New Jersey’s 12-member U.S. House delegation called for an independent investigation into Bradforth’s death.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former University of Missouri-St. Louis graduate student has been convicted of sexually abusing two students in their on-campus apartments in 2017 and 2018.
Bagley-photo St. Louis Co. Jail
24-year-old Devonta Bagley, of Belton, Missouri, was found guilty Thursday of six counts, including sodomy and burglary. Prosecutors say one of the assaults happened in March 2018, just four days before he was due in court on charges that he sexually assaulted an unconscious man at a fraternity at Kansas State University. That charge is pending.
Bagley graduated from Kansas State with a sociology degree in the spring of 2017. He was a graduate student at UMSL before he was expelled in October 2017.
His attorney, Joslyn Anthony, says Bagley maintains his innocence and is disappointed with the verdict.
RICE COUNTY — Officials have announced a benefit ride for the Rice County sheriff and undersheriff who were wounded during an incident this week in Sterling and rural Rice County.
Rice County Undersheriff Chad Murphy
The Blue Iron Motorcycle club, which is a law enforcement club, will take the fundraising ride on May 22 at 10 a.m.
The ride will start at the old Shopko parking lot in Lyons and end at Sonic in Sterling.
All donations from this ride will benefit Sheriff Bryant Evans and Undersheriff Chad Murphy.
Murphy was wounded after attempting to serve a warrant on David Madden. He was initially taken to a Wichita hospital in critical condition but continues to improve, according to the KBI.
Later, while approaching a home in the rural Rice County community of Raymond, Sheriff Evans was wounded in the leg. He was treated at a Wichita hospital and has returned to a limited work schedule.
For more information on this ride, contact Justin Holiday at 620-680-0503 or Mark Towery at 620-680-0853.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have a teen in custody.
Police on the scene of the April 19 shooting -photo courtesy KAKE
Just after 10:30p.m. April 19, police responded to reports of shots fired at a business in the 1600 Block of South George Washington Boulevard, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Officers found a 27-year-old, a 25-year-old and a 20-year-old with gunshot wounds. The 27 and 20-year-old males were transported to a Wichita hospital for treatment. The 25-year-old refused treatment.
Police also contacted a 19-year-old woman at the hospital with gunshot wounds to her leg and elbow. Her vehicle was also damaged by gunshots. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators have learned there was a party held at the business that night. During a disturbance, a 17-year-old and another suspect fire multiple shots that struck multiple victims, according to Davidson.
Police arrested the 17-year-old on requested charges of aggravated battery and criminal discharge of a firearm, according to Davidson.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 8:30p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County.
A 2003 Buick Century driven by Joseph Pomeroy Independence was northbound on County Road 2700 at 2400.
The vehicle ran off the road into a creek bed and struck an embankment, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department.
Pomeroy was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger Delores Pomeroy was transported to the hospital in Coffeyville and later airlifted to a hospital in Tulsa.
The sheriff’s department released no additional details Friday morning.
BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have arrested two people in Kansas after a woman’s body was found in a Missouri lake.
Samantha McCoy -photo Linn CountyMonte McCoy -photo Linn County
Thirty-three-year-old Samantha McCoy and 43-year-old Monte McCoy were charged Thursday with first-degree assault.
They aren’t charged in the death of 69-year-old Cindy McCoy, whose body was found Thursday afternoon in a vehicle in the eastern Missouri town of Butler.
But the arrest warrant for Monte McCoy says he and Samantha McCoy acted together and “knowingly attempted to kill or cause serious physical injury to” Cindy McCoy by striking her with a vehicle.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation also had sought Samantha McCoy as a person of interest.
The two suspects are jailed in Linn County, Kansas. Their relationship wasn’t released. No attorneys are listed for them in online court records.
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WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A former college softball player fatally shot while driving in eastern Iowa will be memorialized Friday at a funeral Mass in her Kansas hometown.
Micalla Alexis Rettinger was shot early Sunday morning as she drove over a wooded area along the Cedar River in Waterloo. The 25-year-old former University of Northern Iowa softball player pulled over along U.S. Highway 218 and died. The bullet also struck one of her passengers: her 32-year-old boyfriend, Adam Kimball. He was hospitalized and the bullet was recovered.
At least $58,000 has been offered as a reward for information leading to an arrest.
The Mass is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa, Kansas. She had been living in Waterloo since graduating in 2016 from the university.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas revived tax relief legislation Thursday night without assurances that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would accept a new, smaller plan for helping individuals and businesses who are paying more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws.
The Senate approved, on a 27-13vote, a measurethat is less than half the size of a tax relief bill that Kelly vetoedin March after describing it as fiscally irresponsible. Drafted by GOP negotiators for the House and Senate, it would save taxpayers roughly $90 million during the budget year beginning in July and about $240 million over three years. The House could vote on it as early as Friday to determine whether the bill goes to Kelly.
Kelly has urged legislators to wait until at least next year to pursue tax legislation, arguing that Kansas must be sure first that its finances are stable. However, Republican leaders made tax relief a top priority and contend the state is receiving a “windfall” that it doesn’t deserve because of the federal tax changes at the end of 2017.
The Senate’s vote came a day after the Kansas Department of Revenue reported that the state collected $81 million more in taxes than anticipated during April.
“How dare we realize in one month the money it takes to pay for this bill, knowing that it’s going to increase for many months to come, and not pass the savings on to Kansas businesses and Kansas individuals?” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican.
Kelly framed the first, larger tax relief billas an irresponsible return to a tax-cutting experiment under former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback that made Kansas nationally notorious because of the persistent budget woes that followed. Bipartisan legislative majorities repealed mostof the Brownback tax cuts in 2017, and Kelly ran successfully againstBrownback’s political legacy last year.
“Folks, we’re playing the same game,” said Sen. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City Democrat.
The governor said Thursday that the state has in recent years made “impulsive, poorly reviewed” tax changes and instead should do a comprehensive study of its tax system.
“Above all, I believe this discussion should be guided by a thoughtful, data-driven, big-picture vision for Kansas — not by a hasty attempt to achieve an immediate political victory,” Kelly said in a statement.
Wagle said supporters of the first tax bill, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, cut back on the potential cost of the state with the second bill to make it more palatable to Kelly.
But Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, predicted, “This bill is destined for a veto.”
Like other states, Kansas faced revising its income tax code because it is tied to the federal tax code. The federal tax changeschampioned by President Donald Trump lowered rates but also included provisions that raised money for Kansas, in part by discouraging individual filers from claiming itemized deductions.
“This is clearly a tax increase if we don’t fix this,” said Sen. Rick Billinger, a Goodland Republican.
Like the earlier bill Kelly vetoed, the new measure would allow individuals to itemize on their state tax returns even if they do not itemize on their federal returns. The bill also provides relief to corporations, particularly large firms with operations outside the U.S., but it is less weighted toward those business taxpayers than the previous measure.
Unlike the earlier measure, the new plan does not attempt to apply the changes retroactively so that filers could receive refunds on what they paid this spring for 2018.
SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating more suspects after a Wednesday sex trafficking sting.
Wichita police vice detectives, patrol community policing officers and officers from the Broadway Corridor team conducted the sting targeting those attempting to purchase sex in the Broadway Corridor area, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Martin A. BeurmanBilly Joe Burkholder
Wednesday’s assignment is the 17thsimilar sting operation since August of 2017 which have resulted in 137 arrests including 27 women and 110 men.
William A. Calderwood, GoddardGonzalo Garcia
Terry L. HoggSamuel R. Ketner
Officers arrested 13 Wednesday, according to Davidson.
Kevin Patrick KingBenjamin MartinezLevi Austin PickettTerral E. WilliamsMichael Ray Keaton, Jr.
FINNEY COUNTY — Authorities in southwest Kansas are alerting residents of a new phone scam.
On Thursday, the Finney County Health Department in Garden City reported in a media release their phone number has been used in prank, recorded phone calls about false STD notifications.
The Health Department reminded the public they would never discuss private health information in a recording, always ask permission to discuss sensitive health information over the phone and will always identify as employees of the Finney County Health Department. The staff will also never discuss any health information in a voice mail.
If you’ve visited the health department for an STD, the health department will ask for your password or code to discuss any health-related issue over the phone.
When screening for STDs, the health department reminded they will never reveal the identity of the person that named them as a sexual partner.
If you receive a phone call that may seem suspicious, call the health department and staff will verify if we have attempted to contact you.
Sheldon Preskorn, M.D., psychiatry professor at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, talks with Matthew Macaluso, D.O., associate professor of psychiatry at KU School of Medicine-Wichita. Both played a pivotal role in the research and development of esketamine, a new treatment for depression.
By JOE STUMPE KU School of Medicine-Wichita
WICHITA – The most promising new treatment for depression in decades owes a debt to Wichita and its KU School of Medicine campus.
The drug, called esketamine, is being marketed as a nasal spray under the name Spravato. Approved for use by the FDA in March, esketamine has been shown to help a significant percentage of people who don’t respond to existing antidepressants, which all work on monoamine – also called biogenic amine – neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. In contrast, Spravato works via a new mechanism on a new transmitter system, glutamate.
“This medicine works via a different mechanism. That mechanism produces meaningful effects in approximately 60 percent of patients not meaningfully helped by existing antidepressants and within 24 hours,” said Sheldon Preskorn, M.D., a psychiatry professor at KU School of Medicine-Wichita who has helped in the development and now the launch of the drug. “It’s really quite different.”
About a third of the people suffering from depression – several million in the United States alone – aren’t helped by monoamine antidepressants such as Prozac or Zoloft.
“We’ve been working with those (drugs) for 50 years because that is all we’ve had up to the FDA approval of Spravato,” Preskorn said.
Preskorn knows the history, having led or participated in psychopharmacology research since the late 1970s. During a 25-year period, he took part in the development of every antidepressant and antipsychotic drug brought to market in the United States.
“I did one of the earliest studies showing that drugs of (esketamine’s) nature worked,” Preskorn said, referring to a study published in 2008. “It wasn’t esketamine, but it showed that this mechanism of action worked in patients with otherwise treatment-resistant depression.” That study, conducted in Wichita, has been cited more than 400 times in the world’s medical literature.
Preskorn also taught Wayne Drevets, M.D., the physician scientist who led drug development work for Janssen Research & Development, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that won FDA approval to market esketamine. Drevets is a graduate of KU School of Medicine, as is Preskorn.
“He’s a native of Wichita, went to Collegiate High and graduated from medical school at KU in Kansas City,” Preskorn said. “He was a medical student of mine and then a resident of mine when I was on the faculty at KU in Kansas City and then Washington University” in St. Louis.
At Janssen, Drevets, as a vice president of the company, oversees the development of new treatments for depression and other mood and anxiety disorders.
Drevets was motivated to train as a psychiatrist by observing friends who struggled with depression, according to a profile on the Janssen website. He began his research career looking at the effects of existing medicines on the brain. At the time, researchers did not know where in the brain to look for abnormalities that affect emotional behavior. Today, imaging technology allows scientists to see the differences in a person’s brain when they are having symptoms.
The profile quotes Drevets as saying he believes the practice of psychiatry has lagged behind what is now known of the brain, and that’s the main reason he moved into the pharmaceutical industry.
“I wanted to help develop new treatments that would make a difference for patients in the clinic,” he said. Preskorn said he recognized that innovative spirit in Drevets as a medical student and resident.
In addition to Preskorn and Drevets, there is another important KU contributor to the approval of esketamine: Matthew Macaluso, D.O., an associate professor of psychiatry at KU School of Medicine-Wichita and a graduate of its residency program. Macaluso was principal investigator for a portion of the pivotal clinical trials conducted here that led to FDA approval of esketamine. An assistant dean for research and director of the psychiatry residency program, Macaluso also leads the Center for Clinical Research at KU Wichita.
During the course of about three years, Macaluso studied patients whose depression had not responded adequately to at least two therapeutic trials of different existing monoamine antidepressants. The patients were given doses of esketamine twice weekly for one month, and then the frequency of dosing was decreased with some patients receiving the drug only every two weeks.
“We saw good responses to the drug in most but not all the patients,” Macaluso said. “Many of the individuals in the study told us it was a life-changing treatment for them. These were people who had lost interest in life, had less energy and were chronically ill – truly suffering.”
Esketamine has an interesting history. Ketamine – which contains both esketamine and arketamine – was introduced as anesthetic in Germany in 1997. Ketamine showed signs of acting as an antidepressant, leading to research on its use for that purpose. Ketamine is also used by veterinarians as a tranquilizer and has been abused as a party drug nicknamed “Special K.” It is a controlled drug that can only be administered in a medical office.
The same is true of esketamine, which also distinguishes it from other depressants. It works on a chemical in the brain called glutamine, which is a different mechanism of action than drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft.
“Historically, most antidepressant drugs work on what are called biogenic amines – chemicals in the brain like serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine,” Macaluso said. “Dr. Preskorn earlier studied a novel drug that worked on a different chemical called glutamate. Since then, there has been keen interest in the development of such drugs for patients with depressive illness, which is not responsive to monoamine antidepressants.”
Spravato is now FDA approved to be taken in conjunction with a daily oral monoamine antidepressant, which is how the studies were conducted that led to FDA approval. In addition to reducing depression, a “floating” or tranquilizing sensation is often felt. Some patients have reported dissociation, dizziness and other side effects.
FDA approval was based on research showing that esketamine treated depression where other drugs had not worked and prevented its recurrence. Preskorn said clinical trials are not always representative of how new treatments do in the “real world” of clinical practice, but he is optimistic.
Macaluso said “unfortunately” some psychiatrists may be reluctant to prescribe esketamine because it’s related to a drug “people have abused over the years.” Patients should be screened for a history of substance use disorder or risk for developing the same, he noted.
But Preskorn believes the fact that “it works well for patients who have not benefited from other treatments” will override that concern for many psychiatrists, other health care providers and their patients.
He was one of three psychiatrists picked by Janssen to serve as a panel on the initial broadcast launch presentations about esketamine across the country, reaching over 11,000 health care providers.
“To me, that shows there is a great deal of interest in this treatment,” Preskorn said.
