KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge in Kansas is facing charges after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Johnson County Court records show that 70-year-old Kathryn Vratil was arrested Thursday night. She is charged in Johnson County District Court with driving under the influence and improper driving.

Vratil is a senior judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

A complaint filed Friday says Vratil was arrested by a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper. She posted a $1,000 bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 21.

Chief Judge Julie Robinson said in a statement Friday that the federal court will handle the incident as a personnel matter and have no further comment.

Editors note: The story has been updated to include a statement released late Friday from Senator Pat Roberts.

WASHINGTON – Members of the Kansas congressional delegation issued statements Friday after the Kansas Supreme Court declared the state constitution protects abortion rights. The Kansas decision prevents the state from enforcing a 2015 law that could have greatly limited second trimester abortions.

In a statement Friday afternoon, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran said.

“I am saddened by today’s State Supreme Court decision. An unborn child is a distinct human being and our laws should defend its right to life. This decision underscores the urgent need for federal legislation that will protect innocent life at all stages, and I will continue working to see such legislation achieved.”

I am disappointed in the activist Kansas Supreme Court’s decision that in Kansas an unborn child has, literally, no right to life.

— Senator Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) April 27, 2019

Today, the Kansas Supreme Court violated the sanctity of life and denied the rights of the unborn in our state. It’s plain wrong and deeply shameful. (1/3

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) April 26, 2019

Today, radical and out-of-touch justices on the Kansas Supreme Court have cleared the way for the barbaric practice of dismemberment abortions and opened the door for even more extreme late-term abortions in our state. https://t.co/0Ry9w4zneR

— Rep. Ron Estes (@RepRonEstes) April 26, 2019

The Kansas Supreme Court ruling on abortion is another example of moral degradation in our country. I will continue to fight for federal legislation to protect our most vulnerable. #ksleg #ks02 #prolife

— Rep. Steve Watkins (@Rep_Watkins) April 26, 2019

Rep. @ShariceDavids: “Today’s ruling reaffirms a woman’s fundamental right to make her own decisions about her body and health care…I continue to fight to ensure Kansas women and families have access to a full range of health care services they need.” https://t.co/pYGqVuS7aZ

— Kansas Dems (@KansasDems) April 26, 2019

The court ruling clears the way for legal challenges to a string of abortion restrictions approved in recent years by state lawmakers under past Republican governors.

The court said vague language protecting “equal and inalienable rights” in the first section of the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights grants a “natural right of personal autonomy” that includes the right to “control one’s own body.” Because that right is independent of the U.S. Constitution, Kansas courts could strike down restrictions that have been upheld by the federal courts.

“This right allows a woman to make her own decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life — decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy,” the court’s unsigned majority opinion said.

Justices ruled 6-1 on the language in state constitution. Justice Caleb Stegall, the only appointee of a conservative Republican governor, declared in his dissenting opinion that the ruling “fundamentally alters the structure of our government” to “arbitrarily grant a regulatory reprieve” for abortion.

The ruling immediately prompted abortion opponents to call for amending the state constitution. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who took office in January, is a strong abortion-rights supporter, but the Legislature still has solid anti-abortion majorities.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former worker at the Wichita YMCA was sentenced to 27½ years in prison for sexually assaulting two young children.

Twenty-two-year-old 22-year-old Caleb Gaston was sentenced Friday. He pleaded no contest in February to two counts of rape.

Authorities say in January 2018, Gaston sexually abused a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old in his care at the YMCA branch’s Kid Zone. Police arrested him after the 4-year-old girl reported that he had hit her and then touched her inappropriately.

Before sentencing, Gaston apologized and said he had never had legal troubles until he became convicted to drugs.

Before the YMCA incidents, Gaston was fired from another day care job after complaints he had inappropriately touched children. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment couldn’t substantiate the allegation.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Friday a local prosecutor has reopened a domestic violence investigation involving suspended wide receiver Tyreek Hill after a TV station broadcast an audio recording in which Hill and his fiancee discuss injuries to their 3-year-old son.

Reid made the comment as the Chiefs introduced a new draft pick, but he and general manager Brett Veach both declined comment about Hill’s case and potential next steps. The prosecutor, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe, did not immediately return a message.

Police were called to the Hill home twice last month and determined the child had been injured. On Wednesday, Howe said he would not file charges against Hill or Espinal even though his office believed a crime had occurred. He said available evidence didn’t establish who had hurt the child.

“As a prosecutor, as a father of four, yes, it frustrates me when someone hurts a child and you can’t do anything about it,” Howe said then. “One of the elements of a crime is you have to prove who that person is who committed the act.”

A day later, KCTV in Kansas City aired part of an 11-minute audio filein which Espinal tells Hill earlier this year that when the boy was asked about his injured arm he replied: “Daddy did it.”

Hill denied any role in what happened to the child, saying: “He says Daddy does a lot of things.”

Espinal also tells Hill their son is “terrified of you.”

Hill replies, “You need to be terrified of me, too, bitch.”

Later, Espinal asks Hill, “What do you do when the child is bad? You make him open up his arms and you punch him in the chest.”

Howe has not responded to requests for comment about the audio recording, which the TV station said has been provided to his office. KCTV said the recording is believed to have been made in March when the parents were walking through an airport in Dubai. The station said Espinal sent it to at least one friend and was shared with KCTV “by someone who is concerned about the welfare of the couple’s child.”

Several media outlets reported that Overland Park police went to the home of Hill home on Thursday night after receiving an anonymous call from someone worried about Espinal. According to the reports, Espinal was fine and officers were at the home for only a short time.

The Chiefs have suspended Hillwhile the team looks into the developments. The NFL could also punish Hill under its personal conduct policy.

Hill’s history with Espinal is well known. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation in an incident involving his then-pregnant girlfriend the previous year. The incident resulted in his dismissal from the Oklahoma State football team and he was put on probation until August 2018. He wound up playing at tiny West Alabama, where he juggled school and football with counseling sessions and other court-mandated service work until the NFL came calling.

Hill, a fifth-round pick who is a two-time Pro Bowler, was part of a controversial draft class by the Chiefs and then-general manager John Dorsey in 2016.

The Chiefs also spent a third-round pick that year on cornerback KeiVarae Russell, who missed an entire season for violating Notre Dame’s honor code in an academic misconduct case; a fourth-round pick on wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, who was suspended four times at Florida for drugs and other violations; and a sixth-round pick on Virginia Tech linebacker Dadi Nicolas, who was once charged with larceny and suspended for bumping an official. Among them, only Robinson is still on the roster.

Last year, the Chiefs released star running back Kareem Hunt following a video that showed him pushing and kicking a woman in a hotel hallway. Hunt is suspended for the first eight games of the upcoming season but has signed a one-year deal with Cleveland under Dorsey, the Browns GM who signed Hunt while he was with the Chiefs.

WICHITA— Police have identified a man found dead in a Wichita pond Wednesday as 71-year-old Robert Dashiell.

This is believed to be a fishing accident or a possible a medical condition, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.

Just after  4:30 p.m. emergency crews responded to the pond at 3200 N. Toben in Wichita.  Dashiell was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities did not release the autopsy report Friday.

By DEWEY TERRILL
JC Post

JUNCTION CITY — A Kansas sheriff accused of felony theft and misdemeanor misuse of public funds has entered a no contest plea.

On Friday, Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf entered the plea deal and that saw the court dismiss two other felony counts with prejudice. They cannot be refiled.

The recommended sentence for Wolf is 12 months probation on the misdemeanor and, in the other allegation, a presumptive probation matter with the probation in both cases to run concurrently at the same time, with no jail time. Wolf must also make restitution totaling $2,200 in the theft case.

Formal sentencing has been scheduled on June 28.

Wolf will be also be required to forfeit his position as Geary County sheriff effective immediately. A letter of resignation must be submitted to the governor.

According to the factual basis outlined in court on Friday, Wolf authorized an expense of $530 against a county credit card to purchase tires for a friend’s vehicle. He claimed it was a payment to a confidential informant for drug information, which was false.

There was a reference to a text which Wolf told the friend, “This is what friends do for each other.” Wolf later admitted to a KBI agent the tires were purchased for a friend. Those funds were credited by the vendor back to the credit card, and Wolf later paid the vendor.

In the second case, Wolf used state asset forfeiture funds to purchase items including weapons, ammunition and a scope. Wolf turned in a list on those, but it did not include six items, including a scope. He will make the $2,200 restitution in that case.

In court Friday, Wolf appeared with his attorney, Barry Clark, Manhattan while Assistant Dickinson County Attorney Darryl Hawkins served as the Special Prosecutor in the case. During the proceedings, Wolf acknowledged he understood the charges and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. The jury trial scheduled in the case that on the misdemeanor count, plus a felony theft charge that has now been dismissed, was scheduled May 8 and 9 in District court. It will be withdrawn from the court docket.

Wolf was first elected Geary County sheriff in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. He began working for the sheriff’s department as a corrections officer in 1996 and later moved to the patrol division.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and made an arrest.

Just before 10:20 a.m. Thursday, police were dispatched to an armed robbery at the Sprint store located in the 500 block of S. West Street in Wichita, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.

Upon arrival, officers contacted a sole employee who reported that two unknown males, one armed with a handgun, had robbed the store and zip tied him in a back room.

During the investigation officers had information on a possible suspect vehicle, which was described as a silver SUV.

Responding officers spotted a silver SUV in the area and attempted to stop the vehicle.  The vehicle failed to stop, and a short traffic pursuit ensued.  The suspect vehicle struck a box truck at Kellogg and Meridian and came to a rest off of the road.  Two occupants ran from the vehicle and were taken into custody by officers shortly after.

Police questioned the two suspect and arrested 25-year-old Camarin McPherson and 26-year-old Xavier M. Lopez.

McPherson is being held on requested charges that include aggravated robbery, kidnapping, criminal possession of a firearm, flee and elude and drug possession, according to the Sedgwick County Jail records.

Lopez is being held for aggravated robbery.

The loss to the business was cash and merchandise belonging to the business.  There were no injuries to anyone, according to Wheeler. He did not release the name of the suspects.

 

 

By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ highest court ruled for the first time Friday that the state constitution protects abortion rights and blocked a first-in-the-nation ban on a common second trimester method for ending pregnancies.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling represented a big victory for abortion rights supporters in a state with a Republican-controlled Legislature hostile to their cause. It comes with other, GOP-controlled states moving to ban most abortionsin direct challenges to the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortions across the nation.

The Kansas decision prevents the state from enforcing a 2015 law that could have greatly limited second trimester abortions. But even worse for abortion opponents, the ruling clears the way for legal challenges to a string of abortion restrictions approved in recent years by state lawmakers under past Republican governors.

The court said vague language protecting “equal and inalienable rights” in the first section of the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights grants a “natural right of personal autonomy” that includes the right to “control one’s own body.” Because that right is independent of the U.S. Constitution, Kansas courts could strike down restrictions that have been upheld by the federal courts.

“This right allows a woman to make her own decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life — decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy,” the court’s unsigned majority opinion said.

Justices ruled 6-1 on the language in state constitution. Justice Caleb Stegall, the only appointee of a conservative Republican governor, declared in his dissenting opinion that the ruling “fundamentally alters the structure of our government” to “arbitrarily grant a regulatory reprieve” for abortion.

The ruling immediately prompted abortion opponents to call for amending the state constitution. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who took office in January, is a strong abortion-rights supporter, but the Legislature still has solid anti-abortion majorities.

“The liberal, activist Supreme Court showed just how out of touch they are with Kansas values,” Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican, said in a statement issued minutes after the decision. “We understand that life is sacred, beginning at conception, and we must always stand and defend the most vulnerable among us, the unborn.”

In previous cases, Kansas’ highest court avoided the question, allowing U.S. Supreme Court decisions to determine what restrictions would be allowed. But a state district court judge ruled in issuing an injunction to block the 2015 law that the Kansas Constitution grants its own protections.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for a trial on the lawsuit challenging the law but kept the judge’s injunction in place, saying the lawsuit was likely to succeed in invalidating the law.

The decision Friday comes two years after the Kansas court heard arguments from attorneys, an unusually long delay for a ruling. Iowa’s Supreme Court issued a similar decisionin 2018.

The Kansas Bill of Rights says residents’ natural rights include “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and that “free governments” were created for their “equal protection and benefit.”

The state’s attorneys argued there is no evidence that when the state constitution was written in 1859, its drafters contemplated abortion rights. In the Kansas Territory, abortion was illegal except to save a woman’s life, and that policy carried over in the new state’s laws.

The Kansas law at issue would bar physicians from using forceps or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces, using the non-medical term “dismemberment abortion” to describe the procedure. Such instruments are commonly used in dilation and evacuation procedure, which the Center for Reproductive Rights has described as the safest and most common abortion procedure in the U.S. in the second trimester.

The Kansas law was model legislation drafted by the National Right to Life Committee. The group says similar bans have been enacted in 10 other states — Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio and North Dakota.

Abortion providers reported performing 484 dilation and evacuation procedures in Kansas in 2018, according to state health department statistics. That was 6.9% of the state’s total abortions; most pregnancies were terminated during the first trimester.

The lawsuit against the Kansas law was filed by Drs. Herbert Hodes and Traci Nauser, a father and daughter who operated a women’s health center together in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. Hodes has since retired.

After the district judge’s ruling put the law on hold, the Kansas Court of Appeals split 7-7, allowing the judge’s decision to stand.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is preparing to rule on whether the state constitution protects abortion rights.

The court announced that it would issue a decision Friday in a lawsuit filed by two abortion providers in 2015 against a Kansas law banning a common second-trimester procedure.

A trial-court judge ruled that the state constitution’s Bill of Rights provides protections for abortion rights that are independent of protections under the U.S. Constitution.

If the Kansas Supreme Court agrees, state courts could invalidate abortion restrictions upheld by the federal courts. Such a decision also would likely spur an attempt from abortion opponents to amend the state constitution.

The law’s fate also is at issue. It was the first of its kind in the nation in 2015 but has yet to be enforced.

LONGTON, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one of two brothers hurt in an all-terrain vehicle crash in rural southeast Kansas has died from his injuries.

Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Wingate identified the boy as 6-year-old Owen Cannon, of Longton. His 9-year-old brother was driving the ATV when it crashed into a pickup truck on April 18 while cresting a hill on an Elk County gravel road.

Both boys were flown away from the wreck. The truck driver wasn’t hurt. A GoFundMe says the older boy had a broken leg, while Owen had swelling on his brain and cracked vertebrae in his neck.

Wingate says the investigation is ongoing.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A new retirement home of sorts gives homeless senior dogs that don’t get adopted from shelters a place to romp and roam.

Shep’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary opened about two weeks ago in the Kansas City suburb of Independence.

Founder Russell Clothier says that he came up with the idea after he started volunteering at shelters and saw elderly dogs never finding a new home. He decided the dogs need to be spending their “golden days in retirement.”

The sanctuary is named after a 10-year-old beagle-basset hound mix that Clothier adopted. It has kennels for around 20 dogs to be housed together and a large yard. Clothier says the sanctuary takes only dogs that “fall through the cracks” and can’t find a home through a shelter.

Hays-area garage sales

Scroll to the bottom for a map of garage sale locations. Hays Post offers FREE garage sale listings weekly. Having a garage sale next weekend? Click HERE to submit your information.

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2524 Henry, Hays
Friday April 26 7:00am to 8:00pm; Saturday April 27 7:00am to noon

Lots of toys, lots of household items, carpet, so many things, well organized, largest annual garage sale to date, must see it

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1204 Donald Drive, Hays
Friday, April 26, 9:00A.M.-6:00P.M.

Collectibles, Man Cave/Diva Den items, Household, Outdoors

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3400 Summer Lane, Hays
April 27th 9AM-2PM

Junior/Women’s Brand Name Clothing

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2500 Block Henry, Hays
Friday April 26th 8AM to 8PM

Multi-family garage sales

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4107 Fillmore, Hays
Friday, May 31 9am-2pm and Saturday, June 1 9am- 2pm

Dining chairs, dining linens, breakfast nook table and chairs, filing cabinets (metal and wood), book shelves, media cabinets, garden tools, bedding, ski rack

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115 Pembroke Lane, Ellinwood
Saturday, April 27, 2019 8 am-noon

Items from multiple households including many acquired while in the same residence for over 60 years: craft supplies, fabric, sewing notions, crochet items, holiday decor, Tupperware of many decades, glassware, dishes, cookware, cookbooks – including from area churches, jewelry, chairs, shelves, luggage, baskets, office supplies, household miscellaneous, ladders, John Deere RX75 30″ riding mower with rear bagger and new motor, garden hoses, leaf rake, bird feeder, bathroom sink, wall cabinet, 26″ woman’s bicycle and kids’ clothes. Part of Ellinwood’s spring city wide garage sales.

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1207 Hickory Victoria
Saturday April 27 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Furniture, tools, men’s work clothes, camping gear, rotisserie & BBQ oven, homemade potholders $2 each. Unique vintage items, sports bedding, tripods, books.

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VICTORIA CITYWIDE GARAGE SALE
SAT. APRIL 27, 2019 RAIN OR SHINE! 8 a.m. to ??

1006 Ash. Women’s & kids’ clothing, home décor, patio set, desk.
1208 Ash. New compound bow, folding chairs, wooden footstool, old license plates, mirrors, kids’ games, music.
806 Cedar. Women & men’s clothing, baby items, household items.
709 Grant. Crib, pack n play, toys, excellent boy baby clothes NB-2T.
711 Hickory. Tools, lawnmowers, miscellaneous.
1004 Hickory. Boys’ clothing, name brand girls’ clothing, lots of miscellaneous.
1207 Hickory. Camping gear, unique vintage items, furniture, tools, homemade potholders, art.
502 Jefferson. Baby clothes, brand clothes, jewelry, dishes, antiques, misc.
627 Jefferson. Women’s clothing (s-xl), women’s shoes, girls’ clothes & shoes, little boys’ clothes, toys.
2569 Spring Hill Rd. Household items, furniture, clothing, shoes, jewelry, home décor.

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408 E 13th St, Hays
May 18th & 19th from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Men and Women’s Clothing and Shoes, Various Household Appliances and Items including: shelving, dresser, dvds, lawn care equipment, kitchen items, office supplies, organizational items, and other miscellaneous things. This is a moving sale, all items MUST go!

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3202 Country Lane, Hays
Friday from3:00-6:00 and Saturday 8:00-11:00

Stadium seats, men’s and women’s clothing, yard decor, oak microwave cart, home decor, bedding

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1306 Donald Drive, Hays
Saturday, April 27th

4 – Family “Too much stuff” Garage Sale (from Kansas and Missouri) 1306 Donald Dr. Hays, KS Saturday, April 27th Open 8am to 2pm We will have a wide variety of items, something for everyone & great prices. Hope you can come! Marshall Guitar Amp Exercise Cycle: Gold’s Gym Boy’s bike Plastic hockey sticks, baseball bats and toys New items Books & Movie Teacher items Baby things Clothes for: Baby – Children – Women – Men Home Décor Kitchen items including Pampered Chef Stoneware & a Bread Machine Lots & lots of miscellaneous

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