SEWARD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a weekend head-on crash that sent on man to the hospital and another to jail.
emergency responders were dispatched to the 200 block of West Pancake Boulevard for a reported injury accident. Responding officers found a pickup and semi truck had collided head on.
Just after 11:30 p.m. Saturday, a 2012 Ford F-250 driven by a 24-year-old man was eastbound on Pancake Boulevard in Liberal, according to Police Captain Patrick McClurg.
The Ford crossed the center line in the path of a westbound 2008 Peterbilt semi-tractor and trailer. The vehicles collided head on. The 32-year-old male driver of the Peterbilt was transported to Southwest Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries.
Investigators determined the driver of the Ford showed signs of impairment related to the consumption of alcohol. He was subsequently arrested. During a search subsequent to the arrest, a small quantity of suspected cocaine was located.
Police booked him into the Seward County Jail for aggravated battery, driving under the influence with a prior conviction, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license, driving left of center, and no seat belt. An affidavit was submitted to the Seward County Attorney’s Office seeking formal charges.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 35-year-old Kansas man has been sentenced to prison after his father-in-law died while taking methadone to help the younger man cheat on a drug test.
Justin Jones -photo Douglas County
Justin Jones was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the 2017 death of 47-year-old Eric Everts. Both men lived in Baldwin City.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Jones also pleaded guilty in January to distribution of methadone.
As part of his treatment for drug addiction, Jones was required to turn in urine samples containing nothing but methadone, which treats opioid addiction.
Baldwin City investigators said in an affidavit that for months Everts took methadone and provided otherwise clean urine samples, which Jones submitted as his own. Everts was found dead at his home in September 2017.
PHOENIX (AP) — Immigration authorities on Friday said that anyone with any involvement with marijuana, regardless of whether it’s legal in the state where they live, can be denied citizenship because the drug is still illegal under federal law.
Sergio Medina-Perez, an illegal immigrant was charged in federal court in Sept. 2018 for his involvement in a marijuana grow operation near Kansas City-photo Daviess Co. Sheriff
The announcement comes weeks after officials in Colorado, where recreational marijuana is legal, began warning residents that working for a dispensary or manufacturing operation could jeopardize their citizenship bids — even if those jobs are state-sanctioned.
The updated guidance from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services states that people who use marijuana or are involved with it in any way fail to have “good moral character,” a prerequisite for people who have legal permanent residence to gain American citizenship.
About two-thirds of states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and 10 allow recreational use. Washington, D.C., also allows recreational use.
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is required to adjudicate cases based on federal law,” spokeswoman Jessica Collins said in a statement. “Individuals who commit federal controlled substance violations face potential immigration consequences under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which applies to all foreign nationals regardless of the state or jurisdiction in which they reside.”
In Colorado, immigration attorneys say at least two green-card holders were denied citizenship because they worked or had worked in marijuana-related jobs. There are probably more, they say.
Immigrants who apply for citizenship must first fill out a 20-page form known as the “N-400.” It asks about prior work, family and criminal history, but it doesn’t specifically ask if a person has used or worked with marijuana.
Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, said it’s not likely that most people will disclose information about pot use. But she said the new policy could make some people nervous about applying.
“Whether or not it has a real impact is whether adjudicators decide to ask about it,” Gelatt said.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say officers responded to a brawl involving up to 300 teenagers at the Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas City police say several law enforcement agencies were called to the park Saturday night when an off-duty Clay County sheriff’s deputy reported several large fights involving mostly teenagers.
(2/2)The group of bad actors at WOF only represent a fraction of guests that were there to enjoy the attractions. It’s unfortunate that families & children had their evening disrupted by these events. We will continue to work with WOF to ensure the safety of their guests & staff.
Kansas City police said Sunday that no injuries were reported and no one was arrested. But police said the Clay County Sheriff’s Office issued some citations to people at the scene.
Worlds of Fun officials said in a written statement that local and park authorities broke up the altercation and removed those involved from the park.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that injured as many as four people.
Just after 10:30 p.m. on Friday, police responded to a check shots call at a business in the 1600 block of south George Washington Boulevard in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival, officers located a 27-year-old male, a 25-year-old male and a 20-year-old male with gunshot wounds to their bodies. The 27-year-old male and 20-year-old male were taken to Wesley hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The 25-year-old male refused medical treatment.
At St. Joseph hospital, officers contacted a 19-year-old female who arrived with injury from a gunshot to her leg and elbow and gunshot damage to her vehicle. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The investigation revealed a party was being held at the business on south George Washington Boulevard when a disturbance occurred. Two unknown suspects fired multiple shots, striking the victims.
The first suspect is described as an unknown b/m. The second suspect is described as an unknown b/m, wearing red shorts, a red Nike shirt and was armed with a silver handgun.
Investigators have encountered a lack of cooperation during this investigation which has affected them being able to thoroughly investigate, according to Davidson.
TOPEKA – Mike Miller has been selected to be Assistant Secretary for Wildlife, Fisheries and Boating for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT). He replaces Keith Sexson, who retired last December after more than 50 years with the department. Miller will assume his new duties on Monday, April 22, 2019.
“Mike has been an invaluable member of our team for more than three decades. He has been involved in almost every aspect of the department and has a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to his new role,” said Brad Loveless, KDWPT Secretary. “He is a great communicator and is well-respected by all who know him. I am looking forward to working closely with him as we grow our programs and serve our constituents.”
“I am humbled and excited to be a part of Secretary Loveless’ vision for KDWPT’s future,” Miller said. “Current Wildlife, Fisheries and Boating staff are as talented and dedicated as any I’ve seen, and I look forward to working with them to carry on the amazing legacies of previous assistant secretaries.”
Miller has worked for KDWPT for more than 35 years. He grew up in Greensburg and graduated from Kansas State University with bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Graphic Design in 1982. After a short stint with the El Dorado Times newspaper, he was selected to be the wildlife illustrator for the Kansas Fish and Game Commission and Kansas Wildlife magazine.
He went on to serve as the magazine’s associate editor, editor, and his current position of chief of the Information Production Section, overseeing production of the magazine, all hunting and fishing regulation pamphlets, atlases and brochures and social media presence. In addition to his information duties, Miller also served as a special assistant to the Assistant Secretary, managing various special programs and committees, including Pass It On, a hunter recruitment and retention program.
Miller is an avid angler and hunter. He and his wife of 37 years, Lisa, make their home in Pratt where he will continue to work in the KDWPT Pratt Operations Office.
JACKSON COUNTY — Two people were injured in an accident just before 10:30p.m. Saturday in Jackson County.
Photo courtesy Jackson Co. Sheriff
A 2005 Chrysler Town and Country van was westbound on Kansas 16 just east of B Road approximately a mile from the Pottawatomie County line, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.
The van rear-ended a farm tractor pulling an implement. Life Star Ambulance flew the van driver who sustained life threatening injuries to Stormont Vail in Topeka, according to Morse. Jackson County EMS transported a front seat passenger to Stormont Vail. A third occupant in the van was not injured.
The names of the victims, both residents of Corning, Kansas, have not been released.
The accident remains under investigation, according to Morse.
Editor’s Note: Kansas will allow its state Farm Bureau to offer health care coverage that doesn’t satisfy the Affordable Care Act after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday declined to block a Republican-backed effort to circumvent former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
ByJIM MCLEAN Kansas News Service
In a recent national survey, farmers said the biggest threat to their livelihoods wasn’t low commodity prices or global trade policies. It was the rising cost of health insurance.
Tim Franklin drove to Topeka earlier this year for a hearing on the Kansas Farm Bureau’s insurance plans. JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
It’s one of the reasons why state farm bureaus have jumped into the insurance game in Iowa, Tennessee and Nebraska, and are trying to in Kansas.
Members of the Kansas Farm Bureau spend an average of 30 to 40 percent of their annual incomes on health coverage, according to KFB President and CEO Terry Holdren.
“Those are significant costs and they’re larger for most folks than their average mortgage payment,” Holdren told a Kansas legislative committee earlier this year.
Premiums for Tim Franklin, a farmer from Goodland in northwest Kansas, nearly doubled between 2015 and 2018 — and they’re still going up.
“In 2019, we’ll be paying just under $24,000 just in premiums for our family of five,” Franklin said at a hearing in Topeka for which he made the nearly five-hour drive. “Please give us some options.”
The Kansas Farm Bureau is behind a bill that would allow it to market non-insurance “health benefit plans.” According to Holdren, these would be up to 30 percent cheaper than what’s available through the federal health insurance marketplace, mainly, he said, because they would be exempt from state and federal regulations.
“This legislation … would give us the ability to say ‘no’ to folks if they don’t meet our underwriting standards,” Holdren told lawmakers.
In other words, KFB could screen applicants and reject those with expensive health care needs, such as pregnant women or people who need substance abuse treatment or prescription drugs — things that regulated insurance companies can no longer do.
The plans are similar to those offered since the 1990s by the Tennessee Farm Bureau and to coverage that the Iowa Farm Bureau recently began marketing to its members.
The Nebraska Farm Bureau’s health coverage is a bit different. For starters, it is limited to people who work in agriculture, whereas the KFB plans are available to all members as long as they pay the annual member fee.
But importantly, Nebraska also partnered with Minnesota-based Medica in order not to exclude people with pre-existing conditions. That difference, Medica Vice President Jay McLaren told Kansas lawmakers in a letter, guarantees coverage for all Nebraska farmers and ranchers who are “desperate for more affordable solutions.”
It’s that lack of a pre-existing conditions guarantee that has critics of the KFB plans concerned.
“We think the whole concept is unfair,” said Brad Smoot, the lead lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the state’s largest health insurer.
Terry Holdren is the president and CEO of the Kansas Farm Bureau. He says some KFB members have health insurance premiums that surpass the cost of mortgage payments.
CREDIT JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Allowing the farm bureau to play by a different set of rules would result in siphoning healthy individuals from the insurance pool, leaving companies like BCBS of Kansas with people who are sicker and more expensive to cover.
Segmenting the marketplace like that would force insurers that are subject to state and federal regulations to raise premiums, former Kansas insurance commissioner Sandy Praeger said.
“The only people who benefit from chipping away at Obamacare are younger, healthier people,” said Praeger, a Republican who believes policymakers should strengthen the federal health reform law, not undermine it.
That’s happened in Iowa, according to Dennis Maggart, executive vice president of the McInnes Group, a regional insurance firm based in Kansas City, Missouri. Average premiums for regulated plans have nearly doubled since the Iowa Farm Bureau began marketing coverage similar to what the Kansas Farm Bureau is planning, he said.
And market disruption isn’t Praeger’s only concern. She believes the lack of state regulation will allow KFB to change the scope of its coverage whenever it needs to rein in costs.
“Even if you saw the plan today, it could change tomorrow and nobody would have the regulatory oversight to stop it,” she said.
Supporters of the Kansas Farm Bureau legislation acknowledge that the coverage it would authorize would be less comprehensive. But, they say, something is better than nothing.
“(Farm families) are not asking us to pass this bill, they’re begging us,” said Republican state Rep. Don Hineman, a farmer and rancher from Dighton.
But it would provide farm bureau members — like Sarah Schmidt and her husband, Jim — affordable options they don’t currently have. Schmidt said they’re trying to hang on to their family farm near Junction City, and health care costs are holding them back.
“This has been one of our greatest struggles, not only financially but emotionally,” Schmidt said, fighting to maintain her composure. “We’ve come back to our fifth-generation family farm and we would like to continue there.”
The bill made it through both chambers of the Kansas Legislature with the help of more than a dozen KFB lobbyists, and is now in the hands of new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Still, opponents haven’t given up, claiming there are technical problems with the bill’s language in urging Kelly to veto it.
TOPEKA – Limousines and party buses are popular modes of transportation for proms, weddings and other special events. If your spring or summer plans call for limo or bus transportation, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) encourages you to do a little research before booking.
The KCC, the agency that regulates motor carriers in the state, recommends that you check to be sure the transportation company you are considering has operating authority. That means they meet the applicable federal and state requirements for safety, insurance, operations and driver training. Services operating within the state are also required to file their current tariffs or rates with the KCC. Those can be found on the KCC’s website.
“Planning your next limousine, party bus or charter bus trip is an important decision. Take a moment to ensure the company you select has the appropriate State and/or Federal operating authority and a safe operating history. Looking before you book will help you have a safe and satisfying experience,” said Mike Hoeme, KCC Transportation Director.
There are several places to obtain more information about passenger carriers. Here are a few helpful links:
LYON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect who allegedly shot his neighbor after a dispute.
Just after midnight Friday, Greenwood County dispatch was notified that an individual had been shot in the head with a pellet gun, according to a media release.
Deputies arrived at 417 S. 3rd in Madison, to learn about an ongoing neighbor dispute.
The victim was able to give suspect information which led law enforcement to search for 53-year-old Terry Lynn Bogart who fled the scene in a white 2002 Chevrolet Tracker. The victim was transported to the hospital by helicopter and was in the intensive care unit.
A search warrant was executed at Bogart’s residence where the weapon was recovered. Bogart was located and arrested Friday evening without further incident and has been booked into the Greenwood County Jail on charges of Aggravated Battery, possession of marijuana, and possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
FARMINGTON, Mo. (AP) — The wife of a Ku Klux Klan leader has admitted to fatally shooting her husband.
Malissa Ancona -photo St Francois County Jail
Malissa Ancona pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abandonment of a corpse in the 2017 death of Frank Ancona Jr. She was sentenced to life in prison under a plea deal. Frank Ancona identified himself as an imperial wizard of the KKK.
Malissa Ancona initially reported her husband missing. She later claimed her son, Paul Jinkerson Jr., shot him while he was sleeping and after he had asked for a divorce. He faces the same charges as his mom.
But she said Friday that he had no role in the shooting. She said did help clean up the crime scene in a rural area of southeast Missouri and helped dump the body.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City-area automobile museum is planning to move, and grow.
Kansas City Automotive Museum has outgrown its 10,000-square-foot space in Olathe, Kansas, which holds only about 30 cars. Leaders say they’re considering various locations for the new museum, which could be as large as 80,000 square feet.
Among the possible sites are downtown Kansas City and the West Bottoms or Village West in Kansas City, Kansas.
The museum opened in 2014 as a nod to the region’s rich automotive history.
Museum officials say Henry Ford built his first plant outside of Detroit in Kansas City, where Model T automobiles started rolling off the line in 1912. Also, the nation’s first African-American-owned dealership opened in Kansas City in the 1920s.
TOPEKA — Authorities are investigating after a zoo keeper was attacked and injured by a male Sumatran tiger just after 9am. Saturday at the Topeka Zoo.
The woman was taken to the hospital and was awake and alert, according Molly Hadfield with the city of Topeka. She did not release the zoo keeper’s name.
Sanjiv the tiger involved in the attack and the other tigers were put in hold in their enclosure following the incident and the zoo closed temporarily, according to Hadfield. The tiger exhibit will remain closed.
The Zoo was closed for approximately 45 minutes after the attack. It has since reopened. Zoo visitors witnessed the incident, according to Hadfield.
“Sanjiv is a wild animal and was just acting on instinct,” Hadfield said.
