KANSAS CITY (AP) — Russia is demanding that the U.S. release a Russian citizen who was convicted of kidnapping for moving her children from the U.S. to Russia amid a divorce.

Bogdana Alexandrovna Osipova, who is referred to by her married name of Mobley in court documents, was convicted in Kansas last month of one count of international parental kidnapping and two counts of attempting to extort money. Ospivoa, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison on each extortion count and up to three years on the kidnapping count at her May 20 sentencing hearing.

We demand that the #US authorities stop their lawless behaviour and release the Russian citizen Bogdana Osipova, thus returning the mother to her children
➡️ https://t.co/W53H4laSzg 👈@RepRonEstes @Rep_Watkins pic.twitter.com/Nef1xN8BJB

— Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) April 12, 2019

The Russian Embassy said in a tweet Friday that U.S. authorities should “stop their lawless behaviour and release the Russian citizen Bogdana Osipova, thus returning the mother to her children.” Her attorney, Craig Divine, didn’t immediately return a phone message. A Russian court has found that the children should remain in Russia.

U.S. prosecutors said Osipova, who has dual Russian and U.S. citizenship, left Wichita, Kansas, in April 2014 with one child from her first marriage and another child from a second marriage to Brian Mobley, an Air Force recruiter. She gave birth to a third child soon after returning to Russia. She was arrested in September 2017 after returning to the U.S. without her children to change child support arrangements.

Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov previously rejected a plea from Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes that the younger children — ages 6 and 4 — be reunited with their father. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing that the children are living with relatives in Kaliningrad, The Wichita Eagle reported. Osipova’s oldest child is 16, and her first husband isn’t seeking custody of him.

Antonov told Estes that Osipova has been a victim of “discrimination and psychological pressure” in the U.S. criminal case.

“We’ve attempted to work with Russian authorities to find a diplomatic solution to this situation on behalf of a constituent, but clearly Russia is not interested in adhering to court rulings or acting in good faith,” Estes said Friday in a tweet. “I once again call on Russia to reunite this father with his children and will work with the State Department in solving this case.”

The U.S. State Department didn’t immediately return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.

Weeks before Osipova left for Russia, Mobley filed for divorce and was granted joint custody. The Russian court system granted the couple a divorce in July 2014. That December, a Kansas judge also granted the couple a divorce and ordered her to return the two youngest children. The Kansas judge awarded sole custody to her ex-husband because Osipova had left the U.S. without court approval or Mobley’s knowledge.

According to the U.S. criminal complaint, Mobley hasn’t been able to see his children. His ex-wife in January 2015 showed up to a meeting in Poland without the children. She allowed him to talk to the children on the phone and on Skype until November 2016, when she said he needed to send money to communicate with them, the complaint said.

Zakharova said the Russian court sees the situation differently.

“Her claim to her ex-husband for alimony, which was supported by a Russian court, was qualified there as extortion,” Zakharova said in the ministry’s translation of a briefing.

—————

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Russian Embassy is demanding the release of a citizen convicted of taking her children from the U.S. to Russia amid a divorce.

Thirty-eight-year-old Bogdana Alexandrovna Osipova was convicted last month of one count of international parental kidnapping and two counts of attempting to extort money. She is referred to by her married name of Mobley in court documents.

The Russian Embassy said Friday in a tweet that Osipova should be returned to her children and described the behavior of U.S. authorities as “lawless.” Prosecutors said she left Wichita, Kansas, in April 2014 with one child from her first marriage and another child from a second marriage to Brian Mobley. She gave birth to a third child soon after returning to Russia.

The children are thought to still be in Russia.

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities were busy in Barton County over the weekend making numerous drug arrests.

Just after 9:30 p.m., Friday, officers were dispatched to the area of the 4100 block of 10th Street in Great Bend in reference to Daniel Bartonek, age 31, being in the area and having an active warrant.

The officer located Bartonek driving in the area and conducted a traffic stop. Bartonek ran from the vehicle on foot and the officer apprehended him and arrested him on the warrant. Bartonek was also in possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia at the time of his arrest. Bartonek was booked into the Barton County Jail for the warrant, interference with law enforcement, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Just after 9p.m. Saturday, officers were dispatched to the 2400 block of 10th Street in Great Bend in reference to Jamie Moore, age 27, being in the area and having active warrants. Moore was taken into custody on the warrants. Officers located methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia on Moore when she was taken into custody. Moore was booked into the Barton County Jail for possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia

A short time later,  an officer conducted a traffic stop in the 1600 block of 10th Street in Great Bend for a vehicle driving without headlights. When the officer contacted the driver, who was identified as Luis Reyes, age 21, they could smell an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.

The officer searched the vehicle, where marijuana and drug paraphernalia were located. Reyes was booked into the Barton County Jail for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Just after 1 a.m. Sunday, an officer conducted a traffic stop in the 2700 block of 10th Street in Great Bend. Police K-9, “Lazar” indicated an odor of illegal narcotics inside the vehicle.

Officers searched the vehicle and located methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Krystal Halseth, age 23; Bailey Klein, age 21; and Brayden Powell-Rand, age 18 were booked into the Barton County Jail for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Anyone with information about these crimes, or any other crimes, can contact the Great Bend Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 620-792-1300 or 888-305-1300.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A man has been found guilty of killing five people in September 2014 in Kansas City.

Jurors on Monday convicted 38-year-old Brandon Howell of five counts of first-degree murder and seven other felonies.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours.

Prosecutors said Howell beat 80-year-old George Taylor and his wife, 86-year-old Anna Taylor, while trying to steal their vehicle. They died a week later.

The Taylors’ neighbor, 69-year-old Susan Choucroun, was shot in her driveway. Two others — 88-year-old Lorene Hurst and Hurst’s son, 63-year-old Darrel Hurst — were killed as they returned from a store.

Howell was arrested that night walking along a freeway carrying a shotgun in his pants.

Howell previously was acquitted of killing two teens from Kansas.

——

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Deliberations have begun in the trial of a man charged with killing five people in 2014 during a rampage in a quiet Kansas City neighborhood.

Jurors got the case Monday after closing arguments in the case against 38-year-old Brandon Howell. He is charged with five counts of first-degree murder and seven other felonies.

While trying to steal a classic Jaguar from a home, Howell is accused beating 80-year-old George Taylor and 86-year-old Anna Taylor so badly that they later died.

The couple’s neighbor, 69-year-old Susan Choucroun, was shot in her driveway. Two others — 88-year-old Alice Hurst and Hurst’s son, 63-year-old Darrel Hurst — were killed as they returned from a store.

Howell was arrested that night walking along a freeway carrying a shotgun in his pants.

Howell previously was acquitted of killing two teens from Johnson County, Kansas.

PARIS (AP) — A massive fire engulfed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of the French capital Monday, toppling its spire and sending thick plumes of smoke high into the blue sky as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below.

A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too.

“Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,” Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions.

So sad to see that a great history is burning at a fire in #NotreDame pic.twitter.com/RiEirSfC55

— Bulent GUNDUZ (@Bulentgnd) April 15, 2019

The cause of the catastrophic blaze was not known, but French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire is “potentially linked” to a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project on the church’s spire and its 250 tons of lead. Paris police said there were no reported deaths.

Flames shot out of the roof behind the nave of the cathedral, among the most visited landmarks in the world. Sights of the flames stopped passers-by in their tracks along the Seine River that passes beneath the cathedral.

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a televised speech to the nation because of the stunning blaze and was going to the cathedral himself.

French historian Camille Pascal told BFM broadcast channel the fire was destroying “invaluable heritage.”

“It’s been 800 years that the Cathedral watches over Paris”, Pascal said. “Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame.”

He recalled that Notre Dame bells sounded the death knell following the 2015 Paris attacks.

“We can be only horrified by what we see”, Pascal said.

Associated Press reporters at the scene saw massive plumes of yellow brown smoke filling the air above the Cathedral and ash falling on the island that houses Notre Dame and marks the center of Paris.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is in despair at the “terrible fire.” Hidalgo said in a Twitter message that Paris firefighters are still trying to limit the fire and urged Paris citizens to respect the security perimeter that has been set around the cathedral.

Hidalgo said Paris authorities are in touch with Paris diocese.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —  Law enforcement authorities have identified a Kansas man who died in an accident just before 2a.m. Sunday in Sedgwick County.

A Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by 24-year-old Erik Luna of Wichita was southbound in the 3500 Block of South Broadway, according to officer Paul Cruz.

The driver lost control of the vehicle. It struck the east bridge concrete barrier and overturned. The driver and a passenger were trapped inside.

Luna was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Cruz.  The 20-year-old passenger was transported to a local hospital where he remains in serious condition.

The preliminary investigation shows that speed and alcohol were both factors in the the accident, according to Cruz. The accident remains under investigation.

LEE’S SUMMIT (AP) — Authorities say a woman has died after driving into a Kansas City area lake.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as 22-year-old Gerran Stone, of Raytown.

Her car went into Longview Lake on Friday night in the marina area. Several people tried unsuccessfully to help her before recovering her body.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Child welfare advocates in Kansas who spent more than a year examining the state’s troubled foster care system are frustrated with what they see as the Legislature’s lack of action on their recommendations for fixing the problems.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly says she understands their frustrations but argues that her administration and lawmakers are making progress. She also says it will take time to fix the years of problems left by her Republican predecessors.

More than a dozen members of a child welfare task force and its subcommittees have signed a letter urging lawmakers to do more to address problems in the system that provides foster care for abused and neglected children.

The GOP-controlled Legislature might not have much time left this year. Lawmakers reconvene May 1 after their annual spring break and are scheduled to wrap up their business for the year by May 17.

“It seems like a waste,” social worker Sarah Coats, who signed the letter, told The Kansas City Star. “We have all of this information, all of the research done, people are committed to work and know what needs to be done and no one is doing anything. It’s like screaming at a brick wall.”

In recent years, the state faced questions about several high-profile deaths of abused children after the Department for Children and Families was alerted to problems. Until September, some children in state custody slept overnight in foster care contractors’ offices, including a 13-year-old girl who was raped in an office.

Lawmakers are close to funding dozens of new child welfare workers over the next two years. They also have passed a bill that would allow Kansas for the first time to use federal funds to pay for prevention services to help keep children out of foster care.

And DCF Secretary Laura Howard told The Star that Kelly and legislators have pursued the task force’s top recommendations, including improving the child welfare system’s workforce, bettering DCF’s information technology and drawing down federal funds for prevention services.

Kelly told reporters that like the advocates, she would like the state to be moving faster on the task force’s recommendations, but said it can’t happen.

“I share their frustrations, but I also have to deal with reality,” she said. “You know, there are so many things wrong within our child welfare system that you have to sort of prioritize and attack them in a systematic way.”

The task force made nearly two dozen recommendations,including improving information sharing among parties involved in the child welfare system, investing more in foster care recruiting and creating a new task force to examine the cost of better services and how to fund them.

Task force members said in their letter that they have “deep concern” that lawmakers have only made minimal progress and have made no progress on most recommendations.

“I certainly hope it doesn’t take further child tragedy to inspire the actions of the Legislature,” Lori Ross, a longtime child advocate in Missouri and Kansas, told The Star.

Both Kelly and Howard suggested the issue may be that DCF needs to do a better job of communicating how it’s attempting to address problems.

“They’ve been so focused on doing the work that they haven’t been publicizing what they’re doing,” Kelly said. “Obviously, people are anxious to get these done.”

JOHNSON COUNTY — A 14-year-old Kansas girl injure after she was hit by a vehicle while walking home from school Friday near 123rd and Switzer in Overland Park has died.

Alexandra “Alex” Rumple was walking home when a vehicle traveling northbound on Switzer left the road and hit her on the sidewalk, according to a media release from Overland Park Police. She was transported to a local hospital and died on Sunday, according to the release.

Hundreds gathered Sunday at a vigil to remember Alex as an athletic, art-loving, straight-A student. Students talked about how she wanted everyone to feel included. Her principal encouraged her classmates to wear flannel Monday because it was Alex’s favorite material.

The Blue Valley School District will have counselors available for students this week.

The Overland Park Police Department Traffic Safety Unit continues their investigation of the crash and asks that anyone with information on the incident contact police.

Police haven’t released the driver’s name. It isn’t yet known what caused the car to leave the road.

WICHITA, Kan. – It’s finally time to say farewell. Demolition of the old Mid-Continent Airport terminal begins Monday.

Officials say tearing down the structure, which houses the building maintenance division in the basement, is delicate work.

According to a media release, workers are wrapping up the final stages of the interior demolition. This consisted of asbestos mitigation, electrical relocation, mechanical work, and East Data Center relocation. Servers, hardware, conduit, and fiber from the East Data Center are all being transferred from the old terminal building to another secured site on airport property.

The old building consists of two components, the main terminal and the concourse. Demolition of the east and west concourses was completed at the tail end of the new terminal project. Still remaining is the main terminal building, which included ticketing, baggage claim, retail food and beverage, security and rental car counters.

The section with the ticketing wing will remain and will be renovated to house airport operations, store airport vehicles and serve utility functions.

Conco Construction was selected as the general contractor to complete the demolition. Bradburn Wrecking Company was selected to do the demolition along with several sub-contractors.

Bradburn will begin the demo on the southeast end of the structure, using demolition equipment such as a wrecking ball, track hoe, and front-end loaders to knock down and remove the old structures.

This process is expected to take roughly six months.

In mid-to-late August, they will begin back-filling. This process will ultimately fill the hole in the ground that will be left once the structure is gone.

The total cost of the entire project is $8.8 million and is funded with airport revenue.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon wanted on a felony warrant for burglary who escaped a traffic stop.
Just after 3a.m. Sunday, deputies conducted a traffic stop in the 4500 block of SE Oak Bend Drive in Shawnee County, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.

The driver Tanner James Thompson, 24, was taken into custody for a felony warrant for Burglary as well as traffic related charges.

During the course of deputies investigating Thompson’s vehicle and circumstances of the incident, Thompson escaped custody. An extensive search continued early Sunday afternoon with a heavy law enforcement presence in the SE part of Shawnee County looking for Thompson.

He is described as 6-foot tall, 175 pounds and was last seen wearing a blue shirt and black pants. He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

By RUSS SCHUMACHER
Colorado State University

From 78 degrees on Tuesday to snow on Wednesday? Swings like this aren’t unusual in the central United States, where weather can quickly shift from one extreme to another. That’s especially true in the springtime, when conditions turn into a roller coaster, with balmy spring days followed by abrupt returns to winter.

These wild swings have been on full display this spring, with a record-setting cyclone on March 13-14 and a second system this month bringing very heavy snow and intense winds to a broad area from Colorado to Minnesota. For researchers like me, this region is a fascinating, and sometimes frustrating, place to study weather and climate. It’s no accident that places like Colorado and Oklahoma are among the world’s hubs for atmospheric science.

Where the winds meet the mountains

What generates such “big weather” on the Great Plains? It starts with geography.

As you travel west across the central United States, the Plains gradually slope upward. Then, in central Colorado, the terrain quickly rises into the Rocky Mountains, creating big changes in elevation, along with more subtle ridges and river valleys. This topography sets the stage for our region’s complex weather systems.

Southeastern Colorado and the bordering panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma form a breeding ground for extratropical cyclones – the large, low-pressure systems that routinely move across the country, bringing rain, snow, thunderstorms and strong winds. As troughs of low pressure aloft move from west to east over the Rocky Mountains and then emerge on the other side, the columns of air are “stretched” vertically. This makes them spin at increasing rates, just as figure skaters do when they draw their arms in.

These features interact with the usual south-to-north gradient in temperature that exists east of the mountains – that is, warmer in the south and colder in the north – kicking off a process in which strong cold and warm fronts develop, and a cyclone can rapidly intensify. Along those fronts, widespread precipitation forms, including everything from heavy snow to severe thunderstorms.

So the day or two before the cyclone develops, temperatures are often well above average, only to quickly plummet as the strong cold front associated with the cyclone blasts through. In other words, the rapid changes in temperature that we see east of the Rockies are not just an interesting aspect of these storms – they are key to their development and intensification.

When these cyclones develop in the fall and spring, they can generate many forms of unusual and hazardous weather, sometimes just a few counties apart. Visitors in eastern Colorado are often surprised to hear warnings for wildfires, tornadoes and a blizzard at the same time. As climatologist Brian Brettschneider has shown, much of the Great Plains region averages well over a foot of snow – after the first day 70-degree day of the year! And Colorado is the only state in the nation where every month of the year is the average wettest month of the year in some part of the state.

Forecasting challenges

There is much at stake during major storms in the central U.S. This region has a history of deadly flooding, and droughts, wildfires, tornadoes and hailstorms here can cause billions of dollars in losses and damage.

Thanks to dedicated research and increasing computer power, weather forecasts continue to improve steadily. The National Weather Service’s forecasts for this year’s March and April cyclones were spot-on. But forecasting more localized snowstorms and thunderstorms is still very challenging given this region’s complex terrain. This is a subject of continued research.

There also remain important questions about the effects of climate change on the northern and southern Great Plains, thanks to the huge variability in the weather. We have seen a clear warming trend, as in most parts of the nation, but it is hard to pin down how this warming is influencing factors such as droughts, severe weather and snowstorms.

After severe droughts in many areas in 2018, 2019 thus far has been one of the wettest years on record. Is this just a reflection of our naturally highly variable climate, or part of a long-term trend associated with the overall warming of the planet?

Despite these challenges, meteorologists and climatologists are passionate about figuring out how the atmosphere works, making better predictions of its behavior and communicating that information to decision makers and the public. Events like this spring’s major storms remind us that we all need to be weather-ready, year-round.

---

Russ Schumacher, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science and Colorado State Climatologist, Colorado State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 37-year-old man whose wife returned a rental vehicle with nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine in the trunk has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

Milton Tyron McGruder  was sentenced Thursday for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Employees at Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Columbia found a bag in the vehicle in August 2017. Prosecutors say it contained a Ziploc bag with about 934 grams of meth.

Employees didn’t initially see the bag in the spare tire compartment but searched again when the wife called and said a bag with $700 inside was left in the car. She asked if she could rent the vehicle again but was told it had already been rented.

McGruder was arrested when he returned to the business.