BALDWIN CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police say the owner of a Lawrence towing company was crushed to death while changing a tire on a college baseball team’s bus.
Baldwin City Police Chief Mike Pattrick said 53-year-old Kevin Raasch died early Sunday on the Baker University campus.
Pattrick said Raasch came to the campus to fix a flat tire on the bus for the Benedictine College team after a Baker-Baldwin City baseball game.
Raasch was trying to release the jack after changing the tire when he was pinned under the back of the large motor coach.
Pattrick says several players and coaches lifted the bus and pulled Raasch out but he died at the scene.
Raasch owned and operated TransMasters Towing and Roadside Recovery for over 30 years.
GODDARD, Kan. (AP) — Pregnancy is contagious at one Kansas elementary school, where seven teachers were expecting at the same time, catching the attention of Ellen DeGeneres.
Photo courtesy USD 265 Goddard schools
The teachers’ pregnancies began getting attention last month when Oak Street Elementary in the Wichita suburb of Goddard posted a photo on Facebook of the women showing off their bulging bellies. The district said the school’s kindergarten classes of 2024-2025 are “growing by the day.” Two of the teachers later delivered within a day of each other while just two rooms apart in the same hospital. One teacher is expecting twins.
DeGeneres invited them to sit in a Skybox during her Mother’s Day show in a segment posted Wednesday to ellentube. She instructed them to “Take deep breaths” and warned, “Nobody have a baby right now.”
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Two Mexican citizens living in Kansas City, Kan., were indicted Wednesday on charges of selling heroin, methamphetamine and guns from their home, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Barraza-Caldera -photo Wyandotte Co.
Pedro Daniel Torres-Caldera, 36, a citizen of Mexico, and Osmar Barraza-Caldera, 21, a citizen of Mexico, were indicted in an 18-count indictment that included charges of drug trafficking conspiracy; distribution of heroin, methamphetamine and oxycodone; unlawful possession of firearms; and maintaining a premises in furtherance of drug trafficking.
According to court documents, investigators made a series of undercover purchases from the defendants in transactions that took place at the defendants’ residence in Kansas City, Kan. On Feb. 1, 2019, for instance, an undercover officer paid the defendants $2,500 for an Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 rifle with a Spikes Tactical Launcher and a Trijicon ACOG Optic.
On March 13, 2019, investigators served a search warrant at the Locust address. They seized more than three pounds of black tar heroin and firearms.
Torres-Caldera-photo Wyandotte Co.
Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Conspiracy: Not less than 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $10 million.
Distribution of heroin: Not more than 20 years and a fine up to $1 million.
Distribution of more than 5 grams of methamphetamine: Not less than five years and not more than 40 years and a fine up to $5 million.
Distribution of oxycodone: Up to 20 years and a fine up to $1 million.
Possession of an unregistered firearm: Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
Alien in possession of a firearm: Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
Distribution of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine: Not less than 10 years and a fine up to $10 million.
Unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking: Not less than five years and a fine up to $250,000.
Maintaining premises in furtherance of drug trafficking: Up to 20 years and a fine up to $500,000.
The FBI and the Jackson County Drug Task Force investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Krug and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zabel are prosecuting.
The world of radiology began in 1895 when a European physicist Wilhelm Röntgen noticed fluorescence behind heavy cardboard when a cathode tube was activated nearby. Röntgen used his wife’s hand to demonstrate for the first time how these unknown rays, or X-rays, could penetrate the soft tissue of her hand and illustrate the bones that lay within. Röntgen generously refused to patent his discovery which allowed the explosive growth and development of a new industry.
Unfortunately, researchers were unaware of the dangers of too much X-ray exposure and during the early years harm was done, even causing death of some experimenters before safeguards were established. Over time, as technology advanced and more X-rays were utilized, interpreting the images became an increasing challenge and the field of radiology developed. Physicians trained in interpretation helped care providers make better clinical decisions.
I was a first-year resident at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta in the fall of 1975 when the hospital purchased one of the earliest computerized tomography (CT) scanners. It was called an EMI scanner named after the British company that took a huge financial risk in order to develop the technology. Electric and Music Industries (EMI) had signed with the Beatles as their recording company in 1962 and having amassed a fortune from the exponential rise of Beatles popularity, EMI was able to fund the theoretical work of Godfrey Hounsfield which took X-rays of the head from all directions while a computer compiled the results. When all other funding resources said “no,” Hounsfield’s brainchild happened, “with a little help from his friends.”
I was rotating through neurology when the results of the EMI scans started making an impact. We were amazed how they showed tumors, blood clots and lesions inside the skull. We thought it was going to change everything, and indeed it did!
Jump to the present and see how interpretive radiologists have expanded into intervention. Now, instead of simply identifying a tumor or abscess with ultrasound, X-ray, CT, or MRI, radiologists, under the guidance of an imaging modality, can pass a needle into a deep tumor and take a biopsy, drain an abscess, open-up a blocked tube and much more. Procedures that, in the past, would have required open abdominal or chest surgery, now can be done with minimal trauma and pain with quick recovery.
As a patient who has benefited under the expert image-guided hands of an interventional radiologist, I too can sing loud and clear, “I get by with a lot of help from my friends.”
For free and easy access to the entire Prairie Doc® library, visit www.prairiedoc.org and follow The Prairie Doc® on Facebook, featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show streaming live most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.
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SEWARD COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 11:45p.m. Wednesday in Seward County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Kenworth semi driven by Damon E. Brown, 68, Plains, northbound on U.S. 83 highway just north of road 17. The semi left the roadway. The driver lost control of the semi. It collided with a sign and rolled.
Brown was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Brenneman Funeral Home in Liberal. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
HUTCHINSON — A Kansas man serving a substantial amount of time in prison for a 2004 case is in more trouble. Anthony Jefferson, 53, is once again accused of battering a correctional officer at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility – Central Unit.
Jefferson photo KDOC
This is not the first time. In 2005, Jefferson was being transferred to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility from the El Dorado Correctional Facility so he could appear in District Court for an aggravated battery case. Jefferson became angry about an intake procedure and spit in the face of corrections officer John Markus. Jefferson was convicted of the crime and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison by the late Reno County District Judge Richard Rome.
Jefferson was also convicted of aggravated battery for shooting at Jesse Villa. Jefferson hit Villa in the ear with a .38-caliber handgun in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, 2004. Jefferson was given a 15-year sentence in that case.
Those sentences are running consecutively to each other. Jefferson is also serving time for drug convictions out of Harvey County.
According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, as it stands now, Jefferson is not eligible for parole until 2029. Any new sentence could add to that
WICHITA COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday in Wichita County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Chevy Cavalier driven by Gregory Ray II Martinez II, 21, Leoti, was Vehicle was southbound in the 900 block of County RD 9.
The vehicle left the roadway to the right, entered the west ditch, rolled and the driver was ejected
Martinez was transported to the Wichita County Health Center where he died. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
SEDGWICK COUNTY— A former used car dealer who defrauded his own finance company has been sentenced.
Photo courtesy Adam’s Auto Sales
In February, Obada Alashqar, 24 of Wichita, one of the former operators of Adams Auto Sales & Repairs, was found guilty of conspiracy to impair a security interest. Alashqar was accused of conspiring with his business partner to defraud NextGear Capital, the finance company that provided the line of credit to run the used car lot, according to a media release from Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett.
On Monday, Judge Bruce Brown granted probation in the case, but ordered Alashqar to make monthly payments on the restitution. Judge Brown told Alashqar that he would have to serve five months in prison if he violated his probation by failing to make payments.
As one of the operators of Adams Auto Sales and Repairs, Alashqar purchased cars for resale using financing provided by NextGear. Under terms of the financing agreement, Alashqar was required to pay back NextGear when the cars were sold. The investigation alleged that Alashqar sold several cars financed by NextGear, but kept all the money.
Obada Alashqar, and his brother, Abdallah Alashqar, were previously ordered to pay $526,802 in a civil judgment brought by the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the District Attorney against the brothers and their car lot at 220 E. Kellogg. The car lot is no longer in business.
The Office of the District Attorney launched an investigation of the brothers and their dealership following consumer complaints. The District Attorney’s civil lawsuit alleged 48 violations, includingfailure to disclose safety recalls, failure to provide car titles, taking customer trade-in vehicles withoutpaying for them, selling vehicles “as is” and not having an auto dealer license with the Kansas Department of Revenue.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — More than 75 years after Nicholas J. Gojmerac was last seen alive dragging a wounded comrade to safety during a World War II battle, his remains are back home in Kansas.
photos courtesy Kansas City International Airport
A Marine Corps honor guard was on the tarmac of Kansas City International Airport Tuesday as Gojmerac’s remains were returned to his family. His remains are now at Leavenworth National Cemetery.
Gojmerac was in the Marine Corps Reserve when he was wounded during a battle on the Solomon Islands in 1943. The 29-year-old from Kansas City, Kansas, became one the multitude of U.S. service members listed as missing in action during World War II.
He was officially declared dead on July 21, 1944. It wasn’t until last September that relatives learned Gojmerac’s remains had been identified through dental and anthropological analysis.
“We just never knew what happened to him,” said Therese Moeller, a niece, who lives in Overland Park, Kansas.
“When he went missing, it affected the whole family because they all lived in the house or close to the house where he grew up,” Moeller said. “I’m sure there was much grief there on Strawberry Hill and because everybody who settled there was from Croatia, they were very close.”
Gojmerac was a member of Company Q, 4th Raider Battalion, 1st Marine Raider Regiment. According to his service record, Gojmerac and his unit went into battle with a Japanese stronghold on July 20, 1943.
“Upon hearing a wounded comrade in the front lines cry out for help, PFC Gojmerac crawled out to him through extremely heavy rifle fire, machine gun and mortar fire, administered first aid and dragged him to safety,” his record states. “While assisting his wounded comrade, Gojmerac himself was seriously wounded. Following this engagement with the enemy, it was discovered Gojmerac was missing.”
According to his obituary, his remains have been interred since 1949 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says she wants to move the state’s prison system from being “all-punitive to much more therapeutic.”
Pleased to join law enforcement, advocates, and volunteers at the Crime Victims’ Rights Conference this morning. I’m thankful to each of you for prioritizing the needs of crime victims, whether it’s helping them get assistance, support, resources, and the justice they deserve. pic.twitter.com/uWiZIm19Im
Kelly made the comment Tuesday while speaking to more than 200 people at a Wichita school district administration building. Kelly says she has learned challenges within the Kansas Department of Corrections are worse than anticipated. In the search for a replacement to the agency’s interim leader, the governor said she would seek someone eager to properly staff prisons and transition the facilities to a rehabilitative footing.
She also says Kansas should engage in comprehensive sentencing reform because too many people were being thrown in jails and prisons. And she added that too many were held long after a point in which it had any benefit.
Just before 11:30a.m. Tuesday, dispatch received a call stating that in the area of the 700 Block of NE Wabash in Topeka, a small blue passenger car just fired several gunshots out of the vehicle and fled the area, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel.
A police officer near the area when the call went out saw the suspect vehicle fleeing southbound down an alley. The officer radioed in his location and other officers were able to follow the car to the area of the 500 Block of NE Michigan, east alley.
At that point, the officers were able to take the two adult male occupants from the passenger car into custody without incident and recover firearms from the vehicle.
Higgins-photo Shawnee Co.
James Gillespie, 43, is being held on requested charges that include Criminal Discharge of a Firearm, Possession of StolenProperty, Felon in Possession of a Firearm. He has 11 previous convictions for burglary, theft, forgery, arson and more, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Jaugger E. Thomas, 22, is being held on requested charges that include Possession of Counterfeit Money, Possession of
Stolen Property, Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Charles T. Higgins, 23, was in custody on requested charges that include Possession of Stolen Property. He has posted bond and was no longer in jail.
Ean Schulmeister, 17, Olathe, Kansas, was injured Saturday in Lenexa, Kansas. He died Monday.
Schulmeister was a back seat passenger of the Jeep, which also included the driver and three other passengers.
Police say Schulmeister was standing in the Jeep, which had its top and doors off. Witnesses told police he was holding onto a strap when the strap broke and Schulmeister fell.
Police say the driver had a valid restricted license that does not allow transporting non-sibling minor passengers. None of the passengers were siblings.
Police will forward a report to prosecutors, who will decide if any charges should be filed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr declared Wednesday he thinks “spying did occur” on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, suggesting the origins of the Russia investigation may have been mishandled and aligning himself with the president at a time when Barr’s independence is under scrutiny.
Barr, appearing before a Senate panel, did not say what “spying” had taken place but seemed likely to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a Trump associate. He later said he wasn’t sure there had been improper surveillance but wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. Still, his remarks give a boost to Trump and his supporters who insist his 2016 campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI.
Barr was testifying for a second day at a congressional budget hearing that was dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. His comments risked inflaming Democratic concerns that Barr’s views are overly in sync with Trump’s and that he’s determined to protect the president as he readies the release of a version of Mueller’s report.
Barr said he expects to release a redacted copy of the report next week. Democrats have expressed concern that his version will conceal wrongdoing by the president and are frustrated by the four-page summary letter he released last month that they say paints Mueller’s findings in an overly favorable way for the president.
Attorney General William Barr during Wednesday’s Senate subcommittee hearing- image courtesy CSPAN
Democrats immediately seized on Barr’s testimony.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., tweeted that Barr’s comments “directly contradict” what the Justice Department previously had said, and he said he had requested a briefing from the department. House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Barr’s comments were sure to please Trump, “but it also strikes another destructive blow to our democratic institutions.”
Republicans, meanwhile, praised Barr for looking into the matter. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a confidant to Trump who has raised concerns about Justice Department conduct for the past two years, tweeted that Barr’s willingness to investigate it is “massive.”
Barr, who was nominated to his post by Trump four months ago, was asked about spying by Republican Sen. Jerry Moran. He said that though he did not have specific evidence of wrongdoing, “I do have questions about it.”
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Barr said.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen asked him directly if he believed spying on the campaign occurred, and he said, “Yes I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated” — meaning whether it was legally justified.
Barr said he was reviewing his department’s actions in investigating Trump. A separate investigation is being conducted by the Justice Department inspector general into the early days of the FBI’s Russia probe, which Barr said he expects to conclude sometime around May or June.
“I feel that I have an obligation to ensure government power was not abused,” Barr said.
Asked again about spying at the end of the hearing, Barr tempered his tone. “I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it,” he said.
Barr’s reference to “spying” may refer to a secret surveillance warrant that the FBI obtained in the fall of 2016 to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied being a Russian spy.
That warrant included a reference to research that was conducted by an ex-British spy who was funded by Democrats to look into Trump’s ties to Russia.
Critics of the Russia investigation say the warrant on Page was unjustified and have also seized on anti-Trump text messages sent and received by one of the lead agents involved in investigating whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia.
At the White House on Wednesday, Trump repeated his claim that the investigation was illegal.
“It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops,” he said.
He falsely claimed that the Mueller report had found “no obstruction.” While the four-page letter released by Barr said the special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates around the time of the 2016 election, it also said Mueller had presented evidence on both sides of the obstruction question and ultimately did not reach a conclusion on it.
Barr said he did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice. Democrats said they were concerned that Barr’s letter portrayed the investigation’s findings in an overly favorable way for Trump.
Barr’s statement Wednesday that he expected to release a redacted version of Mueller’s nearly 400-page report next week marked a slight change from the estimate he gave Tuesday, when he said the release would be within a week.
Though he said the document will be redacted to withhold negative information about peripheral figures in the investigation, he said that would not apply to Trump, who is an officeholder and central to the probe.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Attorney General William Barr’s testimony to Congress and the Russia probe (all times local):
Attorney General William Barr says he plans to review the origins of the FBI’s investigation between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Barr told senators on Wednesday that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, but “the question is whether it was adequately predicated.”
He says he believes that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.
The Justice Department’s inspector general has already been investigating the early days of the FBI’s Russia probe.
Barr says he wants to pull together the different reviews underway within the Justice Department and see if there are remaining questions that need to be addressed.
A person familiar with the process said Barr is forming a team to review the origins of the FBI investigation.
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Attorney General William Barr says a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report is coming “hopefully next week.”
The timeline mentioned by Barr at a Senate hearing on his department’s budget is a tweak from comments he made a day earlier. Barr said at a House hearing Tuesday that the report was coming “within a week.”
Barr made the comments as senators questioned him on the specifics of the report and what he would be redacting. Democrats have said they won’t accept redactions and will fight to get the full report.
8:00 a.m.
President Donald Trump is declaring that he wants an investigation into the origins of the federal probe into ties between his campaign and Russia.
Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday at the White House, decreed it an “illegal investigation” conducted by “dirty cops.” The president did not name them but has previously blamed Justice Department officials and former FBI Director James Comey.
Attorney General William Barr has a team reviewing the origins of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal discussions..
Trump also stated that “I don’t care” about the report from special counsel Robert Mueller that Barr says he will release in the coming days in redacted form. Despite that declaration, the president has repeatedly tweeted about the report in recent days.
Mueller didn’t find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump. He did not rule on obstruction of justice, though Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ruled Trump did not.
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1 a.m.
Attorney General William Barr is returning to Capitol Hill for a second time this week as lawmakers, the White House and the American public anxiously await his release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Barr will speak to a Senate appropriations subcommittee Wednesday about his department’s budget. But like members of the House on Tuesday, senators are expected to be more interested in the nearly 400-page Mueller report than budget details.
Barr told the House lawmakers that he expects to release a redacted version “within a week.”
Justice Department officials are scouring the report to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations, among other materials.
Democrats say they will not accept redactions and want the full report’s release.
