KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A decision by the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas to deny enrollment to the kindergarten child of gay parents has prompted thousands of people to sign dueling petitions.

A recent online petition supporting the archdiocese’s decision has received more 7,000 signatures. An earlier petition signed by almost 2,000 members of Kansas City-area Catholic parishes asks officials to change their minds.

Local parishioners learned of the decision when the Rev. Craig J. Maxim of St. Ann Catholic Church wrote a letter to parents last month telling families the archdiocese said the child’s parents cannot “model behaviors and attitudes consistent with the Church’s teachings.”

Maxim wrote this creates a conflict for those children and could be a source of confusion for other children.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for killing a 34-year-old man and wounding the victim’s father outside a Topeka home.

30-year-old John Towner Jr. apologized in court Thursday before he was sentenced for voluntary manslaughter and attempted second-degree murder in the January 2018 shooting.

During the trial, Towner contended he shot John Austin Jr. and John Austin Sr. in self-defense. Jurors acquitted him of attempted aggravated robbery and a more serious first-degree murder charge.

After the hearing, John Austin Sr. said he didn’t understand how Towner could get only 14 years when authorities had witness testimony, statements from Towner about his involvement in the shooting and the gun. Austin said Towner should have received a life-term.

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon and another suspect after a traffic stop assisted by a K9 officer.

Just before 6:30 p.m. Monday, a Great Bend Police Officer stopped a vehicle for traffic violations in the 900 block of Monroe, according to a media release.

During the stop the Great Bend Police K-9, Lazar, was deployed. Lazar then indicated there was an odor of illegal narcotics coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was searched and drugs were found.

Kristina Bolz and 40-year-old Douglas Ray Meredith II were arrested for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both subjects were booked at the Barton County Jail in lieu of bond with charges pending in Barton County District Court.

The Barton County Sheriff’s Office booking log shows both Bolz and Meredith were booked with $10,000 bonds. The traffic violations for Bolz included illegal tint, stop lamps, and windshield.

Meredith has eleven previous convictions that include burglary, theft, forgery, criminal damage, interference with law enforcement and drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Republican-controlled committees of the Kansas Legislature have stripped Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s proposed state spending for Medicaid expansion out of budget legislation.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee voted 7-6 on Thursday to remove $14 million from a proposed budget for the state health department for the fiscal year beginning in July. The money represented Kelly’s initial estimate for the state tax dollars needed to draw down federal funds for the first six months after expanded Medicaid coverage started in January.

Medicaid expansion has bipartisan support, but GOP leaders strongly oppose it. They argue that supporters are underestimating the state’s potential costs.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 13-9 on Wednesday to remove not only the state tax dollars but the entire $509 million for expanded Medicaid coverage.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon arrested after a chase in Salina.

On Tuesday, police were called to what was supposed to be a vacant house in the 100 block of South 11th  Street in Salina, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester.

A neighbor reported seeing a man smoking a cigarette inside the house. Police did not find anyone.  The daughter of the property owner reported that a spare key that was kept in the mailbox was missing.

Just before 4p.m. on Wednesday, police were called back to the vacant house after a report of a man sitting on the porch. Again, no one was there when police arrived. Police suspected that 25-year-old Donald Ray Bolin was involved.

A short time later, an officer on patrol observed Bolin in the 1600 Block of South Ninth Street.  After running on several streets and an alley, police ultimately arrested Bolin in the 1200 block of South Santa Fe on requested charges of interference with a law enforcement officer/obstruction, improper pedestrian crossing, and possession of stolen property, in addition to the outstanding warrants.

At the time of the arrest, he had in his possession a key that fit the lock for the vacant house on South 11th, according to Forrester.

Bolin has five previous convictions that include forgery, theft, battery, interference with law enforcement and drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and asking the public for help to identify a suspect.

Just after 9a.m. Tuesday, police responded to an armed robbery at the Dollar General located in the 1900 block of E. Pawnee in Wichita, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.

Employees reported that a man came in armed with a handgun and demanded money from the cashier. Money was given to the suspect who then fled on foot and was last seen going northeast of the business. The suspect is described as a light skinned black or Hispanic male in his thirties. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black bottoms, a black stocking cap, black sunglasses, and slide on flip flops.

No one was injured during this incident.

If you recognize this individual or have any additional information please call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-run Senate rejected President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southwest border on Thursday, setting up a veto fight and dealing him a conspicuous rebuke as he tested how boldly he could ignore Congress in pursuit of his highest-profile goal. Kansas senior Senator Pat Roberts voted with Trump. Senator Moran voted against the measure.

 

I agree with the president’s assessment that we have reached a crisis point at the border, and this is nothing new. For many years, control of our southern border has been a fundamental failure of our first obligation to protect the national security of the United States.

— Senator Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) March 14, 2019

I share President Trump’s goal of securing our borders, but expanding the powers of the presidency beyond its constitutional limits is something I cannot support.

Here are my thoughts on how I came to this decision: pic.twitter.com/DEHoBuNdhu

— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) March 14, 2019

The Senate voted 59-41 to cancel Trump’s February proclamation of a border emergency, which he invoked to spend $3.6 billion more for border barriers than Congress had approved. Twelve Republicans joined Democrats in defying Trump in a showdown many GOP senators had hoped to avoid because he commands die-hard loyalty from millions of conservative voters who could punish defecting lawmakers in next year’s elections.

With the Democratic-controlled House’s approval of the same resolution last month, Senate passage sends it to Trump. He has shown no reluctance to casting his first veto to advance his campaign exhortation to “Build the Wall,” and it seems certain Congress will lack the two-thirds majorities that would be needed to override him.

“I’ll do a veto. It’s not going to be overturned,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s a border security vote.”

Though Trump seems sure to prevail in a veto battle, it remains noteworthy that lawmakers of both parties resisted him in a fight directly tied to his cherished campaign theme of erecting a border wall. The roll call came just a day after the Senate took a step toward a veto fight with Trump on another issue, voting to end U.S. support for the Saudi Arabian-led coalition’s war in Yemen.

In a measure of how remarkable the confrontation was, Thursday was the first time Congress has voted to block a presidential emergency since the National Emergency Act became law in 1976.

Even before Thursday’s vote, there were warnings that GOP senators resisting Trump could face political consequences. A White House official said Trump won’t forget when senators who oppose him want him to attend fundraisers or provide other help. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on internal deliberations.

At the White House, Trump did not answer when reporters asked if there would be consequences for Republicans who voted against him.

Underscoring the political pressures in play, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who last month became one of the first Republicans to say he’d oppose Trump’s border emergency, said Thursday he’d vote to support it. Tillis, who faces a potentially difficult re-election race next year, cited talks with the White House that suggest Trump could be open to restricting presidential emergency powers in the future.

Still, the breadth of opposition among Republicans suggested how concern about his declaration had spread to all corners of the GOP. Republican senators voting for the resolution blocking Trump included Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s 2012 presidential candidate; Mike Lee of Utah, a solid conservative; Maine moderate Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a respected centrist.

Republicans control the Senate 53-47. Democrats solidly opposed Trump’s declaration.

Presidents have declared 58 national emergencies since the 1976 law, but this was the first aimed at accessing money that Congress had explicitly denied, according to Elizabeth Goitein, co-director for national security at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice.

Trump and Republicans backing him said there is a legitimate security and humanitarian crisis at the border with Mexico. They also said Trump was merely exercising his powers under the law, which largely leaves it to presidents to decide what a national emergency is.

“The president is operating within existing law, and the crisis on our border is all too real,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Opponents said Trump’s assertion of an emergency was overblown. They said he issued his declaration only because Congress agreed to provide less than $1.4 billion for barriers and he was desperate to fulfill his campaign promise on the wall. They said the Constitution gives Congress, not presidents, control over spending and said Trump’s stretching of emergency powers would invite future presidents to do the same for their own concerns.

“He’s obsessed with showing strength, and he couldn’t just abandon his pursuit of the border wall, so he had to trample on the Constitution to continue his fight,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Republicans had hoped that Trump would endorse a separate bill by Utah’s Sen. Lee constraining emergency declarations in the future and that would win over enough GOP senators to reject Thursday’s resolution.

But Trump told Lee on Wednesday that he opposed Lee’s legislation, prompting Lee himself to say he would back the resolution.

The strongest chance of blocking Trump remains several lawsuits filed by Democratic state attorneys general, environmental groups and others.

On Twitter, Trump called on Republicans to oppose the resolution, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., helped drive through the House last month.

“Today’s issue is BORDER SECURITY and Crime!!! Don’t vote with Pelosi!” he tweeted, invoking the name of a Democrat who boatloads of GOP ads have villainized in recent campaign cycles.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is backing Trump, went to the White House late Wednesday with other senators to see if some compromise could be reached that would help reduce the number of GOP senators opposing Trump, according to a person familiar with the visit who described it on condition of anonymity. The effort fell short.

The National Emergency Act gives presidents wide leeway in declaring an emergency. Congress can vote to block a declaration, but the two-thirds majorities required to overcome presidential vetoes make it hard for lawmakers to prevail.

Lee had proposed letting a presidential emergency declaration last 30 days unless Congress voted to extend it. That would have applied to future emergencies but not Trump’s current order unless he sought to renew it next year.

SUMNER COUNTY — A 30-year-old Kansas high school band director is accused of four felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child and unlawful sexual relations involving a student.

Benjamin Olson, identified on the school web site as the Director of Bands at USD 353 in Wellington is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon, according to Assistant County Attorney Mitch Spencer.

Police arrested Olson March 8, according to online booking reports. He posted a $50,000 bond and was no longer in custody, according to Spencer.

The charges include persuading a minor to take nude photos, possession of the photos, asking for more nude photos, possession of similar videos in addition to the unlawful sexual relations with a student, according to Spencer.

GEARY COUNTY — Authorities investigating the cause of a Wednesday fire that destroyed a hay barn and approximately 150 large hay bales on the east side of the City of Milford have determined it was an arson fire, according to Geary County Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges

Just after 5:30 p.m., firefighters responded to the fire. Milford City Fire and Geary County Fire responded to the scene and Fort Riley Fire was asked to assist at the fire scene with water support since there were no fire hydrants in the immediate area.

The barn was filled with large bales of hay and alfalfa that was on fire when units arrived on scene. Firefighters and others were able to remove a tractor and implement away from the open sided building. There were seven other out buildings in the immediate area that were endangered due to embers from the fire being blown.

The fire was brought under control about 8:30 p.m. Milford firefighters remained on scene throughout the evening, and additional units were called back to the scene about 11:30 p.m. due to embers starting one of the out buildings on fire. That blaze was extinguished with minor damage reported. Fire units remained on scene until 9 a.m. Thursday.

Damage estimates are still being determined. The property was owned by Gabe Shandy of Milford.

The Geary County Fire Department and Geary County Sheriff’s Department are continuing to investigate.

————

GEARY COUNTY — Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at a hay barn in rural Geary County.

Just after 5:30p.m. Wednesday, crews responded to the blaze on the east side of Milford, according to Geary County Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges. 

Crews from Geary County, Fort Riley and Milford battled the high winds to put the fire out.There were no injuries.

 

SEDGWICK COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 2a.m. Thursday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Honda Civic driven by Kenneth Vance Piper, 29, Wichita, was southbound on Interstate 235 and failed to negotiate the curve at Seneca. The driver overcorrected and the Honda started spinning.

The vehicle struck the bridge over South Gold Street and came to rest in the middle of the roadway facing northbound.

A 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by Shustina L. Wren, 30, Wichita, came around the bridge and T-boned the Honda in the driver’s side.

Piper was pronounced dead at the scene. Wren was transported to Via Christi for treatment of minor injuries. The drivers were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

BARTON COUNTY  — One person died in an accident just after 10:30p.m. Wednesday in Barton County.

The Barton County Sheriff reported a 2006 Dodge Ram pickup driven by Jaron Brittain, 17, Hudson, was eastbound on U.S. 56 one mile east of Great Bend when it crossed left of center. The vehicle may have been attempting to pass at the time of the collision.

A westbound 2003 Ford F250 driven by Sergio Rutiaga, Liberal, Kansas struck the Dodge broadside in the passenger door.

A passenger in the Dodge identified as Wyatt Henkel, 15 Hudson sustained fatal injuries upon impact and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Britain and Rutiaga were both transported to the hospital Great Bend, with non-life-threatening injuries.

The accident is currently under investigation by the Barton County Sheriff’s Office. It does not appear alcohol was a contributing factor, according to the sheriff’s office.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The conservatives who dominate the Kansas Legislature voted Wednesday to tell New York’s leaders just how much they hate the Empire State’s new law expanding abortion rights, ignoring Democrats who called the endeavor a toothless waste of time and money.

The Kansas House voted 85-38 on Wednesday to approve the resolution, which declares that the New York lawoffends Kansas’ and the nation’s values and incites “abuse and violence toward women and their unborn children.” The state Senate approved the measure on a 27-13 vote on Valentine’s Day.

The votes reflect long-standing Republican and anti-abortion majorities that have given Kansas some of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions.

“We need to stand as a group and stand up for the unborn babies in every state and nation,” state Rep. Barbara Wasinger, a western Kansas Republican, said after likening abortion to the Holocaust.

GOP leadership may be content to waste time and tax dollars on this meaningless debate, but I am not. Therefore, I will be returning my pay for today to the state. #ksleg #scr1606 pic.twitter.com/aGFRPEtqE2

— Brett Parker (@BrettParker4KS) March 12, 2019

Some Kansas Democrats said their colleagues should focus on their own state’s business. State Rep. Brett Parker, a Kansas City-area Democrat, rejected his legislative salary of $88.66 for Tuesday, when the House debated the resolution at length, tweeting a photo of a check to the state with “Wasted Day” in the memo line.

States, including Kansas, regularly send resolutions to Congress decrying federal policies or urging action, only to see them largely ignored. But criticism of other states is less common.

Criticism of other states’ laws sometimes spills over into formal action. A handful of liberal states have restricted travel by government employees to states with laws viewed as discriminatory against LGBTQ individuals. Kansas is on a list of nine states targeted by California.

Kansas’ resolution does not threaten any action against New York. It is also non-binding and would go to New Yorkers without going to Kansas’ Democratic governor, Laura Kelly, who supports abortion rights and was born in New York City.

The New York law permits women to end their pregnancies after 24 weeks for health reasons, when the state’s previous law said a woman’s life had to be at risk. Abortion rights opponents say the new law would allow abortions up to the moment of birth.

Brittany Jones, advocacy director for the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, called the New York law “horrific,” adding, “Kansas is proud to be a state that cherishes life.”

The New York law was designed to codify protections for abortion rights granted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and other court rulings. Abortion-rights backers fear a more conservative high court might strike down Roe.

Even if the Kansas resolution has no teeth, supporters of New York’s law are concerned about what they believe is a misinformation campaign targeting it.

“Opponents of reproductive freedom have been very creative in spreading misinformation and falsehoods,” said New York state Sen. Liz Krueger, the Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the measure. “But it’s no secret what their true intention is — to ban abortion completely and control women’s bodies.”

During the Kansas House debate Tuesday, Rep. Elizabeth Bishop, a Wichita Democrat, disclosed that she had a second-trimester abortion between the births of two healthy sons. She said severe cramping and heavy bleeding sent her to the hospital and a doctor told her she would bleed to death otherwise.

“Wasting time condemning another state was an absurd way to spend taxpayer dollars,” Bishop said Wednesday after the vote.

Democrats who opposed the resolution also showed their displeasure by proposing unsuccessful amendments Tuesday to rewrite it.

One amendment condemned “any politician who has had an affair with an adult film star and then paid money to keep the affair a secret,” a reference to allegations against President Donald Trump. Another condemned “any politician who searches outside the borders of this state to find problems.”

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