TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Advocates for low-income families joined small-town grocers and others encouraging Kansas lawmakers to reduce the state’s sales tax on groceries, while lobbyists for some organizations warned doing so might lead to efforts to reduce other types of taxes.
Photo Kansas News Service
A hearing Monday before the House Taxation committee was the first testimony on a bill to reduce the 6.5 percent state tax rate on groceries by 1 percent. The reduction would lower state revenues by $60 million, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported .
Oberlin City Administrator Halley Roberson said her northwest Kansas town is losing tax revenue because residents drive to nearby Nebraska, which doesn’t have a sales tax on groceries. She said her town could use the sales tax revenue for badly needed infrastructure repairs.
Legislative Research data showed sales and excise tax accounts for 8 percent of family income for those in the bottom 20 percent of Kansas wage earners. The impact decreases as income rises, with the top 1 percent of wage earners using only 1 percent for sales tax.
State lawmakers raised the rate to 6.5 percent in 2015 when the state was facing continuing revenue shortfalls. Kansas residents pay one of the highest tax rates on groceries of any jurisdiction in the country when state and local taxes are combined.
Rep. Tim Hodge, a North Newton Democrat who campaigned on lowering food sales taxes, criticized past lawmakers for raising the sales tax rather than repealing tax cuts during a budget crisis.
“For the last 10 years, we have used and abused the sales tax whenever there’s any kind of recession or shortage at the state government level,” he said.
John Donley of the Kansas Farm Bureau warned that reducing the sales tax on groceries could eventually lead to replacing the sales tax with a value-added tax system, which would apply to production of goods.
“I probably am being paranoid, but I’m here today to basically put the line in the sand, stake the flag, saying we do not support reducing the state sales tax because we do believe that the next step is, well, what about that livestock exemption?” Donley said.
Adrienne Olejnik of Kansas Action for Children said the state should reconsider a food sales tax rebate program that was eliminated in 2013, rather than lowering the sales tax on groceries. The program’s refunds were available for households with less than $30,615 in annual income.
“There are a lot of unknowns and things that need to be resolved before we consider buying down the food sales tax rate,” Olejnik said.
SEDGWICK COUNTY— A Kansas felon has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting outside a Wichita motel.
Kemmerly -photo Sedgwick Co.
The 31-year-old suspect identified as Christopher Kemmerly was arrested Monday night in the 700 Block on north Westridge in Wichita, according to the Sedgwick County booking report.
The shooting happened Sunday night when a man in his 30s was shot behind the Citi Host Motel in the 4400 Block of South Broadway, according to Police Captain Brent Allred.
A 26-year-old witness at the scene told police they found Justin Gaston injured and on the ground. The witness began rendering aid until EMS arrived. EMS pronounced Gaston dead just after 7p.m, according to Allred.
Investigators have learned that there were three individuals inside a reported stolen vehicle that pulled into the motel parking lot, according to Allred. There was an argument inside the vehicle. The suspect shot Gaston one time as he exited the vehicle. The disagreement was drug related, according to Allred.
Kemmerly was under state supervision for multiple crimes committed in Butler County, including aggravated arson, aggravated intimidation of a witness or victim, criminal use of explosives, criminal damage to property and a weapons violation, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with a 2017 murder case.
Just before 4p.m. Tuesday authorities in Texas arrested Samantha Bland, 29, of Laredo, TX , according to the Laredo Police Department and the Webb County Sheriff’s Office.
Bland -photo RCPD
Bland was arrested on a Riley County District Court warrant for aggravated intimidation of a witness in connection with a report filed by the Riley County Police Department for murder in the 1st degree on October 28, 2017.
Bland was issued a total bond of $125,000.00 and remains in custody.
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris had the best campaign roll-out. Amy Klobuchar’s snowy debut showed grit. Elizabeth Warren’s opening campaign video was a bit odd. Take it from an unlikely armchair pundit sizing up the 2020 Democratic field: President Donald Trump.
In tweets, public remarks and private conversations, Trump is making clear he is closely following the campaign to challenge him on the ballot. Facing no serious primary opponent of his own — at least so far — Trump is establishing himself as an in-their-face observer of the Democratic Party’s nominating process — and no one will be surprised to find that he’s not being coy about weighing in.
Presidents traditionally ignore their potential opponents as long as possible to maintain their status as an incumbent floating above the contenders who are auditioning for a job they already inhabit.
Not Trump. He’s eager to shape the debate, sow discord and help position himself for the general election. It’s just one more norm to shatter, and a risky bet that his acerbic politics will work to his advantage once again.
This is the president whose 240-character blasts and penchant for insults made mincemeat of his 2016 Republican rivals. And Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, said the president aims to use Twitter again this time to “define his potential opponent and impact the Democrat primary debate.”
But often Trump’s commentary reflects a peculiar sense of disengagement from the events of the day, as though he were a panelist on the cable news shows he records and watches, rather than their prime subject of discussion. He puts the armchair in armchair punditry.
“Personally, I think he missed his time,” Trump said Tuesday, hours after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ launched his second bid for the White House.
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Trump assessed Harris’ campaign like a talk show regular, declaring her opening moves as having a “better crowd, better enthusiasm” than the other Democrats.
Crowd size was also at play last week when he held a rally in El Paso, Texas, that was countered a few blocks away by one led by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a potential 2020 candidate.
“So we have let’s say 35,000 people tonight, and he has 200 people, 300 people,” Trump observed, wildly exaggerating both numbers. “Not too good. In fact, what I would do is, I would say, that may be the end of his presidential bid.”
When Sen. Klobuchar announced her candidacy on a frigid day in her home state of Minnesota, Trump anointed her with a nickname of sorts, and a benign one at that: “By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!”
Inside the West Wing and in conversations with outside allies, Trump has been workshopping other attempts to imprint his new adversaries with lasting labels, according to two people on whom the president has tested out the nicknames. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with the president. He is also testing out lines of attack in public rallies, exploring vulnerabilities he could use against them should they advance to the general election.
Warren
No candidate has drawn more commentary and criticism from Trump than Sen. Warren, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat. Warren’s past claims of Native American heritage prompted Trump to brand her “Pocahontas” and he has shown no qualms about deploying racially charged barbs harking back to some of the nation’s darkest abuses.
Wading into a Twitter frenzy over an Instagram video Warren posted after she announced her exploratory committee while sharing a beer with her husband at their kitchen table, Trump jeered: “Best line in the Elizabeth Warren beer catastrophe is, to her husband, ‘Thank you for being here. I’m glad you’re here’ It’s their house, he’s supposed to be there!”
“If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash!” Trump tweeted.
Even in the midst of the partial government shutdown, those tweets mocking Warren were widely joked about by White House staff weary from the protracted closure, according to one aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. The person said the president repeatedly ridiculed Warren’s video in private conversations with aides and outside advisers.
Attention from Trump can drive up fundraising and elevate a candidate above a crowded field. But responding to attacks also distracts from a candidate’s message.
Trump’s rivals in the 2016 GOP primary learned that lesson as he bedeviled them with name-calling. Trump goaded Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida into making a thinly veiled insult of his manhood that quickly backfired, and weeks later he sucked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz into a brutal back-and-forth about an insult he had leveled at Cruz’s wife.
“The president has an ability to use social media to define his opponents and influence the primary debate in a way no sitting president before him has,” said former White House spokesman Raj Shah. “I expect him to take full advantage.”
On Friday, hours after declaring a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump tweeted a video made by a supporter that featured the president’s Democratic critics in Congress. Harris, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker were shown sitting dourly during the State of the Union address, set to the R.E.M. ballad “Everybody Hurts.”
The mocking video may have been taken down later in the day after a copyright complaint by the band, and re-cut using Trump-supporter Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” But the message to Trump’s would-be 2020 rivals, and people girding for another wild presidential cycle, remained anchored to the lyrics of that R.E.M. song: “Hold on.”
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s opposition to President Trump’s emergency declaration put him at odds with other Republicans in the Kansas congressional delegation. Moran says he shares the president’s concerns about border security but opposes the way he’s pursuing money for a border wall. The senator says his concern about presidents bypassing Congress isn’t new.
Jerry Moran Audio
Moran and Kansas’ other U.S. Senator, Republican Pat Roberts voted for the funding bill that prevented another partial government shutdown. So did Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids.
But all three Kansas Republicans in the U.S. House – Roger Marshall, Steve Watkins and Ron Estes – opposed the bill – saying its lack of funding for the wall forced the president to declare an emergency.
Monday, California and 15 other states filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a statement Monday saying the suit alleges the Trump administration’s action violates the Constitution.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 48-year-old man who allegedly stabbed a woman to death and stuffed her body into a trash can was ordered to stand trial for intentional second-degree murder.
Kidwell -photo Johnson Co.
Ronald Lee Kidwell is charged in the July 2018 death of 43-year-old MeShon Cooper, whose body was found at Kidwell’s home.
According to testimony, Kidwell told police he killed Cooper in a rage after she threatened to tell people he was HIV positive.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will receive about $922,000 as its part of a national settlement with Walgreens concerning over-dispensing of insulin pens to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office said in a news release the settlement resolves allegations that Walgreens repeatedly dispensed more insulin than had been prescribed to patients. The company was accused of submitting false claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid.
Schmidt said Walgreens agreed to pay the U.S. and states $209.2 million, with $89.1 million going to state Medicaid programs. Kansas will receive $922,126, which will be used to reimburse federal and state funds spent by the Kansas Medicaid program, and to recover the cost of the investigation that led to the settlement.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — An employee of a Vans Off the Wall footwear and apparel store in a suburban Kansas City shopping mall no longer has a job after a confrontation with a teen wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
Part of Saturday’s encounter at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas, was caught on video . The mother said on the video that was posted online Sunday that her 14-year-old son was asked to take off his MAGA hat as he entered the store. She said that when he didn’t respond, the employee said a curse word.
Vans Global Brand Communications spokeswoman Laura Doherty says the employee’s actions were “in contrast with our company’s values and belief in personal expression.”
The new chairman of the Kansas Republican Party is focused on winning back the governorship and the 3rd Congressional District. He told party leaders this weekend how he plans to do it.
Johnson County attorney Mike Kuckelman was the only one to present a full slate of leadership candidates for party officials to consider at their state convention Saturday.
Virginia Crossland-Macha is the party’s new vice chair. She’s currently a member of the Kansas State Fair Board with connections to the construction industry.
Overland Park attorney Mike Kuckelman became chair of the Kansas Republican Party without opposition at the state convention Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Emily Wellman will serve as party secretary and Bob Dool, who was treasurer for Kris Kobach’s gubernatorial campaign, will now be treasurer of the party.
Kuckelman told the GOP activists gathered for the convention that the party needs to improve its fundraising and engage unaffiliated voters in order to boost turnout and rebound from some stinging recent losses.
He urged the crowd to be prepared to pay for outreach to gather more votes.
“I will be asking for money. It’s just that important,” Kuckelman said. “We need the money to get this done.”
He joked that some Republicans might start hiding their wallets when they see him coming.
The Kansas GOP’s new leader takes over not long after Republicans saw their streak of congressional and statewide wins broken in 2018.
While Republicans held all other statewide offices and congressional seats, Democrat Sharice Davids unseated four-term 3rd District Rep. Kevin Yoder in the Kansas City area. And Democrat Laura Kelly beat the polarizing former Secretary of State Kris Kobach by a five-point margin in the governor’s race as she drew some Republican and unaffiliated voters.
Well over 500,000 Kansas voters are unaffiliated – nearly a third of the total registered.
“They don’t know who to vote for,” Kuckelman said Saturday. “They don’t understand why they should be a part of the Republican Party.”
Along with engaging unaffiliated voters, Kuckelman said Latinos could also be key to reinvigorating the Kansas GOP.
Kuckelman said in an interview that immigration rhetoric from President Donald Trump and others makes them harder to reach.
“If you look at the Republican platform, we’re strongly in favor of immigration,” he said. “What the Republicans are opposed to, everyone I assume is opposed to, is people who violate the law.”
The state party platform calls “legal immigration … a blessing to this country,” but emphasizes border security, opposes sanctuary policies, and asserts that employers should have the right to fire workers who are not competent in English.
Kuckelman has represented Republicans in a number of high-profile legal fights.
In 2014, Kuckelman also helped U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts successfully fend off a complaint that he didn’t really live in Kansas to stay on the ballot.
Outgoing Kansas GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold decided not to run for reelection after six years in the post.
Kelly led the party through that contentious 2014 campaign when Roberts and then-Gov. Sam Brownback faced tough challenges but both ultimately won reelection.
But in 2016, conservatives lost some of their grip on the Kansas Legislature, with more moderate Republicans and Democrats winning dozens of seats – enough to form a coalition majority to reverse Brownback’s signature tax cuts and pass school funding increases conservatives had long fought.
Conservatives regained some ground in 2018 and Republicans maintained their dominance in the Legislature, but after the fall elections several moderate lawmakers defected to the Democratic Party.
Kuckelman is promising to build more unity in the Kansas GOP.
To conservative John Hoffman, from Maple Hill, building unity doesn’t mean putting together a more moderate party platform.
He said members of the Republican Party should support the platform. If they can’t, they should consider whether the GOP is the right fit.
“They get to the point where they can’t agree … they leave. That seems to be a logical result,” he said.
The contentious gubernatorial primary between Kobach and then-Gov. Jeff Colyer – two conservatives with very different styles – also left divisions. Hoffman is typical of party members who want to see more unity.
“There was not very much party unity coming out of the primaries,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can get a little more organized.”
Despite his calls for outreach, Kuckelman doesn’t expect to moderate the party’s platform.
“Republicans in Kansas are always conservative,” he said. “I think it will continue to be a conservative party.”
CHEROKEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated battery and have a suspect in custody.
Reffett -photo Cherokee Co.Applegate -photo Cherokee County
Deputies responded to a gunshots in the 400 Block of Park Avenue in Baxter Springs, Kansas on February 6, according to a media release.
At the scene, officers found a victim Eric Ashley who was transported to an area hospital for treatment of a head injury. They also arrested one suspect at the scene identified as 39-year-old Charles Applegate and began the search for a second suspect identified as 36-year-ld Samuel Reffett, according to the release.
Just after 9p.m. Sunday, Reffett surrendered himself at the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, according to a social media report. He is being held on a $50,000 Bond for Second Degree Attempted Murder and Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon, according to jail records.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren gave a nod to the first two Native Americans elected to Congress. Sen. Jeff Merkley got a moment on-camera with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And virtually all of the Democrats who would be president have reached out to freshman Rep. Joe Cunningham in early-voting South Carolina.
Photo courtesy Congresswoman Davids
Think of it as dancing with the freshman stars, 2020 edition.
Democrats hoping to defeat President Donald Trump are engaged in a furious courtship of congressional newcomers, a sign of the energy the freshmen bring to a party looking for a new generation of leaders, direction and know-how.
For the political suitors, there’s credibility to be gained from the younger, more diverse and social media-savvy members of the biggest new class since Watergate. The freshmen, meanwhile, are finding mentors among the presidential dreamers, as well as aligned interests in their ranks on such issues as climate, health care and more.
But there is risk, too, for the belles of the early Democratic primary ball. Only weeks after their Washington debuts, the freshmen lawmakers are still developing from candidates into lawmakers and representatives, building voting records and raising money for their own re-election bids. And some have discovered the downside of their fame, having been embroiled in controversy due to their statements and proposals.
“If you are newly elected and you take your eye out the district and you’re staring at the shiny bright object of a presidential campaign, you are making it harder to get re-elected,” said former Rep. Steve Israel, the House Democrats’ chief campaign strategist for four years. The attention may be flattering, Israel said, but his advice is to do the sometimes grueling constituent casework. “Keep your feet on the ground of your district, and not in the silver clouds of a presidential campaign.”
But the presidential candidates are calling. And name-dropping in public. Some, such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his own $110 million contribution to the midterm Democrats, have raised and spent big money that helped elect the newcomers. But as of yet, the 2020 candidates are making few if any explicit requests for commitments of support.
New York’s Ocasio-Cortez is a close ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders, but she hasn’t announced which presidential candidate she’s backing now. Still, her dance card is fast filling up. Every presidential candidate except Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio has signed on to the so-called Green New Deal, a moonshot she is championing to combat climate change. Merkley of Oregon was there when Ocasio-Cortez headlined the GND unveiling in Washington at an unusually well-attended event for a statement-making resolution that won’t become law. And a day after formally launching her presidential campaign, Warren gave Ocasio-Cortez a big nod in Iowa, home of the first presidential nominating caucus.
“It is terrific to see Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez come in and put a tremendous amount of energy behind this,” Warren said in Davenport.
The House freshmen also are playing a role in Warren’s struggle to move past her claim of Native American ancestry early in her career. Last fall before the historic midterm elections, Warren released a DNA test showing “high confidence” in her distant Native American ancestry, a move intended to put the issue behind her. But that caused significant unhappiness among some supporters. Trump kept the issue alive by repeatedly mocking Warren as “Pocahontas.” Warren apologized twice over two weeks this year leading to her presidential announcement Feb. 9. Within days, she was back in Washington making an unannounced visit to a major Native American conference.
Freshman Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, one of two Native Americans elected to Congress, introduced her. Warren noted that she and Haaland are working on legislation together on Native American issues.
“That ‘Thank you’ is especially heart-felt for my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Deb Haaland,” Warren said in prepared remarks for the National Indian Women Honor Luncheon, where she introduced Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, the chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts. The campaign said Warren was there to support her friend. “I also want to acknowledge another friend who made history this past year, Congresswoman Sharice Davids,” a Kansan and Native American. Davids, she added, is “another barrier-breaking woman whose leadership is a deep inspiration to us all.”
Sanders, the 2016 phenomenon who has not yet said he is running again, this month reached out to soothe Rep. Ilhan Omar after she tweeted that members of Congress support Israel because they are paid to do so. Omar “unequivocally” apologized, but it wasn’t the first time the Minnesota Democrat had sparked charges of anti-Semitism. The controversy continued simmering the rest of last week.
“I talked to Ilhan last night to give her my personal support. We will stand by our Muslim brothers and sisters,” Sanders said Thursday on a conference call hosted by Jim Zogby, co-chair of the DNC’s Ethnic Council. The remark was first reported by Jewish Insider and confirmed with Sanders’ office by The Associated Press.
Virtually every candidate has paid a visit to freshman Rep. Joe Cunningham. His victory over Katie Arrington, a Trump-supported Republican, flipped a House seat in a district the president won by nearly 13 percentage points in 2016.
Even before the November elections, many potential Democratic White House hopefuls reached out, such as New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. Former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Cunningham and campaigned with him. So did Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.
The parade of potentials has continued in the months since, though Cunningham has received no formal request for an endorsement, his spokeswoman said. Cunningham is widely viewed as aligned with former Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, in part because a key aide who helped Cunningham pull off his upset has signed up as O’Rourke’s state director.
Similarly, freshmen Rep. Chris Pappas in first-in-the-nation New Hampshire says he’s played something that sounds like a tour guide exceptionally early in the cycle. It helps that he is co-owner of the Puritan Backroom, a restaurant famous for chicken tenders that’s been in his family for more than a century and is a frequent stop for presidential candidates of both parties.
“I’ve seen a few candidates,” Pappas said in a phone call. “They want to get a sense of what’s on people’s minds.”
RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated robbery and have made an arrest.
Noble -from a previous arrest in Sedgwick County
Just before 3a.m. Monday, police were dispatched to the Kwik Shop, 1401 E 17thStreet in Hutchinson in reference to an Aggravated Robbery.
The female clerk told police a male subject entered the store and requested to purchase an item from behind the counter.
Once the clerk opened up the register the suspect punched her one time in the face, and grabbed an undisclosed amount of money from the register.
The suspect then fled. During the investigation it was discovered that the suspect had conspired with a woman who drove him to the area of the Kwik Shop and dropped him off with the intent to commit a robbery.
Just before 5p.m. Monday, police arrested Emerson Isiah Noble, 19 Wichita, on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Felony Interference with Law Enforcement. They also arrested Elaina Rose Matos, 27 Hutchinson, on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery.
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RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated robbery and asking the public for help to identify a suspect.
Image courtesy Hutchinson Police
Just before 3a.m. on Monday, police were dispatched to a robbery at a convenience store at 1401 E 17th Street in Hutchinson, according to a social media report from police.
Through their investigation they determined an unknown suspect entered the business striking the cashier and forcefully removing currency from the register.
Police asking the public for help in identifying the suspect from security images.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police or Reno County Crime Stoppers at 620-694-2666 or 911.
