TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a measure that would extend out the time it would take to fully fund the state’s obligations to current and future retirees.

The House voted down the pension refinancing measure 36-87 on Thursday. Gov. Laura Kelly put forwardthe plan as part of her state budget proposal. Kelly contends that the current contribution levels aren’t affordable.

Pension officials said the refinancing plan would save the state $770 million over the next five years. But over 30 years, Kansas would ultimately have to contribute $7.4 billion more than currently projected.

The plan faced widespread opposition among Republican lawmakers, who viewed it as Kelly’s way of freeing up funds for additional spending on public schools and government programs.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of burglaries and have made numerous arrests.

Tuesday, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s office received information from the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office about possible stolen property being in a storage unit at 1775 S. George Washington Boulevard, according to Lt. Tim Myers.

Detectives followed up on that information and discovered the storage unit contained property taken in multiple burglaries. Approximately $70,000.00 worth of property was returned to the rightful owners.

Property returned ranged from power tools to golf carts.

Deputies have also arrested Dominic Voelker, 39, Wichita; Cameron Rigsby, 32, Wichita;Richard Navarro, 33, Wichita; James Sanderford, 38, Wichita; Tara Esguerra, 29, Hutchinson; Christopher Beaty, 29, Wichita; Gerald Scott Gray, 36,  Sedgwick County;Kevin McGilvray, 32, Wichita;; Jesse Stevens, 39, Wichita and Michael Bull , 47, Wichita.

Approximately $100,000.00 worth of property is remaining, according to Myers. These items range from trail cameras to generators. Deputies have not identified the owners of the remaining property.

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office asks for citizens to put their name on their property, record serial numbers, or place unique identifiers on their property. By doing this, you would assist any law enforcement agency in recovering your property in the event it was ever stolen.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon wanted in two federal cases.

On Thursday,  the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Apprehension Task Force and the Kansas Highway Patrol arrested Ryan Michael Hawley, age 29, in Topeka.

According to a media release from the U.S. Marshal’s service, Hawley was wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service for Violations of Supervised Release on two federal cases; escape, and felon in possession of a firearm.  Hawley has pending state charges of fleeing and eluding, interference with a law enforcement officer, and he is also a suspect in an attempted robbery and a recent drive-by shooting.  Hawley had allegedly made threats to shoot law enforcement and has been involved in numerous recent police pursuits, successfully evading arrest until today.  Hawley has an extensive and violent criminal history including weapons offenses, assaults, and escape.

During their investigation, the Fugitive Task Force located Hawley at the Relax Inn, 3802 S. Topeka Blvd. in Topeka, KS.  Hawley was observed by the Fugitive Task Force as he exited the motel room and entered a nearby vehicle.  The Fugitive Task Force and the Kansas Highway Patrol were conducting a coordinated vehicle takedown when Hawley attempted to flee the motel property. During his attempt to elude law enforcement, Hawley struck multiple vehicles on the motel property before task force members were able to pin Hawley’s vehicle, preventing him from escaping apprehension.  Hawley was taken into custody and a loaded handgun suspected to be fully automatic was recovered in the vehicle.  Hawley is awaiting further federal court proceedings.

Hawley has previous convictions for interference with law enforcement, theft and for an aggravated weapons violation, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

JEFFERSON COUNTY (AP) A man faces charges accusing him of binding a dog’s legs and mouth with tape and throwing the animal into a ditch, where it was found 12 hours later in the bitter cold.

Jefferson County Missouri Sheriff Dave Marshak on Thursday announced the arrest and charges against 39-year-old Paul Garcia of Barnhart. He is jailed on $50,000 bond on charges of animal abuse and armed criminal action.

The rescued black and brown dachshund, Jimmy, is improving.

The small dog was found early Saturday along Highway M. Marshak says electrical and duct tape was wrapped around Jimmy’s mouth and muzzle; the front legs were bound together by tape, as were the back legs.

A deputy found the dog. Authorities believe Jimmy had been at the spot for around 12 hours.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A man and a woman from Kansas were indicted Wednesday on federal charges of crashing a car into a Cabela’s store and stealing guns, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Kyle Mendez, 29, Kansas City, Kan., and Brenda Tosh, 27, Kansas City, Kan., were charged with one count of conspiring to steal guns from a federally licensed firearms dealer. In addition, Mendez was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of firearms by a convicted felon and one count of transporting a stolen 2014 Dodge Challenger across state lines. The crimes are alleged to have occurred Nov. 6, 2018, in Kansas City, Kan.

The indictment alleges the defendants entered the Cabela’s store in Kansas City, Kan., by crashing a car through an exterior door. Mendez smashed through a locked door to get into the store’s Gun Library. The defendants took long guns from the firearms section of the store and placed them into a shopping cart. The guns included two 12-gauge shotguns, a .22-caliber rifle, a .308-caliber rifle and a .223-caliber rifle.

Before the defendants could get away with the guns, however, law enforcement officers arrived at the store. Tosh was arrested at the scene. Mendez fled from the store and was arrested later.

Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Unlawful possession of firearms by a felon (count one and count two): Up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Theft from a federally licensed firearms dealer (count three): Up to five years and a fine up to $250,000.
Transporting a stolen car (count four): Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.

The moves made by Kelly’s interim leader at the Department for Children and Families undo key decisions made at DCF under former Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer. The new governor had criticized the grants and the department for forgoing the normal state contracting process.Kelly’s announcement came a day after media reports that newly released state documents showed one grant recipient had earned low scores in an internal review and didn’t even apply for $17 million of the work. But Kelly had publicly pressured DCF into putting the grants on hold before she took office last month.

“It was crucial that my administration had the opportunity to review the grants before they moved forward,” Kelly said during a Statehouse news conference. “There were clear flaws and inconsistencies in the grants that were awarded.”

In recent years, the department has faced questions about several high-profile deaths of abused children after DCF 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 in May was raped in an office.

The grants were awarded to a total of five nonprofit agencies only days before Kelly was elected governor and were to last four years, starting July 1. They committed Kansas to higher spending on services aimed at preserving troubled families and services for abused and neglected children in the state’s foster care system.

Under the grants, the state was set to spend a total of $245 million on foster care services during the budget year beginning July 1. The increase would be $35.5 million, or 17 percent.

The governor said DCF will extend existing contracts for foster care services for another three months, through September, so that it can negotiate the new grants with the four agencies that received them.

Interim DCF Secretary Laura Howard said the department wants to make sure the grants line up with the department’s new focus of working to keep children out of foster care.

Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, said he’s comfortable with the changes if DCF is getting “a better deal” for taxpayers and its clients while avoiding lawsuits.

“I’m just assuming she’s got those bases covered,” Denning said.

Kelly said DCF will extend existing contracts for family preservation services for another six months, through the end of this year, so that it can take bids using the state’s normal contracting process. The grants had gone to Eckerd Connects, based in Clearwater, Florida, and Cornerstones of Care, based in the Kansas City area.

Cornerstones President and CEO Denise Cross said in a statement that the decision to take new bids for the family preservation grants was “disappointing” because it was planning to provide “trauma-informed care” for children in northeast Kansas.

But Cross added, “We plan to pursue every opportunity to help ensure safe and healthy communities for Kansas’ children.”

Eckerd was to provide family preservation services in the rest of Kansas, 100 of 105 counties, even though it didn’t apply for work in western and central Kansas.

And more than 13,000 pages of records released to The Star this week by Department of Children and Families show that in the other two areas, the agency’s bids and review scores were considerably lower than the agencies the review panel recommended.

Ellen Standlee, operations director for Eckerd’s Kansas programs, said the state has the authority to cancel the grants “for convenience” and “we respect their decision to do so.”

“Eckerd Connects looks forward to continuing to partner with the Department and serve the children and families of Kansas,” Standlee said in a statement.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas awarded millions in grants to a troubled Florida agency to provide child welfare services, even though it earned low scores in an internal review and didn’t apply for some of the work.

Eckerd Connects was selected last year to provide services in the state’s east, west and Wichita regions under a grant process. In the past child welfare funds were typically distributed through contracts.

For the western region, Eckerd Connects was awarded $17 million, even though it didn’t initially apply. Documents show that in the other two areas its bids were considerably lower than the agencies the review panel recommended.

The Department for Children and Families officials says it’s reviewing the family preservation grants awarded during the previous administration.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man accused of threatening to “blow up” the White House has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison.

A court filing shows Brandon Koss of Wichita was sentenced Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of willful interference with the protective work of a Secret Service agent.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a felony charge of threatening the president after Koss pleaded guilty in December to the lesser offense.

Koss admitted in his plea deal that he called the White House in January 2018, used a profanity when addressing the woman who answered the phone, and said: “I’m going to blow up the White House.” He also admitted that he lied to a Secret Service agent about who made the phone call to the White House.

RENO COUNTY —Authorities at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) confiscated a large amount of contraband including inmate-made weapons Tuesday during an unannounced search of HCF’s largest housing unit.

According to a media release, the search involving more than 1,000 general population inmates in HCF’s Central Unit was conducted by officers from HCF who were assisted by officers from Ellsworth Correctional Facility, Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP).

The search yielded 46 weapons, numerous pills and packages of illicit drugs, drug paraphernalia, 10 cell phones and eight phone chargers.

“The introduction of these items into any facility threatens the safety and security of the facility itself, staff and inmates,” Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz said. “We are very appreciative of the thoroughness and professionalism of the officers conducting the search.”

“These items are typical of what we find in a correctional facility, but the facility is absolutely safer when we can stem the flow of contraband.”

Inmates found in possession of contraband will receive disciplinary reports although not all items could be connected to a specific inmate.

While Tuesday’s search involved special security officers from other correctional facilities and KHP troopers, HCF regularly conducts searches, HCF Warden Dan Schnurr said.

The facility recently had to halt visitation privileges temporarily and restrict the movement of inmates in its Central Unit due to several inmate fights that broke out among two to three inmates in each incident.

“The facility was already in the process of organizing a large-scale search prior to the incidents,” Schnurr said. “However, the incidents did prompt us to move up the schedule.”

The search Tuesday also marked the first time that the Kansas Highway Patrol joined in on a search at HCF.

“This kind of collaboration helps all involved gain additional knowledge and demonstrates how we can work together to keep Kansas safer,” Schnurr said.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue their investigation into a Sunday hotel fire that sent one man to the hospital.

As fire crews arrived to the Best Western Hotel in the 4700 Block of South Emporia in Wichita they found the man hanging from a third-story window and smoke coming from the room, according to Lt. Jose Ocadiz.

The man, who has not been identified, fell and was transported for treatment for injuries primarily due to the fall. He remains hospitalized. Ocadiz had no update on the man’s condition early Thursday. Authorities have not reported an arrest.

Crews and the hotel sprinkler system were able to contain the fire to the room of origin.

The cause of the fire is believed to have been intentionally set due to some tampering with the sprinkler system, according to Ocadiz.

Most of the $100,000 in damage at the hotel was from the sprinkler system. Damage to contents was estimated at $25,000.

 

 

By JIM MCLEAN

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas Department of Transportation officials outlined plans Wednesday for putting a state highway program abandoned by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback back on track.

Years of lean budgets prompted annual raids of the state highway fund. With more than $2 billion siphoned off since 2011, it became known as the “bank of KDOT.”

“By reducing transfers from the state highway fund, we move closer to closing the bank of KDOT,” Kelly said at a news conference staged at the transportation agency.

Kelly said her plan to stop diverting highway dollars would pave the way for restarting T-WORKS. The 10-year transportation program was launched in 2010, but stalled a few years later when Brownback’s tax cuts tanked the state budget.

The new governor’s proposed budget reduces KDOT transfers by $160 million in the coming budget year with a goal of phasing them out entirely by 2023.

“To be clear, we still have a long way to go in order to get our transportation system where we want it to be,” Kelly said. “But this is an important incremental step.”

The immediate infusion of cash, said KDOT Secretary Julie Lorenz, would allow the agency to resume work on four of the delayed T-WORKS projects.

Work to expand a section of US-54 in Seward County and modernize a stretch of US-169 in Anderson County would start this fall. Work to modernize a portion of US-281 in Russell County and to expand a section of US-50 in Lyon County would begin in the spring of 2020.

Those projects are first in line, Lorenz said, because they are, “the only four we have ready to go immediately.”

Another 17 projects remain on the unfinished list.

The loss of funding made it impossible for the agency to complete all the preliminary work needed to get those shovel ready, Lorenz said.

“We need assurance that we’re going to continue to have stable, reliable funding so that we can continue to push forward to complete the designs and acquire the right-of-way for the remaining T-WORKS projects,” she said.

A special legislative task force on transportation recently issued its recommendations. At the top of the list was increasing funding for the “heavy maintenance” work that KDOT does to preserve roads and bridges.

The agency needs $500 million a year to keep up with the needs on the system, the secretary said. It currently has only $350 million, but Kelly is proposing an additional $50 million in her budget.

That’s enough, Lorenz said, to maintain another 200 miles of roadway.

Sen. Carolyn McGinn, the chair of the task force and the Kansas Senate’s budget writing committee, said the funding restoration proposed by the governor are the first steps in a long rebuilding process.

“Today is a new day,” said McGinn, a Wichita Republican. “I’m excited that we’re moving forward.”

In addition to the four major projects and the additional maintenance, the plan outlined Wednesday includes money to help cities maintain the state highways that pass through them.

That’s welcome news to Donald Roberts, the mayor of Edgerton, a Kansas City suburb that serves as a freight distribution hub for railroads and trucking companies.

“We’ve got to start somewhere,” Roberts said, emphasizing the need to get KDOT’s maintenance funding back to adequate levels.

“That’s a ‘pay me now’ or ‘pay me a lot more later’ situation,” he said.

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Students in suburban Kansas City have sent thousands of sweet notes of encouragement to students in Parkland, Florida, on the first anniversary of a shooting rampage that left 17 people dead.

Missy Pint, of Lenexa, Kansas, began planning the surprise weeks ago. She encouraged students at several schools to write words of encouragement on a candy label for “The Sweet Note Project.”

Pint flew this week to Florida, where she and a friend spent 18 hours applying labels to 400 pounds of chocolate. They delivered about 3,500 chocolate bars Tuesday to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Pint saved 2,000 for the Kansas City community.

One note read: “You are brave.” Another charmingly misspelled message proclaimed: “Your a treashore to the world.”

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged violent attack and have made an arrest.

On Tuesday, a 19-year-old who is pregnant, had gone to visit 38-year-old Gerad Herrera at the Budget King Motel, 809 N. Broadway in Salina, according to Salina Police Lt. Jim Feldman.

The woman told police that during the visit, Herrera became irate and repeatedly beat her and strangled her multiple times. Additionally, she reported that sexual acts took place against her will, Herrera shave off some of her hair and at one point threatened to kill her, according to Feldman.

On Wednesday morning, Herrera had to leave the motel and took the woman with him. She was able to get away from Herrera and made her way to a relative’s house, according to Feldman. The relative then took the woman to the Salina Police Department.

After reporting the incident, the woman went to Salina Regional Health Center to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Feldman.

Later Wednesday, police were able to make contact with Herrera at the motel, and after a short scuffle, he was placed under arrest and is being held on requested charges that include rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated domestic battery, aggravated battery, criminal restraint, criminal threat, felony obstruction, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Herrera has a previous drug conviction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas school district is taking steps to respond to two students bringing guns to Lawrence High School in the last week.

USD 497 spokeswoman Julie Boyle said Tuesday night that the district had activated its Crisis Support Team at Lawrence High. She said the district also will have more adults present during late arrival and has asked for increased police presence at the school this week.

School staff is being asked to identify students who need more counseling and a gun safety campaign will be at basketball games on Feb. 19.

Boyle says no one was endangered during the two incidents, one on Feb. 6 and the other Tuesday. Three other gun-related incidents were reported this calendar year at Lawrence High and Free State.