SEWARD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged burglary.
Location of the Wednesday morning burglary in 800 Block of South Kansas Avenue in Liberal -google map
Just before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a restaurant at 701 S. Kansas Avenue in Liberal, for a burglary alarm, according to Captain Patrick McClurg. Responding officers found a damaged door at the business. No one was located inside.
Additional officers began checking area businesses. Officers found a two other businesses in the 800 Block of S. Kansas Avenue had both been forcibly entered. Officers heard someone inside Carniceria El Grande and quickly set up a perimeter.
After about an hour, the 21-year-old suspect came out of Carniceria El Grande at the direction of officers. He was taken into custody without further incident. Officers also found marijuana during a search of the suspect.
The suspect was transported to Southwest Medical Center where he was treated and released for a wound to his hand. He was subsequently taken to Seward County Jail.
Investigators will be submitting affidavits to the Seward County Attorney’s Office seeking charges of burglary, theft, criminal damage, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to 57 months in federal prison for stealing guns out of an undercover Sedgwick County sheriff’s department car, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Keller is in custody in Butler Co.
Travis J. Keller, 38, Wichita, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing stolen firearms. In his plea, he admitted that he and co-defendant Justin W. Winger, took guns from the unmarked car, including a 9 mm handgun, a 12-guage shotgun and a 5.56 caliber rifle.
Co-defendant Arthur M. Mannie is scheduled for trial Jan. 8. Co-defendant Justin W. Winger is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Democrat Laura Kelly accused Republican Kris Kobach of not being truthful when he claimed during a televised debate Tuesday that Kansas can save $377 million a year by cutting off benefits and services to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Tuesday night gubernatorial candidate debate -photo courtesy Kobach for governor campaign
Kobach, in turn, argued that Kelly was lying when she said that he wants to cut school spending.
The contentious exchanges came as the candidates for Kansas governor faced questions about taxes, school funding and immigration in a hotly contested race where Kelly previously accused Kobach of not supporting public education, and Kobach has tried to translate a rally with President Donald Trump into momentum in the campaign’s final weeks. The debate at television station KWCH in Wichita also included independents Greg Orman and Rick Kloos and Libertarian Jeff Caldwell.
Kelly contended the claim that the state could save millions by cutting off benefits to immigrants is untrue because people living in the U.S. illegally are not eligible for welfare benefits.
The other testy exchange occurred during questions about school funding and whether the candidates favored returning to the tax-cutting experiment of former Gov. Sam Brownback.
“When we talk about going back to the Brownback experiment, which is what Kris Kobach wants to do, we are talking about cutting our schools again — so we go back to larger class sizes, programs being cut, teachers leaving our state,” Kelly said. “We don’t want that, we can do better for our kids.”
Kobach argued the state has to be smart on how it spends money on education so more of it goes into the classroom, and he hit back on the contention he wants to cut funding.
“Ms. Kelly continues to repeat a lie over and over again … claiming I say schools are overfunded and I want to cut school spending. That is a falsehood. I have never said that,” Kobach said.
Kansas legislators have boosted spending on public schools in response to rulings in recent years by the state Supreme Court in a lawsuit filed by four local school districts. Lawmakers this year phased in a $548 million increase over five years to avoid raising taxes.
Kobach has criticized the court for its rulings and has suggested this year’s increase in spending amounted to a “ransom.” He’s also been sharply critical of how some school districts spend their dollars and argues that they wouldn’t need big increases if they spent more money in the classroom.
The Republican has said he wants to require districts to spend 75 percent of their dollars in their classrooms. The State Department of Education said they spend about 61 percent on classroom instruction alone, a figure that does not include spending on support staff such as nurses and counselors.
Kelly and Kobach have sparred over her claim in television ads that he is calling schools overfunded. Kobach said he hasn’t used those words and demanded that she change the ad. He has also been critical of how the state funds education and how school districts spend taxpayer money.
Kobach, secretary of state since 2011, is nationally known for advocating tough immigration and voter identification policies and was Trump’s most visible early supporter in Kansas. He served as vice chairman of the president’s now-disbanded election fraud commission and narrowly won the GOP primary over Gov. Jeff Colyer after Trump tweeted his endorsement the day before the election.
Kelly first won her Senate seat in her GOP-leaning Topeka area district in 2004, and she’s the top Democrat on the Senate budget committee.
Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman, received national attention as an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014 against veteran Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. Enough Democrats rallied behind him then that the Democratic nominee dropped out, though Roberts still won. Democrats now largely view Orman as a potential spoiler.
SEDGWICK, Kan. (AP) — At least one Kansas school district has canceled classes and many roads are closed as rivers and creeks overflow their banks.
The closures come as the National Weather Service issues a flood warning for a large swath of central and eastern Kansas. National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Ketcham said that the weather system is a “beast.”
Interested in seeing Niagara Falls but don’t want to go to New York? We have you covered. Come to Greenwood County. #kswxpic.twitter.com/NPDJiUBVx6
— Greenwood County Emergency Management (@gwcountyem) October 9, 2018
The Sedgwick school district near Wichita has called off classes for at least two days as a creek floods, forcing some residents to sandbag around their homes. Superintendent Larry Roth told KWCH-TV that the district wants to ensure buses are safe and that it can get students home as water rises.
Amtrak also is closing its route between Hutchinson and Topeka through Wednesday morning and rerouting passengers on buses.
TOPEKA – To better assist job seekers with finding great employment in Kansas, the Kansas Department of Commerce and KANSASWORKS are pleased to introduce the new KANSASWORKS app, now available on both Apple and Android devices.
This free app was designed to make it easier for Kansans to find work in the state. Once installed, the app will be able to find jobs through keyword and title searches or by zip code.
“Our agency is working hard to bring new business to the state and help companies that already call Kansas home to grow and become great successes,” said Robert North, Interim Secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce. “To grow a business anywhere, you need a pipeline of qualified employees to fill open positions. If we can make finding and hiring great workers easier, and at the same time help Kansans find rewarding employment, then this app will be a be a huge benefit to the state.”
Features of the app include:
Simple job search in Kansas
Search by job title, location and radius you’re willing to commute
View jobs that suite your goals
Connect with employers via KANSASWORKS.com, save jobs and share with friends
Bookmark your favorite jobs for follow up
Find a local KANSASWORK Workforce Center
“KANSASWORKS has been busy leveraging technology to assist employers and job seekers in our state, and this app is the latest effort to make it easier to help make matches between the needs of our employers with job seekers on the market,” said Mike Beene, Director of Employment Services at the Kansas Department of Commerce.
TOPEKA – The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) has been awarded a $57,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to assist in its underground pipeline damage prevention efforts.
The grant will be used to fund one full-time employee dedicated to damage prevention inspections and enforcement for the Wichita metropolitan area as well as augment enforcement in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Excavation damage is the most common cause of damage to underground pipelines. In 2017, there were 485 reports of gas lines damaged as a result of excavation activity in the state. Of those, 266 incidents or 55% occurred in the Wichita and Kansas City metropolitan areas.
“This grant opportunity has allowed the KCC to have a presence in the field at the site of the damage before repairs are complete,” said KCC Chief Engineer Leo Haynos. “The ability to interview the parties involved, to look at the locate marks, and to understand the type of excavating equipment involved, provides the inspector with the information needed to make a credible determination of the cause.”
In addition to compliance actions for violations, including the recommendation of civil penalties, the KCC’s enforcement strategy is coupled with a strong educational component that fosters communication among all parties. Using this approach, damages to underground natural gas pipelines with respect to excavation activity in the area have stabilized at 2 damages per every 1000 excavations.
Kansas was one of 24 states to receive a PHMSA grant.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A 46-year-old Missouri man is charged with making a hoax emergency call in Overland Park, Kansas.
Sholaja-photo Johnson County Sheriff
Johnson County charged Morayonla Olubori Sholaja, of Grandview, Missouri, with one count of giving a false alarm. He is accused of calling 911 with a false claim of an “active shooter” in Overland Park.
Sholaja is accused for calling 911 dispatchers Nov. 7 and saying an armed man was threatening people.
More than a dozen officers with weapons drawn responded and several schools were locked down until police decided the call was a hoax.
A warrant for Sholaja in April. He was arrested last week in Missouri and brought to Johnson County Monday after waiving his right to fight extradition.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a bank robbery and have released additional security camera images of a possible suspect.
Just before 2p.m. Tuesday, police responded to the robbery in the 100 Block of East Kellogg, according to officer Paul Cruz.
The suspect walks with a limp and has no bottom teeth, according to police. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or Crime Stoppers 316 267-2111.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a bank robbery and have released images of a possible suspect.
Photo courtesy Wichita PD
Just before 2p.m. Tuesday, police responded to the robbery in the 100 Block of East Kellogg, according to officer Paul Cruz.
He was expected to release additional details after arriving at the scene.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The rate of Kansas infants dying from a lack of oxygen more than doubled in just three years, according to data released last month.
The Kansas State Child Death Review Board’s analysis of 2016 child deaths found that 20 children died from unintentional asphyxia, such as suffocation, strangulation or choking. The finding is a small fraction of the state’s 394 child deaths in 2016, but the rate of death from asphyxia has grown steadily since 2013.
Sixteen of the 20 Kansas asphyxia deaths involved a child less than 1 year old, while 17 of the deaths were sleep-related. Most of the sleep-related deaths occurred when a child wasn’t sleeping in a crib or bassinet, but shared a sleeping surface with another person, according to state figures.
“I think the increase in sleep-related deaths and the unintentional asphyxia deaths is very concerning,” said Christy Schunn, director of the KIDS Network, an infant death prevention group in Kansas.
The state’s rate of unintentional asphyxia death in 2005 was 5.2 per 100,000 population for children less than 1 year old, according to the report. The death rate in 2016 was 41.9 per 100,000.
The findings mirror a rise nationally in the rate of sleep-related infant deaths, which increased between 2013 and 2015, according to a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released earlier this year.
Wichita pediatrician Katherine Melhorn, who’s also an expert on child abuse injuries and child neglect, is working to inform families about “the danger of sleeping with your babies.”
Babies don’t have the strength and agility to move out from under a pillow or an arm, which can suffocate them, she said. Part of the issue is that new parents are exhausted and will often do whatever they can to get sleep, including allowing their baby to sleep with them.
Melhorn warned that a child is “too young to get themselves out of a bad situation.”
TOPEKA – A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in federal prison for viewing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
He also was ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution to victims whose images he viewed.
John Francis Wear, 48, Manhattan, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of accessing child pornography online. Wear admitted he downloaded software that masks a user’s identity online so he could view sexually explicit photos of children under the age of 18.
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a report of shots fired near a Kansas elementary school.
Abe Hubert Elementary School -Google map
Just before 3p.m. Tuesday, police responded to the area of Abe Hubert Elementary School,1205 A Street in Garden City after a report of shots fired, according to a media release.
Officers learned students were participating in a quiet activity inside of a classroom when multiple students and staff heard what they thought to be a single gunshot, followed by the sound of a roaring engine of a vehicle traveling away from the school.
The school was immediately placed on lockdown. There were no eyewitnesses to the incident and officers thoroughly checked the area and were not able to find any evidence of the initial report. The school was locked down from approximately 2:55 PM and released from lockdown at approximately 3:13 PM, according to police.
Officers remained in the area to provided extra security as students were released from school.
JOHNSON COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a double-fatal Kansas crash and have located the vehicle whose driver left the scene of a double fatal crash in suburban Kansas City.
Suspect vehicle photo courtesy Overland Park Police
The crash happened on the afternoon of Saturday, October 6, in the 10500 Block of West 151st Street in Overland Park.
In a media release Tuesday morning, police reported they had located the Honda Odyssey that may have struck the side of a car that then veered across the center line. The car then crashed into another vehicle, killing both drivers.
Fatal Saturday crash scene-photo courtesy KCTV
Rockhurst High School identified one of the victims as senior Matthew Bloskey, saying in a statement that the school’s community is “devastated.” And family identified the other victim as 20-year-old Samuel Siebuhr, of Kansas City, Kansas.
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are searching for a vehicle whose driver left the scene of a double fatal crash in suburban Kansas City.
The crash happened Saturday afternoon in Overland Park. Police are seeking a dark blue or dark gray Honda that may have struck the side of a car that then veered across the center line. The car then crashed into another vehicle, killing both drivers.
Rockhurst High School identified one of the victims as senior Matthew Bloskey, saying in a statement that the school’s community is “devastated.” And family identified the other victim as 20-year-old Samuel Siebuhr, of Kansas City, Kansas.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas middle school is asking parents to be sure their children aren’t bringing a candy known a “happy crack” to school.
Truesdell Middle School officials in Wichita sent an email to families Monday saying the school’s teachers are seeing more students bringing in powder candy in plastic bags.
The candy is Kool-Aid mixed with sugar or crushed smarties. The email said the candy has caused disruptions at the school several times.
Wichita school district spokeswoman Susan Arensman said she hadn’t heard about other schools having problems with “happy crack.” .
The powdered candy isn’t new. In 2011, officials at a Maize elementary school asked parents to discuss drugs with their children after some fifth-graders reportedly sold baggies of Kool-Aid and sugar to classmates on the bus.
