TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says she’s launching the state’s first formal strategy in 30 years to strengthen economic development.
Gov. Kelly and Sec. Toland during an August ribbon cutting in Edgerton, Kansas-photo courtesy Kansas Sec. of Commerce
Kelly pledged Monday to work with industries and economic development specialists to write a comprehensive plan to speed economic growth. A report is expected by March 2020.
The project will be coordinated by the Kansas Department of Commerce and the McKinsey consulting firm.
Secretary of Commerce David Toland says the state has lagged in key economic indicators such as GDP growth, population growth and labor participation.
Toland said the goal of the project is to make Kansas “best in class.” Economic development professionals, business leaders and Department of Commerce staff will make up a steering committee that will guide the planning and development of the plan, called the “Framework for Growth.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Two major retailers say they will no longer sell e-cigarettes in the U.S. amid mounting health questions surrounding vaping.
Supermarket chain Kroger and drugstore chain Walgreens announced Monday they would discontinue sales of e-cigarettes at their stores nationwide, citing an uncertain regulatory environment.
The vaping industry has come under scrutiny after hundreds of people have fallen ill and at least eight have died after using vaping devices.
Walmart announced last month that it would stop selling e-cigarettes at its stores nationwide.
Kroger said it would stop selling e-cigarettes as soon at its current inventory runs out at its more than 2,700 stores and 1,500 fuel centers. The Cincinnati-based company operates the Ralphs, Harris Teeter and other stores.
Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Illinois, operates more than 9,500 stores in the U.S.
A northwest Missouri man being held in connection with the disappearance of two Wisconsin brothers has entered a “not guilty” plea to tampering with a motor vehicle.
The only charge prosecutors have filed against 25-year-old Garland Nelson is motor vehicle tampering. Nelson is accused of taking the pick-up rented by Nick and Justin Diemel. The Diemels, who are cattle brokers in Wisconsin, drove that truck to Nelson’s farm near Braymer in July to discuss a cattle deal.
No one has seen the brothers since.
Garland Nelson photo Caldwell Co.
Authorities say video cameras caught Nelson driving the truck to a commuter lot in Holt, where it was found.
An intense search of the Nelson farm began shortly after Nelson was brought into custody. Human remains reportedly have been found, but not details have been released. No additional charges have been filed.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The union representing workers at pork processing plants has sued the federal government to challenge new rules finalized in September that allow companies to set line speeds and turn more food safety tasks over to company employees.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and local unions in Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa have joined with nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen to file the lawsuit in federal court in Minnesota.
The lawsuit alleges that the new rules announced in September by the U.S. Department of Agriculture violate the Administrative Procedure Act because it is not backed by reasoned decision-making and should be set aside.
A USDA spokeswoman says the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
GEARY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating three suspects on drug charges after a traffic stop on Interstate.
Just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday, deputies stopped a vehicle for a speeding and arrested Dakota L. Atkinson, 20, Riverside, Missouri, Madison N. Morris, 18 and Evan J. Hoffman, 22, both of Gladstone, Missouri on drug related allegations.
Morris photo Geary Co.
Morris and Hoffman are being held for multiple requested charges that include suspicion of Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and No Drug Tax Stamp.
Atkinson was arrested on requested charges of Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, No Drug Tax Stamp, Speeding and Driving While License Suspended. The remain in custody, according to online jail records.
SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man on sex allegations.
Holmes photo Saline County
Following an investigation into allegations that arose over the summer that included a five-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl, deputies arrested have Archie Lee Holmes, 50, Gypsum, on suspicion of multiple counts, including rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.
One of the girls was a family member and one was a friend of the family, according to the sheriff.
The incidents allegedly occurred at Holmes’ residence in Gypsum and were reported to the Saline County Sheriff’s Office by the Kansas Department for Children and Families.
Holmes remains in custody on requested charges of Rape, Aggravated indecent liberties with a child, Aggravated intimidation of a witness, Aggravated criminal sodomy, according to online jail records.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to locate suspects.
Just before 7 p.m. Saturday, police filed a report for burglary in the 3000 block of Anderson Avenue in Manhattan, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report.
A 78-year-old man reported an unknown suspect took a Persian rug from his business. The estimated total loss associated with this case is approximately $12,000.
Police ask that anyone with information please contact RCPD or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to consider how far states can go toward eliminating the insanity defense in criminal trials as it reviews the case of a Kansas man sentenced to die for killing four relatives.
The high court planned to hear arguments Monday in James Kraig Kahler’s case. He went to the home of his estranged wife’s grandmother about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Topeka the weekend after Thanksgiving 2009 and fatally shot the two women and his two teenage daughters.
Not even Kahler’s attorneys have disputed that he killed them. They’ve argued that he was in the grips of a depression so severe that he experienced an extreme emotional disturbance that disassociated him from reality.
In seeking a not guilty verdict due to his mental state, his defense at his 2011 trial faced what critics see as an impossible legal standard. His attorneys now argue that Kansas violated the U.S. Constitution by denying him the right to pursue an insanity defense.
The nation’s highest court previously has given states broad latitude in how they treat mental illness in criminal trials, allowing five states, including Kansas, to abolish the traditional insanity defense. Kahler’s appeal raises the question of whether doing so denies defendants their guaranteed right to due legal process.
“Maybe they will establish some ground rules,” said Jeffrey Jackson, a law professor at Washburn University in Topeka. “They’ve been vague about what the standard is, and maybe now they’re going to tell us.”
Until 1996, Kansas followed a rule first outlined in 1840s England, requiring defendants pursuing an insanity defense to show that they were so impaired by a mental illness or defect that they couldn’t understand that their conduct was criminal. Now Kansas permits defendants to only cite “mental disease or defect” as a partial defense, and they must prove they didn’t intend to commit the specific crime. Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Utah have similar laws.
Christopher Slobogin, a professor of both law and psychiatry at the Vanderbilt University, said even seriously mentally ill defendants typically intend to the commit their crimes, even if their acts result from delusions.
“John Hinckley intended to kill President Reagan. He would not have had a defense in Kansas,” Slobogin said. “Name an insanity case, the person would not have had a defense in Kansas.”
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt argues that the Supreme Court has previously taken a “laboratories of democracy approach” so that states can try to improve criminal justice.
“Scholars and practitioners have struggled for literally hundreds of years to decide to how to handle evidence of a criminal defendant’s mental condition,” Schmidt said in an interview. “Kansas is merely continuing the long tradition of trying different approaches.”
Kahler’s attorneys contend he snapped under the strain of crumbling personal and professional lives. His estranged wife, Karen, was in a relationship with another woman and was seeking a divorce. He had lost his job as utilities director in Columbia, Missouri, and moved back to Kansas weeks earlier to live with his parents.
Karen Kahler and their three children were spending the Thanksgiving 2009 weekend at the home of Karen’s grandmother, Dorothy Wight, in Burlingame. James Kahler shot the women, then found his daughters and killed them. His young son, Sean, fled to a neighboring house and later testified at his father’s trial.
Slobogin, who helped write a handbook for attorneys and mental health professionals on psychological evaluations for courts, said insanity defenses typically arise in less than 1% of felony cases, and when those cases go to trial, the defendant loses three out of four times.
Still, Kansas legislators enacted the tougher standard in response to a push by crime victims, family members and friends.
They argued that defendants who escaped prison could be released from a state mental hospital after a relatively short stay. A report to state lawmakers in 1994 said that in the previous five years, 39 people who had been found not guilty by reason of insanity were confined to a state hospital. The average length of stay was 14½ months.
Supporters also argued that the new method was more straightforward for juries. Schmidt called it “simpler, cleaner and less confusing.”
But Jackson said: “Most standards that eliminate part of the defense are simpler for juries to understand.”
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that left a man dead and after asking the public for help, received a tip through crime-stoppers and arrested 42-year-old David Pressley.
Pressley photo Sedgwick Co.
At approximately 12:30 a.m., on Sunday Sept. 29, officers were dispatched to a shooting call at Magoos Bar and Grill located in the 2300 block of S. Oliver. Upon arrival, officers located the scene of a shooting, but no victim was located. Shortly after, 29-year-old Demario Cooks arrived by private vehicle at an area hospital with critical injuries. Cooks later died of his injuries.
On Saturday night, police locted Pressley at 13th and Perry and he was arrested without incident.
He is being held on a $250,000 bond on charge of second-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of narcotics, unlawful possession of hallucinogenics and a Kansas Department of Corrections warrant.
Pressley has ten previous convictions for aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and for drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that left a man dead and asking the public for help in locating 42-year-old David Pressley.
Pressley photo Wichita Police
Pressley currently has a Kansas Department of Corrections Arrest and Detain order and investigators are wanting to speak to him in reference to Sunday’s criminal homicide in the parking lot of Magoos Bar and Grill in the 2300 block of South Oliver, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a shooting call outside the bar, according to officer Kevin Wheeler. Upon arrival, officers located the scene of a shooting, but no victim was located.
Shortly after, the victim identified as 29-year-old Demario Cooks of Wichita arrived by private vehicle at an area hospital with critical injuries and later died, according to Police Captain Brent Allred.
The preliminary investigation has revealed that the Cooks was inside the bar attending a birthday party, and a disturbance occurred between several other men. They moved into the parking lot, and multiple shots were fired, striking the victim.
If you know the whereabouts of Pressley, please call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An autopsy reports says a 50-year-old Topeka woman suffered methamphetamine intoxication when she collapsed and died while fleeing a home she apparently was burglarizing.
Henderson photo KDOC
The report, released Friday, said her death in June was accidental, according to a copy of the report from the Shawnee County District Court Clerk’s office.
Topeka police Lt. Andrew Beightel said officers found Henderson had collapsed near a home. The autopsy said she fled the home and was seen on video collapsing three times.
Kansas Department of Corrections records show Henderson was paroled in 2012 after serving prison time for two counts each of burglary, robbery and theft and one count each of aggravated robbery and obstructing the legal process. The crimes were committed in Shawnee, Wyandotte, Butler and Sedgwick counties.
RENO COUNTY—One person died in an accident just after 9:30a.m. Sunday in Reno County
A vehicle driven by Evelyn Diane Black, 64, McPherson, was traveling on 69th Avenue at Willison Road, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
The vehicle traveled off an embankment at the T-intersection. A deputy at the scene reported having to force entry into the locked vehicle and make contact with Black. She was the sole occupant and pronounced dead at the scene.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the July 2018 beating and stabbing deaths of his estranged wife and her cousin.
Sportsman -photo Shawnee Co.
Bradley Sportsman, 41, of Hollenberg, man entered the plea Friday in Shawnee County District Court and faces nearly 46 years in prison when he’s sentenced Nov. 20.
Sportsman is one of three men charged in the Topeka home invasion deaths of 28-year-old Lisa Sportsman and her 17-year-old cousin, Jesse Polinskey. Police say the women had been stabbed and beaten to death.
A first-degree murder trial is set Dec. 9 for 32-year-old Richard D. Showalter, of Greenleaf. Twenty-year-old Matthew Hutto, of Clay Center, was sentenced to two life terms after pleading guilty to two first-degree murder counts. Hutto is seeking to withdraw that plea and has a Nov. 15 hearing on the motion.
