TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — New York Giants cornerback Corey Ballentine has testified at a preliminary hearing about the fatal shooting of his best friend and former Washburn University teammate.

Ballentine testified Monday, a day after making his NFL debut. He was wounded April 27 in Topeka in the shooting that killed 23-year-old Dwane Simmons, just hours after the Giants drafted Ballentine.

Ballentine testified in a preliminary hearing for 18-year-old Alejandro Mendez, of Topeka, who is charged with first-degree murder and 11 other counts. He recounted how he, Simmons and others were standing outside a house when a car stopped nearby and began firing at the group.

Simmons, a defensive back who would have been a senior this fall, was killed. Ballentine was shot in the buttocks.

After the hearing, Mendez was bound over for trial.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A teacher who lost her job at a Catholic school in Kansas City, Missouri, after becoming pregnant has testified that she believed administrators decided not to renew her contract because she wasn’t married but created a paper trail of evidence to justify their decision.

Michelle Bolen testified Monday in her lawsuit against the former principal of St. Therese Catholic elementary school and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Bolen had worked for the school for nearly 15 years when she lost her job in July 2015.

Bolen now works at another school. Her attorney said the former principal had never failed to renew a teacher’s contract after having overseen 330 performance reviews over nearly a decade.

A lawyer representing the diocese has said the case wasn’t about her pregnancy, and that Bolen was intent on getting “revenge.”

TOPEKA —Kansas health officials have confirmed the first death in the state associated with an outbreak of serious lung disease related to vaping or using e-cigarettes.

According to a media release from the Kansas Department of Health, the recent death was a Kansas resident over the age of 50.

The patient had a history of underlying health issues and was hospitalized with symptoms that progressed rapidly, according to Kansas State Epidemiologist Dr. Farah Ahmed,

The national investigation has not identified any specific vaping or e-cigarette products linked to all cases. Many patients report using vaping or e-cigarette products with liquids that contain cannabinoid products, such as tetrahydrocannabinol. Kansas does not have detailed information on what types of products were used by the deceased.

“Our sympathies go out to the family of the person who died,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “Health officials are working hard to determine a cause and share information to prevent additional injuries. As that work continues, I urge Kansans to be careful. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way, and please follow the recommendations of public health officials.”

Kansas State Health Officer and Secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Dr. Lee Norman said health officials nationwide continue to work aggressively to gather information and determine what has caused these lung injuries.

“It is time to stop vaping.” Secretary Norman said. “If you or a loved one is vaping, please stop. The recent deaths across our country, combined with hundreds of reported lung injury cases continue to intensify. I’m extremely alarmed for the health and safety of Kansans who are using vaping products and urge them to stop until we can determine the cause of vaping related lung injuries and death.”

To date, Kansas has six reports associated with the outbreak. Three patients have been classified as confirmed or probable cases and three cases are still under investigation. State investigators determine if cases are confirmed or probable after examining the medical records of suspected cases and consulting with the clinical care team to exclude other possible cases. To protect patient confidentiality, no further information will be provided regarding each of these cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the addition of the Kansas report, is reporting 6 deaths and more than 450 possible cases of severe lung injury in 33 states and one jurisdiction.

While investigations into these cases continue, CDC is recommending people avoid vaping or using e-cigarettes. Also, people with a history of vaping who are experiencing lung injury symptoms should seek medical care. Nationally, symptoms among cases included shortness of breath, fever, cough, and vomiting and diarrhea. Other symptoms reported by some patients included headache, dizziness and chest pain.

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — A trailer containing fossils worth more than $100,000 has been reported stolen from a Colorado parking lot.

The silver-toned trailer was taken Sunday from the Crowne Plaza Convention Center and Hotel lot in Aurora.

Officials say the 20-foot-long trailer contains 13 fossils including at least four valued at more than $10,000 each.

Officials say the items belonging to fossil and mineral supply company GeoDecor Inc. include a 92-million-year-old fossil shark specimen valued at $50,000.

The fossilized skull of a giant predatory fish from Kansas is valued at $20,000, while a fossil garfish is valued at $18,000.

A stingray and fish fossilized in limestone from Wyoming is believed to be 51 million years old.

Details of the stolen items have been circulated to fossil dealers.

ATLANTA (AP) — Thousands of women in the U.S. have crossed state lines for an abortion in recent years as states have passed ever stricter laws and the number of clinics has declined.

Although abortion opponents say the laws are intended to reduce abortions and not send people to other states, at least 276,000 women terminated their pregnancies outside their home state between 2012 and 2017, according to an Associated Press analysis of data collected from state reports and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In New Mexico, the number of women from out of state who had abortions more than doubled in that period, while Missouri women received nearly half the abortions performed in neighboring Kansas.

While abortions across the U.S. are down, the share of women who had abortions out of state rose slightly, by half a percentage point, and certain states had notable increases over the six-year period, according to AP’s analysis.

In pockets of the Midwest, South and Mountain West, the number of women terminating a pregnancy in another state rose considerably, particularly where a lack of clinics means the closest provider is in another state or where less restrictive policies in a neighboring state make it easier and quicker to terminate a pregnancy there.

“In many places, the right to abortion exists on paper, but the ability to access it is almost impossible,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Women’s Health, which operates seven abortion clinics in Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Virginia and Minnesota. “We see people’s access to care depend on their ZIP code.”

Thirteen states saw a rise in the number of out-of-state women having abortions between 2012 and 2017, according to the analysis of data from 41 states. Counts from nine states, including highly populated California and Florida, and the District Columbia were not included either because they were not collected or reported across the full six-year period.

New Mexico’s share of abortions performed on women from out of state more than doubled from 11% to roughly 25%. One likely reason is that a clinic in Albuquerque is one of only a few independent facilities in the country that performs abortions close to the third trimester without conditions.

In Illinois, the percentage of abortions performed on non-residents more than doubled to 16.5% of all reported abortions in 2017. That is being driven in large part by women from Missouri, one of six states with only a single abortion provider.

Even that provider, in St. Louis, has been under threat of closing after the state health department refused to renew its license. Missouri lawmakers also passed a law this year that would ban almost all abortions past eight weeks of a pregnancy, although it faces a legal challenge.

It was one of 58 abortion restrictions passed by lawmakers this year primarily in the Midwest, Plains and South — almost half of which would ban all, most or some abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.

Abortion opponents say the intent of laws limiting the procedure is not to push women to another state but to build more time for them to consider their options and reduce the overall number of abortions.

“I have been insistent in telling my pro-life colleagues that’s all well and good if the last abortion clinic shuts down, but it’s no victory if women end up driving 10 minutes across the river to Granite City, Illinois, or to Fairview Heights,” said Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri and a longtime anti-abortion lobbyist.

Before the recent wave of legislation focused on limiting when an abortion can be performed, opponents largely worked to regulate clinics. Critics say these regulations contributed to more clinics closing in recent years, reducing access to abortion in parts of the country and pushing women farther for care.

Nationwide, 168 independent abortion clinics have closed since 2012, and just a handful opened over that time, according to the Abortion Care Network, a clinic advocacy group. But not all closures are tied to restrictive laws. Some result from provider retirements and an overall decline in unplanned pregnancies.

Advocates say that if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the latest restrictive laws, it will become more common for women to seek an abortion in another state.

“The intent of these lawmakers is to completely outlaw abortion and force people not to have abortions. But in reality, it pushes people farther and wider to access the care they want and need,” said Quita Tinsley, deputy director of Access Reproductive Care Southeast, a group that supports women seeking abortions in six states.

A third of women calling the group’s hotline for assistance end up traveling out of state for abortions, Tinsley said.

Georgia’s share of abortions involving out-of-state women rose from 11.5% to 15%, while North Carolina saw its share increase from 16.6% to 18.5%. North Carolina had one of the highest shares of out-of-state abortions in 2017. While both states have passed restrictive laws, experts and advocates say they are slightly more accessible than some of their surrounding states.

Hevan Lunsford, a nurse in Alabama, was five months pregnant when a doctor told her that her fetus was severely underdeveloped and had only half of a heart. She was told the boy, whom she and her husband decided to name Sebastian, would need care to ease his pain and several surgeries. He may not live long, they were told.

Lunsford, devastated, asked about ending the pregnancy. But the doctor said Alabama law prohibits abortions after five months. He handed Lunsford a piece of paper with information for a clinic in Atlanta, a roughly 180-mile drive east.

“The procedure itself was probably the least traumatic part of it,” Lunsford said. “Most of the laws I navigated, there was no reason for them. None of them prevented my abortion. It just made it where I had to travel out of state.”

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Associated Press Data Editor Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report. Also contributing were AP writers John D. Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after an arrest.

On Monday, the Shawnee County Drug Task Force served a narcotic search warrant at a home in the 1100 block of SW Lincoln Avenue in Topeka, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.  Deputies found marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

They arrested Reginald M. Rucker, 35, of Topeka, was arrested for narcotic distribution.

He was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections with requested charges of Felony Possession of Marijuana with the intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Rucker has previous convictions for endangering a child, burglary, driving under the influence and drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

SEDGWICK COUNTY — The jury trial of a former Kansas high school teacher accused of unlawful sexual relations with a student ended before it started Monday.

Shari Herrs, 35, pleaded guilty to the crime that occurred while she was working as a physical education teacher at USD 261 Campus High School in Haysville, according to Dan Dillion with the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office.

She no longer works for the school district. Her sentencing is scheduled for November 11.

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SEDGWICK COUNTY — The jury trial of a former Kansas high school teacher accused of unlawful sexual relations is set to begin Monday, according to a media release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office.

In May of 2018, 36-year-old Shari Herrs, who taught physical education at USD 261 Campus High School in Haysville was booked into the Sedgwick County jail on the accusation.

She was on summer break at the time of the arrest and is no longer listed as an employee according to the school district web site.

The trial was set to begin at 9a.m. in Sedgwick County Judge David Dahl’s courtroom, according to the release.

 

 

 

DAWSON COUNTY  — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a weekend traffic stop.

Just after 5p.m.  September 6, a trooper with the Nebraska State Patrol observed an Infinity QX60 traveling eastbound at 98 miles per hour on Interstate 80 near Lexington, according to a media release. The trooper performed a traffic stop and became suspicious of criminal activity.

A search of the vehicle revealed 155 pounds of marijuana and 439 THC vape cartridges. The combination carries an estimated street value of more than $500,000.

The trooper arrested the  driver, Michael Banks, 27, of San Bernardino, California, for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp.

Banks is being held  in the Dawson County Jail.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Newly unsealed court documents say a Wichita sex offender paid a teenage girl to find young girls he could pay for sex.

Records released Friday say 38-year-old Long Van was arrested in July after police went through the teen’s phone and found more than 2,900 messages from him. In the messages, Van would ask for pictures and said, “I like yall young.”

The teen was taken into custody at a hotel after advertising on an online escort site. The records say she recruited her friends into human trafficking and kept a portion of their earnings for herself.

Van was already on probation for a 2017 child sex crime. The newest charges accuse him of sex trafficking a 15-year-old.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas and Missouri affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union have sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons on behalf of an inmate they claim could die without a drug used to treat his opioid addiction.

After an emergency hearing Wednesday in Kansas City, Kansas, U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia will decide whether to order officials to continue the medication buprenorphine for Leaman Crews. Bureau of Prisons policy denies inmates access to that medication as a treatment for opioid use disorder.

The ACLU argued in a filing Friday that withholding medication violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, as well as federal statutes.

“It really wouldn’t be a stretch to call this denial of Mr. Crews’ treatment a death sentence,” Lauren Bonds, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, said in a news release. “Every minute we wait is another minute of suffering for him.”

Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas, said they are evaluating the complaint and will file their response with the court.

Crews reported to the federal prison at Leavenworth on Sept. 4 to begin a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to five counts of wire fraud stemming from his employment at Brewer Science Inc. in Rolla, Missouri, according to filings in his criminal case. Crews, who was the company’s director of information systems, was convicted of using the company credit card to make fictitious purchases. As part of his sentence he was also ordered to pay more than $1.9 million in restitution.

The ACLU contended in its civil lawsuit that Crews used his position to gain access to money he used to buy opioids, saying Crews first took opioids for debilitating pain after a serious car accident and became dependent on them.

Crews has entered long-term recovery and has been clean for 15 months with the help of the doctor-prescribed addiction treatment, according to the lawsuit.

Multiple federal agencies have embraced the medical consensus that the standard of care to treat opioid use disorder is Medication for Addition Treatment, or MAT, said Tony Rothert, legal director and interim executive director of the ACLU of Missouri.

“The medical consensus doesn’t change in the correctional environment,” Rothert said. “U.S. attorneys’ offices have even initiated investigations against state and local correctional institutions that withhold MAT from inmates.”

SALINE COUNTY — A Kansas man with four previous convictions is back in jail for an alleged aggravated robbery.

On September 6, a Salina woman reported to police that Jose Cibrian, 29, of Salina, approached her about borrowing her vehicle, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

The woman refused the request but while she had her back to him, he took out a knife and cut from her neck a lanyard that held her keys, according to Forrester.

The woman ran into the house and Cibrian got into the detached garage and drove her 2002 Saturn L100 through the half-open garage door.

Later, police received a tip and found Cibrian was at a trailer park in the 900 Block of 13th Street in Salina.

He was sitting in the Saturn with the keys on the cut lanyard in the ignition.  Cibrian was also in possession of a black, folding buck knife, according to Forrester.

Cibrian is in custody on requested charges of aggravated robbery, felony theft, burglary, and criminal damage to property.  He has previous convictions for burglary, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, criminal possession of a firearm and drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Damage to the garage door was estimated at $300.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — An advocacy group for people sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests is criticizing the bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese for not naming more people on a list of credibly accused clerics.

Bishop James Johnston Jr. released a list on Friday of 19 clerics who had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of children against them. Another 11 former clerics were named in different categories.

On Monday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the bishop’s list was incomplete because it didn’t include priests who lived in the Kansas City area in the past but who were accused of sexual abuse in other dioceses.

A diocese spokesman said it would be impossible to research every priest who may have worked or lived in the Kansas City area but who wasn’t assigned to the diocese.

Former Lt. Governor and fifth-generation Kansan, Tracey Mann, has announced his candidacy for Kansas’ First Congressional District.

“America faces urgent threats to our freedom. While President Trump is doing his best to right the ship, too many Washington politicians want to redefine our founding values and ideals. Socialism is on the rise. Efforts to impose government-run health care, increase taxes, restrict religious freedom and erode the Second Amendment are part of the same agenda. America needs leaders who will stand up to meet this challenge and fight to protect our founding beliefs,” Mann said.

“I was raised by wonderful parents on our family farm where I learned the values of hard work, perseverance, and service. I recognize that to whom much is given much is required. When I served as Jerry Moran’s first intern I never imagined I would be the 50th Lt. Governor of Kansas. I believe that every generation of Americans has a responsibility to leave our country better off and stronger than how we found it. This is our moment to step up and serve,” Mann said.

Mann plans to run on a platform of bringing Kansas values and a voice for Kansas agriculture to Washington. The father of four beautiful children, Mann is strongly pro-life and pro-Second Amendment. Raised on a family farm in Quinter, Kan., Mann learned first-hand the value of hard work and how important it is that Washington stays out of the way of Kansas producers. Mann supports President Trump’s efforts to build the wall and curb illegal immigration.

“I will fight to restore fiscal discipline in Congress and will support sound agricultural policy. My experience in agriculture and business has taught me that politicians don’t create jobs; risk-takers and entrepreneurs create jobs. In Congress, I will do everything in my power to help job creators succeed. But above all, I will put Kansans and our Kansas values first.”

Mann attended Kansas State University where he studied agricultural economics and was elected student body president. After college, Mann started a career in commercial real estate.

Mann has served on the Board of Directors of many Kansas organizations including Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL), Kansas Chamber of Commerce, and The City Teen Center in Salina.

Mann and his wife, Audrey, live in Salina with their four children (Quincy, Austin, Whitney, and Elise).