TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave is resigning to pursue private business opportunities.
Gov. Sam Brownback’s office said Tuesday was Soave’s last day as top administrator for the state’s economic development programs.
Soave has served as commerce secretary since December 2015 and was the CEO of an international business consulting firm before joining the administration.
Brownback said former Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan will serve as interim commerce secretary. Jordan has been the head of the Governor’s Economic Advisory Council since December 2016.
Soave’s resignation would be the administration’s second high-profile departure this week.
Deputy Chief of Staff Kim Borchers plans to step down Friday for a job with the conservative-leaning nonprofit Foundation for Government Accountability. Borchers started as Brownback’s appointments director in 2011 and has been a key adviser.
In March, Brownback wouldn’t comment when asked about reports that he would be named the U.S. ambassador for three food and agriculture organizations in Rome.
SALINE COUNTY – Fire officials say a gas-powered generator ignited a fire that destroyed a house in New Cambria, seven miles east of Salina Monday night.
The fire killed three dogs and caused about $180,000 in damage to the residence at 100 East First Street, according to Saline County Undersheriff Brent Melander.
Monday’s storm brought high winds that knocked out power to the home. The residents hooked up a gas-powered generator and brought it inside the home.
The three residents went to sleep with the generator running in the northwest side of the first floor.
Photo courtesy of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office
Just before midnight, the first-floor smoke alarms woke the residents.
Kathene Hedges, 54, went downstairs to find a small fire near the generator’s exhaust. The fire grew as first responders arrived.
She and two others including a 71-year-old woman were able to safely evacuate the home, according to Melander.
EMS treated 54-year-old Jerry Hedges for smoke inhalation at the scene.
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) — A jury has been seated in the second trial of a man facing a string of sexual assault charges that have divided the small Kansas town of Holton.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 13 of the 23 people excused Monday from serving on 22-year-old Jacob Ewing’s jury said they couldn’t be impartial. They cited friendships and business ties to Ewing and his prominent family.
One prospective juror said her daughter had dated Ewing. As the courtroom emptied for lunch, another prospective juror exchanged a hug with the defendant’s mother.
The latest trial involves allegations from two of the five women he is charged with sexually assaulting. Additional trials are scheduled in August and October. During Ewing’s first trial in April, he was acquitted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Kansas lawmakers met briefly Monday for the ceremonial end of the legislative session. They considered overriding some vetoes issued by Gov. Sam Brownback but ultimately took no action.
Republican Senate President Susan Wagle ended that chamber’s meeting quickly because she said some lawmakers were gone and overrides simply weren’t going to be possible.
House members gathered Monday for the final day of the session. CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
“We already knew that any of the overrides would not have passed in the Senate,” she said. “I decided with the Republican leadership and the Democrat leadership that we would just gavel out.”
Brownback on Sunday struck down a budget item blocking changes to Medicaid services for people with disabilities but said his administration won’t revamp the program without lawmaker approval. That took some wind out of the override efforts, said Democratic Sen. Laura Kelly.
“The need for an override didn’t seem that extreme because there were some pledges in that veto message,” she said. “We just have to take the governor at his word.”
The 2017 legislative session came in at 114 days, which tied the 2015 session for the longest in state history.
After lawmakers ended the session, Brownback criticized their decisions. To tackle a budget deficit, lawmakers raised taxes by rolling back many of the 2012 tax cuts.
“This legislative session made history, but for all the wrong reasons,” Brownback said in a statement. “This session marks a drastic departure from fiscal restraint. I trust that future legislatures will return to a pro-growth orientation.”
This #ksleg session made history for the wrong reasons:
-Largest tax hike in KS history
-Biggest budget in KS history
-Every dime spent
The governor called spending levels in the state budget “excessive” when he signed it into law, but he didn’t use his line-item veto power to make spending reductions.
Lawmakers have struggled with the state budget since the 2012 tax cuts, which slashed income tax rates and eliminated income taxes for thousands of business owners.
Republican House Majority Leader Don Hineman said those tax changes simply went too far.
“We’ve now adjusted and corrected that overreach. That gives us an opportunity to go forward knowing that we have a more stable funding source,” he said Monday.
But some budget uncertainty remains as lawmakers wait for a ruling from the Kansas Supreme Court on the state’s school spending formula. Justices previously said Kansas wasn’t adequately funding schools. In response, lawmakers approved a new formula that will add almost $300 million in aid over two years.
Next month, justices will hear arguments on whether the new funding system passes constitutional muster.
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR, a partner in the Kansas News Service.
EUDORA, Kan. (AP) — A 36-year-old man has been charged with fatally shooting a security guard outside a northeast Kansas bar after a fight.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Danny Queen, of Eudora, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Bo Matthew Hopson and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Queen appeared via video feed from the jail, and his bond was set at $1 million.
Eudora Police Chief Bill Edwards said the shooting happened early Saturday at the D-Dubs Bar after another bar employee asked Queen to leave. Queen’s birthday had been Friday. Edwards said Queen then got into a fight with someone outside the bar and shot Hopson when he went to check on the situation.
Queen was restrained after his gun jammed. Hopson died Sunday during surgery. Friends established a memorial fund to assist his family.
BUTLER COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of vehicle break-ins that occurred in Rose Hill late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
At least 11 locations and 14 vehicles were broken into with various losses, according to a media release.
After a Rose Hill Police officer spotted and individual acting suspiciously, they booked an 18-year-old suspect into the Butler County Jail in connection with these break-ins
He is being held for Burglary to Auto and Theft, according to police.
The department is also exploring the possible involvement of other suspects as well as whether or not this suspect is connected to recent vehicle break-ins that have occurred in area communities.
RENO COUNTY – A very small earthquake shook Reno County Monday evening.
The quake at 9:36p.m. measured a magnitude just 2.0, according to the Kansas Geological Survey. It was centered two miles southwest of Partridge.
A pair of earthquakes shook portions of Kansas on Sunday.
The first, just before 8 a.m. measured a magnitude 2.5 and was centered approximately 3 miles southwest of Cheney, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The second at 10:42 a.m. measured 2.6 and was centered approximately 6 miles southwest of Cheney.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported 5 Kansas earthquakes last week and 18 so far in June.
They reported 9 Kansas earthquakes in May, nearly a dozen in April, seven in March and six in February.
There are no reports of damage or injury from Monday’s quake.
SALINE COUNTY -A thunderstorm quickly turned severe early Monday evening on the northeast edge of Saline County causing wind damage and one public report of a tornado east of Salina.
“One storm spotter did call in and report a rogue tornado but we are still working with the National Weather Service,” said Hannah Stambaugh, Saline County Emergency Management director. “I am not saying there wasn’t a tornado but can’t confirm it yet. I would say the worst damage was caused by high winds.”
Stambaugh said rogue tornados are usually small and skinny.
The Saline County Emergency Management Office reported a semi flipped over on Interstate-70 near Ohio Street about 6:20 p.m. There were no injuries.
At 6:35 p.m. the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for a report of a confirmed tornado seven miles east of Salina or six miles northwest of Gypsum. The thunderstorm moved southeast out of Saline County by 7 p.m.
A semi reportedly was blown over by a severe storm on I-70, about a mile east of the Ohio exit. Photo by Rocky Robinson
Tree damage was reported near the Salina Country Club and according to the Westar Energy outage map, just under 800 customers lost power.
The same storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for northeast Marion County due to radar indication of rotation.
RENO COUNTY -A Kansas man suspected of being the shooter in the killing of another man early Saturday in Hutchinson made a first court appearance Monday where he was read the formal charge against him.
On Sunday evening, Leo Wells, 19, turned himself in at the Reno County Law Enforcement Center and was told that the state has charged him with murder in the second degree.
Just after 3:30 Saturday, officers of the Hutchinson Police Department were dispatched to the 100 block of South Elm Street in reference to a shooting and located the victim, Kenneth Thompson, 24, lying in the street with a gunshot wound.
Thompson was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center where he succumbed died, according to police.
In court Monday, Wells asked for a bond reduction which was denied by District Judge Joe McCarville who set the $350,000 bond when police asked for the warrant.
The case against Wells now moves to a waiver-status docket on July 12.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has admitted to driving a getaway vehicle from the scene of a convenience store robbery while wearing a monitoring device from a previous crime.
The U.S. attorney’s office says 26-year-old Christopher Allen Bush, of Topeka, pleaded guilty Monday to aiding and abetting a commercial robbery.
Bush had past convictions that included aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. He was on post-release supervision and wearing a monitoring device when co-defendant Marsoleno Devon Ryland robbed a Casey’s General Store in Topeka.
Data from the GPS device showed that Bush picked up Ryland near the store. Bush then drove until reaching an area where police located the two men. Ryland pleaded guilty earlier this month.
Sentencing is set for Sept. 25 for Bush and Sept. 18 for Ryland.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The winter wheat harvest has almost reached the halfway mark in Kansas.
That is the word Monday from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. The agency says the 48 percent now harvested in the state, about average for this time of year.
Harvest activity is now in full swing across Kansas.
About 87 percent of the wheat grown in southeast Kansas is now in the bin, with about 81 percent harvested in south-central Kansas and 64 percent in central Kansas.
Cutting has now started in the northwest part of the state where 2 percent of the crop has been cut.
The agency rated wheat condition as 23 percent poor to very, with 31 percent listed as fair. About 40 percent is in good and 6 percent excellent condition.
KANSAS CITY -A Kansas City man has been charged with robbing a Kansas bank.
Steven D. Lavy, 55, Kansas City, Mo., was charged in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., with one count of bank robbery, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
A criminal complaint alleges that on June 21, Lavy robbed Bank of the West at 12080 Blue Valley Parkway in Overland Park. He placed a blue bag on the counter and showed the teller a gun.
He was wearing a polo shirt, khaki pants, a fake mustache, a hospital mask and a straw hat. When Lavy left the bank with the money, a bank employee took a picture of his license plate. When officers of the Leawood Police Department spotted the car, Lavy led them on a chase that lasted several minutes. Lavy’s car rammed a Leawood police car two times before he was taken into custody.
If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the robbery charge.
REPUBLIC COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 1p.m. Monday in Republic County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Ford F250 driven by Mark Duane Fleming, 53, Courtland, was eastbound on U.S. 36 three miles northeast of Courtland.
The pickup entered the south ditch, vaulted over a field entrance drive, landed, struck a power pole and came to rest in a creek.
Fleming was transported to the hospital in Belleville. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
BUTLER COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of vehicle break-ins that occurred in Rose Hill late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
