WICHITA– A Kansas business owner pleaded guilty Friday to withholding more than $258,000 in taxes from employee salaries that he failed to paid over to the government, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Michael J. Skladzien, 54, Wichita, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of failing to pay taxes. In his plea, he admitted that while he owned S&S Floor Maintenance he withheld approximately $258,610 from salaries of employees to pay federal taxes. Instead of paying the funds over to the government, he spent the money on personal expenses including gambling.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 11, 2017. He faces up to five years in federal prison. Beall commended Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger for their work on the case.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A coroner says the February drowning of a teenager at Kansas’ Douglas State Fishing Lake was accidental.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports at Dr. Altaf Hossain’s recently released report found that 18-year-old Cameron Kirchner was not intoxicated with drugs or alcohol at the time of this death Feb. 18.

Authorities have said that Kirchner and a 17-year-old boy spilled into the lake the evening of Feb. 18 when the boat they were rowing overturned. The younger teenager resurfaced and survived.

Kirchner’s body was found four days later.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police are urging people to not follow the lead of a Wichita woman who was struck by a car after stepping onto a street in an attempt to rescue a line of ducklings.

The 57-year-old woman was treated at a hospital earlier this month and released. Police also ticketed her for failing to yield to a vehicle in the roadway. Some of the ducklings didn’t survive.

Officer Charley Davidson says that most of the time cars will stop for animals in the street or that the animals will scurry off. But in cases where the animals remain in the street, he urged people to call police and say “it’s causing traffic problems.”

Davidson says police can get the wildlife off the road safely.

BUCHANAN COUNTY, MO – The victim in a Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and Doniphan County Sheriff’s Office death investigation was recovered in the Missouri River late Saturday morning, according to a media release.

At approximately 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 27, a citizen spotted a body in the Missouri River, south of St. Joseph, MO in Buchanan County.

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office responded and recovered the body, which has been identified as Daniel Purvis, age 64, of St. Joseph, MO. Authorities had been searching the Wolf River and other nearby bodies of water for Purvis since Monday, May 22.

Christopher Colhour, 40, from the St. Joseph area, was arrested May 22 for the theft of a 2009 Chevy Traverse which belonged to Mr. Purvis.

Colhour remains in custody in Doniphan County Jail due to his suspected involvement in the disappearance of Mr. Purvis. Further charges are pending.

By JIM MCLEAN

The filing deadline isn’t until next June. But candidates already are lining up for what could be the toughest job in Kansas: succeeding Gov. Sam Brownback.

Four hopefuls are at least tentatively in the race and several more are thinking about getting in, including some Republican heavyweights.

Who?

Well, Kansas Secretary of State and political lightning rod Kris Kobach for one. Interviewed at the Kansas Republican Party’s state convention earlier this year, he said, “I am taking a very serious look at the governor’s race.”

Earlier this week he told The Associated Press that he would announce his intentions in the next couple of months.

Kansas 3rd District Congressman Kevin Yoder isn’t as direct about it, but he’s also eyeing the race.

“I think we need someone who can unify the Republican Party and has the ability to lead a divided state,” Yoder said.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is also a possibility.

“I don’t plan a voluntary retirement from public life in 2018. I plan to be a candidate and let voters decide

if they would like to have me for something,” Schmidt said. “Whether that’s a third term as attorney general, whether it’s governor or whether it’s something else, we’re still sort of sorting that out.”

The conventional wisdom says that Kobach is the best bet to run among those three. Insiders say his recent decision not to take a full-time position in President Donald Trump’s administration is yet another signal.

If Kobach — a high-profile conservative — gets in the governor’s race, some moderate Republicans may press Yoder to commit, thinking he would have broader appeal in the general election.

As for Schmidt, the current thinking is that he’ll choose to stay as attorney general rather than take his chances in the governor’s race or the contest for the 2nd District congressional seat being vacated by the retiring Lynn Jenkins.

From Listening To Announcing

Ed O’Malley, a former Republican legislator from Johnson County who now heads the Wichita-based Kansas Leadership Center, isn’t just thinking about the race. He already has formed an exploratory committee.

Most would consider O’Malley a moderate. But as he travels the state on a listening tour, he said he doesn’t want to be saddled with that or any other label.

“I am purposefully trying to make sure we don’t create any barriers for people engaging in this listening effort, so I don’t plaster the party affiliation on everything right now because I think that will get in the way of engagement,” O’Malley said after a recent stop in Mission, the heart of his old legislative district.

For the moment, Wink Hartman is the only clear conservative to have announced. But the Wichita businessman, who lost a 2010 bid for Congress, is working to broaden his appeal.

In a carefully crafted campaign video released shortly after Trump’s inaugural, he reached out to voters looking for a Kansas version of Trump and to rank-and-file Republicans discouraged by the state’s struggles under Brownback.

“We just witnessed what happens when hard-working Americans stand up and say, ‘We’re done with politics as usual,’” Hartman said over soaring music in the video. “Today, we stand at a similar turning point here in Kansas. The spirit of innovation has been dampened by dysfunction from government. Rather than fixing problems, Topeka has created them.”

Democrats And Independents

For the first time in a long time, there will be competition on the Democratic side too.

Former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer was the first to announce. He points to his experience leading the state’s largest city through the Great Recession.

“Wichita was very successful,” Brewer said. “We were healthy. We were vibrant. We grew businesses. We grew communities. We stopped the brain drain.”

For a while it looked like Paul Davis, the former minority leader of the Kansas House who narrowly lost to Brownback in 2014, might try again. But he’s now pivoted to the 2nd District congressional race.

That created an opening for former Kansas Agriculture Secretary Joshua Svaty. In announcing his candidacy last week, Svaty — who is also a former state legislator — made it clear that he intends to make Republicans answer for Brownback’s economic policies.

“We have to fix the problem. We can no longer be a petri dish for economic theory,” Svaty said at a launch event staged at a grain elevator near his hometown of Ellsworth.

Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer is a wild card in all this. He might run, particularly if he is tapped to serve out the remainder of Brownback’s term should the governor leave early.

But Greg Orman may be the biggest X factor.

Running as an independent, Orman gave Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts a scare in 2014, forcing him to spend heavily in the final weeks of the campaign to retain his seat.

For now, Orman is declining to talk publicly about the governor’s race. But people close to him say he’s running.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of  kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has rejected an inmate’s bid to withdraw his no-contest pleas in a 2003 attack that killed two women and wounded a third.

Friday’s ruling rejected 44-year-old King Phillip Amman Reu-El’s claims that a Shawnee County judge misinformed him about appellate rights that would be waived by making the pleas.

Amman Reu-El was convicted in 2005 of capital murder and other charges in the Topeka shooting deaths, and he was sentenced to death. Those convictions were overturned, and Reu-El entered his no-contest pleas at retrial.

He’s now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years, as well as a consecutive term of nearly 14 years for attempted murder.

Amman Reu-El changed his name from Phillip Cheatham Jr. while awaiting the retrial.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — No charges will be filed in an altercation that allegedly included a racial slur during a banquet at Wichita State University.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Wednesday in a letter that his office couldn’t determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the racial slur was made, or made with criminal intent.

Former student president Joseph Shepard and his family alleged the parents of the current president, Paige Hungate, called Shepard a racial slur at the banquet May 4. They alleged her father charged Shepard, prompting other people to intervene.

 

The District Attorney released the findings of the criminal investigation into the alleged incident that occurred at the SGA banquet May 4. pic.twitter.com/XYmQIhGIb2

— WSU SGA (@WichitaStateSGA) May 24, 2017

 

Bennett said witness accounts were inconsistent and there wasn’t enough evidence to support assault or battery charges.

The Wichita Eagle reports Hungate and other student leaders agreed to take diversity training and meet other demands from protesting students.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An appeals court has ruled a Kansas judge was wrong to dismiss a woman’s open records request seeking police body-camera video of her son’s shooting, ruling the judge could not deny it simply because it was part of a criminal investigation.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday sent Trina Green’s case back to Wyandotte County for further hearings. The three-judge panel reversed a decision that had dismissed her case based on an exemption to the Kansas Open Records Act relating to investigatory records.

The appeals court says the judge should have considered whether its release was in the public interest and law enforcement agencies would have to explain how its release would harm investigations.

The Lawrence Journal-World reported the case stems from a 2016 incident. Her son survived.

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY – A Kansas woman and three children were injured in an accident just after 2p.m. Saturday in Leavenworth County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Toyota van driven by Daffny S. Atwell, 27, Leavenworth was southbound on County Road 5 two miles north of Tonganoxie.

The van left the roadway on the right shoulder, re-entered the roadway crossed both lanes of traffic, entered the northbound ditch and overturned.

Atwell and passengers Marshall Atwell, 1; Jackson Atwell, 6; Nathaniel Atwell, 8, all of Leavenworth were transported to KU Medical Center.

All four were properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.

RILEY COUNTY- The suspect wanted in connection with a shooting death in Manhattan is now in the Riley County Jail.

On Friday afternoon 38-year-old Steven Harris was booked into the Riley County jail, according to the county booking report.

On Thursday night, Law enforcement authorities in Wichita arrested Harris after receiving information that a vehicle matching the description in connection with the crime was at a Motel 6 on E. Kellogg Dr. in Wichita, according to police.

WPD responded to the scene and were able to determine the vehicle was a match. WPD officers then made contact with Harris.

He and 37-year-old Cora Brown, who was also at the Motel 6, were arrested without incident.

Harris was arrested on a Riley County District Court warrant for 1st degree murder and attempted 1stdegree murder. Harris’ bond remains at $2,000,000.00.

Police arrested Cora Brown on a Riley County District Court warrant for possession of methamphetamine.

Brown’s bond was set at $20,000.00. She is no longer in custody, according to police.

Just before 6p.m. on Sunday May 21, police received several 911 calls stating there had been a shooting on Nelson’s Landing in Manhattan, according to a media release.

When officers arrived on scene to the 2800 block of Nelson’s Landing, they found one man, identified as German Gonzalez-Garcia, 39, of Manhattan, dead from gunshot wounds.

A second man was found on scene, also suffering from gunshot wounds. He was lifeflighted to Stormont Vail in Topeka in critical condition.

On Monday, police issued a warrant for Harris in connection with the shooting.

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — Authorities in southern Kansas’ Butler County say the body of an 82-year-old man who went missing in the Walnut River has been found.

Sheriff’s officials say Ramon Criss was found dead Saturday morning about a half mile from where the tractor he was riding was overturned on a low-water bridge he had been trying to clear of debris.

The search for Criss had begun about 2 p.m. Friday.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

By MEG WINGERTER

A new law will allow Kansas crisis centers to treat involuntary mental health patients for up to 72 hours, but it isn’t clear if lawmakers will fund it.

Gov. Sam Brownback on Wednesday signed House Bill 2053, which allows crisis centers to treat people deemed a danger to themselves or others because of a mental health or substance use disorder. The bill had passed the House unanimously and passed the Senate 27-12 after some amendments.

Lawmakers didn’t allocate funding for additional crisis center beds before they left for the Memorial Day weekend, although they have yet to finalize a budget.

Kansas currently has three crisis centers — in Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka — which only take patients who agree to treatment.

Bill Persinger, CEO of Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, said employees there are looking into what changes might be needed to serve involuntary patients.

Valeo has a crisis center for voluntary patients that occasionally houses people waiting for a bed at Osawatomie State Hospital. He estimated the voluntary facility had reduced the number of Shawnee County residents sent to the state hospital by half.

“I think we’re going to have good capacity to provide services on a short-term involuntary basis,” he said.

Persinger said he hopes mental health centers can qualify for grants to prepare for involuntary patients. It could cost Valeo hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a prescriber available at all times, hire security staff, increase its mental health staff and renovate the building to offer more security and privacy, he said.

“It’s not something we can start doing tomorrow,” he said.

Marilyn Cook, CEO of Comcare in Wichita, said many mental health patients could avoid the state hospital or jail if more local treatment options were available, but the state needs to add funding for those programs. She estimated about half of the voluntary patients who use Comcare’s crisis center don’t have insurance.

“We would have to have medical staff there 24 hours, which is an expenditure, and we would have to have some funds for medication for people who are uninsured,” she said. “We have a sustainability problem right now.”

Cook and Persinger said they hope the Legislature will pass a bill that would give some funds from lottery ticket vending machines to crisis centers, but they don’t expect it would generate enough to cover all their costs.

A similar bill considered in 2016 to allow involuntary treatment raised concerns about violating the rights of people with mental illnesses.  A committee of mental health advocates, treatment providers, law enforcement officers and others met between the sessions to come up with a compromise to provide treatment while protecting individuals’ rights.

Cook said allowing crisis centers to treat involuntary patients has been shown to reduce hospitalizations in other states. Patients who come to Comcare voluntarily often calm down within a few hours because they are in a quiet environment with staff available to help, she said.

“I know it can work because it works now,” she said.

Meg Wingerter is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of  kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @MegWingerter 

JEWELL COUNTY – A Game Warden with Kansas Wildlife and Parks helped rescue a Whitetail doe found in a well pit in Jewell County on Thursday.

After some creative thoughts and good farm help, according to a social media report from KDWP&T Game Wardens, the doe ran off into the timber with only some scrapes.