MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities at Kansas State University continue to investigate after a noose was found hanging from a tree on campus.

The University’s Office of Institutional Equity received notification of the noose hanging from a tree on the Manhattan campus Friday morning and it was removed. according to a media release.

The reason for the noose is unknown

On Monday, Kansas State president Richard Myers released a statement Monday morning addressing the incident.

“Last Friday, a beautiful spring day was marred by an ugly symbol found on our Manhattan campus. Near Mid-Campus drive, a noose was found hanging from one of our specimen trees. The juxtaposition between ugliness and beauty could not be more profound.

Once reported, the noose was quickly removed, but not before it was seen by many on campus, including families visiting for Junior Day. It is a poor reflection on our campus community when a well-known symbol for hatred shows up in such a public way.

There may be some who do not understand the emotional impact of a knotted cord in the shape of a hangman’s noose. According to the Anti-Defamation League: “The hangman’s noose has come to be one of the most powerful visual symbols directed against African-Americans, comparable in the emotions that it evokes to that of the swastika for Jews.”

If we have those in our K-State family unaware of the power of these negative symbols, it falls on all of us to teach each other. If you don’t understand, please reach out to one of our African-American students, faculty or staff to ask why this act is intolerable.

Once again, we cannot let the acts of a few define all of us. The K-State family needs to unite in our voice against all forms of discrimination.”

BEAVER COUNTY, OK – A Kansas man died in an accident just after 10:30p.m. Sunday in Beaver County, Oklahoma.

A 2015 Chevy Suburban driven by Brandon Shaw Porter, 41, Beaver, was eastbound on U.S. 64 three miles west of Forgan, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The SUV traveled left of center to pass an SUV and hit a 2015 Dodge Challenger driven by Gustavo Marino, 30, Liberal head-on.

Marino was partially ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.

Oscar A. Anaya, 34, Liberal, a passenger in the Dodge, was transported to Southwest Medical Center where he was treated for a head injury, according to the OHP.

Porter remains hospitalized at Southwest Medical center with a leg injury. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the OHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The temporary seizure of newspapers at a Kansas community college last week shone a media spotlight on a long-running dispute between administrators and student journalists.

Hutchinson Community College’s board of trustees is expected Tuesday to wade into the controversy.

That is when suspended journalism professor Alan Montgomery plans to talk to trustees about the administration’s treatment of the student journalists and its alleged use of disciplinary procedures to punish them for news stories.

The administration earlier this month suspended him and cancelled his classes before the end of the semester.

Montgomery calls it an absolute planned conspiracy to deny these students their First Amendment rights.

HCC President Carter File defended the college’s actions, saying he doesn’t care what is in the paper.

LINN COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities caught suspects on fishing violations over the weekend.

On Sunday at La Cygne, Kansas game wardens found a group in one boat with 24 catfish over the limit, according to a social media report.

Meanwhile in Marion County, a warden working off a tip that included a photo of a license plate found the suspect with a cooler full of 39 Walleye.

Charges are pending.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A sniper who terrorized downtown Wichita more than 40 years ago is going before a parole board this month.

The case of 59-year-old Michael Soles will be among several to be considered during a May 17 meeting in Kansas City, Kansas.

Soles became known as the Holiday Inn Sniper in 1976 after he carried two rifles and an ammunition-filled lunch pail to the top floor of a 26-story building that was capped by the Holiday Inn. Killed in the shooting were 23-year-old Mark Falen, 56-year-old Joe Goulart and 57-year-old Elmer Hensley. Seven others were wounded before police shot Soles.

He could be freed as early as July if his latest bid for release is granted. Several others have been denied, most recently in 2007.

LABETTE COUNTY –  Law enforcement authorities in Labette County are investigating a shooting.

Just before 8:45 p.m. Saturday, two deputies from the Labette County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting during a domestic incident at 511 Walnut Street in Mound Valley, according to a media release.

After arriving on the scene, deputies encountered a 40-year-old white man with a firearm outside the residence in the driveway. It is believed that both deputies fired at the suspect.

The suspect was transported to Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. His was reported in stable condition on Sunday. No deputies were injured in this occurrence.

Also found at the scene was a 77-year-old white male suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Freeman Hospital in Joplin and is in stable condition. The initial investigation suggests this victim was shot by the 40-year-old man.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the investigations.

DOUGLAS COUNTY – A Kansas man died just before 8p.m. Saturday in Douglas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1993 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Derek S. Fenton, 45, Lawrence, was westbound on N1400 Road just southeast of Eudora.

The vehicle drifted off roadway to the right and rolled into the ditch.

Fenton was pronounced dead at the scene.

Shelley D. Fenton, 46, Lawrence, a passenger on the motorcycle was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

They were not wearing helmets, according to the KHP.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas native has hiked the length of the Continental Divide, canoed the Missouri River and biked from South America’s Andes through tropical forests and deserts into Texas.

The Kansas City Star  reports 32-year-old Sara Dykman now is trying to add another 10,000-mile bike trip to her list of adventures.

Make this the law of the land! Pollinator paradise alongside roads.
Great benefits for people, pollinators, and… https://t.co/GXzP8fpOZo

— Moving4Monarchs (@Moving4Monarchs) May 6, 2017

Dykman, formerly of Johnson County, is 2,200 miles into her trek meant to draw attention to the monarch butterflies, which each year make their own cross-country migrations.

Some 95 percent of the monarch population has been lost over the past two decades, largely because millions of acres of milkweed plants on which the caterpillars feed have been destroyed.

Dykman left Mexico in March, will be in Kansas City in coming days, and venture to Canada before biking back.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some Kansas lawmakers and animal welfare advocates are holding up a bill increasing fees on pet stores, breeders and kennels in hopes that they can also pass more stringent oversight of breeders.

House and Senate negotiators couldn’t agree last week on a bill increasing fees and oversight. They moved forward with only the fee increase. But House members rejected that Thursday and sent the bill back to the negotiating committee.

At issue is a measure to require surprise inspections of breeders, a move supporters say would help address problem breeders, or “puppy mills” that mistreat animals.

Those who oppose surprise inspections say alerting breeders about an inspection ensures someone will be at the facility when inspectors arrive, but doesn’t allow breeders time to hide wrongdoing.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City man was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on additional charges related to the armed robbery of a Jimmy John’s restaurant and a carjacking, according to Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Terry K. Rayford, 54, of Kansas City, was charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. The indictment replaces a criminal complaint that was filed against Rayford on April 28, 2017, and includes additional charges.

The federal indictment contains the original charge of being a felon in possession of firearms. Rayford is also charged with one count of carjacking, one count of armed robbery and two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

According to the federal indictment, the charges stem from two incidents that occurred on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. Rayford allegedly robbed the Jimmy John’s restaurant, located at 3900 Broadway Blvd., Kansas City, Mo., at gunpoint. Rayford is also charged with brandishing a Witness-P .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun during that robbery.

Rayford allegedly stole a 1998 Ford Econoline E350 van at gunpoint on the same day. Rayford is also charged with using or brandishing a Witness-P .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a Jimenez 9mm semi-automatic handgun during the carjacking.

Caught on camera: robbery at Jimmy Johns, 39th & Broadway, last night. VERY clear video. Can you help ID suspect? https://t.co/AlbgmPFe0n

— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) April 27, 2017

 

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Rayford has 13 felony convictions for robbery and he was on parole at the time of the alleged offenses.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, the firearms were found in Rayford’s vehicle after he was stopped by Independence, Mo., police officers at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, 2017. Officers received information about a person matching the description of the suspect in the Jimmy John’s restaurant the day before. A retired major with the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department had seen video of the robbery broadcast on the news and saw Rayford – who appeared to be the robbery suspect – driving in the area of 40 Highway and Crysler in Independence.

Independence police officers responded to the area and stopped Rayford’s vehicle. When they ordered him to get out of his vehicle, officers found the Witness-P .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun lying on the driver’s side floorboard. Rayford was arrested and his vehicle towed. During an inventory of the vehicle, the Jimenez 9mm semi-automatic handgun was found in the back pouch of the front passenger seat.

Rayford told investigators he had stolen both of the handguns from his source of supply for crack cocaine, to whom he owed money.

BROWN COUNTY- A Kansas man died in an accident just after 12:30a.m Sunday in Brown County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Buick Century driven by Bruce A. Duncanson, 51, Sabetha, was southbound on U.S.75 three miles north of Sabetha.

The vehicle drifted left of center off of the roadway to the east. It struck a guardrail and vaulted into the creek bed.

Duncanson was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

BY SAM ZEFF

Educators and some lawmakers weren’t sure which Jeff King they were going to hear from Thursday.

Would the House K-12 Budget Committee hear from the conservative former Senate vice president who pushed through block grants and tried to defund the courts? Or would they hear from a constitutional lawyer with experience litigating school finance cases in Kansas?

Turns out it was the latter.

“I don’t think there’s anything he said that really threatens where the bill is going,” said Mark Tallman, the top lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

Sen. Barbara Bollier, a Republican from Mission Hills who will help write the Senate’s school funding plan, said she was reassured by King’s analysis.

“He did a very nice job in presenting a good, solid legal foundation,” Bollier said.

The K-12 Budget Committee has been working on a school funding formula for months. It looks very much like a formula that was scrapped for block grants two years ago. But it also calls for an additional $750 million in new money for public schools over the next five years.

King was hired for $50,000 to help the Legislature write a bill and present its case for constitutionality to the state Supreme Court.

He made two main points to the committee about school finance.

First, more money is better than less.

“The more money that is put in, the greater chance the court finds it constitutional,” he told the committee. “And what that limit is, I don’t know.”

And second, he said, the certainty of the revenue used to fund schools may be more important to the high court than the dollar figure.

“Funding that occurs today, next year, two years is more certain by definition than funding that occurs in five or six years,” King said.

The Legislature faces a projected $900 million budget hole in the next two fiscal years, so finding more money for education will be a challenge.

“Raising money sooner may be more difficult,” Tallman said. “Yet on the other hand, phasing in a plan means you also have to have a plan for that phased-in money.”

The committee has yet to approve the measure. Rep. Larry Campbell of Olathe, the committee’s chairman, said he hopes to work the bill Friday and maybe approve it then.

Any school funding bill still faces a long, hard slog after it gains the committee’s approval. Next up will be the Senate, whose members may have some different ideas. Most likely the bill will go to conference committee.

Whatever lawmakers do, they have to have a constitutional formula in place by June 30 — or the high court has said it will shut down schools.

Sam Zeff  covers education for KCUR.org and the Kansas News Service and is co-host of the political podcast Statehouse Blend Kansas. Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff.