COFFEY COUNTY – A Kansas elementary school is closed Thursday and Friday due to illness.

USD 243 reported due to the large number of student and staff illness, Waverly Elementary school will not have school on Thursday, May 4th and Friday May 5th, according to the school web site.

“We have been hit hard with a stomach bug. Please make sure that your child is symptom free for 24 hours before sending them back to school. This includes attending field trips. If your child is not feeling well, please consider keeping them home,” on their social media page.

They also canceled the field trip for Thursday. After a thorough cleaning, the school hopes to reopen next week.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County authorities say two people are charged in the stabbing death of an 86-year-old man.

Court records indicate 28-year-old Boe Wayne Adams and 18-year-old Yvonne Mosqueda were charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and other charges in the death of Otto Meyer.

Police say Meyer was found dead Friday at a Wichita house he owned but in which he did not live.

The two suspects made their first appearance in Sedgwick County District Court Wednesday. Bond was set at $250,000 each. They are scheduled to be back in court May 17.

It was not immediately clear if the two suspects had attorneys.

Police said Meyer’s killing was not random but few other details have been released.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man and a woman have admitted using online ads for sexual services to find victims for armed robberies.

Thirty-four-year-old Nicole Covey, of Sugar Creek, Missouri, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Kansas to conspiracy to commit robbery and five counts of aiding and abetting.

And 22-year-old Devon Davis-Aumua, of Independence, pleaded guilty to the same charges.

Prosecutors say Covey’s picture was posted on Craigslist, Backpage and Skout in ads offering sexual services. Those who responded were confronted by other people, who robbed them at gunpoint.

Federal prosecutors said that the group robbed seven people in 2015 and 2016.

A third defendant in the case, 35-year-old Sage Harrison, of Independence, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy and to two counts of aiding and abetting robbery.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Participants in the Kansas winter wheat tour say it is too early to know the full extent of storm damage on the state’s crop.

The first day of the annual tour on Tuesday covered wheat fields from Manhattan to Colby. The 70 participating scouts made 222 stops that day. It estimated the average yield at 43 bushels per acre for the first leg of the tour. That is down from 47.1 bushels per acre for the same area a year ago.

Some effects of late April freezes were apparent in a big portion of central Kansas, but were overshadowed by the recent blizzard. Some disease damage was also found in central parts of the state.

The tour ends Thursday when a statewide crop estimate is issued.

COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman has been sentenced to life in prison in the killing of a man who had warned child welfare officials that she was planning to kidnap her children from foster care.

The Joplin Globe reports that 38-year-old Crystal Galloway made no statement before being sentenced Monday for first-degree murder in the May 2015 stabbing death of 59-year-old Robin Fought, whose body was set on fire.

Days earlier, Fought had left a message with a caseworker warning that Galloway was planning to flee the state with her children. Five of them had been taken into state custody, and she was only allowed supervised visits.

Galloway also was sentenced to 13 months for arson and nine months for interference with law enforcement. She blamed the killing on a co-defendant.

JASPER COUNTY, MO – Law enforcement authorities including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Galena Police Department, and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office have reported the arrest of a suspect believed responsible for the shooting death of a Kansas woman.

At approximately 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, the suspect, 46-year-old John Francis of Galena, also known as “Polo,” was arrested outside of Carterville, MO. The arrest was made after a credible tip led authorities to conduct an extensive search in Jasper County, MO on Tuesday, according to a media release.

Francis was arrested for first degree murder in the April 26 shooting death of 29-year-old Kelly Glasgow at her residence at 207 W. Empire St. in Galena.

Police and emergency medical technicians discovered her suffering from an apparent gunshot wound inside the home after a shooting was reported. She was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

The suspect had been on parole in Missouri. He has felony drug convictions in Jasper County from arrests in 2010, 2013, and 2015.

Assisting in the search for Francis were the U.S. Marshalls Service, the FBI, the Missouri Highway Patrol, the Ozark Drug Enforcement Taskforce, the Joplin Police Department, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, the Carterville Police Department, the Webb City Police Department, the Carthage Police Department, and the Oronogo Police Department.

Topeka – Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach Wednesday announced the securing of a guilty plea in the voter fraud case of Preston Glen Christensen.

A media release reported this is Secretary Kobach’s ninth conviction that he has obtained since gaining the authority to prosecute voter fraud in July 2015.

In the 2012 general election, Mr. Christensen willfully voted in both Texas and Kansas. Mr. Christensen plead guilty to one count of voting without being qualified, a class A misdemeanor. Under the plea agreement Mr. Christensen must pay a $1,000 fine and court costs within thirty days. The case was brought in Shawnee County District Court.

Secretary Kobach has secured $30,000 in fines so far for election related crimes.

Secretary Kobach stated: “This conviction demonstrates once again how prevalent the crime of double voting is. In Kansas, we are making it clear that people who willfully vote twice will be prosecuted. This is an important part of our effort to make Kansas elections the most secure in the nation.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — House passes $1.1T government funding measure; first major bipartisan bill of Trump administration.

First District congressman Roger Marshall voted against the omnibus appropriations bill:

“I cannot, in good conscience, vote for an appropriations measure that makes no attempt at deficit reduction and, in fact, increases overall spending. As Republicans, we have to do better than this.
While I commend and agree with House Leadership’s increased investment in our military, we simply cannot ignore yet another missed opportunity to cut federal spending.

Last minute catch-all funding bills are not a responsible or sustainable way of governing. This measure simply treats the symptom, not the disease.
Kansans spoke loud and clear in November that they want bold leadership and structural transformation in the way Washington does business – we must always remain mindful of the will of the people.”

By JIM MCLEAN

Republican leaders in the Kansas House say it is unlikely they will schedule another vote on Medicaid expansion in the final weeks of the legislative session.

But Democrats say they will attempt to force one.

House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a Dighton Republican, said lawmakers facing tough votes on the budget, taxes and school finance don’t want to further complicate the final weeks of the session by adding Medicaid expansion to the mix.

“The conversation is not over. There will be another initiative to expand Medicaid, but my best guess is that happens next year, not this session,” Hineman said Monday.

Getting a veto-proof majority for an expansion bill would require some changes to garner support from more conservative lawmakers, Hineman said. Likely changes would include adding a work requirement as well as specific language to prohibit any expansion funds from going to Planned Parenthood, a women’s reproductive health care organization.

Waiting until next year would give lawmakers time to make those changes and to get a clearer picture of whether President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will allow more states to expand Medicaid under rules established by the Affordable Care Act that obligate the federal government to cover no less than 90 percent of expansion costs.

“I think for the majority party, that’s the preferred approach,” Hineman said.

Rep. Susan Concannon, a Beloit Republican and expansion supporter, agrees.

“I’m not giving up,” Concannon said Monday, adding that she believes the work done this year makes it more likely lawmakers will pass an expansion plan next year.

“We got it further than I ever anticipated,” she said.

Democrats aren’t ready to throw in the towel, said House Minority Leader Jim Ward of Wichita, who appeared with Hineman on the podcast.

“We are going to do everything in our power to get another vote on Medicaid expansion,” Ward said, charging that five Kansas hospitals are in danger of closing without the additional federal matching funds that expansion would provide.

In late March, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed a Medicaid expansion billthat both the House and Senate passed by wide margins. A few days later, a House attempt to override that veto fell three votes short of the needed two-thirds majority.

If Democrats succeed in forcing another vote, it isn’t clear the outcome would be different.

During the Legislature’s recent spring break, the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, a nonprofit coalition spearheading the lobbying campaign for expansion, staged town hall meetings in the districts of several lawmakers considered potential swing votes, including the Ottawa district of Republican Rep. Blaine Finch.

Standing in the back of the room, Finch listened as advocates touted the health and economic benefits that an influx of federal Medicaid matching dollars would generate.

Unconvinced, Finch noted Brownback administration officials had challenged the claims made by expansion advocates.

“Probably like most things, the truth is somewhere in between,” Finch said. “The fact that projections may show something down the road doesn’t mean those are dollars in hand and so we have to be very careful when the state is $900 million underwater.”

David Jordan, director of the alliance, said many of the lawmakers questioning the numbers are seeking cover to avoid acknowledging that they are opposed to expansion for strictly political reasons.

“They are not citing factual information,” Jordan said. “We need to make a final push. I think it’s realistic to think that the Legislature could still do the right thing and expand KanCare.”

KanCare is the name given to the state’s Medicaid program when the Brownback administration privatized it in 2013.

The bill vetoed by Brownback would have expanded KanCare coverage to an estimated 180,000 adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $16,640 annually for an individual. Many of those who would gain coverage are uninsured working adults.

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 mother of a 4-year-old autistic boy says she believes a Topeka police officer who rescued her son from a pond was sent by God.

 

Officer Aaron Bulmer rescued the boy, Elijah Hamby, from a Central Park pond Sunday. He was on another call when he saw Elijah walking alone in the park and then lost sight of him. He got out of his car and saw Elijah in the pond, gasping for air.

A bodycam video shows Bulmer jumping into the pond, pulling the boy out and handing him to another man.

Elijah’s mother, Jaclyn, said Wednesday her son unlocked a back door while his father was in the bathroom and she was at work.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Elijah has fully recovered from the drowning scare.

BARTON COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating an alleged kidnapping and have a suspect in custody.

Just before 4p.m.Tuesday, officers were dispatched to 1234 McKinley Street in Great Bend in reference to a 911 call in which the Dispatcher couldn’t speak with anyone, but could hear a man and woman talking in the background, according to a media release.

The man sounded to be making threats toward the woman.
Police responded to the scene in order to investigate. While they were trying to make contact with someone inside the house, a woman dove out of a window on the north side of the house, while yelling “help me, it’s Miles Jackson.”

The victim had obvious injuries to her face and body and appeared distraught. Officers immediately took the woman to a safe distance and sought medical assistance for her from Great Bend Fire/ EMS. While doing this, they also ensured that the area around the house was secure and that no one could escape.

Officers continued trying to make contact with the subject inside, whom the woman advised was 32-year-old Miles Jackson,

Eventually Jackson came to the door and officers secured the inside of the house to ensure no one else was in danger.

While in the house, they encountered Nicholas Espinoza, 24, and Nikalem Helms, 19, both of Great Bend.

Officers later discovered that Espinoza had an outstanding warrant, for which he was taken into custody.

The woman who jumped out of the window advised officers that she and Jackson had been in a relationship for some time, but she had left him recently. Approximately a week ago he called her and asked to work things out with her. She agreed to come stay with him in Great Bend, but wanted to leave several days later when he became controlling.

She advised that he wouldn’t let her leave and eventually began hitting her at some point. He also broke her cell phone after she told him she was going to leave him again.

The victim claimed that she eventually used Jackson’s phone to call 911 and then threw it under a bed in hopes that someone would come save her.

Police arrested Jackson with recommended charges of Aggravated Kidnapping. Charges may be added or modified after the County Attorney has the opportunity to review the case.

——

BARTON COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating an alleged kidnapping and have a suspect in custody.

Just before 4p.m. Tuesday, officers in responded to report of a kidnapping in the 1200 Block of McKinley Street in Great Bend, according to the police activity report.

Miles Jackson of Great Bend is jailed on a $500,000 bond for aggravated kidnapping, according to the Barton County Sheriff’s Wednesday booking report.

In early April, Jackson was released jail after paying bond on a district Court warrant for criminal damage.

No additional details were available early Wednesday.

JOHNSON COUNTY- One person was injured in an accident just after 6:30p.m. Tuesday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported 1964 Mooney M20E piloted by  Simpson, Larry Simpson, 71, Stuart, FL., was traveling from Johnson County Airport to Manhattan.

After climbing to 1000 feet and experiencing engine failure the pilot found a safe place

in a farm field near the New Century Airport in Johnson County, Kansas

One passenger Richard Simpson, 67, Stuart, FL., was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center with a head laceration.

The pilot and two others on board were not injured.

The accident remains under investigation.

 

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — The apparent accidental death of a 16-month-old boy at a home day care in suburban Kansas City is under investigation.

The Kansas City Star reports that police say it appears that the child was strangled after his sweatshirt got caught on a piece of furniture.

Officer Danny Chavez say officers were called last Friday to a Lenexa home after the day care operator found the child. The toddler was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Chavez says the day care is licensed with the state, and the operators are cooperating with the investigation. The day care operator told police the child was out of view for “just a few moments.”

Police are awaiting final autopsy results. The investigatory findings will be forwarded to prosecutors to determine whether charges are warranted.