TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says there’s no reason for a financially troubled Topeka hospital to close because a California nonprofit group is interested in taking it over.
Brownback told reporters Wednesday that Prime Healthcare Foundation is a legitimate potential buyer for the 378-bed St. Francis Health hospital in Topeka.
The governor said other options for keeping St. Francis open could emerge. The rival Topeka-area Stormont Vail Health system also has expressed an interest.
The owner of St. Francis is Denver-based SCL Health. It has said it will stop operating St. Francis this summer whether it has a buyer or not but is willing to donate the hospital to another organization.
St. Francis’ problems have reignited a debate over expanding the state’s Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County continue to search for a suspect who escaped from police.
Just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, police had 35-year-old Jose L. Cruz in custody. He was wanted for an alleged domestic sexual assault, according to Sgt. Woodrow during Wednesday’s online media briefing.
Prior to taking him to jail, he began to complain of chest pain and was transported to St. Francis Hospital.
While receiving treatment, Cruz escaped from his hospital room.
Security cameras indicated he left the hospital in an unknown direction, according to Woodrow.
Cruz is described as Hispanic, 6 foot 3 inches tall, weighs approximately 200 pounds with brown. He was last seen wearing a red shirt and black pants.
In additional to the assault, Cruz is wanted on three bench warrants for criminal damage to property, receiving stolen property and possession of marijuana.
Anyone with information on Cruz is asked to call 911 or police.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in south central Kansas are looking for a suspect who escaped Wichita police custody just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday while at St. Francis Hospital.
Jose L. Cruz, 35, is described as Hispanic, 6 foot 3 inches tall, weighs approximately 200 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair.
Cruz is wanted on three warrants. If you know his whereabouts, please contact 911.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for stealing mail while working as a mail carrier.
The U.S. attorney’s office says 34-year-old Gary Yenzer, of Derby, was sentenced Wednesday for one count of theft of U.S. mail.
Investigators learned Yenzer looked for birthday and anniversary cards while delivering mail last year in rural Sedgwick County. Prosecutors say he kept the cash he removed and sold some of the gift cards for cash, but he did not use the gift cards for fear of them bring traced to him.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating three suspects on child endangerment charges.
Just after 2:30 April 14, police responded to a report of two children playing in the street in the 1500 Block of Roach Street in Salina, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester. Neither child had shoes and one child had no pants.
Offices found a five-year-old and a three-year-old outside the residence and Duncan Norman 19, Salina, asleep inside.
Norman was in charge of the children while the parents were at work, according to Forrester.
Murphy
The children’s mother, Charolette Everhart, 43, Salina, works between 60-80 hours per week and the father, James Murphy, 34, was working in Tescott.
The children were taken into protective custody and a County Attorney reviewed the incident.
Following an investigation and review, the County Attorney issued a warrant for Norman, Everhart and Murphy. They were arrested Tuesday.
Forrester said due to the condition of the house, it was deemed unfit.
Name: Norman,Duncan Ross Charges: Endangering a child Endangering a child
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A former psychologist for a Wichita high school has been sentenced to three years of probation after more than 14 pounds of marijuana were found in the trunk of her car as she and her husband returned from Colorado.
Shelly Moore, 46, was sentenced Monday in Saline County. Jurors found the former Wichita Southeast High School psychologist guilty in February of charges that included possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
A deputy found the marijuana during a December 2015 traffic stop on Interstate 135. An affidavit says Moore told authorities she thought they had a personal-use amount. She said they’d texted a friend whose husband was dying of cancer as they drove back.
Jake LaTurner was sworn in today as the 40th Kansas State Treasurer-Photo office of Kansas Governor
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas state Sen. Jake LaTurner has been sworn in as the new state treasurer.
LaTurner took the oath of office Wednesday from Kansas Supreme Court Justice Caleb Stegall in a ceremony at the Statehouse. Dozens of family, friends and legislative and political colleagues watched.
The 29-year-old Pittsburg Republican was appointed last week by GOP Gov. Sam Brownback to replace former Treasurer Ron Estes.
The 60-year-old Estes won a special congressional election in the 4th District in south-central Kansas after fellow Republican Mike Pompeo was appointed CIA director.
LaTurner will serve the remainder of Estes’ four-year term as treasurer and plans run for the office in 2018.
Republicans in LaTurner’s former legislative district in southeast Kansas will pick a new senator Sunday to serve until a special election next year.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed charges against one of three Kansas men accused in an Illinois contract-killing plot.
The conspiracy to commit capital murder case was dropped Tuesday against 23-year-old Alex Karcher.
Assistant Saline County attorney Amy Norton says a decision about whether to refile the case will be made after he returns to Illinois to face drug charges.
The Illinois indictment says Karcher and four others stored marijuana at a rental home and intended to distribute it.
Meanwhile, two men remain charged in the contract-killing plot. Carbondale, Illinois, officer Trey Harris was wounded during the same time frame in which the men are accused in a criminal complaint of agreeing to travel to the state to kill three other men. No one was killed.
Cohn during Wednesday’s announcement -White House Photo
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul (all times EDT):
1:40 p.m.
President Donald Trump wants to simplify the personal tax code by cutting rates and eliminating deductions used by more affluent Americans.
White House economic adviser Gary Cohn says the plan would cut the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent. It also would reduce the number of personal income tax brackets to three from seven. The new tax rates would be 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent.
The plan would double the standard deduction for married couples to $24,000, while keeping deductions for charitable giving and mortgage interest payments. The plan would trim other deductions used by high-income Americans, including state and local tax payments.
It would also repeal the estate tax, the catch-all alternative minimum tax and the 3.8 percent tax on investment income from President Barack Obama’s health care law.
WICHITA -A Kansas man was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in federal prison for two commercial robberies in Wichita, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Austan Kinnaird, 26, Goddard, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery. In his plea he admitted that on Dec. 24, 2015, he robbed Golf Headquarters at 848 N. Webb Road in Wichita. He entered the store wearing a wig and a cap. He showed the clerk what looked like a firearm and demanded money before he fled the store with the stolen cash.
In his plea, he further admitted that on April 29, 2016, he robbed a branch of Intrust Bank in a Dillons grocery store at 9450 E. Harry in Wichita. He gave the teller a note demanding money and fled the bank with the cash. He was identified after surveillance photos were made public.
Poland- photo Johnson County He told the sergeant to “stop” and the sergeant said, “You stop” and the subject said, “I’m not stopping” and continued the struggle over the gun.
JOHNSON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man after a struggle with a police officer over a gun.
Just before 1a.m. Tuesday, a police sergeant stopped a vehicle in the 10400 block of Marty Street in Overland Park for driving without headlights, traveling the wrong way on 103rd Street and suspicion of driving under the influence, according to a media release.
The vehicle stopped in a parking lot in the 10400 block of Marty Street.
As the sergeant exited his vehicle the driver sped off screeching the vehicle’s tires. The sergeant got back into his vehicle, turned around to head out to Marty Street and called in the vehicle had fled from him.
The sergeant then realized the vehicle has crashed across Marty Street, notified dispatch and observed the driver was walking in the street and stopped at the curb, across from where he crashed and appeared to be getting sick.
The sergeant approached the driver and when he was within a couple of feet of him, noticed he was holding his left arm behind his back. The sergeant asked him to show his hands.
When the subject showed his hands, he was holding a pistol in his left hand.
The sergeant immediately grabbed the man’s arm to control the gun.
A struggle ensued over the gun and the subject refused to let go of it.
Eventually, the sergeant was able to obtain control of the gun from the subject.
The sergeant then told the subject to put his hands behind his back twice, but the subject refused and started to pull and move away from the sergeant struggling again to escape.
The sergeant was able to control the subject and took him to the ground and held him until backup arrived to assist.
Deputy Chief Happer said, “He took control of the dangerous situation, did his job professionally and never let his emotions get the best of him. He arrested a dangerous armed individual without anyone getting seriously injured”.
The subject, Bradley Poland, 34, has been charged through the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office with Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer.
