MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for the 2017 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Funds for the program are awarded to the agency by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The funds are in turn granted to projects and organizations that work to improve the specialty crop industry.
The purpose of the specialty crop program is to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. Specialty crops are defined by the USDA as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture.” This opportunity supports the KDA’s mission of providing an environment that enhances and encourages economic growth of the agriculture industry in Kansas.
The Agricultural Marketing Service reviews each application. Approved states receive an estimated base amount plus an amount based on the average of the most recent available value of specialty crop cash receipts and the acreage of specialty crop production in the state. In 2016, Kansas received $283,492.76 for the grant program. In 2017 it is expected that Kansas will receive approximately $295,000.00.
Specialty Crop Block Grant Program applications will be evaluated by a team of external reviewers. The team will rate proposals on their ability to successfully promote specialty crops in Kansas and make a positive impact on the Kansas economy. Those recommendations will be submitted to the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture, who will make the final awards.
Applications are due to KDA no later than 5:00 p.m. on May 12, 2017. For more information, please download the 2017 application from the website at www.agriculture.ks.gov/specialtycrop.
FORD COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Ford County are investigating an armed robbery and looking for a suspect.
Just before 11:30 a.m. Friday, police responded to report of an aggravated robbery in progress at the Insurance Center of Kansas in the 2200 Block of First Avenue in Dodge City.
By the time officers arrived, the suspect was gone. Witnesses described him as a white or Hispanic man, with light colored eyes, approximately 5 foot 10 inches tall and 150 pounds. He was wearing a dark hoodie, dark pants and black boots.
The suspect allegedly demanded money and threatened several people present inside the business during this crime.
No one was hurt during this act. The DCPD is actively working some leads. Anyone with information please call the DCPD at 620-225-8126. You may also call Crimestoppers at 620-227-7867 anonymously.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — An affluent suburban Kansas City woman with a history of shoplifting has been ordered to spend a year and seven months in prison for the thefts.
Forty-seven-year-old Kelli Jo Bauer of Overland Park, Kansas, also was ordered Friday in Kansas’ Johnson County to pay more than $22,000 in restitution to merchants.
Bauer has admitted she stole tens of thousands of dollars of clothing and merchandise she was peddling out of her nearly $1 million home.
Bauer had two prior Johnson County theft convictions when she was charged in 2015 with felony theft. That was after police who searched her home found a large amount of stolen merchandise.
Last November, she was charged again after stealing bras from a Lenexa department store.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Officials in a Kansas City suburb where a fire destroyed a multimillion-dollar apartment building under construction and spread to about two dozen homes estimate the blaze caused as much as $23 million to $25 million in damage.
The Kansas City Star reports that Overland Park based the estimate on exterior damage and property values, and that a more precise figure would emerge once insurance adjusters finish evaluating the fire’s impact.
Fire officials say a welder accidentally ignited wooden building materials on Monday at the CityPlace development.
The blaze destroyed the four-story apartment building, heavily burned a second and rained burning debris onto a nearby neighborhood, damaging at least 22 other homes.
Overland Park says the damage at the CityPlace site accounted for $20 million of the overall estimate.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man imprisoned in Kansas since being convicted of a 1995 robbery slaying is getting paroled.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Kansas Prisoner Review Board has granted the release of 44-year-old Ramon Noriega Jr. Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Todd Fertig says Noriega will be freed from a prison in El Dorado as soon as a parole plan is approved.
Authorities say 56-year-old Sidney Robinson was shot and killed as Noriega and Douglas Abel committed aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery at his Topeka home.
Noriega and Abel received life sentences for first-degree murder and shorter sentences to be served simultaneously on the burglary and robbery convictions.
Abel is imprisoned in Lansing and next will be eligible for parole in July of next year.
WASHINGTON — In a humiliating setback, President Donald Trump and GOP leaders pulled their “Obamacare” repeal bill off the House floor Friday after it became clear the measure would fail badly.
First District Congressman Roger Marshall, M.D. was disappointed the bill didn’t get a vote,
“I am deeply disappointed in my colleagues who couldn’t look past their personal agendas to put the priorities of the American people first. The skyrocketing cost of Obamacare, and the toll it is taking, is on their hands, no matter the party.”
The House bill was not the answer, but Obamacare is still failing too many. We must keep our promise & continue working to provide relief.
Marshall also said, “The American people elected this Congress to get things done – not to be obstructionists. Republicans have the House, Senate and White House, and there is no reason to continue acting as the ‘opposition party.’ It is time to lead.
Rural health care in Kansas has unique issues that we will continue to put under the spotlight. I stand ready, as I always have been, to work to improve our broken healthcare system.”
A 2016 Toyota Scion and is for identification purposes only-courtesy Salina Police
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a hit and run accident and looking for a suspect and vehicle.
Just before 11:30a.m. Thursday, three bicyclist were stopped along the north curb line in the 2000 block of Iron Avenue in Salina, according to a social media report.
A vehicle which was west bound on Iron swerved right and struck two of the three riders.
One bicyclist had a broken left ankle and lacerations to the back of his head. The second rider received minor cuts and scrapes.
This vehicle is reported to be a white two-door 2013-2016 Toyota Scion. There will be damage to right (passenger) front end and right side.
If you have any information concerning who committed this crime, call Crimestoppers at 825-TIPS, text SATIPS to CRIMES (274637), or visit www.pd.salina.org and follow Crimestoppers link to submit a web tip.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Alorica has announced it will close its Topeka call center, eliminating 300 jobs.
A company official told the Topeka Capital-Journal on Thursday that it plans to close the center May 26.
Company spokesman Ken Muche says the company decided to transfer the Topeka positions to other U.S.-based offices where employees serve the same client.
An employee in Topeka says the company let employees know as they came in for their shifts Thursday.
The number of positions at Alorica has fluctuated since it’s opening in 2007. Spokeswoman Irena Boostani says there were 395 employees in June 2016 and that the company had planned to have 600 team members by August 2016.
Officials haven’t yet indicated whether employees will receive severance pay.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators who have resisted proposals to legalize marijuana for medical use are advancing a proposal aimed at making the state an industrial hemp powerhouse.
The state House gave first-round approval Friday on a voice vote to a bill that would allow state universities and colleges to grow industrial hemp and conduct research on it. The House plans to take a final vote Monday to determine whether the measure goes to the Senate.
A 2014 federal law allowed states to set up such programs. Supporters said hemp could become a big crop for Kansas farmers.
A majority of states have legalized medical marijuana, but even limited proposals have foundered in Kansas.
The House bill would define industrial hemp as cannabis containing 0.3 percent or less of the high-producing chemical THC.
CHAPMAN, Kan. (AP) — A former middle school teacher in central Kansas has been convicted of misdemeanor battery in an incident involving a 12-year-old child.
The Salina Journal reports former Chapman Middle School seventh-grade math teacher Dick Everley was found guilty March 9 in Dickinson County District Court.
The criminal complaint states that Everley was charged in January with having physical contact with the child in an insulting or angry manner in December.
Roger Unruh, Everley’s attorney, said Wednesday that his client is no longer employed at the middle school. He was removed from his teaching duties after charges were filed.
Everley faces probation to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Sentencing is scheduled for April 6.
Unless the Legislature makes a change, community mental health centers across Kansas will have to allow patients and staff to bring their guns starting in July.
Officials with the 26 community mental health centers across Kansas are requesting an exemption from a state law set to take effect in July that would allow concealed weapons. Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka is among the centers. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
A 2013 state law requires most publicly owned buildings to allow concealed weapons or to install metal detectors and post armed guards. The law included a four-year exemption for community mental health centers, universities, publicly owned medical facilities, nursing homes and low-income health clinics that ends July 1.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee had a hearing Thursday on a bill that would make the some exemptions permanent, however. Senate Bill 235 would continue the exemption for medical facilities, including the University of Kansas Hospital, but not college campuses.
Tim DeWeese, director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said he hopes lawmakers decide to continue the exemption for community mental health centers. He estimated it would cost millions to secure the center’s four buildings.
“There’s just no way we can take that much money away from services,” he said.
The mental health center already trains its employees to recognize and respond to signs of danger in case a patient decides to break the rules and bring a weapon, DeWeese said. Still, he worries that if more people bring guns, the odds of a violent incident will go up.
“With it being legal to do so, you’re going to see an increase” in people bringing guns, he said.
How To Afford Added Security?
Brett Hildabrand, a former legislator who lobbies on behalf of the Kansas State Rifle Association, told the committee it would be naïve to assume patients already aren’t bringing guns into hospitals or mental health treatment facilities.
“We believe the facility should provide adequate security or allow individuals to feel secure” by carrying their own handguns, he said.
Most community mental health centers don’t have extra money for the added security measures, said Colin Thomasset, associate director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas. The state has cut its base grant to the 26 centers by 70 percent since fiscal year 2007, he said in written testimony to the committee.
Bill Persinger, CEO of Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, estimated installing metal detectors and hiring at least one guard for each of Valeo’s nine facilities would be “cost-prohibitive,” with expenses running to at least half a million dollars.
“There’s no place for a gun in a mental health facility,” he said.
The committee has yet to vote on the bill, which if approved would go to the full Senate.
State Hospital Estimates Lowered
The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services didn’t take a position on SB 235, but KDADS staff said installing metal detectors and hiring guards for the state’s four facilities would cost more than $11 million. A previous estimate put the costs at more than $25 million.
Amy Penrod, director of finance and budget at KDADS, said the department calculated the lower cost based on securing only buildings where patients congregate and allowing a single entrance to those buildings. The estimate would go up if the facilities, which currently use unarmed security staff, have to retrain them to carry guns, she said.
Kimberly Lynch, KDADS chief counsel, said the department has concerns that patients at Osawatomie or Larned state hospital could take a gun from a visitor. Adding guards and metal detectors also could be a problem at Kansas Neurological Institute and Parsons State Hospital and Training Center, which house people with severe developmental disabilities, she said.
“These are their homes. They live there,” she said.
SB 235 is at least the fourth bill introduced this session that relates to the concealed carry law. A bill to permanently exempt only community mental health centers from the concealed carry law has yet to get a hearing, making it unlikely it could advance. A second bill exempting KU Medical Center failed in a committee vote, and a third bill, which would have extended all of the exemptions indefinitely, didn’t come up for a vote.
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 in Kansas. You can reach her on Twitter @MegWingerter.
SEDGWICK COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating a drive by shooting into a home.
Just after 5a.m. Friday, a man and woman reported suspects shot at their residence in the2200 Block of North Minneapolis Street in Wichita, according to Sgt. Nikki Woodrow during an online media briefing.
Several bullets struck the home and entered the window of a bedroom where four children ages 7, 3, 2 and 1 were sleeping, according to police.
Authorities are asking the public for help with information in the case. Police had no suspect or vehicle description early Friday.
There were no injuries reported only damage to the residence.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a Topeka man ordered to stand trial in a deadly Fourth of July crash had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a judge found sufficient evidence Thursday for 33-year-old Jason Patterson to stand trial in August on a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol. He also could face an alternative charge of reckless second-degree murder.
He’s accused of hitting 60-year-old Tara French with a pickup truck as she crossed a street after an argument over fireworks that had been shot off near Topeka’s Lake Shawnee. Witnesses testified at the preliminary hearing that fireworks debris had dropped onto people at French’s gathering.
Police say Patterson’s blood alcohol level was 0.18 percent.
KDA
