SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are asking the public for help to identify
the suspect who shot out the front window of the Spanish radio station 99.7 F.M. La Raza, just before 2:30a.m. on Sunday.
The business is located in the 1600 block of East Central in Wichita.
Police ask that anyone with information should call 316 268-4407 or Crime Stoppers at 316 267-2111
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and have made an arrest.
Just after 9p.m. Sunday, two police officers on assignment near Kellogg and Oliver in Wichita, observed a maroon Buick that had been reported stolen during a car-jacking case on August 17, according to officer Charley Davidson.
The officers attempted to stop the vehicle. The driver later identified as 21-year-old Victor Martinez sped away from police. The officers followed in the 1900 Block of North Minnesota where the vehicle was stopped with assistance from the Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputies.
Police arrested Martinez. on requested charges of unlawful possession of meth and marijuana, flee and attempt to elude police, aggravated robbery in connection with an incident in Wichita on August 13, according to Davidson.
NEW YORK (AP) — Planned Parenthood said Monday it’s pulling out of the federal family planning program rather than abide by a new Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions.
Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood’s acting president and CEO, said the organization’s nationwide network of health centers would remain open and strive to make up for the loss of federal money. But she predicted that many low-income women who rely on Planned Parenthood services would “delay or go without” care.
“We will not be bullied into withholding abortion information from our patients,” said McGill Johnson. “Our patients deserve to make their own health care decisions, not to be forced to have Donald Trump or Mike Pence make those decisions for them.”
Enforcement of the new Title X rule marks a major victory for a key part of President Donald Trump’s political base — religious conservatives opposed to abortion. They have been campaigning relentlessly to “defund Planned Parenthood” because — among its varied services — it is the largest abortion provider in the United States, and they viewed the Title X grants as an indirect subsidy.
About 4 million women are served nationwide under the Title X program, which distributes $260 million in family planning grants to clinics. Planned Parenthood says it has served about 40% of patients, many of them African American and Hispanic. Family planning funds cannot be used to pay for abortions.
In a statement, the federal Department of Health and Human Services said Planned Parenthood knew months ago about the new restrictions and suggested that the group could have chosen at that point to exit the program.
“Some grantees are now blaming the government for their own actions — having chosen to accept the grant while failing to comply with the regulations that accompany it — and they are abandoning their obligations to serve patients under the program,” the department said.
It said it would strive to make sure patients are served.
Planned Parenthood was not the only organization dropping out. Maine Family Planning, which is unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood, also released its letter of withdrawal Monday. The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, an umbrella group for family planning clinics, is suing to overturn the regulations.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco is weighing a lawsuit to overturn the rules, but so far the court has allowed the administration to go ahead with enforcement. Oral arguments are scheduled the week of Sept. 23. Several states and the American Medical Association have joined the suit as plaintiffs.
Abortion rights activists are also pressing Congress to overturn the rule, though it seems unlikely that the Republican-controlled Senate would take that step.
Monday was the deadline set by the government for program participants to submit statements that they intended to comply with the new rules, along with a plan. Enforcement will start Sept. 18.
In addition to the ban on abortion referrals by clinics, the rule’s requirements include financial separation from facilities that provide abortions, designating abortion counseling as optional instead of standard practice, and limiting which staff members can discuss abortion with patients. Clinics would have until next March to separate their office space and examination rooms from the physical facilities of providers that offer abortions.
The Trump administration has also made it possible for faith-based organizations opposed to abortion to receive Title X grants.
Among the recipients of grants this year was Obria Medical Clinics, which runs a network of facilities in California. It promotes abstinence-based sex education and “natural family planning,” and does not prescribe birth control.
The impact of Planned Parenthood’s withdrawal will vary from state to state. Some states, including Illinois, have said they would step in to replace lost federal funding.
“We will make sure that access to these services remains available, because in Illinois we trust women,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who joined Planned Parenthood’s news conference on Monday. He said Planned Parenthood serves about 70,000 people in Illinois.
Elsewhere, the impact could be substantial. In Utah, Planned Parenthood is the only Title X grantee; in Minnesota, it serves 90% of patients.
“It will simply be impossible for other health centers to fill the gap,” said McGill Johnson. “Wait times for appointments will skyrocket.”
HHS said in its statement that it’s grateful for the many grant recipients that are remaining with the program. State and local health departments account for a significant share of service providers. “We will work to ensure all patients continue to be served,” the agency said.
Planned Parenthood has called the ban on abortion referrals a “gag rule,” while the administration insists that’s not the case.
Maine Family Planning CEO George Hill said in a letter to HHS that his organization is withdrawing “more in sorrow than in anger” after 47 years of participating in the program.
He said the Trump administration regulation “would fundamentally compromise the relationship our patients have with us as trusted providers of this most personal and private health care. It is simply wrong to deny patients accurate information about and access to abortion care.”
___
By JOHN HANNA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The president of the company that formerly ran a literacy program for Kansas’ public elementary schools alleged Monday that the state canceled the multimillion-dollar grant in “retaliation” for the firm’s opposition to major changes state officials were seeking.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families ended the grant for Washington-based Hysell & Wagner six weeks after its president, Andrew Hysell, and department secretary, Laura Howard, signed a yearlong extension in late June imposing new conditions. Hysell told reporters that two days after he and Howard signed the extension, the department began seeking another change, in how the company distributed grant dollars to public schools.
The department announced the end of the grant Friday, saying it had found problems that included excessive payments for expenses that included travel by Hysell and another top executive for the Reading Roadmap program.
The department also released the draft of an internal audit completed in 2017 that hadn’t previously been made public, which said $2.3 million in grant funds were “incorrectly claimed and paid” to the company in 2014 and 2015. Hysell strongly disputed those claims Monday or suggestions that administrative expenses were improper.
The department cited the draft audit’s conclusions in announcing its decision to end the grant, and Hysell on Monday called it “grossly inaccurate.” He said releasing details from the draft audit violates the company’s rights to due legal process and accused the department of “a dangerous abuse of governmental authority.” The result was “traumatic” for Reading Roadmap staff, he said.
“There were tears — disbelief,” he said. “I can’t just let this sit out there.”
The department launched the Reading Roadmap initiative during Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration, using funds designated for cash assistance to low-income families. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took office in January, having been a state senator and vocal critic of Brownback’s social services policies.
Spokesman Mike Deines said the department ended the grant because it “needs to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars.” The grant once was worth more than $9 million a year, though the latest extension called for the state to spend $7.8 million.
Howard and Hysell signed the one-year extension of the grant on June 28, just three days before the start of the state’s current budget year.
Hysell said that on June 30, the department began pushing the company to change its system for distributing dollars to school districts, in which they received most of their money as two big advances, rather than after-the-fact reimbursements. Hysell said small districts might face problems paying staff costs otherwise.
He released a memo dated Aug. 4, which he said went to department officials, saying the proposed change would “put schools at risk” and create “significant problems.”
But Deines said the department’s decision wasn’t based only on the company’s resistance to changing how grant funds were distributed.
“It was an accumulation of issues,” he said in an email.
———–
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ruled that it is “absurd” for a fired Kansas prison dental instructor to attempt to have charges accusing him of nonconsensual touching of female inmates dismissed on the grounds that the state law barring such conduct only mentions consensual sex acts.
Shawnee County District Judge Cheryl Rios rejected the Tomas Co’s argument Friday and ordered him to stand trial on Jan. 27 on five charges of unlawful sexual relations with an inmate.
Co’s attorney, Chris Joseph, said state law is ambiguous and Co shouldn’t be held accountable for the Legislature’s bad policy. But Rios said that, “The absurd result would be for an adult who doesn’t consent and is incarcerated, a corrections officer or parole officer or anyone else could do whatever they want.”
SEDGWICK COUNTY —Two suspected of drunken driving hit patrol cars in separate incidents during the weekend.
The first crash occurred early Saturday when a man identified as 58-year-old Janes Johnson driving the wrong way on a city street hit a patrol car, according to officer Charley Davidson. The officer was able to avoid a head-on collision and was treated for minor injuries.
Police arrested Johnson on requested charges, including aggravated battery and his third DUI.
On Saturday night, a driver hit a patrol car and another vehicle while police were working an accident. Thirty-seven-year-old Lesster Raudales-Varela was stopped a short time later and arrested on possible DUI and careless driving charges.
No one was hurt in the second collision.
KANSAS CITY —Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is scheduled to tour the Veterans Community Project and join a roundtable discussion with VCP staff in Kansas City Tuesday, according to an email from his campaign.
Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who in July was named to lead the organization’s national expansion efforts will join O’Rourke.
VCP Village, located at 89th and Troost in Kansas City, is an innovative community of 49 tiny houses for homeless Veterans. The homes range in size from 240 to 320 square feet, meet all local city code requirements, and connect to city utility services, according to their web site.
The nonprofit founded and run by combat veterans has worked to end homelessness among veterans in Kansas City.
O’Rourke suspended his White House bid for nearly two weeks to stay in his hometown of El Paso, where a mass shooting killed 22 people on Aug. 3.
Update 9:39 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19
JOHNSON COUNTY – The Overland Park Police Department reported that Lila Mertz was located safely tonight, and is being reunited with her family. The statewide silver alert has been canceled.
Thank you for your assistance in getting the word out to the public. Any additional inquiries should be directed to the Overland Park Police Department.
——-
JOHNSON COUNTY – The Overland Park Police Department requested that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing Kansas City, Kan. woman.
The whereabouts of Lila Mertz, 67, are unknown, and the public’s assistance is requested to help locate her.
Her family last spoke to her in late July and reported her missing on August 16th 2019 with the Overland Park Police Department. Ms. Mertz resides in Kansas City, Kansas in the 1600 block of N 63rd Pl. Ms. Mertz vehicle, a gold 2000 Toyota Camry (Kansas license tag is 423 GCH) was last seen on August 8th 2019 near 39th Street and Prospect in Kansas City, Missouri.
If you see Mertz, or have information about her whereabouts, please immediately contact the Overland Park Police Department at 913-344-8742.
Rolling Hills Zoo announced the successful birth of three Amur tiger cubs born Wednesday morning to mother Andrea and father Dhenuka.
Amur tigers are classified as an endangered species on the IUCN list. Andrea and Dhenuka came to Rolling Hills Zoo on a breeding recommendation by the Tiger Species Survival Plan developed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, of which Rolling Hills Zoo is an accredited member.
This is the third litter for Andrea, who is 11 years old. Born at the St. Louis Zoo, Andrea came to Rolling Hills Zoo from the Indianapolis Zoological Society.
Dhenuka, nine years old, is a first-time father. Born in Milwaukee County Zoological Garden, he came to Rolling Hills Zoo from the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and weighs in at 414 lbs. Amur tigers are the largest cats in the world.
Currently, the tigers and their cubs are off-exhibit and will be so for a while depending upon how well the cubs and their parents do in the coming weeks.
“We are on tiger time, and mother and cubs will let us know when they are ready to do certain things,” said Bob Jenkins, RHZ’s executive director. “We anticipate that the cubs will be off exhibit for approximately two months, possibly longer.”
Staff are constantly monitoring their status throughout the day by direct observation and security cameras.
The common litter size for tigers is 2 to 4 cubs, and normal birth weight is between 1.75 and 3.5 pounds. Since their birth, the cubs have been bonding with their mother and have not been weighed. When keepers have an opportunity to weigh them, they will also be able to determine their sex.
Like other cats, the cubs were born with their eyes closed and it will be two weeks before their eyes open. Tigers are born with all of their original stripes and they won’t change as they grow to adulthood. No two tigers will have the same pattern.
Rolling Hills Zoo is a 65-acre zoological park which includes a world-class wildlife museum. The zoo is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is conducting a death investigation after a man drowned in the Verdigris River on Friday afternoon.
According to a KBI media release, just after 1:30p.m. Friday, the Coffeyville Police Dept. requested KBI assistance to investigate a drowning that occurred following a police pursuit.
Preliminary information suggests that on Aug. 16 at approximately 12:20 p.m., the South Coffeyville, Okla. Police Department received a call from a citizen who spotted an ATV that had been reported stolen from the Montgomery County Fair on Thursday night.
The ATV was first observed in Kansas, headed South on U.S. Highway 169 toward the Oklahoma border. An officer from the South Coffeyville Police Department began pursuing the ATV at a distance, and authorities from Kansas were notified. The officer saw the ATV turn north near 500 E. 1400 Rd., and travel through a field toward the Verdigris River. Once the officer caught up, he discovered that the driver of the ATV had crashed into a tree. The officer then spotted the man struggling in the nearby Verdigris River.
The Coffeyville Police Department, the Coffeyville Fire Department, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.
Authorities threw ropes to the man to try to help him. An officer from the Coffeyville Police Department, and a member of the Coffeyville Fire Department entered the water and tried to rescue the man, but were unsuccessful. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
At this time police have not positively identified the man, but expect that this will occur during the autopsy that is scheduled for Tuesday. The deceased man was a white male in his 20s.
SALINA — A 74-year-old Salina man is out $19,000 after getting caught up in a scam on eBay.
Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester said Monday that the man recently attempted to purchase a 2012 Winnebago recreational vehicle he found on eBay.
The man wired $19,000 to the alleged seller, but the RV was never delivered, Forrester said.
The man contacted eBay personnel who told him it was a scam, Forrester said.
— Salina Post
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after a weekend arrest.
Just after 8a.m. Saturday, police responded to the 4200 block of SW 34th Street where a resident reported their house had been struck by two bullets, according to Lt. Jerry Monasmith.
In looking officers began to back track from the direction of where the gunshots had been fired. In doing so an apartment near 34th and Gage was discovered to have several holes which clearly showed shots had been fired from inside the residence.
An occupant of the apartment came out and was detained by officers.
After the execution of a search warrant, police arrested 32-year-old Gwyndell Declerk and transported him to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges that include Criminal Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Criminal Discharge of Firearm; Recklessly at an Occupied Dwelling, Felony Criminal Damage to Property and Possession of Marijuana
There were no injuries reported from the gun fire.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have identified the victim.
Just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a drive-by shooting at an apartment complex in the 2300 block of N. Woodlawn in Wichita, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.
Upon arrival, officers located Elbert Costello, Jr., 22, Wichita, in the parking lot who had been shot multiple times, according to Lt. Chad Beard, Commander of the Wichita Police Department gang felony assault unit.
Costello was pronounced dead on the scene. A second 24-year-old male victim arrived by private vehicle at a local hospital with gunshot wounds. He was hospitalized and in serious condition, according to Wheeler.
The preliminary investigation shows that there was an exchange of gunfire between two groups of people in the parking lot of the complex. There was damage to some of the apartment buildings and vehicles in the parking lot, but no other injuries were reported.
Detectives are actively working to identify the individuals involved in this incident. Police have released no suspect descriptions. This shooting was not a random incident, and it is believed to be gang-related.
It is the 19th homicide in Wichita this year, according to Lt. Beard.
————–
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and looking for suspects.
Just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a drive-by shooting at an apartment complex in the 2300 block of N. Woodlawn in Wichita, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.
Upon arrival, officers located a 22-year-old male in the parking lot who had been shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead on the scene. A second 24-year-old male victim arrived by private vehicle at a local hospital with gunshot wounds. He was hospitalized and in serious condition, according to Wheeler.
The preliminary investigation shows that there was an exchange of gunfire between two groups of people in the parking lot of the complex. There was damage to some of the apartment buildings and vehicles in the parking lot, but no other injuries were reported.
Detectives are actively working to identify the individuals involved in this incident. Police have released no suspect descriptions. This shooting was not a random incident, and it is believed to be gang-related.
