RENO COUNTY – A Kansas woman arrested on October 11 after police served a search warrant on a home in the 1100 Block of East 9^th in Hutchinson was back before a Judge Friday after she was arrested for her continued use of drugs. 

Jacqueline Jurgens, 28, Hutchinson, is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to package, possession of heroin and misdemeanor possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

The crime also occurred within a thousand feet of a McCandles Elementary School.

Jurgens had been under bond and court supervision requiring testing for drugs. She tested positive for use of meth and marijuana. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen indicated this is the second time she had received what is called an arrest and detain.

Because of that, the judge revoked her bond and she’ll remain in custody until a hearing can been scheduled. 

She also has another case where she’s charged with making false writing, according to court documents.

 

BARTON COUNTY – Health officials in Barton County are alerting teachers, students and parents to a possible case of mumps at the high school in Great Bend.

On Saturday, a note sent from USD 428 reported “Immunization records of those in close contact with the infected student have been reviewed and vaccinations of those individuals have been found to be current.

However, it is important that your child has had two doses of the MMR vaccination to be fully protected.

Anyone who has not been properly immunized may be at risk.”

The Barton County Health Department will have special hours on Monday from 4-6 p.m. to answer questions, review records and administer vaccines as needed.

In early February, health officials reported five cases of the mumps were identified in Southeast Kansas and that more were expected, according to the Crawford County Health Department.

Mumps is a viral infection and the most common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite and swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears on one or both sides. Some people who get mumps have very mild or no symptoms and often they do not know they have it.

Those infected are urged to stay home, cover their mouths and noses when coughing or sneezing, and frequently wash their hands.

 – The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Unusually warm and dry weather in February is stoking fears of another drought.

The average temperature this month in Wichita has been more than 8 degrees above normal, with more upper 60s and low 70s expected this week.

The forecast calls for a good chance of rain Sunday night and early Monday. Forecasters say Sunday’s rain figures to be the most since mid-January.

Moderate to severe drought currently grips most of the western third of the state. Abnormally dry conditions are reported in Sumner and Butler counties.
National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Darmofal says a dry February is not unusual for southern Kansas.

But he says if the dry weather continues for another month or more that’s when local drought concerns can take root.

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BY ANDY MARSO

Two years after the Kansas Legislature enacted its first special tax on e-cigarettes, the state is still trying to figure out how to enforce it and retailers are still saying they’ll be put out of business if it’s enforced.

The tax — 20 cents per milliliter of vaping liquid — was tacked on to a larger bill at the end of the historically long and grinding 2015 session. There were no public hearings on the tax, which originally was supposed to go into effect in July 2016 but was pushed back to January 2017.

It’s technically been in effect since last month, but the Kansas Department of Revenue is still trying to finalize rules for enforcing it and considers the tax voluntary until it does.

“It’s sort of been a mess, to put it mildly,” Spencer Duncan, a lobbyist who represents vape store owners, told the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee on Tuesday.

Duncan and the revenue department have been at odds over the wording of the 2015 bill and whether the 20-cent tax should apply to all of the vaping liquid contents or just the nicotine.

If applied to the total liquid, Kansas’ tax would be more than twice as high as any other state.

That’s a major complaint of store owners who have to compete with online sellers and stores in neighboring states that have no special tax on vaping products.

“If this tax stays at 20 cents-per-milliliter, we’re going to lose a lot of business,” said Rob Lee of Pittsburg.

Duncan said a half-dozen stores already have bolted for Missouri or Oklahoma. Wally Gibson, a vape store owner in Independence, Kan., said a competitor in Oklahoma is running radio ads urging Kansans to avoid the tax by shopping across the border.

The 2015 tax was part of a package that also raised the special assessment on traditional cigarettes by 50 cents per pack. Legislators who voted for it viewed it as equal treatment of two competing products and a way to raise a small amount of revenue for the cash-strapped state.

But vapor industry representatives said their tax is disproportionately harsh — especially for a product they say is less harmful to health than smoking.

There’s debate about the health claim, because vaping products are less standardized than cigarettes and contain a variety of ingredients in differing amounts. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just began regulating them last year.

But the British Department of Health has determined vaping is less harmful than using tobacco, and doctors in Britain’s nationalized medical system can write prescriptions for vaping products as smoking cessation devices.

Duncan and others at Tuesday’s tax hearing emphasized that role for vaping, rather than studies that show it can act as a sort of “gateway” to tobacco use for teens.

Barb Lee Wilson, a retired nurse from Manhattan, told legislators that she tried everything to quit smoking and vaping was the only thing that worked.

“This technology saved my life,” Wilson said. “I can breathe again. I can walk up stairs.”

Wilson said the tax would keep other Kansans from being able to afford vaping products so they could quit tobacco.

A public hearing on the revenue department’s attempt at making the final regulation is scheduled for March. The department has asked legislators to consider a bill further clarifying how to tax vaping products.

Duncan is promoting a separate bill that would tax them based only on nicotine content but said he and his clients would accept a tax on the full liquid if the rate is drastically reduced.

Andy Marso is a reporter for kcur.org’s Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso.

LINN COUNTY –Two people died in an accident just after 4p.m. on Saturday in Linn County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1993 Honda Accord driven by Ryan Nicholas Boyd, 25, Independence, MO. was southbound on Road 1095 two miles north of Mound City.

The driver failed to stop at a stop sign and struck the rear of a 2001 Ford Expedition driven by Johnny Mack Stephens, Jr, 38, Independence, Mo., that was east bound on Road 1150 approaching Road 1095.

Both vehicles left the roadway and entered the southeast ditch. The Honda then struck a utility pole.

A passenger in the Honda Issiah Jamon Pendergrass, 18, Gardner, and a passenger in the Ford Trista L. Vail, 33, Butler, MO, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

A 2-month-old in the Ford was transported to Children’s Mercy.

Boyd was transported to Research Medical Center.

Stephens, Jr, was transported to KU Medical Center.

Vail was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Crews are working to clean up a spill after a grain car tipped off the tracks just south of the Bunge Oilseed Processing elevator in Emporia.

The Emporia Gazette reported that the car came off the tracks Saturday and fell over on to its side. The derailment left grain scattered on the ground around the site.

No details were immediately available as to what caused the derailment.

RENO COUNTY— A Kansas man sentenced to 28-years in prison in a domestic dispute filed another Habeas Corpus motion with the court seeking relief from the conviction and sentence.

In March of 2011, McCoy was staying in a room at a Hutchinson motel. McCoy and the mother of his child were arguing over whether he would give her their child and whether she could enter the motel room, according to court testimony.

After repeated attempts to contact him, police decided to rush into the room when they learned he had gun and also because of fear for the child in the room.

McCoy was convicted of kidnapping, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, aggravated endangerment of a child, criminal possession of a firearm and possession of opiates.

In court Friday, his attorney Shannon Crane indicated that it could be sometime before she’s ready to bring the matter before the judge. She told Judge Tim Chambers that she needs more time to figure out what he’s arguing.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas game wardens are getting help from a Facebook page that has more than 42,000 followers.

Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism game warden Dan Melson says that the social media page is helpful. Melson, who created the page in 2014, says he came up with the idea after seeing other states doing well with theirs.

Melson says the page was crucial to the understaffed law enforcement group.

 

Officials are hoping the social media exposure will help as a recruiting tool. Melson says the department has six vacancies for field officers.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A robbery suspect is now in custody after a standoff in Wichita that ended after hours of negotiations.

KAKE news reported that a 39-year-old man was taken into custody safely shortly before 11 p.m. Friday.

Police spotted the suspect after 4 p.m. Friday. He ran into a nearby home and barricaded himself inside. Several police units converged on the area.

Officer Charley Davidson of the Wichita Police Department says police were able to obtain an arrest warrant and officers entered the home to negotiate with the man to surrender.

Authorities did not say which robbery the man is suspected to have committed.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Board of Regents is considering a task force to seek ways to keep more students in the state for their higher education.

Regents chairwoman Zoe Newton made the request this week after a Kansas State University administrator presented data showing that enrollment among first-time freshman from the state dropped nearly 10 percent from fall 2012 to fall 2016. The Regents data tracks enrollment in 53 higher education institutions throughout the state, including public universities, community colleges, technical colleges and private religious intuitions.

Possible reasons for the dip that were discussed with the Regents include an improving economy that draws young people immediately into jobs, rising tuition costs and higher admission standards. The task force will focus on boosting enrollment among first-generation students.

By McKenna Harford
KU Statehouse Wire Service

In an effort to raise vaccination rates in the state, medical professionals testified in support of a bill that requires children 11 or older to receive the meningitis vaccine.

The bill would add meningitis to the list of required vaccines for children in public and private schools but not for children who are home schooled. Meningitis is both a bacterial and viral infection spread through exchange of saliva or spit. The bacterial infection is more deadly, causing about 500 deaths in the U.S. annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the House Health and Human Services committee meeting Thursday, the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians testified that students are at a higher risk of contracting meningitis in shared spaces where they might come into contact with the bacteria through coughing, sneezing, kissing or sharing food and drinks.

According to the CDC, in 2015 about 64 percent of 13 to17 year olds in Kansas were vaccinated with the MENacwy, which includes the meningitis vaccination. The national average was about 81 percent in 2015.

Rachelle Colombo, director of government affairs for the Kansas Medical Society, said requiring the vaccine for schoolchildren is in the best interest of public health.

“Ultimately with recommended vaccines the rates are lower than they should be. Moving it to a required vaccination we have high take-up rates,” Colombo said. “It is low incidence but very high impact.”

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Kansas has on average five meningitis cases per year. However, nationally there are on average 1,000 to 1,200 cases a year and 10 to 15 percent of those cases result in death.

Rep. John Eplee, a Republican from Atchison and a family doctor, said that requiring the vaccine will help stop the spread of a preventable illness.

“It is critical that student, parents, educators and healthcare providers understand the dangers of meningitis and are aware that the vaccine is available to prevent this disease,” Eplee said. “The recent incidents of meningococcal disease can serve as a reminder of the critical role that vaccines play in helping to prevent this devastating illness.”

Topeka resident Erik Leon provided written testimony opposing the bill because of the potential side effects of the vaccine. He cited the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System and the CDC in his testimony.

“There is currently a very low incidence of invasive meningitis in the state of Kansas, and this is being achieved with no mandate for school children to receive the vaccine,” Leon said. “Since there is risk involved with this vaccine, the decision on whether or not a child should receive it should be made by the parents with fully-formed consent after consulting with their trusted family physician.”

The committee did not take a final vote on the bill because of confusing language of an amendment that would have specified children older than 11 receive the vaccine and at 16 years or older they receive a booster vaccine. The fiscal note said there could be an additional expense for schools to republish vaccine requirements, but that no costs were noted in the updated state budget.

McKenna Harford is a University of Kansas senior journalism major from San Antonio, Texas.