TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has found sufficient evidence for a Missouri man to be tried in the 2006 killing of the 2-year-old son of his then-fiancee.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 32-year-old Johnathan Mango was bound over Wednesday in Shawnee County on a reduced charge of second-degree murder, rather than first-degree murder. District Judge Nancy Parrish said she didn’t find there was intentional child abuse in Eli Clemens’ death, which was needed for the first-degree murder charge.

Mango was arrested last year in Florissant, Missouri, after new evidence tied him to the crime.

Former Shawnee County coroner Donald Pojman testified at the preliminary hearing that the boy died of blunt-force trauma to the head and abdomen. Mango is scheduled to go on trial in October.

SEDGWICK COUNTY – Kansas Businessman Wink Hartman announced his campaign for Kansas Governor on Wednesday.

Hartman is an oil industry business owner and GOP donor. He sought the 4th District seat in the U.S. House in 2010, but lost to Mike Pompeo in the Republican primary. Pompeo resigned to accept appointment as CIA director under President Donald Trump.

Watch his announcement here.

“After much consideration – and with the full support of my wife Libba – I have decided to seek the Republican nomination for Kansas Governor. The dysfunction in Topeka has hurt Kansas families, farms and businesses. I believe we need to elect a Governor with business common-sense who will make the tough decisions necessary to build the government Kansans deserve.

Simply put, career politicians in both parties have failed Kansas.

Gov. Sam Brownback can’t seek a third term, leaving the job open for the first time since Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson declined to run in 2010.

 

RENO COUNTY— One of three people charged in a criminal case involving the attack on a woman in May of 2016 has been bound over for trial

Joshua Bradbury, 35, faces a possible trial for aggravated battery, aggravated burglary and aggravated intimidation of a witness.

Police say Michala Cooprider, 20, is actually the one who entered the home and struck the victim, Lacy Lomax, with a flashlight while she was sleeping.

She was hit as many as six times and had to be hospitalized.

Bradbury’s attorney argued that he never entered the house and never struck anyone, but Judge Joe McCarville found him to be part of the conspiracy. Partly because he is said to have driven Cooprider to the home and gave her the flashlight that apparently belonged to him.

Both Lomax and Cooprider took the stand and testified on what happened. Cooprider was promised

some methamphetamine for committing the attack.

Also on the stand was Hutchinson Police Detective Curtis Black, who told of the investigation that led to the arrest and charges against the three.

Cooprider entered a plea to aggravated burglary in the case while the state dropped a charge of aggravated battery and she was sentenced to just under five years in prison. The third suspect, Joshua Rund, still awaits a hearing in this case.

Bradbury also has other cases pending a jury trial.

He did manage to get his bond lowered from $75,000 to the original $50,000. The bond had been increased because he failed to appear in court, however, he was apparently in jail in McPherson County at the time of the hearing.

WICHITA – A Missouri man has been arrested and charged with robbing a bank in Osage City, Kan., according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Hunter Lee Prewitt, 28, Mountain Grove, Mo., was charged with one count of bank robbery. It is alleged that on Jan. 25, 2017, Prewitt robbed the Landmark National Bank at 106 South 6th Street in Osage City. According to court records, Prewitt gave a teller a note saying: “This a robbery. Give me all one hundreds, fifties and twenties.” He left the bank with cash and drove away in a white pickup truck.

Starting with a description of the truck, investigators obtained video surveillance photos and followed Prewitt’s movements including a stop at a gas station in Osage City before the robbery and a pawn shop in Lyndon, Kan. The Missouri Highway Patrol used that information to identify a 2003 Ford F-150 pickup registered to Prewitt. A crime intelligence analyst with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation conducted a search of law enforcement tag readers and he found more information on Prewitt and the truck. Prewitt was arrested outside Springfield, Mo.

If convicted, Prewitt faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Investigating agencies included the FBI, the KBI, the Osage County Sheriff’s Office, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Heart of America Computer Forensics Laboratory. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag is prosecuting.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says his office has received a letter from the U.S. Justice Department about the federal government intercepting calls to his office from an ex-legislator’s number.

Brownback said his office received the letter Wednesday about calls from a number that in 2015 went to then-Sen. Michael O’Donnell, a Republican from Wichita. O’Donnell said Wednesday he was shocked to learn his phone was tapped in 2015.

The governor says his letter is similar to letters sent to reporters in Wichita, where businessman Brandon Steven has confirmed he’s the subject of an inquiry into poker and his efforts to open a casino in southeast Kansas in 2015.

A Justice Department spokesman in Wichita didn’t return messages seeking comment.

An aide to Senate President Susan Wagle says her office also received a letter.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate over increasing taxes to balance the state budget (all times local):

 

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback says he would not sign a bill advanced by the Kansas House that would increase personal income taxes to help balance the state budget.

While Brownback stopped short Wednesday of saying he would veto the bill, he strongly criticized the measure during a speech to members of the National Federation of Independent Business. He urged NFIB members to lobby against it.

The House gave first-round approval Wednesday to the bill. It would raise more than $1 billion over two years and abandon core tax policies Brownback successfully pushed in 2012 and 2013.

Brownback told reporters afterward he has never been for income tax increases.

He said in a statement later that the bill would hurt middle-class families.

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3p.m.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback says a bill advanced by the Kansas House that would increase personal income taxes is “a big step backwards.”

Brownback made his comments in a speech Wednesday at the Statehouse to members of the National Federation of Independent Business.

His remarks came after the House gave first-round approval to a bill that would increase income taxes by raising more than $1 billion over two years. Supporters are promoting it as the best way to balance the budget.

The bill would abandon core policies Brownback pushed in 2012 and 2013.

He said, “This is just really going the wrong way.”

Brownback contends tax cuts previously championed have created economic growth. But the state has struggled to balance its budget since.

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1p.m.

The Kansas House has given first-round approval to a bill that would increase personal income taxes to help balance the budget by raising more than $1 billion over two years.

The vote Wednesday was 83-39, setting up a second final vote Thursday to determine whether the measure goes to the Senate.

The bill would abandon core policies championed by GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. While Republicans in the House were split, enough of them voted with Democrats to give the bill its strong margin.

Kansas faces budget shortfalls totaling nearly $1.1 billion through June 2019. The state has experienced persistent financial problems since Republican lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging.

9:55 a.m.

Two key Republican lawmakers say a Democratic budget-balancing proposal to increase personal income taxes could pass the GOP-controlled Kansas Senate.

The tax increase before the Senate is larger than an income tax increase the House was planning to debate Wednesday.

The House plan would raise more than $1 billion over two years starting in July. The proposal from Senate Democrats would generate $1.2 billion in new revenues over two years.

But GOP Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning of Overland Park and tax committee Chairwoman Caryn Tyson of Parker said they believe the Democratic plan could pass with the help of new Republican senators.

Kansas faces budget shortfalls totaling nearly $1.1 billion through June 2019. Lawmakers in both parties are trying to balance the budget without cutting education funding.

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8:25 a.m.

The Kansas House is considering proposals to balance the state budget that are designed prevent a cut in aid to public schools.

House members planned to debate a bill Wednesday that would raise personal income taxes to raise more than $1 billion over two years starting in July. They planned to debate another bill Thursday that would permit $317 million in internal government borrowing.

Kansas faces budget shortfalls totaling nearly $1.1 billion through June 2019. Lawmakers do not believe they can raise revenues quickly enough to close a gap of about $320 million projected for June 30.

Senate Republican leaders were pushing a budget-balancing plan last week that included a $128 million education funding cut. But they canceled a debate on it when support for the measure collapsed.

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5:52 a.m.

Kansas legislators who favor balancing the state budget with a big income tax increase are preparing to test fellow lawmakers’ appetite for such a fix.

The state House was planning to debate a bill Wednesday that would boost personal income taxes to raise more than $1 billion over two years, starting in July. The measure would abandon core policies championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

The measure has bipartisan support but Republicans in the GOP-controlled House are split.

Kansas faces budget shortfalls totaling nearly $1.1 billion through June 2019. The state has experienced persistent financial problems since Republican lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging.

The bill would end an exemption for more than 330,000 farmers and business owners and boost income tax rates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS says it’s following President Donald Trump’s executive order on health care by easing enforcement of the unpopular Obama-era requirement for people to have coverage or risk fines.

Trump directed federal agencies to ease the health law’s rules after he took office.

An IRS spokesman says the IRS had planned to start rejecting returns this year on which the taxpayer failed to indicate whether or not he had coverage.

But the IRS says it will keep processing such returns, as it has in the past.

Many of the law’s supporters consider the coverage requirement essential for nudging younger, healthy people into the insurance pool to keep premiums in check.

The IRS says the requirement is still the law.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A fire that badly damaged a restaurant and nightclub near downtown Topeka is under investigation.

The fire at the Famous Door & Thelma’s Corner was reported just before 6 a.m. Damage is estimated at $125,000. No one was hurt.

Dispatchers received several calls about the fire from motorists on Interstate 70 who spotted it. Topeka Fire Department Battalion Chief Chris Herrera says flames were through the roof when firefighters arrived.

A possible electrical malfunction is among the causes being investigated.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Central Kansas farmers are shutting down their wells more often as two aquifers saw water levels rise from last year’s timely rains.

The Kansas Geological Survey released data on aquifer levels this week. The state collects the data annually in early January to monitor the health of the multi-state High Plains Aquifer, which comprises three smaller aquifers in Kansas.

The Great Bend Prairie Aquifer rose more than half a foot, while the Equus Beds Aquifer rose an average more than 2 feet. The increases come after a multiyear drought that lowered water levels in 2011 and 2012.

The Ogallala Aquifer in western Kansas continues to shrink, a trend that has continued for the past 70 to 80 years. Water-data manager Brownie Wilson says water levels in that aquifer have fallen an average 40 feet since 1996.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and the Caney Police Department announced an arrest was made in connection with a murder which occurred in Caney, Kansas.

Following the KBI’s investigation, Stevan Ranes, 17, from Caney, was arrested on Tuesday, Feb. 14, for the alleged murder of Brock Sanders, 25, of Caney. Ranes was arrested for first-degree murder and was booked into the Southeast Kansas Juvenile Detention Center.

Sanders was last seen leaving his home on the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 8. His family reported him missing to the Caney Police Department on Feb. 11. On Monday Feb. 13, the Caney Police Department asked the KBI for assistance investigating what authorities believed were suspicious circumstances.

This investigation is ongoing and will be turned over to Montgomery County Attorney when completed. No further details will be released at this time.

SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating a robbery and asking the public to help identify the suspect.

Just after 3p.m. Monday, a suspect robbed Juarez Bakery at 2209 S. Seneca Street in Wichita, according to a social media report.

The suspect is described as a 45 year old light skinned black male, approximately 5’ 8” tall and weighs 170 pounds. He was wearing a gray Hollister hoodie, blue jeans, and blue and white shoes.

He was driving a stolen 2001 gray Buick Century, tag # 112-GBJ. The vehicle is still outstanding.

If you have any information, please call the robbery section at 268-4374 or Crime Stoppers of Wichita/Sedgwick County at 267-2111.

FINNEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities and residents in Finney County are mourning the loss of a beloved servant to residents in two Kansas communities.

The Garden City Police department reported Tuesday retired Garden City Police K9 Arco had to be euthanized last week.

Arco served the Garden City Police Department from August 2012 to August 2013, after serving with the Emporia Police Department for approximately five years.

Arco enjoyed his last several years in retirement as a family dog and a friend to his former handler.

In November of 2016, retired Garden City Police K9 Rico had to be euthanized due to health issues.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a wanted suspect arrested after a brief high-speed chase.

Just before midnight Tuesday, a police officer recognized Camron Don Glover, 22, during a traffic stop for a minor violation in the 300 block of North  Broadway in Salina, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester.

Glover refused to stop and the chase reached speeds up to 90 miles-per-hour before he ditched his vehicle on South Kansas Avenue and attempted to flee on foot.

The Kansas Highway Patrol assisted in the pursuit by bringing in a K-9 unit.

The dog tracked Glover to a residence where he was picked up and booked for flee or attempt to elude by engaging in reckless driving, driving without a valid license, possession of an opiate and four counts of probation violation.

Glover was on a Saline County most-wanted list for multiple drug charges and violation of a protection from abuse order, according to Forrester.

On February 10, Saline County authorities asked for help to locate Glover on a felony probation violation warrant.