By Brendan Dzwierzynski

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — The House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice heard testimonies Thursday for “Erin’s Law,” a requirement for school districts to implement a plan for handling sexual abuse of students.

The committee heard from proponents, opponents and neutral conferees for the law, which is carried by HB2048. Five proponents of the bill argued for safer environments for children who need to report sexual abuse.

“Sexual abuse is so pervasive, and statistics show that only four in 10 kids who are victims of abuse will ever report that abuse,” said Jayme Morris-Hardeman, the director of finance and advocacy for the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kansas. “Just getting the information out there to teachers and children is going to increase the amount of reporting that occurs.”

Diana Schunn, representing the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County, emphasized the importance of a teacher’s ability to handle a sexual abuse situation.

“Students oftentimes do disclose to their teachers, so being able to provide education not only to the students, but also to the teachers,” Schunn said. “To be able to prepare them in those situations is absolutely fundamental to the disclosure process.”

Christie Appelhanz, executive director of the Children’s Alliance of Kansas, gave the lone opposing testimony. She said that a lack of funding could lead to poor training for both students and teachers and could do more harm than good for victims.

“An issue as complicated as sexual abuse can’t be addressed without new resources, and I’m really worried about the unintended consequences,” Appelhanz said. “School districts need resources in order to effectively play a role in the prevention of child abuse. Something is not always better than nothing.”

“Erin’s Law” is named for Erin Merryn, a survivor of sexual abuse by both a family friend and a relative. The Erin’s Law group is a 501 (c)(4) non-profit social welfare organization, according to its website, which pushes for the implementation of the law nationwide.

Vicki Hubin, representing the Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center, spoke about presentations by Merryn and the impact they had on students in her testimony.

“It was amazing to hear her story,” Hubin said. “As soon as she got done telling her story to the junior high and high school, we had five youths disclose. Their story was her story.”

A written testimony from Merryn was presented to the committee.

A previous effort to pass “Erin’s Law” in Kansas failed in committee in June 2016. According to Merryn’s testimony, 28 states currently have “Erin’s Law.”

 

Brendan Dzwierzynski is a University of Kansas senior journalism major from LaGrange Park, Illinois.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Police detectives say three young children spent the night in the same home as their mother, who was allegedly stabbed to death by the children’s father.

The Kansas City Star reports that authorities were alerted of the incident when two of the couple’s children told their teachers that their father stabbed their mother to death.

Officer Luis Virgil says authorities were moved by what the children endured and began filling a candy jar with donations. By Wednesday the police department employees chipped in more than $1,400.

The Independence community also contributed to the family. Best Buy donated three Android tablets for the children.

Vincente Roldan-Marron has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Yadira Gomez. Roldan-Marron told authorities he blacked out after drinking alcohol and taking pills and couldn’t remember what happened.

By SAM ZEFF

One critical part of Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget-balancing plan is creation of a statewide health insurance pool that Kansas public school teachers would have to join.

The governor’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year counts on $80 million a year in health care savings based on an efficiency study by Alvarez & Marsal consulting firm.

But some legislators, including Republicans, are skeptical.

“There’s a big difference between theory and practicality,” says Rep. Larry Campbell of Olathe, chairman of the K-12 Education Budget Committee.

Campbell doesn’t dismiss the Alvarez & Marsal study outright but says the data seem to be thin on claimed savings for health insurance and pooled purchases like gasoline or IT services.

“As far as we know, they didn’t talk to the largest school district in the state of Kansas (Wichita) when they were coming to their conclusions,” he says.

The plan would require teachers to buy a high-deductible health insurance plan as a way to save taxpayers money. But teachers could face higher health care costs.

Rep. Ed Trimmer of Winfield, the ranking Democrat on the committee, worries that might keep teachers from getting medical attention.

“It could incentivize people not to go to the doctor because it’s too costly,” he says. “Then they wait until it’s more catastrophic before they decide to go in, and then they have a high deductible but they have to have the care because it’s acute.”

Some lawmakers’ concerns might be eased next week when Legislative Post Audit reports back on what it discovered about a potential statewide insurance pool and whether saving $80 million a year is possible.

During Thursday’s hearing, Legislative Post Audit officials said they collected two years’ worth of data from 101 school districts for their report.

Educators are most skeptical of the plan. Although Mark Tallman of the Kansas Association of School Boards says he’s open to the idea, he added that “we do have some districts that may do better under a plan like this. The concern is we may have a lot of other districts that might be disadvantaged.”

Lawmakers face two hurdles.

The first is political: The idea came from the governor’s budget, which has not been popular with some Republican and Democrat legislators.

The second is practical: School districts pay health care costs for their employees. So even if $80 million can be saved, there is no mechanism to transfer that money back to the state.

“We’re going to assume there’s going to be $80 million a year in savings and we’re just going to take that away from school districts,” Tallman says.

Sam Zeff  covers education for KCUR.org and the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff. 

DOUGLAS COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Douglas County are investigating a suspect for a robbery.

Just before 7a.m. January 9th, a 59-year-old man resident reported a suspect threatened him with a hammer and robbed him near a business in the 1800 block of West 2nd Street in Lawrence, according to a media release.

On Thursday February 2, police arrested the suspect, identified as Matthew James Stephens, 18 Lawrence.
Stephens was taken into custody without incident and later booked into the Douglas County jail on suspicion of aggravated robbery.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House has voted to overturn an Obama administration rule intended to clamp down on oil companies that burn off natural gas during drilling operations on public lands.

The rule seeks to reduce waste and harmful methane emissions as part of a strategy to address climate change. It was finalized in November.

But Republicans say the rule is forcing job losses in energy-dependent states across the West and is undercutting domestic energy production.

The House approved a resolution to reverse the rule on a vote of 221-191 on Friday. The measure now goes to the Senate.

Energy companies frequently burn off vast supplies of natural gas at drilling sites because it earns less money than oil. A government report said about 40 percent of gas being vented could be captured economically and sold.

GRETNA, La. (AP) — A lawyer for the man accused of fatally shooting Joe McKnight says his client shot the former NFL running back in self-defense.

In an email sent to The Associated Press late Thursday, Matthew Goetz wrote that “information provided from our sources” indicate the 28-year-old McKnight was shot while threatening 55-year-old Ronald Gasser and trying to climb into Gasser’s car through the passenger-side window. He did not elaborate on the sources or immediately return a phone call Friday.

Gasser was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

Authorities have said both men were driving erratically and yelling at each other before they stopped.

Goetz says McKnight drove from behind Gasser’s vehicle and blocked him in.

McKnight played for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs.

SEDGWICK COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating a violent attack and after six-months are now asking for help to identify a suspect.

Just before 3:30 p.m. on August 2, 2016, a 58-year-old woman was attacked in the entry way of an apartment building near 2nd and Topeka in Wichita, according to a social media report.

The victim told police someone had been walking closely behind her for about a block and followed her into the building.

He made small talk with her, but when she turned her back he pulled out a 2-by-2-inch piece of wood that was concealed under his shirt and started hitting her in the head in an unprovoked attack.

She was treated for her injuries at a local hospital.

The suspect is described as a black male wearing a black hat with a distinctive white logo and dark dress shoes.

If you have any information about this Aggravated Battery case, police ask that you call Crime Stoppers at 267-2111. You also can submit a tip online at www.WichitaCrimeStoppers.com or from your mobile phone by texting TIP217 then your message to 274637 (crimes). All ways are secure and anonymous.

By ANDY MARSO

Public health advocates pushing for Kansas to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products are running into the same opposing arguments they did two years ago.

University of Kansas Cancer Center Director Roy Jensen and others pushed for a $1.50-per-pack tax hike in 2015 and were disappointed when the Legislature ultimately settled on a 50-cent increase.

Kansas has another budget crisis this year and health advocates are again urging legislators to fill some of it with a tax increase large enough to make Kansans think twice about smoking.

“There is nothing more effective we can do to more directly impact our smoking rate than increase our tobacco tax,” Jensen told the House Taxation Committee this week.

The committee isn’t considering a specific bill yet but took public input on Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to raise cigarette taxes by $1 a pack and double the current tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco products.

The lobbying wings of the American Cancer Society, MS Society and American Lung Association joined Jensen in pushing for even higher tobacco taxes than what Brownback has proposed.

But some legislators seemed skeptical of raising the taxes at all, predicting it would just send buyers to other states or online.

“Seems like we’re working really hard this year to see money walk out of the state,” said Rep. Ken Corbet, a Republican from Topeka.

Rep. Kristey Williams, a Republican from Augusta, asked Jensen whether the last cigarette tax increase had reduced smoking rates.

“It’s gone down a little bit, although we don’t have great data on that,” Jensen said.

He reminded the committee that he and the others had asked for an increase three times higher.

“Sadly, if you don’t increase it by a significant level, the impact on the smoking rates is pretty minimal,” Jensen said. “And that’s where we are after 2015.”

Tobacco industry lobbyists lined up to tell the committee members they should not touch the taxes.

“This is a regressive tax that targets and penalizes a certain segment of consumers,” said John Federico, who represents smokeless tobacco manufacturers.

Federico noted that voters rejected ballot questions to increase tobacco taxes last year in several states, including Missouri, which has the country’s lowest cigarette taxes.

Kurt Diebel, the owner of Diebel’s Sportsmens Gallery stores in the Kansas City area, said cigar sales at his Kansas location would plummet if taxes go up.

“I think my customers will run to Missouri,” Diebel said.

None of those arguments resonated with Conley Cornell, a Coffeyville woman who told the tax committee about watching her father die of lung cancer.

“He had smoked for years and had tried to quit for years,” Cornell said. “It was absolutely a horrific way to die. Painful.”

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.

JEWELL COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Jewell County continue to investigate a Kansas man for alleged child abuse.

During a status conference on Wednesday Cody Michael Showers, 26, Mankato, requested a preliminary hearing, according to Jewell County Attorney Darrell Miller.

On December 21, deputies arrested Showers for allegedly shaking a 7-week-old baby and causing “great bodily harm” during an incident on December 15, according to a media release from the Sheriff’s Department.

Showers remains jailed on a $100,000 bond, according to the Jewell County Sheriff’s office.

The baby was hospitalized in Wichita and was placed in foster care.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 3, according to Miller.

TOPEKA—A divided Kansas Supreme Court Friday upheld by a vote of 4-3 the death sentence of Sidney J. Gleason in a capital murder case involving a 2004 double homicide in Barton County, according to a media release from the State Office of Judicial Administration.

Gleason was convicted of killing Darren Wornkey and his girlfriend, Mikiala “Miki” Martinez, in what prosecutors charged was an attempt to threaten Martinez to keep her from telling police about an earlier armed robbery.

An accomplice in the killings, Damien Thompson, agreed to plead guilty to the first-degree murder of Martinez and testify against Gleason in exchange for a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years. A jury convicted Gleason in 2006 of capital murder, premeditated first-degree murder for killing Wornkey, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and criminal possession of a firearm. The same jury sentenced Gleason to death following a separate penalty-phase trial.

In 2014, a majority of the Kansas Supreme Court upheld Gleason’s convictions, but ordered a new penalty-phase trial after it concluded the jury was not properly instructed about how to decide whether to recommend the death penalty. The Kansas court’s decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 and the case was returned for consideration of unresolved penalty-phase issues. Those remaining eight questions were decided against Gleason in the majority opinion written by Justice Dan Biles. The court did not hold additional oral arguments in the case and considered the issues based on written briefs and its own research.

The issues decided include whether Gleason’s death sentence violates the Kansas Constitution when comparing it with his accomplice’s hard-25 life sentence, and whether a jury instruction error was harmless in light of the evidence against Gleason.

Justice Caleb Stegall agreed with the decision to uphold Gleason’s death sentence, but disagreed with some of the majority’s rationale in arriving at that conclusion. Justices Marla Luckert and Carol Beier dissented because they believed trial errors occurred after Thompson, Gleason’s accomplice, refused to testify at Gleason’s trial and that this required reversing Gleason’s murder convictions and holding a new trial.

In a separate dissenting opinion, Justice Lee Johnson criticized the majority for upholding Gleason’s death sentence, and said the ruling fails to meet what Johnson described as “the constitutionally required heightened reliability standard” for death penalty cases.

DETROIT (AP) — You might not want to open a rear window if you’re driving a Nissan Altima.

The company is recalling more than 341,000 of the midsize cars in the U.S. because the doors might open if a rear window is lowered.

The recall covers Altimas from the 2015 through 2017 model years.

Nissan says in government documents that the latch and lock cable in the doors may not have been routed properly at the factory. In certain situations, the window assembly can interfere with the cable and inadvertently open the doors.

Nissan will notify owners about the recall within the next two months. Dealers will modify the doors to make sure the cables are routed properly.

SALINE COUNTY – One person was injured in an accident just after 8a.m. on Friday in Salina.

Police reported the vehicle drove through the front of the KWIK shop, 305 West Schilling Road.

Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.

WASHINGTON  — Betsy DeVos nomination to be education secretary cleared a Senate hurdle early Friday as the GOP overpowered Dems 52-48.  Another showdown vote on the nomination is scheduled next week. Both Kansas Senators supported her.

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts said he  welcomed the opportunity to work with Mrs. DeVos to ensure Kansans can make their own decisions about the best way to improve education, free from federal interference.

“I have spoken with Mrs. DeVos numerous times, and I am confident she is the right person for the job.”

Senator Jerry Moran  met with Betsy DeVos on Wednesday and  indicated his intention to support her confirmation.

“I have had a number of serious concerns about Betsy DeVos’ nomination to be our next Secretary of Education. Those concerns have been echoed by Kansas educators and parents I have met with and heard from over the last several weeks.

“Ms. DeVos confirmed to me that there will be no federally-mandated voucher program in the state of Kansas. She reassured me that the state, local districts and school boards will retain their important role in administering our schools and determining our students’ curriculum. She shares my interest in pursuing full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to ensure that our students with disabilities have the opportunity to receive a quality education and pursue their goals. And lastly, she agrees that we must return control over our students’ education to the state and local levels by implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act as Congress intended.

“Though I began our meeting unconvinced, I now expect to support her nomination knowing that, as Secretary of Education, Ms. DeVos will be working to make certain that all Kansas students are better off and that educational decisions are made by those who understand the unique needs of Kansas kids: educators, administrators and parents at the local level.”