TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A southeast Kansas man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation for striking and killing a Washburn University art teacher and administrator as she rode her bicycle.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 38-year-old Todd Kidwell, of Chanute, was sentenced Monday for involuntary manslaughter and unlawful passing of a bicyclist in the June 2015 death of 60-year-old Glenda Taylor. She was hit while participating in an amateur time trial on a rural Crawford County road.
Kidwell’s attorneys had contended that the accident occurred when Kidwell swerved to the left to avoid a head-on collision with another truck at the same time that Taylor veered to her left.
Testimony at an earlier hearing indicated Taylor’s body was thrown 169 feet after she was struck.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a woman accused of killing a Wichita woman and abducting her newborn daughter has been served papers that would extradite her from Texas to Kansas.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Tuesday that 34-year-old Yesenia Sesmas, who is being held in the Dallas County Jail, was served papers Friday.
Sesmas is accused of killing Laura Abarca-Nogueda at a west Wichita apartment in November. She then allegedly took Abarca-Nogueda’s newborn daughter, Sofia, who was six days old at the time.
After a nationwide search, a tip led investigators to Dallas. Authorities found Sofia safe at a home and returned her to her relatives.
Bennett said he expects another update from Texas officials next week. The extradition process is likely to take up to three months.
Law enforcement on the scene of Monday afternoon shooting-photo courtesy KWCH
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say a man killed in the city’s first homicide of 2017 was targeted by the shooters.
Authorities say cousins Bernadino and Andrew Ornelas were shot Monday after two vehicles stopped at an intersection. Bernadino died at the scene and Andrew is being treated at a Wichita hospital.
Wichita police Lt. Jason Stephens says the shooting was a “targeted” incident.
Investigators are looking for an orange or red Chevy Avalanche that left the scene after the shooting. They also are investigating whether other vehicles were involved.
Police have not released descriptions of possible suspects.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one person is dead and another is in critical condition after shots were fired at their vehicle at a Wichita intersection.
The shooting was reported just before 4 p.m. Monday. Wichita police Sgt. Ed Brower says the passengers in another vehicle opened fired at the intersection, killing the driver of another vehicle and wounding his passenger. The name of the victim wasn’t immediately released.
Police are searching for a red Chevy Avalanche in connection with the shooting.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A University of Kansas assistant professor is claiming in a federal lawsuit that she faced anti-German discrimination and a hostile work environment at the school.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports Catherine Joritz filed the federal lawsuit Friday after filing a similar lawsuit in Douglas County Court last summer.
Joritz is an American but taught in Germany for 30 years before returning to the U.S. Her lawsuit says her students in the Department of Film and Media wrote anonymous critical evaluations that included anti-German comments, including accusing her of being a Nazi sympathizer. She says those comments became part of her record and eventually led to her being told she would not be retained after this school year.
The newspaper said university spokesman Joe Monaco declined to comment on pending litigation.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — A woman charged with killing four people by driving her car into spectators at Oklahoma State University’s 2015 homecoming parade has been sentenced to life in prison.
Adacia Chambers agreed to a plea bargain Tuesday before her jury trial was to begin.
Chambers was sentenced after pleading no contest to four counts of second-degree murder and 39 counts of assault and battery.
Prosecutors say Chambers steered her car around a police barricade and sped up before plowing into spectators ahead of Oklahoma State’s game against the University of Kansas. Prosecutors say her actions showed intent.
Crash scene courtesy photo
Chambers’ attorneys say she has a mental illness and suffered a psychiatric episode at the time of the crash. Her father said she had received psychiatric treatment at an in-patient facility several years ago.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s annual State of the State address and budget issues (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
The Kansas House Appropriations Committee’s new chairman says tapping a $320 million state investment fund is an option worth considering amid the state’s budget woes.
Republican Rep. Troy Waymaster of Bunker Hill said Tuesday the possibilities include making a loan or sweeping the fund to help finance general government programs.
Kansas faces a projected $342 million shortfall in its current budget. Some lawmakers have said one-time accounting moves could close the gap to avoid immediate spending cuts.
Legislators created the investment fund in 2000 to boost the state’s interest earnings. State Treasurer Ron Estes has said it could realize about $40 million in investment gains if it liquidated the fund.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback was giving the annual State of the State address Tuesday and outlining his budget proposals Wednesday.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating 3 suspects on robbery and kidnapping charges.
Just before 1p.m. on Monday, two women and a man allegedly forced David Martin, 33, Salina, out of his own car at gunpoint near the intersection of Beverly and Crawford, according to Salina Police Sgt. James Feldman.
James Lorence, 33, Salina was driving the 2005 Chevy Impala when Martin was forced from the car.
Martin contacted police who spotted the car in the McDonald’s parking on E. Diamond Drive a few minutes later.
Lorence, 23-year-old Michelle M. Ausburn, Salina, and 35-year-old Jamie L. Demott of Bennington fled from the car, but were quickly apprehended.
All three were booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, felony theft, and criminal threats
Lorence was carrying a .22 handgun when he was arrested.
Lorence will also face a requested charge of a felon in possession of a firearm.
BARTON COUNTY – The USD 428 Board of Education unanimously approved the purchase and installation of security cameras for all district school buses on Monday night. There are 7 buses that currently do not have cameras.
The cameras for the seven buses will cost $2,388 per bus for a total $16,716.
Radio Engineering Industries from Omaha, Nebraska will make a trip to Great Bend to install the cameras.
The district hopes to have the cameras installed between the winter and spring sports seasons, according to USD 428 Interim Superintendent Khris Thexton.
“Safety of students and employees is a top priority for us,” said Thexton, in a press release. “Cameras not only protect our students, but also our drivers.”
The cameras will record the data to a computer hard drive monitored by the school district.
District parents clamored to have cameras and video recording on all the district’s buses after two incidents of battery occurred on USD 428 buses involving the Great Bend High School swim team in February of 2016.
Two students were charged in the assault case in Ellsworth County and one was convicted of misdemeanor battery.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas lawmaker whose 10-year-old son was killed on a water slide is urging his colleagues to remember there’s more to life than what happens in the Capitol.
The Kansas City Star reports that Scott Schwab was emotional after being sworn in Monday as a leader in the Kansas House.
The Republican from the Kansas City suburb of Olathe told lawmakers to “let it go” when their bills die or amendments fail. He says, “Life isn’t worth wasting too much emotional energy on such things.” He added that “it could get worse.”
His son, Caleb Thomas Schwab, died in August on a water slide billed as the world’s largest. It still isn’t clear what happened to Caleb on the 168-foot-tall “Verruckt” at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas.
COWLEY COUNTY- A Kansas man died in an accident just before 10p.m. on Monday in Cowley County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 GMC Sierra pickup driven by Eliseo Cardoza, 43, Arkansas City, was westbound on 222nd Road four miles southwest of Winfield.
The pickup traveled off the left side of the roadway. The driver overcorrected and the pickup rolled into a field.
Cardoza was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Rindt Funeral Home.
He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is preparing to give his annual State of the State address to a less-friendly Legislature amid serious budget problems.
The Republican governor was scheduled to speak Tuesday evening to a joint session of the GOP-controlled House and Senate.
The address gives Brownback a chance to outline his agenda for the 90-day legislative session and tout his policies.
But Kansas is facing projected budget shortfalls totaling $1.1 billion through June 2019. Elections last year left the Legislature less conservative as voters ousted two dozen Brownback allies.
The state has struggled to balance its budget since Republican legislators slashed income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging. The goal was to stimulate the economy but even some GOP voters concluded that the effort had been a bust.
SALINE COUNTY -On Monday, the Salina Police Department reported the reward leading to an arrest in her murder of Lori Heimer had been increased to $37,000.
Heimer, 57, was found brutally murdered in her home southeast of Assaria at 10525 S. Hopkins Road just before 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 25th. Heimer ran a dog breeding business out of her home called “Lori’s Poodle Patch”, where she sold a variety of dogs including poodles, teacup poodles, toy poodles, yorkiepoos, and golden doodles. Investigators working the case still want to speak to anyone that had contact or a business appointment with Heimer anytime between June 20th and June 25th.
The first vehicle is an older flatbed pickup truck, possibly a Chevy, which is described as “beat-up”, maroon in color, with a white front bumper, silver grill, wide-style side mirrors, with a driver that is approximately 50 years of age or older with “salt and pepper” hair.
The second vehicle is an older-style, small pickup truck, possibly a Chevy S-10, with a two-tone color – dark blue on top and bottom, with light blue in the middle. The back bumper is silver, but the tailgate is blue, like the body of the truck, and is newer or appeared to have minimal damage when compared to the body of the truck. The remainder of the vehicle is described as “beat up” and “scratched up”. There may be two animal cages or crates in the back. The driver of the vehicle was described as a white male, approximately 40 years of age, with shoulder length hair, wearing glasses
Investigators at the home of Lori Heimer on June 26th (Courtesy Photo)
A Facebook page has also been established by Lori’s family to keep the word out on this case. That page can be found by clicking here.
Anyone with information on Lori Heimer’s murder is asked to immediately contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, 24 hours a day, at 1-800-KSCRIME, the Saline County Sheriff’s Office at 785-826-6500 during business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Salina/Saline County Crime Stoppers at 785-825-TIPS.
