WICHITA (AP) — Wichita State University is scheduled to host an upcoming conference on combatting human trafficking.
The Wichita Eagle reported several of the state’s leading authorities on human trafficking are expected to attend the event Monday.
Karen Countryman-Roswurm, executive director of WSU’s Center to Combat Human Trafficking, will moderate a discussion that will include Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Timothy Henderson, presiding judge for the 18th Judicial District Juvenile Division in Sedgwick County.
The roundtable discussion is open to the public.
The Monday gathering is the first in a weeklong series of events organized by the Center for Combating Human Trafficking.
LAWRENCE (AP) — Lawrence police are still seeking information about the recent death of a 52-year-old man and the apparent disappearance of a 19-year-old woman who had been living at the man’s home.
Harold Sasko was found dead in his Lawrence home Jan. 17. Police had gone to the house looking for Sarah Brooke Gonzales McLinn, who had been reported missing and hasn’t yet been found.
The Lawrence Journal-World reported police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley says police haven’t named anyone as a suspect and it’s unclear how many people were present when Sasko was killed.
Sasko owned three pizza restaurants in Topeka and Lawrence.
HUTCHINSON — A 30-year-old Hutchinson man who was ordered to prison for 40-years for his involvement in the murder of a Hutchinson man is scheduled to have his appeal heard by the Kansas Supreme Court next week.
Anthony Waller
Anthony Waller was given the sentence by Judge Tim Chambers in April 2011, after he denied the judgement of acquittal and motion for a new trial by defense attorney Carl Maughn.
Joshua Haines was beaten and strangled in an apartment at 12th & Severance, and his body placed in his vehicle and left in front of a home a few blocks away. All this occurring on April 10, 2010.
The state believes Waller masterminded the idea of tricking Haines, by luring him to a co-defendants apartment telling him they wanted to buy drugs, but once inside the dark apartment, he along with 32-year-old Jose Delacruz and 36-year-old Vasie Coons then ambushed Haines, beat him and Waller reportedly strangled him to death.
Coons entered pleas to aggravated robbery, possession of cocaine, methamphetamine, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana while the murder charge against him was dropped. He’s serving a 12-year sentence.
The third co-defendant in the case, Jose Delacruz was found not guilty of murder, but was convicted of aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to nearly 7-years for the robbery conviction, He was also given another 9-years for a conviction of contempt of court.
The hearing on the appeal for Anthony Waller is scheduled for next Tuesday morning.
DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s tensions over oil and gas production have threatened to boil over this year.
The state’s influential and fast-growing industry faces the prospect of big crackdowns from the state Legislature and the possibility of statewide ballot measures curbing drilling.
So far, the legislative session has been short on big overhaul proposals. But does that mean the debate has died down? Hardly.
Colorado’s energy industry still could see big changes coming.
Some other proposals that have been discussed include new air quality controls, higher fines for rule violations and more notification to land purchasers and home buyers about the split estate.
Buildings and Monuments Third Place – Deanna Finch, Montezuma
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Residents of Dodge City, Kinsley and Montezuma are among the winners of the Kansas Green Team program’s 2013 KansasGreenTeams.org Photo Contest.
Photographers throughout Kansas were invited to submit their photos celebrating the unique character of Kansas.
“These photos highlight the exceptional beauty that Kansas has to offer. We hope they will serve as inspiration for Kansans to do more for their environment in order to preserve our natural resources,” said John Mitchell, Director of the Division of Environment for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).
The Kansas Green Team program was created in 2007 by KDHE as a way to make a difference by incorporating environmentally responsible practices into Kansans’ daily routines at work and at school.
ERIE (AP) — A second defendant has pleaded no contest in last year’s arson death of a southeast Kansas woman.
The Chanute Tribune reported Brian Shields entered the plea to felony murder Thursday in Neosho County District Court.
Co-defendant Michelle Voorhees pleaded no contest Jan. 15 to second-degree murder and agreed to testify against Shields.
Both were accused in the smoke inhalation death of 36-year-old Cristy Wiles. Wiles’ remains were found last Feb. 6 in the rubble of a Chanute home.
Prosecutors said the defendants went to the house to retrieve property stolen from Voorhees. County Attorney Linus Thuston said the two ran out of the house after Shields placed a pipe bomb on a mattress and lit the fuse.
The device did not explode, but set fire to the house.
TOPEKA (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a southwest Kansas man in the August 2009 stabbing death of his mother.
Maestas
In a unanimous decision Friday, the court rejected arguments that Michael Maestas Jr., Hugoton, received an unfair trial because of the prosecutor’s comments in closing arguments in Stevens County District Court.
The high court concluded the prosecutor did mischaracterize testimony from Maestas’ sister but said the incorrect statement was not intentional. Justice Dan Biles also wrote that the evidence against Maestas was overwhelming.
Maestas was arrested after calling 911 to report he had stabbed his mother, Lorenza, in their Hugoton home.
The Supreme Court also rejected arguments that Maestas should have been confined to a state mental hospital rather than sentenced to prison.
TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback remains confident that the Kansas economy will continue to show strength and generate revenues to fund his budget proposals.
Gov. Sam Brownback
Speaking to reporters Friday, the governor says his administration’s experience in the past three years in setting priorities and building reserves support his optimism.
Brownback wants to increase spending in three areas in the current budget year — the state pension system, public schools and the state’s share of Medicaid health care programs for the poor, elderly and disabled.
Budget projections show the state eating into its cash reserves that were built over recent years. The declines are related to ongoing government expenses and cuts in the state income tax rates enacted in 2012 that reduced the amount of revenue Kansas collects.
SALINA— In a press release Friday, the U. S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service in Kansas announced it will provide approximately $2.5 million in fiscal year 2014 to conserve water in the Ogallala Aquifer through the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative.
Ogallala aquifer
Applications are accepted on a continuous basis, but to be considered for FY2014 funds, the application cutoff date is March 21. The NRCS will fund this initiative through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
“The Ogallala Aquifer Initiative allows agriculture producers to implement conservation practices such as irrigation water management, crop rotations, and replacing inefficient gravity irrigation systems,” said Eric B. Banks, NRCS state conservationist for NRCS. “These conservation practices directly benefit the water quality and water quantity issues in this aquifer.”
Much of the High Plains region relies on the Ogallala for water, but the water in the Ogallala Aquifer is diminishing because of widespread irrigation use in the High Plains states.
The Ogallala Aquifer, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, is a vast, yet shallow underground water table aquifer located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. It is one of the world’s largest aquifers and covers an area in portions of eight states: Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
For more information, visit www.ks.nrcs.usda.gov or contact your local USDA Service Center.
WICHITA – Kansas Republican Ron Estes announced Friday he will seek re-election to serve a second term as state treasurer.
First elected in 2010, Estes was the first statewide elected official from the city of Wichita in more than 20 years and has spent his first term successfully advocating responsible fiscal policy for Kansas.
“I am honored to serve the citizens of this great state and am proud of the accomplishments the State Treasurer’s Office has achieved throughout the last three years,” Estes said. “During my term, I’ve remained committed to streamlining the process of returning unclaimed property, strengthening the Learning Quest higher education savings program, and identifying common sense solutions for Kansas taxpayers. If the people of Kansas entrust me to a second term, I will continue to uphold these policies.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has announced changes to a mental health clinic in Kansas City, Kan., and the Osawatomie State Hospital.
The governor said Thursday that 111 positions previously located at the Rainbow Mental Health Facility in Kansas City, Kan., are being permanently moved to the Osawatomie hospital.
Rainbow Mental Health will become a 24/7 crisis stabilization center to help keep people with mental illnesses or substance abuse out of jails or hospitals. Rainbow has been a six-bed crisis care center since 2011, when 30 of its beds were moved to Osawatomie.
After some renovations, the center will open in April as a six-bed crisis observation unit for stays of less than a day and a 10-bed crisis stabilization unit for patients staying up to 10 days.
LAWRENCE (AP) — A couple from California has pledged $1.25 million toward a fund for a new building for the University of Kansas School of Business.
The university announced Thursday the pledge from Kent and Missy McCarthy, Rancho Mirage, Calif., will be paid over five years.
The couple has already given $2.5 million in various gifts to the business school in the past.
Kent McCarthy, who graduated from the Kansas business school, created an investing class that has helped attract students to the university’s finance program.
Missy McCarthy received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in social work from the university.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A University of Utah student says he paid his tuition bill with 2,000 one-dollar bills as a silent protest against the rising cost of college.
Luq Mughal brought a metal case full of greenbacks to the school Tuesday, the deadline for payment. He said he collected the cash from several banks.
Mughal told The Salt Lake Tribune he spends weekends working to pay for his electrical engineering degree.
The 21-year-old said he gets a discount because his father is a faculty member and acknowledges his situation is far from the worst on campus.
Undergraduate in-state tuition rates have more than doubled in Utah over the past 10 years. Trustees set a 5 percent tuition hike this year, saying they needed to fund a cost-of-living raise for employees as state funding declines.
