A central Iowa fruit and vegetable distributor is recalling several lots of cherry tomatoes after the grower notified the distributor that Salmonella was found in random sample testing by the Food and Drug Administration.

Capital City Fruit Inc., of Norwalk says the recalled cherry tomatoes from Rio Queen Citrus are packaged in one-pint containers as Capital Brand Clamshell Cherry Tomatoes. They were shipped to retail stores from Nov. 14 to Nov.18 and sold in stores in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

No illnesses have been reported. Capital City Fruit on Wednesday says it asked retailers to remove the product from their store shelves.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Frustrated farmers in a south-central Kansas county are coping with a rash of hay bale thefts.

Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet has ordered his deputies to patrol rural roads, aiming to halt what’s become an almost daily crime.

Herzet blames the thefts on the severe drought, which has tightened supplies of hay and driven up prices.

Butler County farmer Orville Carver says that someone cut the lock to his gate and stole nearly $500 worth of hay. Carver says the economy has something to do with the crime, but it doesn’t justify stealing from others.

Authorities and some farmers have set up deer cameras, hoping to catch the thieves. Herzet is also encouraging farmers and ranchers to move hay from their fields closer to their homes.

An Ottawa, Kan., woman has pleaded guilty to running a prescription drug trafficking ring tied to the death of a man who died from taking a mixture made from prescription drugs, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Connie Edwards, 60, Ottawa, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute prescription drugs. In her plea, she admitted that from Nov. 1, 2007, to Feb. 28, 2012, she conspired with others to distribute oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, morphine and other prescription drugs in Ottawa.

An investigation began early in 2010 when the Franklin County Drug Enforcement Unit received information that people working for Edwards were distributing prescription drugs in Ottawa. Sources told investigators Edwards rented to people who paid her in prescription pills and she accepted stolen property in payment for pills.

On May 10, 2009, William Thomas Powell, who bought drugs from the Edwards’ organization, was found unconscious in the living room of his mother’s home. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that he died from taking a toxic combination of methadone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol.

Investigators learned that the afternoon before he died Powell went to Edwards’ house, where he bought a white powder he was told was methamphetamine. In fact, one of Edwards’ associates produced the powder by crushing prescription pills including hydrocodone, methadone and carisoprodol. Edwards was present when Powell bought the drugs, but the associate handled the sale. Later that evening, Powell purchased prescription pills from Edwards, who delivered the pills to Powell in a van outside the Hidden Meadows apartment complex in Ottawa. Powell then took the pills and injected the substance he believed was methamphetamine, creating a toxic combination that caused his death.

Investigators documented numerous incidents in which Powell and her associates sold prescription drugs.

Sentencing is set for March 4. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed to recommend Edwards be sentenced to 25 years and a forfeiture judgment of $632,930.

Co-defendants include:
Brittany Edwards, 20, Ottawa, Kan., who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and is set for sentencing Feb. 25.
Shirley Price, 45, Ottawa, Kan., who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and is set for sentencing Dec. 12.
Dustin Price, 24, Ottawa, Kan., who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and is set for sentencing Feb. 25.
Joel Keith Price, 55, Ottawa, Kan., who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is set for sentencing Feb. 25.
Morgan Price, 22, Ottawa, Kan., who pleaded guilty to possession of morphine and is set for sentencing March 4.
Brandi Bivens, 30, Ottawa, Kan., who is awaiting trial.
Angela Mitchell, 35, Ottawa, Kan., who is awaiting trial.
Tamara Ledom, 37, Ottawa, Kan., who is awaiting trail.
Florence Edwards, 39, Ottawa, Kan., who is awaiting trail.

The Ottawa Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri McCracken is prosecuting.

A divorced Palestinian man accused of illegally moving his three young children from their Kansas home to the Gaza Strip insists they are safe.

Ahmed Abuhamda was charged in Kansas with aggravated interference with parental custody after he took his children overseas earlier this year amid a custody dispute with their American mother.

He told The Associated Press in an interview that while he believes the family is in no real danger, as a Muslim he has taught his children that everybody has to die one day.

Nine-year-old Jannah Abuhamda told AP in a phone call from Gaza that she can hear the barrage of bombings as she plays with her Barbie dolls in her father’s home.

by Steve Webster ~ Great Bend Post

An 18-year old Rozel man was killed in a one vehicle accident Tuesday morning in Pawnee County.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Brant Colglazier was soutbhound on 200th Avenue when he lost control on a sandy road, hit a light pole, and rolled twice. Colglazier was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident happened at around 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

A Douglas County judge has upheld the conviction and sentence of a Washington woman who killed two highway workers while driving south of Lawrence in 2007.

District Judge Paula Martin ruled earlier this month that Ramona Morgan’s court-appointed attorney committed some errors, but nothing bad enough to affect the jury’s decision.

Morgan had argued she received ineffective counsel and that her 26-year sentence was excessive.

Witnesses testified at Morgan’s 2008 trial that she drove around a pilot car twice in a U.S. 59 work zone on Sept. 11, 2007, and the second time struck and killed two workers.

Law enforcement officers had to puncture her pickup truck’s tires after a chase to get her to stop. Her earliest possible parole date is 2030.

Seventy pheasant hunters joined Gov. Sam Brownback and other state officials over the weekend for the second annual Governor’s Ringneck Classic in northwestern Kansas.

The city of Oakley hosted the event, with hunters taking to the fields near surrounding communities. Brownback began the hunt in 2011 as a way to promote tourism and expand the Kansas economy.

Among those taking part were state Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Secretary Robin Jennison and former Kansas City Chiefs player Bill Maas.

Brownback’s office says hunting contributes some $400 million annually to the Kansas economy.

Proceeds from the hunt benefited the Northwest Kansas Classic Conservation Foundation, Logan County Health Care Foundation, the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center and the group Pheasants Forever.

About 50 college students who are in the U.S. illegally have marched on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office urging him to stop working on immigration laws and to do his state job.

The students from Kansas and Arizona delivered a letter Tuesday to a staff member, who said Kobach was in his office but unable to meet with the students.

The students are members of the DREAM Act Coalition. The DREAM Act would create a citizenship path for residents who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Kobach is a Republican and former law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has helped shape immigration policies around the country, and continues to litigate immigration issues in other states while serving in his Kansas position.

By Rod Zook ~ Hutch Post

Another person has been hit by a car while using the cross walk to the Cosmosphere along 11th Avenue. According to 911 the accident happened just before 7:45 when an east bound car struck the pedestrian.

The woman, 18-year-old Alexis Martin, was taken by EMS to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, then air-lifted to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita for treatment of a hip injury. The driver of the car, 17-year-old Michael Tharp, was uninjured. Police say no citations were issued, and speed, texting, drugs or alcohol are not believed to be a factor in the accident.

The cross walk has been the scene of several similar accidents in the past, despite yellow flashing lights warning motors to yield to pedestrians. Other similar flashing lights are at the cross walks at 12th and 13th Avenues along Plum, on the west side of the HCC Campus. The city has been reluctant to install stop lights at the cross walk because of the short distance between it and the 11th and Plum intersection, just to the west.

Pastors could soon be a fixture in McPherson police cars in a program designed to give officers an understanding ear and help in high-stress situations.

Two local ministers currently are participating in the new program, and several others are expected to join as auxiliary members.

KWCH reports the pastors will be there to talk to officers on an informal basis and help with things like death notifications, which can be highly emotional.

Police Lt. Jerry Montagne says he wishes such a program would have been around several years ago when officers had to tell family members their loved one committed suicide.

The Police Department is working on a procedures manual for the program and hopes to have it finished by the end of the year.

Note: Offensive term in third paragraph. Read with discretion.

A Kansas appeals court attorney has been fired after using offensive language in a tweet about the state’s former attorney general.

Sarah Peterson Herr was a research attorney for a Kansas Court of Appeals judge. She posted her comments about former Attorney General Phill Kline to Twitter last week while Kline was appearing before the state Supreme Court as part of an ethics investigation.

Herr commented on Kline’s facial expression, saying “Why is Phil Klein (sic) smiling? There is nothing to smile about, douchebag.”

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said Monday that Herr had been fired and her case was referred to other offices for possible ethical violations.

Herr has apologized and said she didn’t realize her posts were readable by all Twitter readers.

Original

A Kansas Court of Appeals research attorney has been fired after an investigation into comments she posted to Twitter last week during the ethics hearing of former Attorney General Phill Kline.

Sarah Peterson Herr was a research attorney for Court of Appeals Judge Christel Marquardt. Herr tweeted several negative comments about Kline during the hearing.

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said Monday that Herr had been fired and that her case had been referred to other offices for possible ethical violations.

She was suspended with pay on Friday, the same day she apologized because she said the public tweets may have reflected badly on the state’s court system. Herr said she failed to realize her posts were readable by all Twitter readers.