By Fred Gough ~ Hutch Post

A second person has been arrested in connection with the death of a Tabor Football Player.

According to McPherson Police Chief, Rob McClarty, they have now arrested 19-year-old Dequinte Oshea Flourney of Dallas, Texas. As with Alton Franklin, he is charged with aiding and abetting murder in the second degree. He is also being held in the McPherson County Jail on a half million dollar bond.

He will face the same sentencing range of 109-to-143 months, and a fine up to 300-thousand dollars on the charge. Franklin is facing a preliminary hearing date of October 3 for the charge against him.

The charges against the two men come after the 26-year-old Brandon Brown, a Tabor football player died after a disturbance in the early morning of September 16, in McPherson.

Brown was found in the 400 block of North Carrie and sustained critical injuries as a result of the altercation. He was taken to Via-Cristi St. Francis Regional Medical Center where he died at 10:16 p.m, on Saturday September 22.

McPherson Police Chief Rob McClarty says the investigation into the case is ongoing and being conducted by his department, the McPherson County Sheriff’s Office and the KBI.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call McPherson Police at 620-245-1200, of Crime Stoppers of McPherson County at 620-241-1122.

A fund had been set up for Brown and his family at Emprise Bank in Hillsboro.

The abortion clinic formerly operated by the late Dr. George Tiller in Wichita has been purchased by a group that intends to reopen it as a medical facility offering abortions and other services.

Trust Women Foundation Inc. Executive Director Julie Burkhart says her Wichita-based nonprofit bought the clinic in late August. An attorney for Tiller’s widow also confirmed the sale.

Burkhart is a former Tiller employee. She has said in the past that she was involved in efforts to open a new clinic in Wichita. The city has been without an abortion clinic since Tiller was shot to death at his church in May 2009 by a man who opposes abortions.

The Wichita Eagle first reported the sale, based on public records.

by Randy Picking  ~ Salina Post

Salina man was hurt in a crash on I-70 early Wednesday morning.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 26-year-old Jared Garst was westbound about a mile east of Oakley at 2:25am when the semi Garst was driving went left of center entering the median.

The semi and trailer rolled onto drivers side coming to rest in the median facing west.

Garst was taken to the Logan County Hospital in Oakley for treatment of injuries.

Construction of a high-voltage transmission power line in western Kansas is expected to be completed by November, six months ahead of schedule.

ITC Holdings says the line it is building from Spearville to the Nebraska border will be running by the end of the year. It also is expected to be under budget.

The transmission line will connect another transmission line running from Axtell, Neb., to the Kansas border.

And ITC spokesman Joe Kirik says the Spearville-to-Axtell transmission line will be connected to a new line called the V-Plan, which will run from Medicine Lodge to Spearville. Construction on the V-Plan is expected to start in November.

A group of Kansas high schoolers is taking on the the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which limits the calorie count of school lunches to 850, with a parody of a popular song on YouTube.

The video/song titled We Are Hungry, is a parody of the popular song We Are Young by the band Fun, and includes lyrics such as

Give me some seconds I, I need to get some food today 
My friends are at the corner store 
Getting junk so they don’t waste away

The video was created by a group of teachers and high school students at the Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs, KS and has already earned over 230,000 views on YouTube, as of Wednesday morning.

 

It’s Kansas State University, not K-State.

Kansas State President Kirk Schulz says the school wants to improve its national recognition, and dropping the K-State nickname would help.

Schulz told Gov. Sam Brownback and business leaders Monday that the university is moving toward having one brand for the school. He says K-State works for athletics, but in Kentucky and other places, K-State refers to different schools.

He says the university needs to be called Kansas State as it seeks to increase its scholarly rankings among national universities.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the transition might be difficult. The school’s new long-range plan is titled “K-State 2025: A Visionary Plan for Kansas State University.”

Workers at the Kansas Statehouse have removed all of the temporary walls that sealed off much of the building’s above-ground interior during a massive renovation.

The last of the walls came down Tuesday, allowing visitors to see into the first floor’s north wing for the first time in four years.

The interior work on the first through fifth floors is supposed to be finished Friday, although crews will still be cleaning and moving furniture for some time.

The renovation started in 2001 and is expected to cost $332 million. It won’t be finished until the end of next year, when work on a basement visitor center is completed.

A member of the Kansas State University Parachute Club Patrick Knight, 28, of Wichita was injured in a skydiving accident at the Abilene Municipal Airport Friday evening.

The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department reports the investigation by that agency and the Abilene Police Department revealed Knight apparently came down toward land going too fast. He struck the ground and suffered injuries to his legs, pelvis, and back.

Knight was transported by Dickinson County EMS to Salina Regional Health Center where he was listed in serious condition.

The Kansas State University Parachute Club was conducting sky diving at the Abilene Airport on Friday. The accident occurred about 7:15 p.m. Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been contacted and has begun their own seperate investigation.

A U.S. House candidate from northeastern Kansas is criticizing incumbent Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins and Congress for failing to act on a new farm bill.

Topeka minister Tobias Schlingensiepen, the Democratic nominee in the 2nd Congressional District, issued a statement critical of Jenkins on Monday.

Schlingensiepen says House members left Washington to campaign for re-election without acting on the farm bill, despite receiving a version from the Senate earlier this year.

Jenkins’ campaign issued a statement saying the congresswoman grew up on a farm and understood the issues and was trying to work for a solution. That includes measures to shore up the finances of the U.S. Postal Service that are included in the farm package.

The current farm laws and programs expire at the end of September.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has reorganized his office’s administration of programs that help crime victims.

He’s also promoted his chief spokesman to oversee some of them.

Schmidt says he’s creating a new Division of Crime Victims Compensation that will be overseen by Jeff Wagaman, who has served both as his main spokesman and his deputy chief of staff. Wagaman also is a former assistant state treasurer.

The new division will focus on helping crime victims obtain compensation for their losses, allowing the state’s three-member Crime Victims Compensation Board to concentrate on reviewing claims.

The new division will be split off from the Division of Victims’ Services. Five employees will move from that division to the new one under Wagaman.

Schmidt says he will name a new chief spokesman soon.