by Rod Zook – Hutch Post

Accident kills one person on downtown Hutchinson accident.

One person was killed Monday afternoon when he was hit by a trash truck while riding his bicycle at 4th & Adams.

According to Hutchinson Police Sgt. Brian Hirt, a Stutzman Refuse truck was northbound on Adams, Meanwhile, a bicycle operated by Julian Olea Tomas was also northbound on the sidewalk on the east side of Adams.

As the truck was turning right, the bicycle collided with the truck and the rider fell from the bicycle and was run over by the truck. Tomas of 325 E 3rd was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hirt says the collision is still under investigation by the Hutchinson Police Department Traffic Bureau.

He says there is no evidence that alcohol was a factor by either the driver or the bicyclist.

The accident occurred around 2:10 p-m Monday afternoon.

by Matt Unruh ~ Great Bend Post

Barton County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man Monday for the murder of a Great Bend resident.

Barton County Sheriff’s Office Detectives Rick Popp and David Paden placed Jeffery Chapman under arrest for the murder of 25-year-old Damon Galyardt. An investigation has been underway since the finding of Galyardt’s body in Barton County on November 12th, 2011, which led to Chapman’s arrest.

Chapman has been in custody in the Barton County Detention Center since November 15th on unrelated charges, however he was considered a person of interest in the case at that time. Pending laboratory results, and numerous interviews conducted slowed the progression of the investigation. Chapman was arrested on the charge of 1st Degree Murder and is being held at the Barton County Detention Center on a 1 million-dollar bond.

Great Bend Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Rice County Sheriff’s Office have been assisting in the investigation of the case.

Kansas abortion providers who won a federal injunction to keep temporary clinic regulations from taking effect are asking a judge to award them attorneys’ fees and costs.

Monday’s motion by the Kansas City-area physicians seeks nearly $170,000 in attorneys’ fees, and nearly $4,000 for expenses and costs.

The federal lawsuit named the state’s health secretary as a defendant. The parties have jointly moved to dismiss that lawsuit once the court decides on the attorneys’ fees and other costs.

Abortion providers have filed a separate lawsuit in state court in Shawnee County challenging the final version of the health and safety regulations for abortion clinics.

By Fred Gough ~ Hutch Post

Two people were killed early Monday morning after a two vehicle accident in Rice County.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Virginia D. Larkin of Lyons was northbound on K-14 and for an unknown reason, crossed the center line and struck a vehicle driven by 75-year-old Laverne Barnes of Sterling. Both drivers were killed in the accident.

An 8-year-old child, Brianna D. Larkin also of Lyons was first taken to Lyons District Hospital, then taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita for treatment of a broken leg.

Rice County Undersheriff Cody Goforth says the vehicles collided head-on and adds that icy roads were a factor in the accident.

The accident occurring just before 7:30 a-m Monday about a quarter of a mile north of Sterling.

President Barack Obama, in his federal spending plan unveiled Monday, recommended that no additional funding be allocated for construction of a new biosecurity lab in Kansas and said the Department of Homeland Security will reassess the project’s viability.

The budget proposal raised doubts about the future of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility under construction in Manhattan, near Kansas State University. The project would cost an estimated $650 million and would replace an aging facility at Plum Island, N.Y. Workers have cleared the Kansas site.

Congress only appropriated $50 million of the $150 million the Obama administration requested for the lab in the current budget year, which the White House said was insufficient to begin construction.

“In light of this, the Administration will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the project in 2012, which will consider the cost, safety and any alternatives to the current plan that would reduce costs and ensure safety,” the budget document unveiled Monday states.

Obama is asking the Department of Homeland Security to reevaluate the project, while spending $10 million to increase the amount of research being done at Kansas State’s Biosecurity Research Institute.

The budget plan also calls for developing a public outreach program to notify surrounding residents and livestock producers about the additional research and safety measures in place to protect humans and animals.

But the proposal appears to be a major blow to Kansas, which saw the lab as the centerpiece of an emerging biosciences industry. State officials expected the new lab to have more than 300 jobs that would pay an average of more than $75,000 a year in salary and benefits.

The new lab, which officials hoped to have operating by 2018, would replace an aging facility on Plum Island, N.Y. But U.S. Rep. Timothy Bishop, a Democrat who represents the Plum Island site and Long Island, had asked the federal Office of Management and Budget not to recommend funding for NBAF.

Members of Kansas’ congressional delegation and Brownback have previously expressed confidence that the project will be fully funded, despite opposition from some concerned about the lab’s safety, including Bishop and other members of Congress. Brownback has said funding for NBAF is the Kansas delegation’s top priority.

A Kansas 6th grader is honoring the memory of his dog by asking the Kansas Legislature to regulate antifreeze.

Aaron Coash of Wichita says his dog, Nikko, died in January after wandering from home and at some point drinking anti-freeze.

KAKE-TV reports that Nikko is 1 of about 10,000 animals and 1,400 children who die each year from poisoning from anti-freeze, which smells and tastes sweet.

Coash and the Humane Society of the United States wrote a bill that asked the state Legislature to require manufacturers to put a bittering agent into antifreeze. The chemical would make it less likely that anyone would accidentally drink antifreeze.

The bill was submitted Friday, and Coash is now waiting to hear back from state senators.

A 12-year-old Wichita girl has died after she was hit by a police car.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says the girl and a friend were crossing an intersection in south Wichita Sunday evening when she was hit by the police car.

No further details were immediately available.

Legislative committees have scheduled additional hearings this week to consider several plans to cut the Kansas tax rates

House Republicans are expected to introduce their plan to cut individual income tax rates on Monday. The plan builds on a proposal from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, but makes modifications in the elimination of tax credits and the state sales tax rate.

Senators have hearings planned Tuesday and Wednesday on the governor’s plan, which would reduce the number of income tax brackets from three to two and cut rates. It also would eliminate the earned income tax credit for low-income taxpayers.

The House plan keeps the three tax brackets but reduce the rates. It also cuts the earned income tax credit in half.

Authorities say a Topeka man has been charged with poaching a 14-point whitetail buck that could have broken a state record that has stood for more than 35 years.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism says David V. Kent was charged in Osage County with eight counts related the Nov. 11 shooting of the deer. He faces charges of hunting with an artificial light, hunting during a closed season, and other charges.

A message left for Kent at his business Friday was not immediately returned.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the deer was unofficially scored at 198 7/8 inches of antler on the Boone & Crockett system. The state record for a typical whitetail deer shot with a gun is 198 2/8 and is from 1974.

Barton County Judge Hannelore Kitts is expected to rule Monday on whether to move the trial of a Kansas man accused with killing a 14-year-old Great Bend girl.

Attorneys for 37-year-old Adam Longoria contended at a hearing Wednesday that their client can’t get a fair trial in Barton County because most residents already think he is guilty.

A survey of 400 Barton County residents conducted through Pittsburg State University found all were familiar with the case and 94 percent thought Longoria was guilty.

Prosecutors say the survey is not representative and argue Longoria could still get a fair trial.

He is scheduled to go on trial March 26 on charges of capital murder and sex crimes for the August 2010 death of Alicia DeBolt.

Kansas legislators are modifying a proposal from Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to establish a fund to cover the state’s share of federally declared disasters.

Brownback wants to use $12 million from taxes collected each year on insurance premiums to establish what would be a rainy day fund for disasters that cause extensive damage to infrastructure and property.

The measure is aimed at avoiding the situation they faced in 2011 when lawmakers adjourned the session and failed to finance $27 million in payments that the state owed for its share of disaster-related expenses, the bulk of which was owed to rural electric cooperatives.

Federal funds cover 75 percent of the disaster. Local entities, including municipalities, pay 15 percent, with the state covering the final 10 percent.