by Fred Gough ~ Hutch Post

Hutchinson Police are investigating the latest murder in the city of Hutchinson.

Police Lt., Marty Robertson says that on Wednesday at approximately 8:49 p-m, officers of the

Hutchinson Police Department were dispatched to 116 East Carpenter in reference to a stabbing. When they arrived, officers found a 23-year-old man identified as Allen M. Frank.

Frank had a stab wound to his abdomen and was transported by Reno County E-M-S to Promise Regional Medical Center and he was later taken by Midwest Lifeteam to Via-Cristi St. Francis Regional Medical Center where he later died at around 12:29 a-m Thanksgiving morning.

At approximately 5:15 a-m, the Hutchinson Police Department arrested and charged Aaron Alvarez for murder in the second degree, intentional. He is currently being held in the Reno County Jail in lieu of a 250-thousand dollar bond.

Alvarez is expected to appear in Reno County District Court on Monday.

Anyone who has information in regards to this investigation should call 620-694-2816 or 800-222-TIPS.

(AP) – A former northeast Kansas county attorney will spend a month in jail for stealing more than $70,000 from a church he served as treasurer.

KNZA-FM reports  that former Marshall County Attorney Brian Carroll will also spend two years on probation under the sentence he received Tuesday in district court.

Retired District Judge Jack Murphy ordered Carroll to begin the 30-day jail term Dec. 27.

Carroll pleaded guilty in October to felony theft. He admitted misappropriating money from the Marysville Berean Church between August 2006 and November 2010 while serving as the church treasurer.

He resigned from his position as Marshall County attorney in August 2010 to accept a job as a trust officer at a bank in Pratt.

The theft case was prosecuted by the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

(AP) – The families of 150 soldiers deploying from Fort Riley to Iraq and Afghanistan will have one less worry while their loved ones are gone.

A national nonprofit group called Operation Homefront presented 150 laptop computers to soldiers’ families this week to help them communicate with the deployed troops.

Operation Homefront official Amy Palmer says that soldiers in the field often have access to email, but many military families can’t afford computers. Palmer says the difficulty of staying in touch can affect morale on and off the battlefield.

Cpl. Jonathan Bailey, a father of five, told The Manhattan Mercury the new laptop will allow him to see his newborn baby girl when he deploys from the northeast Kansas post. Bailey says a computer just didn’t fit in his family’s budget.

(AP) – A special task force created by Secretary of State Kris Kobach has finished its work on new regulations detailing how Kansas will implement its new voter identification laws next year.

Kobach says the work of the 17-member group outlines how county election officials would conduct elections under laws approved by legislators in 2011. The law, among other provisions, requires voters to show photo identification at the polls.

The law also requires that, starting in 2013, people registering to vote for the first time in Kansas must show proof of citizenship. Kobach wants to push that date to March 2012, which will require legislative approval.

A public hearing is scheduled in January to take comments about the regulations.

(AP) – The command post used while investigators have searched for a missing Kansas City child has closed.

Detectives and FBI agents are working out of their usual offices but will continue to search for Lisa Irwin, who was 10 months old when she disappeared from her home on Oct. 4.

Police said Tuesday the command post closed because leads in the case have slowed. And other crime cases have piled up while officers concentrated on finding the girl, putting strain on detectives and victims involved in other cases.

At least seven detectives will stay assigned to the baby Lisa case, but will also work on other cases. FBI agents will continue to work with police at the same level as before.

(AP) – Three people have been injured in an explosion at an auto salvage business in northeastern Kansas.

Miami County Undersheriff Wayne Minckley says the blast was reported 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in the mechanic shop at 7 Highway Auto Salvage in the town of Fontana. The town is about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City.

The undersheriff says the three injured men were rushed to the University of Kansas Hospital, two by ambulance and one by helicopter. He said the injuries are not considered to be life-threatening.

Minckley said there were some small explosions when officers and rescue workers arrived on the scene. The entire building went up in flames.

The cause of the explosion wasn’t immediately known.

(AP) – The Kansas Department of Labor is predicting total employment in the state will increase by nearly 10% through 2018.

The department released its occupational outlook report this month as a guide to help students, educators and businesses plan for the future.

The report predicts Kansas will gain an average of more than 14,700 a year through 2018. The health care and social assistance sector is expected to account for nearly 13% of total growth, which would put it ahead of manufacturing as the state’s leading industry.

More than 45% of all job growth is expected to occur in the Kansas City region. The report also says jobs that require a doctoral degree are expected to grow by nearly 21%.

(AP) – A St. Louis man is dead and a Kansas man is in a Texas Panhandle jail after what deputies say was a road rage shooting.

The dead man is identified as 65-year-old William Thompson Nardin. Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry says 81-year-old William G. Franklin of Wellsville, Kan., was arraigned Tuesday and remains in the Carson County Jail in lieu of a $75,000 cash bond.

The incident happened just off Interstate 40 about 3:30 p.m. Monday in Groom, about 40 miles east of Amarillo. Terry said Nardin’s car was sideswiped by Franklin’s pickup truck, and he confronted Franklin at his driver’s side window outside a convenience store. Terry said gunshots were fired from inside the truck cab, striking Nardin.

A message for Franklin’s attorney, James Mosley of Borger, wasn’t returned.

(AP) – Increasing drought conditions in Kansas have led Governor Sam Brownback to again update the Drought Declaration for Kansas counties, moving eleven counties from warning status up to emergency status.

“Despite the recent rains, overall dry conditions require us to address moisture deficits and declining water,” Governor Brownback said. “Below normal soil moisture and poor pasture, range and hay supplies because of below normal precipitation patterns and drying conditions are affecting most of our state. Stream flows and lake levels also are low, showing just local improvement temporarily after the rains. The outlook is for drought conditions to persist or intensify in the majority of Kansas.”

The updated drought declaration also moves 14 counties into watch status, and upgrades four to warning status. Tracy Streeter, Director of the Kansas Water Office and Chair of the Governor’s Drought Response Team recommended the latest update.

“Water supply conditions continue to decline in many areas, Emergency stage triggers the Kansas Water Office (KWO) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) which allows emergency use of water from certain state fishing lakes,” Streeter said. “This would allow small communities and individuals within the emergency counties category to pump water from named state fishing lakes if they are in dire need of water”.

Individuals and communities need to contact the Kansas Water Office for a water supply request prior to any withdrawals from lakes. They will in turn be referred to the appropriate KDWPT office to obtain the necessary permit to withdraw the water. The MOU limits the types of water use and a fee may be set for use of the state fishing lakes’ water supply.

“We are glad to be able to offer this as an option to Kansans in desperate need for water,” KDWPT Secretary Robin Jennison said. “The priority order established for this MOU is domestic, municipal and then livestock uses, while also protecting the lake’s fish population.”

The state fishing lakes available for withdrawals for Emergency Declared counties include Atchison , Barber , Brown , Bourbon , Butler , Chase , Clark , Crawford , Goodman , Jewell , Kingman , Leavenworth , Lyon , Pott#1 , Pott#2 , McPherson , Miami , Mined Lands (Pits), Neosho , Osage , Ottawa , Saline, Scott , Shawnee , Sheridan, Washington, Wilson, and Woodson.

The Governor’s Drought Response Team will continue to watch the situation closely and work to minimize the effects the drought has on Kansans.

For more detailed information about current conditions, see the Kansas Climate Summary and Drought Report on the Kansas Water Office website at: www.kwo.org

County Drought Stage Declarations:

Drought Emergency: Allen, Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Clark, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Greenwood, Harper, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Lyon, Marion, McPherson, Meade, Morton, Neosho, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Sedgwick, Seward, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, Wilson, Woodson

Drought Warning: Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk , Franklin, Gove, Greeley, Hamilton, Labette, Lane, Linn, Logan, Miami, Montgomery, Morris, Ness, Osage, Scott, Trego, Wallace, Wichita.

Drought Watch: Cheyenne, Clay, Cloud, Decatur, Dickinson, Douglas, Ellis, Ellsworth, Geary, Graham, Jefferson, Jewel, Johnson, Leavenworth, Lincoln, Marshall, Mitchell, Norton, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Rawlins, Republic, Riley, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Saline, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Thomas, Wabaunsee, Washington, Wyandotte.

According to the Lyons Police Department, 25-year-old Great Bend resident Damon Galyardt whose body was found in Barton County on November 12th after being shot to death, was a suspect in a counterfeit money scheme that occurred early that same morning.

Last week a person of interest was arrested in connection to the murder of Galyardt. The shooting death case is still under investigation by the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Great Bend Police Department, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.