TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has found sufficient evidence for a Topeka moving business employee to stand trial in the death of his employer.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 35-year-old Michael Timothy Lamar Hall was bound over for trial on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and related counts after a preliminary hearing Monday. The charges stem from the smothering death of 64-year-old Curt Cochran, whose head was encircled with plastic wrap after he was bound to his power scooter.
Detectives testified that Hall denied killing Cochran but said he might have information about what happened when he was being questioned four months later about a home burglary.
A second man also is charged in the killing of Cochran, who is a former teacher and principal in the Seaman school district.
OLNEY, England (AP) — A trans-Atlantic pancake race has taken a battering due to a technological glitch.
Apron-clad women carrying and flipping pancakes in their pans have run through the English town of Olney in an annual Shrove Tuesday race that pits the community against the town of Liberal, Kansas.
But the timer in Olney failed, so no official time was recorded for winner Kaia Larkas and there will be no showdown with Liberal.
The Liberal leg of the race was won by Maggie Lapinski, of Liberal, in 61.06 seconds.
According to legend, the Olney race started in 1445 when a harried housewife arrived at church still clutching her frying pan with a pancake in it. Liberal challenged Olney in 1950 after seeing photos of the race in a magazine.
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OLNEY, England (AP) — A trans-Atlantic pancake race has taken a battering due to a technological glitch.
Apron-clad women carrying and flipping pancakes in their pans have run through the English town of Olney in an annual Shrove Tuesday race that pits the community against the town of Liberal, Kansas.
But the timer failed, so no official time was recorded for winner Kaia Larkas and there will be no showdown with Liberal, which runs its race later.
Shrove Tuesday, known in Britain as Pancake Day, was traditionally the last day for merrymaking before the start of Lent.
According to legend, the Olney race started in 1445 when a harried housewife arrived at church still clutching her frying pan with a pancake in it. Liberal challenged Olney in 1950 after seeing photos of the race in a magazine.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a deadly shooting at a Kansas bar that some witnesses said was racially motivated (all times local):
Trump during Tuesday’s message to a joint session of congress
8:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump opened his address to a joint session of Congress by condemning the recent threats against Jewish community centers and a fatal shooting in Kansas being investigated as a hate crime.
Trump on Tuesday said that “while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.”
The president had received criticism from some civil rights groups who accused him of being slow in denouncing the violent acts. He had yet to discuss the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, one of two Indian men shot inside a bar in Olathe, Kansas.
There have also been dozens of threats against Jewish community centers — and vandalism in Jewish cemeteries
Police on the scene of fatal sports-bar shooting-photo courtesy KCTV
2:05 p.m.
The FBI is confirming for the first time that it is investigating as a hate crime last week’s Kansas bar shooting that killed an Indian man and wounded another.
The FBI said in a statement Tuesday that it bases that probe on “the initial investigative activity” involving the Feb. 22 attack at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas.
The FBI is declining additional comment, citing the investigation.
Witnesses to the shooting said 51-year-old suspect Adam Purinton yelled “get out of my country” at 32-year-olds Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani before opening fire.
Kuchibhotla was killed and Madasani was wounded. Both were working as engineers for GPS device-maker Garmin.
Another bar patron who tried to intervene also was wounded.
Purinton is charged with murder and attempted murder.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An aide says Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer plan to meet with India’s consul general over a bar shooting that left an Indian engineer dead and another wounded.
Brownback spokeswoman Melika Willoughby said the meeting will take place later this week. She said Brownback and Colyer plan to express their condolences and express their support for the Indian community.
Willoughby did not provide further details about the meeting in an email Monday evening.
Witnesses to last week’s shooting in Olathe said 51-year-old suspect Adam Purinton yelled “get out of my country” at 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla and 32-year-old Alok Madasani before opening fire.
Kuchibhotla was killed and Madasani was wounded. Both were working as engineers for GPS maker Garmin.
Still image from jail surveillance video of the incident in January of 2014 courtesy attorney Matthew Hoppock
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with immigration agents in a lawsuit filed by a Kenyan man who alleges he was violently attacked at a Kansas jail for refusing to be fingerprinted before deportation.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil’s decision on Tuesday reverses her previous ruling that had granted a trial for Justine Mochama, an international college student who overstayed his visa. His lawsuit claimed the agents used excessive force during a January 2014 altercation at the Butler County jail.
Vratil cited a recent Supreme Court decision that tightened the legal standard to require plaintiffs to establish “beyond debate” that the actions were unconstitutional.
The judge sought written arguments from the parties on that point before summarily ruling that immigration agents Timothy Zwetow and Rodney Nichols are entitled to qualified immunity.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Court documents allege that a woman accused of killing a Wichita woman and kidnapping her newborn baby had been in contact with the victim shortly before the crimes occurred.
Yesenia Sesmas has been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated interference with parental custody. The 34-year-old is accused of killing 27-year-old Laura Abarca and kidnaping her 6-day-old newborn. Sesmas was later found with the infant in Dallas and arrested.
The documents released in court Monday say a woman who went by the name of Yesenia Amiguita exchanged messages in Spanish with Abarca the day before and the day of the killing and kidnapping.
In some messages, the woman asks Abarca what time her boyfriend went to work and for her address. The phone number used by the Amiguita woman has been linked to Sesmas.
WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Roger Marshall released the following statement regarding President Trump’s executive order asking the EPA to repeal the Waters of the U.S. rule:
“President Trump’s executive order calling for the EPA to repeal the detrimental Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule is a promise delivered for Kansas farmers and ranchers.
Members of our state’s agriculture community spent the better part of the last decade trying to operate under the burdensome and uninformed regulations imposed by the Obama administration. Today’s executive order is an exciting step in rolling back these harmful policies.
We commend the Trump Administration’s bold action.
The Independence School District says the personal information of all of its employees, including those at Van Horn High School, has been stolen in a phishing scam. CREDIT SAM ZEFF
A major data breach is being investigated in the Independence School District.
The school district employees were alerted to the scam in an email sent last Thursday.
In it, the business office says the “the names, social security numbers, addresses and earnings” of every employee was stolen in a phishing scam, where the crooks use fake emails or websites to steal person information.
The information was used to file fraudulent income tax returns, according to the email.
A fraud investigation is underway by the FBI and the Independence Police Department.
The district urged those who received a letter from the IRS saying their social security number was used to file a fraudulent return to file their own police complaint.
Police say as of Monday at least 15 district employees have done so.
According to the police report filed by the district the scam happened on Jan. 20th. It was report to IPD a month later.
“Upon learning of the issue, our school district team promptly began an investigation, notified law enforcement, engaged cybersecurity professionals to assist us, and took steps to prevent further unauthorized access,” according to the email.
RENO COUNTY — A hearing was held Monday for a convicted Kansas sex offender seeking relief from his life in prison sentence. The Kansas Court of Appeals recently upheld the conviction and sentence.
Salvador Araujo-Gutierrez, 29, was originally found guilty of one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced on one Jessica’s law convictions with a life sentence and no chance of parole for 25 years. The encounters occurred between 2006 and 2011
At the hearing on Monday, Araujo-Gutierrez attorney Derek Miller of Liberal argued ineffective counsel by Kelly Driscoll who was with the local Public Defenders Office.
Driscoll who now practices law in Johnson County took the stand to answer questions over what Miller sees as errors at trial including bringing up a prior bad act of stealing tools from a family member, but also the fact that he may have been in this country illegally.
Driscoll had trouble recalling the specifics of why she did certain things at the trial in June of 2013.
Judge Tim Chambers will make a ruling on the civil motion.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Moody, a ratings agency, is criticizing Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of tax legislation, saying it represents a “credit negative” to Kansas.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Brownback vetoed a bill that would’ve raised personal income taxes and reinstated a third tax bracket Wednesday.
Brownback called it a “punitive tax increase on working Kansans.”
The Legislature attempted to override the veto hours later. However, the veto fell short in the Senate.
Moody’s senior analyst, Dan Seymour, says Kansas will keep struggling to balance its budget if it continues with a lower-tax policy.
He says the state’s credit may be at risk in the future.
The vetoed bill would’ve raised more than $590 million next fiscal year.
