RENO COUNTY— One of three people arrested in connection with the June break-in and beating of a Hutchinson woman was sentenced Friday to over six years in prison.

Reno County Judge Trish Rose then granted him three years on community corrections.

Demetrius Vansyckle, 19, Hutchinson, was charged with Pleasure Torres and Melissa McGuire in the case.

Vansyckle was convicted of aggravated burglary, aggravated battery and aggravated assault with the case involving the break-in at a home on West 14th Street in Hutchinson on June 6. The three are accused of beating a woman victim repeatedly. They also battered the other two occupants.

 

HARPER COUNTY — An earthquake just after  shook portions of Kansas Sunday afternoon. The quake just before 3:30p.m. measured a magnitude 2.6 and was centered four miles east of Harper, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It is the first earthquake reported in Kansas in October and the first since a pair of quakes shook north of Harper on September 28.

There are no reports of damage or injury from Sunday’s quake.

RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue a search for a suspect wanted on a felony warrant.

On Saturday afternoon, a Reno County Deputy noticed a driver that had a felony warrant and tried to make a traffic stop, according to a  social media report.

The driver fled and the chase ended near Partridge and Irish Creek Road when the driver and passenger fled on foot.

Reno County Deputies with the assistance of the Kansas Highway Patrol and a tracking dog did an extensive search of the area and could not locate the subjects.

There is no reason to believe the public is in danger, according to the sheriff’s department.

The Sheriff’s Department did not release the names of the suspect.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state lawmaker says Gage County has violated the state constitution by housing inmates across the state line in Kansas.

The Beatrice Daily Sun reports that Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers has asked the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office to issue a legal opinion on a contract approved by the Gage County Board of Supervisors in late September.

The one-year contract reserves 10 beds in the Washington County, Kansas, jail for Gage County inmates, at a cost of $246,000 a year.

Chambers said in a letter Wednesday to the attorney general that it’s a violation of the Nebraska Constitution to transport an inmate to another state for any offense committed in Nebraska.

Gage County Board Chairman Myron Dorn declined to comment on Chambers’ allegation.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Federal charges have been filed against three people after investigators seized 20 pounds of methamphetamine from a house in Kansas City, Kan., according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

The following defendants were charged in federal court Thursday with one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine:

Sheila M. Best, 53, Basehor, Kan.
Karen Ortega, 40, Kansas City, Kan.
Marlon Gutierrez, 38, Kansas City, Kan.

A search warrant served at a house in the 3000 block of North 34th Street in Kansas City, Kan., turned up 20 pounds of methamphetamine, more than a pound of heroin and more than $23,000 in cash.

If convicted, they face a penalty of not less than 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $10 million. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra Morehead is prosecuting.

by SAM ZEFF

The massive hurricanes Harvey and Irma have people talking about how much, if at all, climate change adds to such storms’ destructiveness.

In a blog post authored by Paul Driessen, the conservative Heartland Institute disputes that global warming is worsening the weather or that it’s human-caused. And, Driessen writes, fossil fuels “bring rescue boats.”

The Chicago-based think tank, which is now led by former Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp and has received funding from Koch family foundations, is trying to persuade teachers across the country to call global warming into question as well.

Jim Lakely, Heartland’s director of communications, says the Charles Koch Foundation made a single $25,000 contribution in 2011 to fund work on healthcare issues. However, environmental activists with Greenpeace and DeSmog have said internal documents obtained in 2012 show the foundation also made substantial contributions that they said supported the institute’s work on climate change.

A few months ago, Heartland started sending teachers a book and DVD in the mail.

The book, “Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming,” is a 110-page paperback compiling alternatives to Al Gore’s theory of climate change.

“We knew the other side, the alarmist side, was already being discussed so our goal was to try to get both sides discussed by having something from more of the realist side in the discussion,” says Lennie Jarratt, who manages the distribution for the Heartland Institute.

It’s a massive effort.

“I believe it ended up being a little over 250,000 that went out to teachers,” according to Jarratt.

One copy landed in the mailbox of Drew Ising, who teaches biology and environmental science at Baldwin High School in Douglas County. He’s also the president of the Kansas Association of Biology Teachers.

Ising teaches his students that climate change is man-made, mostly from carbon dioxide emissions. In the view of the Heartland Institute, that makes him one of those alarmists.

“They think that teachers are being persuaded or tricked by science and government and media to teach climate change in one way. And they think that way is disingenuous and flawed,” Ising says.

He says he carefully read the Heartland Institute’s book, even highlighted some portions, and watched the DVD that came with it. Both, he says, are slick and professional. “I think it’s going to, in some places, do its job of misinforming others,” Ising says.

The DVD opens with a red-headed teen on a beach. “As a student we learn to ask questions about everything. Today an important question is, what’s really causing global warming?” she says, looking into the camera. “We’re told it’s CO2. But I was surprised to learn it could be something else. We certainly need to find out the truth.”

he truth, according to the Heartland Institute, is that nobody knows for sure what’s causing the climate to change. Jarratt says it might be human activity, but it might not.

He maintains that many teachers agree that the science isn’t settled.

“A lot of people don’t follow the science, they’re following an agenda and pushing an agenda into the schools and into this politically,” he says.

Heartland too has an agenda. “Well, our agenda is just free market ideas,” Jarratt says.

Michael Ralph teaches at the Center for STEM Learning at the University of Kansas that helps train science teachers. He says not only is climate change science settled, but he’s offended by Heartland’s intrusion.

“We have our science expertise. We have our familiarity with sound teaching,” Ralph says. “And so it’s really frustrating to think that there’s a group of people out there investing time and money to try and create discord in our profession, because by and large science teachers know better than this.”

In fact, the state standards are quite clear, saying humans are mostly responsible for global warming. “Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming),” according to Earth and Human Activity standards published by the Kansas State Department of Education.

Heartland, so far, hasn’t targeted boards of education or teachers colleges.

But it is such standards that spurred the organization to print a quarter-million books and send them to teachers nationwide.

“The next-generation science standards push that global warming is man-made, is the main driving cause, and I think there are many, many teachers that were looking for an alternative and this provided them information on the other side so they could give a more balanced approach,” says Jarratt.

Ralph, who taught biology in Olathe for eight years before going to KU, says part of what he does is instruct teachers how to talk with parents who believe climate change is a fraud, something made up by liberals and the media.

“One of the hardest things parents who feel very strongly that this is a fraud or this is misleading is how personal it came become and how emotionally charged it is,” Ralph says.

Knocking on wood in his classroom at Baldwin High, Ising says he has yet to have that kind of confrontation with a parent or student.

“I haven’t had in my 10 years of doing this now, I haven’t really had a student that said humans have no part to play in this,” Ising says.

He hasn’t heard of many confrontations from his biology colleagues across Kansas either.

But in the end, while Ising clearly disagrees with the Heartland Institute, he says having the book gives him a tool to explain the controversy.

“Now I’ve got a new way to reach my students. I’ve got more information that I can give them to help them. Because that’s my job.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the past contributions from Koch family foundations to the Heartland Institute, and to link to the Charles Koch Foundation’s explanation of its support.

Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR and the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @samzeff.

SEWARD COUNTY — A Kansas teen died in an accident just after 3p.m. Saturday in Seward County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Saturn Vue driven by Clayton Klein, 19, Jetmore, was eastbound on U.S. 54 at Delaware Street in Kismet.  The driver failed yield and rear-ended a 2009 Ford F150 driven by Donald Ward, 55, Kismet, that slowing down to turn left onto Delaware into Kismet.

After the impact, the Saturn spun across the center lane and was struck by a westbound semi

The Saturn came to rest in the Westbound ditch and the semi traveled into a field east of U.S. 54.

Klein was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Brenneman Funeral Home.

Ward and the semi driver Javier Ramirez, 46, Murieta, CA., were not injured. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

 

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Election-year politics will hinder efforts by Kansas officials to comply with a state Supreme Court mandate on school funding.

The court has ordered lawmakers to enact a new, fairer education funding law that also significantly boosts spending on public schools.

Finding a solution that satisfies the court next year will force the Republican-controlled Legislature and soon-to-be GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer to consider a second big tax increase in as many years.

An alternative would be big spending cuts in other parts of state government, which many lawmakers find equally distasteful.

Colyer is now lieutenant governor and waiting for Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to depart for an ambassador’s post. He’s already running for a full four-year term next year, and all 125 members of the House face re-election.

BARBER COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer involved shooting which occurred Friday evening in Barber County.

The Barber County Sheriff’s Office requested KBI assistance at approximately 7:35 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6 following an officer involved shooting which occurred in Sun City, Kan. KBI agents and the Crime Scene Response Team responded to investigate the incident, according to a media release.

Preliminary information indicates that at approximately 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Barber County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting a male subject threatening individuals with a gun outside a bar on Main St. in Sun City. When they arrived, bystanders indicated the subject had left the area.

Deputies searched several locations and properties looking for the male subject until they located him at 201 W. Main St., in a shed approximately 15 feet south of the residence. At that time three members of the Barber County Sheriff’s Office were present on the property. When the subject exited the shed, he did not comply with all verbal commands given by deputies. One deputy fired a less-lethal bean bag round toward the subject, hitting him. Law enforcement officers and EMS provided medical treatment to the subject, however, despite those efforts he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The deceased man was identified as 42-year-old Steven P. Myers of Sun City. No law enforcement officers were injured during the incident.

The KBI will complete a thorough and independent investigation into this matter. Once completed, the findings will be turned over to the Barber County Attorney for review.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and have a teen suspect in custody.

Just after 10:3p.m. Friday, officers responded to a call of an Aggravated Robbery that had just occurred in the 1400 block of SW Byron Lane in Topeka, according to a media release.

As officers were receiving information on the call, proactive officers saw a suspicious car traveling north on SW Lane commit a traffic infraction and attempted to stop it.

The white Hyundai matched the description of a car taken from an Aggravated Burglary on October 5th. The driver attempted to flee on foot but was quickly taken into custody without further incident.

The officers quickly learned the driver was the suspect in the Aggravated Robbery at SW Byron and that he had tried to force the victim into the trunk of the car.

Police booked the driver, Isaac King, 19,  Topeka, was booked into the Shawnee County Dept. of Corrections for Aggravated Robbery, Attempted Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Burglary, and several other charges.