TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) requests comments on the draft 2017 State Freight Plan and the draft 2017 State Rail Plan. These documents provide an overview of the multimodal freight transportation networks in Kansas, commodity flows, economic data and, additionally, information about passenger rail service in the state.
Federal guidelines require a public comment period of 30 days, which concludes on Oct. 20. The draft document for the State Freight Plan and Appendices may be viewed online at https://www.ksdot.org/burRail/Rail/default.asp. Select the draft State Freight Plan with Appendices link at the top of the page. The draft document for the State Rail Plan may be viewed online at https://www.ksdot.org/burRail/Rail/default.asp. Select the draft State Rail Plan and Appendices links at the top of the page.
To comment on either plan, comments may be submitted to John Maddox at John.Maddox@ks.gov
Kansas 4th District Candidate James Thompson takes a look at the crowd, before addressing the Sanders rally at the state Democrats’ annual gathering in Topeka in February. CREDIT FRANK MORRIS
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Democrats are locked in a heated battle over a top party official in a fight that is expected to come to a head when they gather in Wichita next week for an annual convention.
The rift is exposing divisions among Democrats ahead of elections next year.
The conflict centers on party secretary Casey Yingling. She is part of the political consulting firm working for Democratic congressional candidate James Thompson. He lost a special election earlier this year to Republican Ron Estes to fill a vacant Wichita-area congressional seat.
Democratic State Committee members may vote on Yingling’s recall during the convention.
A petition alleges she had a conflict when as a member of the party’s executive committee she voted on a $20,000 request for Thompson’s campaign.
RENO COUNTY — One of three people arrested on drug charges n November of 2015 entered a plea in the case against him Friday.
Benjamin Cullum, 42, entered a guilty plea to a number of charges, the most serious being conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Law enforcement served a search warrant on the home in the 400 block of North Plum in Hutchinson where they found a black zip-up nylon case with prescription pills and 50 grams of marijuana in a bedroom.
They also found a scale, safe, vacuum sealer, two empty Ziploc bags and owe sheets. Officers found $120 in control buy money in the safe. $10 more were allegedly found in a wallet and $180 in twenty dollar bills were in Cullum’s pocket. He also allegedly had $1,903 in another pocket, which he claimed he won at a casino. However, some of the bills had serial numbers that matched money from the control buys made by the drug unit. They also found a bag with residue and a scale in Cullum’s truck.
In the garage of the home was a Ruger LCP 380 gun in a metal case, a baggie of methamphetamine and a scale. More marijuana and smoking pipes with residue were also found.
Sentencing is scheduled on Oct. 28. Cullum has 14 previous drug and traffic convictions from 2010.
During an August hearing, staff members from the Kansas Corporation Commission recommended the approval of an oil company’s application for a saltwater injection well in the Flint Hills. The KCC issued an order Thursday approving the well. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Kansas energy regulators have given the green light for an oil company to dispose of production-related wastewater in the Flint Hills — a plan that had met with resistance from residents.
The Kansas Corporation Commission order issued Thursday says opponents didn’t show any “immediate danger to public health, safety or welfare” resulting from the well, which will inject saltwater about 2,700 feet into the earth at a site near Strong City and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Flint Hills residents who oppose the well fear a risk of earthquakes if saltwater injection wells proliferate in their area. Oklahoma and south-central Kansas have seen a spike in temblors in recent years that the U.S. Geological Survey and other experts say resulted from the rise of saltwater injection there.
Experts also say, however, that most saltwater injection wells are not linked to earthquakes. Whether wells cause temblors depends on a wide range of factors, including proximity to faults and other geological characteristics.
During a hearing last month, it appeared a compromise might occur in which energy regulators would give the southwest Kansas company, Quail Oil & Gas, permission to dump less fluid per day than it had requested. The compromise also would have reduced the amount of pressure the company could use to inject the wastewater down its well.
The Kansas Corporation Commission ultimately rejected that option in addition to rejecting the Flint Hills residents’ call for blocking Quail Oil completely. The commissioners granted the company the right to dispose of up to 5,000 barrels per day at up to 500 pounds per square inch.
Bob Eye, an attorney representing Flint Hills residents opposed to the well, signaled Friday that they may press the matter further.
“We’re reviewing and determining whether an appeal is advisable,” Eye wrote in an email.
The states with the 10 highest rates of females murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents in 2015: CLICK TO EXPAND
Washington, DC — More than 1,600 women were murdered by men in 2015 and the most common weapon used was a gun, according to the new Violence Policy Center (VPC) study When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2015 Homicide Data.
This annual report is released in advance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. The study uses 2015 data, the most recent year for which information is available. The study covers homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender, and uses data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Report.
The study found that nationwide, 93 percent of women killed by men were murdered by someone they knew and that the most common weapon used was a gun.
“Women killed by men are most often killed by someone they know and more than half were killed by an intimate partner,” says Legislative Director Kristen Rand. “Much more must be done to identify and implement strategies to prevent these tragedies. More resources are needed at the federal, state, and local levels to help keep women safe.”
The Violence Policy Center has published When Men Murder Women annually for 20 years. During that period, nationwide the rate of women murdered by men in single victim/single offender incidents has dropped 29 percent — from 1.57 per 100,000 in 1996 to 1.12 per 100,000 in 2015.
Below is a list of the states with the 10 highest rates of females murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents in 2015:
Police on the scene of Friday night attempted robbery-photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an attempted armed robbery and looking for a suspect.
Just before 9:30 p.m. Friday, police responded to the Dunkin Donuts located at 4009 SW 21st Street in Topeka. reference a robbery in progress. Officers quickly arrived and learned that a white male, 6’ 160, dressed in all black and possibly a red under shirt, wearing white gloves, a black bandana, and having white soles on his black shoes, entered the store armed with a hand gun. The suspected pointed the gun at the manager and demanded to be taken to the office. At this point, the suspect fled out the back door. Shortly after, a nearby citizen reported a white male get into a white passenger car, possibly a Nissan. This car was driven by a black male and left the area.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Topeka police.
Serial killer Dennis Rader- is housed at El Dorado- photo Kansas Department of Corrections
EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — The state corrections department says it will continue 12-hour shifts for its officers at El Dorado Correctional Facility for another 90 days.
The department said an emergency status started earlier this year will continue because of a staffing shortage. The agency says the extended shifts will be reviewed on or before Dec. 22.
Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood notified the union representing prison workers of the decision on Monday. The letter was provided to the media on Friday.
Norwood said the corrections department is working to hire and train more staff at the prison.
Three inmate-led disturbances were reported in May and June at the El Dorado prison.
Critics have said the unrest was caused in part after the state shifted some inmates from Lansing Correctional Facility to El Dorado.
Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave answers questions about the KBA sale during a meeting at the Kansas Statehouse. CREDIT STEPHEN KORANDA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Court documents filed in a dispute between former Kansas Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave and his business partner say Gov. Sam Brownback forced Soave to resign.
Soave resigned in June and announced earlier this month that he was running for Congress.
His resignation came two weeks after business partner Paola Ghezzo sued Soave in Johnson County, alleging fraud and other financial misdeeds.
Ghezzo, who was a consultant at the Commerce Department, alleges that Soave used funds from their consulting business for personal bills and expenses related to state business.
The Kansas City Star reports court documents show Soave’s business was intertwined with the Commerce Department and say Brownback’s chief of staff knew about the fraud allegations in February.
RENO COUNTY — A Kansas couple is free on bond after being arrested Thursday for alleged animal cruelty.
On September 14, officers worked an animal welfare case and found a large number of new puppies in unsanitary living conditions and saw signs of neglect.
Darrell J. Francis, 62, and Delores Eileen Jenkins Francis, 55, both of Nickerson were booked into the Reno County Correctional Facility on 10 counts of animal cruelty.
During an investigation, a Reno County deputy responded to a home in Nickerson and discovered horrible living conditions and obvious animal abuse for the puppies. The animals transported to a vet in Lyons and later shipped by volunteers to Pawsitive Tails Rescue in Kansas City.
Deputy Chris Shields adopted one puppy and named it “Ammo.”
Two adult dogs were also neglected and reportedly had little food, water or shelter.
WASHINGTON — The Latest on the Republican effort to end the Obama-era health overhaul and replace it with a new law (all times local):
Sen. John McCain says he won’t vote for the Republican bill repealing the Obama health care law. His statement likely deals a fatal blow to the last-gasp GOP measure in a Senate showdown expected next week.
A study finds this latest GOP effort to end “Obamacare” would take federal dollars away from states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The study says the states including Kansas that didn’t expand Medicaid would initially get more federal dollars under the Republican Graham-Cassidy bill.
The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation study came out Thursday. It estimates the states that didn’t expand Medicaid would get an average of 12 percent more.
The study says states that expanded Medicaid to serve more low-income adults would face a cut of around 11 percent from 2020-2026.
The biggest winners are Kansas, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, South Dakota, and Tennessee. However, the study says those gains could vanish over time.
The biggest losers, percentage-wise are New York, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont and Minnesota. California would be the biggest loser in dollars.
A group that represents state officials who administer Medicaid programs is telling Senate Republicans to slow down and rethink the bill.
The board of the National Association of Medicaid Directors says its members are concerned that the Senate is rushing to make major changes in health programs for low-income people — with far-reaching consequences for state budgets that aren’t fully understood.
The group wants Congress to revisit Medicaid changes.
