RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 2p.m. Friday in Reno County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Mercedes Benz passenger vehicle driven by Zachary T. Mears 30, Hutchinson, that was northbound on Haven Road twelve miles east of Hutchinson at a high rate of speed. The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at U.S.50 and struck an eastbound semi.
Mears was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensics Center. The driver of the semi Becker, Carlin Becker, 32, Wharton, Texas, was not injured.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
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RENO COUNTY — The Kansas Highway Patrol, with the assistance of Reno County Sheriff’s Deputies
are on the scene of a fatality accident in the county.
Dispatchers confirm they’re working the crash east of Hutchinson along U.S. 50 and Buhler/Haven Road. According to preliminary reports, a car was going north of Buhler/Haven Road just before 2 p.m. when it pulled into the path of an eastbound semi. The collision pushed the car into the northeast ditch where it caught fire.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 20-year-old man who is charged in a deadly Lawrence shooting told a judge that he’s “not a criminal.”
Steven Drake III said during his first appearance Thursday on a first-degree murder charge that he came home to someone trying to steal from him. Drake was initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after 26-year-old Bryce Holladay was found dead Tuesday night at a home.
Court records show that Holladay was free on bond when he died, awaiting trial in an unrelated auto burglary and theft case. When Drake began talking about what happened via video from jail, the judge cut him off, suggesting it wasn’t in his best interest to continue speaking.
The judge set bond at $750,000 and appointed an attorney to represent Drake.
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DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have made an arrest.
Just before 10p.m. Tuesday, police responded to the 2000 block of W. 27th Terrace in Lawrence for reports of a shooting, according to a media release.
Responding officers located 26-year-old Lawrence resident Bryce Holladay with fatal injuries.
Police questioned Steven Austin Drake III, 20, in relation to this incident and took him into custody. He has been booked in to the Douglas County Jail on one count of Voluntary Manslaughter.
Anyone with more information on this incident is asked to contact the Lawrence Police Department at (785)832-7509, or Crime Stoppers of Lawrence and Douglas County at (785)843-TIPS. Tips to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Wyandotte County officials have charged a man with murder in the death of a woman who died in a traffic crash while she was fleeing from an alleged rape.
Prosecutors filed the felony first-degree murder charge Friday against 35-year-old Orlando Taylor, of Kansas City, Kansas, in the death of 39-year-old Shannon Keithley.
The Kansas City Star reports Keithley died Aug. 18 when the car she was driving hit a concrete pillar less than mile from her home while she was calling 911.
Taylor was arrested that day while hiding under the deck of Keithley’s house. He was originally charged with rape and burglary.
District Attorney Mark Dupree said in a statement Friday that Keithley died as a result of Taylor committing underlying felonies of rape and burglary.
SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking for help to locate suspects.
Just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, a homeowner returned to his residence in the 700 Block of Scott Street in Salina. As he pulled into the driveway, two suspects ran from residence, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester.
The homeowner got back into his pickup and attempted to track down the burglars but was unsuccessful.
The suspects are described as white males, around 5-foot 8-inches tall and they wore white shirts.
Police say that the suspects damaged the French doors at the rear of the house and ransacked two bedrooms.
Over $5,000 in cash was reportedly stolen from the home, according to police.
DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting.
Just after 10:30 a.m. Friday, police were dispatched to a residence in the 600 Block of North Michigan Street in Lawrence after report of a shooting involving a 1-year-old girl, according to a media release.
Despite life saving measures attempted by first responders, the child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Based on witness statements and evidence at the scene, this incident is being investigated as an accidental shooting. Once the investigation is completed, the reports will be forwarded to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for review.
Police are not looking for any other persons involved in the incident.
Law enforcement authorities on the scene of a home in Hutchinson
RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have made an arrest.
Just after 6:30 a.m. Friday, police were dispatched to a residence located at 1701 East 30th Avenue in Hutchinson on the report of a shooting, according Police Captain Troy Hoover.
Officers found a man dead of an apparent gunshot wounds. A suspect is in custody.
Police are working to notify family and will then release names of the individuals involved, according to Hoover.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Hutchinson Police Department at 694-2816.
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RENO COUNTY —Police are investigating report of a suspicious death at a home on East 30th Street in Hutchinson.
Hutchinson Police Capt. Troy Hoover confirmed is was a shooting investigation.
Check Salina Post for additional details as they become available.
WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas woman pleaded guilty Friday to robbing three local businesses, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Christina A. Messerschmidt, 26, Wichita, Kan., appeared in federal court in Wichita to enter her plea. She admitted to the following robberies:
June 14, 2017: Kwik Shop at 2809 E. Douglas in Wichita. She threatened store employees with a knife and took money from the register.
June 13, 2017: Patricia’s, 6143 W. Kellogg in Wichita. She threatened to strangle an employee and took money from the register.
Dec. 16, 2016: Intrust Bank at 1544 S. Webb. She gave a teller a note saying, “Give me $1,000 or I will shoot you.” She was arrested after a standoff with police at an apartment near the bank.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 13. Both parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of seven years in federal prison.
Millions of victims of a data hack that targeted a Kansas state agency in possession of Social Security numbers were not informed of the breach directly, according to information obtained through an open records request.
The Kansas Department of Commerce says it only had valid email addresses for about 2.5 million of the more than 6 million job seeker accounts that were exposed when Kansasworks.com was hacked earlier this year. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The Kansas Department of Commerce says it only had valid email addresses for about 2.5 million of the more than 6 million job seeker accounts that were exposed. It sent notices to those addresses and further spread word of the hack through news releases and other public messages.
“We are confident our agency fulfilled all legal requirements of Kansas and the other member states on how to ensure those affected were lawfully and properly contacted,” spokesman Kevin Doel said.
Information technology staff discovered the hack in March. It affected job seekers across 10 states, including nearly 600,000 in Kansas. More than 5.5 million of the accounts contained Social Security numbers.
A unit within the Kansas Department of Commerce called America’s Job Link Alliance-Technical Support had been managing the data for the Kansasworks.com website, which connects job seekers with opportunities, and for similar sites in the other states. The other websites are for Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Oklahoma, Vermont, Alabama and Illinois.
The hack came just months after Kansas legislative auditors released the conclusions of a three-year check into IT security at 20 state agencies, excluding the Department of Commerce. The auditors flagged concerns at most of the agencies, including IT weaknesses that posed a risk for data breaches.
Kansas offered victims of the AJLA-TS attack credit monitoring through Equifax, which itself recently became the victim of a hack.
Cost to taxpayers
It remains unclear what the data breach will cost Kansas taxpayers in total.
Records indicate the state contracted with a law firm for $175,000 and an IT firm for $60,000 to help deal with the aftermath.
But the Department of Commerce redacted pricing information from its contract with Epiq, the company it hired to email victims, operate a call center for them and supply Equifax services. The arrangement is ongoing. The Commerce Department said Thursday it had paid about $800,000 to Epiq as of the end of last month.
In an email, Epiq instructed the Commerce Department to redact the pricing information from its contract.
The Kansas News Service obtained records related to the hack through open records requests. The Commerce Department took eight weeks to provide records fulfilling parts of one request and five weeks to provide any records related to the second request. It took 13 weeks from the original Kansas News Service request for the Epiq contract for the agency to cite any provisions of statute for redacting pricing.
Mike Kautsch, a University of Kansas law professor and former dean of the KU School of Journalism, said Kansas’ open records act requires public agencies to provide documents within three business days or give a “detailed explanation” for the delay and specify the earliest date the records will be available, which the agency didn’t do. The statute also requires agencies to cite specific legal provisions for any redactions within three days of a request for that information.
“In my opinion, they’re already in violation of the law,” he said. “The burden is really on them to comply.”
Legislative meeting
On Friday, officials from the Commerce Department and AJLA-TS will update Kansas lawmakers on security steps taken since the hack. The conversation with a joint panel of senators and representatives will be partly or wholly closed to the public.
Doel of the Commerce Department said Thursday the agency is confident in the measures it has taken to prevent future breaches.
“Although no system is invulnerable,” Doel said, “yes, areas of potential risk were determined during the assessment process and those areas have been properly remediated.”
Derby Republican Rep. Blake Carpenter chairs the legislative panel, which has been examining IT security at the Commerce Department and other Kansas agencies.
“I want to make sure that the information of Kansas citizens is protected,” Carpenter said. “Especially if the government has that information and people are trusting us.”
Rep. Brandon Whipple, a Wichita Democrat, said the panel needs to go beyond pointing fingers and work on ensuring sensitive information is adequately guarded.
“The conversation has to be about what went wrong and shifting right into how we make sure this never happens again,” he said.
Whipple said the goal is to pinpoint and address why some agencies have better security than others.
“We need to figure out — how do we make all of them good at this?” he said.
Sen. Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Republican, said the state needs a proactive approach to protecting its data.
“It seems like it’s been an afterthought in Kansas,” she said.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokeswoman says former Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is hospitalized for low blood pressure.
Dole spokeswoman Marion Watkins said in an email Friday that the 94-year-old former Kansas senator has been hospitalized since Sept. 13 at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center outside Washington, D.C.
She says he was admitted after a routine checkup. She say his low blood pressure is being treated with medication.
Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. I hope to be home sipping a cosmo in a few days. https://t.co/V9ezzlPbE8
Dole’s wife, former North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, tweeted a request for prayers. He then tweeted that he hopes to be home in a few days, “sipping a cosmo.”
Dole was a U.S. senator for 35 years before leaving in 1996 for his campaign against President Bill Clinton. Congress recently voted to award him a Congressional Gold Medal.
RILEY COUNTY — A teen reported missing this week has been found safe, according to Riley County Police.
Cal0b Haymond, 15, Ogden reportedly went missing from Salina on September 17 at approximately 4:30 p.m.
According to police, his family took him to Salina on Friday, September 15, and dropped off at a friend’s house to spend the weekend.
UPDATE: Calob has been located and is safe. Thank you for your help finding this teen! pic.twitter.com/12aL0LX0dh
Calob and his friend were reportedly out walking when his friend’s parents came and picked up Calob’s friend and left Calob. His last known location was in the area of Walmart in south Salina.
Police did not release details on where he was located.
RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 2p.m. Friday in Reno County.
