HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Irrigation projects that aim to improve Kansas’s diminishing underground water supply will be showcased across the state this month.
The state’s more than 15 Water Technology Farms will show farmers in western Kansas how to use less irrigation water on their crops.
One technology is a precision mobile drip irrigation system that aims to increase efficiency.
The first technology farms were implemented in 2016. They test the latest irrigation equipment on a large level.
Gov. Sam Brownback began working on a plan to preserve the state’s water resources shortly after taking office. Irrigation wells are drawing water from the Ogallala Aquifer at a rate that could leave the aquifer 70 percent depleted by 2064.
More than 95 percent of that water is used for irrigation.
RILEY COUNTY — First responders with four agencies worked together Sunday night to rescue a group stranded on a sandbar due to low water levels on the Kansas River.
According to a social media report from the Riley County Police Department, the Manhattan Fire Department, Riley County EMS and the officials with the Kansas Department of Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism combined their resources to rescue six adults and five children.
Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen and Patrick Stein are charged with domestic terrorism
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out one of the charges against a Kansas man accused of plotting to attack Somali immigrants in the meatpacking town of Garden City.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren granted a defense motion to dismiss a firearms charge against Curtis Allen. The decision comes in the wake of a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal panel’s ruling in May in an unrelated case that found that a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery under a city ordinance can legally carry a gun.
Allen and co-defendants Patrick Stein and Gavin Wright still face charges of conspiring to detonate truck bombs at an apartment complex where Somali immigrants live.
ELK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after an alleged knife attack and chase.
On Saturday, deputies along with Elk County EMS and Fire and rescue responded to a 911 call of a woman with a head injury that was losing a lot of blood, according to a media release. A medical helicopter was launched.
When deputies arrived on scene they found that the victim had been taken to the hospital by personal vehicle.
Through the investigation law enforcement found that the victim’s injury was a result of a stabbing. At the same time, a suspect was found driving a stolen vehicle in a neighboring County.
The suspect fled from an attempted a traffic stop and led law enforcement through four counties before he was taken into custody. Kansas Bureau of Investigation was called to assist the Elk County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation. Suspect was first appeared in court on August 14th 2017 on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Authorities did not release the name of the suspect.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Fire crews in Wichita are being credited with saving a stuck puppy.
According to a social media report, a caller to Firehouse 22 in Wichita asked for assistance in a pet related matter.
Both Engine 22 & Squad 2 responded with their Battalion Chief. On scene fire crews found a small puppy had its head stuck through a wheel and the residents could not get it removed.
Firehouse 22 saved a puppy whose head was stuck in a wheel. The puppy was safely removed & returned to the home owner. #PuppyRescuepic.twitter.com/1XYafctoY4
Why did this no-gun sign disappear from the Kansas governor’s mansion in Topeka?- Credit Sam Zeff
After four years of planning for concealed carry in Kansas government buildings, you might expect that officials would have the wrinkles ironed out — that they would have considered all the possibilities.
But there is still confusion, and it starts at Cedar Crest, the stately governor’s mansion on the west side of Topeka.
Kansas governors have lived there since 1962. It’s open for tours on Mondays from 1-3:30 p.m. and hosts the occasional public function.
And, it turns out, it’s a bit of a magic mansion.
“It’s a public property when it’s open to the public and it’s a private residence for the governor and his family,” says Lt. Adam Winters, spokesman for the Kansas Highway Patrol, the agency that is responsible for security at Cedar Crest.
Winters says Cedar Crest is a private residence when the governor or his family is at home, and if they wanted to ban guns they could. But it turns into a public building like the statehouse, department of motor vehicles or a college lecture hall when they are gone, he says, and firearms must be allowed.
After KCUR questioned the Capital Police about whether the no-gun signs at the governor’s mansion would stay up after July 1, the Highway Patrol had them taken down. CREDIT SAM ZEFF / KCUR
How did the Highway Patrol reach that conclusion?
“I went and I did all the research that I could to find the answers for you. I used several avenues to get that information,” says Winters.
But Winters did not provide further explanation. Is there a statute? A regulation? Why does the building’s status change depending on whether Gov. Brownback or his family is there?
This much is known: In June, before KCUR began asking questions, signs banning guns were posted at Cedar Crest and the park surrounding it.
When first asked whether those signs would stay up after July 1 — when the state’s concealed carry law expanded to all government buildings — the Capitol Police, the part of the Highway Patrol that protects Cedar Crest, said “absolutely yes” and cited a 2011 law.
That legislation banned guns in Cedar Crest, the park and other government buildings.
But then in 2013, the Legislature passed the Personal and Family Protection Act, essentially opening up the carrying of concealed guns almost everywhere. But the ban on guns at Cedar Crest wasn’t specifically repealed, which explains why the Capitol Police initially said the ban on guns in the governor’s mansion would continue.
But the state soon changed its tune. A few days after KCUR’s phone call with the Capitol Police, the no-gun signs were gone and the Highway Patrol offered its explanation of how Cedar Crest is different from all other state-owned buildings.
Or is it?
“The way the Kansas law is written, there are no buildings that are exempt from the Family and Personal Protection Act,” says Breeze Richardson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Board of Regents.
Where do Kansas colleges fit into the story?
The chancellor’s residence at the University of Kansas, like all of the Regents’ CEOs, is a state- owned building and must allow concealed carry, according to the Board of Regents. CREDIT SAM ZEFF / KCUR
It turns out that the CEOs of the Regents’ six universities live in state-owned mansions, just like Cedar Crest.
“A CEO’s private residence is a state-owned building in the same way that a major academic building would be or an athletic facility,” Richardson says.
The Personal and Family Protection Act actually prohibits college professors or a potential dormitory roommate from even asking if someone is carrying a concealed pistol. That also goes for university CEOs, who often use their mansions for fundraising.
“That’s correct. My understanding is that you cannot ask or require a list of any kind of who is carrying concealed,” Richardson says.
What does a university president think about being forced to potentially allow people who might have a gun into their home?
KCUR asked Richard Myers, who has been Kansas State University president for about 18 months.
“Well, you know, I probably already have because the definition of concealed is you don’t see it,” says Myers.
He also stresses that many K-State faculty and staff support allowing concealed carry on campus.
Myers is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a combat fighter pilot with a Distinguished Flying Cross, so he knows something about weapons.
And just like his colleagues, Myers is required to live in the campus house. He says he is not worried about his safety. But he is worried the concealed carry law will drive away good people from the university.
he Capitol Police initially said guns would continue to be banned at the governor’s mansion after July 1. The Capitol Police guard Cedar Crest, the Statehouse and other state buildings. CREDIT SAM ZEFF / KCUR
“Unfortunately, very unfortunately, we’ll lose some really capable faculty members over this. And perhaps staff as well,” Myers says.
Myers’ house, the other campus CEO mansions and Cedar Crest are all houses for transients — the occupants regularly change.
So while Gov. Brownback’s spokeswoman says Brownback has no qualms about letting people who are packing pistols into Cedar Crest, Brownback is leaving soon for a job in the Trump administration. Plus there’s an election next year.
At this point, then, it’s fair to say that, despite all the planning for concealed carry, there is still confusion.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after a weekend altercation with a shovel.
Just after 10p.m. Friday, deputies responded to the Kampgrounds of America, 1109 West Diamond Drive, after a man allegedly attacked a co-worker, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.
A 19-year-old co-worker told deputies Israel Ortiz, 45, of Texas, was staying with the victim and another man at the campground. When Ortiz returned Friday night, the others were asleep in the trailer. According to Soldan, Ortiz became upset because they accidently locked him out.
When a co-worker let him in, Ortiz allegedly attacked the man shovel and fled before deputies arrived.
A deputy located Ortiz later at the Salina Petro, 2125 N. Ninth Street. He was arrested and booked into the Saline County Jail for aggravated battery.
The 19-year-old victim sustained minor injuries and refused medical treatment.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas City man has been ordered to spend 24 years in prison in the shooting death of a suburban father who had been trying to sell a gun on a grocery store’s parking lot.
Nineteen-year-old Fazon Swinton was sentenced Friday in Jackson County, where he was convicted in June of second-degree murder, attempted robbery, armed criminal action and leaving the scene of a shooting.
Authorities say 39-year-old Jacob Branter of Lee’s Summit was shot and killed in April 2016 outside a Price Chopper store. Prosecutors allege Swinton made arrangements to buy a handgun from Brantner but stole it instead, running off before exchanging gunfire with Brantner.
Swinton later was treated at a hospital for a bullet wound.
Former Kansas congressional candidate James Thompson addresses the rally Sunday in Wichita-image courtesy LaWanda DeShazer via Wichita NAACP
SEDGWICK COUNTY – A small crowd attended a rally at the Old Wichita Courthouse Sunday evening in Solidarity with those injured or killed in the Charlottesville protests.
The Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas invitation indicated the rally was an effort to stand up to racism, fascism and hate and to support equality and human rights.
Former Kansas democrat congressional candidate James Thompson and Larry Burks, president of the Wichita chapter of the NAACP addressed the crowd. Groups also held rallies in Topeka and Pittsburg Kansas, according to a social media report.
Protesters decrying hatred and racism say they felt compelled to gather and counteract the white supremacist rally that spiraled into deadly violence in Virginia.
The gatherings Sunday spanned from anti-fascist protests in San Francisco to a march to President Donald Trump’s home in New York.
In Seattle, police arrested three men as Trump supporters and counter-protesters converged downtown.
In Denver, several hundred demonstrators gathered beneath a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in City Park and marched about 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) to the state Capitol.
In New York, protesters marched from several locations in Manhattan to Trump Tower, demanding the president denounce white nationalist groups.
A crowd gathered for a vigil in Charlottesville, Virginia, on the street where a day earlier a car rammed into a peaceful crowd of anti-white-nationalist protesters, killing one.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita, Kansas, man has been ordered to spend more than 13 years in prison in connection with the sexual attack on a woman last year.
Nineteen-year-old Amahri Huston was sentenced Friday in Sedgwick County, where he pleaded guilty in June.
District Attorney Marc Bennett says Huston was armed with a knife last Nov. 20 when he forced his way in to a 37-year-old woman’s apartment in Maize and attacked her.
Huston was arrested two days later, and the knife used to threaten the victim was found in his car.
