OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been charged with leaving a 3-year-old and an 11-month-old in a hot car at a suburban Kansas City mall. Neither child was seriously hurt.
Thirty-two-year-old Sara Fite, of Olathe, Kansas, was charged Monday in Johnson County District Court with two felony counts of aggravated child endangerment. She appeared in court Monday afternoon and was released from custody after posting a $2,500 personal recognizance bond. She doesn’t have a listed phone number, and no attorney is listed for her in online court records.
The Kansas City Star reports that paramedics checked the children as a precaution after they were found Saturday in the car outside Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas. Police say the temperature early Saturday afternoon was 87 degrees.
Oral arguments are scheduled for today at the Kansas Supreme Court in the Gannon v. Kansas school funding lawsuit. FILE PHOTO / KPR
TOPEKA Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a Kansas Supreme Court hearing over the state’s school funding (all times local):
2:40 p.m.
The Kansas Supreme Court is weighing whether state legislators boosted spending on public schools enough this year to provide a suitable education to all children, as the high court had ordered.
The justices heard arguments Tuesday from attorneys about a new school finance law but appeared skeptical that the funding plan offers enough money for education.
That law phases in a $293 million increase in education funding over two years. The justices ruled in March that the state’s then-$4 billion a year in aid to its 286 school districts was inadequate.
School districts suing for more funding say the state needs to add nearly $900 million over two years for funding to be adequate. But an attorney for the state countered that the new law vastly improved the previous way schools were funded.
JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Attorneys for Kansas face an often skeptical state Supreme Court as they prepare to argue that legislators boosted spending on public schools enough this year to provide a suitable education to all children.
The high court is hearing arguments Tuesday from attorneys about a new school finance law phasing in a $293 million increase in education funding over two years. The justices ruled in March that the state’s then-$4 billion a year in aid to its 286 school districts was inadequate.
It was the latest in a string of decisions favoring four school districts that sued Kansas in 2010.
The state argues that the increase is sizeable and new dollars are targeted toward helping under-performing students.
Lawyers for the school districts argue that lawmakers fell at least $600 million short.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran remains a “no” vote on the Republican’s Affordable Care Act replacement bill.
In late June, the Republican senator from Kansas, to the surprise of many, announced his opposition to an initial draft of the bill. But, as of the close of business Monday, Moran had not taken a position on the revised version released Thursday by GOP leaders.
That changed Monday night when he and Sen. Mike Lee, a fellow Republican from Utah, announced their opposition to the measure on Twitter.
For the same reasons I could not support the previous version of this bill, I cannot support this one. #HealthcareBill
In a statement also issued on social media, Moran said while he remained committed to repealing Obamacare, Congress needs to make a “fresh start” on writing a replacement bill and do it in an “open legislative process.”
“This closed-door process has yielded the BCRA (Better Care Reconciliation Act), which fails to repeal the Affordable Care Act or address healthcare’s rising costs,” Moran said. “For the same reasons I could not support the previous version of this bill, I cannot support this one.”
“We should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy,” he said.
At town hall meetings over Congress’ July 4 break, Moran said he was concerned the bill wouldn’t lower overall consumer costs and wouldn’t provide adequate protection for those with pre-existing conditions. He also expressed concerns that deep cuts in Medicaid over the next decade could threaten the survival of already struggling rural hospitals and nursing homes.
“I am a product of rural Kansas,” Moran said July 6 to an overflow crowd in Palco, a small town north of Hays. “I understand the value of a hospital in your community, of a physician in your town, of a pharmacy on Main Street.”
Moran’s renewed stand against the bill drew immediate praise Monday from Kansas groups that have spent the past several weeks urging him to maintain his opposition to it.
“Senator Moran’s leadership will protect 120,000 Kansans from losing coverage and protect providers from devastating Medicaid cuts,” said David Jordan, director of the advocacy group Alliance for a Healthy Kansas.
“Kansans spoke out and Jerry Moran listened,” Hilary Gee, a Kansas lobbyist for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, tweeted in reaction to the news.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement late Monday the defections of Moran and Lee effectively kills the bill.
“Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said.
Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
RENO COUNTY— Two people were arrested after a chase with law enforcement on Sunday.
Just after 9 a.m. a Hutchinson Police Officer traveling on Kansas 61 recognized the driver of a vehicle as 22-year-old Clancy Nelson.
The officer knew Nelson had numerous warrants and attempted to make a traffic stop and the chase was on. Police say Nelson ran a number of traffic lights, stop signs and yield signs in Hutchinson.
The chase ended on a rural road when Nelson attempted to make a turn on Mayfield Road and lost control. The vehicle slid into a ditch. Nelson and his passenger, 22-year-old Arianna Rucker, were both ordered from the vehicle.
Officers then did a search and located methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. They also found a black folding knife and 18” machete.
Potential charges against the two include possession of methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, criminal possession of a firearm and driving while suspended.
Nelson is also being held for a probation violation and failure to appear. He is also listed as an absconder from community corrections on a drug conviction. He has a previous weapons conviction in Reno County. He is due back in court next week.
Rucker posted bond and she’ll be in court later this week.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have arrested one suspect in the weekend shooting death of a semi-pro football player in Wichita and continue looking for two others.
Police have identified the victim as 19-year-old Timothy Golden, who was a tight end for the Kansas Cougars. Police say Golden was found dead Saturday afternoon inside an apartment building and that the 18-year-old suspect was arrested that day. The man was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree murder early Sunday.
Cougars Head Coach Darrell Nave described Golden as a “very energetic kid.” Nave said he had anticipated that Golden was going to have a “breakout season” because he “just wanted to be a better athlete.”
Police declined to discuss a motive because two of the suspects haven’t yet been arrested.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Saturday afternoon fatal shooting and have one suspect in custody.
Just after 1:40p.m. officers were dispatched to a shooting at an apartment complex in the 500 Block of South McLean in Wichita, according to Lt. Jason Stephens with Wichita Police.
First responders attended to the 19-year-old victim identified as Timothy J. Golden. He died at the scene.
Investigators determined that three unknown male suspects went to that location and multiple fired shots into the apartment, according to Stephens. Police did identify 18-year-old Ritchie Randle as one of the suspects. He is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge First-Degree Murder.
Authorities are working to identify the other two suspects and ask that anyone with information on the shooting contact police. Stephens did not know a possible motive for the shooting.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas 18-year-old accused of having a role in the shooting death of a man in Topeka has been convicted of first-degree murder.
A Shawnee County jury found Christopher Patillo Jr. guilty on Monday after a six-day trial. Patillo, who was 16 at the time of 20-year-old Brian Miller’s death in April of last year, had been certified to stand trial as an adult.
Patillo faces a life sentence with no chance of parole for a quarter century.
Prosecutors argued that Patillo drove a van from which a gunman fired shots.
Patillo also was convicted of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated child endangerment.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas man has been ordered to spend nearly three decades in prison after admitting he killed a woman in a Missouri apartment where officers found three children cowering under a blanket.
Thirty-two-year-old Derrick Williams of Kansas City, Kansas, was sentenced Monday in Kansas City, Missouri, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.
Williams was sentenced to 28 years on the murder count and 15 years on each of the other charges, with the terms to run simultaneously.
Williams admitted he killed 32-year-old Denise Gayle in July of last year. Court records say officers responding to a report of gunfire and screams found a naked Williams outside the apartment. Gayle’s body was found in a bathroom.
WASHINGTON- Kansas Senator Jerry Moran confirmed on social media Monday evening he would not support the Senate health care bill.
Moran and Mike Lee of Utah say they will oppose the Republican health care bill, dealing a blow to GOP leaders’ hopes of repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s legislation.
Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus -image courtesy Fox 4 Kansas City
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ medical board has for the third time revoked the license of a doctor whose second opinions allowed the late Dr. George Tiller to perform late-term abortions more than a decade ago.
The Board of Healing Arts acted against Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus again over what it concluded were inadequate records for 11 patients aged 10 to 18 who sought abortions in 2003. Kansas law required a second doctor to say continuing a pregnancy would permanently harm a patient’s physical or mental health.
The board’s order earlier this month said poor record-keeping could jeopardize patients’ future care.
The board revoked the Nortonville doctor’s license in 2012 and again in 2015. Each time, a Shawnee County judge overturned its action and ordered the board to reconsider.
POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on murder and burglary charges.
Just before 9:30 a.m. Saturday the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office received a transferred “911” call from the Riley County Police Department in reference to a burglary in progress, according to a media release.
The caller was in 8400 block of Junietta Road Manhattan, Pottawatomie County, Kansas and reported that a black male suspect in his late 20′ to early 30’s had entered their residence. While inside the residence, encountered the caller and threaten to harm the caller.
The victim reported that the suspect had left the residence driving a green four door Ford car with the trunk tied down with a rope.
While the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office was meeting with the victim, at 9:50 a.m., an additional “911” call came in from the 4100 block of Taneil Road Manhattan, Pottawatomie County, Kansas.
The caller stated that they witnessed a male driving a green Ford Crown Victoria with a tied down trunk that had pulled up in front of their neighbor’s residence. The male driver entered the neighbor’s residence through a broken part of the garage door. Deputies from the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office and Officer’s from the Riley County Police Department responded to Taneil Road, found the male suspect identified as Devon Davis, 28, Manhattan, inside the residence, and took him into custody without incident.
He is being held for attempted 2nd murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, criminal threat, criminal damage to property and criminal trespass. Bond was set at $250,000. Davis has previous drug convictions in Riley County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
