JEWELL COUNTY – Another earthquake hit north central Kansas Tuesday morning.

The quake just after11a.m. measured a magnitude 2.8 and was centered approximately 7 miles southeast of Mankato, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

This is the sixth quake in Kansas in May.

A 3.4 magnitude quake hit at 11:54 p.m. Saturday and was centered approximately 8 miles southeast of Mankato,

A pair of small earthquakes were reported in Harper County early Friday, May 19.

A 2.7 magnitude quake hit 10 miles northwest of Conway Springs on May 10.

The agency reported a 3.5 magnitude quake in Harper County on May 5.

The USGS recorded nearly a dozen Kansas earthquakes in April, seven in March and six in February. They measured from 2.5. to 3.3.

There are no reports of damage or injury from Tuesday’s quake, according to the Jewell County Sheriff’s Department.

By JIM MCLEAN

Kansas lawmakers marked the fifth anniversary of Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature income tax cuts becoming law by rejecting a bill that would have largely repealed them.

The bill defeated Monday night by the House was similar to a measure rejected May 10 by the Senate. Both would have raised more than $1 billion over two years to cover a projected budget shortfall of $900 million by increasing income tax rates and repealing a controversial exemption given to more than 330,000 business owners and farmers.

Moderate Republicans supported both bills, but each failed due to lack of support from Democrats who split on whether they would have generated enough to also cover an increase in public school funding needed to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court ruling.

The 53-68 House vote sends members representing the tax committees in both chambers back to the negotiating table as legislators hit the final days of a planned 100-day session.

But Rep. Steven Johnson, a Republican from Assaria who chairs the House Tax Committee, said the vote left him unsure what to try next.

“I know what people say they would like to see run. I do not know what will pass,” Johnson told the Wichita Eagle after the vote.

Rep. Melissa Rooker, a key moderate Republican from Fairway, said legislative factions that control roughly equal numbers of votes are making it hard to reach compromise solutions on the budget and school finance.

“There is no controlling faction,” Rooker said. “There is no group of people who have a voting block large enough to run the show.”

The failure of Democrats to support two tax bills that ostensibly met their demand for a rollback of the Brownback tax cuts has frustrated several moderate Republicans.

After the Senate vote, Rep. Russ Jennings, a moderate Republican from Lakin, said he considered Democrats “unreliable partners.”

Meanwhile, approximately 40 conservative Republicans from both chambers continue to argue that tax increases aren’t needed to balance the budget. Their plan, outlined Monday at a Statehouse news conference, calls for freezing state spending, diverting more money from highway projects and securitizing a portion of the state’s tobacco settlement payments.

Rep. Randy Powell, an Olathe Republican, said his constituents want government to live within its means.

“They’re not wanting bigger government. They want a balanced budget,” Powell said.

Advocates for the children’s education programs funded by tobacco settlement dollars immediately denounced the proposal.

“We’re almost 100 days into the session and rather than address failed tax policy, some lawmakers want to eliminate the state’s entire early childhood infrastructure,” said Annie McKay, president and CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group Kansas Action for Children.

“Selling off the revenue stream that supports the Children’s Initiatives Fund is robbing from the future of Kansas kids — all to continue a devastating tax experiment,” she 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.  

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A medical examiner says the death of a Wichita woman who died when her car went into the Missouri River was accidental and involved drug intoxication.

The Jackson County medical examiner’s office ruled Tuesday that 20-year-old Toni Anderson’s death was accidental. She died from hypothermia and drowning at the Platte Landing Park near Parkville.

Authorities say ethanol, cocaine and amphetamine intoxication contributed to the University of Missouri-Kansas City student’s death.

Anderson was last seen early on Jan. 15 when she was stopped by a police officer in North Kansas City, who

then watched her drive to a nearby convenience store.

It is unclear why she wound up at the park near Parkville. Her body and her car were recovered March 10.

Police say the investigation is now closed.

RILEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are investigating a fatal shooting and searching for a suspect.

Just before 6p.m. Sunday, police received several 911 calls stating there had been a shooting on Nelson’s Landing in Manhattan, according to a media release.

When officers arrived on scene to the 2800 block of Nelson’s Landing, they found one male,
identified as German Gonzalez-Garcia, 39, of Manhattan, dead from gunshot wounds.

A second man was found on scene, also suffering from gunshot wounds. He was  lifeflighted to Stormont Vail in Topeka in critical condition.

Officers developed a person of interest in the case, identified as Steven Harris, 38, Manhattan. Harris is approximately 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighs approximately 145 pounds.

He has short brown hair, brown eyes, and has distinctive tattoos on his head and neck.

On Monday, the Riley County Police Department conducted an operation in the 600 block of Frey Dr. in an attempt to locate Harris. Officers were unable to locate Harris at that time.

Officers are also looking for a gold 2004 Buick Rendezvous that may be connected with the case.

A warrant, for 1 count of murder and 1 count of attempted murder, has been issued for Steven Harris.

Harris is considered armed and dangerous. If you locate Harris, DO NOT APPROACH, call 911. If you have information on his whereabouts, you can contact dispatch at 785-537-2112 or you can remain anonymous by calling the Riley County Crime Stoppers at 785-539-7777 or 1-800-222-8477.

RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man entered a plea to aggravated battery Monday for reportedly throwing acid on his wife.

In addition, Rafael Gomez, 25, entered a plea to felony criminal damage and will avoid a more severe charge of attempted murder.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton was considering filing the attempted murder charge against the former employee of the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Stanton says Gomez threw acid on the victim twice. She suffered the burns to her face during the domestic incident in March of 2016, at a home in Hutchinson.

With the plea, both sides are able to argue disposition. The first count is a level four felony with a sentencing range of just over three years to three years, six months.

Stanton says the case is presumptive prison, but the defense will argue for a non-prison sanction because of the lack of any other criminal history.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 7.

SALINE COUNTY -Salina Police are investigating an act of vandalism at Salina South High School.

The school district offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, construction crews returned to South High, 730 East Magnolia, and found several newly remodeled classrooms with significant water damage, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

Workers told authorities that the vandals left a chemical rinse station running overnight, flooding two biology rooms and the majority of the main floor.

While in the school, the vandals also found the keys to a school Suburban. Police recovered the vehicle on undamaged a few blocks south of the school.

Forrester said that ceiling tiles, wallboard and carpet will have to be replaced and damages are expected to reach $20,000. Authorities are attempting to get video surveillance from the school.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The Latest on the blast at an Ariana Grande concert in northern England (all times local):

12:01 p.m.

Greater Manchester Police say they have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the apparent suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in the city.

Police say the man was arrested in south Manchester Tuesday, a day after the explosion killed 22 people and injured 59, many of them teenagers.

They did not provide details.

Police also said officials arrested a man at the Arndale shopping center in central Manchester — but that the arrest is not believed to be connected to Monday night’s attack.

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9:15 a.m.

President Donald Trump is expressing solidarity with the United Kingdom in the wake of a deadly explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, condemning the “evil losers” behind the blast.

Trump spoke Tuesday after a meeting in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Manchester police say an apparent suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device at the end of the concert, killing 22 people.

Trump says the attack preyed on “innocent children.” He says this “wicked ideology must be obliterated. And I mean completely obliterated.”

EXPLOSION AT MANCHESTER ARENA AND EVERYONE RAN OUT SO SCARY😭 pic.twitter.com/pJbUBoELtE

— ♡♡ (@hannawwh) May 22, 2017

Manchester police so far have said nothing about the attacker’s identity or possible motivation.

 

broken.
from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 23, 2017

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9:00 a.m.

Social media users are helping the desperate hunt for people missing in the Manchester concert bombing by circulating names and photos with the MissingInManchester hashtag.

The city’s regional government and its mayor, Andy Burnham, were among scores of Twitter users that circulated the hashtag to help people seeking missing family members and friends.

Those named as missing included Olivia Campbell. Her mother, Charlotte Campbell, said the 15-year-old attended the Ariana Grande concert with a friend from school who has since been found and is being treated in a hospital. But Olivia is missing, having last called home just before the concert, the mother told ITV television’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show.

She says: “I’ve called the hospitals. I’ve called all the places, the hotels where people said that children have been taken and I’ve called the police. If anyone sees Olivia, lend her your phone, she knows my number.”

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8:45 a.m.

A Czech woman who was at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester says that “there was almost no security check, rather zero. They let us get in without any check if we have anything with us.”

Nikola Trochtova told the Czech public radio that “the only thing they were interested in was if we had any bottles of water with us. They almost didn’t check our bags, they didn’t take a look.”

She says she was leaving the venue when she heard an explosion at the entrance, but learned the details only after returning to her hotel.

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8:35 a.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it’s “incomprehensible” that someone would target a pop concert to kill and wound people.

Merkel said in a statement Tuesday that the attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester “will only strengthen our determination to keep acting together with our British friends against those who plan and carry out such inhuman deeds.”

She added: “I assure people in Britain that Germany stands beside you.”

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8:20 a.m.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says Europe is mourning with Britain after a bomb killed 22 people at a concert in Manchester.

Juncker said in a statement Tuesday that “today we mourn with you. Tomorrow we will work side by side with you to fight back against those who seek to destroy our way of life.”

He adds: “It breaks my heart to think that, once again, terrorism has sought to instill fear where there should be joy, to sow division where young people and families should be coming together in celebration.”

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8:10 a.m.

NATO’s chief is expressing solidarity with Britain after a bomb attack in Manchester killed 22 people, just as leaders of the military alliance prepare to meet to discuss counter-terrorism.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a tweet Tuesday that “NATO stands with the U.K. in the fight against terrorism.” He also said his thoughts were with all those affect by the “barbaric” attack.

President Donald Trump and other NATO leaders at to gather in Brussels on Thursday to discuss ways the military alliance can do more against terrorism.

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8:00 a.m.

The German government is offering condolences to Britain after the deadly explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote Tuesday on Twitter: “Terrible news from Manchester! Our thoughts are now with our British friends. United we stand.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, tweeted: “Our thoughts (and) prayers are with the people in #Manchester affected by the blast. We mourn for the dead (and) hope the injured can recover fully.”

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7:45 a.m.

France’s government is offering sympathy and solidarity following the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester which killed 22 people.

In a statement, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would continue to work with Britain to fight terrorism. Macron said he would speak with British Prime Minister Theresa May to stay abreast of developments.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also expressed solidarity.

Paris has grim experience with the type of attack that struck Britain, after multiple Islamic State attackers struck a concert hall, the national stadium and cafes and bars on Nov. 13, 2015, killing 130 people.

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7:30 a.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump is being provided updates on the Manchester concert explosion by his national security team.

Trump is in the midst of his first overseas trip as president. He’s meeting Tuesday in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and speaking at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

His spokesman Sean Spicer provided the update on Twitter.

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7:20 a.m.

Manchester police say an apparent suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

Police raised the death toll to 22 early Tuesday, and dozens more have been reported injured.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins says forensic investigations are continuing to determine if the attacker had accomplices. He provided no information about the individual who detonated the device.

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7:10 a.m.

Greater Manchester Police have raised the death toll in a blast at an Ariana Grande concert to 22.

The force’s chief constable, Ian Hopkins, said Tuesday they believe one person carried out the attack. Police are trying to determine if the person acted alone or had support in the Monday night blast.

Police say some 400 officers were deployed overnight to help with the investigation.

Officials say children are among the victims.

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7 a.m.

Police say they are treating an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in northern England as terrorism. Greater Manchester Police says the blast killed at least 19 people, and the ambulance service says 59 people have been taken to hospitals.

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins says police are treating the blast as an act of terrorism “until we know otherwise.”

There was panic after the explosion, which struck around 10:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) Monday night as Grande was ending the concert.

Grande, who was not injured, tweeted hours later: “Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don’t have words.”

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3:45 a.m.

A number of Manchester taxi services offered free rides to people stranded by the incident.

The taxi companies posted messages about the free rides on Twitter after an explosion at Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert Monday night. The blast killed 19 people and injured dozens more.

The service could also be used by people trying to get to local hospitals to look for loved ones.

In addition some city residents opened their homes to provide overnight lodging for people who were stranded by the shutdown in some train services because of the incident.

City officials said the true spirit of Manchester was surfacing in the hours after the incident.

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3:35 a.m.

The Department of Homeland Security says there is no evidence of credible threats against music venues in the U.S., as England reels from an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert late Monday.

The department says the U.S. public may experience increased security in and around public places and events.

DHS says it is closely monitoring the situation at Manchester Arena and working with U.K. officials to obtain additional information about the cause of the explosion.

The government is urging U.S. citizens in Manchester to heed directions from local authorities and be vigilant about their security.

The explosion killed at least 19 people and injured dozens. Police say they are treating as a terrorist attack.

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3:20 a.m.

Frantic loved ones of young people missing after an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert have taken to Twitter and Instagram with their photos and pleas for help.

Many Manchester residents responded early Tuesday with offers of shelter and details on locations where displaced concert-goers had been taken in.

The 23-year-old Grande, true to her youthful fan base, is a social media phenomenon with 105 million followers on Instagram and 45.6 million followers on Twitter. Her fans, proud “Arianators,” were among those who took to Twitter with prayers and tears.

Fellow stars offered condolences as well.

Taylor Swift tweeted, “My thoughts, prayers and tears for all those affected by the Manchester tragedy tonight. I’m sending all my love.”

Ellie Goulding, Cher (fresh from a big night at the Billboard Awards) and Katy Perry were among others to tweet their support.

 

 

1:20 a.m.

Greater Manchester Police say 19 people have been confirmed dead in an explosion at Manchester Arena that is being treated as a possible terrorist attack.

Krystalized: RT pzf: BREAKING NEWS: BBC REPORTS AT LEAST 20 DEAD AFTER EXPLOSION AT ARIANA GRANDE CONCERT IN MANCH… pic.twitter.com/xe3gwQ6ZbN

— taeyongie (@rlfemme) May 23, 2017

Police said roughly 50 people were injured. Police said the incident started at 10:35 Monday night at an Ariana Grande concert.

Emergency vehicles were on the scene helping the injured and bomb disposal units were later seen outside the venue.

There was mass panic after the explosion at the end of the concert, which was part of Grande’s The Dangerous Woman Tour.

1:05 a.m.

Bomb disposal units were seen at Manchester Arena after an explosion during an Ariana Grande concert.

They were called after reports of an explosion that police said caused fatalities.

There were few immediate details and trains into the area were suspended.

A representative of Grande’s US record label says the singer is OK and they are investigating what happened.

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11:55 p.m.

Police says there are “a number of fatalities” after reports of an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in northern England.

Police advised the public to avoid the area around the Manchester Arena Monday night.

There were no immediate details of what happened during the concert by the American singer.

Video from inside the arena showed concertgoers screaming as they made their way out amid a sea of pink balloons.

SEDGWICK COUNTY – A Kansas woman died in an accident just before 12:30p.m. Monday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Kia Rio driven by Ruth Rushing 90, Wichita, was northbound on Greenwich Road.

The driver failed to yield at Kansas 254 and drove in front of a westbound 1999 GMC Suburban driven by Ira Reed, 36, El Dorado.

The Suburban struck Kia in passenger side

Rushing was transported to Wesley Medical Center where she died.

Reed was not seriously injured. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

 

HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man who served time in prison on drug-related charges is back in jail.

On Sundry, police officers stopped a vehicle driven by Teddy Decker, 53, in the 9000 block of North Plum in Hutchinson for having outstanding warrants.

He also had a warrant for a parole violation through the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Looking through the window of the vehicle, an officer reported seeing a pipe used for smoking drugs. That led to a search of the vehicle where officers also located 199 grams of methamphetamine, more smoking pipes, packaging materials and $754 in cash.

Decker faces potential charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute as well as the warrants.

He may also face more time in prison for violating his parole.

Decker was released in April of 2016 for convictions of having the ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine, unlawful manufacturing and aggravated failure to appear.  He has previous drug convictions in Johnson, Sedgwick and Reno Counties.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate over raising taxes to fix the state budget and provide extra funds to public schools (all times local):

8:35 p.m.

The Kansas House has rejected a proposal that would have raised income taxes to fix the state budget and provide additional funds for public schools.

The vote Monday night was 68-53 against a bill raising $1.2 billion over two years. House and Senate negotiators will have to draft a new plan.

The measure would have raised income tax rates and eliminated an exemption for more than 330,000 farmers and business owners.

The plan would have undone most of the past income tax cuts championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. But rates would have remained lower than they were before the tax-cutting began in 2012.

Kansas faces projected budget shortfalls totaling $887 million through June 2019 and the state Supreme Court ruled in March that the state’s education funding is inadequate.

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