WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The temporary seizure of newspapers at a Kansas community college last week shone a media spotlight on a long-running dispute between administrators and student journalists.
Hutchinson Community College’s board of trustees is expected Tuesday to wade into the controversy.
That is when suspended journalism professor Alan Montgomery plans to talk to trustees about the administration’s treatment of the student journalists and its alleged use of disciplinary procedures to punish them for news stories.
The administration earlier this month suspended him and cancelled his classes before the end of the semester.
Montgomery calls it an absolute planned conspiracy to deny these students their First Amendment rights.
HCC President Carter File defended the college’s actions, saying he doesn’t care what is in the paper.
Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Phyllis Gilmore, left, listens as Gov. Sam Brownback speaks about the need for more foster parents during an event Wednesday at the Statehouse. SUSIE FAGAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
A bill to increase oversight of the Kansas foster care system hit a snag after state officials said its wording could jeopardize millions in federal funding.
The bill would create an interim oversight committee that would study problems in the state’s foster care system and submit a corrective action plan to the Kansas Legislature. The House Committee on Children and Seniors approved the bill in March, but it still must pass the full House and Senate.
But the Kansas Department for Children and Families, which oversees the foster care system, said following that plan could cost the state $48 million in federal funding — nearly a third of DCF’s annual budget.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviews state foster care programs about every three years and requires them to make changes outlined in a performance improvement plan.
DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said the state could lose federal funding if anything in the oversight committee’s corrective action plan contradicts the federal performance improvement plan.
“Corrective action plans are by design not suggestive, but directive,” she said in a statement emailed Wednesday.
Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat and one of the bill’s more vocal supporters, said DCF’s concern is misplaced. The interim oversight committee couldn’t make law, so lawmakers and the governor would have to approve any plan before DCF would implement it, he said.
“It would have to have open hearings, it would have to have conferees,” he said.
On Thursday the House Committee on Children and Seniors will consider changing the bill’s wording to address DCF’s concerns about lost federal funding.
But Ousley and other supporters said they think the foster care system needs a plan to improve outcomes for children.
“It’s important work, and it’s past time for improvements to be made,” he said.
Since 2014, a record number of Kansas children have entered the foster care system. At the end of February, nearly 7,000 children were in the state’s custody.
Meg Wingerter is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org., Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @MegWingerter.
MCPHERSON COUNTY – A Kansas boy died in an accident just before 9p.m. Friday in McPherson County.
John Avery, 33, was driving a Ford tractor pulling a mower in a pasture near Third Avenue approximately one half mile from the Reno County line southwest of Inman, according to Captain Doug Anderson with the McPherson County Sheriff’s Department.
Cayden Avery, 9, was riding with his father. The boy fell off and was hit by the mower. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Anderson.
In November, an 8-year old boy died in a farming accident near Galva in McPherson County.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An attorney representing school districts that successfully sued Kansas over education funding says a school finance plan being considered by lawmakers is inadequate.
John Robb made his comments Monday as a special House committee prepared to debate the proposal. Robb represents the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas, districts.
The plan before the House committee would phase in a $750 million increase in the state’s $4 billion-plus in aid over five years.
Robb sees a State Board of Education proposal to phase in an $893 million increase over two years as adequate.
The districts Robb represents sued Kansas in 2010. The state Supreme Court ruled in March that the state’s education funding is inadequate.
The justices gave legislators until June 30 to pass a new school finance law.
MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities at Kansas State University continue to investigate after a noose was found hanging from a tree on campus.
The University’s Office of Institutional Equity received notification of the noose hanging from a tree on the Manhattan campus Friday morning and it was removed. according to a media release.
The reason for the noose is unknown
On Monday, Kansas State president Richard Myers released a statement Monday morning addressing the incident.
“Last Friday, a beautiful spring day was marred by an ugly symbol found on our Manhattan campus. Near Mid-Campus drive, a noose was found hanging from one of our specimen trees. The juxtaposition between ugliness and beauty could not be more profound.
Once reported, the noose was quickly removed, but not before it was seen by many on campus, including families visiting for Junior Day. It is a poor reflection on our campus community when a well-known symbol for hatred shows up in such a public way.
There may be some who do not understand the emotional impact of a knotted cord in the shape of a hangman’s noose. According to the Anti-Defamation League: “The hangman’s noose has come to be one of the most powerful visual symbols directed against African-Americans, comparable in the emotions that it evokes to that of the swastika for Jews.”
If we have those in our K-State family unaware of the power of these negative symbols, it falls on all of us to teach each other. If you don’t understand, please reach out to one of our African-American students, faculty or staff to ask why this act is intolerable.
Once again, we cannot let the acts of a few define all of us. The K-State family needs to unite in our voice against all forms of discrimination.”
BEAVER COUNTY, OK – A Kansas man died in an accident just after 10:30p.m. Sunday in Beaver County, Oklahoma.
A 2015 Chevy Suburban driven by Brandon Shaw Porter, 41, Beaver, was eastbound on U.S. 64 three miles west of Forgan, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The SUV traveled left of center to pass an SUV and hit a 2015 Dodge Challenger driven by Gustavo Marino, 30, Liberal head-on.
Marino was partially ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
Oscar A. Anaya, 34, Liberal, a passenger in the Dodge, was transported to Southwest Medical Center where he was treated for a head injury, according to the OHP.
Porter remains hospitalized at Southwest Medical center with a leg injury. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the OHP.
HODGEMAN COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Hodgeman County are investigating two suspects on drug and other charges.
On Friday, the Manager of Horse Thief Reservoir contacted the sheriff’s office about suspicious activity at one of the shower houses.
Deputies made contact with 2 individuals. An investigation began and was believed the one was a juvenile runaway from another state, according to a media release.
The woman was going to follow officers to the Sheriff’s office with the male juvenile.
Before deputies left the lake Undersheriff Channell observed an odor of marijuana coming from the bathhouse they were using.
The vehicle was stopped and consent was denied. A search warrant was executed on the vehicle and a large amount narcotics and Paraphernalia were seized.
Deputies identified the woman as Hodgeman County resident Amber Waterhouse.
She was arrested and placed in jail for harboring a juvenile runaway, Possession of Marijuana with intent to distribute, Possession of Methamphetamines, Possession of Heroin, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and contributing to a minor.
Waterhouse bond was set at $25,000. Waterhouse has not been formally charged and is innocent until proven guilty.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A sniper who terrorized downtown Wichita more than 40 years ago is going before a parole board this month.
The case of 59-year-old Michael Soles will be among several to be considered during a May 17 meeting in Kansas City, Kansas.
Soles became known as the Holiday Inn Sniper in 1976 after he carried two rifles and an ammunition-filled lunch pail to the top floor of a 26-story building that was capped by the Holiday Inn. Killed in the shooting were 23-year-old Mark Falen, 56-year-old Joe Goulart and 57-year-old Elmer Hensley. Seven others were wounded before police shot Soles.
He could be freed as early as July if his latest bid for release is granted. Several others have been denied, most recently in 2007.
Mound Valley, Kansas in southeast Kansas-google map
LABETTE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Labette County are investigating a shooting.
Just before 8:45 p.m. Saturday, two deputies from the Labette County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting during a domestic incident at 511 Walnut Street in Mound Valley, according to a media release.
After arriving on the scene, deputies encountered a 40-year-old white man with a firearm outside the residence in the driveway. It is believed that both deputies fired at the suspect.
The suspect was transported to Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. His was reported in stable condition on Sunday. No deputies were injured in this occurrence.
Also found at the scene was a 77-year-old white male suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Freeman Hospital in Joplin and is in stable condition. The initial investigation suggests this victim was shot by the 40-year-old man.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the investigations.
