Cohn during Wednesday’s announcement -White House Photo
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul (all times EDT):
1:40 p.m.
President Donald Trump wants to simplify the personal tax code by cutting rates and eliminating deductions used by more affluent Americans.
White House economic adviser Gary Cohn says the plan would cut the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent. It also would reduce the number of personal income tax brackets to three from seven. The new tax rates would be 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent.
The plan would double the standard deduction for married couples to $24,000, while keeping deductions for charitable giving and mortgage interest payments. The plan would trim other deductions used by high-income Americans, including state and local tax payments.
It would also repeal the estate tax, the catch-all alternative minimum tax and the 3.8 percent tax on investment income from President Barack Obama’s health care law.
WICHITA -A Kansas man was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in federal prison for two commercial robberies in Wichita, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Austan Kinnaird, 26, Goddard, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery. In his plea he admitted that on Dec. 24, 2015, he robbed Golf Headquarters at 848 N. Webb Road in Wichita. He entered the store wearing a wig and a cap. He showed the clerk what looked like a firearm and demanded money before he fled the store with the stolen cash.
In his plea, he further admitted that on April 29, 2016, he robbed a branch of Intrust Bank in a Dillons grocery store at 9450 E. Harry in Wichita. He gave the teller a note demanding money and fled the bank with the cash. He was identified after surveillance photos were made public.
Poland- photo Johnson County He told the sergeant to “stop” and the sergeant said, “You stop” and the subject said, “I’m not stopping” and continued the struggle over the gun.
JOHNSON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man after a struggle with a police officer over a gun.
Just before 1a.m. Tuesday, a police sergeant stopped a vehicle in the 10400 block of Marty Street in Overland Park for driving without headlights, traveling the wrong way on 103rd Street and suspicion of driving under the influence, according to a media release.
The vehicle stopped in a parking lot in the 10400 block of Marty Street.
As the sergeant exited his vehicle the driver sped off screeching the vehicle’s tires. The sergeant got back into his vehicle, turned around to head out to Marty Street and called in the vehicle had fled from him.
The sergeant then realized the vehicle has crashed across Marty Street, notified dispatch and observed the driver was walking in the street and stopped at the curb, across from where he crashed and appeared to be getting sick.
The sergeant approached the driver and when he was within a couple of feet of him, noticed he was holding his left arm behind his back. The sergeant asked him to show his hands.
When the subject showed his hands, he was holding a pistol in his left hand.
The sergeant immediately grabbed the man’s arm to control the gun.
A struggle ensued over the gun and the subject refused to let go of it.
Eventually, the sergeant was able to obtain control of the gun from the subject.
The sergeant then told the subject to put his hands behind his back twice, but the subject refused and started to pull and move away from the sergeant struggling again to escape.
The sergeant was able to control the subject and took him to the ground and held him until backup arrived to assist.
Deputy Chief Happer said, “He took control of the dangerous situation, did his job professionally and never let his emotions get the best of him. He arrested a dangerous armed individual without anyone getting seriously injured”.
The subject, Bradley Poland, 34, has been charged through the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office with Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer.
Thousands of acres burned across 4 states- photo Clark Co. Emergency Mgmt
DENVER (AP) — Deep snow is melting into Western mountain streams, but some farmers and ranchers on the high plains are struggling amid a lengthy dry spell and the aftermath of destructive wildfires.
A swath of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas has been in a drought or near-drought condition for six months, putting some of the winter wheat crop in doubt.
The wildfires burned nearly 2,100 square miles (5,400 square kilometers) in the four states. Six people died.
Agriculture officials say the fires also killed more than 20,000 cattle and pigs and damaged or destroyed about $55 million worth of fences.
April rains in some areas have helped the grassland recover, but it could be weeks or longer before cattle can be turned out to graze, leaving some ranchers a choice of buying costlier feed or culling their herds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Ron Estes, winner of a closer-than-usual congressional election in Kansas, has been sworn in as the newest member of the House.
Estes’ race attracted national attention because it was the first congressional election since Donald Trump became president and it was seen as a possible bellwether of the conditions Republicans will face in the 2018 midterms.
Estes ended up winning by 7 percentage points after the president recorded a telephone pitch on his behalf and the national campaign arm for House Republicans pumped money into the race in the closing stretch.
Estes has served as the state treasurer in Kansas since January 2011. He represents a congressional district in south-central Kansas formerly held by CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
Republicans now hold a 238-193 majority in the House.
GEARY COUNTY – A Kansas county jail deputy is under investigation for an alleged inappropriate relationship with an inmate.
On April 20, deputies arrested Brian Patrick O’Loughlin on requested charges of unlawful sexual relations with a female inmate while he was a Corrections Officer.
The name of the female inmate was not available.
Due to the incident and subsequent arrest, O’Loughlin’s employment as a Corrections Officer was terminated, according to Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas man has pleaded no contest to charges in connection with a head-on car collision that killed a Salina woman.
Patrick Driscoll, 33, pleaded Monday to a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter and misdemeanor counts of reckless driving and endangerment.
Driscoll was allegedly driving a pickup truck south in a northbound lane early April 27, 2016, when he crashed into a sport vehicle driven by 55-year-old Song Horton. Horton died the next day at a Wichita hospital.
Patrick Driscoll
Prosecutor Brock Abbey says Driscoll’s blood-alcohol content was more than double the legal limit two hours after the crash.
Ryan Gering, Driscoll’s attorney, requested the judge to let Driscoll stay in Saline County Jail instead of an area county facility so he can receive medical care for his wounds from the crash.
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) — A student in Kansas is pushing back against a private college’s policy to keep her “service dog in training” on campus.
KSNW-TV reports that Southwestern College freshman Casey Cargill is a certified dog trainer with the nonprofit Training to Lead. Cargill began training a poodle named Ike in March, and says she sent the college a courtesy letter explaining why Ike would be living on campus and going to class with her.
The dean of students sent a letter dated April 19 that said Cargill was no longer allowed to have her dog on campus because the school’s policy only allows service animals on campus for people with disabilities, not trainers.
Cargill, who has trained over 20 dogs, says she plans to fight the college’s policy.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating a suspect on theft and drug charges.
In mid-April, a suspect forced their way into a home in the 9000 Block of East Crestwood Court in Wichita, according to police spokesperson Nikki Woodrow during Tuesday’s online media briefing.
The suspect took jewelry, weapons and two vehicles worth over $100,000.
