Quantcast
Channel: Little Apple Post
Viewing all 10110 articles
Browse latest View live

Inmate who escaped in Oklahoma on the way to Kansas is caught

$
0
0

Walp and Foy-photos Major Co. Sheriff

FAIRVIEW, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say one of two inmates who escaped by overpowering guards in northwest Oklahoma and stealing a prison transport van has been arrested in Pennsylvania.

The Major County, Oklahoma, sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page that 32-year-old Andrew Foy was arrested Friday.

Details of the arrest and where it took place were not released and the sheriff did not return a phone call for additional information.

Authorities say Foy and 37-year-old Darren Walp escaped Aug. 22 near Fairview, Oklahoma. The Facebook post says Walp remains at large.

The van was later found abandoned and the men were last seen driving a stolen tractor-trailer rig in the Tulsa suburb of Sapulpa.

Authorities say Foy was being taken to Wyoming and Walp to Kansas, both to face charges for nonviolent offenses.


Jury deadlocked in trial of fatal Kansas drive-by shooting

$
0
0

Martinez- photo Topeka Police

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Shawnee County jury could not reach a verdict in the trial of a man charged in the fatal shooting of a Topeka pedestrian.

The jury announced Friday that it was deadlocked after about a day of deliberations in the case of 21-year-old De’Angelo Megle Martinez, of Topeka.

Martinez is charged with alternative counts of first-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of 20-year-old Brian Wade Miller, who died in April 2016 in a drive-by shooting.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports 18-year-old Christopher Pattillo was earlier convicted of first-degree murder in Miller’s death. Witnesses during his trial said Martinez was the gunman who fired 14 shots from a van driven by Patillo.

Kansas man hospitalized after motorcycle hits school bus

$
0
0

JEFFERSON COUNTY — A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6p.m. Saturday in Jefferson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Erik M. Runyan, 45, was eastbound on U.S. 24 just east of Williamstown.

The driver failed to maintain the lane of travel. The motorcycle drifted into the westbound lanes into oncoming traffic and struck a school bus driven by Diane E. Helm, 55, Tonganoxie.

Runyan was flown to a hospital in Topeka for treatment. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

Helm and twelve students on the bus were not injured.  The KHP did not release details on the school district involved in the accident early Sunday.

Some Kan. Lawmakers: Inmate Transfers A Factor In Recent Prison Violence

$
0
0

BY JIM MCLEAN

Some lawmakers say mismanagement of the Kansas prison population is contributing to unrest among inmates. But Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood, pictured here, instead sees a connection between inmate unrest and the political tumult in the country.
JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

The head of the Kansas Department of Corrections says he sees no connection between a recent riot at a prison in Norton and disturbances earlier this summer at the state’s El Dorado prison.

But some lawmakers are charging that mismanagement of the state’s prison population is contributing to the unrest.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, said the department’s effort to clear the way for the demolition of a medium-security facility at Lansing has led to the “haphazard” movement of inmates throughout the system.

“I’m convinced that it’s been the unplanned, rapid rotation of inmates from one facility to another that has created this chaos that we’re having in our correctional system right now,” Kelly said.

The concerns are bipartisan. Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican, has criticized Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood for withholding information from lawmakers about the severity of incidents at the El Dorado prison.

In an interview  with The Associated Press, McGinn said it may be time “to change our management.”

Samir Arif, a spokesperson for the department, acknowledged that hundreds of prisoners had been moved over the course of the summer but said officials don’t believe that the mixing of inmate populations prompted the recent disturbances.

However, Norwood sees a connection between inmate unrest and the political tumult in the country, which has spawned massive demonstrations that in some cases have resulted in violent clashes.

“We have noticed a trend in how inmates seek to air their grievances mirroring what we have seen in society with group demonstrations,” Norwood said. “And sometimes those incidents can turn destructive, just as we have seen with protests across the country.”

Dismissing that explanation, Kelly said it showed “the department isn’t taking any responsibility” for the recent violence.

According to portions of the prison log obtained by KCUR, inmates at Norton set fires, smashed windows, commandeered prison vehicles and attempted to run over a guard. They also fashioned weapons out of chunks of broken glass before guards quelled the disturbance by threatening to use lethal force.

Similar to the incidents at El Dorado, Kelly said corrections officials attempted to downplay the severity of the Norton disturbance.  That, she said, is further eroding confidence in Norwood and his management team.

“I haven’t surveyed the bulk of my colleagues, but the ones I have talked to are concerned and do not have confidence in the current administration at the Department of Corrections,” Kelly said.

High turnover among corrections officers is also a factor in the disturbances. The annual turnover rate among uniformed officers across the system is 33 percent and nearly 50 percent at the El Dorado prison.

Last month, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback ordered an immediate pay raise for guards to help fill the vacancies.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

KASB report card: Kansas student outcomes falling

$
0
0

There is growing evidence that as Kansas has fallen behind in educational funding, we are also falling behind in student success outcomes,” said Mark Tallman, KASB associate executive director. “We are in danger of falling from a top achieving state to average or worse,” Tallman said. 

Full ReportExecutive SummarySupplemental Information

The analysis shows Kansas has maintained its 10th rank among states over numerous student academic measurements and every state that ranks higher than Kansas spends more per pupil.  

But the report also shows that Kansas student outcomes have started to fall as total funding per pupil in Kansas fell behind most states since 2008. 

The percent of Kansas students scoring at the basic and proficient level in NAEP tests have declined. In addition, the Kansas high school graduation rate, while 20th in the nation, has seen a lower rate of improvement over the past few years than the average of all states. 

Another trouble spot is in higher education achievement. 

Kansas exceeds the national average in the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds with some college or higher, but the state’s rate of increase in this area since 2005 ranks near the bottom of states. This comes at a time when studies show within three years seven out of 10 jobs will require some post-secondary achievement and states with the highest average incomes are generally those with the most educated population. 

Meanwhile, Kansas’ ranking for K-12 dollars fell from 29th to 31st between 2014 and 2015 and the percent increase in per pupil funding in between 2008 and 2015 ranked 39th and was much less than the states that outperform Kansas in education results.  

“This report validates the 2017 Legislature’s action to increase school funding significantly for the first time in almost a decade,” Tallman said. “It also supports the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling that funding has not been adequate. Finally, it adds urgency to the State Board of Education’s Kansans Can vision and goals.”

Kansas man hospitalized after military vehicle rolls

$
0
0

SALINE COUNTY — A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after noon Sunday in Saline County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a military vehicle driven by Caelan E. Simpson, 21, Wichita, was northbound on Interstate 135.

The driver attempted to exit onto Interstate 70, was traveling too fast and the vehicle rolled into the median.

Simpson was transported to Salina Regional Medical Center. A passenger Joshua R. Nicholson, 24, Grain Valley, MO., was not injured.  Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Despite an inquiry, the KHP did not release any additional details on the vehicle or those involved in the accident.

Kansas teacher educates on sexual assault through rap music

$
0
0

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas high school teacher is educating his students about sexual assault by rapping about it.

The Kansas City Star reports that David Muhammad’s song “Fallen” was released Sept. 5. The social studies teacher wrote the song under the name “Brotha Newz.”

The song is inspired by things that trouble Muhammad about the way society talks about and addresses sexual violence.

Reports of two sexual assaults at Shawnee Mission East shook the school community at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. One of the victims was Muhammad’s student, prompting him to want to speak more about preventing sexual assault.

Muhammad hopes his song will spark a conversation about the importance of men talking to men about sexual assault, and challenge the ways some mend are conditioned to sexualize women.

Police: 1 dead after Kansas train, vehicle crash

$
0
0

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One person is dead after a collision between a train and a vehicle in Wichita over the weekend.

Wichita Police are investigating the crash that happened Saturday evening around 8:30 in southeast Wichita.

Few details about the crash were released initially.

But authorities said the driver of a vehicle died after a train struck the vehicle.


Kansas man sentenced for rape and child sex charges

$
0
0

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT

Molleker -photo KDOC

A Kansas man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison Friday on a number of sex charges.

Keaton Molleker, 28, was sentenced to 135 months in prison after reaching an agreement to plead guilty to attempted rape, sexual battery, breach of privacy, abuse of a child and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

In September 2015, Molleker was arrested on a number of charges that included, attempted rape, aggravated sexual battery and sexual exploitation of a child.

The agreement was reached through mediation and Molleker was sentenced Friday in Ellis County District Court to 92 months for attempted rape, 34 months for sexual battery and nine months for breach of privacy. Those sentences will all run consecutively for the total 135 months.

Molleker also plead guilty to abuse of a child and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child with all three carrying a 32-month sentence. Those will run concurrent to the 135 months in prison.

According to the affidavit, police were called to Molleker’s then girlfriend’s home, on September 29, to remove an unwanted person.

She told police that she had found several nude photos of a child, that was known to be 16, on Molleker’s phone that appeared to have been taken in a bathroom, according to the affidavit. Upon further investigation, several more pictures of the same individual were discovered.

After he was brought in for questioning Molleker told investigators he had obtained eight hidden cameras that looked like smoke detectors.

During the course of the investigation officials seized a number images and videos that appeared to be taken using the hidden cameras.

Among the videos discovered was one of Molleker engaging in a sexual act with a young child present and another of Molleker engaging in unwanted sexual acts with a former girlfriend.

Molleker was remanded back to the Ellis County Jail and will be transfered to the Department of Corrections. He will also have to register as a sex offender and be subject to lifetime post release supervision.

Lawyers in the case still have to determine what to do with a number of electronic devices that were seized during the case. Some of the devices belong to Molleker and some do not.

Molleker has a previous conviction for Theft.

Man dies after ejected in western Kan. pickup rollover crash

$
0
0

LOGAN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 7:30p.m. Sunday in Logan County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Toyota Tacoma driven by Robert A. Nolting, 57, Longmont, CO., was northbound on Logan County road 160 ten miles west of Russell Springs

The driver lost control of the vehicle. It traveled into the east ditch. He overcorrected into the west ditch. The pickup rolled three times and the driver was ejected.

Nolting was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Kennedy Koster Funeral Home.

He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

 

Police: 5 suspects arrested for central-Kansas drive-by shooting

$
0
0

HARVEY COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating five suspects in connection with a drive-by shooting.

Just before 5p.m. Sunday, police were made aware of a drive by shooting near NW24th and Hoover in Harvey County.

Police located the suspect vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The vehicle led Newton police on a short chase, coming to a stop near the intersection of Lazy Creek Drive and Split Oak Drive. The occupants of the vehicle fled on foot and were all apprehended a short time later. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

Four Juveniles and one adult were taken into custody. will be interviewed by investigators with the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office.

Police reported no injuries and did not release names of the suspects.

Police: 2 Kansas girls hospitalized after shooting

$
0
0

Police investigating Sunday night shooting in Topeka-photo courtesy WIBW TV

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting.
Just after 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Topeka Police officers on patrol were alerted to the sound of gunshots and responded to a shooting in the 2600 Block of SE 10th in Topeka, according to police.

Officers found two female juvenile victims were suffering from non-life threatening injuries consistent with having been shot.

Both girls were transported to a local hospital. Both victims and witnesses to the armed criminal action were interviewed. Police released no additional details.

Anyone with information relating to this crime, please call Topeka Police Department Detectives at 785-368-9400 or Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007.

KDOT: Highway closed due to fatal, Monday crash

$
0
0

LYON COUNTY —  Law enforcement and additional first responders are on the scene of a fatal Monday crash  on U.S. 50 in Lyon County. The Kansas Department of Transportation closed two miles of the road west of Emporia.

 

 

No additional details were released early Monday.

Sheriff: Death of Kansas jail inmate under investigation

$
0
0

Decker-photo KDOC

SEDGWICK COUNTY —The Kansas Bureau of Investigation the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Investigation Division are investigating the weekend death of an inmate.

The inmate identified as 47-year-old Sean C. Decker, who had chronic medical issues prior to incarceration became unresponsive in the medical clinic in the Sedgwick County Jail at about 1:18 p.m. on Saturday, according to a media release.

After immediate medical attention from onsite staff and responding EMS personnel, he was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead shortly before 3:25 p.m.  The preliminary cause of death is unknown pending an autopsy.

Decker was being held in the Sedgwick County Detention Facility on felony charges.

He had previous convictions for theft, robbery, aggravated sexual battery, indecent liberties with a child and criminal damage to property in Osage, Sedgwick and Ellsworth County.
The Sedgwick County Detention Facility has currently booked over 17,022 persons in 2017.  This is the third in-custody death for 2017.

Patient charged in fatal stabbing of Kansas psychiatrist

$
0
0

Dutt-photo Sedgwick Co.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A patient of a psychiatrist stabbed to death in the alley behind his holistic practice in Kansas has been charged with first-degree murder.

Twenty-one-year-old Umar Dutt made his first court appearance Monday in the Sept. 13 death of Achutha Reddy at the Holistic Psychiatry Services clinic in Wichita. He is being held on a $1 million bond.

His attorney Kurt Kerns says the case is complex and sad.

An attorney for Dutt’s family released a statement offering their condolences to the doctor’s family for their loss. Raj and Azra Dutt say their family has also suffered and will continue to suffer “the terrible toll and consequences of mental illness.”

His next court appearance is set for Oct. 3.


Young, Low-Income Kansans More Likely To Be Uninsured

$
0
0

BY JIM MCLEAN 

Low-income Kansans are less likely to have health insurance than their counterparts in other states, according to an analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The uninsured rate among Kansans living below the federal poverty level has been worse than the national rate for many years. But the gap has widened in recent years, mainly because of the state’s rejection of Medicaid expansion, said Robert St. Peter, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Kansas Health Institute.

In Kansas, younger or low-income adults are less likely to have health insurance than their counterparts in other states, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
COURTESY KANSAS HEALTH INSTITUTE

“Since 2014 when many states expanded Medicaid, which of course is targeted to low-income families, the gap between Kansas and the rest of the country has actually increased,” St. Peter said.

In 2014 — the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion — the national uninsured rate for families living below the poverty line was 21.3 percent, compared to 24.6 percent in Kansas. In 2016, the national rate dropped to 16 percent. The Kansas rate also declined, but only to 22 percent.

The 2016 poverty threshold was annual income of $11,880 for individuals and $24,300 for a family of four.

Efforts to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income families earning up to about a third more than the poverty level — $16,040 for an individual and $32,718 for a family of four — gained traction in the 2017 session of the Kansas Legislature. Lawmakers passed an expansion plan but failed by a few votes to override Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of the bill.

The recent failure by Republicans in the U.S. Congress to repeal the ACA has expansion supporters in Kansas gearing up for another attempt when the 2018 legislative session convenes in January.

The latest U.S. Census numbers show Kansans losing ground in other areas as well.

Prior to implementation of the ACA, young adults in Kansas were more likely to have health coverage than 19- to 25-year-olds across the country.

“Now, young adults in Kansas are slightly more likely to be uninsured than young adults in the rest of the country,” St. Peter said.

In 2009, the national uninsured rate for young adults stood at 31.7 percent, compared to 26.8 percent in Kansas. But Kansas lost its advantage in 2016 when the decline in its rate to 15.7 percent was exceed by a drop in the national rate to 14.1 percent.

“This isn’t unique to Kansas,” St. Peter said. “I think all of the states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are seeing similar trends.”

Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have expanded eligibility for their Medicaid programs. Kansas is among 19 states that haven’t.

Although rejection of Medicaid expansion is the main reason uninsured rates in Kansas and other non-expansion states are declining more slowly, there are other factors, St. Peter said, explaining that some states led by governors opposed to the ACA didn’t do as much as others to help people eligible for subsidies purchase insurance in the Obamacare marketplace.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks

Editor’s note: The Kansas Health Foundation, one of several regional health foundations that provide funding to the Kansas News Service, is also the primary funder of the Kansas Health Institute. 

Civil Air Patrol officer reinstated after saying Kan. Rep. should ‘swing from a tree’

$
0
0

State Representative 19th District- Stephanie Clayton

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A lieutenant colonel in the Kansas’ Civil Air Patrol who resigned his command after posting on Facebook that a state lawmaker should “swing from a tree” has chosen not to resume participation in the volunteer organization after being cleared to do so.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Col. Linette Lahan, commander of the Kansas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, says Jonathan Holder is “not active.”

The Civil Air Patrol conducts emergency searches. Holder had led a squadron at the based at the Kansas National Guard Armory in Emporia.

The dispute stems from a Facebook post saying that Republican Rep. Stephanie Clayton of Overland Park ought to die for introducing what he considers an unconstitutional bill to block carrying of concealed handguns on college campuses.

Officials await autopsy result after Kan. man dies in grain elevator accident

$
0
0

ADM elevator in Haskell County-google image

HASKELL COUNTY —Officials are waiting for autopsy results after the death of a Kansas man in a grain elevator accident.

Just after 3:30p.m. Thursday, the Haskell County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call that an employee was trapped in a grain elevator at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) facility, 1892 U.S. Highway 83 in Haskell County, according to a media release.

First responders determined that 2 ADM employees were in a grain silo trying to remove another employee who was entrapped in grain within the silo.  Efforts to remove the 25-year-old Javier Trejo, 25, Liberal, were unsuccessful.

Just after 6:00p.m. officials pronounced Trejo dead at the scene. An autopsy is going to be performed.

The Gray County Fire Department and Grant County Fire Departments assisted at the scene according to the sheriff’s department.

Kansas first responder hospitalized after crash on the way to a call

$
0
0

FORD COUNTY — A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 8:30p.m. Monday in Ford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Ford County Emergency Vehicle Dodge Ram 1500 driven by Robert Boyd, 52, Dodge City, was southbound on 113th Road at Comanche Road with lights and sirens on the way to a call.

The emergency vehicle was behind a 2006 GMC Yukon driven by Sarah M. Malloy, 38, Dodge City.

The emergency vehicle attempted to pass as the Yukon turned left in front of the Dodge sideswiping the vehicle.

Boyd was transported to Western Plains Medical Center. Malloy and a passenger in the GMC were not injured. All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

 

KBI: Convicted felon jailed for growing pot in Kansas community park

$
0
0

Location of the alleged marijuana grow operation

LABETTE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Labette County Sheriff’s Office, and the Chetopa Police Department arrested a Kansas man Monday evening for growing marijuana in a Chetopa city park.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Monday KBI agents, Labette County Sheriff’s deputies, and officers from the Chetopa Police Department arrested Joseph “Scott” Skibo, 54, of Chetopa, for cultivation of marijuana and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Skibo was allegedly cultivating marijuana on an island in Elmore Park. The park is located within the city limits of Chetopa, Kan. Skibo attempted to flee law enforcement in a boat, but was arrested without further incident.

Viewing all 10110 articles
Browse latest View live


<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>