WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita woman says she feels sorry for whoever stole an aluminum wheelchair ramp from outside her ground-floor apartment. KWCH-TV reports the theft happened in late November but wasn’t reported until Monday, when a caretaker noticed the ramp was missing from outside a sliding glass door. Brenda Stoneley, 62, has multiple sclerosis and spends most of her time in a motorized wheelchair. She says the ramp had cost her $450, about two-thirds of her monthly income. Police believe the ramp was taken to be sold as scrap metal. Stoneley says she was angry at first, but now…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A 22-year-old man has yet to be charged in connection with the deaths of a southeast Kansas mother and her three children a week after being jailed. The Kansas attorney general’s office declined to say Tuesday what charges it was contemplating against David Cornell Bennett Jr., of Cherryvale. Labette County District Judge Robert Fleming set a Dec. 10 deadline for filing charges, and Bennett has a court appearance scheduled that day. Fleming last week found probable cause to hold Bennett over the deaths of Cami Umbarger, 29, and her children. Their bodies were found in their Parsons…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Topeka police say a fourth victim has died from gunshot wounds suffered in two related shootings over the weekend. Police spokeswoman Kristen Veverka says Carla Jean Avery, 45, died Tuesday at a hospital where she was taken Sunday after being found with a gunshot wound behind a restaurant. The investigation of that shooting led to Avery’s home a half-mile away, where two men and a woman were also found shot to death. Authorities have released few details about the shootings, which Veverka described as the first quadruple homicide in Topeka’s history. The victims in Avery’s home were…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A 50-year-old Texas man has been sentenced in Kansas to 21 months in federal prison for cattle fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s office says William P. Cadle, of DeKalb, Texas, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Wichita, where he pleaded guilty earlier to one count each of loan fraud and criminal conversion. Cadle admitted defrauding First National Bank in Independence, Kan., in February 2012 by lying on a loan application about the number of cattle he owned as collateral. He also claimed to have bought Angus cattle with a Farm Service Agency loan. Those cattle had actually…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A surge in demand for roofing permits that began in Hutchinson after a July 23 hailstorm appears to be coming to an end. Nearly 2,000 new roofs, with a value of just under $24 million, have been installed since the hailstorm. The city issued an average of 110 roofing permits a week, with an average value of $1.3 million. Last week, 21 permits for new roofs valued at $117,783 were issued, the lowest numbers during the 18-week period and the third straight weekly decline, The Hutchinson News reported.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Thieves who hit a Wichita store apparently knew their liquor. Wichita police say the thieves took close to $3,400 in liquor during a break-in overnight Sunday at the Adams Liquor Store. The store owners say the thieves took the most expensive alcohol, including vodka and cognac, all from one spot. They took every size bottle on the shelf and were out the store quickly. One of the owners, Adam Syslunthrn, told KWCH-TV the thieves grabbed about 40 bottles. He says police arrived within five minutes of the alarm going off and the thieves were already gone. Wichita…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) University of Kansas police are looking for a man who reportedly tried to lure a 9-year-old boy into his car on the university campus. Police say the boy was on his way home Monday when the man tried to talk him into getting into the vehicle. The boy ran home and told his parents. The man is described as a black male with possibly braided hair and a “short to medium size” beard. The only information on the vehicle is that it was large and brown. University police say the incident occurred close to Allen Fieldhouse.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A council advising Gov. Sam Brownback on the Kansas economy is meeting this week to discuss the importance of housing to economic growth. Wednesday afternoon’s meeting of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors in Topeka will include a discussion of housing needs in rural communities. After a discussion among business leaders and officials, the council is scheduled to hear a presentation from the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. The corporation is the primary administrator for federal housing programs in Kansas and is overseen by a board appointed by the governor. The council also plans to review data about…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A former northwest Kansas wastewater treatment superintendent has been sentenced to a year of probation and a $2,500 fine for violating the federal Clean Water Act. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says Charles Blair, 58, of Hays pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of negligent discharge of a pollutant and was sentenced Monday in federal court in Wichita. Blair admitted in his plea that in February 2012, he allowed effluent to be discharged from the Hays treatment plant with an ammonia nitrogen level exceeding state and federal regulations. Blair, who retired last year, was initially charged in a…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Douglas County commissioners will hear a presentation about the impact of changes taking effect next year in the National Flood Insurance Program. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the changes could affect the premiums paid by some property owners in the northeast Kansas county. Douglas County commissioners will hear the presentation Wednesday from the regional office of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The changes are the result of a new federal law known as the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The flood insurance program offers coverage to communities that agree to adopt and enforce certain flood plain…