KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The owner of two Chinese restaurants in Kansas and Missouri has been charged with harboring immigrant workers who were in the country illegally. A criminal complaint filed Wednesday in federal court names Wei Liu, owner of Wei’s Super Buffet restaurants in Olathe, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. Liu made a first appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court on charges of knowingly employing, transporting and housing workers in the country unlawfully. His wife and four other people are also charged. Court records do not indicate any attorneys. A federal investigator says agents began surveillance in 2011, checking…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A driver has been charged in a Wichita hit-and-run crash that killed a man on horseback and injured a boy riding with him. George Childers, 26, is charged in Sedgwick County with two felony counts of failure to stop at an accident and one misdemeanor count of the same violation. The Sedgwick County prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that Childers has requested a public defender. Prosecutors allege Childers was driving a car that struck a horse carrying Lloyd Ferguson, 49, and Eddie Caddell, 6, the night of July 5. Ferguson died, and the boy is recovering in a Nebraska rehabilitation hospital.…
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) Four people are hospitalized in northeast Kansas for carbon monoxide poisoning that authorities blame on a car left running inside a closed garage. The fire department in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park says two adults and two children were taken from a home around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Two people were reported in critical condition and two in serious condition. A passer-by noticed a sick teenager in the home’s front yard. Emergency responders found the other three people inside the house. Family members said the car was accidentally left running Tuesday night inside the garage…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) At the request of top law enforcement officials, Topeka leaders are considering changing a decision to allow loaded guns in vehicles. Luther Ganienany Jr., the city’s chief of prosecution, told city leaders Tuesday that motorists would still be allowed to have guns in their cars but the weapons would have to be unloaded and put away. Exceptions would be made for law officers and concealed-carry permit holders. He says the change would make Topeka streets safer for motorists and police officers. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Police Chief Ron Miller originally supported allowing loaded guns but he says…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The brother-in-law of a Topeka woman was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison for his role in her death. Gabino Alcala, 20, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years and eight months for the October 2012 death of Ashley Alcala at her home. He was also ordered to pay nearly $40,500 in restitution to Ashley Alcala’s mother. Ashley Alcala’s husband, Manuel Alcala, previously was sentenced to life in prison for shooting his wife. Gabino and Manuel Alcala’s mother, Manuela Alcala, is serving two years and six months in prison for obstruction and other…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The brother-in-law of a Topeka woman was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison for his role in her death. Gabino Alcala, 20, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years and eight months for the October 2012 death of Ashley Alcala at her home. He was also ordered to pay nearly $40,500 in restitution to Ashley Alcala’s mother. Ashley Alcala’s husband, Manuel Alcala, previously was sentenced to life in prison for shooting his wife. Gabino and Manuel Alcala’s mother, Manuela Alcala, is serving two years and six months in prison for obstruction and other…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita might someday be named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Wichita city council members agreed on Tuesday to create an advisory committee to study renaming the city’s airport. The council received petitions last month suggesting that the airport be named after Eisenhower, who grew up in Abilene. KFDI reports the city’s director of airports, Victor White, reported renaming the airport could cost up to $728,000 in required, deferred and optional branding. The first immediate cost would be about $140,000 to change highway signs around the area. Other required sign changes could raise that…
STAFFORD, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Highway Patrol says a Wichita tow truck driver died when he was hit by a vehicle that then fled the scene. The patrol says Christopher Burton-Scott, 39, was hit Tuesday evening just west of Stafford. He was securing a tour bus to his tow truck at the time. The patrol is asking anyone with information in the case to call 316-744-0451.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Legislators are getting a lesson in the Kansas school finance formula as they open two days of hearings reviewing how public education is funded. The meetings Wednesday and Thursday by a special education committee started with a primer on how the state’s formula distributes more than $3 billion in state aid to 286 school districts. Discussions later in the day will look at student achievement. The committee is led by Republican Kasha Kelley, chairwoman of the House Education Committee, and Republican Sen. Steve Abrams, a former State Board of Education member. Legislators will revisit school funding in…
MULVANE, Kan. (AP) A Kansas group is planning to use a billboard campaign to push for legalizing marijuana in the state. Fire It Up Kansas says the ad on a digital billboard near the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane is the first it plans to put up across the state in coming weeks. KSNW-TV reports the ad demands that the Legislature legalize, tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. This has been done to great effect in other states. One of these is California, where a whole new tax-paying and regulated industry has risen. With it comes a domino effect…