This week’s sexual battery arrest of Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, who headed the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit, provided a rallying point for lawmakers, who said it’s an example of the failure to make progress.
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The president of Haskell Indian Nations University plans to resign soon to take another position in Oklahoma. The Lawrence Journal World reports that Chris Redman made the announcement Tuesday in a message to students, faculty and staff. In the memo, Redman said he’d be moving closer to his family after being offered a new position. Redman wrote that the “choice was difficult.” But he added that he’s been given a “great opportunity to continue to serve Indian Country in a new capacity.” The note included no additional details about Redman’s new job. Haskell spokesman Stephen Prue says…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Authorities have scheduled a news conference to discuss the killings of two Topeka police officers. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor plans to discuss the Dec. 16 deaths of Cpl. David Gogian and officer Jeff Atherly at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The two were shot to death while checking possible drug activity outside a Topeka supermarket. Their killer, David Tiscareno, 22, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers Dec. 17. The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office investigated the shooting because Atherly and Gogian were police officers. Also, a third officer in the grocery…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas House’s top Democrat says he doubts supporters of changing the process for selecting state Supreme Court justices can muster enough support to get a measure passed. House Minority Leader Paul Davis of Lawrence said Tuesday that any attempt at forging a compromise with his fellow Democrats or moderate Republicans is likely to cost votes from GOP conservatives who want a change. Under the process spelled out in the state constitution, a nominating commission screens applications for Supreme Court vacancies and names three finalists. The governor makes the appointment, with no role for legislators. Many GOP…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Highway Patrol has impounded three of the vehicles suspected of striking a woman who died after falling from a party bus. The Kansas City Star reports that Jamie Frecks, 26, died this weekend after tumbling onto Interstate 35 in Kansas City, Kan. Patrol spokesman Howard Dickinson says it’s likely that there were more than three vehicles that struck Frecks. The initial report suggested three hits. Troopers also have obtained warrants allowing them to conduct a full safety inspection on the 1999 Ford shuttle bus. The bus company’s website said it had been outfitted as…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita school officials say they are serving a record number of homeless students this year. As of Monday, educators and social workers said they had identified 2,251 homeless children attending the city’s public schools. That’s 518 more than last year. The Wichita Eagle reports that district officials say just under 50,000 students attend Wichita schools, meaning more than 4 percent of the city’s schoolchildren are homeless, Cynthia Martinez, who is in charge of finding homeless children in the Wichita district, says most of the homeless children are from working families, rather than from families on welfare. Many…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Court proceedings in the retrial of a Topeka man whose death penalty conviction was overturned will begin Thursday. A status conference for Phillip D. Cheatham Jr. is scheduled in Shawnee County District Court, with the focus on scheduling the upcoming trial. Cheatham was convicted in 2005 of capital murder in the deaths of Annette Roberson and Gloria Jones and wounding a third woman at a Topeka home in December 2003. The Kansas Supreme Court overturned his conviction in January, citing ineffective counsel from his attorney. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports prosecutors have 90 days to start Cheatham retrial…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita’s schools will be getting an upgraded security system. The Wichita School Board voted Monday night to approve a $3 million contract to improve the district’s surveillance system and other security upgrades. The board authorized the district to buy hardware, software, and services from Aventura Technologies. The company will also design and install a centralized surveillance system. The district’s current security system was installed nine years ago and uses analog cameras and dial-up modems. Superintendent John Allison says the system breaks down and is inefficient. The proposed upgrades would include high-definition cameras, new computers, and a centralized…
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) Johnson County authorities say a man charged in the death of a South Carolina pediatrician died in his jail cell. Master Deputy Tom Erickson says John Meredith Hodges, 45, was found unresponsive in the cell on Monday. Efforts to resuscitate him failed. Erickson says the death is being investigated as a suicide but released no other details. Hodges was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Franchesca D. Brown, 39, of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Brown’s body was found last September near an Overland Park hotel. She was in the city to attend a medical conference. Police…
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) Olathe police are waiting to learn whether one of the three bodies found in a neighboring county is that of a young mother reported missing along with her daughter. Sgt. Brad Caldwell said Tuesday that Kaylie Bailey, 21, and her 1 .5-year-old daughter, Lana Bailey, were last seen Wednesday. They were reported missing Friday. Caldwell says Olathe police have sent detectives to the Franklin County crime scene because of the open missing person case. Olathe police had provided the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department with an address to check Friday. But Caldwell declined to say whether it was…