KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A former student in Johnson County’s Blue Valley School District has refiled a lawsuit alleging students tormented him because they thought he was gay and staff failed to protect him. The plaintiff is seeking $75,000 in the sexual harassment lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. The case was first filed in 2010 and voluntarily dismissed in February. Blue Valley spokeswoman Kristi McNerlin says the district only learned of the lawsuit Thursday and doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The former student says he was harassed while in middle school and high school from…
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Kansas judge has ordered separate trials for a suburban Chicago couple accused of tying up and blindfolding two of their children outside a Walmart in Lawrence. Adolfo Gomez, 52, and his wife, Deborah Gomez, 44, both pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony child abuse and misdemeanor child endangerment. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Douglas County District Judge Paula Martin scheduled trials Oct. 22 for Deborah Gomez and Nov. 5 for her husband. A Walmart shopper called police June 13 after seeing a child blindfolded and bound near a vehicle in the store parking lot. Police have said Adolfo Gomez…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A judge will hear testimony on the legality of nearly $100,000 in future child support payments made by a former University of Kansas athletics official before he pleaded guilty in a ticket scam. Federal Magistrate Judge Kenneth Gale on Thursday scheduled an evidentiary hearing Sept. 25 in the case of former assistant athletics director Rodney Jones. He is serving a 46-month prison sentence in Oklahoma and will appear by telephone. Prosecutors have been pursuing assets from seven defendants who stole more than $2 million in Kansas football and basketball tickets. Jones made two transfers in 2010 from…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) The Salina Municipal Airport will be renamed the Salina Regional Airport. The city’s airport authority unanimously approved the name change on Wednesday. It will become effective in 30 days. Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina airport, says the new name more accurately reflects the role the airport has in the regional economy. Rogers said airport staff would start changing logos on letterheads, newsletters and publications as soon as possible. The Salina Journal reports signs will be changed when they are scheduled for maintenance. The airport authority also was notified Tuesday it will receive a $475,182 grant to…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) The outcome of a conservative Kansas House Democrat’s close primary race could depend upon provisional ballots being reviewed by local election officials. The Reno County Commission was meeting Thursday to certify election results, including those from the 102nd Kansas House District. The seat is now held by veteran Rep. Jan Pauls, a Hutchinson Democrat. Gay rights advocates have targeted Pauls because she’s backed legislation they believe would nullify local ordinances meant to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination. In unofficial results, Pauls led her primary opponent, Erich Bishop, also of Hutchinson, by only seven votes, 417 to…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Three snowy white baby owls rescued and raised at the Hutchinson Zoo are back in the wild. A Reno County resident found the owls three months ago when cutting down a tree. At the time, they were so small that zoo staff didn’t know what kind of owls they were. After being raised at the zoo’s rehabilitation center, the last of the three owls was released Wednesday. Zoo director Jana Durham says the three were among 10 owls rehabilitated at the zoo this year. She says she’s not sure why the zoo rehabilitated so many owls this…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The unofficial winner of the GOP primary for the 52nd House District is objecting to a special vote scheduled after hundreds of voters were given incorrect ballots at a Topeka polling place. Shanti Gandhi on Wednesday sent a letter to Secretary of State Kris Kobach objecting to the vote scheduled Aug. 28 for more than 400 voters at the Light of the World Christian Church. An election judge unintentionally distributed the incorrect ballots on Aug. 7. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports unofficial results gave Gandhi 1,476 votes, compared with 1,431 for Dick Jones and 1,114 for Scott Hesse.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A former Topeka Correctional Facility officer who had sex with inmates has been ordered to pay $750,000 to one of the inmates. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Rogers ordered the fine against former guard Nathan Van Dyke. Under a plea agreement in 2010, Van Dyke was found guilty on two counts of improper sexual conduct with female prison inmates. He received probation. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Van Dyke didn’t respond to a lawsuit filed against him by John Kurtz, an attorney representing former inmate Rebecca Fleetwood. Court records indicate Rogers signed an order Monday entering the civil…
BURLINGTON, Kan. (AP) Law enforcement officers chased a semitrailer truck through four counties before the driver finally stopped. No one was injured in the low-speed chase, which lasted nearly two hours Wednesday evening. The chase began in Franklin County, where the sheriff’s office got a call around 8 p.m. about a semitrailer driving erratically after leaving Douglas County on U.S. Highway 59. The Lawrence Journal-World reports spike strips were laid down as the truck entered Osage County and again as the truck entered Coffey County. The truck eventually stopped in Coffey County around 10 p.m. Franklin County Sheriff’s Office spokesman…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The 27-year-old man accused of firing a shot at a security guard at a Wichita store is charged with four counts of aggravated assault. Jake Jacobs was charged Wednesday, two days after he shot at the guard and pointed his gun at three other people at a Burlington Coat Factory store. The guard and customers were not injured. Jacobs is being held on $100,000 bond. His attorney, Mark Schoenhofer, filed a request to have the bond reduced so Jacobs can be treated for a broken jaw and teeth he suffered when he was arrested The Wichita Eagle reports…