TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has nominated interim labor secretary Lana Gordon to become the permanent head of the Kansas Department of Labor. Brownback announced the nomination Friday. The appointment requires confirmation by the state Senate. Gordon, a Republican, became interim secretary in September, when Brownback abruptly removed Karin Brownlee from the post without comment. The Republican governor says Gordon has done a “great job” while focusing on finding fraud and abuse within the unemployment system and improving the process of filing for jobless benefits. Gordon, of Topeka, served 12 years in the Kansas House but decided last year…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas Senate leader is preparing legislation to require drug testing for people who receive cash assistance from the state. Senate Vice President Jeff King said Friday his proposal would also deny unemployment benefits to people who fail drug tests they take when seeking new jobs. King, of Independence, said he expects to have a bill drafted within two weeks. The drug-testing requirement would apply to adults who receive cash benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The proposal would also require prospective employers to tell the state Department of Labor when a job-seeker who’s…
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) Two people have been charged in the shooting death of a northeast Kansas man. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports 22-year-old Lloyd Alan Wabaunsee, of Mayetta, and 22-year-old Desiree Shopteese, of Topeka, are charged with intentional second-degree murder. They’re accused in the Jan. 10 killing of 29-year-old Kevin Stanley in Mayetta. Jackson County Attorney Shawna Miller disclosed Friday that Wabaunsee was charged Jan. 11 and Shopteese on Monday. Both are in custody in Iowa. Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse says the suspects were captured late Thursday in Urbandale, Iowa, after they were found hiding in the trunk of a…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The American Civil Liberties Union has dropped its legal challenge to a Kansas law restricting private health insurance coverage for abortions. A court filing Friday shows the parties have agreed to dismiss all remaining claims. The agreement follows a federal judge’s Jan. 7 ruling that the ACLU failed to prove that the Legislature’s chief goal in passing the 2011 law was to impede access to abortions. The Kansas law prohibits private insurance companies from offering coverage for abortions in their general plans except for when a woman’s life is in danger. Kansas residents or employers who want…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police are investigating the death of a newborn girl who was left in a trash bin at a shopping center. Officers found the body around 11 p.m. Wednesday in trash at the Eastgate Shopping Mall. Police said Friday they were alerted by staff at a hospital where a 17-year-old girl was admitted earlier in the week. The teen had severe hemorrhaging, and hospital staff said the teen admitted giving birth sometime in the previous week. KAKE-TV reports investigators are not sure if the newborn girl was alive when someone took her to the mall and placed…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita State University has hired a media historian to lead the Elliott School of Communication. The university announced Friday that Matthew Cecil will begin work as the school’s director on June 30. Cecil is currently an associate professor at South Dakota State University’s department of journalism and mass communication. Cecil will succeed Lou Heldman, who has served as the school’s interim director since 2011. The new director will oversee 30 faculty and staff members and courses for more than 2,000 students at the university’s communications school. The university said Cecil is the author of a forthcoming book,…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing to cut the budget of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission by 9.3 percent. The commission’s executive director, Carol Williams, says the $65,000 cut would prevent the agency from doing random, in-depth audits of candidates or political groups. Williams said Friday the commission has held one of its two auditing positions vacant for more than a year, anticipating that its budget could decrease. Brownback is proposing to reduce the commission’s budget to about $632,000 in the fiscal year that starts July 1. His recommendation would cost the agency a full-time employee, leaving it…
BALDWIN CITY, Kan. (AP) An 8-year-old northeast Kansas girl with a history of health problems apparently drowned while bathing in what authorities believe was an accident. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the girl was found unconscious just before 10 p.m. Thursday at a home east of Baldwin City. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Lawrence. Sheriff’s officials say a neighbor and emergency responders unsuccessfully performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the girl. The girl lived with her grandparents. Her name was not being released until relatives could be notified.
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) A 28-year-old Dodge City man has been arrested in the 2008 death of his girlfriend’s daughter. The Dodge City Globe reports that Brock W. Cunningham was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and one count of felony child abuse in the death of 3-year-old Natalie Pickle. The child was severely injured in Dodge City on Nov. 19, 2008, and died the next day at a Wichita hospital. The child was in Cunningham’s care while her mother was at work. The case has remained open since authorities ruled the child’s death a homicide in December 2008. Ford County…
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) Two people wanted for questioning in a northeast Kansas homicide were arrested after being found in a car trunk in Iowa. Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse says a man and woman were captured Thursday evening in Urbandale, Iowa. Details of their arrest were not immediately available. They are suspects in the January 10 death of 29-year-old Kevin Stanley at his home in Mayetta. The female suspect was the former fiancie of David Tiscareno, who shot and killed two Topeka police officers Dec. 16 and was shot to death the next day. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a…