LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Lawrence officer says a 7-year-old girl found bound at a Walmart told him she was hitting her siblings and asked to be tied up. Officer James Miller testified Friday about his conversation with the girl during a preliminary hearing for the girl’s parents, Adolfo and Deborah Gomez. The suburban Chicago couple was arrested in June after the 7-year-old and her bound 5-year-old brother were found outside the family’s vehicle. Three older children weren’t restrained. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that another officer, Charles Stewart, testified that the 5-year-old said Adolfo Gomez told the boy not to take…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is warning Kansas residents against lighting outdoor fires because of the state’s ongoing severe drought. Brownback spoke at a meeting Friday on responding to what he describes as a historic drought. All 105 counties are now covered by a drought disaster declaration, and most have imposed burn bans. Brownback says the conditions are so dry that any outdoor burning could set off a widespread blaze. Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli and Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman were also at the meeting, where Brownback announced a new website providing information on the drought.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A junior at Topeka High School is on a mission to make school a more pleasant place for special education students. Jack Hishmeh recruited fellow students and adults to help paint the special education room this week. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that’s the latest project Hishmeh began to befriend the nearly 20 special education students at the high school. Last year, he formed a group called “Lunch Buddies,” who lunched with special education students in the cafeteria. Previously, the students rarely left the room set aside for them, not even for lunch. Lunch Buddies eventually became “Special…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Federal prosecutors are questioning child support payments of nearly $100,000 that a former University of Kansas employee made before pleading guilty in a ticket scheme. Prosecutors have been pursuing assets of former assistant athletics director Rodney Jones and other defendants who pleaded guilty last year to stealing more than $2 million in football and basketball tickets from the university. Jones is serving a 46-month prison sentence. His personal take from the ticket scheme was believed to be $359,000. The Lawrence Journal World reports that the U.S. Attorney’s office says in court documents that about $100,000 in child…
BALDWIN CITY, Kan. (AP) Baldwin City officials are negotiating to bring a dinner train to town from Nebraska. The Baldwin City Council this week gave City Administrator Chris Lowe authority to discuss incentives the city might provide to move the Fremont Dinner Train to Midland Railway. The council was told the cost of moving the dinner train to Baldwin City would be about $220,000. The owners have secured all but $25,000. Bruce Eveland, manager of the dinner train, says it draws 8,000 to 9,000 riders a year to Fremont, Neb. He says more than twice as many people live in…
MULVANE, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane is looking for 400 more workers as it prepares to open a permanent casino and hotel. The casino’s general manager, Scott Cooper, says 80 to 85 percent of the jobs will be full-time positions. The casino currently has 600 employees. The jobs will include 40 dealers and 150 food and beverage workers, along with various other positions such as housekeeping, office staff and security. The Wichita Eagle reports Cooper says the permanent casino and hotel is likely to open before the end of the year. The current casino is housed in…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says a body found near Salina is that of a man believed to be a homicide victim. Fingerprint tests confirmed the body found Wednesday evening in Lincoln County was 37-year-old Jeffrey B. Powell, who had been missing since July 31. The Salina Journal reports Sheriff Glen Kochanowski declined to release details of where the body was found or a possible cause of death. A 29-year-old man was arrested Aug. 2 and is being held on a second-degree murder charge in Powell’s death. Authorities believe Powell was killed the day he went missing.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Two Kansas law enforcement agencies are receiving more than $550,000 in federal grants to help reduce backlogs in testing DNA samples. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says the Kansas Bureau of Investigation will receive about $319,000 from the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Justice. Johnson County will receive slightly more than $247,000 from the same entities. Grissom says the demand for DNA testing is growing faster than crime labs can process the requests. He says the grants announced Thursday are intended to help state and local governments reduce DNA backlogs and sample turnaround time.…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A general aviation industry group says airplane shipments and billings rose in the first half of 2012 amid signs of stability and growth. The new report from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association shows airplane shipments up 5.9 percent, with 918 planes delivered in the first half the year. The value of those deliveries rose 13.2 percent, to $8.2 billion. GAMA president Pete Bunce says those figures, combined with positive trends in the used airplane market, may signal the start of the industry’s recovery. But he says more work must be done to improve the efficiency of the…
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration holds a forum next week to tout newly enacted income tax cuts, and the economist whose work inspired them is expected to attend. The forum takes place Tuesday afternoon at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park. It’s billed as a chance for business owners to learn how the tax cuts will benefit them. Scheduled speakers include Arthur Laffer, who advised President Ronald Reagan. Laffer had a $75,000 contract with the Brownback administration to help develop tax policy. The Kansas cuts will reduce individual income tax rates for 2013 and exempt…