ELLSWORTH, Kan. (AP) A new minimum-security unit is set to open at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility. Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts will be among those attending the grand opening Friday at the Ellsworth prison’s east unit. It will house 95 minimum security inmates. The unit will be in the former St. Francis Academy Ellsworth. The state bought the building this summer for about $350,000. Prison spokesman Todd Britton says the state put another $100,000 in renovations into the building. Sixty-eight inmates will be moved into the unit on Tuesday.
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Topeka man was sentenced to life in prison for fleeing from police and causing an accident that killed one man and injured several others. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Shawnee County Judge David Debenham will recommend that 34-year-old Kody Shane Godfrey serve his sentence at Larned State Hospital. Godfrey, who suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was sentenced for felony first-degree murder and other charges. Topeka police say Godfrey hit three cars at a Topeka intersection last November, killing 22-year-old Jordan Dodgen of Shawnee. Godfrey sped off when an officer tried to make a routine traffic stop. The pursuit…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Topeka man will serve 15 consecutive weekends in jail for killing a whitetail buck that would have set a state record if it had been hunted legally. David Kent was sentenced Thursday to 30 days in jail, to be served on weekends, and $1,500 in fines. He also was ordered to pay $8,000 in restitution to the landowner in Osage County where he shot the deer in November 2011. He also lost his hunting privileges for five years. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Kent claimed he shot the 14-point buck in Nemaha County while legally hunting during…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Kansas schools are about to get some help confronting bullying. University of Kansas psychology professor Robert Harrington is creating a certificate program to help schools address the problem. The program will be available online for educators across the state. Kansas is not among the 33 states with statewide policies on school bullying. Instead, districts adopt their own. Harrington analyzed about half of the Kansas policies. Harrington found none included language on when parents should be notified of bullying. Also, very few involved training for teachers or parents on how to handle bullying. The program will show teachers…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The legal fight over an air quality permit for a coal-fired power plant to be built in southwestern Kansas is going before the state Supreme Court. The court was scheduled to hear arguments Friday over the permit for Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s plant near Holcomb. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups contend the permitting process was flawed. They argue the Kansas Department of Health and Environment took shortcuts for political reasons. Attorneys for Hays-based Sunflower and the state will argue the permit process relied on the best available scientific data, assuming the plant would use modern…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A beetle that has killed millions of ash trees in the eastern U.S. and parts of the South has now been detected in Kansas. The Kansas Department of Agriculture said Thursday a live emerald ash borer was found in a tree in Wyandotte County. Trees there were being inspected after the presence of emerald ash borer was found last month in nearby Platte County, Mo. The U.S. Department of Agriculture notified Kansas of the confirmation Wednesday. Kansas has imposed an emergency 90-quarantine in Wyandotte County in hope keeping the insect from spreading in the state. All…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita man who admitted stealing copper from dozens of air conditioning units won’t be going to jail. KAKE-TV reports Byron Stuckey (41) was sentenced Thursday to a year in prison, but the judge suspended the sentence to 12 months of probation. Stuckey was arrested by Wichita police in July, allegedly while trying to steal an air conditioner from a vacant home. He pleaded guilty in Sedgwick County District Court to one count each of felony theft and trying to elude officers. Police have said they believe Stuckey vandalized or stole 68 air conditioners from homes and churches…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) General Motors is planning a major expansion at its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan. Unified Government officials said the company plans to seek $120 million in industrial revenue bonds to fund a new paint shop at the plant, where the Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Malibu are assembled. Mayor Joe Reardon says the project would be the largest expansion at the plant since it was built. He says the plans could ensure Fairfax’s future for years. That’s good news for the more than 3,700 employees at the plant. The Kansas City Star reports a GM…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A group of senators used a confirmation hearing as a chance to raise their concerns about the level of support for funding the Kansas public defender system. The Topeka Capital Journal reports questions were raised Wednesday during hearings to confirm appointments by Gov. Sam Brownback to various state agency positions. Among them were Paul Eugene Beck and Kevin Mark Smith, who were named to the Board of Indigent Defense. Sen. Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican, asked the pair if they would be willing to press Brownback for funding to keep the public defenders’ office functioning. Beck…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The U.S. Census Bureau says more Kansans under the age of 65 are living without health insurance. The bureau issued a report Wednesday showing that more than 380,000 Kansas residents under age 65 did not have health insurance in 2010. That’s 15.8 percent of that age group, an increase from 14.6 percent in 2009. The Wichita Eagle reports that the census for the first time estimated health coverage for people between ages 50 to 64, who are more likely to use health insurance than younger age groups. In 2010, about 60,800 people ages 50 to 64, or…