WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department on Aging is cautioning clients that some of their personal and health information may have been breached. The agency says paper files, a flash drive and a laptop computer were stolen Jan. 12 from a locked vehicle used by a department employee in Wichita. The files contained information mainly on department clients in Sedgwick, Harvey and Butler counties. None of the items had been recovered by Thursday afternoon, and the agency says there’s no sign the stolen information had been misused. The Department on Aging says no banking or driver’s license information was involved.…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A man accused of collecting life insurance payouts in numerous deaths is now charged with premeditated murder in the 2003 death of a Kansas woman initially investigated as an accidental drowning. Daniel U. Perez appeared via video hookup Thursday in Sedgwick County District Court on 39 charges, including the death of Patricia Hughes at a home in Valley Center. The complaint unsealed Thursday charges the 52-year-old defendant with multiple counts of rape and sodomy involving three victims. He’s also charged with aggravated assault, making false statements to obtain auto credit, sexual exploitation of a child and making…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Two ministers have delivered an Internet-based petition with 34,000 names urging Speaker Mike O’Neal to resign from the Kansas House. The petition protests his forwarding of an email earlier this month to colleagues about President Barack Obama. The email cites a Bible verse that begins, “Let his days be few.” An aide says O’Neal doesn’t intend to resign. Senior Pastor Tobias Schlingensiepen of Topeka’s First Congregational Church and the Rev. Jim McCollough of the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice delivered the petition Thursday to O’Neal’s office. They say it’s unacceptable to use Scripture to advocate a…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Museum of History is planning a full day of activities Jan. 27 to mark the 151st anniversary of the state’s admission to the union. The Kansas State Historical Society says events at the museum in west Topeka will be geared to schoolchildren and the general public. The state’s birthday is actually two days after the events, Jan. 29, a Sunday. Kansas became a state in 1861, on the eve of the nation’s Civil War. The historical society says events will include music and a scavenger hunt. Historical demonstrations will help visitors make rope, weave on…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) House Speaker Mike O’Neal and fellow Republican leaders are developing their own ideas for how Kansas should revamp its tax code this legislative session. O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, is scheduled to share some of those ideas Friday during his weekly gathering with reporters. Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing to lower the individual income tax rates for most Kansas residents and for some classes of businesses. The Republican governor’s plan eliminates most itemized deductions and exemptions, including a tax credit for the working poor. Critics say the plan hurts the poor to help upper-income earners. But Brownback is…
GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) A man charged with killing a 14-year-old Great Bend girl wants his trial moved out of Barton County. The Hutchinson News reports that lawyers for 37-year-old Adam Longoria filed a motion this week for a change of venue. Longoria is scheduled to go on trial March 26 on charges of capital murder and sexual crimes for the August 2010 death of Alicia DeBolt. The girl’s charred body was found at an asphalt plant near Great Bend where Longoria worked. Prosecutors have decided against seeking the death penalty, although the capital murder charge remains. Longoria would face…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A family claims in a lawsuit that an 87-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at a Lawrence retirement center. The lawsuit against Brandon Woods at Alvamar claims that Jean S. Allen was assaulted October 2010 in her room. It also alleges that the center’s staff tried to conceal the crime from authorities, Allen’s family and medical personnel. Jeffrey Merritt, executive director of the center, denied the claims Thursday and said the company would fight the claims in court. Bill Skepnek, an attorney for the family, says Allen was nearly immobile when the alleged attack occurred. She had been…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A federal appeals panel has heard arguments about the legal battle over the route for the South Lawrence Trafficway. Attorneys for the federal government, the Kansas Department of Transportation and groups opposed to the unfinished trafficway project argued Thursday in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The main point of contention is whether the road should be run through the Baker Wetlands. A federal ruling in 2010 said the route through the wetlands was legal. Bob Eye, an attorney for opponents, said the project needs a new route. Lawyers for KDOT and the Federal Highway…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing that legislator repeal 51 Kansas statutes and regulations that have been determined by the administration to be unnecessary. The list released Friday includes regulations covering agriculture, property appraisal, corrections, state agency organization, state labor agency authority and county office administration. The specifics will be discussed at news conference later Friday. The Republican governor last year gave Department of Administration Secretary Dennis Taylor the task of identifying rules, regulations and laws that were considered impediments to improving the economy or reducing state government. The governor created the Office of the Repealer in 2011.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Republican leaders in the Kansas House leaders have developed a tax plan that keeps key elements of GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s income tax proposal but adds a sales tax decrease. House Speaker Mike O’Neal said Friday that the plan supports the general goals of Brownback’s administration to decrease individual income tax rates and help 191,000 business operators. The plan also keeps a much-criticized proposal from Brownback to eliminate a tax credit for poor workers and their families while putting more money into social services. But the House GOP’s plan would decrease the state sales tax from 6.3…