U.S. 2nd District Representative Lynn Jenkins joined Cathy Dawes on In Focus recently for an update on Congress.
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A third man has been sentenced to life in prison in the shooting death of a 13-year-old Wichita boy on Father’s Day. Eli Betancourt will have to serve nearly 26 years before he can face a parole board under the sentence imposed Friday in Sedgwick County District Court. The 21-year-old was convicted in May of first-degree murder in the June 2010 death of Miguel Angel Andrade Martinez. The middle school student was shot multiple times when he opened his front door after hearing sounds outside. Prosecutors called the shooting an apparent mistake by men who fired on…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Police say an officer shot and critically wounded a woman because she was going after another woman with a knife. The Wichita Eagle said the shooting happened Friday night. Police Lt. Ken Landwehr said a 53-year woman pulled out a lockblade knife while four officers were trying to restrain the other woman. The woman with the knife cut the other woman’s blouse and undergarments. Landwehr said one of the officers was between the two women when the 53-year-old started to go after the younger woman again. That’s when the officer shot the 53-year-old once. The younger woman…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The top Republican leaders in both the Kansas House and Senate face criticism from their political right. Senate President Steve Morris is a target of small-government, anti-tax conservatives who’d like to oust him from his seat in the GOP primary in August. The Hugoton Republican faces dissention among GOP senators for creating a special study group on tax issues a move some interpret as trying to stall Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s income tax plan. House Speaker Mike O’Neal seems an unlikely target of criticism from the right because he’s established conservative credentials. But after the Hutchinson Republican…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A former Barber County public works director doesn’t want potential employers to know about federal charges accusing him of stealing vehicles and money from his previous employer. Steven Collier of Nashville, Kan., asked a judge Friday to remove a condition of his pretrial release that calls for his probation officer to make sure Collier’s supervisors know about the pending federal case. Collier and his wife, Diana Collier of Medicine Lodge, were charged in November in an 11-count indictment with theft, interstate transportation of stolen property and sale of stolen property including trucks, a bulldozer, a tractor and…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been trying to gauge public understanding in Salina about a site at the former Schilling Air Force base that may be contaminated from chemical warfare training decades ago. Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority, where the site is located, said the investigation is separate from negotiations over groundwater contamination at the former base, which closed in the 1960s. A Corps of Engineers contractor surveyed area officials recently to determine their interest in and knowledge of the site and its potential contamination from two types of chemicals used…
MCPHERSON, Kan. (AP) Three Schuyler, Neb., residents are dead and two others were in critical condition after their SUV went off Interstate 135 north of McPherson and rolled several times. The patrol says 45-year-old Martha Medina, 36-year-old Adrian Quezada and 10-year-old Daisy Medina Quezada were killed in the crash around 11:10 a.m. Saturday. Wesley Medical Center in Wichita said Sunday afternoon that 26-year-old Augustina Medina and 4-year-old Natalie Medina were in critical condition, while 1-year-old Daniel Medina was in fair condition. A seventh person, 48-year-old Luis Medina, was not listed as a patient. Officials say the driver, Luis Medina, was…
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) Riley County Republicans will meet later this month to fill an upcoming vacancy in the Kansas House. Susan Mosier, a first-term Republican from Manhattan, is leaving the House to become director of the Medicaid program in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Her resignation takes effect Feb. 1. The Manhattan Mercury reports that precinct committee members in the 67th House District will meet the evening of Jan. 30 to pick Mosier’s replacement. The district includes western and southern portions of Manhattan and contiguous rural areas. Riley County Republican chairwoman Barbara VanSlyke has said one requirement for…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A House panel has scheduled testimony from military leaders, veterans’ organizations and health care providers to discuss the mental health needs of soldiers and veterans. The House Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee will hear the testimony Tuesday. The meeting will include a review of an interim report prepared by the Joint Committee on Kansas Security on veterans’ issues. Scheduled to speak to the committee are Sheli Sweeney of the Kansas Association of Community Mental Health Centers, Robbin Cole of Pawnee Mental Health Services, Laura Snow of the Veteran’s Administration Eastern Kansas Health Care System in Topeka…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing that Kansas create a special fund to help cover the costs of recovering from natural disasters. The measure is part of the budget Brownback has outlined for the fiscal year beginning July 1. He wants the state to set aside $12 million for disaster relief. The money would come from taxes that insurance companies already pay on the value of the premiums they charge in Kansas. The state expects to collect $139 million in premium taxes during the next fiscal year. Brownback’s budget notes that Kansas incurred nearly $109 million in costs…