ReportWire

Tag: Kansas

  • Kansas school employee locked teen with Down syndrome in closet, storage cage, lawsuit says

    Kansas school employee locked teen with Down syndrome in closet, storage cage, lawsuit says

    A paraeducator of a rural Kansas school district repeatedly shoved a teenager with Down syndrome into a utility closet, hit the boy and once photographed him locked in a cage used to store athletic equipment, a lawsuit claims.

    The suit filed Friday in federal court said the paraprofessional assigned to the 15-year-old sent the photo to staff in the Kaw Valley district, comparing the teen to an animal and “making light of his serious, demeaning and discriminatory conduct.”

    The teen’s parents alleged in the suit that the paraprofessional did not have a key to the cage where sports equipment was kept and had to enlist help from other district staff to open the door and release their son, who is identified in the complaint only by his initials. The suit, which includes the photo, said it was not clear how long the teen was locked in the cage.

    The lawsuit names the paraprofessional, other special education staff and the district, which enrolls around 1,100 and is based in St. Marys, about 30 miles northwest of Topeka.

    No attorneys are listed for the district in online court records and phone messages and emails left with district staff were not immediately returned.

    Placed in a closet and cage

    The suit said the teen’s placement in the closet and cage stemmed from “no behaviors whatsoever, or for minor behaviors” that stemmed from his disability.

    The paraprofessional also is accused in the suit of yelling derogatory words within inches of the teen’s face on a daily basis and pulling and yanking the teen by the shirt collar around the school at least once a week.

    At least once, the paraprofessional struck the teen in the neck and face, the suit said. The teen who speaks in short, abbreviated sentences, described the incident using the words “hit,” “closet” and the paraprofessional’s first name.

    The suit said the paraprofessional also made the teen stay in soiled clothing for long periods and denied him food during lunchtime.

    The suit said some staff expressed concerns to the special education teacher who oversaw the paraprofessional, as well as the district’s special education director. But the suit said neither of them intervened, even though there had been other complaints about the paraprofessional’s treatment of disabled students in the past.

    The suit said the defendants described their treatment of the teen as “tough love” and “how you have to handle him.”

    The suit said the director instructed subordinates not to report their concerns to the state child welfare agency. However, when the parents raised concerns, a district employee reported them to the agency, citing abuse and neglect concerns, the suit said.

    No criminal charges are listed in online court records for the paraprofessional or any of the employees named in the suit. And no disciplinary actions are listed for staff in a state education department database.

    The suit said the teen’s behavior deteriorated. The suit said he refuses to leave his home out of fear, quit using his words and increasingly punches himself in the head.

    Source link

  • Ex-police chief who led raid on Kansas newspaper charged with obstruction of justice

    Ex-police chief who led raid on Kansas newspaper charged with obstruction of justice

    The former Kansas police chief who last year led a raid on a local newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice, for allegedly persuading a potential witness to withhold information from investigators who at the time were pursuing a probe into the ex-chief’s own conduct.

    Gideon Cody resigned from his position at the Marion Police Department in September 2023, less than two months after he spearheaded the beginnings of a criminal inquiry into the staff of a weekly newspaper, the Marion County Record, accusing them of committing identity theft, or a similar computer crime, for how they obtained reporting for a story that was never ultimately written. He’s faced a slew of of federal lawsuits since then over his conduct and the motivations behind it, which also sparked national criticism and conversations about journalistic rights and freedom of press in the U.S.

    The criminal charge for obstruction of justice was filed Monday in Marion County District Court, shortly after two special prosecutors released an exhaustive 124-page report scrutinizing the original police inquiry into the newspaper and the convoluted context in which it unfolded. That report, authored by Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennet and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson at the request of the district attorney in Marion, found that there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest that police, reporters or anyone else involved in the story or the raid had committed crimes under Kansas law. 

    Marion County Record
    Front pages hang on a wall at the Marion County Record on Aug. 16, 2023, about a week after police served a search warrant on the newspaper in Marion, Kansas. 

    Luke Nozicka/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images


    But they did conclude that some of Cody’s actions in the wake of the raid on the Marion County Record — one of multiple search warrants executed last August in relation to how the paper acquired personal information about an area restaurant owner’s driver’s license — illegally interfered with the state investigation that followed. Neither the special prosecutors’ report nor the criminal complaint against Cody offered many details as to what exactly he’s accused of doing, although the report mentioned that Cody allegedly instructed the business owner, Kari Newell, to delete text messages they’d exchanged after the raids were carried out.

    Special prosecutors said that Marion City Administrator Brogan Jones heard from several city attorneys on Sept. 29, 2023, who informed him that Cody had given the instruction to Newell, the restaurant owner, once he’d executed search warrants on the newspaper headquarters and the publisher’s home in August. The mayor placed Cody on administrative leave from the Marion police force that same day, and on Oct. 2, Cody resigned.

    The report explicitly said it would not provide more information about the nature of the text messages or his alleged persuasion to delete them, which Newell herself corroborated in comments to the Associated Press, but prosecutors noted that there was probable cause to bring an obstruction of justice charge over the text messaging issue. 

    In the criminal complaint, Marion County prosecutor Barry Wilkerson alleged that it stemmed from conduct between Aug. 11 and Aug. 17 of last year, where Cody “knowingly or intentionally … induced a witness to withhold information” in the midst of a felony criminal investigation.

    CBS News contacted a team of attorneys representing Cody in one of the federal civil lawsuits against him for comment, or more information about his legal representation in the criminal case, but did not receive an immediate reply.

    Cody originally sought and carried out search warrants on the Marion County Record, the home of its publisher Eric Meyer and the home of Marion City Council Member Ruth Herbel, after learning that journalists at the newspaper had obtained Newell’s driver’s license records, while following a tip that suggested she did not have a valid one because of a DUI more than a decade earlier. 


    Kansas newspaper, publisher’s home raided by local police

    04:47

    Because she owned a local restaurant and was in the process of applying for a liquor license, efforts were made to verify the legitimacy of a driving record that appeared to show she hadn’t driven with a valid license for all those years. They ultimately didn’t pursue a story because a copy of the record was first shared with the newspaper by her estranged husband while divorce proceedings were underway, and involving the press in that situation didn’t seem necessary, the journalists later told authorities.

    Cody went on to claim that he had evidence the publisher and a reporter had broken the law while trying to verify the driving record. The subsequent police raids, to seize materials that would supposedly support that claim, were heavily scrutinized. Body camera footage of the raid on Meyer’s home, where his 98-year-old mother and newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer also lived, showed her visibly distressed by the ordeal that preceded her death one day later. Her son has blamed his mother’s death on the raid and the stress that it caused her.


    Marion newspaper raid report by
    The Kansas City Star on
    Scribd

    Emily Mae Czachor

    Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

    Source link

  • From cookbooks to billboards, poets laureate hope to spread the words with help of $50,000 grants

    From cookbooks to billboards, poets laureate hope to spread the words with help of $50,000 grants

    NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty-two poets around the country each will be receiving $50,000 grants for projects ranging from a poetry cookbook in Kansas to a billboard campaign in Michigan.

    On Tuesday, the Academy of American Poets announced its latest round of gifts through the Poet Laureate Fellowship Program, through which it has given out $6.55 million since 2019, along with more than $440,000 in matching grants.

    Among this year’s Fellows are: Michigan laureate Nandi Comer, whose billboard project includes excerpts from Michigan poets and a QR code directing readers to the Library of Michigan’s website; Kansas laureate Traci Brimhall, who hopes to bring chefs and poets together for a state community cookbook; and Angelika Brewer, poet laureate of Ogden, Utah, who is working on a local archive.

    Other Fellows include Maine laureate Julia Bouwsma, Colorado laureate Andrea Gibson and Joseph Rios, laureate of Fresno, California.

    The fellowship program was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

    “These exceptional writers share the distinctive responsibility of advancing action, advocacy, and civic transformation in their communities through the power of poetry,” said Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander. “We at Mellon are pleased to provide them with the additional resources needed to carry out this mission, building further appreciation of and engagement with the written word across the United States.”

    Source link

  • Kansas’ former attorney general wins the Republican nomination for an open congressional seat

    Kansas’ former attorney general wins the Republican nomination for an open congressional seat

    TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas attorney general and failed candidate for governor has found at least initial success in his political comeback attempt, winning Tuesday’s Republican primary for an open U.S. House seat.

    Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt prevailed in the primary in the 2nd District of eastern Kansas over Jeff Kahrs, a former top regional federal health official, and Shawn Tiffany, a rancher. Even though Kahrs worked in former President Donald Trump’s administration, Schmidt won Trump’s endorsement.

    In the Democratic primary, former U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, who held the 2nd District seat in 2007 and 2008, defeated Matt Kleinmann, a public health advocate who was a member of the 2008 national champion University of Kansas men’s basketball team.

    Boyda won the nomination even though she riled up some party activists by positioning herself toward the political center for what she saw as a more viable general election campaign in the Republican-leaning district. She lost her 2008 race for reelection.

    Messages seeking comment were left with both Boyda and Kleinmann.

    The district’s two-term GOP incumbent Jake LaTurner was not seeking reelection.

    Boyda was the last Democrat to represent eastern Kansas in Congress, and the district became redder after the GOP-controlled Legislature redrew it two years ago. Schmidt, who is also a former state senator, raised the most money of any candidate, more than $616,000, including more than $119,000 since mid-July alone, according to campaign finance reports.

    “America needs more effective, conservative voices in public service,” Schmidt said in a statement. “I will continue to prioritize securing our border, stopping inflation, and rolling back big government’s overregulation and over-taxation of our daily lives.”

    Schmidt narrowly lost the governor’s race in 2022 to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, and even though he embraced conservative causes in his three terms as attorney general, he continued to face criticism from the right. Kahrs suggested in mailings that he was not tough enough on illegal immigration, for example.

    Besides Trump, Schmidt had the backing of Americans for Prosperity. Part of the political network of billionaire Wichita businessman Charles Koch and his family, the group can mobilize scores of low-tax, small-government activists in Kansas.

    “Kansas voters, once again, saw through the political attacks and made the right choice,” said Liz Patton, the group’s senior Kansas adviser said in a statement.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    • Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024.
    • AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
    • Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.

    Republican voters were also settling contested primaries in two other districts where incumbents are seeking reelection.

    In the 1st District, which includes western Kansas, two-term U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann prevailed easily over Eric Bloom, a farmer and real estate investor. Mann’s Democratic opponent in November is Paul Buskirk, an academic counselor and adviser for student athletes at the University of Kansas. It’s considered a safe Republican seat.

    In the Kansas City-area 3rd District, Dr. Prasanth Reddy, an oncology and internal medicine specialist, defeated small business owner Karen Crnkovich for the right to challenge three-term U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation. Davids made headlines with her 2018 election as a lesbian, Native American and former mixed martial arts fighter.

    There also were contested primaries in some of the 40 state Senate and 125 state House districts, and for offices in Kansas’ 105 counties. Polls remained open across the state from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.

    Johnson County, the state’s most populous which includes the Kansas City area, had perhaps the most notable local race.

    Sheriff Calvin Hayden, seeking a third term, lost the Republican primary to one of his former undersheriffs, Doug Bedford. Hayden received national attention for embracing election conspiracies and keeping an investigation of fraud allegations open at least two years without any criminal charges resulting. In November, Bedford will face Democrat Byron Roberson, a suburban city police chief.

    In the 2nd Congressional District, many Republicans saw Schmidt as the leading candidate even before Trump’s “Complete and Total” social media endorsement, thanks to Schmidt’s name recognition.

    The former president called Schmidt “An America First Patriot” and added, “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

    Still, Kahrs boasted that Trump chose him to be a regional director at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and was a district director and senior adviser for LaTurner. Kahrs’ campaign touted him as a “conservative warrior.”

    “I’m the only tested conservative in this race,” Kahrs said during a candidate forum broadcast by Topeka-area public television’s KTWU, an event Schmidt skipped.

    Tiffany ran as a political outsider, often donning a cowboy hat during public appearances. In a mid-July forum on WIBW-TV in Topeka, he said the “radical left” has attacked the American dream and that “politicians — career politicians — have done nothing to stand in the gap on our behalf.”

    In the Democratic race, Boyda supported LGBTQ+ rights generally but said she opposes allowing transgender girls and women to play on female sports teams. She also called on President Joe Biden to end his race for reelection the day after his disastrous debate performance, well before other Democrats.

    In a KTWU-TV forum last week, Boyda defended running a center-oriented, “general election” campaign from the start. She pointed to Democrats’ 10 losses in a row since her lone 2006 victory. Eight were by 14 percentage points or more.

    “Quite honestly, a lot of the 2nd District is not going to trust a Democrat going to Washington, D.C.,” she said. “They want to make sure that you are moderate and that you are independent.”

    But Boyda’s stance on transgender athletes drew immediate criticism, with Kansas Young Democrats calling it “disgraceful” on X.

    “I believe that Democrats deserve to have a voice,” Kleinmann, Boyda’s opponent in the primary, said during last week’s forum. “Some of the bravest people I know in Kansas are Democrats in a very red district because they’re fighting for Kansas values, and that’s the values I want to defend in Congress.”

    Source link

  • Chiefs’ Harrison Butker becoming highest paid NFL kicker with new deal

    Chiefs’ Harrison Butker becoming highest paid NFL kicker with new deal

    The Kansas City Chiefs and kicker Harrison Butker have come to terms on a new four-year extension. The three-time Super Bowl Champion is set to stay in Kansas City on a new contract that will make him the highest-paid kicker in the National Football League. The kicker confirmed the extension in a post on X shortly after NFL insider Ian Rapoport broke the news. “There’s no place I’d rather be than with the Chiefs, excited to finalize a 4-year extension. To the Heights!” Butker’s post reads. According to Rapoport, the new 4-year deal is worth $25.6 million, $17.8 million of which is guaranteed. At $6.4 million per year, the new contract means that Butker has edged out Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens as the highest-paid kick in NFL history.Butker reportedly negotiated the deal himself. The kicker still had one year left on his previous deal, meaning that he is now under contract for the next five seasons. While the Chiefs organization and his teammates have been steadfast in their support, it is worth noting that the massive extension follows an offseason of controversy for the kicker. Earlier this year, the three-time Super Bowl champion delivered a roughly 20-minute commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, that sparked significant debate nationally. In the speech, Butker railed against Pride Month along with President Joe Biden’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his stance on abortion.Butker, who has long made his conservative Catholic beliefs well known, drew the most ire for comments he made about the role of women in society, arguing that their “most important title” should be that of “homemaker.” Shortly after the address, the NFL made an effort to distance the league from the kicker’s comments. “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization,” the league said in a statement. “The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”Most recently, the kicker faced criticism for his comments from tennis legend Serena Williams at the ESPYS. Despite the off-field consternation from some, Butker’s play on the field has been nothing short of phenomenal.The 2017 seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech has become of the NFL’s best kickers, breaking the Chiefs’ franchise record with a 62-yard field goal in 2022. Butker helped them win their first Super Bowl in 50 years in 2020, added a second Lombardi Trophy in 2023, and kicked the field goal that forced overtime in a Super Bowl win over San Francisco in February. The kicker is a field goal ace with a booming leg. The 29-year-old’s role may, however, look slightly different in 2024, with the implementation of the NFL’s new kickoff rule.

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. —

    The Kansas City Chiefs and kicker Harrison Butker have come to terms on a new four-year extension.

    The three-time Super Bowl Champion is set to stay in Kansas City on a new contract that will make him the highest-paid kicker in the National Football League.

    The kicker confirmed the extension in a post on X shortly after NFL insider Ian Rapoport broke the news.

    “There’s no place I’d rather be than with the Chiefs, excited to finalize a 4-year extension. To the Heights!” Butker’s post reads.

    According to Rapoport, the new 4-year deal is worth $25.6 million, $17.8 million of which is guaranteed. At $6.4 million per year, the new contract means that Butker has edged out Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens as the highest-paid kick in NFL history.

    Butker reportedly negotiated the deal himself. The kicker still had one year left on his previous deal, meaning that he is now under contract for the next five seasons.

    While the Chiefs organization and his teammates have been steadfast in their support, it is worth noting that the massive extension follows an offseason of controversy for the kicker.

    Earlier this year, the three-time Super Bowl champion delivered a roughly 20-minute commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, that sparked significant debate nationally.

    In the speech, Butker railed against Pride Month along with President Joe Biden’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his stance on abortion.

    Butker, who has long made his conservative Catholic beliefs well known, drew the most ire for comments he made about the role of women in society, arguing that their “most important title” should be that of “homemaker.”

    Shortly after the address, the NFL made an effort to distance the league from the kicker’s comments.

    “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization,” the league said in a statement. “The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”

    Most recently, the kicker faced criticism for his comments from tennis legend Serena Williams at the ESPYS.

    Despite the off-field consternation from some, Butker’s play on the field has been nothing short of phenomenal.

    The 2017 seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech has become of the NFL’s best kickers, breaking the Chiefs’ franchise record with a 62-yard field goal in 2022.

    Butker helped them win their first Super Bowl in 50 years in 2020, added a second Lombardi Trophy in 2023, and kicked the field goal that forced overtime in a Super Bowl win over San Francisco in February.

    The kicker is a field goal ace with a booming leg. The 29-year-old’s role may, however, look slightly different in 2024, with the implementation of the NFL’s new kickoff rule.

    Source link

  • North Korean charged in cyberattacks on US hospitals, NASA and military bases

    North Korean charged in cyberattacks on US hospitals, NASA and military bases

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A North Korean military intelligence operative has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack into American health care providers, NASA, U.S. military bases and international entities, stealing sensitive information and installing ransomware to fund more attacks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

    The indictment of Rim Jong Hyok by a grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, accuses him of laundering the money through a Chinese bank and then using it to buy computer servers and fund more cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world.

    The hacks on American hospitals and other health care providers disrupted the treatment of patients, officials said. He’s accused of targeting 17 entities across 11 U.S. states, including NASA and U.S. military bases, as well as defense and energy companies in China, Taiwan and South Korea.

    For more than three months, Rim and other members of the Andariel Unit of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau had access to NASA’s computer system, extracting over 17 gigabytes of unclassified data, the indictment says. They also reached inside computer systems for defense companies in Michigan and California, as well as Randolph Air Force base in Texas and Robins Air Force base in Georgia, authorities say.

    The malware enabled the state-sponsored Andariel group to send stolen information to North Korean military intelligence, furthering the country’s military and nuclear aspirations, federal prosecutors said. They’ve gone after details of fighter aircraft, missile defense systems, satellite communications and radar systems, a senior FBI official said.

    “While North Korea uses these types of cyber crimes to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the impact of these wanton acts have a direct impact on the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City.

    Online court records do not list an attorney for Rim, who has lived in North Korea and worked at the military intelligence agency’s offices in both Pyongyang and Sinuiju, according to court records. A reward of up to $10 million has been offered for information that could lead to him or other foreign government operatives who target critical U.S. infrastructure.

    The Justice Department has prosecuted multiple cases related to North Korean hacking, often alleging a profit-driven motive that sets the nation’s cybercriminals apart from hackers in Russia and China. In 2021, for instance, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of hacks including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio and the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies around the world.

    In this case, the FBI was alerted by a Kansas medical center that was hit in May 2021. Hackers had encrypted its files and servers, blocking access to patient files, laboratory test results and computers needed to operate hospital equipment. A Colorado health care provider was affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.

    A ransom note sent to the Kansas hospital demanded Bitcoin payments valued then at about $100,000, to be sent to a cryptocurrency address.

    “Otherwise all of your files will be posted in the Internet which may lead you to loss of reputation and cause the troubles for your business,” the note reads. “Please do not waste your time! You have 48 hours only! After that the Main server will double your price.”

    Federal investigators said they traced blockchains to follow the money: An unnamed co-conspirator transferred the Bitcoin to a virtual currency address belonging to two Hong Kong residents before it was converted into Chinese currency and transferred to a Chinese bank. The money was then accessed from an ATM in China next to the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge connecting China and North Korea, according to court records.

    In 2022, the Justice Department said the FBI seized approximately $500,000 in ransom payments from the money laundering accounts, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital.

    An arrest of Rim is unlikely, so the biggest outcome of the indictment is that it may lead to sanctions that could cripple the ability of North Korea to collect ransoms this way, which could in turn remove the motivation to conduct cyber attacks on entities like hospitals in the future, according to Allan Liska, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

    “Now, unfortunately, that will force them to do more cryptocurrency theft. So it’s not going to stop their activity. But the hope is that we won’t have hospitals disrupted by ransomware attacks because they’ll know that they can’t get paid,” Liska said.

    He also noted that a Chinese entity was among the victims and questioned what the country, which is an ally of North Korea, thinks of being targeted.

    “China can’t be too thrilled about that,” he said.

    ___

    Goldberg reported from Minneapolis. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Washington, D.C.

    Source link

  • Kansas artist pays tribute to Kamala Harris in a larger-than-life ‘earth portrait’

    Kansas artist pays tribute to Kamala Harris in a larger-than-life ‘earth portrait’

    An “earthwork” portrait by Kansas artist Stan Herd of Vice President Kamala Harris, who this week became a frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is seen on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas.

    An “earthwork” portrait by Kansas artist Stan Herd of Vice President Kamala Harris, who this week became a frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is seen on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas.


    Marc Havener

    Resonate Pictures

    Kansas artist Stan Herd is no political newbie.

    The self-proclaimed “politics junkie” has been lending his artistic talents to campaigns and cultural celebrations in the U.S. and overseas for years, rendering the likes of Joe Biden, Texas’ Beto O’Rourke and others. But he recently got some good news about one of his longtime favorite politicians: She’s running for president.

    “I have been a huge supporter of Kamala Harris, including back in the day when she was running for president in 2020,” Herd told The Star. “I just think she is the future — she is such a strong leader, and I really feel it’s the time for women to take power.”

    That’s why, more than a week before President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, Herd embarked on one of his signature “earthworks” on a farm near Lawrence — this time featuring the vice president. These larger-than-life artworks use natural materials like compost, mulch, sand and soil to “paint” massive portraits on the ground.

    Kansas-born artist Stan Herd works on his larger-than-life ‘earth portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas. Harris recently became the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
    Kansas-born artist Stan Herd works on his larger-than-life ‘earth portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas. Harris recently became the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Marc Havener Resonate Pictures

    “I had a very good feeling about (Biden dropping out) even before it was announced,” Herd said. “We were about 90% done with the portrait, and on the day that Biden stepped down and passed the baton to Kamala, we finished the portrait within 24 hours.”

    Herd’s earthworks are best viewed from high above, meaning anyone flying their drone over the Lawrence area might be able to catch a glimpse of the huge artwork. Since the portrait is on private land, Herd isn’t revealing its exact location to shield the landowner from harassment.

    The work, which features Harris’ face looking pensively into the distance, is underscored with the words “The Biden Legacy.” Herd picked the slogan because he sees Harris’ rise to prominence as the logical outcome of what he feels was a successful Biden presidency.

    “Everything that happens moving forward in the Democratic Party really is Biden’s legacy, because he chose (Harris) as his VP and now is passing the torch to the next generation,” he said.

    Herd also laid the groundwork for an accompanying portrait of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer right beside Harris before realizing how crowded the field is for potential vice-presidential nominees. Now the space next to Harris’ portrait features a blurry outline and a question mark, which will remain there until her pick for vice president is announced.

    Kansas-born artist Stan Herd spreads natural materials on a patch of farmland near Lawrence, Kansas to create a larger-than-life portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris, who emerged this week as the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
    Kansas-born artist Stan Herd spreads natural materials on a patch of farmland near Lawrence, Kansas to create a larger-than-life portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris, who emerged this week as the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Marc Havener Resonate Pictures

    While Herd will be traveling the country to complete other earthworks in the coming months, he has committed to completing this piece with an accompanying portrait of Harris’ running mate. He and his assistants will also work to maintain the work, at least in the coming weeks, by delicately mowing and trimming any plants that start to sprout on the site.

    But this style of artwork isn’t meant to last forever. By the time the election rolls around in November, Harris’ face likely won’t have the crisp lines it does now — instead, it will be getting slowly reclaimed by nature.

    “I don’t like to be very political with my work, but when you have a talent and the ability to send a message, we want to do everything we can to protect our democracy,” Herd said.

    “I’ve gotten only a few comments on my social media from people who aren’t very thrilled about the piece. But you know, haters gonna hate.”

    An “earthwork” portrait by Kansas artist Stan Herd of Vice President Kamala Harris, now a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is seen on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas.
    An “earthwork” portrait by Kansas artist Stan Herd of Vice President Kamala Harris, now a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is seen on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas. Marc Havener Resonate Pictures

    Do you have more questions about arts and culture in Kansas or Missouri? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.

    Related stories from Miami Herald

    Natalie Wallington is a reporter on The Star’s service journalism team with a focus on government, labor, sustainability and local utilities. Her coverage of the region’s recycling system won a Feature Writing award from the Kansas Press Association in 2024.

    Source link

  • Kansas won’t force providers to ask patients why they want abortions while a lawsuit proceeds

    Kansas won’t force providers to ask patients why they want abortions while a lawsuit proceeds

    TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas isn’t enforcing a new law requiring abortion providers to ask patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies, as a legal challenge against that rule and other older requirements makes its way through the courts.

    Attorneys for the state and for providers challenging the new law along with other requirements announced a deal Thursday. In return for not enforcing the law, the state will get another four months to develop its defense of the challenged restrictions ahead of a trial now delayed until late June 2025. The agreement was announced during a Zoom hearing in Johnson County District Court in the Kansas City area.

    Kansas doesn’t ban most abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy. Its clinics now see thousands of patients from other states with near bans on abortion, most notably Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

    Last fall, District Judge K. Christopher Jayaram blocked enforcement of requirements that include rules spelling out what providers must tell their patients, and a longstanding requirement that patients wait 24 hours after consulting a provider to undergo a procedure. On July 1, he allowed the providers to add a challenge to the new reporting law to their existing lawsuit rather than making them file a separate case.

    The new law was supposed to take effect July 1 and would require providers to ask patients questions from a state script about their reasons for an abortion, although patients wouldn’t be forced to answer. Potential reasons include not being able to afford a child, not wanting a disabled child, not wanting to put schooling or a career on hold, and having an abusive spouse or partner. Clinics would be required to send data about patients’ answers to the state health department for a public report every six months.

    “We are relieved that this intrusive law will not take effect,” the Center for Reproductive Rights, the national organization for abortion provider Planned Parenthood and the regional Planned Parenthood affiliate said in a joint statement. “This law would have forced abortion providers to collect deeply personal information — an unjustifiable invasion of patient privacy that has nothing to do with people’s health.”

    Kansas already collects data about each abortion, such as the method and the week of pregnancy, but abortion opponents argue that having more information will aid in setting policies for helping pregnant women and new mothers. The Republican-controlled Legislature enacted the law over a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

    At least eight other states have such reporting requirements, but the Kansas Supreme Court declared in 2019 that the state constitution protects access to abortion as a part of a “fundamental” right to bodily autonomy. In August 2022, Kansas voters decisively rejected a proposed amendment to say that the constitution doesn’t grant any right to abortion access.

    The trial of the providers’ lawsuit had been set for late February 2025 before Jayaram delayed it in responded to the parties’ deal.

    “The state is prepared to accept an agreement not to enforce the new law until the final judgment, provided that we get a schedule that accommodates the record that we think we need to develop in this case,” said Lincoln Wilson, a senior counsel for the anti-abortion Alliance Defending Freedom, which is leading the state’s defense of its laws.

    Abortion providers suggested July 1 that the state wouldn’t enforce the new reporting requirement while the lawsuit proceeded, but the health department did not confirm that when reporters asked about it.

    Source link

  • North Denver sandwich shop changes name after legal threat

    North Denver sandwich shop changes name after legal threat

    After two years in business, Bodega has been slapped with a cease-and-desist.

    The cult-favorite brunch spot in Denver’s neighborhood Sunnyside has changed its name to Odie B’s, after a Kansas City restaurant called La Bodega sent it a legal notice, according to a message that the restaurant, at 2651 W. 38th Ave., posted on Instagram Monday.

    “It’s already hard enough to run restaurants and it’s tragic when other independent operators are out to get ya, too,” the restaurant wrote. “While change can suck and cause heartache, we have finally leaned into it. Even though we have happily been existing in Denver with several other bodegas, we would like to set ourselves apart and end all the confusion as we grow.”

    Bodega is known for its highly craveable breakfast sandwiches, as well as its burritos and burgers (which landed on The Denver Post’s list of favorites). Owner Cliff Blauvelt grew up in Sunnyside and wanted to offer the neighborhood an easy and playful, rather than pretentious, spot for breakfast and lunch. Blauvelt plans to open a second location in RiNo this fall.

    Lily O'Neill

    Source link

  • A rivalry that predates the Civil War is about to heat up with a vote on subsidizing a new stadium

    A rivalry that predates the Civil War is about to heat up with a vote on subsidizing a new stadium

    A 170-year-old rivalry is flaring up as Kansas lawmakers try to snatch the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs away from Missouri even though economists long ago concluded subsidizing pro sports isn’t worth the cost.

    The Kansas Legislature’s top leaders endorsed helping the Chiefs and professional baseball’s Kansas City Royals finance new stadiums in Kansas ahead of a special session set to convene Tuesday. The plan would authorize state bonds for stadium construction and pay them off with revenues from sports betting, the Kansas Lottery and additional tax dollars generated in and around the new venues.

    The states’ border runs through the metropolitan area of about 2.3 million people, and the teams would move only about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west.

    Decades of research have concluded a pro sports franchise doesn’t boost a local economy much, if any, because it mostly captures existing spending from other places in the same community. But for Kansas officials, spending would at least leave Missouri and come to Kansas, and one-upping Missouri has its own allure.

    “I’ve wanted to see the Chiefs in Kansas my whole life, but I hope we can do it in a way that is enriching for these communities, rather than creating additional burdens for them,” said state Rep. Jason Probst, a Democrat from central Kansas.

    The rivalry between Kansas and Missouri can be traced as far back as the lead-up to the Civil War, before Kansas was even a state. People from Missouri came from the east, hoping in vain to create another slave state like their own. Both sides looted, burned and killed across the border.

    There also was a century-long sports rivalry between the University of Kansas and University of Missouri. And for years the two states burned through hundreds of millions of dollars to lure businesses to one side of the border or the other in the pursuit of jobs. They called an uneasy truce in 2019.

    Missouri officials are pledging to be equally aggressive to keep the Royals and Chiefs, and not only because they view them as economic assets.

    “They’re sources of great pride,” said Missouri state Rep. John Patterson, a suburban Kansas City Republican expected to be the next state House speaker.

    Kansas legislators see the Chiefs and Royals in play because voters on the Missouri side refused in April to extend a local sales tax for the upkeep of their side-by-side stadiums. Lawmakers also argue that failing to take action risks having one or both teams leave the Kansas City area, although economists are skeptical that the threat is real.

    While the stadium complex lease runs through January 2031, Kansas officials argue the teams must make decisions soon for new or renovated stadiums to be ready by then. They also are promising the Chiefs a stadium with a dome or retractable roof that can host Super Bowls, college basketball Final Fours and huge indoor concerts.

    “You’ve got this asset and all the businesses that move there as a result, or are created there,” said Kansas state Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Republican from the edge of his state’s Kansas City suburbs and a leader of the relocation effort. “You’ll get commerce out of that area every day.”

    Roughly 60% of the area’s population lives in Missouri, but the Kansas side is growing more quickly.

    Despite the legislative push in Kansas, Missouri lawmakers aren’t rushing to propose alternatives. Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson told reporters Thursday that his state is “not just going to roll over,” but also said, “We’re just in the first quarter” of the contest.

    Both states hold primary elections on Aug. 3, with most legislative seats on the ballot this year. The April vote in Missouri on the local stadium tax suggested subsidizing pro sports teams could be a political loser in that state, particularly with the conservative-leaning electorate in GOP primaries.

    “In Missouri, the Republican Party used to be led by a business wing that might be in favor of this sort of thing, but in the Trump era, that’s not the case,” said David Kimball, a University of Missouri-St. Louis political science professor. “The more conservative, the more Trump-oriented wing, they’re not big supporters of spending taxpayer money on much of anything.”

    Kansas Republicans face pressure on the right to avoid having the state pick economic winners and losers. For Probst, the Democrat, the concern is using government “to make rich people richer,” meaning team owners.

    Economists have studied pro sports teams and subsidies for stadiums since at least the 1980s. J.C. Bradbury, an economics and finance professor from Kennesaw State University in Georgia, said studies show subsidizing stadiums is “a terrible channel for economic growth.”

    While supporters of the Kansas effort have cited a report indicating large, positive economic implications, Bradbury said “phony” reports are a staple of stadium campaigns.

    “Stadiums are poor public investment, and I would say it’s a near unanimous consensus,” said Bradbury, who has reviewed studies and done them himself.

    Yet more than 30 lobbyists have registered to push for a stadium-financing plan from Kansas lawmakers, and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce’s CEO has called this a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to attract the Chiefs.

    The Chiefs not only have won three Super Bowl titles in five years, but they have an especially strong fanbase that has expanded because of tight end Travis Kelce’s romance with pop star Taylor Swift.

    Host cities find the National Football League attractive because franchises are valued in the billions and wealthy owners and celebrity players command a media spotlight, said Judith Grant Long, an associate professor of sports management and urban planning at the University of Michigan and a director of its center on sports venues.

    “All of these come together in a potent brew for politicians, civic officials and local business interests hoping to capitalize on its influence,” she said.

    Subscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up for free.

    John Hanna, The Associated Press

    Source link

  • Tornadoes spotted in Oklahoma as dangerous storms move across Great Plains

    Tornadoes spotted in Oklahoma as dangerous storms move across Great Plains

    Tornadoes touched down Monday evening in rural Oklahoma and large hail pelted parts of Kansas as an outbreak of dangerous storms brought the possibility of strong twisters staying on the ground for many miles.

    Forecasters have issued a rare high-risk weather warning for the two states, the first for Oklahoma in five years.

    “You can’t rely on waiting to see tornadoes before sheltering tonight,” the National Weather Service said.

    Oklahoma was under a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) watch, the second in just nine days. The PDS watch in the state last month resulted four deaths and 22 confirmed tornadoes.

    At least four tornadoes had been spotted in north central Oklahoma, including one about a 45-minute drive north of Tulsa. The National Weather Service office there issued a tornado emergency alert Monday night for the nearby towns of Bartlesville, Dewey and Barnsdall.

    The Weather Service warned “a large and life-threatening tornado” was headed toward those towns, with wind gusts up to 70 mph.

    Other tornadoes had been spotted earlier in the evening near the 1,000-person town of Okeene, while another storm in Covington had “produced tornadoes off and on for over an hour.”

    The greatest risk of damaging weather includes areas in Oklahoma, such as Sulphur and Holdenville, still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

    A dispatcher for Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, said there was a report of tornado damage to a single home, but it wasn’t immediately known if anyone was in the home or if anyone was hurt. Throughout the area, wind farm turbines spun rapidly in the wind and blinding rain.

    Meanwhile, apple-sized hail of 3 inches in diameter was reported near Ellinwood, Kansas, a town of about 2,000 residents 100 miles northwest of Wichita.

    The Weather Service said that more than 3.4 million people, 1,614 schools and 159 hospitals in Oklahoma, portions of southern Kansas and far north Texas, face the most severe threat for tornadoes.

    Schools and colleges across the state, including the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Public Schools and several metro-area school districts, shut down early and canceled late afternoon and evening classes and activities.

    Oklahoma’s State Emergency Operations Center, which coordinates storm response from a bunker near the state Capitol, remains activated from last weekend’s deadly storms, and the state’s commissioner of public safety told state agencies to let most of their workers across Oklahoma leave early on Monday.

    Monte Tucker, a farmer and rancher in the far western Oklahoma town of Sweetwater, spent Monday putting some of his tractors and heavy equipment in barns to protect it from hail and letting his neighbors know they can come to his house if the weather becomes dangerous.

    “We built a house 10 years ago, and my stubborn wife put her foot down and made sure we built a safe room,” Tucker said. He said the entire ground-level room is built with reinforced concrete walls.

    Bill Bunting, deputy director of the Storm Prediction Center, said a high risk from the center is not something seen every day or every spring.

    “It’s the highest level of threat we can assign. And it’s a day to take very, very seriously,” he said.

    The last time a high risk was issued was March 31, 2023, when a massive storm system tore through parts of the South and Midwest including Arkansas, Illinois and rural Indiana.

    The risk on Monday in parts of the southern Plains is the worst in five years, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.

    “If you look at a meteorology textbook about how to get a significant tornado outbreak in the southern Plains, all the ingredients you need are here today,” Porter said.

    The number of storms and their intensity should increase quickly in the evening hours across western parts of Oklahoma and up into south-central Kansas, Bunting said.

    “The kinds of tornadoes that this storm can produce are particularly intense, and they can be long-lasting,” Porter said. “These are the tornadoes that sometimes can last for 45 minutes or an hour, even more, creating paths of destruction as they move along.”

    The high risk is due to an unusual confluence: Winds gusting up to around 75 mph have been blasting through Colorado’s populated Front Range region, including the Denver area, on Monday.

    The winds are being created by a low pressure system north of Colorado that is also pulling up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, fueling the risk of severe weather on the Plains, said Greg Heavener, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Denver-area office.

    Colorado is not at risk of tornadoes or thunderstorms, he said.

    The dangerous Plains weather will move east, potentially creating overnight risk in places like Kansas City and Springfield in Missouri through early Tuesday, Porter said.

    “This is not going to be a atmospheric setup where the sun is going to go down and the thunderstorms are going to wane and there’s going to be no additional risk,” noted Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.

    The entire week is looking stormy across the U.S. The eastern U.S. and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati, where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend.

    Meanwhile, floodwaters in the Houston area began receding Monday after days of heavy rain in southeastern Texas left neighborhoods flooded and led to hundreds of high-water rescues.

    Source link

  • Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind

    Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind

    Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    A Kansas woman is found dying from a gunshot wound. Evidence at the scene doesn’t add up, so a prosecutor gets creative. “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    Source link

  • Kansas governor vetoes ban on gender-affirming care for minors, anti-abortion bills

    Kansas governor vetoes ban on gender-affirming care for minors, anti-abortion bills

    Kansas’ governor on Friday vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a measure to require more reporting from abortion providers and what she called a “vague” bill making it a crime to coerce someone into having an abortion.

    Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s actions set up a series of confrontations with the Republican-supermajority Legislature over those issues. The measures appeared to have the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to override vetoes, but GOP leaders’ success depends on how many lawmakers are absent on a given day, especially in the House.

    The two-term governor, who is term-limited, is a strong supporter of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Republicans control the Legislature, and they’ve joined other GOP lawmakers across the U.S. in rolling back transgender rights.

    But Kansas has been an outlier on abortion among states with Republican legislatures because the Kansas Supreme Court declared in 2019 that the state constitution protects abortion rights, and a statewide vote in August 2022 decisively affirmed that position.

    “Voters do not want politicians getting between doctors and their patient by interfering in private medical decisions,” Kelly wrote in her veto message on the abortion reporting bill.

    Kelly did allow one GOP proposal on a social issue highlighted by Republicans across the U.S. to become law without her signature. Starting July 1, pornography websites must verify that Kansas visitors are adults. Kansas will follow Texas and a handful of other states despite some concerns about privacy and how broadly the law could be applied.

    In rejecting an attempt to have Kansas join at least 24 other states in banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors, Kelly argued that a ban “tramples parental rights” and targets “a small group.”

    “If the Legislature paid this much attention to the other 99.8% of students, we’d have the best schools on earth,” she wrote.

    The Kansas bill against gender-affirming care would bar surgery, hormone treatments and puberty blockers, limiting care for minors to therapy.

    “Hopefully this will be the end of that, at least this year, and they don’t decide to waste anyone’s time anymore,” Jenna Bellemere, a transgender University of Kansas student, said after learning of the veto.

    The bill also would require that the state revoke the licenses of any doctors violating the ban and bar recipients of state funds for treating children or state employees who work with children from advocating gender-affirming care for them. It would ban the use of state dollars and property on such care, which restricts the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

    Supporters of the bill argue the ban will protect children from experimental, possibly dangerous and potentially permanent treatments. They have cited the recent decision of the National Health Service in England to no longer routinely cover such treatments. Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said of Kelly, “The radical left controls her veto pen.”

    “Laura Kelly will most surely find herself on the wrong side of history with her reckless veto of this common-sense protection for Kansas minors,” said Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican.

    But U.S. states’ bans go against the recommendations of major American health care groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Also, many medical professionals say providing such care makes transgender children less prone to depression or suicidal thoughts.

    Last year, Republican legislators overrode Kelly vetoes to ban transgender girls and women on female K-12 and college sports teams and end the state’s legal recognition of transgender people’s gender identities. Because of the latter law, Kansas no longer allows transgender people to change the listing for sex on their driver’s licenses or birth certificates.

    Republican lawmakers also have continued to press for new laws on abortion, despite the August 2022 vote, arguing that voters still support “reasonable” regulations and support for pregnant women and new mothers.

    “Once again, Governor ‘Coercion Kelly’ has shown how radical she is when it comes to abortion, lacking basic compassion for women who are pushed or even trafficked into abortions,” Danielle Underwood, spokesperson for Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group, said in a statement.

    The anti-coercion bill would punish someone convicted of making a physical or financial threat against a woman or girl to push her to have an abortion with up to a year in prison or a fine of up to $10,000. In her veto message, Kelly noted that it’s already a crime to threaten someone else.

    Critics said it’s written broadly enough that it could apply to a spouse who threatens divorce or a live-in boyfriend who threatens to leave unless their partner gets an abortion.

    The reporting bill would require providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and report the information to the state health department. Kelly and other critics contend it’s invasive and unnecessary, but supporters argue that the state needs better data about why women and girls have abortions to help set policy.

    “These stigmatizing bills were not crafted to improve the health and well-being of Kansans,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates three clinics providing abortions in Kansas. “They were merely meant to shame reproductive care.”

    Source link

  • Cole Brings Plenty,

    Cole Brings Plenty,

    Cole Brings Plenty, an actor who appeared in “1923,” a spinoff of the popular television western “Yellowstone,” was found dead after he went missing amid a domestic violence investigation in Kansas, authorities said Friday.

    Cole Brings Plenty, 27, an actor who appeared in “1923” a spinoff of the popular television western “Yellowstone” was found dead in Kansas after being reported missing.

    Lawrence Police Department


    The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media that deputies found the body of a 27-year-old male in a wooded area on April 5. Detectives were dispatched around 11:45 a.m. local time to investigate an empty car on Homestead Lane, the sheriff’s office said. 

    Crime scene investigators and the medical examiner were at the location, but no details were released about the cause of death. Two days earlier Brings Plenty was charged in a nearby county with aggravated burglary, domestic battery and criminal restraint. An arrest warrant was issued.

    Police in the town of Lawrence said officers responded Sunday to an apartment where a woman was screaming for help, and Brings Plenty had left before they arrived. Traffic cameras showed him leaving the city immediately after the incident, traveling southbound on 59 Highway, the Lawrence Police Department said. Authorities said he was driving a 2005 Ford Explorer bearing a Kansas license plate.

    He then missed an audition for an upcoming film project that was scheduled for Monday morning over Zoom, his agent, Peter Yanke of Phirgun Mair Worldwide, said this week. Authorities said they had used drones in their efforts to locate the missing actor.

    Brings Plenty’s father, Joe, said in a statement Friday that he is grateful for everyone “for their prayers and positive thoughts you sent for Cole.”

    “I learned this week how many people knew the goodness in Cole’s heart and loved him,” Joe Brings Plenty Sr. said.

    Cole Brings Plenty appeared in two episodes of the first season of “1923,” a Paramount+ series starring Harrison Ford that is a prequel to the Paramount Network hit “Yellowstone.” He also had recent small roles in two other Westerns from INSP TV, “Into the Wild Frontier” and “The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger.”

    His uncle Mo Brings Plenty is a star of “Yellowstone” and acts as a cultural adviser for Native American issues on both that show and “1923.” He posted a flyer about his nephew’s disappearance on Instagram, and police said the family reported the younger man missing.

    Source link

  • ‘Foul Play’ Suspected After 2 Moms Go Missing In Rural Oklahoma On Their Way To Pick Up Kids! – Perez Hilton

    ‘Foul Play’ Suspected After 2 Moms Go Missing In Rural Oklahoma On Their Way To Pick Up Kids! – Perez Hilton

    Two women are missing in Oklahoma — and police think something might be very wrong.

    Veronica Butler, 27 (left), and Jilian Kelley, 39 (right), went missing over the weekend after their car was found in a remote part of the state near the Kansas border. That was according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation earlier this week. And now, in the early days of the investigation, authorities are confirming that “foul play” is suspected. Whoa.

    Related: 3-Year-Old Found Carrying 2 Kilos Of Cocaine In Backpack!!

    On Wednesday, the bureau revealed in a new statement on Facebook:

    “Based on the information obtained from the victim’s vehicle, our investigators believe there was evidence to indicate foul play.”

    Nobody has been arrested at this time and the search is still on to find the women. See the update (below):

    Obviously, their unexpected disappearance is making officials very worried. An endangered missing persons advisory released by the Texas County Sheriff’s Department earlier this week pointed out that the mothers were traveling together to pick up their children when they suddenly went MIA. The statement explained:

    “They never made it to the pickup location. Their car was located abandoned on the side of the road.”

    The car was discovered on Saturday in Oklahoma’s Texas County, just south of the small town of Elkhart, Kansas near Highway 95 and Road L. The local sheriff’s office was the one to find the vehicle, OSBI spokesperson Hunter McKee told ABC News on Thursday. He didn’t mince words when expressing how serious of a situation this is, noting:

    “There’s every reason to believe that they could be in danger. It was a very rural area. They’re nowhere to be found. … The fact that we’ve had no contact with them for this long.”

    Yikes… And the more time passes, the worse the outcome looks, too. Not good.

    According to Butler’s pastor Tim Singer, the women were “acquaintances” who were involved in the same church communities in Hugoton, Kansas. Jilian is the wife of the pastor at Hugoton First Christian Church and they were heading to pick up Veronica’s kids to go to a birthday party. Jeez. We cannot imagine how stressful and scary this must be for their families! We hope the women are okay and that they will be found safely and quickly!

    Anyone with information on this case has been asked to contact the OSBI at [email protected] or 1-800-522-8017.

    [Image via Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation/Facebook]

    Perez Hilton

    Source link

  • Keeler: NCAA Tournament selection committees did CU Buffs, CSU Rams dirty

    Keeler: NCAA Tournament selection committees did CU Buffs, CSU Rams dirty

    BOULDER — The NCAA still can’t read a room. But man, can they ever kill one.

    Kindyll Wetta and her teammates on the CU women’s basketball team were belles of the ball inside the Dal Ward Center. You shoulda seen it. Balloons. Cheerleaders. Catering. One of the sweetest pep rallies to grace the Touchdown Club since Coach Prime got injected into the Buffs’ bloodstream here some 16 months ago.

    As the NCAA Tournament brackets came on the screen, the party hushed. Then when Kansas State came up as a 4 seed and as a host for the first weekend of the women’s Big Dance, it sank.

    “It’s definitely a bummer for me because I wanted to play at home and I wanted to be in front of my family,” Wetta, the firebrand of a Buffs guard and former Valor Christian star, told me after CU found out its first stop in Bracketville would be as a 5 seed opposite K-State in the Little Apple of Manhattan, Kan. “I thought this year we really had a great shot of doing that. It’s disappointing in that sense.”

    There was a lot of that going around here Sunday night. The mood was even less jovial a few hours earlier up in Fort Collins, where the men’s selection committee decided to take its annual dose of stupid out on the Mountain West as a whole — and on the Rams in particular.

    Want a laugh? Committee member Bubba Cunningham contended on CBS that teams selected from the Mountain West, save for San Diego State, got strapped to double-digit seedings because their best wins were over one another.

    “(That) made it more challenging for us,” Cunningham explained.

    Not half as challenging, apparently, as trying to stay up past 10 p.m. Eastern to do homework on teams west of Lincoln. Poor guy.

    At least five teams — lookin’ at you, Oregon, NC State and New Mexico — “stole” bids from more worthy at-larges by winning their respective conference tourneys. But any ‘S’ curve that’s got CSU as the “last team in” gets an automatic F.

    Do you watch the games, Bubba? Or do you watch “X” and Instagram and hope for the best? CSU beat Creighton by 21 on a neutral court. The Jays were slotted as a No. 3 seed Sunday. The Rammies (24-10) were unveiled as a 10.

    Boise State, who’ll take on Tad Boyle’s CU men on Wednesday night, beat Saint Mary’s on a semi-neutral floor by three. The Gaels are dancing as a 5 seed. The Broncos, like CSU and CU, are a 10 seed having to scrap their way over to the Big Kids’ Bracket by winning in Dayton first.

    “To be honest, I was really surprised how most of the Mountain West was seeded,” stunned CSU coach Niko Medved, who’ll face Virginia on Tuesday in Ohio, told reporters.

    “But you know what? That’s fine. They always disrespect our league. And now it’s time to go out and do something about it.”

    Amen. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Cavaliers (23-10), on paper, are certainly in the Rammies’ weight class. For one thing, unlike Michigan in 2022, UVa doesn’t have a Hunter Dickinson down low, taking up a duplex’s worth of space in the paint. On the surface, it’s the irresistible force (CSU’s shooters) against the immovable object (Tony Bennett’s trademark tire-iron defense), a classic Clark Kellogg “contrast-in-styles” scrum between a Rams offense ranked 42nd nationally by KenPom.com in adjusted offensive efficiency and a Cavs D that’s seventh in adjusted defense. If you’re hopping over to Dayton, take the under and take your pizza square-cut.

    If the Oppenheimers on the men’s committee dinged CSU for its 4-7 mark away from Moby Madness, their counterparts on the women’s side docked the Buffs (22-9) for losing six of their last eight, including a maddening, come-from-ahead loss to Oregon State in the Pac-12 tourney.

    In March, you make your own luck. The Buffs women — despite being one of the best draws in all of college basketball, male or female — didn’t.

    “I mean, (it’s) definitely frustrating,” Wetta said. “But like (Coach JR Payne) said, you can’t dwell on that, because (now) it’s completely different conferences, completely different teams, styles of play.”

    CU women’s basketball players react to being selected as the fifth seed for the NCAA tournament during a watch party in the Touchdown Club at Dal Ward at the University of Colorado at Boulder in Boulder, Colorado on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

    Sean Keeler

    Source link

  • Kansas Betting Revenue Soars Year-over-Year in February

    Kansas Betting Revenue Soars Year-over-Year in February

    February was a busy month for sports betting operators in Kansas. While licensed retail and online sports wagering suppliers in the state posted an increase in their revenue and betting handle year-over-year, the results from last month fell behind the figures posted a month earlier, in January, data released by the Kansas Lottery reveals.

    In total, the combined retail and online sports betting spending in February halted at $203 million. This result marked a slight increase year-over-year when compared to the February 2023 result of $194 million. However, the spending on sports betting failed to reach the $239.6 million result reported for January this year.

    Not unexpectedly, the revenue reported by the retail and online betting operators last month was a far cry when compared to January’s results. In January, the betting operators posted $14.3 million in revenue, a result that plummeted to $3.1 million last month.

    Online Betting Takes the Lion’s Share of Revenue and Wagers

    A breakdown of the total betting handle reported in February reveals that online wagering was responsible for the majority of the wagers. This comes as no surprise considering the popularity of online/mobile betting across the country. Last month, online betting operators posted $193.9 million in betting handle. On the other hand, the retail wagering sector saw $9.2 million in betting handle for the same period.

    The $193.9 million betting handle reported by licensed online operators in Kansas translated to $3,049,912 in revenue. Both results marked a decrease when compared to January when the betting handle for online operators skyrocketed to $228.1 million while revenue was $13.7 million.

    However, year-over-year, the betting handle increased by nearly $10 million, while the revenues soared from the $35,916 result from February 2023.

    Considering the $3 million in revenue posted by online operators last month, the state’s share was $304,991. The collected tax was a far cry from the whopping $1,366,463 collected in January.

    Similarly, the retail handle of $9.2 million from February was below the $11.5 million result from January. Revenue posted by retail betting operators in Kansas last month was only $5,025, bringing in $503 for the state. In contrast, at the start of the year, in January, licensed retail betting operators posted $668,086 in revenue while the state collected $66,809.

    DraftKings Posts Highest Handle, Revenue for February

    Three online betting operators posted revenue last month. DraftKings, in collaboration with Boot Hill, posted $87.7 million, the highest betting handle for February. The result translated to nearly $2 million in revenue.

    The second-highest betting handle was reported by FanDuel and Kansas Star, with a total of $58.5 million. Considering the betting handle, the duo posted $885,938 in revenue last month.

    The third operator that reported revenue in February was Caesars together with Kansas Crossing. The duo reported $11.2 million in betting handle, a result that brought $198,496 in revenue.

    Velimir Velichkov

    Source link

  • Super Bowl Parade Shooting: Two Juveniles Charged

    Super Bowl Parade Shooting: Two Juveniles Charged

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two juveniles were charged with crimes connected to the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally, authorities said Friday, as the city tries to recover in the aftermath of the violence.

    A news release from the Jackson County Family Court said the juveniles were charged Thursday and are being detained in the county’s Juvenile Detention Center “on gun-related and resisting arrest charges.” The release said it is “anticipated that additional charges are expected in the future as the investigation by the Kansas City Police Department continues.”

    No further information was released. Juvenile court cases are largely kept private under Missouri law, and hearings are not open to the public.

    Police initially detained three juveniles but released one who they determined wasn’t involved in the shooting. Police are looking for others who may have been involved and are calling for witnesses, victims and people with cellphone video of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.

    Meanwhile, Kansas Citians are turning to religious gathers, vigils and counseling to try to cope with the horror of what happened.

    A mother and popular disc jockey died in the burst of gunfireWednesday as the parade and rally were concluding, and 22 others — more than half of them children — were injured. By Friday, two people remained in critical condition and one was in serious condition. Most of the injured children were out of the hospital and expected to recover.

    But the emotional recovery is only just beginning in a community horrified that two juveniles could cause such trauma. Police believe a dispute between several people led to the shooting.

    The slain woman was identified by radio station KKFI-FM as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.” At a vigil honoring her Thursday night, Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw said the city is working to offer support to those who are struggling.

    “Remember that we are not defined by this tragedy,” Parks-Shaw said, the Kansas City Star reported. “We are defined by our courage, our strength and our unwavering spirits. Hold on to hope. Lean on one another. And know that a brighter tomorrow awaits.”

    The Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office set up in-person counseling for the traumatized. Twelve people attended Thursday, including two children, spokesman Michael Mansur said Friday. The agency also established a hotline offering counseling, but Mansur didn’t immediately have information on how many called the hotline.

    The Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in five years Sunday, beating the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. The two previous celebrations went off without any trouble.

    On Wednesday, players rode double-decker red buses through Missouri’s largest city. The parade ended with a rally at the sprawling Union Station. It was just breaking up with shots erupted. Many people thought they were hearing fireworks. Eventually, some ducked for cover. Others leapt over barriers and sprinted, many carrying children.

    Beyond the gunshot wounds, several people were treated at hospitals for injuries suffered amid the chaos. So many personal belongings were left behind that police set up a site for people to try and find what they lost.

    Two men at the rally jumped on and detained someone with a gun, though police have not confirmed whether it was one of the people arrested.

    Paul Contreras of Bellevue, Nebraska, said he heard a man yelling to stop someone and was able to tackle the person from behind. Contreras noticed that the person he tackled had a gun, he said, and he wasn’t sure if he might have another under a heavy jacket.

    Soon, Contreras was joined by another man.

    “We’re like, we got to keep him down until law enforcement gets there. Because as much as we’re fighting to keep him down, he’s fighting to get up,” Contreras, whose daughter captured it all on video, told The Associated Press.

    The man who helped Contreras was Trey Filter. He was with his family when he heard yells of “get him.”

    “We was like, ‘We got him,’” Filter, 40, of the Wichita, Kansas, area, told AP. “I’ll always remember that. And then they started screaming, ‘There’s a gun!’”

    The gun fell near his wife, Casey Filter, who picked it up. By then, the fleeing person was under a dogpile.

    The shooting occurred despite the presence of more than 800 police officers in the area, including on top of nearby structures, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and ran for safety when the shots were fired. But he doesn’t expect to cancel the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.

    “We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.

    Taylor Swift, who is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, donated $100,000 to Lopez-Galvan’s family. Two $50,000 donations were posted Friday under the singer’s name on a GoFundMe page. Swift’s representative confirmed the donations to Variety, the trade publication reported, and The Associated Press independently verified the posts.

    Kansas City has long struggled with gun violence, and in 2020 it was among nine cities targeted by the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to crack down on violent crime. In 2023, the city matched a record with 182 homicides, most of which involved guns.

    Lucas has joined with mayors across the country in calling for new laws to reduce gun violence, including mandating universal background checks.

    ___

    Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri. McFetridge reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

    NICK INGRAM, SCOTT MCFETRIDGE and JIM SALTER / AP

    Source link

  • Man arrested in Jackie Robinson statue theft, Kansas police say

    Man arrested in Jackie Robinson statue theft, Kansas police say


    A man has been arrested in connection with the Jan. 25 theft of a Jackie Robinson statue from McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas, police announced in a news conference on Tuesday. 

    Ricky Alderete, 45, has been charged with felony theft and making false information, police said. Detectives conducted 100 interviews while investigating the theft to find out who –and why– the crime was committed, police said. 

    League 42, the nonprofit organization who put up the bronze Jackie Robinson statue at the park in 2021, was initially concerned the statute –one of only four of the famed athlete in the nation– was stolen and vandalized in a racially-motivated hate crime.

    Stolen Jackie Robinson statue
    A Jackie Robinson statue was stolen from McAdams Park in Wichita Kansas on Jan. 25, 2024.

    Wichita Police Department


    Police said in a statement that the “investigation has not revealed any evidence indicating that this was a hate-motivated crime.” Instead, police believe the “theft was motivated by the financial gain of scrapping common metal.”

    Thieves often steal bronze, copper and other metals to resell it to scrap yards. Scrap metal thefts have been on the rise in recent years as prices of metals like bronze have increased, according to a report from Market Research Future. Last month in Los Angeles, a bronze plaque was stolen from Bruce’s Beach as the county struggles with a rise in metal theft.

    Alderete allegedly cut the Jackie Robinson statue off at the ankles and put it on a pickup truck, police said. The statue’s remains were found by the Wichita Fire Department dismantled, burned and unsalvageable in a small trash fire.

    League 42, which was founded in 2013 and named after Robinson’s jersey number, raised $194,780 through an online campaign launched to replace the statue. But on Feb. 1 the MLB said that the league and its clubs will replace the vandalized statue. Funds will also be provided to League 42 to support the nonprofit’s on-field and academic work, according to the league’s announcement.

    League 42 Executive Director Bob Lutz said donated funds will be used “to operate our facilities and education initiatives” for underserved youth and “to install better security around the statue area and new lights and artificial turf for two of our playing fields.”

    Simrin Singh contributed to this report.



    Source link

  • Stolen Jackie Robinson statue found

    Stolen Jackie Robinson statue found


    Police in Kansas are searching for a suspect after a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson was vandalized and stolen last week. The dismantled remains of the artwork were found Tuesday morning by the Wichita Fire Department when it responded to a small trash fire.

    Wichita police said Monday it had located the truck that was believed to be used in the theft of the artwork, but added that detectives and officers were still searching for the people responsible.

    The life-size statue, which was erected in 2021 as part of the Jackie Robinson Pavilion in Wichita, is one of just four statues of the athlete in the nation. It was cut off from the ankles up and put in a pickup truck in the very early hours of Thursday morning, according to police.

    Stolen Jackie Robinson statue
    Stolen Jackie Robinson statue

    Wichita Police Department


    The burglary has sparked outrage from members of the community and League 42, the nonprofit organization that put the statue up. Police are not yet sure of the motive for the vandalism, and believe the perpetrators could have stolen the statue to salvage the bronze metal.

    “I’m frustrated by the actions of those individuals who had the audacity to take the statue of Jackie Robinson from a park where kids and families and our community gather to learn the history of Jackie Robinson,” Wichita Police Department Chief Joe Sullivan said Friday in a news conference.

    “What troubles me even more is that the theft occurred just before the beginning of February, which marks the start of Black History Month,” Sullivan said, adding that the timing of this robbery will be considered in the investigation.

    Bob Lutz, the founder of League 42, said in a statement on the fundraising platform GoFundMe, “As law enforcement searches for the statue and the culprits of this crime, we remain devoted to our mission of providing low-cost baseball and education opportunities for our 600 kids, ages 5-14. They are as heartbroken over this theft as any of us and we are determined to either repair the original sculpture or create a new one.”

    Simrin Singh

    Simrin Singh is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.



    Source link