MONTGOMERY, W.Va. (AP) — A meeting is set on a nonprofit group’s plans to start a college in southern West Virginia for students transitioning out of foster care.
The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery. The campus is becoming available because West Virginia University is completing the move of WVU Tech from Montgomery to Beckley this year.
Olathe, Kansas-based KVC Health Systems wants to use the campus. The group specializes in behavioral health care and child welfare. West Virginia legislative lobbyist Tommy Bailey has helped KVC during negotiations with WVU.
While many states offer college tuition waivers or some financial assistance to former foster children, dedicating a college to them would appear to be unique.
Bailey says there’s “nothing like this that we can find.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City residents will not vote in April on a proposed minimum wage increase.
A Jackson County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday denied an effort to put the minimum wage ordinance on the April 4 ballot, saying the issue needed to go through the city’s ordinance approval processes.
Judge Margene Burnett said she also has no authority to order the ordinance placed on the August ballot. She said it was up to the city to ensure the proposal gets through the process to be available for the August ballot.
Voters would be asked to decide whether the city should raise its minimum wage of $10 per hour annually until it reaches $15 in 2021.
The state’s current minimum wage is $7.70 an hour.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are pushing a plan to close a projected budget shortfall without cutting aid to public schools.
The House Appropriations Committee endorsed a bill Monday that would liquidate a state investment portfolio. The move would raise $317 million in funds for a loan to the state’s main bank account that would be paid back over seven years.
The measure goes to the full House for debate.
Lawmakers in both parties do not like the internal borrowing but said it’s a better alternative than attempting to cut spending immediately. The state faces a projected shortfall of about $320 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Senate GOP leaders advanced a plan last week to cut education funding by $128 million but canceled a debate when senators balked.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old girl as she left a Kansas City convenience store with her father.
Prosecutors say Leandre Smith pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder and other charges in the October 2014 death of Angel Hooper.
Smith was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Angel was shot in the head as she held her father’s hand while leaving the convenience store in south Kansas City.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says the shots fired from a passing car were intended for someone else.
Smith will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.
Another man, Howard Chase IV, is scheduled to go on trial next month in Angel’s death.
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — The owner of a Dodge City hunting preserve is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of people who slipped onto the preserve and killed several animals.
Ryan Engelking, owner of Dodge City Exotic Hunt and Safari near Dodge City, says some of the animals killed recently were pets and not on the reserve for hunting.
The Dodge City Daily Globe reports Engelking estimates the killings will cost him about $25,000. He says many of the animals killed were rams.
The owner believes at least two people committed the crime and hunted using bows and arrows.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Documents filed with Sarpy County indicate that Facebook may be considering building a data center in the area, which is already home to data centers for other large companies.
A company spokeswoman declined comment for the Omaha World-Herald , saying only that Facebook is evaluating potential sites.
Facebook has not confirmed the site, but the data center applications are signed by an LLC with the same California address as Facebook’s headquarters. Another address in the applications is of a law firm that has previously represented Facebook in a number of acquisitions.
If the company selects the site south of Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn), it’ll operate among Yahoo and Fidelity which also have data centers in the county.
Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Andrew Rainbolt says the data center could see a groundbreaking by this spring.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee is considering a proposal to keep concealed guns out of public hospitals, mental health clinics and nursing homes.
The Federal and State Affairs Committee took up a bill Tuesday that would allow the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, to continue barring concealed weapons.
A state law will require the medical center and other hospitals to allow concealed weapons in their buildings starting in July unless they have adequate security measures such as guards or metal detectors.
Committee Chairman and Abilene Republican John Barker offered an amendment to allow all public hospitals, mental health clinics and nursing homes to ban concealed guns.
The committee did not finish its debate Tuesday. It plans to continue its discussion and take votes Wednesday.
Sen. Roy BluntA Missouri Senator called for an exhaustive investigation into the activities of President Trump’s former National Security Adviser, because of a lot of unanswered questions.
The White House says that President Donald Trump asked his national security adviser to tender his resignation because of a trust issue, not a legal issue. General Michael Flynn offered his resignation late Monday night.
Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says the committee is now tasked with investigating exactly what was said in a telephone conversation between Flynn and the Russian ambassador. The Missouri Republican told a St. Louis radio station says every White House has what Blunt called a “shakedown cruise,” and said this is the first change in the new administration.
“It won’t be the last change, I wouldn’t think,” Blunt said in an interview KTRS radio.
“Everybody needs that investigation to happen, ” Blunt said. “The Senate Intelligence Committee has been given the principal responsibility to look into this, and I think we should look into it exhaustively, so at the end of this process nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned.
“I would think we should talk to General Flynn very soon, and that should answer a lot of questions.”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the retired general either mislead Vice President Mike Pence and others, or forgot “critical details” about his call with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., creating “a critical mass and an unsustainable situation.”
Flynn resigned his position late Monday, days after a Washington Post report cited intelligence intercepts showingthat Flynn addressed sanctions with the diplomat while President Barack Obama was still in office.
Blunt said Flynn served the country well, and for a long time.
“You need to betruthful in whatever job you have,” he said. “The National Security Adviser has to be absolutely trustworthy and truthful, and apparently he wasn’t, and he paid the price for that.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are pushing a plan to close a projected budget shortfall without cutting aid to public schools.
The House Appropriations Committee endorsed a bill Monday that would liquidate a state investment portfolio. The move would raise $317 million in funds for a loan to the state’s main bank account that would be paid back over seven years.
The measure goes to the full House for debate.
Lawmakers in both parties do not like the internal borrowing but said it’s a better alternative than attempting to cut spending immediately. The state faces a projected shortfall of about $320 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Senate GOP leaders advanced a plan last week to cut education funding by $128 million but canceled a debate when senators balked.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say officers have shot and killed a man after he pointed a weapon at them in Kansas City.
Police said in a news release that officers responded Saturday night to a report of gunshots and found 27-year-old Alonzo Ashley Jr. on the porch of his home shooting a rifle. The release said officers shot Ashley when he pointed the rifle in their direction.
