COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a Missouri man who implied on social media last month that he was involved in the killing of a community activist with a criminal record.
Ahmonta Harris -photo courtesy- Alexander-May Funeral Home
Columbia police said they are looking into a possible connection between the deaths of 20-year-old Deonte Gainwell, whose body was found early Thursday, and that of Ahmonta Harris, who was killed on Nov. 24. But police declined to say whether Gainwell’s death was retaliatory.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Department said previously in a news release that Harris had been attempting to rob a home near Columbia when an armed 20-year-old killed him, an explanation that Harris’ family and friends rejected.
“We don’t accept it,” Shauntel Franklin, Harris’s longtime girlfriend and mother of his child said in late November. “They can say what they want, we don’t accept it. We know who he is and what he was.”
The findings of the investigation were turned over to prosecutors to review. Amid that review, Gainwell defended himself from accusations about the shooting death in a Dec. 5 Facebook post, writing that Harris “shouldn’t have been in my momma’s house” and that he was found dead with “gloves on, blacked out outfit and a mask and gun next to his body.”
Gainwell added: “Stop slandering my name. Buddy got caught with his hand in the wrong cookie jar.”
Harris had past convictions for assault and property damage. But Harris also frequented attended community meetings, where he urged youths to stay away from violence. He was known for organizing an event dubbed the “Fireworks War” in which people battled with roman candles and whatever else they stockpiled before the Fourth of July holiday. Harris described the event as a way to bring people together, but law enforcement decried it as dangerous.
Gainwell’s death isn’t the only instance of violence to follow Harris’ death. Gunfire erupted during the funeral for Harris. Prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old with unlawful use of a weapon in the incident.
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit alleges that a former Missouri high school coach had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student while the coach’s father was the superintendent of the school district.
The suit filed this month in Cass County Circuit Court says Joseph Dahman had sexual contact with the girl on school grounds and elsewhere after she began attending Harrisonville High School as a 14-year-old in the 2016-17 school year.
After the allegations came to light in 2017, Dahman resigned from the school, where he had worked as an aide, and coached football and wrestling. No criminal charges have been filed.
His father, Frank Dahman, retired last year as superintendent.
A district spokeswoman declined to comment, and Joseph Dahman didn’t return a message from The Star.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri congressman who yelled “go back to Puerto Rico” at Democrats during a heated House floor debate over the partial government shutdown has apologized to a colleague who perceived the comment as a racial slur directed at him.
Rep. Jason Smith, a Republican from Salem, said when he yelled the comment Thursday he was referring to a group of about 30 Democrats who went to Puerto Rico last weekend in the midst of the shutdown, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported .
But Rep. Tony Cardenas, a Democrat from California, said he believed the comment was directed at him. Cardenas, who organized the Puerto Rico trip, said he heard “go back to Puerto Rico” several times while he was growing up in Pacoima, California.
Smith, the House Republican conference secretary, said he didn’t know Cardenas organized the trip and the comment was not directed at any individual. He said he quickly apologized to Cardenas.
“I should not have done it, the outburst on the floor,” Smith said. “It was a reaction to them vacationing while the government was shut down. I was up here last weekend working with (Republican House Leader) Kevin McCarthy and everyone else, trying to come up with a plan” to end the shutdown.
Cardenas said he appreciated Smith’s call, and the two plan to get together when the House returns to session Tuesday to become better acquainted.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A report says Kansas customers are paying more for electricity than in neighboring states because of investments in coal and wind power.
The Kansas Corporation Commission recently presented its analysis of electricity rates to lawmakers.
The commission found that utilities Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light spent billions of dollars over the last decade on coal-fired power plants in Kansas. They also spent millions of dollars complying with a now-repealed state rule for 20 percent of energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.
Commission Chief Accountant Justin Grady says Kansas decided to invest in coal when it was cheaper than gas, but the price of natural gas has since dropped.
The state Senate Utilities Committee plans to discuss the report next week.
POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation continue the investigation into the homicide of 19-year-old Jacob Bouck.
Bouck- photo courtesy Pottawatomie Co. Sheriff
The teen’s body was found on Christmas Eve approximately one mile West of Wamego on the Kansas River.
Bouck, a Wamego resident and 2017 graduate of Wamego High School was last seen in the Wamego area on December 21st, 2018 and was missing until his body was located on December 24th. Bouck was reported to be wearing a dark colored jacket, black shirt, gray thermal long-johns and black shoes, according to the The Pottawatomie County Sheriff.
On Friday, the sheriff reported that a reward of $1000 dollars is now being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this crime.
Authorities are urging anyone with information on the case to contact the Pottawatomie County Sheriff at 785-457-3353 or 1-800-KS-CRIME. Tips can be anonymous.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missourians will get February food stamps early because of the federal government shutdown.
The Department of Social Services announced that participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will get payments by Sunday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service directed states to issue food stamps early because of the shutdown.
Missouri Social Services Director Steve Corsi says families will not get additional food stamp benefits in February. He cautioned families to ration out benefits because the food stamps will need to last through both January and February.
A developing storm system is expected to emerge out of the southern Rockies and track across northern Texas into Arkansas later Friday through early Saturday morning.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), widespread snow is expected across the region with heaviest snow accumulations over northern Missouri and far northeastern Kansas. Total snow accumulations of 5 to 8 inches are expected.
A Winter Storm Warning for snow means severe winter weather conditions will make travel very hazardous or impossible. The NWS says if you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.
Several schools in the area are dismissing early Friday due to the expected winter weather. Click here for a full list.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — An accidental fire at a Kansas home caused significant damage.
Thursday afternoon fire at a home in Topeka-photo by Rick Felsburg courtesy WIBW TV
Just after 4p.m. Thursday, crews responded to a fire at a home in the 600 Block of SW 9th Street in Topeka, according to Fire Marshal Michael Martin.
Upon arrival, fire crews reported smoke and flames coming from the back southern 2nd floor of the residence. Fire suppression crews were able to extinguish the fire, containing it to second floor and attic spaces of the home. The remaining portions of the dwelling sustained significant water damage throughout.
Estimated structural dollar loss is $50,000 to the dwelling and $25,000 contents loss.
The fire was caused by a space heater appliance and or a related electrical issue, according to Martin.
Multiple occupants of the home were able to escape unharmed. Fire crews did not find working smoke detectors at the home.
In her first budget as governor, Democrat Laura Kelly aims to inject cash into what she calls critical state services.
The proposal unveiled Thursday also would start to wean the state off money diverted for years from highway construction and upkeep.
But the bill met a predictably harsh reception from some Republicans. They argued the spending plan would lead to budget deficits.
To invest in services, while preserving a savings account, the budget would stretch out payments intended to fill a deficit in the state pension plan. It also continues transfers from the highway fund, although it would take less money from roads than in recent years.
That would let Kansas plow money into schools, child welfare and an expanded Medicaid program that would offer health coverage to an added 150,000 or so Kansans.
Kelly’s budget also shoots to end a years-long school funding lawsuit. It would add $92 million a year more for schools to comply with a court decision from last year.
The budget follows a theme Kelly has repeated, that she inherited problems from her Republican predecessors and that she can’t restore state services in a single year.
“It’s going to take time for Kansas to heal from the damage inflicted over the last eight years,” Kelly said in a statement, “so we don’t have a moment to lose.”
Larry Campbell, the budget director for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, laid out the administration’s spending plan to lawmakers on Thursday. CREDIT STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVCIE
Kelly’s budget director, Larry Campbell, told lawmakers in a budget briefing that the spending plan invests in services while allowing Kansas to weather economic uncertainty that, he said, could include a possible recession in the coming months or years.
“We need a cushion, and we need tools back in the toolbox to address the unforeseen economic challenges coming,” Campbell said.
At the end of fiscal year 2020, Kelly’s budget would leave Kansas with a $686 million reserve. That’s 9 percent of state spending and a decrease from the $761 million the state had banked at the end of fiscal year 2018.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning said lawmakers don’t want to extend the payoff schedule in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, or KPERS. Without the restructured pension payments, he said, the numbers in the budget don’t work.
“This whole budget is built on a house of cards,” Denning said after the meeting.
Kelly’s also pushing to expand the health care program Medicaid. She’s budgeted $14 million, although the administration says the cost would rise in the following year.
That is an underestimate of the true cost, Denning said.
“We know that it’s impossible,” Denning said.
Yet Denning applauded the proposal to reduce transfers from the highway fund.
Medicaid expansion will likely have bipartisan support in the Legislature. A bill passed both chambers in 2017 but was vetoed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback.
Democratic Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore said even if the cost estimate isn’t exact, Medicaid expansion is something lawmakers need to do because of the benefit it could offer to Kansans and struggling rural hospitals.
“I absolutely believe we have to invest in that,” Wolfe Moore said.
The spending plan also makes investments in a variety of other services.
It would spend $22 million to give state employees a 2.5 percent raise.
The plan would reverse a funding cut universities absorbed in 2016. Those cuts had already been partially restored and finishing the job will cost almost $9 million.
To tackle problems in the state’s troubled child welfare system, the budget proposes hiring 55 more social workers at a cost of $4 million. The plan would also spend more than $7 million on services aimed at keeping children in their homes so they never enter the foster care system in the first place.
The governor’s spending plan serves as a template for state lawmakers. Now, budget writers from the House and Senate will begin digging deeper into the bill and developing their own spending priorities.
“It’s kind of a rosy picture,” said Republican Rep. Troy Waymaster, the top budget writer in the House. “We have to go back and do a complete analysis.”
