WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will not represent himself during the appeal of a voting rights case in which he was ordered to undergo more legal education and was twice found in contempt of court.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach outside a federal courthouse during a trial over his handling of voter registration earlier this year. FILE PHOTO / Kansas News Service
Instead, the attorney general’s office will handle the case. Solicitor General Toby Crouse filed Kansas’ appeal this past week of a federal judge’s ruling that the state cannot require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The judge found such laws violate the constitutional right to vote in a major setback for Kobach, a Republican who is running for governor. Kobach has long championed restrictive voting laws and led President Donald Trump’s now-defunct voter fraud commission.
Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said the change in legal representation won’t have much of an effect on the appeal because “even a good lawyer with a bad case still has a bad case.” The ACLU had filed one of the lawsuits challenging the proof-of-citizenship law.
“A good lawyer who is defending something that is illegal, unconstitutional and wrong is still going to lose on the merits regardless of how technically skilled they might be,” Kubic said. “So despite the fact that there were clear issues with procedure and the way in which Secretary Kobach handled the trial, at the end of the day that is not what the decision is based on. At the end of the day, the judge struck down the law because it is illegal under federal law, unconstitutional and contrary to the values we share as Americans.”
Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer said he supports the appeal. Asked about the significance of Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office handling it instead of Kobach, Colyer said: “I think the attorney general will do a fine job, and I intend to win this. I think it’s an opportunity for us to win this thing.”
Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert downplayed the significance of the move, saying that had always been the plan for when the case reached the appellate level.
“Secretary Kobach and Attorney General Schmidt have met and spoken about the case and they have agreed that the attorney general’s office handle the case with the full support and assistance of the secretary of state,” Hebert said.
The attorney general’s office said in an email that it is committed to “vigorously defending” the constitutionality of the law.
Former U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said the change in legal representation won’t make much difference because the appeals court will only review the facts as laid out at trial.
“Just having new counsel come in and represent the interests of the secretary of state is not going to change any of the facts that the secretary of state and his trial team laid out,” Grissom said.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson’s decision last month came in two consolidated cases challenging a Kansas voter registration law requiring people to provide documents such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or naturalization papers. Along with throwing out the law, she also ordered that Kobach complete an additional six hours of legal education on top of other requirements before he can renew his law license for the upcoming year. She imposed the sanction for his numerous disclosure violations.
She had already held him in contempt earlier for not fully registering voters as she had initially ordered. A previous contempt ruling dealt with evidence he had misrepresented to the court.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Police say a 25-year-old University of Missouri-Kansas City student has died after being shot inside the restaurant where he worked.
Police say Sharath Koppu was shot around 7 p.m. Friday during an armed robbery at J’s Fish and Chicken Market.
surveillance video image of suspected gunman courtesy KCMO PD
Koppu was a software engineer who came to the United States in January to pursue his master’s degree. Police say Koppu’s parents in India have been notified of his death.
Police have surveillance video from the restaurant that shows the shooting suspect, but police had not announced an arrest by late Saturday.
The university released a statement Saturday saying it is reaching out to Koppu’s family and friends and making counseling services available to members of the university community.
P.J. Sneed is a nurse at a hospital in Wichita, but only until the end of the June. That’s when he’ll quit to become a hemp farmer.
“I’ve not grown a stitch of hemp,” he said. “But I feel like I know how I could do it and have a plan to do it.”
He’ll need more than just enthusiasm to succeed as he trades the stresses of checking patients’ vital signs and administering medicine for the stresses of growing a new crop without experience or the benefits of crop insurance.
Earlier this year the Kansas Legislature paved the way for Sneed’s decision after it legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is the same species of plant that marijuana comes from (cannabis sativa), but it’s been specifically cultivated to produce a very small amount (by law, under 0.3 percent) of the psychoactive chemical, known as THC, that gets people high.
Boosters of the plant argue it has tens of thousands of uses. The fibers in its stalk can be turned into insulation, while the plant’s flower can be pressed into an oil rich with a chemical known as cannabidiol, or CBD.
CBD oil products are marketed to treat a variety of ailments. They drive most of the demand for hemp plants in the U.S. now. But experts and economists warn that creating a market from scratch, especially one with a stigma like hemp, is full of obstacles.
Rows of industrial hemp in a field in Colorado CREDIT DANI BILLINGS, COLORADO HEMP PROJECT
For starters, hemp requires special equipment to harvest and to process. The qualities that make it great for rope are the same ones that make it harder on machines than wheat and corn. So processors have engineered their own solutions or found private investors willing to spend heavily to import a machine from abroad.
And even though a state can legalize growing hemp, the federal government still views it as a dangerous drug, the same as heroin or cocaine. Among other consequences, that cuts potential growers and processors off from access to traditional banking.
If Kansas farmers want to know what they’re really getting into, they can look to neighboring Colorado. Five years ago, it became the first state to let people grow industrial hemp since the 1940s.
“It’s an amazing plant. It’s magic,” William “Wild Bill” Billings said.
He’s the CEO of the Colorado Hemp Project. Not only does he grow hemp and sell seeds to new farmers, but he said he’s benefitted from the products it can produce too.
Billings has arthritis and doctors told him he’d need a knee and hip replaced. Three years later he said he’s living pain-free by using a regimen of 100 mg of CBD oil a day.
Billings also said growing hemp is a huge opportunity for struggling farmers. He thinks as soon as they see the benefits, they’ll be replacing their corn with hemp.
If they do, they’ll need someone to sell it to. That’s where Ed Lehrburger, the CEO of Pure Hemp Technologies, comes in.
His company has developed ways to process every part of the plant — from the fibrous stalk to the CBD rich flowers and buds.
But getting to that point was a process of trial and error. In an effort that took more than a year, he and his employees managed to turn an old gleaner into a hemp thresher that can separate the plant into three separate components. The process required taking the machine apart, modifying it, and putting it back together at least six times before getting the results they desired.
Even now, just because they can process the plant, doesn’t mean they’re always looking to buy — an often overlooked component of deciding to grow hemp.
“We’d get calls from farmers, ‘God, we grew hemp. We heard you guys were processing it. Are you going to buy our hemp or not?’,” he said. “Well, no, we’re not. We’d boughten a lot and we’ve got more than we can handle.”
Don’t put that first seed in the ground until you’ve got a buyer, Lehrburger says.
But like in Colorado, the prospect of getting a head start in a budding industry has many Kansas farmers and entrepreneurs excited about hemp.
Christina Hett from Marion County was among dozens who showed up to packed information meetings held by the Kansas Department of Agriculture this spring.
“The farming markets are terrible,” she said. “It’s to the point that we have to find something else.”
She says hemp might provide that solution and was looking for guidance. But state agriculture officials said that they still lack answers on several fronts. Final regulations won’t be approved until later this year.
In the meantime, Kansas officials are studying places such as Kentucky that already have programs.
“We hope it may become a game changer,” said Brent Burchett, director of the plant division for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. “But to date, it’s just another crop we’re researching.”
Rows of industrial hemp in a field in Colorado CREDIT DANI BILLINGS, COLORADO HEMP PROJECT
He estimates farmers will plant more than 3,000 acres of hemp in his state this year. Kentucky officials see hemp as a potential replacement for tobacco. But replacing 80,000 acres of tobacco, or taking over a fraction of the millions of acres used to grow corn and soybeans, with hemp won’t be easy or quick.
“A lot of expectation was it just needed a little bit of sunshine and it would be all well,” Burchett said. “But it needs fertilizer. It needs good soil. And, most importantly, it needs good farmers.”
“There are no insecticides, no fungicides, no herbicides labeled for this and there’s no crop insurance and no safety net for it,” University of Kentucky Assistant Professor Tyler Mark said.
The reality of growing hemp right now is that farmers need to be willing to lose everything they put into this crop.
“Until it comes off of that list,” Mark said. “It becomes difficult to attract additional investment into this market.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is trying to change that and make growing hemp easier. He’s sponsoring a bill that would remove hemp from the controlled substance list and give hemp farmers access to crop insurance, but it’s still far from becoming law.
Even so, the appeal of growing a plant that could have major economic and environmental impacts has many Kansans willing to take the risk. After all, Kansas used to grow a lot of hemp. One year during the Civil War, Kansas grew more bushels of hemp per acre than any other state.
Sneed, the nurse and aspiring hemp farmer, has already bought 80 acres of land to start growing hemp. At first, he’ll only plant about 10 acres, but in the future he hopes for a lot more.
“Everybody’s predicting in eight-10 years it to be a $1.5 billion dollar industry,” he said. “How do you ignore that?”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Officials say a child is dead and at least three other people are critically injured after an apartment fire in Kansas City, Kansas.
Fire Battalion Chief Morris Letcher says two children and two adults were taken to hospitals in critical condition following the blaze late Saturday morning, and that one child later died. Letcher says officials are not yet releasing the names or ages of the victims.
Witnesses said the fire began with an explosion that shook nearby buildings.
Fire officials say the cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
Crews remained late Saturday afternoon on the scene of the fire, which had been extinguished hours earlier. Members of the American Red Cross are also helping those affected by the fire.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A Springfield school for children with severe disabilities is investigating after an unauthorized camera was found at the school.
Nancy Bowles, a spokeswoman for the Missouri education department, said the camera was found June 29 at the Greene Valley School.
Bowles says the camera was immediately removed after it was discovered.
The Springfield News-Leader reports it is unclear if parents were told about the camera and no other details have been released.
Greene Valley provides an education for students with special needs between ages 5 and 21. This fall’s enrollment was 54 students.
CAMERON, Mo. – A much-needed resurfacing project through Cameron is has been pushed back one week.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has contracted with Herzog Contracting Corporation to complete the U.S. Route 36 resurfacing project which stretches from Grindstone Creek to just east of the Caldwell County line. Crews will mill off the old surface and then add two lifts of new asphalt through this area.
For safety and to mitigate the impact to motorists, the project will be completed in two stages. The first stage will stretch from Grindstone Creek to just past the U.S. Route 69 ramps. The second stage will begin where the first stage ended and continue east to just past the county line.
Beginning Monday, July 16, the contractor will close one lane of eastbound U.S. Route 36 beginning at Grindstone Creek and progress east over a two-week period in approximately two-mile sections. One lane of U.S. Route 36 in each direction will remain open at all times. During this first phase, the ramps at U.S. Route 69 will close for the repaving of U.S. Route 36. This work will take place during daylight hours with crews working six days per week.
The second stage of the project could begin as early as July 30. It will start where the first stage ended and continue to just past the Caldwell County line. This stage will include the repaving of the Interstate 35 ramps. The work during this second stage will be conducted as nighttime operations and will require the closure of the I-35 ramps. The closure of each ramp will last approximately one day. This second stage will take at least two weeks to complete.
During both stages, traffic control and message boards will be in place alerting motorists of the work and planned ramp closures. All work is weather permitting and could be rescheduled.
MoDOT encourages all travelers to slow down, especially in work zones, as there will be large equipment and workers near the driving lanes. As always, please buckle up, eliminate distractions, pay attention and drive safely so everyone is able to Arrive Alive.
For more information on this or other MoDOT projects, call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest and view the online Traveler Information Map. In addition, MoDOT provides updated information on Twitter @MoDOTNorthwest and Facebook at @MoDOTNWDistrict.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Police say a man killed by western Kansas police earlier this week was wanted for murder in Missouri.
Webb-photo courtesy Columbia police
Charles Webb, 43, was wanted in the May 3 shooting death of 43-year-old Robert Eugene Jennings, of Columbia, Missouri. Police in Columbia said a warrant had been issued for Webb charging his with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in that shooting.
Authorities say Webb was shot to death early Friday during a confrontation with police at an apartment complex in Overland Park, Kansas.
Police were called to the apartment for reports of a man and woman arguing and shots fired. Police say Webb fired several shots at arriving officers, and two officers fired back, hitting him. Webb died later at a hospital.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri’s Democrats are facing a conversation about their abortion-rights stance after the party recently adopted an amendment aimed at welcoming anti-abortion candidates.
The Kansas City Star reports the party added an amendment to its platform June 30 stating it welcomes “all Missourians who may hold differing positions on (abortion)” and sees diversified views as its strength.
The amendment came as the recently-announced retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy opens the possibility that the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion could be overturned.
The Democratic Party has struggled to clarify its stance on abortion as it works to win back elected offices in Republican-dominated areas.
St. Louis Alderwoman Annie Rice says she’s fine with a personal objection to abortion but concerned with how candidates will vote once elected.
MANHATTAN—Federal, state and local prosecutors are sponsoring a two-day conference on human trafficking next week in northeast Kansas.
According to a media release, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister for the district of Kansas will open the Conference at 8a.m. Tuesday at the Manhattan Conference Center, 410 S. 3rd Street in Manhattan, to begin the two-day event.
About 200 victim service providers, prosecutors, healthcare professionals, educators and law enforcement officers from across the state are registered to attend.
The U.S. Attorney’s office is co-sponsoring the event with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the Riley County Attorney’s Office, the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center and the Wichita State Midwest Criminal Justice Institute.
“What we all have in common is our desire to prevent human trafficking, to prosecute traffickers and to help survivors reclaim their lives and their freedom,” McAllister said.
The keynote speaker on Tuesday morning will be Peter Qualliotine of King County, Washington, where he is director of Men’s Accountability, Organization for Prostitution Services. He will describe his work with men who buy sex in a 10-week sex-buyer intervention program called Stopping Sexual Exploitation: A Program for Men.
In a presentation on the federal response to human trafficking, speakers from the Human Trafficking Unit of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will discuss working with trafficking victims.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A former neurosurgery resident has filed a lawsuit alleging the University of Missouri School of Medicine’s chief of neurosurgery harassed him and fired him without good cause.
The Columbia Missourian reports that Rylan Brantl is seeking $50 million in his lawsuit filed last week against the UM Board of Curators. Brantl alleges that N. Scott Litofsky created a hostile work environment from 2008 to 2013.
The lawsuit also alleges that Brantl was forced to repeat a year of his residency despite passing the required board exams. Brantl says he was then unfairly cut from the program and that the medical school didn’t follow proper grievance procedures.
Litofsky didn’t immediately return the newspaper’s request for comment. An MU Health Care spokesman says the university doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
