BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) – Greene County authorities say a woman whose toddler died over the weekend has been arrested.
Kienzle Kilgore-courtesy photo
Two-year-old Kinzlea Kilgore died early Sunday after first responders were sent to a home in Buffalo for a medical emergency.
Buffalo police on Wednesday arrested, Kinzlea’s mother, 25-year-old Sierra Barrett, of Springfield, on suspicion of child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Police said Wednesday they had other “persons of interest” in the case.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City-based Bartlett and Co., is merging into a Utah-based conglomerate.
The companies announced the merger Wednesday but the terms weren’t released. The Kansas City Star reports the merger will fold Bartlett, which formed in 1907, into Savage Companies, based in Salt Lake City. The transaction is expected to be completed in August.
Savage provides services to such industries as oil refinery, power generation and chemicals. Bartlett is involved in the grain merchandising, cattle feeding and milling industries. The merger doesn’t include Bartlett’s cattle-feeding operations, for which it is seeking alternatives that could involve a separate buyer.
The announcement said employees of both companies will continue to work at their current locations.
Bartlett recently settled federal action stemming from a 2011 explosion at a grain elevator in Atchison, Kansas, that killed six workers.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The head of Missouri’s public defender system says a suspect in the slaying of a transgender teen should be spared from facing the death sentence if he’s convicted because there isn’t enough money to adequately defend him.
Vrba-photo Texas Co.
Missouri State Public Defender Office director Michael Barrett argued this month in Andrew Vrba’s first-degree murder case that it’s not fair that the state is stepping in to help county prosecutors while also “depriving the defense of the resources necessary to provide diligent, effective, and conflict-free-representation.”
Barrett’s motion is the latest effort to draw attention to funding problems that have prompted an ACLU lawsuit and led Missouri public defenders to turn down some new case.
The Missouri attorney general’s office and the Texas County, Missouri, prosecutor didn’t immediately return phone messages Wednesday.
SHAWNEE COUNTY— Investigators determined unattended cooking is the likely cause of a deadly house fire in northeast Topeka.
Scene of Tuesday morning fatal house fire- photo courtesy WIBW TV
Just after midnight Tuesday fire crews responded to the fire at a one-story, wooden-framed house, according to a media release.
First-arriving crews reported the house was fully involved in flames. The fire appeared to have done the most damage on its back side.
The victim identified as 49-year-old Ronald Dean Bass was found inside the residence, according to Topeka Fire Department Shift Commander Dan Macke.
Ammunition was stored inside the residence. The home also had a lot of clutter inside, according to Macke.
Fire crews stayed at the scene several hours after the blaze.
The blaze caused an estimated $75,000 in damage.
Topeka Fire Marshal Mike Martin says working smoke alarms weren’t present in the house.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one person is dead following an overnight fire in northeast Topeka.
The blaze was called in at 12:08 a.m. Tuesday at a one-story, wooden-framed house.
Topeka Fire Department Shift Commander Dan Macke says that first-arriving crews reported the house was fully involved in flames. The fire appeared to have done the most damage on its back side.
The victim, who wasn’t immediately identified, was found inside the residence
Macke says ammunition was stored inside the residence. The home also had a lot of clutter inside.
Fire crews stayed at the scene several hours after the blaze.
Topeka fire investigators were called to determine the cause of the fire.
The race to be the next governor of Kansas is beginning in earnest. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Josh Svaty picked a political no-name to team with in his run for governor.
But the pick is someone who checks off boxes that Svaty can’t with voters in the Democratic primary and, if things play out right for him, in the general election.
She’s not just a woman; her abortion rights beliefs mitigate his support of some abortion restrictions that don’t play well with many Democrats. He didn’t serve in the military; she brings U.S. Army credentials polished at West Point and honed as a Black Hawk helicopter platoon leader in Iraq.
Katrina Lewison is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Josh Svaty CREDIT JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Katrina Lewison offers business experience in the tech world to balance his time as a member of the Kansas House and as the state’s agriculture secretary.
The pairing gives Svaty a chance to turn some heads as voters start tuning in to the crowded campaign.
“This is a change election,” Svaty said.
Gone, he said, are the days of “two white guys running at the top of the ticket.” That’s his shot at the all-male tickets of the two leading contenders for the Republican nomination, Gov. Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Colyer, who served for seven years as lieutenant governor before taking over in January when former Gov. Sam Brownback left to take an ambassador’s job in the Trump administration, installed Salina businessman Tracey Mann as his successor.
Mann, a former director for the National Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2010.
Kobach added former rival Wink Hartman to his ticket after the Wichita businessman dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination for governor.
Lewison, who’s five months into a term on the Manhattan school board, said her desire to put Kansas “back on the right path” motivated her to run for statewide office.
“I see this as a chance to step up when Kansas needs leaders the most,” Lewison said.
An abortion rights supporter, Lewison said she wouldn’t have joined the ticket if she and Svaty “weren’t aligned” on the issue.
“Josh has been very clear about his position that he would not further restrict a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices,” she said.
Svaty’s selection of a running mate is the first event in what promises to be a flurry of campaign activity between now and June 1, the date by which all major party candidates for statewide office and the Kansas House must file with the secretary of state’s office.
The campaign of state Sen. Laura Kelly, another perceived frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, says she will name her running mate “late next week” and file the following week.
Several other declared candidates for the Democratic nomination have yet to make their campaigns official. They include former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, Olathe physician Arden Andersen and former FBI agent Michael Tabman. Salina salesman Robert Klingenberg has named a running mate but hasn’t yet filed.
Wichita high school student Jack Bergeson is the only Democratic hopeful to have both chosen a running mate and filed his candidacy with the secretary of state’s office.
Two prominent Republican candidates — former state Sen. Jim Barnett and Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer — must also round out their tickets and file before the deadline.
Several teenage candidates running for the GOP nomination must do the same. They include, Tyler Ruzich, Dominic Scavuzzo and Joseph Tutera, Jr.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — A Kansas man injured in a weekend motorcycle accident has died.
First responders on the scene of the fatal accident. Photo courtesy WIBW TV
On Saturday, deputies, along with Shawnee Heights Fire Department and American Medical Response (AMR) personnel, were dispatched to 3500 SE Croco Road for an injury accident, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.
The accident involved a motorcycle driven by Anthony J. Forshee, 28, Berryton, and a Fed Ex delivery truck. The motorcycle was north in the 3500 block of SE Croco Road and the Fed Ex truck was south turning to go east on SE 35th when they collided.
AMR transported Forshee to Stormont Vail Hospital where he died. The driver of the Fed Ex truck was not injured.
The accident remains under investigation, according to Stallbaumer.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Attorneys for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens want to be able to publicly question a woman with whom he had an affair, as well as any other witnesses whose testimony could be used to try to impeach him.
Lawyers representing Greitens’ office engaged in a sometimes tense and confrontational discussion Wednesday with members of a special House committee that has been investigating allegations against Greitens.
The attorneys want the House to establish rules allowing them to call and cross-examine witnesses during a special legislative session that is to begin Friday.
House committee members said they, too, want a public hearing process that gets to the truth. They want Greitens to testify, which he so far has not done.
Until now, the committee has taken witness testimony in secret.
The St. Joseph School District is seeking a Coordinator of Early Childhood Services following the resignation of Tammy Flowers this week.
According to a press release from the district, Flowers has accepted a position at Springfield Public Schools as the Assistant Director of Early Childhood.
“I have grown as a professional and educator during my time with the St. Joseph School District,” said Flowers. “I commend the District and my colleagues for shaping me into the leader that I am today.”
Flowers has been with the SJSD for more than 18 years. During her time with the District, Flowers helped implement and design a new early childhood curriculum, assisted in the program’s growth and was an advocate internationally to provide training in early childhood data analysis and assessment.
The St. Joseph School District’s Board of Education is expected to approve her resignation during Monday’s
meeting. Flowers is scheduled to begin her new role with Springfield Public Schools on July 1, 2018.
The Kansas City Star reports that the arrest happened early Tuesday after an abandoned car was found in a creek behind a south Kansas City home with a handgun inside. No charges have been filed.
Police say the unidentified person was being sought in the killing of 30-year-old Russell Fisk, who was found dead Friday in his crashed car. The person also was being sought in two other shootings that happened a short time later. One of those victims sustained life-threatening injuries.
Fisk worked as a tattoo apprentice at a Lake of the Ozarks shop for seven years before moving to Kansas City and opening the Black Card Tattoo Collective.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a woman described as a fake doctor who worked in Kansas and three other states to more than six years in prison.
Isabel Kesari Gervais-Jefferson Co.
U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala imposed the sentence Tuesday on 61-year-old Isabel Kesari Gervais.
Authorities say Gervais described herself as a naturopathic doctor but wasn’t licensed. A statement from prosecutors says she claimed to use naturopathic medicine to cure illnesses including cancer.
Gervais pleaded guilty last year to defrauding patients at a clinic in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.
In her plea agreement she acknowledged operating multiple offices over 15 years in Leawood, Kansas; Montgomery, Alabama; Springdale, Arkansas; and metro Atlanta.
Investigators determined Gervais moved frequently and used aliases including Rose Starr and Debra Lynn Goodman to avoid detection. She had been in Hoover, Alabama, since 2015.
