Officiers on the scene of Monday’s officer involved shooting-photo by Tiernan Shank courtesy WIBW TV
POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY –The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred Monday evening in Wamego, according to a media release.
Just after 6 p.m., the Wamego Police Department requested KBI assistance to respond to and investigate a shooting. KBI agents and the Crime Scene Response Team responded.
Preliminary information indicates that at approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday, law enforcement officers responded to the report of an armed carjacking at Kreem Kup Drive In, 601 W. Hwy 24 in Wamego. Law enforcement officers from several agencies made contact with the suspect at approximately 6 p.m. in the area of 8th St. and Pine St. Shortly after, gunfire was exchanged between the male suspect and five law enforcement officers from four agencies. The agencies who had officers fire during the incident were: the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, the Wamego Police Department, and the St. George Police Department.
EMS responded, however, the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. No law enforcement officers were injured during the incident, however, one officer was transported to the hospital as a precaution due to a health concern.
The deceased individual will be identified once his next of kin is notified. No further information will be released at this time.
NIXA, Mo. (AP) – A southwest Missouri woman was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for her role in arranging a man’s murder so she could avoid pay a debt she owed in a drug-trafficking conspiracy.
Twenty-one-year-old Brooke Danielle Beckley, of Nixa, was sentenced Monday for orchestrating the April 2016 death of Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola in Webster County.
Prosecutors say Beckley was involved in the large-scale distribution of methamphetamine in the Springfield area. She recruited several people to kill Martinez-Gaxiola, who came to the area to collect a $40,000 drug debt Beckley owed.
Martinez-Gaxiola was killed after being lured to rural Webster County, where he believed he was going to collect the debt.
Four other people have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in the case.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri House has passed legislation requiring notice to be given to both custodial parents when a minor is seeking an abortion.
The House voted 113-37 Monday to send the legislation to the Senate.
Missouri law already requires the written consent of one parent or guardian before girls younger than 18 can have abortions. The bill would require the consenting parent to provide written notice to the other custodial parent or guardian, but wouldn’t require the consent of the second parent.
The legislation contains exceptions, such as when the other parent has been convicted of a sexual offense or cannot be located.
Gov. Greitens booking photo courtesy St. Louis Police Department
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on allegations against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (all times local):
5p.m.
Attorneys for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens are questioning why St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner hired a private company out of Michigan to perform the investigation that led to his indictment, rather than relying on St. Louis police.
Greitens’ attorneys in a court filing Tuesday cited documents showing that Enterra LLC of Rochester Hills, Michigan, conducted the investigation connected to the Republican governor’s affair with a woman in 2015, before he was elected.
A grand jury on Thursday indicted Greitens on one count of invasion of privacy for taking a partially nude photo of the woman without her consent.
Attorney Edward L. Dowd Jr. says he obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request showing that at least $10,000 has already been paid to Enterra.
It’s unclear why an outside firm was used for the investigation instead of St. Louis police. Messages seeking comment from a spokeswoman for Gardner were not immediately returned.
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9:30 a.m.
A newly publicized email is shedding more light on how Gov. Eric Greitens’ campaign obtained a donor list belonging to a veterans charity he founded.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday that it had obtained an email showing that The Mission Continues donor list was sent to Greitens’ campaign staffers Michael Hafner and Danny Laub in January 2015 by Krystal Taylor.
Taylor’s LinkedIn profile says she was a vice president at the Greitens Group and had previously worked for the Mission Continues.
The Associated Press reported in October 2016 that Greitens’ campaign had obtained the donor list and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from people on it.
Greitens’ campaign paid an Ethics Commission fine last year for failing to report its receipt of the list.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House formed a special panel of seven lawmakers on Monday to investigate Gov. Eric Greitens following an invasion-of-privacy charge alleging he took a nonconsensual photo of a woman in a compromising position.
The committee, which will have subpoena powers, will determine whether to initiate impeachment proceedings against the Republican governor to try to remove him from office. Its work will be separate from the criminal proceedings in St. Louis.
Committee Chairman Jay Barnes pledged a “fair, thorough and timely” investigation “without any pre-ordained results.”
“Our focus is going to be on the underlying facts of the indictment and the circumstances surrounding it,” said Barnes, a Jefferson City attorney.
An indictment handed down Thursday alleges Greitens took a photo of a woman “in a state of full or partial nudity” without her consent and transmitted it in a way that allowed access by a computer. The alleged incident occurred in March 2015, as Greitens was preparing to run for governor.
Greitens has acknowledged having an affair in 2015 with his former hairdresser but hasn’t directly answered questions about whether he bound the woman’s hands, blindfolded her and took a photo while warning her to remain silent about their sexual encounter — as the woman alleged in a conversation that her then-husband secretly recorded.
In court Monday, St. Louis prosecutors told a judge that the investigation could broaden to include matters beyond the allegations of invasion of privacy, but did not elaborate. That claim, during a hearing that was not on the St. Louis Circuit Court docket, drew an angry response from Greitens’ legal team, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
“Once you have an indictment, that’s it,” said Jack Garvey, a former judge and member of Greitens’ defense team.
Circuit Judge Rex Burlison set a tentative trial date of May 14. But a spokeswoman for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said the office will continue to push for a later trial.
Greitens’ attorneys have requested that the indictment be dismissed.
At the Capitol, some lawmakers sought to encourage Greitens to resign before either the criminal proceedings or House investigation has concluded.
Republican Rep. Shamed Dogan, who had not previously called for Greitens’ resignation, joined Rep. Marsha Haefner in a press conference saying they had collected the signatures of about a dozen GOP House members on a letter calling on Greitens to resign. But the two St. Louis-area Republicans declined to identify the other lawmakers or to release the letter.
“It is hard to see how he can be an effective governor or leader of the Missouri Republican Party while fighting a criminal case,” Dogan said.
Greitens has vowed to continue working. The governor’s office released photos of Greitens consoling people Monday and touring damage from tornadoes that struck the rural southeastern Missouri communities of Malden and Matthews over the weekend.
Later Monday, the House voted 149-1 to pass legislation making it a felony to disseminate — or threaten to disseminate — private sexual images. Lawmakers didn’t mention Greitens during a brief discussion about the bill, but some stressed that the legislation also had been proposed last year. The allegations against Greitens didn’t become public until this past January.
Attorneys for Greitens have said he looks forward to the legislative investigation.
The House investigatory committee will consist of five Republicans and two Democrats and will begin its work this week. The vice chairman will be Republican Rep. Don Phillips, a former Highway Patrol officer from Kimberling City.
The other committee members are Republican Rep. Jeanie Lauer, a Blue Springs businesswoman; Rep. Kevin Austin, a Springfield attorney who is the assistant House majority leader; Republican Rep. Shawn Rhoads, a former police officer from West Plains; Democratic Rep. Gina Mitten, a Richmond Heights lawyer who is the assistant House minority leader; and Democratic Rep. Tommie Pierson Jr., a pastor and teacher from St. Louis.
About 100 protesters gathered Monday outside a St. Louis courthouse to show support for Gardner, the prosecutor who announced the grand jury indictment, after Greitens issued a statement last week alleging that the indictment was politically motivated. The statement referred to Gardner, a Democrat, as a “reckless liberal prosecutor.”
The Rev. Darryl Gray, one of the protest leaders, said the statement by Greitens had racial undertones.
“Any time you have black leadership that stands up and challenges the status quo, the first thing that comes is character assassination,” Gray said.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A Springfield man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his girlfriend in January 2017.
Forty-year-old Shawn Turner was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Turner admitted he shot 31-year-old Kristi Spurlock after an argument in their west Springfield home.
Turner was originally charged with first-degree murder.
The Springfield News-Leader reports court documents say Turner told police he shot Spurlock three or four times during an argument over money. He then shot himself and fell asleep.
Turner also pleaded guilty to armed criminal action and illegal possession of a firearm. He was given 3-year and 7-year sentences that will be served concurrently.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and asking the public to help identify suspects.
Just after 9 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a local convenience store in the 100 Block of SW 37th in Topeka for report of an armed robbery, according to Lt. Colleen Stuart.
Employees reported two subjects entered the store, 1 black male wearing a black hoodie and one white male wearing a camouflage jacket. One subject appeared to be armed with an unknown type of handgun. The subjects demanded money and left on foot to the east from the business with an undisclosed amount of currency.
Police released images of these suspects. Anyone with information on their identity are asked to contact TPD Detectives at 368-9400 or CrimeStoppers at 234-0007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a rare set of identical triplets have been delivered at a Kansas City hospital.
Dad watching one of the new born babies -photo courtesy KSHB TV
Dr. Josh Petrikin says the boys — Ron, Elkanah, and Abishai — were “doing wonderfully” under observation in Truman Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit after their delivery Thursday. Researchers have found that identical triplets occur in about 20 or 30 of every million births.
The Kansas City Star reports that their parents, Nicole and Caleb Choge, of Ottawa, Kansas, already have a 2-year-old son. Caleb Choge says he, his wife and their toddler prayed for another child and that “God answered everybody’s prayer: one, two and three.”
Until recently, the family lived in Kenya, where Caleb Choge is from and was working as a pilot. They moved to be closer to Nicole Choge’s family.
A Gentry County man was killed when a tractor rolled down an embankment Monday morning in a field near Pattonsburg.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 64-year-old Victor L. Morgan of McFall was loading a hay bale onto a tractor at 10:30 a.m., when excessive weight on the front caused the tractor to tip and roll down an embankment.
The tractor came to rest on Morgan. He was pronounced deceased at the scene at 11:15 a.m. Monday.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Missouri State University plans to raise tuition and fees, reduce spending and eliminate more than 30 positions to make up for an $8 million state funding shortfall.
The Springfield News-Leader reports a preliminary plan presented Friday to the university’s Board of Governors says half the anticipated shortfall will be made up by reducing spending. The rest will come from tuition and fee increases.
Most of the 32 positions the university will eliminate are open. Seven are filled but will be notified of the layoffs as early as Monday.
Missouri public colleges and universities face a shortfall next year after Gov. Eric Greitens recommended a budget slashing higher education funding for the third straight year. Some lawmakers hope to restore at least some of the more than $70 million in proposed cuts.
Even before releasing their results, consultants hired to guide Kansas lawmakers to a school funding plan that meets legal muster endured a grilling on Friday.
How, wondered lawmakers, would the consultants reach their conclusions on how much money school districts need to help students succeed academically? Why do the consultants seem to be excluding the overhead, non-classroom expenses of running schools from their study? And what about criticism of work they’d done in other states?
The Kansas Legislature is awaiting a consultanting report that likely will be used to defend a school finance deal it has yet to reach. CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The details are as important as the stakes are high. Lawmakers inch closer by the day to a deadline for fixing school funding after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled the state isn’t spending enough on education.
School districts want the legislature to pump hundreds of millions of dollars in new money into schools — drawn from a budget already strained in recent years by tumbling revenue.
But lawmakers are waiting to see what the consultants say. The study is due in mid-March.
On Friday, lawmakers got their first peek at the methods behind what will be the first significant analysis of school spending they have commissioned in more than a decade.
Past studies concluded Kansas spends too little on its schools. Those results have factored into several court rulings over the past decade and a half that found public education underfunded to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
So the Republican-controlled legislature hired consultants. Lori Taylor is an economist at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service who researches school finance. WestEd is a nonprofit education consultancy. Together, they inked a $245,000 contract with the Kansas Legislature late last month to produce the new study.
Taylor and WestEd faced a barrage of questions Friday from lawmakers about the nitty gritty of their work. How, for instance, would they calculate a school district’s per pupil spending and factor in the costs of early childhood education?
Republican Rep. Melissa Rooker, a key player in trying to find a legislative solution to school finance, wondered why some out-of-classroom costs would be excluded from calculations of what schools spend to get academic results.
“We have districts that are having to cannibalize their general operating funds in order to cover the cost of transporting students,” she said.
Taylor said the study will take such situations into account.
The analysis will look at what different school districts spend and what academic outcomes — such as high-school graduation and college continuation rates — they get for that money.
Lawmakers will be under pressure to absorb the reports results and turn around a new school finance law quickly. The report is due March 15, leaving just a month and a half to craft a bill, debate and pass it, get the governor to sign it, and have lawyers at Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office prepare legal briefs defending it.
Lawyers for the state wanted lawmakers to pass a bill by early March because they were concerned there would not be enough time otherwise to finish the legal briefs defending the legislation before the Kansas Supreme Court’s April 30 deadline.
Taylor started Friday by defending her research chops after a memo made the rounds in the Legislature criticizing her work.
As reported in the Topeka Capital-Journal, a cost analysis Taylor did more than a decade ago amid a Texas school finance fight came under fire from a judge ruling on a school finance lawsuit there. Taylor’s analysis supported the idea that Texas was spending more than needed on education.
“I strongly disagree with the judge’s conclusion that our numbers were implausible,” she said. “If anything we overestimated the costs.”
