GARDNER, Kan. (AP) — A mother of a slain 2-year-old has filed a lawsuit against the suburban Kansas City girl’s father, his fiancée and the fiancee’s father.
THOMASSON-photo Johnson Co.
The Kansas City Star reports that Stephanie Porting alleges in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that Lindsey Thomasson committed intentional battery as well as negligent physical discipline. Thomasson was caring for Porting’s daughter, Presley, when the girl died in February 2017.
Thomasson has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in Presley’s death. The charge alleges the girl died from child abuse. Presley’s last name has been listed both as Russom and Porting in court documents.
The suit also alleges Presley’s father, Nick Russom, and Thomasson’s father, Michael Thomasson, should have known Thomasson was abusing Presley. The girl lived with Russom and his fiancee in Gardner.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of aggravated robberies and have made an arrest.
Police on the scene of an September robbery investigation in Topeka-photo courtesy WIBW TV
On Thursday, police booked a 17-year-old into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on six counts of aggravated robbery, according to Lt. Jennifer Cross.
The suspect is believed responsible for multiple business robberies including two in July, two in September 7, two in November and one last month.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been charged in a Kansas City, Kansas, stabbing death after she was arrested over the weekend following a disturbance at a Missouri hotel.
Treece-photo Saline Co. Missouri Sheriff
Twenty-eight-year-old Tara Treece, of Kansas City, Kansas, is awaiting extradition to Wyandotte County, Kansas, where she is charged with second-degree murder and criminal use of a weapon. Prosecutors say in a news release that she is accused of killing 32-year-old Megan Hernandez last month.
Treece was taken into custody Sunday at a Marshall, Missouri, hotel, on suspicion of disturbing the peace. Marshall police say officers were at the hotel waiting for a warrant when staff reported that Treece was “being violent in her room and throwing items into the walls.” No attorney is listed for her in online court records.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A judge ruled Thursday that a southwest Missouri man was wrongfully convicted in the death of his wife, who died of a gunshot wound in their home on Christmas Day 2006.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that Judge Robert Beger’s ruling on Thursday tosses the murder conviction of 61-year-old Brad Jennings of Buffalo, who is serving a 25-year sentence. It isn’t yet clear if prosecutors will re-try the case or allow Jennings to go free.
Lisa Jennings’ death was initially ruled a suicide before charges were brought against her husband, who was convicted in 2009.
Beger cited concern about the fact that Missouri State Highway Patrol detectives failed to disclose a gunshot residue test that indicated it was unlikely Jennings fired a gun previous to his wife’s death.
Newly installed Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer described his state Wednesday as vibrant but with trouble spots, telling lawmakers he plans to charge ahead at its problems.
Colyer promised to reform the state’s struggling foster care system, improve its privatized Medicaid program, open government activities into clearer public view and help more Kansans find jobs.
Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer delivers his State of the State speech in the Kansas House on Wednesday. He promised to find a long-term solution to the state’s school funding problems, but was vague about what he’d agree to with lawmakers. CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The speech was effectively a State of the State speech by a former two-term lieutenant governor now one week into higher office and trying to distinguish himself from his unpopular running mate, former Gov. Sam Brownback. Brownback delivered a formal State of the State address last month.
Yet Colyer gave few specifics on the looming issue vexing legislators: how to find hundreds of millions of dollars potentially needed to bring the state in compliance with a court order to shore up its funding for local school districts.
“We must keep our schools open,” he said. Like Brownback, he called for doing so without a tax hike.
But Colyer didn’t repeat the proposed $600 million funding increase that featured in the former governor’s speech — and that drew a swift backlash from lawmakers who felt it was unattainable. Instead, he called for gradual increase.
Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning saw that as a signal Colyer is backing off of that number and letting lawmakers figure out what’s possible.
“That gives us all the assurance in the world that he trusts our work,” Denning said.
Colyer also said he wants lawmakers this year to bring him “a definitive solution that ends the school finance lawsuits for good.”
Some Republicans want to amend the state constitution to prevent courts from weighing in anymore on school funding. Colyer didn’t clarify whether that’s what he wanted.
Democratic Rep. Valdenia Winn said Colyer’s comments concerned her because the judiciary is part of Kansas’ system of checks and balances.
“He has a positive tone,” she said. “But tone is one thing — and equal opportunity before the law is another.”
Colyer has repeatedly promised to “change the tone in Topeka.” That theme featured in Wednesday’s speech, where he noted that in his first week in office, he met with Democratic leaders, signed an executive order requiring thousands of state workers to undergo annual training on preventing sexual harassment, and promised to push for government transparency.
“It’s time for the executive branch to do its part,” he said.
Colyer said he would cut costs for people who seek open records, improve online access to schedules and materials for public meetings, and push officials to use government instead of private email accounts.
On the state’s foster care system, which is struggling to offer refuge for children from troubled families, he pledged to hire more child welfare workers and investigators and add emergency placement options.
He promised to fight sexual harassment and investigate and handle allegations promptly and appropriately.
“Harassment in any form, at any time, in any place,” he said, “will not be tolerated in my administration.”
A recent Kansas Human Rights Commission investigation found a state contractor likely fired a woman as retaliation for her reporting a high-ranking Brownback administration official’s habitual sexual harassment.
Lawmakers stood to applaud Gov. Jeff Colyer when he described Kansas as a pro-life state. CREDIT CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
He vowed to continue Brownback’s efforts to curtail abortion and questioned court decisions that protect a women’s right to end a pregnancy.
Any argument that state and federal constitutions include a right to abortion “is violence against basic facts,” he said. “We are a pro-life state.”
Colyer cited the state’s low jobless rate, less than 4 percent, but said too many jobs go unfilled.
He promised to launch a “My (Re) Employment” program to help job hunters polish their resumes and find high-demand fields, and to continue investing in career and technical education.
Colyer inherited a tough budget situation.
One Kansas administration after the next has underfunded the state’s pension system and diverted funds from highway infrastructure. And state revenue woes in recent years — widely blamed on Brownback’s signature 2012 tax cuts — cut into higher education and other government functions.
Colyer called for ending the the practice of borrowing from the state’s highway fund to pay for other state government services.
On the day of his speech, the Kansas Department of Commerce announced a dealthat would bring the headquarters of hospital chain HCA Midwest Health to Overland Park from Kansas City, Mo. The state said it wasn’t making the government incentives in the deal public because the contract hadn’t been finalized.
Colyer, who works for an HCA hospital as a physician, said he was not involved in putting together the package.
“I was unaware of it,” he said. “I became aware of it when I became governor.”
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
GREENE COUNTY- Authorities say a man has been arrested in a Springfield mobile home park killing.
Dustin Stacey, 28, was booked into the Greene County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder in the killing of 38-year-old Kenneth Clark, of Springfield. No charges were immediately filed.
Clark was killed Feb. 1 in the southwest part of the city. Police say witnesses reported that three to four unidentified men entered a mobile home with bandannas covering their faces. Multiple shots were fired, and the men fled in a red four-door car.
Police say the victim wasn’t a resident, but he had been staying at the mobile home where the shooting took place. A warrant says drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in the home.
Hillcrest Transitional Housing of Buchanan County has announced a name change to Pivotal Point Transitional Housing.
“We are the same organization with the same people providing the same mission. We just changed our name,” stated Melissa Frakes, Pivotal Point’s executive director.
“The name change was the culmination of a long and prayerful process,” added Clark Hampton, Chairman of the Board for Pivotal Point. “We are very grateful for the help that the Kansas City-based Hillcrest organization provided over seven years ago to help initially establish our local mission. Both our local board and the Kansas City-based board engaged in a lengthy strategic planning process. As a result of that, we decided we could best fulfill our mission of transitioning homeless families and individuals in St. Joseph by remaining 100 percent local,” Clark added.
Pivotal Point Transitional Housing is located at 3000 Parkway A and offers homeless families, singles and young adults a disciplined educational program within a caring, supportive environment. Pivotal Point’s primary objective is to move clients from homelessness to self-sufficiency within 90 days by addressing the total life situation of the homeless families they serve.
Frakes said the name Pivotal Point is significant to what the organization does.
“When our potential residents come to us, they are at that pivotal point in their life, where they have an opportunity to take a whole different direction of where their life is going and to get them back on track. Our goal is to help them become more financially secure by helping them with life skills and budgeting and providing them a place to live for the time that they’re in our program,” Frakes said. “So they really are at a pivotal point in their lives when they come to us and they can make a complete change in their life and so we feel very fortunate that, through the help of many people, Pivotal Point really came to us as our new name.”
For more information about Pivotal Point Transitional Housing, click here.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – Authorities say DNA testing has linked a convicted sex offender to a 2016 sexual assault in Kansas City.
Fifty-seven-year-old Arthur Norman, of Kansas City, was charged Wednesday with rape as a persistent offender. That means he could face a life sentence if convicted.
Court records say the victim told police a man forced his way into her locked bedroom, held a knife to her throat and assaulted her. DNA collected during a sexual assault exam of the woman was matched to Norman last month. Court records say Norman told police this week that he knew the victim but denied any sexual contact or relationship with her.
Missouri’s Sex Offender Registry says Norman was previously convicted of sex crimes in Eudora, Arkansas, and Missouri. Two of the four victims were children.
Today will feel much warmer than it has in a while with high temperatures reaching into the upper 40s south of the Missouri River and upper 30s to lower 40s to the north. This warm up will be brief as a cold front will push into the region Friday creating quite the temperature difference between central and northern Missouri with upper 40s to the south and lower 20s to the north. Some light mixed precipitation is possible on the colder side of the front possibly creating a driving hazard in that region Friday. This front will push through our area Friday night dropping temperatures throughout the area into the teens and lower 20s. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 44. South southwest wind 5 to 7 mph.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. Southeast wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable.
Friday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. North wind 7 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.
Friday Night: A chance of snow. Cloudy, with a low around 11. Wind chill values between -1 and 8. North wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Saturday: Snow likely, mainly before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 18. North wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Saturday Night: A chance of snow, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 8. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 29.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 12.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 42.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 23.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 39.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 20.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A former employee of the Jasper School District pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $145,000.
Prosecutors say 55-year-old Karla Justice, of Columbus, Kansas, pleaded guilty Wednesday to wire fraud and credit card fraud.
She was head bookkeeper for the district from 2009 until she resigned in 2016.
The Joplin Globe reports she authorized more than $80,000 in extra pay for herself between 2014 and 2017. Justice, who is also known as Karla Jessee, also added more than $6,000 to her retirement account and made about $14,000 in payments for transactions unrelated to education.
Prosecutors say Justice also opened a Home Depot credit card and made personal purchases of more than $2,100 using district funds.
