A northwest Missouri man is accusing of splashing boiling water on another man during an argument causing severe burns.
Alfred Hyatt Jr., 57 of Ludlow is charged in Livingston County with a felony of first-degree assault.
According to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday around 6:15 p.m. deputies responded to a home in Ludlow in reference to an assault. Sheriff Steve Cox said the alleged victim was a mentally disabled man that was at home with the mother’s boyfriend when an argument took place between the two men.
“Allegedly the suspect made a racial slur and the victim punched the suspect. The suspect reportedly then took a pot of boiling water and splashed it on the victim,” Cox said.
The victim was taken by ambulance to Hedrick Medical Center for treatment of what was described as at least second-degree burns. Cox said the victim was then referred to the KU Burn Center for additional treatment.
Hyatt is being held on $100,000 cash only bail in the Daviess/DeKalb County Regional Jail . A court date was not yet listed on online documents.
Jeff King, left, an attorney for the Kansas Legislature, talks with Attorney General Derek Schmidt, middle, and Stephen McAllister, attorney for the state. They spoke at a July hearing before the Kansas Supreme Court in the school funding case. ORLIN WAGNER / ASSOCIATED PRESS- courtesy Kansas News Service
Last week the state lost again at the Kansas Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled that Kansas is underfunding its public schools, with repercussions for academically struggling children across the state — and especially for students and taxpayers who live in resource-poor school districts.
Because it’s just the latest in a string of similar decisions, the ruling means Kansas, in the eyes of its courts, has been unconstitutionally funding public schools for most of the past decade and a half.
Here are five key messages the justices had for the Legislature and the state of Kansas in the decision.
You can’t give extra money to Blue Valley and De Soto but no one else.
This spring Kansas lawmakers added nearly $300 million to spending on public schools, to be phased in over the next two years. Tucked into that was a combined $2 million for Blue Valley and De Soto school districts to serve more children from low-income families than those districts actually enroll.
So why did the two Johnson County districts get money for nonexistent students while other districts didn’t? The state argued that districts with a low percentage of children from low-income backgrounds still have their share of kids who are struggling academically. Hence, they should get a cushion of extra funding to serve those academically struggling kids.
That didn’t fly with the justices, who pointed out that districts across the state may face similar situations — there are nearly 40,000 Kansas public school students who are academically struggling yet don’t come from low-income families.
The implication: If Blue Valley and De Soto get extra money for kids in that category, other districts should too.
You can’t let some school districts hike the amount of money they raise through property taxes but make other districts face public protest petitions and elections before they can do the same thing.
During recent repeated revisions to school finance laws, the Legislature allowed some districts to enlarge one part of their budgets that comes primarily from local taxpayers — without having to face protests from those taxpayers. Not all the districts fit the Legislature’s criteria for doing so, but among those that did, dozens jumped at the opportunity.
Then the Legislature closed this window and grandfathered in those districts.
That’s not fair, the justices concluded. It denies the rest of the state’s schools equal access to funding.
Your new rules for paying electricity and insurance bills are unfair to the state’s poorer school districts.
The Legislature has a history of tweaking its school finance legislation in ways that school boards argue shift the costs of education away from state coffers and onto local taxpayers. And the justices have repeatedly agreed with the school boards.
Why do they care? Because when the state does this, poorer school districts — meaning those in areas of Kansas where local property isn’t worth as much, so taxing it doesn’t raise as much — have a hard time keeping up.
This spring lawmakers suggested school districts could start paying their utilities and some of their insurance bills with a specific local property tax fund that is otherwise meant for things like building construction and computer purchases. A key feature of this fund is that the amount of money poorer and richer school districts have in it varies — a lot.
Take Kansas City Kansas and Blue Valley. Each district serves around 21,000 students, and each charges local taxpayers the same tax rate to fuel that construction fund. But because Blue Valley is property-rich, this raised $22.7 million. Kansas City Kansas ended up with just $9.2 million — even after the state kicked in money to account for the fact that the district’s property values are lower.
So the state Supreme Court slapped lawmakers on the wrist for changing the rules about utility and insurance bills.
You can’t calculate how much money to give poorer school districts based on older data.
This spring the Legislature decided to change how it calculates some of the money it gives to poorer districts. Instead of taking into account current data from local school budgets, it decided to start using data from a year earlier.
The state argued this offers budget stability and predictability. It makes it easier to see just what the state’s financial obligations will be.
That didn’t convince the court. The tweak cuts an estimated $16 million from the state’s aid to schools in 2017-18 — savings that come from reducing payments to districts with weaker tax bases.
One thing is clear in the history of school finance rulings: Kansas courts don’t like it when lawmakers rejigger the rules in a way that disproportionately cuts money from poorer schools.
The biggie: You need to put enough money into schools to help a lot of kids do a lot better.
The school districts that are suing Kansas accuse the state of cutting deep into school funding when the recession hit, failing to fix the situation and pursuing income tax cuts instead — all while schools reeled under the effects of increasing costs and inflation, and taxpayers and students paid the price.
In this context, the plaintiffs argued, adding $300 million isn’t enough, and ongoing inflation will eat up half of it anyway.
So how much money is needed? The justices didn’t say. What they really want is for the Legislature to put effort into figuring out what amount is needed and then show the court how it came up with it. And the court wants reasoning and calculations that make sense.
The court calls this “showing your work,” a phrase math teachers can no doubt appreciate.
Yet in the years-long saga of Gannon v. Kansas, the justices have repeatedly seemed unconvinced the Legislature is doing much more than coming up with a politically expedient figure and filing legal briefs that say, “There. We’re done.”
The problem, as the court sees it, is that a quarter of Kansas public school students are struggling with basic proficiency in math and reading. The state and Legislature have a duty to try to fix that by digging into the problem and passing reasonable legislation, the justices say.
So did Kansas show its work this time? Not according to the court.
The Legislature offered up a four-page statistical analysis of how much money schools need in order to be successful. The justices spent 14 pages complaining about its shoddy documentation, methodology and reasoning — effectively painting the memo as at best sloppy and at worst numerically manipulative. And, they noted, the Legislature didn’t end up actually following the results of the memo.
They contrasted what appeared to them to be a cursory job with two school finance studies the Legislature commissioned more than a decade ago. Each of those studies took analysts at least half a year to complete. One resulted in more than 340 pages of analysis and supporting documentation. The other had more than 160 pages.
The justices found similar weaknesses in the state’s other arguments — on topics ranging from funding for kindergarten to spending on academically struggling kids.
So in their eyes, the state didn’t make a convincing case for why it concluded that an extra $300 million was needed for schools and not, say, $200 million, $400 million or $800 million.
And that’s a problem, because the legal burden of proof was on the state.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
(Monday 11:50 a.m.) – A man has been charged after the manager of a Chillicothe McDonald’s was stabbed over the weekend.
Nathan Osborne, 30 of Chillicothe has been charged in Livingston County with felonies of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
According to the Chillicothe Police Department, Sunday shortly after noon officers responded to the McDonald’s on US 36 and 65 Highway in reference to an assault. Police said a manager at the store received stab wounds from an employee armed with a knife. The suspect allegedly fled the scene on foot. The suspect was later arrested hiding in some weeds near Highway 36 after a search of the area.
The McDonald’s manager was treated at Hedrick Medical Center for wounds he received and has since been released. The store was temporarily closed while police conducted an investigation.
Osborne is currently being held in the Daivess/DeKalb Regional jail on $250,000 cash only bail. Online court document state, part of Osborne’s bond conditions include no contact with Jordan Myrick and that Osborne is not allowed to enter McDonald’s property. A court date was not yet listed on online documents.
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(Sunday) – The Chillicothe Police Department is investigating an assault with a weapon at McDonald’s that injured an employee.
According to a post on the department’s Facebook page, Sunday around noon officers responded to a report of an assault with a weapon at Chillicothe McDonalds. The assault was between two employees and one was injured. Police said the suspect is now in custody.
“At this time Chillicothe McDonalds is closed while we conduct our investigation. Please avoid the area if you can, thank you,” the department said on Facebook.
Christian Risner-photo courtesy Van Arsdale Funeral Home
LEBO, Kan. (AP) — A 3-year-old boy whose fight with cancer prompted his small southern Kansas hometown to celebrate Christmas in September has died.
Christian Risner of Lebo died Saturday in Emporia. Christian’s family announced his death on a Facebook page they established after the boy was diagnosed with Rhabdoid kidney cancer in April 2016.
Christian began hospice care in August.
He loved Christmas, so Lebo — a town of about 940 people — put on a special celebration Sept. 10, with Santa, a horse-drawn sleigh and homes throughout the town decorated for the holiday.
The Jones-Vans Arsdale Funeral Home says his funeral will take place Saturday at Lebo High School, with visitation before the service.
He is survived by his parents, two brothers and paternal grandparents.
A St. Joseph man has been charged with a weapons violation after a standoff at an apartment complex last week in midtown.
Kelvin Sibert Jr., 31 has been charged in Buchanan County with a felony of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department said the charge is in connection with a nearly four hour-long standoff that took place Thursday at Oak Ridge Apartments.
As we previously reported, police said the incident started as a domestic disturbance call at 12:41 p.m. at the U.S. Oil gas station at 22nd and Messanie Streets. Capt. Wilson said an altercation between a man and his girlfriend was reported. The man allegedly held a handgun in a threatening manner and then fled the area. Police were on scene at Oak Ridge Apartments until Sibert surrendered peacefully and was taken into custody shortly before 5 p.m.
The court found Sibert to be a danger to the victim and denied the setting of bail based on a probable cause statement. An arraignment is set for Oct. 17.
Law enforcement on the scene of the weekend fatal shooting in Lawrence-photo courtesy WIBW-TV
DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue to investigate the October 1, fatal shooting in downtown Lawrence as Funeral services are scheduled for two of the victims.
Public visitations are scheduled Tuesday for 20-year-old Colwin Henderson and 24-year-old Tremel Dupree Dean, according to Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel in Topeka.
Leah Elizabeth Brown, 22, Shawnee, also died and two others were wounded with non-life threatening injuries.
Police have released no new information on the case.
Just after 1:39 a.m. Sunday October 1, Lawrence Police were near the area of 11th and Massachusetts Street when they heard multiple gunshots, according to a media release.
At the scene, officers encounter a large crowd and several victims suffering from gunshot wounds. In total five victims have been identified from the shooting.
Police say there are conflicting reports on social media regarding the shooting at 11th and Massachusetts. Lawrence Police believe the shooting stemmed from a physical altercation that occurred near the northwest corner of 11th and Massachusetts Street.
Investigators are requesting anyone who may have witnessed any fights in the area prior to the shooting or captured any video relating to the incident, which occurred around 1:39am, to contact the police department.
Police are urging anyone who may have witnessed this incident or has any information relating to it to contact the Lawrence Police at (785) 832-7509 or Crime Stoppers of Lawrence and Douglas County at (785)843-TIPS. Tips made to Crime Stoppers may remain anonymous.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is planning an executive order that would expand health plans offered by associations to allow individuals to pool together and buy insurance outside their states. That move follows failed efforts by Congress to overhaul the health care system.
President Donald Trump has long asserted that selling insurance across state lines would trigger competition that brings down premiums for people buying their own policies. Experts say that’s not guaranteed, partly because health insurance reflects local medical costs, which vary widely around the country.
Trump is expected to sign the executive order next week.
LEIGHTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a year-old infant has drowned in a central Iowa farm pond.
The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office says deputies and medics were sent around 3 p.m. Sunday to a residence about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west-southwest of Leighton. The office says in a news release that family members were performing CPR on the infant when medics arrived. The child was pronounced dead later at Mahaska Health Partnership Hospital in Oskaloosa.
An autopsy has been ordered. The infant’s name and other details about the incident haven’t been released.
An 80-year-old man was transported to the hospital Sunday after a crash on US 136 east of Conception Junction.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Albert Nacke of Conception was driving a 2008 Mercury Milan westbound on US 136 around 3:30 p.m. when his vehicle traveled off of the road. The patrol said Nacke’s vehicle hit an embankment, became airborne, hit the ground and rolled over. Nacke was transported by ambulance to Saint Francis Hospital for treatment of what was described as a moderate injury. He was reported to be wearing a seat belt.
A Platte City woman was seriously injured in a one vehicle crash on north I-229 Saturday.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 9 p.m. Saturday, 34-year-old Michelle A. Crippen was driving a 1999 Ford Econoline van north on I-229 about a mile south of St. Joseph. The van traveled off the right side of the road, hit a tree and came to rest on its wheels.
Crippen was transported by Buchanan County EMS to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of serious injuries.
