Police on the scene of Tuesday’s standoff-photo courtesy WIBW TV
DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after an arrest following a 4-hour standoff.
Just after 9a.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to a home in the 600 Block of Stowe Court in Lawrence after reports were received about a man in the street firing rounds into the air from a handgun, according to a media release.
Responding officers were able to determine the suspect had returned to a residence. After several hours of intermittent contact with the suspect, he exited his residence and was apprehended by officers on scene.
Officers completed a search of the residence and located the firearm believed to have been used during the incident. No injuries were reported.
The suspect was transported to an area hospital for an evaluation. Police did not release the name of the suspect or possible charges in the case.
Investigators on the scene of Tuesday’s fatal house fire-photo courtesy KCTV
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Fire officials say a third body has been found after a house fire at a Kansas City, Kansas, home.
The blaze was reported early Tuesday. Firefighters searching the single-story home found two bodies at that time. A third body was found later in the day as firefighters sifted through the house.
Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman Tom Tomasic said evidence found at the home was leading investigators to believe the deaths were suspicious but they had not been ruled homicides.
KCTV5 reports Tomasic says the fire department will look for accelerants and an autopsy will be performed to determine how the people died.
No other details were immediately released.
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Firefighters have found two bodies while battling a blaze in a Kansas City, Kansas, home.
The Kansas City Star reports that the blaze was reported early Tuesday. The names of the victims weren’t immediately released. Fire Chief John Paul Jones said in a tweet that an “extensive fire investigation” is taking place. Fire investigators were sifting through the debris, and dogs were brought in to sift for evidence.
The St. Joseph School District Board of Education is considering what additional cuts need to be made after voting to close two schools at Monday night’s meeting.
The Board of Education voted 6 to 1 to close Humboldt Elementary School and Lake Contrary Elementary School. The closings are part of cuts made as the School District was facing an approximately $8.5 million budget deficit.
The cuts and changes made Monday night, including the closings, curriculum advisor reorganization and administrative reorganization, totaled approximately $6.1 million.
Board of Education member Larry Koch said the decision to close the schools was not an easy one.
“It kind of came down to the desire to have the least amount of disruption… Schools become families, they become large families… and when you start disrupting that, it becomes painful,” Koch said. “The fact is, the school district has known for a number of years now that we needed to reduce the number of elementary schools and ultimately the number of middle schools and high schools, but it’s a real challenge to do that. The outcome of the vote (in November) made it very clear that we could no longer kick the can down the road. The public wanted changes so I think it’s jump started the plan that’s been out there on the shelf for a couple years now.”
Koch said Humboldt and Lake Contrary were chosen to be closed as they were smaller and it would be easiest to transfer students from Humboldt to Lindbergh Elementary School and Robidoux Middle School and from Lake to Hosea Elementary School and Spring Garden Middle School.
The Board is still considering other recommendations to meet the total amount of needed cuts to balance the budget. Koch said other cuts being considered will include changes to extra curricular activities and changes with health insurance.
The board also voted Monday night on whether to approve steps and movement for staff members or to freeze salaries for the 2018-19 school year. The board voted 5-2 in favor of approving steps and movement for the next school year.
The board meets again December 18.
For more information on budget cuts made and being considered and to view the entire meeting, click here.
The board is also wanting to gather feedback from staff, students, parents and the community as the search process continues for the District’s next superintendent of schools. The town hall meeting schedule includes opportunities to provide feedback:
The next meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Robidoux Middle School and at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Spring Garden Middle School.
For those unable to attend a town hall session, the survey is available online. Responses will be accepted through December 16, 2017.
The Board plans to name a new superintendent in February and the new superintendent will assume duties on July 1, 2018.
MANHATTAN —The Riley County Police Department along with the Lawrence Police Department continue our intensified efforts into solving multiple incidents of rape committed in both Manhattan and Lawrence since 2000 that appear to be connected.
On Tuesday, authorities released a sketch of an individual that may have been seen in the vicinity shortly before the first incident in October 2000.
In July police released new information about a serial rapist who is believed to have attacked 13 women from 2000 to 2008 in the college towns of Manhattan and Lawrence.
In a media release, police reported that in March of 2009, then Kansas Attorney General Steve Six announced that multiple incidents of rape committed over the course of eight years in both Manhattan and Lawrence appeared to be connected. These incidents began in October of 2000 and ended in December of 2008, involved the victimization of women in Manhattan and Lawrence, and all of them were students at either Kansas State University or the University of Kansas. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
Each incident involved a masked intruder entering the victim’s off-campus residence, mostly between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. as the victim slept, and all but one coincided with a break in the academic calendar. The residences themselves varied from apartment complexes to duplexes to single dwellings. While the point of entry was frequently identified, the means by which the suspect made entry were sometimes unknown. Many of the survivors reported having locked their door(s), yet there were no signs of forced entry. There were also indications that the survivors were surveilled by the assailant prior the incident. In all but two cases, the victim was alone.
The assailant was typically described as a white male between 5’9” and 6’0”, with various descriptions of build and estimations of weight and age. We have no confirmed description of the assailant from anyone other than the survivors of these crimes. In most cases a handgun was displayed, with which the assailant threatened the survivors as a means to gain compliance. While the physical violence of the assaults was usually limited to the rape itself, these were all violent acts carried out by an assailant who did so in a cold, calm, calculated manner.
Even before the Attorney General’s announcement in 2009, The Riley County Police Department and the Lawrence Police Department worked closely together to determine if these cases were related, and the join investigation ultimately established a number of similarities, and a lack of significant dissimilarities, existed between the incidents to conclude that they were likely committed by the same suspect. Nothing in their continued investigation since that time has suggested otherwise.
In the early morning hours on this date in 2015, an unknown assailant entered a residence in the 1400 block of Watson Place in Manhattan with the intent to commit a sexual assault against the female resident, a student attending Kansas State University. A lengthy investigation into the incident has led us to conclude that there is a high probability that the assailant is the same assailant from the previous cases. In 2015, he was described as a white male, approximately 5’10”, and heavier set, most noticeably around the stomach and thighs. The prominent stomach was a frequently mentioned characteristic from previous cases. As to age, we believe the assailant was at minimum 33 years old at the time of the 2015 incident based upon the dates of the previous incidents.
We are announcing this connection between the 2015 case and the previous cases for three reasons. First, given the nearly seven-year gap between December of 2008 and July of 2015, we would like to know if there have been similar, unreported incidents during that time span. We cannot say enough about the courageous women who have already stepped forward to provide vital information about their assailant. If anyone feels they had an encounter with an individual matching this description, please know that we want to hear from you, and we want to provide help for you. Your information, even if it is several years old, may help bring justice to all the survivors.
Anyone who recognizes the suspect is asked to contact Manhattan/Riley County Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-Tips
NEVADA, Mo. (AP) – Two inmates who were captured soon after breaking out of a western Missouri jail face new charges.
The Joplin Globe reports that escape charges have been filed against 24-year-old Timothy McCullick and 19-year-old Christopher Purgerson.
Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher says the inmates broke through a restroom ceiling Sunday and crawled through an air duct. He says they then kicked out the side of an air-conditioning unit to get out on the roof and escape. They were found hiding nearby at an acquaintance’s residence and returned to the jail.
McCullick-photo Vernon Co,
Before escaping, McCullick was being held on a forgery charge and Purgerson on burglary, stealing and forgery charges. No attorney is listed for Purgerson in online court records. McCullick’s attorney didn’t immediately return a phone message.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer has named Diane DeBacker, former Kansas education commissioner, to a newly created role in the Commerce Department. CREDIT COURTESY PHOTO
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer continues to shape top levels of Kansas government amid anticipation that the U.S. Senate may soon confirm Gov. Sam Brownback for an ambassadorship at the State Department.
Although Colyer made the selection, Brownback — who may have just weeks left as governor — issued a news release Tuesday announcing that former Kansas education commissioner Diane DeBacker will serve as education liaison and adviser to the Governor’s Office.
“I think we need … a strong connection, a direct connection between the Governor’s Office and education,” Colyer said in an interview.
DeBacker is taking up a newly created position within the Kansas Department of Commerce. It includes an emphasis on strengthening connections and innovation among schools and the industries and businesses that hope to one day hire their students.
It’s unclear whether Colyer plans to build on a popular Brownback initiative that boosted career learning and opportunities by paying for high school students to study at technical colleges and earn industry credentials before graduation.
In an interview, Colyer indicated he has education-related initiatives waiting in the wings but declined to elaborate.
“That will come at the right time — I’m not announcing anything today,” Colyer said. “We still have one governor at a time.”
Connecting students to work experience — and education policy to workforce development — is a trend in the education sector, in Kansas and elsewhere.
Prior to Colyer selecting DeBacker, Brownback’s administration didn’t employ an education adviser, though it did communicate with the state’s education commissioner. The commissioner works for the elected members of the Kansas State Board of Education, however, and is not part of the governor’s administration.
DeBacker said Monday her position is meant to build bridges between the administration and education field.
Many public school educators are critical of the Brownback administration and Legislature. Kansas is embroiled in a years-long lawsuit — accused of underfunding public education — and in recent years elected officials made changes to teacher tenure, licensure and other statutes that critics perceived as hostile to schools or their employees.
“Those are things that over time can build a wedge,” DeBacker said. “So I think having this position with Commerce, directly working with education, will be a way to start building back some trust.”
DeBacker’s duties will include working with the education department to support the agency’s Kansans Can vision. Kansans Can includes having schools work with students to develop their long-term education and career goals and identify the classes and internship opportunities that can help them on the way.
“We have to open more of those doors” to careers after graduation, DeBacker said. “We know that kids need the real-life experience as they’re making decisions about what they want to do.”
DeBacker headed Kansas’ education department from October 2009 until April 2014. She left for a position as a consultant in the United Arab Emirates, where Abu Dhabi was seeking an international adviser on education matters.
During her time as Kansas education commissioner, DeBacker oversaw the adoption in Kansas of multistate math and English standards called the Common Core, which faced repeated attacks from conservative lawmakers over several years.
The Kansas State Board of Education that employed her included conservative Republicans, moderate Republicans and Democrats. Though the board disagreed at times on major policy questions, DeBacker maintained support among members from across that spectrum.
Prior to joining the education department, she was associate superintendent of the Topeka-area rural-suburban Shawnee Heights district.
For months, Brownback has been waiting for a confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate after President Donald Trump picked him in the summer to become the next leader of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new report shows that Kansas is experiencing a shortage of child care services.
The report was released Monday by Child Care Aware of Kansas. The agency administers the state’s child care referral service.
The agency found that Kansas counties on average have capacity to meet only about half the potential demand for child care. Sedgwick County can meet 45 percent of potential demand.
The lower the percentage, the less likely that parents will find the right child care provider.
The report says nearly 164,000 children under age 6 potentially need child care in Kansas.
The nonprofit Kansas Action for Children wants lawmakers to strengthen the state’s child care tax credit to improve access to child care. Lawmakers reinstated the credit in June.
CARTHAGE, Mo. (AP) – A former employee of a Carthage rehabilitation center was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing more than $44,000 from center residents.
A judge sentenced 41-year-old Kristi Metcalf Monday for receiving stolen property and abuse of a health care recipient. Three other counts of financial abuse were dismissed.
The Joplin Globe reported the judge ordered Metcalf to pay $44,561 in restitution to center residents and another $15,370 to the state to cover the costs of prosecuting the case.
Metcalf worked at the Carthage Health and Rehabilitation Center from March 2008 through July 2012. A state investigator testified at an earlier hearing that she found 244 suspicious cash withdrawals from the trust accounts of four residents at the center and one suspicious check withdrawal.
WASHINGTON — Kansas Senator Pat Roberts is among featured speaker at the Washington International Trade Association Tuesday meeting. The discussion is centered on what happens if the U.S. withdraws from NAFTA and what will happen if President Trump issues a notice of withdrawal from NAFTA?
Roberts: U.S. ag has grown because of agreements like #NAFTA. From the farmer in the field to the grocer in the store, American workers have benefited from that growth.
Roberts: In preparation for writing #FarmBill18, I’ve been talking with folks all over the country, and one thing is clear: times are challenging in farm country. We’re going to do what we can to provide farmers with certainty they need to be successful producers.
Roberts: I’ve also heard from folks around the country that they need reliable markets, both domestically and abroad, to sell not just the things that we make, but also the commodities that we grow.
Roberts: I joined Senator @JohnBoozman & 16 Senators in requesting that before committing to any changes in #NAFTA, the economic analysis illustrating the impact on the full supply chain of industries involved be shared.
Roberts: There’s a lot of frustration in farm country because we’re missing opportunities to grow our exports. #NAFTA renegotiation could provide just that opportunity. Strengthening and modernizing NAFTA should result in even stronger economic growth for the US, Canada & Mexico.
