Police and other first responders on the scene of Saturday night shooting -photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and asking for assistance to find suspects.
Just after 11p.m. Saturday, police responded to calls of multiple gunshots in the area of NW Fairchild and NW Jackson in Topeka, according to Captain Scott Gilchrist.
Officers located a man later identified as 36-year-old David Davis, down in front of 1114 NW Jackson suffering from life threating gunshot wounds.
EMS transported Davis to local hospital and is in critical condition and he died.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact the Topeka Police Department.
CASS COUNTY — A Missouri man died in an accident just after 2:30a.m. Sunday in Cass County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Jeep driven by Alexander M. Jenkins, 23, Butler, was southbound on Interstate 49 just south of Peculiar.
The Jeep traveled off the left side of the road, struck a guardrail and rolled. The driver was ejected into the southbound lane of traffic.
Jenkins was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.
Shawnee County Election Commissioner Andrew Howell, right, speaks during the meeting where local officials certified fall election results. photo by STEPHEN KORANDA
By STEPHEN KORANDA
The 2017 Kansas election is officially in the books, as counties finished most of the work finalizing their results Thursday.
This was the first election since local races were moved to the fall, and voter turnout was up in many areas. Shawnee County saw turnout of around 19 percent, a jump of about 5 percentage points compared to recent local elections.
Election Commissioner Andrew Howell said when local elections occurred in the spring, they came soon after federal voting, which may have led to voter fatigue and lower turnout.
“Some of us are worn out with the ads, with the emotional event of a presidential election,” Howell said. “I do think giving some time helps.”
Johnson, Douglas and Wyandotte counties also reported higher voter turnout. Sedgwick County turnout was similar to the last local election but saw jumps in areas with contested races.
While the local elections are nonpartisan, the state political parties still play a part in the elections with recruitment and fundraising.
John Gibson, chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party, said the move made reaching out to voters easier because people are used to casting ballots in the fall.
“Back when these were spring elections, people would be surprised and shocked that there was an election happening,” Gibson said.
The new election cycle also benefited candidates. Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kelly Arnold said the old schedule, where local elections were right on the heels of a federal election, compressed the campaign into only a couple months. That made fundraising and outreach more difficult.
Arnold called moving the elections to the fall a “great benefit.”
“It gave the party time to recruit candidates. It gave our candidates time to campaign and get their message out,” Arnold said.
He said there are also more practical benefits, like better weather for campaigning.
“Have you ever tried to put a yard sign in the ground in February? It’s very difficult,” Arnold said.
Gibson said the change also offers another benefit to the parties, which have organizational meetings early in the year. The move gave new party leaders more time to prepare before the election. He was selected for the top job in the Democratic Party in late February.
“Having the fall election gave us time, at a state party level, to be thinking about them in ways that were not really possible for the Kansas Democratic Party in the past,” Gibson said.Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.
Dr. Katsion. Photo courtesy Northwest Missouri State University.
Two chapters authored by Dr. John Katsion, associate professor of communication at Northwest Missouri State University, are being published in an upcoming book, “Communication in the Classroom: A Collection of GIFTS.”
According to a press release, the book is a compilation of more than 100 Great Ideas for Teaching Students, or G.I.F.T.S.
Katsion contributed text about a classroom activity for teaching the concept of power dynamics within a small group. He also submitted an idea for teaching non-verbal communication that aims to help students understand the way nonverbal immediacy cues work and uses an episode of TV’s “The Bachelor.”
“Both of these teaching activities were ones I created while teaching at Northwest,” Katsion said. “I was asked to submit G.I.F.T.S. that I presented at various conference for this book project, along with a lot of other scholars in communication studies. Thankfully, two of my activities were chosen out of a very large pool of great ideas.”
Katsion joined the Northwest faculty in 2010 and teaches communication courses. He taught previously at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Hannibal, Missouri, and at Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon. He has a Ph.D. in communication studies from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia; a master’s degree in speech communication from Minnesota State University, Mankato; and a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minnesota.
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) – An Independence man faces charges after being accused of threatening Lee’s Summit police with a rifle.
Jackson County prosecutors say 30-year-old Richard Connely has been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
Authorities say officers had been called to a Lee’s Summit apartment complex Friday for a report of someone stealing from cars. Officers stopped a man believed to be Connely driving a pickup from the complex to question him. The officers say he fled in the truck, and that when the officers gave chase, Connely slowed and pointed a rifle at the officers. Police say the man later tossed items out of the truck as he fled, including the rifle.
Police say Connely fled on foot after wrecking the truck around Grandview, and was later found and arrested.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, right, Photo Kansas News Service
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers from across the political spectrum say they’ll push to fix the state’s culture of secrecy after a newspaper highlighted alarming levels of opacity in state and local government.
The Kansas City Star reports that Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer pledged last week to address the problem of transparency. Colyer is set to take over as governor if Gov. Sam Brownback is confirmed as an ambassador.
The Star’s series on secrecy highlighted several examples of state and local agencies hiding information from the public. Examples include KanCare recipients who were asked to sign blank plans of care.
Colyer didn’t weigh in on specific questions raised in the series, nor did he offer policy moves he’d pursue to increase transparency, as some of his competitors for the 2018 Republican nomination did.
(UPDATE) A Hamilton man has died in the hospital after a rollover crash in Daviess County early Saturday.
According to the crash report, 24-year-old Harrison G. Lapen was pronounced deceased at Mosaic Life Care at 11:50 a.m. Saturday.
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A Hamilton man was seriously injured in a rollover crash in Daviess County early Saturday.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 1:45 a.m., 24-year-old Harrison G. Lapen was driving a Pontiac G8 north on MO 13 about one mile south of Gallatin. Lapen’s vehicle traveled off the east side of the road and overturned multiple times before coming to rest on its top in a field.
Lapen was transported by Daviess County Ambulance to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph for treatment of serious injuries.
According to the crash report, Lapen was not wearing a seat belt.
MARYVILLE, Mo – Routine bridge maintenance has been delayed for Route 46 in Nodaway County.
Local maintenance crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation will now wait to close Route 46 over the Nodaway River until after the Thanksgiving weekend.
Route 46 will now close Monday, Nov. 27, through Thursday, Nov. 30. The road will close each morning at approximately 8 a.m. and will reopen each afternoon around 3:30 p.m. All scheduled work is weather permitting and schedules are subject to change. During this closure, motorists will need to use an alternate route.
MoDOT encourages all motorists to slow down, buckle up, eliminate distractions and drive safely to ensure everyone is able to Arrive Alive.
For more information on this and other MoDOT projects, call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest and view the online Traveler Information Map. In addition, MoDOT provides updated information on Twitter @MoDOTNorthwest and Facebook at www.facebook.com/MoDOTNWDistrict.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal agency and the state of Kansas are at odds over whether Kansas took nearly $18 million in federal funds that it shouldn’t have.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General alleges Kansas improperly counted some children when seeking bonus payments to offset Medicaid costs.
The office’s November report audited bonus payments from 2009 and 2013, and recommends the state refund the money.
The state maintains that it followed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ guidelines for calculating the number of children enrolled in the program.
A spokeswoman for the state’s Medicaid program says the inspector general’s office hasn’t sought the funds’ return, but only issued a recommendation.
The report comes as KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, seeks reauthorization.
