TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka and Lawrence police have yet to create a standard public document on the shooting death of a Topeka man by police officers five weeks ago.

Two police officers shot Dominique White in Topeka on Sept. 28. The Lawrence police department is investigating the shooting.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports both departments have denied requests for incident and offense reports on the shooting. But the first page of the Kansas Standard Offense Report is considered a public record. When asked for that page, both departments said it didn’t exist.

Ron Keefover, president of the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government, said he had never heard of a police department not creating such a report.

Topeka police haven’t identified the officers who were involved in the shooting.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Republican House Majority Leader Mike Cierpiot has been elected to the Missouri Senate.

Cierpiot won a special election Tuesday to fill former Sen. Will Kraus’ vacant seat. The Lee’s Summit Republican resigned in July after the governor appointed him to the State Tax Commission.

Cierpiot defeated Democrat Hillary Shields and independent Jacob Turk to win the Kansas City-area seat. He vastly overspent his opponents, dropping more than $400,000 according to the latest spending records. He had help from the Republican Missouri Senate Campaign Committee and the Missouri Alliance for Freedom.

Voters also chose Democrat Barbara Washington to replace former Democratic Rep. Randy Dunn in representing part of Kansas City. Republican Herman Morse was elected to fill a southeast Missouri seat vacated by former Republican Rep. Tila Hubrecht.

TOPEKA – A Kansas auto dealer has been sued for violating state consumer protection laws and is temporarily banned by court order from doing business in Kansas while the lawsuit proceeds, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Justin Bogina, of Tecumseh, and his business, Auto Acceptance Center Corp., of Topeka, have been temporarily ordered to refrain from conducting business related to the sale of property or services within the state of Kansas. Chief Judge Evelyn Wilson issued the temporary restraining order Monday in Shawnee County District Court.

Attorney General Schmidt last week filed a lawsuit against Bogina and his company alleging multiple and recurring violations of Kansas consumer protection law over the past several years and continuing to the present. Among the allegations is that in 2014 Bogina advertised he would donate $100 per vehicle sold during a specific time period to the memorial fund established for Topeka Police Corporal Jason E. Harwood, who was killed in the line of duty on September 7, 2014. However, the defendants did not track the sales for the purpose of making the donation, and no donation was made until April 2016, after the attorney general’s office launched its investigation.

The lawsuit also alleges the defendants represented the sale of vehicles to be “as-is,” took possession of a trade-in vehicle without paying the proper balance due and sold vehicles to customers without providing certificates of title, all in violation of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

The Court found sufficient evidence that if the defendants were allowed to continue doing business additional consumers would be harmed, resulting in the issuance of the temporary restraining order.

A copy of the petition and temporary restraining order are available here.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — President Donald Trump has approved a disaster declaration for Johnson and Wyandotte counties for heavy damage from storms in late July.

The declaration from the president orders federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts for areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, and flooding from July 22 to July 27.

Federal funding is available for local and state governments and some private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repairs or replacements needed after the storm. Some federal funding also is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation statewide.

 

Spring Valley and Bannister about 30 minutes ago pic.twitter.com/lUKT9rL5Yf

— Paul Berardi (@KCMOFireChief) July 27, 2017

Johnson County emergency management coordinator Dan Robeson says the storms did about $6 million uninsured damages in the county. Significant damage was reported to Leawood public facilities including a golf course and city park.

By MADELINE FOX

The childhood poverty rate in Kansas has been decreasing since 2014. But a recently released report from the national KidsCount organization shows that decrease isn’t evenly distributed across the state.

In 2015, the latest year for which county-by-county numbers are available, the number of Kansas counties with the highest child poverty rates —where roughly 23 percent to 33 percent of children live in poverty — stayed relatively level, dropping to 14 counties from 15 the year before.

The big difference in Kansas child poverty rates showed up one category lower, in counties where about 18 percent to 22 percent of kids live in poverty. In 2014 that included 45 counties, but in 2015 it dropped to 35.

A spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Children and Families did not say whether the agency had targeted those communities nor whether efforts to reduce childhood poverty vary by county.

Taylor Forrest of DCF cited the statewide 26 percent decline in the childhood poverty rate from 2011 to 2016, crediting it to reforms under Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration such as the HOPE Act and follow-up legislation.

“As an agency, we continue to encourage Kansans to achieve self-reliance and promote the well-being of families,” she said.

According to the new Kids Count information, childhood poverty statewide decreased from 18 percent in 2014 to 17 percent in 2015. In 2016, it dropped to 14 percent.

Childhood poverty also declined nationwide during that three-year period, from 22 percent in 2014 to 21 percent in 2015 to 19 percent last year.

The federal government determines poverty based on family size and annual income. For 2016, a family of two adults and two children fell in the 100 percent poverty category if their annual income fell below $24,339.

Johnson County, the county with the lowest percentage of its children below the poverty line in both 2014 and 2015, saw its rate decrease from about 8 percent in 2014 to 6.5 percent in 2015. The county with the highest percentage of its children below the poverty line, Wyandotte County, also saw a slight decrease, from 34.5 percent in 2014 to 32.1 percent in 2015.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.

ROLLA, Mo. (AP) – A blood spatter analyst says a Missouri woman’s Christmas Day 2006 death was “clearly a suicide” during a hearing in which the woman’s imprisoned husband is seeking a new trial or to be freed.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Joseph Slemko testified Tuesday in Rolla that a Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant who determined that Lisa Jennings had been murdered was “not qualified.” Slemko also accused the sergeant of being “totally irresponsible and negligent.”

Jennings’ husband, Brad Jennings, is eight years into a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

His wife’s death initially was ruled a suicide before the sergeant reinvestigated. The suicide finding stemmed in part from the fact that her right hand tested positive for gunshot residue and both of her husband’s hands tested negative.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas mother has been convicted of repeatedly punching another mother after their children fought.

The Kansas City Star reports that jurors found 34-year-old Amanda Lee Gross guilty Monday of battery in Leavenworth County. The attack happened Feb. 2 in Leavenworth after the victim went to Gross’ house to talk about a fight their children had in school that same day.

According to testimony, Gross ran out of the house and punched the woman three or four times in her face. Gross followed her to her car and hit her two more times. Authorities say the victim suffered several injuries, including a broken orbital bone, a nasal fracture, a cut on her lip that required stitches and a busted tooth that had to be extracted.