TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a Kansas woman on first-degree murder and other charges for her alleged involvement in a triple homicide.
Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay announced the charges Saturday against 31-year-old Kora Liles, of Topeka. Her attorney didn’t immediately reply to Associated Press requests for comment.
Authorities say 19-year-old Matthew Leavitt, 38-year-old Nicole Fisher, and 20-year-old Luke Davis were strangled or smothered to death with trash bags in March and that the violence stemmed from an unproven rape allegation against Leavitt.
Four other people have been charged in the case, including a man who says he was forced to participate to save his own life. Three of them are awaiting trial, while one man has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a man charged with killing his wife.
Edward Broom was arrested in January 2016 in Manhattan, Kansas, where he had moved after the death of his wife, Lakeyla Broom. She was killed in the couple’s home in Greenwood, Mississippi, in September 2014.
The Greenwood Commonwealth reports the mistrial was declared Wednesday. State law says all 12 jurors must agree before they can convict someone of murder, which is punishable by life in prison.
District Attorney Tim Jones says he will retry Edward Broom early next year.
Judge Carol White-Richard said she will decide later whether Broom can be released from jail while waiting for the second trial.
Former Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave answers questions about the KBA sale during a meeting at the Kansas Statehouse. CREDIT STEPHEN KORANDA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s office has confirmed that he fired the state Department of Commerce’s top administrator in June partly over questions about agency contracts.
The statement from the Republican governor’s office Friday came after weeks of denials that former Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave had been terminated.
The Kansas City Star reports that the confirmation came less than a day after it published a detailed story on contracts with Soave associates.
The Star identified at least nine Soave friends or business partners who landed consulting or marketing contracts during Soave’s 18 months as secretary.
Brownback said Soave’s tenure presented problems resulting in his termination that included “inappropriate” contracts.
Soave said he resigned by mutual agreement with the governor and the department’s followed all existing policies in making the contracts.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A ruling by a federal judge means Planned Parenthood’s Columbia, Missouri clinic won’t be able to offer abortion pills in the near future.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips on Friday ruled against Planned Parenthood.
The organization was trying to stop enforcement of a new state regulation. The rule requires doctors who provide abortion pills to contract with an obstetrician-gynecologist with admitting privileges at a hospital. The ob-gyn must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to treat any complications.
While the judge questioned the need for the rule, she wrote in her order that Planned Parenthood didn’t provide evidence that it couldn’t comply.
The ruling means the state can enforce the regulation while Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against it plays out.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a military munition near a restaurant in Topeka.
Just after 9:00 am, Saturday, Officers from the Topeka Police Department responded to 823 NW Gordon where an inert military training munition was located, according to a media release. A restaurant is located in nearby.
Personnel from the Topeka Police Department’s EOD unit as well as personnel from 84th Fort Riley EOD responded to remove the object.
There were no injuries and police released no additional details.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Local crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation plan to close the ramp from southbound Interstate 229 to eastbound U.S. Route 36 next week.
The ramp will close from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7, for the installation of signs. Motorists will need to use an alternate route during the closure.
All work is weather permitting and subject to change. 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 about 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.
Approximate location of the fire in Douglas County-google map
DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspicions death. Just after 9a.m. Friday, Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the 1100 Block of East 1200 Road to a residential fire with the sound of gunshots, according to a media release.
Due to the fire, deputies were unable to enter the house. Fire crews extinguished the blaze and found the body of a man. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to deputies. There were no others found inside the home.
The man’s cause of death and identity have not been confirmed. Some of the roads in the area remained closed Saturday. The death is considered suspicious.
Deputies released no additional information early Saturday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Douglas County Sheriff’s office.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri senator has unveiled a plan to restore budget cuts affecting services for the elderly and disabled.
Republican Sen. Mike Cunningham released the proposal Friday. It’s aimed at finding money for services by limiting a tax break for low-income seniors and disabled renters.
It would cap the renters’ tax break at $450 and limit it to households making $22,000 a year or less. Residents receiving state or federal assistance or living in non-profit housing or nursing homes wouldn’t be eligible.
But it appears unlikely that lawmakers will consider the idea before their annual session begins in January. Top Senate Republican Ron Richard earlier this week said lawmakers don’t have enough votes to call themselves back, and Gov. Eric Greitens’ office has signaled he’s unlikely to call a special session.
An upcoming event in St. Joseph will seek to address what to do locally to combat the opioid crisis.
St. Joseph is one of nine cities in Missouri selected to host regional summits to address the opioid crisis.
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams will be speaking, along with others from law enforcement, the Missouri Department of Mental Health and a local resident who has dealt with addiction.
Health Educator for the City of St. Joseph Health Department Nancy Taylor said the first half of the summit will consist of speakers and the last part will include a local impact and strategy session.
“We will look at how do we address our issue locally with these different panelists and then through group discussion,” Taylor said. “Then just getting feedback from people on what we can do locally, whether it’s Buchanan County, Andrew County, or any of the counties in northwest Missouri, how do we handle the opioid crisis.”
The Missouri Opioid Summit takes place from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, November 14th, at Missouri Western State University’s Fulkerson Center. Taylor said registration is almost full.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt told lawmakers Thursday that opioid use is growing across Kansas but has not hit levels seen in eastern parts of the United States. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Anecdotal evidence from prosecutors across the state indicates opioid abuse is growing in Kansas, Attorney General Derek Schmidt said, but he urged lawmakers not to forget the state’s ongoing methamphetamine problem.
Schmidt answered questions about the issue Thursday from a panel of lawmakers in Topeka.
Citing anecdotes from county attorneys and statewide health department data on drug poisonings, Schmidt said he believes Kansas has so far been spared the full extent of the opioid crisis that states farther east are reporting. But he told lawmakers they shouldn’t count on things staying that way.
“I do worry that, because the trend appears to be growing in Kansas, that the problem is headed our way,” he said.
Schmidt has joined a multistate initiative of attorneys general to investigate pharmaceutical companies that produce opioids.
Schmidt said five years ago, county attorneys rarely mentioned heroin and prescription opioids as the substances plaguing their Kansas communities, but stories of problems surfacing across the state increased during the past few years.
“It’s also important from our vantage point to keep this discussion in Kansas in context of the overall problem we have with illicit narcotics on our streets,” Schmidt added. “We still have a very large methamphetamine problem.”
Schmidt told lawmakers he wanted to dispel any misunderstandings that the problem has been resolved just because Kansas Bureau of Investigation data on methamphetamine lab busts appears to indicate production has decreased.
“That doesn’t mean there’s less methamphetamine in the state,” he said. “It just means there’s less being manufactured here in the back of a pickup truck, or out in a barn on the back 40, or in an abandoned house.”
Unfortunately, he said, the market for methamphetamine remains.
“It’s being fed by out-of-state organizations that traffic meth,” he said.
Schmidt attributed the decline in methamphetamine lab busts to a 2005 state law that required pharmacies to keep cold medicines like Sudafed behind their counters. That made it more difficult for criminals to access the ingredients needed for methamphetamine production.
Asked about the multistate probe of opioid manufacturers, he declined to discuss any Kansas companies that are under investigation.
“We’re interested in an explanation for why the large number of opioid-based prescriptions has ballooned in recent years,” he said of the probe, “and whether it was truly a function of medical necessity and propriety or whether there might be other factors, such as marketing practices that played into that.”
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Local crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation plan to close the ramp from southbound Interstate 229 to eastbound U.S. Route 36 next week.
