WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The BTK serial killer says in a letter from prison that he’s cooperating with a book about the 10 killings he committed from 1974 to 1991 in the Wichita area.

Dennis Rader is serving a life sentence for the killings. His self-coined moniker was BTK, which stood for “bind, torture, kill.”

The Wichita Eagle reports that Rader explained in the letters that he is barred from profiting from his crimes by a court settlement. He signed over his media rights to the families of his victims after he was sent to the state prison in El Dorado in 2005.

The author working with Rader is Katherine Ramsland, who oversees the criminal justice master’s program at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. She says she’s written 54 mostly academic nonfiction books.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Independent Greg Orman has released a plan that he says would create a better climate for small businesses. The U.S. Senate candidate says his proposal seeks to spur investment, streamline regulations and reform student loans to create a skilled work force.

The plan was unveiled Friday as Orman toured small businesses across central Kansas. In Wichita, Orman said a U.S. senator is obligated to be an ambassador for economic development in his state.

His proposal calls for fixing financial regulations to increase small business lending and streamlining federal business programs. He also seeks a review of every federal regulation at least once a decade.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts’ campaign quickly dismissed Orman’s plan, saying it was full of hypocrisy, fluff and deception.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Volleyball and basketball players at Washburn University can now call a 7-year-old girl their teammate.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Karis Selk is now an honorary member of Washburn University’s volleyball and women’s basketball teams. She’s also in her first year of remission from pediatric brain cancer.

Selk signed her name in pink pen during a letter-of-intent signing ceremony on Thursday, while the school’s head volleyball coach and head women’s basketball coach watched. She will get her own locker for each team and a jersey with a number of her choosing from both. Selk says she wants her number to be seven, because she’s 7 years old.

Selk also will be able to sit on the bench with the teams at games.

By Andy Marso
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — A series of 11 agencies that serve older Kansans are under scrutiny after one in Johnson County published an article in its monthly newsletter critical of a health care compact the Legislature passed last session.

Janis DeBoer, executive director of the Kansas Area Agencies on Aging Association, said she received a call from a member of the Kansas Legislative Research Department who was researching the aging agencies at a legislator’s request.

DeBoer said the researcher asked her how many people the agencies serve.

“They asked if we generated an annual report with that information,” DeBoer said. “I said, ‘No, we do not, and probably the best source of that information is the KDADS (Kansas Department on Aging and Disability Services) repositories.’”

DeBoer said that was the only question in her brief conversation with the legislative research employee.

The legislative research department is a state agency of nonpartisan experts who provide information to legislators. It is the department’s policy not to reveal the legislator who requested specific information or details of the request.

DeBoer said that in the three years she has been executive director, researchers may have called “a couple” times, but she could not recall what the previous information requests were about.

“Not very frequently do we get phone calls from the legislative research department,” DeBoer said. “Every once in a while.”

The latest request for information came within a week of a tense meeting between Johnson County legislators and members of the Johnson County Commission on Aging, a group of senior volunteers who advise that county’s Area Agency on Aging.
The legislators took umbrage with the commission’s intent to publish in a county newsletter, The Best Times, an article critical of a health care compact they approved last session. The compact, which includes nine states, proposes that member states be allowed to opt out of federal health care laws and receive money for programs like Medicaid and Medicare in block grants.

Supporters of the legislation in Kansas saw it as a repudiation of President Barack Obama, but a majority of the Johnson County Commission on Aging members saw it as a threat to Medicare.

During the Sept. 15 meeting, several legislators expressed concern about proximity of the article’s publication to the November election, with Sen. Jeff Melcher, a Republican from Leawood, calling it “partisan” and an “October surprise.”

At one point House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Republican from Stilwell, turned to Dan Goodman, the director of the Johnson County Area Agency on Aging, and told Goodman, “This is going to set you guys back.”

Sen. Jim Denning, a Republican from Overland Park, told the commission members they “really need to think about this” because publishing the article would anger most of the Johnson County legislative delegation.

The next day Johnson County Commissioner Jason Osterhaus emailed a county official saying he needed help fulfilling an information request from Denning’s wife, Marearl, who had asked about the budget for the agency on aging, the budget for the The Best Times, the breakdown of local versus federal funding for the Best Times and who at the county oversees the publication.

Denning, in an email Wednesday, said he was not involved in his wife’s request, adding that if he wanted that information he would have found it online or asked the county manager directly.

“Marearl is an activist and does her own thing,” Denning said.

Rep. Stephanie Clayton, a Republican from Overland Park who is the legislative appointee to the Johnson County Commission on Aging, said she encourages citizens and legislators alike to seek information about public agencies. But the pending requests surrounding the aging agencies is worth monitoring, she said, because of the “disrespectful and menacing” tone some of her colleagues took in the Sept. 15 meeting.

Johnson County commissioners ultimately granted a page in The Best Times to legislators so they could rebut the commission’s stance on the health care compact.

Clayton, who voted against the compact, said the commission on aging was within its rights to publish the initial article and the legislators who disagreed with them on the issue overreacted.

“I see no reason for the reaction it generated from my colleagues in the Legislature,” Clayton said. “I don’t know why they’re so upset, but they clearly are.”

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors announced two more recalls, pushing its total for the year to more than 70, affecting almost 30 million vehicles in North America.

The biggest of Friday’s recalls covers just over 290,000 Cadillac SRX and Saab 9-4X SUVs in the U.S. The company says some rear suspension nuts may not have been tightened properly. That could cause the toe link adjuster to separate from the suspension, possibly causing a crash.

The recall affects SRXs from the 2011 through 2015 model years and Saabs from the 2011 and 2012 model years. GM says the problem has caused three crashes and two injuries.

The other recall covers over 89,000 Chevrolet Spark mini-cars from 2013 through 2015. Rust can cause a hood latch to stick, and the hood can open unexpectedly.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A state audit says the Kansas Department of Revenue’s $34 million overhaul of the state’s computer operations was not managed properly by the revenue department or the 3M company.

The audit released Thursday to a joint Legislative committee says the project produced a motor vehicle network plagued by technical problems. Auditors also said implementation of a new driver’s license system may be four years too late.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the auditors said state revenue department staff did not properly oversee the project, and 3M Company did not deliver services it had promised.

Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan told the committee that the effort to convert state vehicle and license connections with 105 counties was more complex than expected. He also noted the project started under the previous Democrat administration.

 

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Emporia police say they don’t suspect foul play in the death of a man who was found in a men’s restroom at the police department.

The Emporia Gazette reports a man identified as 58-year-old Mario Padron was found around 9 a.m. Thursday after officers were notified of an unresponsive person in the restroom.

Police say Padron was not a city employee and was in the building for personal reasons.

The police department issued a news release on the death Thursday and has notified Padron’s family. An investigation is underway but police say the death is not considered suspicious.