SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Jury selection is set to begin in the trial of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing a 10-yer-old girl in Springfield.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Craig Wood is charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, child kidnapping, rape and sodomy in the death of Hailey Owens. She was abducted Feb. 18, 2014. Her body was found hours later in the basement of a Springfield home.

Jury selection begins Monday and is expected to last a week. The initial pool of jurors started at roughly 500 and has already been whittled down through written questionnaires. The jurors will stay at an undisclosed hotel.

Arguments in Wood’s trial are expected to begin next week. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty for Wood if he is found guilty of murder.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two University of Kansas students have been arrested on suspicion of rape at a residence hall.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the KU Public Safety Office says campus police made the arrests Saturday. KU Police Deputy Chief James Anguiano said in a news release that a female student reported that she was sexually assaulted by two acquaintances, at different times, early Saturday in her room at Cora Downs Residence Hall.

Anguiano says the suspects were taken to the Douglas County Jail following interviews and an investigation. Jail booking logs show that two 19-year-old men were booked on suspicion of rape following their arrests by KU police.

No other details were immediately available.

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and searching for the suspects.

Just before 9:30p.m., a man and his 16yr-old-son were walking in the area of SE 37th and Adams in Topeka, according to Topeka Police Lt. Steve Roth.

A dark colored Saturn passenger car pulled up and got their attention. A heavy set black male teen passenger got out of the car armed with a revolver handgun and demanded everything from the victim.

The victim swatted at the gun then he and his son ran from the scene.

The suspect fired three shots; one of the rounds struck the victim, causing a non-life threatening injury. The suspect fled the scene and is at large.

The car was driven by a black female teen, and a third occupant was a white male teen in the back seat. Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police Dept.  or Crime Stoppers.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —A Kansas man died in an accident just after 5p.m. Sunday in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Chevy Impala driven by Dalen C. Jefferson, 31, Kansas City, was westbound on Interstate 70 off ramp at 57th Street at a high rate of speed.

The driver failed to stop at a red light, entered the intersection and the Impala collided with a northbound Chevy Tahoe driven by Estela Carrasco, 39, Kansas City, at it was heading through the intersection.

Jefferson was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the Impala Jayden Fleming, 7, Kansas City, was transported to Children’s Mercy.

Carrasco was transported to KU Medical Center. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri’s capital city scored poorly in a recent ranking of cities evaluating which places offer the most support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

The Kansas City Star reports Jefferson City was one of just 10 cities in the report that received a score of zero on the Human Rights Campaign’s report. That group advocates on behalf of the LGBT community.

The rankings are based on factors such as whether a city prohibits discrimination against gay and lesbian people, whether city services are offered to the LGBT community and whether the city has leaders who publicly support pro-equality legislation.

But Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin says she believes there aren’t any ordinances about LGBT rights because there have been few issues in the city.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing.

Just after 5:30a.m. Saturday, Stormont Vail Hospital notified Topeka Police of a 38-year-old man who walked into the Emergency Department with a stab wound to the chest.

Officers arrived and spoke to the white male, who was not forthcoming when answering the questions of officers.

He indicated the wounds were from a fall onto a glass bottle and would not provide a location in which the incident occurred.

Further investigation revealed the case address to be 3906 SE Freemont in Topeka Kansas.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Topeka Police.

By MADELINE FOX

With high numbers of children in the foster care system and not enough homes to care for them, one Kansas contractor is turning to a short-term housing option.

News last month that more than 100 foster kids had to sleep in offices over the past year while contractors worked to place them shed light on stresses in the system. The number of children entering foster care in Kansas has gone up by a third in the last five years, and more than 7,000 were in out-of-home placement at the end of August.

Another contributing factor is the decline in the number of beds at psychiatric residential treatment facilities, from 780 in March 2011 to 272 in August 2017. That drop has made it more difficult to place children who need acute psychiatric care.

In response, KVC Kansas, the foster care contractor for eastern Kansas, opened its first short-term crisis center in September in Hays. The crisis center is attached to KVC Wheatland Hospital, a children’s psychiatric facility. It can accommodate 20 children, with two beds to a room plus common spaces with TVs, couches and beanbag chairs.

Jenny Kutz, director of communications for KVC Health System, said in an email that while KVC is putting a “huge emphasis” on foster family recruitment, “any number of children sleeping in an office is too many.” KVC intends the crisis centers to provide “a safe, comfortable, child-friendly place to stay while waiting to be matched with a relative or foster family,” Kutz said.

KVC plans to open 20 additional beds in January by leasing additional space in its KVC Prairie Ridge Hospital facility in Kansas City, Kansas. It also is looking into opening another crisis center in Wichita.

Officials with Saint Francis Community Services, the foster care contractor in western Kansas, said they have been looking for ways to expand placements since 2014, and intensified efforts as the number of overnight office stays increase. Saint Francis has added 53 emergency shelter or other specialized residential beds since May.

Theresa Freed, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said the department has been involved “every step of the way” as KVC opened the crisis centers.

“It’s always our goal to make sure that children are placed as quickly as possible in a family foster home or in an appropriate facility, so we appreciate the work of our contractors to do so quickly,” she said.

But the contractors’ efforts to respond to the shortage of placements has not assuaged lawmaker concerns about problems in the foster care system or DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore and her department’s supervision of it.

House Minority Leader Jim Ward reiterated his past calls for Gilmore’s firing, while state Rep. Stephanie Clayton took it a step further on Twitter.

“From what DCF employees have told me, nothing gets better until everyone at the administrative level is gone,” Clayton tweeted. “It’s never just the Secretary.”

Gubernatorial candidate Mark Hutton also called for a leadership change at DCF in a statement Friday, citing concerns that Gilmore did not appear to be aware of the disappearance of three sisters in Tonganoxie from the foster care system in August.

Police announced Tuesday that three sisters, all under age 16, who went missing from a Tonganoxie foster home had been found safe, though an additional 62 children were missing from the two contractors’ care as of last week.

“It is time for accountability in our state government,” Hutton said. “The continued failures at the Department for Children and Families are unacceptable, with the most vulnerable among us paying the price, and it’s time that the Brownback-Colyer administration do something about it.”

Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, who is in position to take over for Gov. Sam Brownback when he leaves for a position in the Trump administration, has declined to comment on whether he intends to keep Gilmore on as DCF secretary.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox.

OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Kansas man has pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide charges for the crash deaths of four Iowa residents in western Nebraska.

The North Platte Telegraph reports that Jeser Cisneros-Hernandez, of Liberal, Kansas, entered the pleas Friday in Keith County District Court.

Cisneros-Hernandez is charged with four counts of motor-vehicle homicide, reckless driving, and driving left of the center of the road. Prosecutors say hit two motorcycles carrying two people each on July 1 near Ogallala.

Authorities say 54-year-old Sheila Matheny and 61-year-old James Matheny, from Bedford, Iowa, were on one motorcycle. The other riders were 58-year-old Michal Weese and 59-year-old Jerolyn Weese, who lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Cisneros-Hernandez’s next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 8.