MANHATTAN -Alexander McConnell appeared in Riley County Court Friday morning facing charges of 1st degree murder and child abuse. The hearing was supposed to be a preliminary hearing, but unexpectedly,

McConnell waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

McConnell was arrested on September 29, 2014 following the death of a child identified as “AKM” in the in the case’s criminal affidavit.

The document said that McConnell’s wife Angela had left the child with Alexander for a short period of time, and when she returned the child was not breathing.

The infant was taken to Mercy Regional Hospital in Manhattan, and then to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
The child died that evening.

During the autopsy, the medical examiner found the child had experienced previous substantial bleeding in the skull, as well as injuries to it’s neck, head, and ribs.

Arraignment in the case is set for March 23.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Gov. Jay Nixon says municipal courts need to be reformed to restore trust between citizens and the government eroded by abuses like those detailed in a Department of Justice report on Ferguson.

Wednesday’s report prompted by the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown condemned Ferguson’s municipal court as operating primarily as a city revenue source.

Speaking Friday to the Missouri Bar, Gov. Nixon embraced as a good start toward reforms proposals to limit the proportion of revenue cities can get from traffic fines. That measure has passed the Senate and awaits action in the House.

Nixon says changes to how municipal courts operate also are needed to ensure due process is followed and modern-day debtor’s prisons are not created.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas reports that its unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent in January and the state’s private-sector employment grew over the previous year.

The state Department of Labor noted Friday that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was significantly better than the 4.7 percent reported in January 2014.

The state said 1.14 million Kansas residents held private-sector jobs in January, about 17,100 more than in January 2014. The growth was about 1.5 percent.

Government employment also was slightly higher in January than in January 2014.

The department said leisure and hospitality businesses saw the most robust employment growth over the year. They employed almost 126,000 people in January. That was 4,200 more than in January 2014, an increase of 3.5 percent.

But employment in manufacturing and mining declined.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ferguson city leaders will meet with Justice Department officials in about two weeks and provide a plan for ways to improve the police department following a scathing report released this week.

Mayor James Knowles III told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the goal is to work out an agreement for a plan forward. A specific meeting date has not been set.

Knowles says city leaders are still going over the report “line by line.” Asked about Police Chief Tom Jackson, Knowles says he still leads the department, but the mayor declined to discuss Jackson’s future.

The mayor says the three employees cited in the report for racist emails are no longer working for the city. He declined to say if they were fired or resigned.

DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai is recalling more than 26,000 Genesis luxury cars in the U.S. and Canada to fix a water leak that can cause the transmission gear shifter to malfunction.

The recall covers cars from the 2015 model year. Water can leak into the rear light assembly. In rare cases that can cause delays in gear shifting or display the wrong gear on the instrument panel. The gear selector is connected electrically to the rear lights.

Hyundai says in government documents that the incorrect gear can increase the risk of the cars moving unexpectedly and causing a crash. It was unclear if there have been any crashes.

Dealers will install pads to stop the water leak at no cost to the owners. Hyundai will notify owners starting in April.

Nissan is recalling 625,000 more cars in the U.S. as part of a growing problem with faulty latches that can allow hoods to fly open while cars are moving.

The latest recall covers Altima midsize cars from the 2013 through 2015 model years. It brings the total number of vehicles recalled for the problem to nearly 1.1 million.

Nissan says in government documents that if the main hood latch isn’t fastened, the secondary latch may not hold the hood closed as designed.

Nissan previously recalled 238,000 Altimas from 2013 for the same problem, as well as 216,000 Nissan Pathfinders from 2013 and 2014, Infiniti JX35s from 2013 and QX60s from 2014.

The company says it’s still investigating and could recall more vehicles.

Nissan hasn’t finalized a fix for the problem.

Tobacco lobby accuses Revenue Dept. of blowing smoke
By Austin Fisher
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Revenue wants to toughen tobacco tax law but the tobacco lobby and some lawmakers see the move as a step toward big government.

In a series of 22 amendments, Senate Bill 203 would change the Kansas Cigarette and Tobacco Products Act by redefining certain tobacco products, increasing fees and penalties, beefing up the department’s ability to collect taxes and seize contraband, cracking down on Internet tobacco sales, and allowing the Governor to sign contracts with tribal governments to collect taxes on tobacco sold on reservations.

It’s estimated that the bill would increase revenue to the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Regulation Fund by $300,000 each year starting in 2016.

John Michael Hale, attorney for the department, argued Thursday that the laws need to be strengthened so the state can meet its requirements under the latest legal battle as part of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

“To help ensure that Kansas continues to receive these annual payments, and to prevent the possibility of Kansas having to pay back any payments previously received under the settlement, the department firmly believes that these amendments need to be implemented and enforced,” Hale said.

In 1998 Kansas was one of 46 states to reach an agreement under MSA with the large American tobacco companies. The agreement requires the companies to pay approximately $206 billion over the course of 25 years to the states to repay smoking-related Medicaid expenses and restrict tobacco sales and promotion, particularly toward children.

By 2006 some of the tobacco companies complained of falling market share and withheld MSA payments to 18 states, including Kansas. A legal battle ensued until a settlement in 2012. Hale says many of the amendments are meant to meet the enforcement requirements of that latest settlement.

Kansas Action for Children, a non-profit advocacy organization, estimates that Kansas received $55 million from the settlement in 2014.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce (R-Hutchinson) said he opposed the bill.

“This is a power grab using the Master Settlement Agreement as a guise to get these amendments passed,” Bruce said. “It’s going a little bit too far. Is there any way that perhaps we could get a substitute that gets rid of all this garbage so we can have a real bill and not waste the committee’s time?”

Tobacco companies including the Kansas Vapors Association, the Cigar Association of America, the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association of Kansas, and Casey’s General Stores took issue mainly with the changing definitions of products.

They were also concerned about the increased licensing fees for dealers and penalties for violations they might commit, and the fact that the extra revenue would pay for a department task force with the sole purpose of auditing those dealers.

Whitney Damron, a lobbyist for Swisher International, Inc., opposed part of the bill that redefines little cigars, also called cigarillos, as cigarettes.

“This language has nothing to do with the Master Settlement Agreement,” Damron said. “I’m not sure why it’s being brought forth other than possibly a revenue source.‘

The bill increases fines for convictions of trafficking untaxed tobacco or obstructing tax collection on tobacco. Initial convictions would come with a fine of $1,000 to $2,500 and repeat convictions could result in a $100,000 fine or jail time.

Dealers seeking wholesale licenses would pay a $500 fee and have to file a surety bond of at least $10,000 with the tax director, a tenfold increase on current law.

Curt Diebel, president of Diebel’s Sportsmens Gallery, opposed part of the bill that would tax the premium cigars that he sells in the same way as cigarettes.

“Gov. Brownback is trying to have a business-friendly state,” Diebel said. “I don’t find this bill friendly at all.”

Austin Fisher

NOEL (AP) – Two people have died in a head-on crash in southwest Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the crash happened just before 11 a.m. Thursday when a pickup truck collided with a car at a curve on Missouri 59 in McDonald County.

The victims were identified as the car’s 28-year-old driver, Ashley Tharp, of Pineville, and a 27-year-old passenger, Cody S. Blevins, of Sebastian, Florida.

The patrol says a 7-year-old boy who was riding in the car was flown to a Springfield hospital with serious injuries.

Blevins was not wearing a seat belt according to the MSHP.

NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the type of racial discrimination in the Ferguson, Missouri, police department is not isolated.

Obama says he doesn’t think the bias found in Ferguson is typical of what happens in law enforcement across the country.

But he says there are places where trust between police and the communities they serve has broken down.

Obama made his first remarks about the Justice Department report of bias in Ferguson that came out this week.

Obama told The Joe Madison Show on Sirius XM radio that “a big chunk” of today’s civil rights agenda is dealing with civil rights and civil liberties with respect to law enforcement.