TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A conservative political action committee is launching a television ad in the U.S. Senate race in Kansas attacking the independent challenger to three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts.

The Freedom Partners Action Fund says it is spending “six figures” on the ad against Greg Orman beginning Tuesday. The PAC is part of the political network of billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch.

The 30-second spot notes that Orman contributed to President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and to other Democrats. It says a vote for Orman is another vote for Obama.

Obama received 38 percent of the vote in GOP-leaning Kansas in 2012.

Orman is a 45-year-old Olathe businessman running as a centrist. His campaign notes past contributions to Republicans, including moderate GOP Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts in 2010.

 

GRANDVIEW (AP) – A 27-year-old Grandview babysitter has been charged with felony child abuse after police say she threw her friend’s 7-month-old son across a room and fractured his skull.

Angel Raya told police her son’s head was swollen after being left with Angela Waln last week. Raya tells KMBC-TV they have known each other for about 13 years and Waln was like a sister to her.

Police say Waln admitted to throwing the child after telling multiple lies about how the injury happened.

Doctors say the boy suffered two skull fractures and a brain bleed. He has been released from the hospital and is showing signs of recovery.

Waln is being held at the Jackson County Detention Center. Online jail records didn’t indicate bond or an attorney.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A federal judge has sentenced a Missouri couple to prison time for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in Newton and Jasper counties.

A federal attorney said Monday that 53-year-old Gregory Holcomb and 49-year-old Malinda Willis were sentenced last week. Holcomb received 20 years without parole and Willis got six years without parole.

They pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy charges related to a 2011 drug bust. Authorities say Willis traded firearms for drugs. They seized 200 grams of meth from the couple’s home.

By Alex Smith, KCUR

TOPEKA — A new program in Kansas aims to improve conditions in prisons, but it’s not for inmates. The state Department of Corrections is one of many prison and jail systems across the country working to overcome “correctional fatigue” — the mental and physical stress that lead to corrections workers burning out.

On television shows and movies such as “Orange Is The New Black,” “Shawshank Redemption” and “Cool Hand Luke,” prison guards often have gotten a bad rap as some of the worst bullies.

And that rankles John Bates.

“You never see any correctional officer heroes. All you ever see is the bosses, the Boss Hoggs,” Bates said.

Bates has spent more than a decade working as a correctional officer in one of Kansas’s major prisons; he asked that it not be identified.

On a recent afternoon off, he said he sees corrections as a way to keep the public safe and improve inmates’ lives. But it’s work that comes with nearly constant stress.

“There’s a great deal of distrust by the inmate population toward staff which sometimes ends up in violence, sometimes ends up with nothing more than obscenities. But it is quite difficult dealing with inmates on a daily basis,” Bates said.

Not just a job

Those challenges aren’t unique to Kansas.

“Everyone figures, ‘Ah, it’s just a job.’ Well, it isn’t just a job to go to work every day having to wear a raincoat so you don’t get piss and vomit and excrement and semen and mucus thrown at you,” said Brian Dawe, executive director of the American Correctional Officer Information Network, which advocates on behalf of some 400,000 publicly employed corrections officers in the United States.

The Kansas Department of Corrections hopes Dr. Caterina Spinaris can help turn things around for its staff, which includes more than 2,000 correctional officers.

Spinaris is a psychologist based in southern Colorado who coined the term “correctional fatigue” to describe the detrimental psychological effects of their work.

According to her research, 27 percent of corrections officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s comparable to rates seen in combat veterans.

Corrections work can trigger anxiety problems, substance abuse and depression, and the toxic work environment of a prison can foster paranoid thinking patterns.

“To be mistrusting, cynical. To find fault with things. To blame a lot. Seeing people as good or bad. All-or-nothing kind of thinking where people will say anybody who’s not like me is bad,” said Spinaris, describing the patterns of negative thinking that correctional fatigue can cause.

Correctional fatigue can spill over into physical health as well, leading to high blood pressure and weight gain.

One study shows correctional officers have an average life span of just 59 years.

Spinaris said correctional fatigue also can influence the treatment of inmates.

“It could end up in people being unprofessional, crossing boundary lines and being too harsh and punitive. And bad things can happen as a result of that as time goes on,” Spinaris said.
Bandage to treat an infection?

About two years ago, the National Institute of Corrections contracted with Spinaris and her company, Desert Waters Correctional Outreach, to work with jails and prison systems across the country. This fall, Spinaris and her team will come to Kansas to work with prison officials and assess how the state system works.

That’s all well and good, said Rebecca Proctor, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees. But she says much more needs to be done.

“Having a program to reduce stress without addressing the staffing and equipment programs is like putting a bandage and a topical cream on a sore that’s caused by a body-wide infection,” she said.
Proctor said budget cuts have left facilities poorly maintained and wages low. The starting wage of about $13.50 an hour isn’t enough to attract good workers, and wage freezes in recent years have made it harder to retain the workers they have.

The twin problems of understaffing and overcrowding have forced officers to take on the duties of multiple employees as well as forced overtime, she said.

“If you’re someone who’s working a maximum-security unit, your inmates know how long you’ve been on the job,” Proctor said. “They’re observant. They watch. They see you’re not getting relieved. They see that there’s not the same level of staffing that there needs to be.”

Understaffing and overcrowding

Proctor said the understaffing problem has left officers unprotected and vulnerable.

A rash of attacks against correctional officers over the summer sent shock waves through the system, according to John Bates. Just last week, an officer at Hutchinson Correctional Facility was hospitalized after an inmate stabbed him.

“The officers on the inside, they’re not just concerned. They’re scared today,” he said.

Officials with the Kansas Department of Corrections insist understaffing is not a problem.

“Anytime we have a staffing vacancy, it’s because we’ve had a recent resignation, and just like with any business, it takes time to rehire for that position,” said Jeremy Barclay, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Barclay points to an annual turnover rate of about 16 percent for staff and explains that prisons have a “staffing pattern plan” to make up for those frequent holes. The plan involves overtime, but Barclay said it’s voluntary.

And the violence, he said, is not a matter of understaffing but rather something that all officers inevitably face working with inmates.

“In terms of, do we have the right amount of staff in place? Yes. And do we have the right staff in the right positions? Yes, we do,” Barclay said.

That said, officials with the Kansas Department of Corrections are hopeful the program to treat correctional fatigue will yield positive results.

Dawe, of the American Correctional Officer Information Network, welcomes the program but said it’s just a start on improving things for a long-misunderstood profession.

“We’ve been around for how long? And this is just happening now?” Dawe asked. “How long has it been that the police have been dealing with PTSD and that’s been recognized? Decades, they’ve understood it and they’ve dealt with it. Yet because we’re behind the walls, and people don’t see us, they could care less. Fortunately, someone is doing something.”

JOPLIN (AP) – A Carthage man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a young girl.

The Joplin Globe reports 36-year-old Israel Halvorsen was sentenced Monday in Joplin. He pleaded guilty to first-degree statutory sodomy on July 21. The plea agreement capped the prison time he could receive at 15 years.

Police charged him in May 2013 after a call to the state’s child abuse hotline, when the girl was 13 years old. She tells officers Halvorsen had abused her since she was 4 or 5 years old.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A small northwest Missouri town hit by an EF2 tornado will get more than $375,000 from the state to help repair streets and remove debris.

Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday announced that the Department of Economic Development is giving a Community Development Block Grant to help Orrick recover from the May 10 tornado.

The town has been cleaning up after the storm tore roofs from houses and uprooted trees and power lines.

The grant will help remove remaining debris and repair other damage.

The state Division of Energy also is giving the Orrick school district an emergency low-interest loan of more than $350,000 to replace a storm-damaged heating and cooling system with one that’s more energy efficient.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report shows Kansas growers were busy in the past week planting winter wheat as the corn and sorghum harvests progressed.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that about 15 percent of the state’s winter wheat has been planted. About 3 percent has emerged.

Harvest moved ahead with 26 percent of the corn crop and about 3 percent of the sorghum now cut.

Corn condition is rated as 16 percent poor to very poor, 29 percent fair, 41 percent good and 14 percent excellent.

Sorghum is reported as 14 percent poor to very poor, 32 percent fair, 45 percent good and 9 percent excellent.

Soybeans are dropping leaves, cotton bolls are opening and sunflowers are turning brown as harvest for those crops nears.

 

COLUMBIA (AP) – A man who police say shot his half brother has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge.

26-year-old Lawrence Lawhorn was sentenced Monday. He pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty in July to charges of first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action in the Oct. 17 shooting.

The half brother suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say a surveillance video captured the shooting and a witness picked Lawhorn out of a photo lineup. He was on parole when he was arrested.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A national nonprofit group is pumping $2 million into Missouri higher education programs.

Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday announced USA Funds plans to give grants to help colleges speed students to finishing their degrees and moving into careers.

About $1 million will go to expand the Innovation Campus initiative, which partners businesses with colleges to help students graduate more quickly.

The other $1 million will go to help other four-year institutions match curricula with employer demands. Competency-based degrees aim to help students graduate faster based on skills learned rather than class time.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – A 17-year-old Missouri boy who nearly died after being shocked with a Taser during a traffic stop has been released from the hospital where he was being treated for brain damage.

Bryce Masters of Independence was pulled over on Sept. 14 in Independence because of a warrant associated with the license plate of a car he was driving. Police say the officer used a Taser on him after Masters refused to get out of the car.

Family spokesman Daniel Haus says Masters went into cardiac arrest after probes from the Taser struck near his heart. He was placed in a medically induced coma and treated for a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Haus says Masters went home Sunday evening.

The FBI is investigating whether the officer used excessive force.