The Federal Reserve bank left the benchmark interest rate unchanged following a Wednesday meeting, but amid economic uncertainty, signaled that future cuts could be warranted. During a news conference following the meeting, Fed chairman Jerome Powell stated that due to uncertainties in the economic outlook, the Committee will “closely monitor” the economy and “act as appropriate to sustain the system.”
The central bank left the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25 to 2.5 percent. Worrisome factors include the uncertainty in trade with China and others, as the Trump administration works through crafting and implementing new trade agreements. President Trump has previously argued that the Fed should cut rates, even considering removing Powell from his position, which Trump nominated him for.
Trade could improve, however, lessening the worry, as hopes are growing Trump and China’s President can resume negotiations next month starting with a meeting at the G20 Summit. Unchanged, or lower interest rates, may reduce worry in farm country, regarding the depressed farm economy, as well.
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. (AP) — Police say a Kansas man and two juveniles are in custody after break-ins at four Carl Junction schools this week.
Christian Conrad photo Jasper Co.
Chief Delmar Haase said the suspects are accused of breaking into the Carl Junction Intermediate School, the junior high, the high school and the primary 2-3 building early Tuesday.
The suspects used key fobs and keys to enter the schools.
Several hundred dollars in cash, merchandise and school property were taken. All the property has been recovered.
A probable cause statement says the three suspects were identified through the schools’ camera surveillance footage.
Nineteen-year-old Christian Tyler Conrad, of Galena, Kansas, has been charged with four counts of second-degree burglary. The juveniles were turned over to juvenile authorities.
GREENE COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 5p.m. Wednesday in Greene County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2017 Ford F 250 driven by Michael J. Eshleman, 57, Marionville, was northbound on Route EE one half mile west of Springfield.
An eastbound 2008 Harley Davidson driven by Michael K. Walck, 20, Springfield, struck the driver’s side of the pickup as it attempted a left turn.
Walck was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the Greene County Medical Examiner’s office. Eshleman was transported to Cox South. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP. Walck was wearaing a helmet.
LEAVENWORTH (AP) — A black man who was detained by police while moving into his home said Wednesday that Kansas regulators investigated his racial bias complaint and closed the case with no further action.
Police body camera image of the incident courtesy Tonganoxie Police
“I’m mad as hell,” Karle Robinson told The Associated Press of the letter that he shared with the news organization.Robinson was held at gunpoint and handcuffed in August 2018 as he was carrying a television out of a rented moving van in the middle of the night into the home he had bought a month earlier in Tonganoxie, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Kansas City. Robinson also alleged police harassed him for weeks after the incident, and that the police chief blocked him from filing a racial bias complaint with the department.
Police video shows Robinson told the officer who handcuffed him and held him at gunpoint that he had paperwork inside that would prove he owned the home. Later, a second responding officer entered the home, brought out the paperwork and took the handcuffs off. The officers helped Robinson carry the TV inside the house after he asked them to help.
Police told Robinson there had been a string of burglaries in the area. An officer can be heard on the body camera video apologizing to Robinson and saying, “If you look at the situation, I think, I think you get it.” The officers thanked Robinson for his cooperation, the video shows.
The 61-year-old Marine veteran received a brief letter last week from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training. The Kansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union — which has called the incident a case of “moving while black” — initially filed the complaint on Robinson’s behalf with the Kansas attorney general’s office, and they in turn referred it to the commission.
Their three-sentence-long letter, dated June 4 and signed by investigator Michael Oliver, informed Robinson that the agency’s investigative committee met on May 29 to consider the policing complaint and that, after careful review, the case was closed with no further action.
Robinson said he expected that result because “this is just a bunch of white men in a room, a bunch of former cops.”
Tonganoxie Police Chief Greg Lawson did not immediately return a message for comment, but he issued a statement in March saying the safety of people who live in the town and those visiting it is important to the department, and the officers and other staff have all “pledged to serve the community with honor and the highest degree of professionalism.”
The Kansas police commission’s executive director, Gary Steed, cited a Kansas statute that prohibits him from discussing confidential investigations or even confirming their existence. If they take action on a complaint, those are posted on their website.
The Kansas attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The town of 5,400 in northeastern Kansas is 97 percent white, census figures show.
After receiving the letter from the policing commission, Robinson told AP he plans to meet later this week with Lauren Bonds, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, to discuss possible litigation.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State universities will not be increasing tuition this fall for undergraduate students from Kansas.
But the state Board of Regents on Wednesday approved tuition increases for some Kansas graduate students and out-of-state undergraduate and graduate students.
The regents considered tuition proposals after the Legislature increased state funding for their operations by $38 million for the 2019-20 school year, or nearly 6.5%. Some lawmakers said they expected the universities not to increase tuition in return.
Board of Regents members said they focused on helping undergraduates from Kansas the most and believe that they sent a clear message to lawmakers that they’re holding the line on tuition.
All graduate students at the University of Kansas will see their tuition rise by 2.5% and at Kansas State University, by 1.5%.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — McDonald’s has started a transatlantic barbecue feud with the introduction of a Kansas City-themed hamburger in the U.K.
Outgoing Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James said Tuesday that the fast-food chain should “stay in your lane” in a tweet that included a picture of what he says a “real” burger looks like. Kansas City is known for its style of dry-rubbed, slow-cooked meats drizzled in tomato-molasses sauce.
He responded after McDonald’s proclaimed “Yeehaw” as it introduce d its “Kansas City Stack” in a tweet. Other twitter users rushed to join the mocking. Barbecue powerhouse Q39 kidded “Yeehaw, mate!” while Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que retweeted a scathing critique of the burger and added a laughing tears and thinking faces emoji.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri woman will spend the rest of her life in prison after admitting that prosecutors had evidence to convict her of killing a mentally disabled man in what authorities believe was part of a complicated plot to divert attention from another homicide case.
Pamela Hupp photo St. Charles Co.
Pamela Hupp of O’Fallon entered an Alford plea Wednesday in a plea deal. Hupp could have faced the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the 2016 death of 33-year-old Louis Gumpenberger.
Prosecutors say Hupp killed Gumpenberger to distract from the re-investigation of her friend Betsy Faria’s 2011 death. Russ Faria was convicted of killing his wife, but the conviction was overturned and he was acquitted at retrial.
Lincoln County prosecutor Michael Wood told The Associated Press that he plans to re-examine the Faria investigation.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge Wednesday to make it easier to protest inside the Kansas Statehouse, as some members of the Republican-controlled Legislature worry that liberal demonstrators have become increasingly disruptive.
One KSU student, Jonathan Thomas Cole, posted a video to the Post Facebook page of security staff removing the banners
An ACLU lawsuit challenges rules that require groups to obtain a legislative sponsor and an event permit for Statehouse demonstrations, and that prohibit hand-held signs and banners. The lawsuit also challenges the Capitol Police’s authority to ban people from the building for violating the rules.
The ACLU filed its lawsuit after a March 27 protest in which protesters seeking an expansion of Medicaid eligibility hung huge banners inside the Statehouse rotunda. Capitol Police briefly detained three Kansas State University students who hung banners and told them they were banned from the building for a year. The ban was lifted the next day.
The state agreed to back off its enforcement of the rules in May, before the Legislature adjourned for the year, but the ACLU wants U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter to block their enforcement while its lawsuit goes forward. One of the students, Jonathan Cole, testified that he found his encounter with police “terrifying” and is wary of protesting inside the building because of the restrictions.
“I would need my government’s permission, in essence, to protest at the Statehouse,” Cole testified.
The Kansas attorney general’s office is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that the rules are not as restrictive as the ACLU portrays them. Assistant Attorney General Arthur Chalmers even argued during the hearing that the rules apply to organized events, disagreeing with the ACLU that they also apply to demonstrations involving only a few people.
“This case is a series of straw men,” Chalmers argued.
But Cole and Davis Hammet, a voting-rights advocate and veteran of numerous rallies for liberal causes, testified that they’ve been told demonstrators must have a permit. And Tom Day, the Legislature’s director of administrative services, said hand-held signs would be confiscated under the rules.
Day defended the restrictions, saying they allowed officials to know what groups are in the building and what they plan, in part for safety reasons.
“We need to make sure everyone in the building is safe, including 4-year-old Johnny who is there for a tour,” Day testified.
The court hearing came three weeks after a May 29 demonstration in the Senate gallery in favor of Medicaid expansion shut down the chamber temporarily. It was a protest against top Senate Republicans, who blocked a votethis year after the House approved an expansion plan backed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
“It escalated with the banners,” Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a Kansas City-area Republican, said last week. “They’re agitators and they want you to engage either verbally or physically.”
There have been no physical confrontations between protesters and lawmakers.
The March 27 protest for Medicaid expansion was followed by a May 3 demonstration in which about 15 protesters dropped thousands of leaflets depicting blood-stained, overdue hospital bills.
In the May 29 protest, a Unitarian minister stood in the gallery, chanting and signing and drowning out an unrelated Senate debate. Aides to Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, attempted to clear the floor, and a Capitol police officer even directed reporters who were recording the protest to leave — prompting letters of protest.
Even some Medicaid expansion supporters have expressed misgivings about the some of the protest tactics they’re seeing.
“Sitting in the gallery, holding signs, or chanting in the rotunda, that’s fine,” said House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat and expansion supporter. “When they’re chanting to the point where a session can’t take place, I think that does cross a line.”
The ACLU contends that the power granted to the state to deny permits or ban people from the building is too unfettered, and that enforcement could depend on the demonstrators’ cause. The state rejects that idea, but the ACLU noted in court that some enforcement policies are unwritten.
“I’m sure we wouldn’t have been here if they (the banners) had said, ‘I love Susan Wagle,'” testified Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to Washington, D.C. this week, as part of an effort to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The trade deal has the least path of resistance in Mexico, where lawmakers are expected to ratify the agreement this month.
The trade deal also faces a quick route to passage in Canada, leaving passage in the U.S. the toughest battle to fully ratify the agreement. Canada expects final consideration of the agreement before September. Trudeau is scheduled to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with a planned meeting Thursday with President Donald Trump, according to Reuters.
Trump, along with agriculture groups, have pushed for quick passage of the agreement. However, House Democrats want more time to review the agreement, pressing for potential changes. The agreement must first pass the U.S. House before the Senate can consider the agreement. Nearly 1,000 agriculture groups together last week urged Congress and the Trump administration to finish the agreement.
Wichita Public Schools is considering adding explicit protections for transgender students and staff this year.
Public speakers told the district’s school board on Monday that they want to see the nondiscrimination policy updated to include gender identity as a protected class. Some were activists; others were moms.
Transgender students shared their own stories of discrimination.
Transgender Wichita middle school teacher Kendall Hawkins has advocated for better protections for transgender students in the district. STEPHAN BISAHA
High school student Alec Strouse said being required to change in the women’s locker room had a severe impact on his mental health.
“I was severely bullied in there,” Strouse told the board. “Multiple times I did stay home because I was afraid of the comments that I got.”
If Wichita does add gender identity to its policy, it will join several school districts across the state that have done the same this year. Manhattan added the protections in May; Olathe made the changes in March.
De Soto did so three days earlier. Students from two of De Soto’s high schools asked the board to update its policy.
Transgender teens are three times more likely to attempt suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than a third are bullied.
Topeka Public Schools board member Peg McCarthy thinks growing youth suicide numbers — and the increasing support for transgender rights — is causing districts to add more protections for those students.
“We know that transgender students in particular are one of our must vulnerable groups,” said McCarthy, who is also a psychologist working with transgender patients.
Topeka Public Schools has included transgender students in its nondiscrimination policy for about a decade.
Not all school districts have moved toward transgender rights. Derby Public Schools allowed transgender students to use the bathroom that fit their gender identity, but reversed that policy in 2017.
The Kansas Association of School Boards advises against districts updating their policy to include specific language protecting transgender students. It thinks those students are already included in federal Title IX protections, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex by education programs receiving federal funding.
Wichita Public Schools board member Ben Blankley said that updating the policy is needed to make a clear statement of support for transgender students and staff.
“To implement it at the local level seems to be the strongest statement we can make,” Blankley said. “These kids do exist. These kids do matter.”
Wichita’s superintendent Alicia Thompson will put together a report on the district’s nondiscrimination policy. The board will use that as a starting point for any discussion about adding new language.
District middle school teacher Kendall Hawkins said she’s been talking to the board for months about the issue. Hawkins said she hasn’t been discriminated against as a transgender employee working at Mead Middle School.
But she said students in her school’s gender and sexuality alliance organization told her they have been. One of the most common problems is staff referring to transgender students by the wrong names or pronoun.
Hawkins said the district is behind on supporting transgender students.
“Our students are the ones paying the price for it,” Hawkins said. “We’re seeing issues with attendance and academic progress those students are having.”
During Wichita’s board of education meeting, some speakers opposed changing the policy. Out of the 10 public commenters, three said they are afraid of students being indoctrinated.
“Jesus loves them,” Wichita resident Jeanne Garrelts told the board, referring to transgender students. “But he does have standards of right and wrong.”
Stephan Bisaha reports on education for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on @SteveBisaha or email bisaha (at) kmuw (dot) org.
The Federal Reserve bank left the benchmark interest rate unchanged following a Wednesday meeting, but amid economic uncertainty, signaled that future cuts could be warranted. During a news conference following the meeting, Fed chairman Jerome Powell stated that due to uncertainties in the economic outlook, the Committee will “closely monitor” the economy and “act as appropriate to sustain the system.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to Washington, D.C. this week, as part of an effort to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The trade deal has the least path of resistance in Mexico, where lawmakers are expected to ratify the agreement this month.
