CHEROKEE COUNTY— One person died in an accident just after 9p.m. Wednesday in Cherokee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Jeep Commander driven by Russell, Julissa Russell, 50, Rincon, GA., was westbound on Kansas 66 one mile west of Galena.

The Jeep struck a bicycle ridden by David Furry, 47, Galena, that had crossed in front of the vehicle travelling from South to North crossing the highway.

Furry was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Frontier Forensics.

Russell was not injured and was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man has been sentenced to 17 months in prison for shooting and wounding a 17-year-old girl as several people shot fireworks at him.

21-year-old Rashan Gill apologized at Tuesday’s hearing, saying through tears that he “will never forget” what happened and that he could have killed the girl. In the early morning hours of July 5, 2018, he shot at a group of people who were firing Roman candle fireworks at him and his apartment.

One of the shots hit the girl who was in the group’s car. She suffered serious injuries but survived.

After a judge rejected Gill’s argument that he was justified in the shooting under Kansas’ stand-your-ground law, he pleaded no contest in January to attempted aggravated battery.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Big Brothers Big Sisters has announced that a cellophane-wrapped marijuana brick with a street value of $3,000 has been found in a Springfield donation bin.

The discovery was made last May as volunteers sorted through donations, but it only became public this month when the charity’s Ozark office highlighted it in its monthly bulletin.

Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Think Big Foundation president Tyler Moles says it’s “the most expensive thing ever put in the bin.” He says the charity initially hesitated to disclose the find. But he says donations of adult and children’s clothes and shoes are down during the cold winter months, so he’s hoping the publicity can serve as a reminder that the charity is collecting those items.

No arrests have been made.

BARNHART, Mo. (AP) – Court documents indicate a 39-year-old man who authorities say wrapped a small dog with tape and threw him in a ditch believed the animal was spying on him for police.

Paul Garcia, of Barnhart, is charged with felony animal abuse and armed criminal action.

A sheriff’s deputy found the dog Feb. 9 in a rural Jefferson County ditch. The dog, named Flick, recovered and was reunited with its owner Saturday. The owner said Flick had run away.

Garcia was arrested after investigators took fingerprints off the electrical tape.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Garcia told police when he found the dog under his truck, he thought it might have a camera attached to him to help law enforcement track Garcia’s movements.

By DAN MARGOLIES

A medical group that provides anesthesia services to Kansas City metro hospitals has notified 3,472 patients that some of their personal information may have been compromised after surgery schedules were stolen from an employee’s car.

Anesthesia Associates of Kansas City posted a notice on its website that the surgery schedules may have included some patients’ names, dates of birth, types and dates of surgery, and the name of the patients’ surgeons.

Patient addresses, Social Security numbers, insurance and financial information were not included on the schedules.

“We had an employee that was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing,” said Mark Meisel, Anesthesia Associates’ CEO.

Meisel said the employee, a nurse anesthetist, put his backpack containing surgery schedules in a visible part of his car – a violation of the medical practice’s data security protocols.

“Unfortunately, you can tell people what the rules are, but this person didn’t follow the rules,” Meisel said.

Meisel declined to say whether the employee had been fired or disciplined.

The theft, which occurred in December, did not affect all of Anesthesia Associates’ patients. But Meisel said that out of “an abundance of caution,” it notified patients who underwent surgery between April 4, 2018, and Dec. 4, 2018.

The theft was reported to police but the backpack and its contents have not been recovered.

Anesthesia Associates, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas, provides anesthesiology services to Children’s Mercy Hospital as well as hospitals owned by HCA Midwest Health, including Belton Regional Medical Center, Lee’s Summit Medical Center, Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park Regional Medical Center and Research Medical Center.

With about 240 anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, pain management specialists and other clinicians, it’s the largest anesthesiology practice in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The data breach is one of several that have occurred in the last few months at local and regional health care practices. Last month, Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations that insures Kansas Medicaid patients, reported a data breach affecting 1,625 plan members after it sent ID cards and welcome packs to the wrong recipients.

Also last month, Valley Hope Association, which operates drug and alcohol rehab clinics in Kansas, Missouri and five other states, said that an unauthorized individual accessed the email account of an employee and may have viewed patients’ health information. That breach affected 70,799 individuals.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), along with the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office, and the Chanute Police Department, have identified the remains of a woman who was found last August in a field near Ford Rd. and 50^th Rd. in Neosho County.

According to a media release from the KBI, the remains are those of Marissa M. Craft, who went missing from her home in Chanute, and was 39-years-old at the time she disappeared. Craft was last seen Dec. 15, 2017 leaving her mobile home with three men in a white, Dodge pickup truck.

The investigation into Craft’s death continues. Anyone with information about the circumstances of her disappearance or death is asked to contact the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME, or the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office at (620) 244-3888. Callers may remain anonymous.

 

 

PHARR, Texas (AP) — Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted nearly $13 million worth of methamphetamine inside a truck carrying frozen strawberries that crossed into the U.S. from
Mexico.

#CBP officers in TX seized more than 900lbs of meth worth $12 MILLION in a commercial shipment of frozen strawberries over the weekend: https://t.co/oDvMn7Z2VF pic.twitter.com/JxCQ7gm9xo

— CBP (@CBP) February 20, 2019

The agency on Tuesday said officers working at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge cargo facility in Texas used imaging equipment and dogs to inspect the truck on Feb. 16.

Officers discovered 350 packages concealed within the trailer and seized 906 pounds of meth.

The 42-year-old Mexican citizen who was driving the truck was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security agents.

Port director David Gonzalez called it an “outstanding interception.”