TOPEKA. — The Kansas Supreme Court Friday upheld Daron Ingham’s Reno County conviction on one count of possession or use of a commercial explosive.

In March of 2013, Reno County 911 received a call about an explosion at a trailer park in Nickerson.

Ingham told the arriving deputy he was responsible for some explosions and said he made firecrackers in an attempt to blow up boulders.

The components were a beer can, a fuse, green tape, and gunpowder. Ingham said he set off the explosion in a cement mixer by the front door of the trailer. Deputies found a damaged can in the mixer.

Ingham then said that he was using the fireworks to blow up rocks inside the cement mixer in order to extract gold from them. Ingham showed the deputy the back seat of his truck, which was parked in the driveway. It contained a roll of green fuse, a container of Pyrodex gunpowder and a roll of clear tape. As he was showing the deputy the container of gunpowder, Ingham unscrewed the top and poured it onto the ground. At that point, the officer arrested Ingham and placed him in handcuffs to prevent him from destroying evidence.

He raised several arguments in his appeal, asserting the state used prejudicial language in describing the explosive. Ingham says jury instructions were either insufficient or improperly directed.

Both the Kansas Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court have now upheld the conviction.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday alleging drug deals were taking place within 1,000 feet of Junction Elementary School, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Michael Pruitt, 48, who is in federal custody, was charged with two counts of distributing methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of the school at 2570 S. 42nd Street in Kansas City, Kan.

According to court documents, three times in November 2018 investigators working undercover bought methamphetamine from Pruitt. The transactions took place at a business at 4200 Shawnee Drive. A search of that business turned up almost two pounds of methamphetamine.

If convicted, Pruitt faces a penalty of not less than five years on the first distribution count, and not less than 10 years on each of the other counts.

and change how Americans think about food by creating a protein powder made out of crickets.

Six students formed the startup Agrotech Enterprises, which recently won the Washburn Entrepreneur Pitch Competition for their cricket protein powder business idea.

Crickets are an excellent prospect for the company because of their nutritional value, said Jonathan Barnell, a senior who directs the group’s research and development.

“They’re basically a superfood,” he said. “Per gram, when you grind down crickets into powder, you’re looking at twice the protein as beef.”

Crickets contain all essential amino acids, Barnell added. It also takes a fraction of the water and feed to produce 10 grams of protein using crickets, compared to beef.

But the startup team said their biggest challenge is changing the image of insect-based foods.

Junior student Joey Holley, who’s leading the group’s marketing, said the startup is targeting Generation Z and millennials, who may be more accepting of the idea as environmentally conscious consumers.

Holley said the group is focusing on cricket flour because it’s easier to disassociate with the idea of eating bugs if it’s baked into cookies and muffins. Flour makes it more approachable to understand that it’s a nutritional product, he said.

The group will start selling its products online first, Holley said.

“We’re getting close to the point where we’re hoping to begin producing and selling our product in the winter of next year,” said Andrew Z. Foreman, an entrepreneurship student and the group’s CEO. “It’s a rapidly emerging market in the U.S. and globally. It’s expected to quadruple in size in the next six years.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Running back Kareem Hunt acknowledged that he misled the Kansas City Chiefs about his role in a February assault in a Cleveland hotel that ultimately led to his release this week.

During a live interview with ESPN on Sunday, the NFL’s reigning rushing champion also said that league officials never spoke to him about the incident while conducting their own investigation, and that he never saw the security camera video until TMZ Sports posted it Friday.

In the course of a few hours, Hunt went from preparing for Sunday’s game in Oakland to being sent home from the practice facility. He was then placed on the NFL’s Commissioner Exemption List, summoned back to the team facility and told that he was being released .

“They believed that I lied to them. I lied to them,” Hunt said. “They pretty much said we love you, everybody cares about you, and just we have to let you go. It was a tough conversation. And the Chiefs did what was right. I made a poor decision and I’m willing to take full responsibility.”

In the grainy, graphic video, Hunt is seen getting into an argument with a woman and several men step in to hold him back. He later pushes one of the men, knocking down a woman that Hunt admitted he did not know, and eventually kicks her while she lays on the ground.

“The Chiefs are right. I didn’t tell them everything,” Hunt said. “My actions caused this and I really wish I could apologize to them and let them know there’s no hard feelings.”

The video brought immediate comparisons to the footage of former Ravens running back Ray Rice , who was seen punching out his then-fiancée in an elevator. That incident led to a lengthy legal saga, and it culminated in an investigation by Robert Mueller into the NFL’s mishandling of it.

The league eventually hired more staff to conduct such investigations, and announced it would take a more active role in handling similar cases in the future.

The NFL made multiple attempts to obtain the video of Hunt, but the hotel said corporate policy only allowed footage to be given to law enforcement. The NFL then contacted Cleveland police, but the department said Saturday it did not pursue the video because it was not a felony-level case.

When asked whether the NFL spoke directly to Hunt about it, he replied: “No, they have not.”

The NFL said in a statement Sunday that its investigation began immediately after the incident in February and that the league “continues to pursue a complete understanding of the facts.”

“The NFL’s ongoing investigation will include further attempts to speak to the complainants involved in the incident,” the statement said. “It will include a review of the new information that was made public on Friday — which was not available to the NFL previously — as well as further conversations with all parties involved in the incident.”

The statement did not say whether the league attempted to contact Hunt.

Hunt said he’d just purchased an apartment in the Cleveland hotel and had several friends over, and that he did not know the woman involved in the assault. Hunt said the argument came at the end of “a long night” and that “it was just a disagreement. I honestly wanted her just to leave.”

“That’s not an excuse,” he said. “I’m not that person in that video.”

Hunt pointed out that he was raised by his mother and grandmother, and they “they always taught me well. I know right from wrong and I’m a person that always wants to make everyone happy.”

Still, Hunt has been in trouble before. He was suspended during his junior season at Toledo for a violation of team rules, and he was accused of a second, unrelated assault over the summer.

As in the case with the hotel incident, no charges were filed in that case.

“I regret the entire thing, everything,” Hunt said. “I’m going to take the time to better myself, learn from this, get some help if needed, talk to people and really just take this really serious.”

Hunt admitted that anger “could be an issue” and that he wants to get treatment, and Rice told NFL Network on Saturday that he would offer his help and experience in moving forward.

“I would definitely try to help him figure out, ‘How can we start dealing with the underlying problems in your life?'” Rice said. “He has a long life to live, this will be a defining moment, but it shouldn’t be the moment that defines you.”

Hunt said he isn’t sure that another NFL team will give him a chance, though adding a 23-year-old standout could be worth the public backlash for a team in need of help.

After leading the NFL in rushing last season, Hunt had already run for more than 800 yards while scoring 14 touchdowns in helping the Chiefs to a 9-2 record. He also had proven to be a popular player in the locker room, often attending sporting events and other functions with his teammates.

Of course, that was before the hotel security video surfaced.

Hunt remains on the exempt list, which means a team could sign him but he would be unable to play or attend games until the league’s investigation is complete. The Redskins made a similar move — and accepted the public backlash — when they signed linebacker Reuben Foster, who had been cut by the 49ers after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

Foster also remains on the exempt list and the Redskins have acknowledged he may never play for them. But by signing him, they retain his rights should he make it back to the field.

“Everything is happening fast right now and I just want everybody to forgive me,” Hunt said. “I know it’s going to be hard. I made a bad choice. … I think I deserve it because if you really know me, and everybody that I’m really close to — I’ve had really close women who are friends — I’m so respectful to everyone. I made a bad decision at that time and I just hope that people forgive me.”

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SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an injury accident that critically injured a child.

Just before 8:30p.m. Friday, the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call reference a one car injury accident involving a pedestrian in the 1400 Block of Washington in Auburn, Kansas, according to Sgt. Jim Mummey.

Deputies located a Silver Mazda stopped in the roadway with a 12-year-old child pinned underneath the vehicle.

Auburn fire crews mechanically lifted the vehicle off of the victim. Once the vehicle was lifted off of the victim, the child was removed and transported by AMR to Stormont Vail Hospital with life threatening injuries.

It appears the 12-year-old child and another child were playing with a soccer ball next to the roadway when the soccer ball entered the roadway.

The 12-year-old victim attempted to stop the soccer ball and tripped falling to the ground injuring his leg. The driver of the vehicle did not see the child on the roadway and struck him.

The driver of the vehicle was transported to the hospital for precautionary purposes.

The sheriff’s department has not released names of the child or the driver.

By BRIAN GRIMMETT

Kansans can expect rising temperatures and more extreme flooding in the future, according to the latest National Climate Assessment.

Kansas has always experienced severe weather events. But as average temperatures rise, due in part to heat-trapping pollution released from fossil fuels, these severe weather events are predicted to become more extreme.

That means periods of drought will be more severe, while storms will be more intense and lead to greater flooding.

This cycle of long periods of drought followed by intense rainstorms will also create a greater risk of wildfire on Kansas rangeland.

So even though wildfire is a natural and regular occurence, the conditions in the future will mean it’s more likely these fires will burn faster and hotter and cover more territory.

While past droughts have been driven by climate variability, or natural changes that fall within observed ranges, climate change is likely to make the problem worse.

The report also predicts that by the end of the century, average temperatures in Kansas will rise as much as 4 degrees and the number of days above 100 degrees will increase by 20 to 30.

The impact of those changes will create winners and losers, both in ecosystems and among cities and states.

“Some plants will do great, some crops will do great in a warmer environment,” said Kevin Kloesel, lead author of the report’s chapter on Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. “And then some won’t.

“So the question is, who will be the folks that will transition economically to those things that will do better first?”

The report predicts that if people do not adapt to or mitigate the risks associated with climate change, agricultural production will decrease, commodity prices will rise and human health, especially among the elderly, will suffer.

While Kansans are already adapting to some of the changes brought on by climate change, Kloesen said it’s mostly reactionary.

“It’s very hard to be proactive, sort of looking into the crystal ball, because there’s always that seed of doubt,” he said. “ ‘OK, is that really going to happen? And did I do that needlessly?’ ”

To have a greater impact, the report suggests individuals and communities need to make decisions based on possible future scenarios and do what they can now to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Brian Grimmett is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.

AURORA, Mo. (AP) – Authorities in southwestern Missouri say strong storms that swept the region have left one person dead.

Aurora Fire Chief Robert Ward says that one person inside an Aurora motel just off Highway 39 was killed as a storm passed through. Authorities have not released the person’s name or details of how the death occurred. Investigators say others inside the motel escaped unharmed.

Several roads, including U.S. 60 between Aurora and Marionville, were closed because of downed power lines. A hospital in Aurora briefly lost power.

A strong line of storms in the area early Saturday led to several tornado warnings. The National Weather Service has confirmed at least one weak tornado touched down at Monett, which is about 13 miles (21 kilometers) west of Aurora. Officials say the EF-0 tornado damaged several roofs, but no injuries were reported.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 74-year-old Kansas woman shot and killed an intruder while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher and then had a heart attack.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said Thursday that the woman is recovering and is expected to be OK. He says she “obviously” won’t face charges over the death of 41-year-old Ralph Byrd Jr., who broke into her Leavenworth home early Saturday.

Thompson said she had reported an attempted burglary of her home about a week before. After that, she obtained a .22-caliber handgun that she took with her to bed at night.

Leavenworth Police Major Dan Nicodemus says the case was “pretty cut and dried.” Court records show Byrd had been convicted in 2017 of an attempted home burglary.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – A second teenager has pleaded guilty in the brutal stabbing death of a woman near a Lee’s Summit car wash.

Joshua Trigg, who is now 16, pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder in the November 2015 death of Tanya Chamberlain of Lee’s Summit. Trigg was 13 at the time Chamberlain was killed.

Trigg was prosecuted as an adult along with Trevon Henry, who was 14 at the time. Henry previously pleaded guilty.

Lee’s Summit police said the two teens approached Chamberlain at the car wash and got into her car with her.

When an officer later stopped the car, the two teens fled. Chamberlain was dead inside. Testimony at a previous hearing revealed she had been stabbed or cut 49 times.