NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities say a DNA test has confirmed that skeletal remains found in Alabama decades ago belong to a missing Louisiana woman believed to have been killed.

Authorities said Tuesday that they learned this week the remains belong to Mary Ann Perez, who disappeared in 1976. Authorities say Perez’s daughter provided a DNA sample that matched DNA from the remains. The findings have revived the possibility that a man who claimed responsibility for Perez’s slaying may be charged in her death.

That man, 74-year-old David Courtney, is currently serving a life sentence in Kansas in an unrelated killing.

News outlets at that time report Perez was having car trouble near a New Orleans lounge when she was spotted by Courtney, who’s believed to have strangled her.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – One week after trashing and bleaching food meant for the homeless, Kansas City health officials allowed the gatherings to continue at parks around the city.

On Nov. 4, inspectors from the Kansas City Health Department shut down the picnics. At one spot, inspectors dumped chili, sandwiches, soup and other food prepared by with Free Hot Soup Kansas City and soaked some food in bleach.

At the time, health department director Rex Archer, said the food was a public health risk because it wasn’t prepared in licensed or approved kitchens.

Inspectors didn’t show up at gatherings held Sunday. Health department spokesman Bill Snook said the investigators were told most of the volunteers would be providing prepackaged food items from permitted establishments, which is a low risk for health concerns.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ordered a mental competency examination for a 19-year-old man charged with sexually assaulting a girl in a child welfare office.

Michael Anthony Hamer is charged in Johnson County with rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

Prosecutors allege Hamer assaulted a 13-year-old girl in May while they were at a KVC Health Systems office in Olathe. They were both in the state foster care system at the time.

Defense attorney Courtney Henderson sought the evaluation because he thinks Hamer doesn’t fully understand the gravity of the charges against him and would not be able to effectively help in his own defense.

District Judge Brenda Cameron granted Henderson’s request. A hearing on the competency issue is scheduled for Jan. 10.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Prosecutors say a Wisconsin man fatally stabbed a Missouri mother who forced her daughter to pretend she was disabled, not to save the daughter, but to get the mother out of the way so he could romantically pursue the daughter.

The defense conceded Tuesday during opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of 29-year-old Nicholas Godejohn that he killed 48-year-old Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard in 2015. But his attorney says he has autism and was manipulated to kill by Blanchard’s daughter, Gypsy Blanchard, whom he met on a Christian dating website.

Family members say Gypsy Blanchard was forced to use a wheelchair and undergo unnecessary medical procedures. She is serving a 10-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. The case has spawned numerous TV specials.

By Laura Kelly, Kansas Governor-elect

It’s mid-November of an even-numbered year in America, which finds us all catching our breath at the close of another exhausting campaign season. With the 2018 election finally behind us, pundits are now falling over themselves to decode Tuesday’s results for the nation.

But for all the speculation and money spent, the 2018 Election does not fit conveniently into hash tags like #BlueWave or #RemainRed. It falls somewhere in the middle, which makes the great state of Kansas a perfect place to look.

On Tuesday, I was elected the 48th Governor of Kansas. I will serve as our state’s third female Democratic governor – elected exactly 100 years after the first Kansas woman was elected to statewide office.

In presidential elections, Kansas is as reliably red as Dorothy’s ruby slippers, making my election seem improbable to some. But anyone who knows Kansas understands that, more often than not, our story plays out far beneath polling toplines and national narratives.

If you’ve turned on a news program or read a newspaper at any point in the last five years, you may have encountered at least one unflattering story about Kansas, former Governor Sam Brownback, and his ill-conceived, ideologically-driven “tax experiment.”

It was a disaster for our state causing cuts to schools, massive budget deficits, credit downgrades, rural hospitals closing, and a stagnant economy. I ran for governor to undo that damage and put the day-to-day needs of Kansas families first.

I did not campaign on partisan issues; I campaigned on family issues.  Instead of being distracted by political fights, my team focused on schools and jobs, as well as the cost of healthcare, food, and child care.

During the last year, we spoke directly to the needs of working men and women – and their hopes for the future. I made it clear that I would not waste time and taxpayer dollars on political fights. My time and energy would be spent producing real results that improve the lives of Kansas families.

After eight years of divisive rhetoric, I ran on the simple idea of putting the needs of our families first. As it turns out, that message appealed to Kansans of all backgrounds.

What’s more, Kansans are desperate for a change in the tone of our politics.  In recent years, the statehouse in Topeka, just like Washington, has taken a turn towards mean-spirited tactics that put scoring political points ahead of the best interests of Kansans. And that behavior has actually caused more harm.

I’ve never met any voters – regardless of party – who prefer their leaders yell, insult and demean one another instead of getting things done.  It’s not how anyone else goes about their work or their daily lives.

During my 14 years in the State Senate, I was willing to working with anyone – regardless of political label – to balance the budget, invest in schools, provide affordable healthcare and grow our economy. And that’s why dozens of Republican leaders – including former Republican Governors and U.S. Senators – crossed the aisle to support my campaign. They certainly didn’t agree with me on all the issues.  But they agreed with my approach: listen, compromise, and make Kansans’ lives better.

And that is how I’ll govern. I look forward to working with Republican and Democratic leaders in Kansas to move our state forward. I hope other leaders across the country join me in returning to more civil discussion of the issues that impact our children and families.

We’re experiencing an exciting moment of change in our country.  Thousands of newly elected officials at the federal and state level will soon be sworn in – people from many different backgrounds and beliefs.

It’s a powerful opportunity to recast the shape of our politics.

It’s time to care less about scoring wins for one political party or another, and to begin caring more about working together to score wins for the people we all represent.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says her office will not prosecute most marijuana possession cases.

Voters last week overwhelmingly approved amending the Missouri constitution to allow medical marijuana.

Peters said Tuesday voters spoke loudly on the issue, noting three out of four Jackson County residents approved the measure. She says the office has also noted changing attitudes toward marijuana from juries.

The Kansas City Star reports the exceptions will include selling or distributing marijuana without proper authority and possession of items associated with illegal sales, such as individual packaged bags of the drug.

Another exception would be when large amounts of cash or firearms are found in conjunction with drug cases.

The office also will prosecute cases involving drugged driving or when marijuana results in a child being harmed.

WICHITA, KAN. – A California man entered a plea agreement today in federal court in Kansas that would send him to prison for 20 years or more, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Tyler Barriss, 25, Los Angeles, Calif., pleaded guilty to causing a deadly swatting incident in Wichita on Dec. 28, 2017, as well as dozens of similar crimes in which no one was injured. In those cases, Barriss was charged in federal courts in California and the District of Columbia.

In the Wichita case, Barriss entered guilty pleas to count one (making a false report resulting in a death), count two (cyberstalking) and count 12 (conspiracy) of a superseding indictment.

“Without ever stepping foot in Wichita, the defendant created a chaotic situation that quickly turned from dangerous to deadly,” U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said. “His reasons were trivial and his disregard for the safety of other people was staggering.”

In the Kansas case, Barriss admitted making hoax calls that resulted in Wichita police surrounding an old house at 1033 W. McCormick. When officers arrived, they believed there was a man inside who had killed his own father and was holding family members hostage. A man who came outside to face police, however, had done nothing wrong and did not know about the swatting call. As he stepped onto the porch, police told him to put up his hands. When he unexpectedly dropped his hands, he was shot and killed.

Two co-defendants in the Wichita case, Casey Viner, 18, North College Hill, Ohio, and Shane Gaskill, 20, Wichita, Kan., are awaiting trial.

In Barriss’ plea, he admitted he got involved with Viner and Gaskill after they had a falling out while playing the game Call of Duty online. As a result, Viner, who was in Ohio, asked Barriss, who was in California, to swat Gaskill, who was in Wichita. Gaskill found out Barriss was stalking him and in messages over the internet he dared Barriss to carry out the swat. Gaskill fooled Barriss, however, by claiming to live at 1033 W. McCormick. In fact, Gaskill no longer lived there.

In the case from the District of Columbia, Barriss pleaded guilty to making hoax bomb threats in phone calls to the headquarters of the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C.

In the case from the Middle District of California, Barriss pleaded guilty to 46 counts, including making calls with false reports that bombs were planted at high schools, universities, shopping malls and TV stations. He made the calls from Los Angeles to emergency numbers in Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Massachusetts, Illinois, Utah, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, New York, Michigan, Florida and Canada.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 30 before U.S. District Court Judge Eric Melgren.

————–

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A California man accused of making a hoax phone call that led police to fatally shoot an unarmed man last year in Wichita will be in federal court to enter new pleas.

Twenty-five-year-old Tyler R. Barriss has a change-of-plea hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He was indicted in Kansas for conspiracy to make a false call, cyberstalking and other crimes related to the hoax call.

The same hearing will also take up cases initially filed in California and the District of Columbia related to other fake calls and threats.

Barriss still faces a January trial on a separate state charge of involuntary manslaughter in Kansas.

The deadly police shooting occurred after Barriss allegedly called to report a shooting at a Wichita home following an online dispute over a video game between two gamers.

WABAUNSEE COUNTY —The Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal’s (OSFM) Investigation Division has classified  fire at the Wyldewood Cellars Winery in Paxico that occurred Thursday evening as incendiary.

The victim, who was found deceased at the scene, has been identified as Evan Jolly, 32, from the Kansas City, MO area.

He is believed to be the one who started the fire. The damage to the winery has been estimated between $750,000 and $1 million.

Officials have not released details on why he started the fire.

Just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday, fire crews and the Kansas Highway Patrol responded to the Wyldewood Cellars Winery just off the Paxico exit on Interstate 70, 32633 Grapevine Road, according to a media release from the Wabaunsee County Sheriff.

It took approximately two hours for crews from Paxico, McFarland, Maple Hill, Alma, Wamego and Wabaunsee to get the blaze under control.

 

BALTIMORE (AP) — Several Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday urged colleagues at their national meeting to take some sort of action on the clergy sex abuse crisis despite a Vatican order to delay voting on key proposals.

“We are not branch managers of the Vatican,” said Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. “Our people are crying out for some action.”

He suggested a nonbinding vote to convey a sense of the bishops’ aspirations regarding anti-abuse efforts.

Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, echoed Paprocki’s call, saying parishioners and priests in his diocese are “very, very angry.”

The three-day assembly opened Monday with a surprise announcement by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Vatican, he said, was ordering the bishops to delay votes on two anti-abuse proposals until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.

DiNardo indicated there were two principal reasons for the Vatican order: to ensure that steps taken by the U.S. bishops would be in harmony with steps decided at the February meeting, and to provide more time for vetting aspects of the U.S. proposals that might conflict with church law.

Even without the option of a formal vote this week, the U.S. bishops proceeded with discussion of the two key proposals. One would establish a new code of conduct of individual bishops; the other would create a special commission, including lay experts, to review complaints against the bishops.

However, the bishops are under pressure to take additional steps, as stressed in an address to the assembly Tuesday by Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, which the bishops created in 2002 to monitor the church’s efforts to prevent clergy sex abuse.

“Your response to this crisis has been incomplete,” Cesareo told the bishops. “It is shameful that the sin of abuse was hidden and allowed to fester until uncovered by the secular world.”

He cited the grand jury report released in August in Pennsylvania. It detailed decades of abuse and cover-up in six dioceses, alleging more than 1,000 children had been abused over the years by about 300 priests. Since then, a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia has begun working on a federal criminal case centered on child exploitation, and attorneys general in at least 11 other states have launched investigations.

“How many souls have been lost because of this crisis?” Cesareo said.

He urged all U.S. bishops to commit to conducting a thorough review of their dioceses’ files, dating to at least 1950, and publicly sharing a list of any clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults.

“To maintain credibility, the review process must involve the laity in some form, such as a diocesan review board or external firm,” Cesareo said.

Some bishops had taken this step, he noted, and urged the others to follow suit.

Cesareo also endorsed the bishop conference’s proposal for a thorough investigation of the scandal involving disgraced church leader Theodore McCarrick. Pope Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after church investigators said an allegation that he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

Subsequently, several former seminarians and priests reported they too had been abused or harassed by McCarrick as adults, triggering debate over who might have known and covered up McCarrick’s misconduct.

Another speaker, Anita Raines of the conference’s National Advisory Council, said any investigation of the McCarrick case should determine what sort of care his victims received and provide details of financial settlements they received.

Raines also called for an audit of Catholic seminaries in the U.S., including investigation of possible “predatory homosexual behavior” taking place at them.

At one point during the morning session, Bishop Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, expressed dismay that the Vatican “doesn’t trust us” and asked Cesareo what the USCCB should do.

“Decisively act on this issue and continually move it forward,” Cesareo replied. “If that doesn’t happen, I fear for the future of our church.”