SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A Springfield woman who killed her live-in boyfriend with a crowbar in 2017 has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty in a deal with prosecutors.
Riddle -photo Greene Co.
47-year-old Jeanette Riddle pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter. She had originally been charged with second-degree murder after police say she fatally beat 44-year-old Michael Butts with a crowbar in February 2017, then cut her wrists in an attempt to take her own life.
Riddle’s attorney had argued she was the victim of yearslong domestic abuse at the hands of Butts. He had planned to mount a “battered spouse syndrome” defense before Riddle took the plea deal.
Court documents say family members told investigators the couple’s relationship was physically abusive.
QULIN, Mo. (AP) – State officials and individuals recovering from addiction say methamphetamine is on the upswing in Missouri, including rural communities that the drug has already ravaged over decades.
56-year-old Patrick Brigaudin was sentenced for his role in a Missouri methamphetamine
Sgt. Mark McClendon of the Missouri Highway Patrol tells KCUR-TV that meth is reaching places and people in the state it never has before. McClendon says meth addiction has exploded across every race and social economic class.
Meth use is increasing due to its price, availability and shortage of treatment options.
Qulin resident Dustin Siebert started a support group called Matthew 25 Project for those recovering from meth addiction. Siebert says meth use is growing because Missouri is focusing on opiates. Intensive treatment for uninsured meth users is difficult to find.
Siebert says the only response seems to be new faith-based meth support groups.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities and rescue personnel spent part of Friday night searching for a male victim who drove a vehicle into the Kansas River.
Police said that the incident happened around 6:50 p.m. Friday at the Kaw Point Park boat ramp in Kansas City, Kansas, at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers.
Wyandotte County Sheriff’s officials say someone reported seeing a vehicle go into the river. Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Terry Zeigler tweeted that a witness saw a man treading water before he went under and didn’t resurface.
Rescue boats were sent out Friday night, but crews did not report finding anyone in the water.
Officials had not released any more information on the incident by midday Saturday.
SHAWNEE COUNTY —After a stop in Wichita late Thursday to support Kansas Secretary of State and Gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach, Vice President Mike Pence spent a portion of Friday visiting with members of the Kansas Air National Guard 190th Air Refueling Wing Base in Topeka.
Honored to talk with members of the Kansas Air National Guard 190th Air Refueling Wing Base in Topeka, Kansas! They’re patriots, and I’m thankful for their service to the Nation as they protect our freedom, our families, and our very way of life. pic.twitter.com/wEhi8Ad093
Great to see courageous members of our Armed Forces at @22ARW this morning in Kansas. Honored to meet them and grateful for everything they do to keep our Nation safe. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/vnPyXY7LoP
The Vice President also took time to meet with members of law enforcement community in Topeka before attending a reception in for Kansas 2nddistrict congressional candidate Steve Watkins.
Honored to meet with members of law enforcement in Topeka. They’re working every day to protect our safety & we’re grateful for their extraordinary service to Kansas families. pic.twitter.com/xHH1LhhzBN
“He is a tireless champion for border security,” Trump said. “He’ll fight for you every single day. He doesn’t stop. He’ll protect your family. He’ll protect your children.”
Kobach’s campaign for governor is one of two hotly contested races in Kansas revealing a divide over immigration policy. In the 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Republican Kevin Yoder has rejected the Trump administration’s harshest tactics and rhetoric.
Kobach has made a career out of stoking anti-immigrant sentiment. As secretary of state, he’s pushed for rules to require that people show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. As a private attorney, he worked with cities across the country to help pass ordinances that make hiring or renting to undocumented immigrants unlawful.
At the rally, Kobach warned that immigrants here illegally are a drain on the state’s finances.
“It’s time to put Kansans first, not illegal aliens,” he said. Once again the crowd cheered in approval.
That sentiment plays well with voters who helped Trump win Kansas by a wide margin in 2016. It also plays in rural parts of the state where some people are anxious about immigrants bringing crime.
However, the influential Kansas Farm Bureau couldn’t agree on who to endorse for governor. Rich Felts, the group’s president, said Kobach’s hardline stance on immigration may have factored in the lack of consensus.
And Kobach’s rhetoric may also hurt him with voters in the growing suburbs of Kansas City.
That’s where Rep. Yoder is taking a more moderate tone when it comes to immigration. He’s been endorsed by Trump but didn’t appear at the rally.
Yoder supports Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and the border wall but has said he’s also willing to work across the aisle.
“I … supported a Democratic plan that would make sure that DACA kids can’t be deported,” Yoder told host Steve Kraske on KCUR’s Up To Date. “I also supported a Democratic plan that would ensure that we can’t separate parents from their children.”
Yoder came to the aid of an Indian woman who lost her legal status in the United States after her husband was murdered in a hate crime in Olathe. Sunayana Dumala has endorsed the congressman in a new ad.
Yoder is clearly trying to win over moderates, but his approach has alienated some further to the right, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“Your family history shouldn’t be allowed to thwart the president’s immigration agenda, and frankly imperil the party’s prospects in the midterms,” she told her television audience.
Yoder eventually backed away from the Democratic plan citing concerns that it would allow millions of people to potentially make fraudulent claims and take advantage of the system.
The 3rd District is increasingly home to wealthy, college educated people. And it’s skewing more Democratic. Hillary Clinton narrowly won the district in the presidential race two years ago.
“You know, [Yoder] really hasn’t walked away from Trump’s policies,” said University of Kansas political science professor Patrick Miller. “Yet he’s attempted to say things or express concern over things like children being detained that might seem more sympathetic to what’s really a swing district that he represents.”
To further demonstrate he’s the centrist in the race, Yoder has tried to make his Democratic challenger, Sharice Davids, seem too radical for his district.
“Certainly, I’ve had moderate people tell me they don’t like the gubernatorial nominee,” Yoder said. “But for the same reason you shouldn’t like [Sharice Davids] for Kansas.”
He’s focused a lot of attention on comments she made about defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Congressional Republicans’ super PAC and Yoder’s campaign have both turned those comments into attack ads. Davids put out her own ad saying they twisted her words.
It’s unclear which strategy will work for the two Republicans — reaching out to moderates, or ignoring them and relying on Trump’s base.
Brian Grimmett, based at KMUW in Wichita, is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a statewide collaboration between KMUW, Kansas Public Radio, KCUR and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.
CAMDEN, Mo. (AP) – Toxicology tests show that a boater was drunk when he slammed into a bluff at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks in a crash in which the Kansas man and two others died.
First responders working the fatal accident -photo courtesy Missouri State Highway Patrol
The Kansas City Star reports that 24-year-old Daniel Lewis, of Overland Park, Kansas, had a blood alcohol level of 0.088, which is just above the legal limit of .08.
Lewis died in the May 19 crash, along with 23-year-old Joseph LeMark, also of Overland Park, and 21-year-old Hailey Hochanadel, of Olathe, Kansas.
Two others including Ashley Lamb, 22, a senior at Kansas State University survived with injuries.
One of those who died initially was identified as the driver of the boat. But the patrol later said that person wasn’t driving. The autopsy result described Lewis as the “boat operator recovered the boat following collision with bluff.”
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl with a mental disability.
Capps – from a previous arrest in Kearney Co.
Steven Capps, 39, Lawrence, entered the plea Thursday, and was convicted of two felony counts of aggravated indecent liberties. He initially was charged with two counts of rape and one count of aggravated criminal sodomy.
Charging documents say another adult caught Capps in a room with the girl and called police. The affidavit says the girl used anatomical diagrams to explain what happened and “indicated she was not a willing participant.” The affidavit says Capps admitted to police that he removed the girl’s clothing and touched her inappropriately but denied raping her.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Someone has snatched a giant, inflatable colon used to teach about the dangers of colon cancer.
photo courtesy KU Cancer Center
The University of Kansas Cancer Center said Friday in a news release that it was stolen from a pickup bed in Brookside.
Surgical oncologist John Ashcraft says colon cancer is a tough subject for many to talk about and the giant inflatable colon is a great conversation starter.
It is 10 feet-long, weighs 150 pound and is valued at $4,000.
It is owned by the Cancer Coalition, which hosts walking and running events under a campaign called “Get Your Rear In Gear.”
The Cancer Coalition ships the inflatable colon across the country to help see in a unique way the progression of colon cancer.
One in 20 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
The two top candidates for Kansas governor sparred in a debate over a familiar name: former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.
Republican Kris Kobach, left, Democrat Laura Kelly and independent Greg Orman debated in Wichita on Tuesday. STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The two distanced themselves from Brownback, who left office earlier this year with sagging approval numbers.
Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly has tried to connect her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, to Brownback throughout the campaign. She said the 2012 tax cuts, pushed by Brownback and reversed by lawmakers last year, hurt state services such as schools, health care and roads.
“It’s all been devastated by the Brownback tax experiment,” Kelly said. “Do we hand the wheel to a man who has every intention of driving us back into the ditch?”
Kobach has promised to cut taxes and balance that with a spending reduction. Kelly said that’s bad for the state.
“Kris Kobach has promised to bring back the Brownback tax experiment and cut even more,” she said.
Kobach criticized Kelly for focusing so much on the state’s former governor.
“It seems like she wants to run against Sam Brownback,” he said, “not run against me.”
Kobach went to turn the tables on Kelly, and to tie her to Brownback. He said Kelly and Brownback had both supported increases in spending and the two share a lack of appetite for fighting illegal immigration.
“Will the real Sam Brownback,” he said, “please stand up?”
The two top candidates tilled much of the same ground as in past debates, but they shared different policy plans for boosting transparency in Kansas government.
Kobach said much of the Legislature’s work is accomplished in committees, but the votes are often unrecorded voice votes. Kobach argued for recording all committee votes.
“If you want to know how your representative or senator voted on an issue, you have to be present in the room watching their lips move,” Kobach said. “That’s outrageous.”
The state should stop using no-bid contracts, Kelly argued. She said millions of dollars had been spent on contracts without a public bidding process. Kelly said she would stop the process and review the contracts already in place.
“We need to shine the sunlight on those, and make sure that they were in the best interests of Kansans,” she said. “My guess is that many of them are not.”
The two shared the stage with Independent candidate Greg Orman. He pushed back against the idea that he could simply be a spoiler in the race. Several polls have shown him in a distant third place with the support of around 10 percent of voters.
Orman said rather than a spoiler, he’s offering a true alternative in the race.
“We don’t have to choose fear and hate,” he said. “We don’t have to vote for a bad candidate just to avoid a worse one.”
Orman said after the debate that he has every intention of staying in the race.
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.
Police said that the incident happened around 6:50 p.m. Friday at the Kaw Point Park boat ramp in Kansas City, Kansas, at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers.
