HOLCOMB, Kan. (AP) — A fire-damaged Tyson meat processing plant in Kansas is expected to resume operations in December.

Tyson announced Monday in a news release that reconstruction of the Holcomb plant is nearing completion. The company says it will begin processing beef again in the first week of December and be fully operational by the first week of January.

The fire started in August in an area of the plant near where animals are killed, causing part of the roof to collapse. Reconstruction included replacing support beams and the roof, as well as installing more than 50,000 feet of new wiring.

The plant employees about 1,200 people. The company says it continued to pay full-time workers during the shutdown.

Holcomb is located less than 10 miles west of Garden City.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — More than six months after floodwaters overwhelmed Lakeside Village’s well system, the roughly 150 residents of the northeast Kansas community drink, cook and bathe with water hauled in by the Kansas National Guard – up to 40,000 gallons daily.

It’s one example of the lingering damage from floodwaters that rose across Kansas and the region earlier this year. Lawmakers at the Capitol last week heard from state and federal officials who told them to be ready for more.

Kansas Adjutant General Lee Tafanelli said excess water that hasn’t evaporated, heavier snowfalls and early storms could set the conditions for a 2020 with more flooding.

This year’s floods damaged at least $15 million worth of infrastructure and generated $3.8 million in federal flood insurance claims.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Omitt said it’s hard to be sure whether Kansas can expect similar flooding in the coming years, but it’s important for the state to be ready.

“This is a land of extremes,” he said.

Earlier this year a March “bomb cyclone,” or a storm that grows quickly, rapidly melted snow and led to the wettest May in recorded Kansas history.

Areas that typically receive 4 or 5 inches of rain got 20 inches or more that month, driving more than 90 percent of the state’s monitored rivers above flood stage.

Floodwaters damaged 11 dams, mostly in eastern Kansas. Wastewater treatment facilities struggled to keep up, with some 1.3 billion gallons of sewage flowing into Kansas rivers and streams in May, according to the state Department of Health and Environment. Line breaks, water pressure loss and inundated wells prompted officials to issue 14 boil-water advisories.

Lakeside Village was one of three communities that had to find alternative water sources.

Village board President Jerry White said residents have been encouraged to conserve as much as possible. Water still comes out of the tap, but only because the National Guard brings in a fresh supply daily. It’s possible the community will get its well water back by the end of the year.

Annual average precipitation in the United States has increased by 4 percent since 1901, according to the congressionally mandated Fourth National Climate Assessment. The frequency and intensity of heavy rain is projected to continue increasing over the next century. Extreme rainstorms once expected every 25 years may occur every five or 10 years.

“It’s not just that, ‘Oh, it’s going to be wetter, or it’s going to be dryer.’ But it’s that the rain that does arrive is going to be arriving at different times in the year and at different intensities,” said Anna Weber, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

Weber says governments need to examine whether infrastructure is built to handle a more punishing weather.

Senate Vice President Jeff Longbine, an Emporia Republican, chaired special committee last week that examined the Kansas floods. He said research shows more frequent flooding and flooding of longer duration.

Longbine said “I don’t think we know” when asked whether the floods are a consequence of climate change.

“We can often go from extremely rainy seasons to extreme drought very quickly. So it’s a matter of determining if there is anything we can do,” Longbine said. “We can’t legislate Mother Nature, but what we can do is be better prepared for the extremes.”

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating what was initially believed to be an aggravated battery.

Just after 7 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a residence in the 300 block of SW Harrison in Topeka on the report of an aggravated battery, according to Lt. John Trimble.

Upon arrival, officers located one victim who suffered what appears to be a non-life threatening gunshot wound.

The victim was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment. Late Saturday, investigators determine the shooting was an accidental, self-inflicted discharge of a firearm by the victim, according to Major Scott Gilchrist with Topeka Police. Name of the victim has not been released.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas man who fatally shot an argumentative robbery victim has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Twenty-seven-year-old Danzel Reese of Kansas City was sentenced Thursday for involuntary manslaughter and first-degree robbery in the 2010 fatal shooting of Lance Rutter.

One witness told police the original plan was to rob a drug dealer. But when the dealer didn’t show up, the witness returned to a vehicle, where he got a call from Reese saying he was “just gonna rob anybody.”

The witness says he then saw Reese point a handgun at two people on a porch and fire once.

The surviving victim told police that he handed his wallet to one suspect, who then took off running. The man said Rutter was shot when he argued with the other suspect.

SEDGWICK COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a weekend vehicle crash that may have been a suicide attempt.

Just after 11:15 a.m., police responded to a rollover accident at Kellogg and Edwards in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

A 2010 white Ford F250 was westbound on Kellogg in the center lane being driven by a 19-year-old woman and occupied by a 15-year-old male passenger.

Without warning or reason, the truck veered hard to the right and crashed into the concrete barrier over Edwards, causing the truck to flip on its side and slide to a stop. EMS transported both occupants to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

When medical crews contacted the occupants, the woman was unconscious, and the boy made comments of wanting to harm himself. Through further investigation, it was learned the boy and woman grabbed the steering wheel of the truck together and turned it abruptly, in an apparent suicide attempt.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The head of a giant private prison company says his firm is prepared for the “worst case scenario” should a Democratic presidential candidate win the 2020 election and attempt to abolish private involvement in the prison sector.

CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger addressed such a potential scenario in the company’s latest earnings conference call last week when asked about the number of top Democratic presidential candidates who favor ending federal private prisons. He said Tennessee-based CoreCivic remains upbeat that the company would continue to earn money in such a scenario and noted the federal government currently does not have the infrastructure to house inmates without relying on private facilities.

“In worst case scenario, knowing half our business is with the states, nothing is going to change,” Hininger later said in a Friday phone interview with The Associated Press, echoing comments he made on the earnings call.

On the call, he said CoreCivic had reported $509 million in earnings for the third quarter.

He said that CoreCivic would still earn money should the federal government ever end its contract, saying his company would be able to sell or lease its real estate if that were to occur — stressing that such an effort would likely take years to phase-out and approval from Congress on appropriating enough funding to build new facilities and resources.

The company operates 51 correctional and detention facilities including the Leavenworth Detention Center in northeast Kansas. They own 44 with a total capacity of roughly 73,000 beds. This has resulted in the company becoming the largest private owner of real estate used by U.S. government agencies.

“We think that an option could be if there is a big push not only at federal but at state level to eliminate use of the private sector to provide real estate and services,” Hininger said. “That maybe the option that they ask us to consider is to either buy our existing assets or capacity or lease our facilities.”

Top private prison firms across the country have been closely watching the growing backlash from the top Democratic presidential contenders — ranging from former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — who strongly favor ending federal private prisons.

These companies recently formed an advocacy group known as the Day 1 Alliance to rebut the criticism. Meanwhile, unease in the industry continues to linger about negative public opinion on private prisons.

For example, in a recent SEC filing, Florida-based GEO Group noted that resistance to private prisons “could result in our inability to obtain new contracts or the loss of existing contracts, impact our ability to obtain or refinance debt financing or enter into commercial arrangements.”

Hininger also added on the call that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals do not own or operate any detention centers, making them reliant on private companies like CoreCivic to house detainees. But even if the federal government became opposed to privatization, Hininerg said state governments are increasingly showing more interest in the area.

“In the last two years, we’ve had contracts with Ohio, Vermont, Wyoming, South Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky. These are states with both Democratic and Republican governors, both ends of the spectrum,” Hininerg told AP on Friday. “They’ve engaged us with solutions and I don’t see that changing.”

CoreCivic’s involvement with ICE, however, has come under fire from the left as one of two private companies that operate migrant detention centers for ICE. According to CoreCivic’s financial statements, ICE detention accounted for 25 percent of the company’s $1.8 billion in total revenue in 2018.

CoreCivic has defended contracting with ICE by countering that it doesn’t run facilities for immigrant children separated from parents, but it does have ones that detain adult immigrants, as well as one center that houses migrant mothers and their children together.

In 2016, then President Barack Obama’s administration announced the Federal Bureau of Prisons would no longer use private prisons and unveiled a plan to phase-out of the contracts. That decision was quickly overturned after President Donald Trump took office.

KANSAS CITY  (AP) — The University of Missouri-Kansas City says the removal of a controversial work of art from the school’s fine arts building display was long planned and not a response to complaints.

The work is a statement on the current unrest in Hong Kong and features a depiction of an altered, torn Chinese flag, with yellow stars arranged to form a swastika. On the image is written “#CHINAZI.” The other half of the image depicts a yellow raincoat and gas mask with the words “FREE HONG KONG.”

Chinese students complained Thursday to the art department and asked that the piece be removed.

It was removed, but the university said Friday in a statement that student artwork is displayed on three-week cycles, and the piece had already been set for removal on Thursday.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 43-year-old Kansas City man previously freed from prison in a case of mistaken identity is facing a possible return to confinement after pleading guilty to illegal possession of a firearm.

Richard Anthony Jones pleaded guilty Thursday. He wasn’t allowed to have weapons because of prior felony convictions for burglary and robbery.

Jones was released from prison in 2017 after his conviction for snatching a woman’s purse at a Kansas Walmart in 1999 was overturned, in what became known as the “ doppelganger case.” Supporters said another man, who looked like Jones, was the likely robber. Kansas paid Jones $1 million in 2018 for his wrongful imprisonment.

Prosecutors say officers found handguns on Jones during two confrontations in February and March. Jones faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

BY DAN MARGOLIES
Kansas News Service

The two operators of about a dozen well-known Kansas City restaurants sought bankruptcy protection within days of one another, with both saying the restaurants will remain open for business.

On Saturday, Bread & Butter Concepts LLC, which owns and operates Gram & Dun on the Country Club Plaza, Urban Table in Prairie Village and the Stock Hill steak restaurant just south of the Plaza, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Kansas. And on Thursday, HRI Holding Corp., which owns Leawood-based Houlihan’s Restaurants Inc., a casual dining chain, filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware.

Houlihan’s operates 47 restaurants, including Houlihan’s, J. Gilbert’s and Bristol Seafood Grill, in Kansas, Missouri and 12 other states. The company was founded in 1992 and is owned by affiliates of York Capital Management, an investment management company that bought Houlihan’s about three years ago.

Houlihan’s plans to sell its assets to Landry’s LLC, a Houston-based restaurant group, for $40 million, according to its bankruptcy filing. Landry’s made a “stalking horse” bid for Houlihan’s, establishing a floor for other offers that might emerge.

In a court filing, Houlihan’s chief restructuring officer, Matthew Manning, attributed the filing to “various industry headwinds,” including senior management changes, expensive leases and a tight labor market.

Coincidentally, the founder and CEO of Bread & Butter Concepts, Alan L. Gaylin, is a former Houlihan’s executive. The two bankruptcy filings were unrelated, although the same industry headwinds may have been a factor in Bread & Butter’s filing.

Bread & Butter ran into lease problems recently with The Oliver, another restaurant it operated on the Plaza. After negotiations for a new lease with the Plaza’s owner fell apart, the restaurant closed earlier this year.

The company’s bankruptcy attorney, Sharon Stolte, said Bread & Butter’s current restaurants, along with its separate catering service, event venue and Happy Belly Food Truck, will remain open while Bread & Butter seeks to restructure its debts.

“Our plans are to reorganize and to do it as quickly as possible,” she said.

Bread & Butter got its start nearly a decade ago when it opened BRGR Kitchen + Bar in Prairie Village. It recently sold its various BRGR restaurants, as well as its Taco Republic restaurant, to the parent company of Louie’s Wine Dive.

In a declaration filed with the bankruptcy court, Gaylin said two of his business partners, both Texas residents, suffered financial reverses in the oil industry and were no longer able to fund Bread & Butter’s losses or underwrite its losses.

Bread & Butter listed about $4.1 million in assets and $5.1 million in liabilities.

In a statement, the company said, “We have every intention of coming out on the other side a much stronger company, and one that will be in Kansas City for another ten years and beyond. We will continue to operate as usual with no interruptions to our service, or our continuing commitment to our customers.”

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

BROWN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just after midnight Saturday in Brown County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Toyota Corolla driven by Andrew O. Kreek, 17, Hiawatha, was traveling at a high rate of speed on Horned Owl Road at U.S. 36. The driver lost control of the vehicle. It left the roadway on the left side, traveled into the ditch, went airborne, made one rotation across U.S. 36 into the ditch and landed on its top.

Passenger Ian M. Miller 16, Hiawatha, was pronounced dead at the scene.

EMS transported Kreek and passengers Navaeh Dishmang, 15 and Gabriel Corbett, 18, both of Hiawatha, to KU Medical Center. EMS transported passenger Andrew Timothy Woods, 19, to the Hiawatha Hospital.

They were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.