LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman after telling her that the devil wanted her dead.

34-year-old Lawrence resident Donavan Ryan Hiller faces three felonies and a misdemeanor for the alleged Aug. 30 attack at his house, including aggravated sexual battery and aggravated battery.

According to a police affidavit, the woman says Hiller asked her to go to his bedroom to see his cats. She says he then ripped off her pants and attacked her.

She says he told her that the devil said she needed to die and hit her in the head twice with a skillet before she escaped.

Hiller is in jail on a $50,000 bond. His attorney didn’t immediately return an Associated Press request for comment Thursday.

THOMAS COUNTY — One person died an accident just before 10p.m. Thursday in Thomas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 GMC Sonoma driven by Brent L. Emery, 27, Topeka, was  westbound on Interstate 70 just east of Country Club Driver.

The driver over-corrected toward the median. The vehicle continued through the median into the eastbound lanes and rolled and the driver was ejected.

EMS transported Emery to Citizens Medical Center where he died. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri, man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to transporting a Kansas minor across state lines to engage in criminal sexual activity, according to the United State’s Attorney.

Nathan Roger Belcher, 29, Carl Junction, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Belcher remains in federal custody until his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

By pleading guilty today, Belcher admitted that he transported a child victim, identified in court documents as “Jane Doe 1” with a date of birth in 2003, from Kansas across the state line into Missouri. They engaged in criminal sexual activity on two occasions, once at a residence in Missouri and once near a creek outside Neosho, Missouri, in 2017.

Under federal statutes, Belcher is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, the Columbus, Kan., Police Department, and the Cherokee County, Kan., Sheriff’s Department.

NEOSHO, Mo. (AP) — An $8,000 reward is being offered for information in the case of a pet beagle that was skinned alive in southwest Missouri.

Neosho police Lt. Jason Baird says the dog’s entire backside was removed from its neck to its tail and down to the top of its legs. He says a subdivision resident reported seeing the injured animal emerge from a wooded area Sept. 23. Baird says the beagle was in obvious pain when officers caught it, and the decision was made to put it down.

Baird says the dog was left inside a home while its owner was out of town and may have gotten out through an unsecured door.

The community has contributed $3,000 to the reward, and the Humane Society of the United States announced Thursday that it’s chipping in $5,000.

WICHITA, KAN. – A retired city clerk of Caney, Kan., pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling city funds, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Carole Sue Coker, 70, Oronogo, Mo., pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. Coker, who served as city clerk for about 40 years, admitted she took money from payments made to the city in the form of cash and checks.

In some cases, she did not deposit cash payments from customers into the city’s accounts. In other cases, she deposited only a portion of payments made in the form of checks.

In her plea agreement, Coker agreed to pay more than $150,000 in restitution.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 19. She faces a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY — The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a Saturday fatal hit and run accident and have identified the victim.

Just after midnight September 28, Angela M. Riley, 35, Topeka was walking on Interstate 35 at 7th Street in the #4 lane when she was struck by an unknown vehicle.  She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities are still asking the public for information in the case.

By BRIAN GRIMMETT

When it comes to electric scooters, it seems that people either love them, or want to see them all thrown into a river — literally.

On Monday, Dusty Lehman of Wichita posted a video to Facebook showing he discovered seven scooters in the Arkansas River. In the same Facebook post, Lehman wrote that he found at least 14 scooters on that particular bike ride.

Dockless electric scooters landed in Wichita in June. The resulting vandalism, based on what’s happened in other cities, appears entirely predictable. Driven partly by resentment of motorized devices that complicate road traffic or clog sidewalks, they’ve been targeted in almost any city where they’re deployed.

Last year, officials pulled more than 60 scooters out of Lake Merritt near Oakland, California, in one month. And earlier this year, rescue divers doing training in the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon, pulled out 57.

“We advise those people not to park scooters in the river,” Sgt. Brandon White from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s office told the Oregonian.

The phenomenon is so widespread it’s spawned websites and Instagram accounts dedicated entirely to documenting scooter abuse.

Wichita city officials have said scooter companies bear the responsibility of retrieving scooters from the river.

Left in the water, the electronics and batteries in a scooter can leak toxic chemicals into the river.

But scooter companies typically can salvage their gizmos even after they’ve been dunked.

Between the app used to unlock and use the scooters and the onboard instruments such as GPS, the scooters collect quite a bit of data. It’s pretty easy for companies to see where the scooters are at all times, including if they end up in large bodies of water.

VeoRide and Spin, the two companies with scooters in Wichita, would not comment on how many scooters they’ve lost in the Arkansas River.

“We think that the systems that both of them have in place and both of the reactiveness of the groups themselves,” said Wichita Transit Director Mike Tann.

“It will be a problem that will be short-lived from the standpoint of getting people held accountable for it.”

Wichita city officials said they collect data on the whereabouts and traffic patterns of the scooters under a trial program that lets the companies operate for a year. Tann said he’s now interested in getting information about how many get destroyed.

The companies say they’re working to keep their scooters out of the river.

“We … work closely with the community and local authorities to prevent these acts from happening in the first place,” Spin officials said in an email.

Part of the solution may be geo-fencing — programming that shuts down the scooters when they reach boundaries governed by satellite navigation. The companies also shift where scooters are staged each night based on usage patterns and if they discover areas where damage is more likely to happen.

But Tann, Wichita’s transit director, said this weekend’s discovery is the first time he’s heard about large-scale scooter vandalism in Wichita. He suspects it won’t be a frequent problem.

“Obviously,” he said, “there was somebody trying to make a statement.”

Brian Grimmett reports on the environment, energy and natural resources the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett or email him at grimmett (at) kmuw (dot) org. 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Only 18% of Kansas economic development funds were spent as intended in the last fiscal year, in part because there is little oversight of how money for a state economic development fund is spent, according to state auditors.

In a report released Wednesday, auditors said that during fiscal year 2018, nearly half of all spending _ $20.1 million _ from the Economic Development Initiatives Fund didn’t go toward programs that met requirements for receiving the funds.

In response to the audit, some lawmakers called for an overhaul of regulations and oversight of the fund.

“Of course, I was appalled by what I saw … This is just a perfect example of why we need to be looking at these things,” said Sen. Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee.

The fund, which was created in 1986, is replenished every year by lottery and gaming revenue.

It has often been used to supplement state spending, rather than directly for economic development. The Legislature is supposed to direct money into three accounts that focus on innovative products, research and development or community infrastructure.

Instead, during the last fiscal year, $20.1 million of the $42.3 million in the fund went to the state’s general fund, with the rest going to state agencies. Only 18 percent, or $7.8 million, went to eight programs that met requirements for the funds, such as an agriculture marketing program, the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, several research and development programs administered by the Kansas Board of Regents and a housing trust fund that helps residents rent or buy homes.

Auditors said Kansas doesn’t track the performance of fund recipients or evaluate whether the fund is effective. And the auditors found state officials it approached ““were unaware of what (state law) says about these accounts.”

Rep. Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City Democrat, said the audit showed lawmakers need to fund agency programs properly.

“We’re the ones that have failed on not following our own statutes,” Burroughs said.

Department of Commerce Secretary David Toland said the current law requiring that all EDIF funding is obsolete and doesn’t match current economic development needs. In a letter in response to the audit, he asked the lawmakers to eliminate the current language.

The auditors said lawmakers should consider creating an oversight body for the fund and to consider whether state law should continue to require EDIF dollars go into the three accounts.

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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities and USD 260 officials are investigating a student in connection with a weapon at school.

A Derby High School student was taken into custody Thursday morning by Derby Police Department for possession of a weapon on school property, according to USD 260.

A tip was given to administration about a student possibly in possession of drugs. This student was immediately brought in, questioned, and searched.

An unloaded handgun was found during the search of his backpack and was secured by the School Resource Officer (SRO) and building administration without incident.

No threat was made towards students or staff at any time. Because no threat was made and the student was immediately secured, a lockdown was not necessitated.

The school district reminded the public, “we take all threats seriously. As always, if you hear something or see something, please let law enforcement or administration know immediately. We appreciate this tip being reported. Individuals can also submit a tip through See Something Say Something by calling (316) 267-2111 to anonymously report any potential school violence 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.”

NASA astronaut Nick Hague returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Thursday, alongside Soyuz commander Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and visiting astronaut Hazzaa Ali Almansoori from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The crew landed safely at 6:59 a.m. EDT in Kazakhstan.

.@AstroHague returned to Earth from the @Space_Station after completing a 203-day mission, spanning 3,248 orbits of Earth and a journey of 80.8 million miles. Learn more about his journey home alongside fellow crew members Alexey Ovchinin & @Astro_Hazzaa: https://t.co/iAnRKXOcj8 pic.twitter.com/kKKDYbDafR

— NASA (@NASA) October 3, 2019

Hague and Ovchinin launched March 14, along with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch. Six hours later, they began their 203-day mission on the station, orbiting Earth 3,248 times and traveling 86.1 million miles.

Koch remains aboard the orbiting laboratory for an extended mission that will provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman, in preparation for human missions to the Moon and Mars. She is expected to return to Earth in February 2020, almost a year after her launch.

For Almansoori, this landing completed an eight-day stay on the station that covered 128 orbits of Earth and a journey of 3.1 million miles since launching Sept. 25 with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos. Almansoori made history as he became the first person from the UAE to fly in space.

After postlanding medical checks, Hague will return to Houston, and Ovchinin and Almansoori will return to Star City, Russia.

The Expedition 60 crew contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science, including investigations into devices that mimic the structure and function of human organs, free-flying robots, and an instrument to measure Earth’s distribution of carbon dioxide.

Hague conducted three spacewalks during his mission, totaling 19 hours and 56 minutes. Ovchinin conducted one spacewalk lasting 6 hours and 1 minute.

Hague’s first two spacewalks in March continued the overall upgrade of the station’s power system with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries on one pair of the station’s solar arrays. During his third spacewalk, he and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan successfully installed the second of two international docking adapters that Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon commercial crew spacecraft will use to connect to the space station.

Hague completes his second flight in space totaling 203 days, while Ovchinin has now spent 375 days during three flights. Hague and Ovchinin flew together on an abbreviated mission in October 2018, cut short by a technical problem that triggered an ascent abort minutes after launch and a safe landing back on Earth.

When the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft with Hague, Ovchinin and Almansoori undocked at 3:37 a.m. Oct. 3, Expedition 61 officially began aboard the station, with NASA astronauts Koch, Meir and Morgan, cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos as flight engineers, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano as the station’s commander.

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NASA astronaut and Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Nick Hague and two crewmates on the International Space Station concluded their stay on the orbiting laboratory Thursday.

📍 There’s no place like home! Mission teams confirmed that @AstroHague, Alexey Ovchinin and @Astro_Hazzaa landed safely at 6:59am ET after a mission to conduct science and maintenance aboard the @Space_Station. Coverage continues: https://t.co/vMxa9kWyuI pic.twitter.com/DhqgyYADmL

— NASA (@NASA) October 3, 2019

What an extraordinary journey! Part of what has made this experience so special was being here with my friends, classmates and our international partners. Thank you to all involved in the success of my mission on @Space_Station. I’m coming home🌎 pic.twitter.com/IGlvd4d2vA

— Nick Hague (@AstroHague) October 3, 2019

Nick Hague, Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and visiting astronaut Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates undocked the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the space station at 3:37 a.m. EDT and landed successfully near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 6:59 a.m. EDT.