LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Two suspects are being penalized after they allegedly stole a life-sized cutout of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, then had a wreck as they fled.
Image courtesy KC Chiefs
Lawrence police spokesman Patrick Compton says a man and woman grabbed the cutout at a McDonald’s restaurant Monday, ran out the door, then jumped into a car and sped away.
Officers investigating a two-car accident nearby saw the cutout in one of the vehicles. Compton said the vehicle also matched the description of the car that drove away from the McDonald’s.
The two were issued notices to appear for theft and were cited in the accident. One person was treated for minor injuries.
The cutout of the popular Chiefs quarterback wasn’t damaged and is back on display at the McDonald’s.
SALINE COUNTY — Two people were injured in an accident just after noon Wednesday in Saline County.
Photos Saline Co. Sheriff
The Saline County Sheriff’s office reported a 1998 Chevrolet pickup driven by Chris Giroux, 22, of Marquette, was eastbound on Water Well Road behind a Dodge pickup kicking up a lot of dust near South Burma Road.
The pickup in in the disorienting dust cloud collided nearly head-on with a 2002 Chevy Utility pickup driven by Randy Choitz, 40, Salina.
Giroux was ejected through the driver’s side window, according to Saline County Sheriff’s Captain Jim Hughes.
Giroux’s pickup
Choitz was trapped and had to be extricated from his pickup.
EMS transported both drivers to Salina Regional Health Center with serious injuries that did not appear to be life threatening, according to Hughes.
The drivers were not wearing seat belts, according to Hughes.
KANSAS CITY(AP) — Four families who don’t want to vaccinate their children allege in a lawsuit that the children’s schools and state health officials have made it increasingly difficult to file religious exemptions.
CREDIT STEVEN DEPOLO / FLICKR–CC
A federal judge has already ruled that one of the unvaccinated students may continue going to a charter school in Kansas City while the case continues. The child’s grandfather, Linus Baker, of Stilwell, Kansas, is representing his grandson’s family as well as families from Bates, Christian and Miller counties in Missouri.
Baker also sued last month in Kansas to keep from having to vaccinate his 4-year-old son.
The lawsuit says exemptions are harder to get, with parents required to fill out a form provided by the health department. He says, “The agency has gone rogue.”
The Kansas Board of Regents voted Wednesday to change the benchmarks for in-state students to attend the state’s six public universities, and class-rank requirements are out.
In-state college admissions will change for Kansas high school students like this chemistry class at Topeka West High School. CHRIS NEAL / FOR THE KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The move is meant to increase the number of Kansas high schoolers who are eligible to attend Kansas State University, Emporia State University, Pittsburg State University, Fort Hays State University, Wichita State University and the University of Kansas.
It’s also expected to help more first-generation college students attend Kansas universities and simplify the required list of academic prerequisites. But critics say they’re concerned changing standards could reduce high schoolers’ readiness for college.
Currently, Kansas high school students who want to attend a public university must take a specific number of classes in English, math, science, social sciences and electives. To attend any university except KU, they must have at least a 2.0 GPA in those classes; KU requires applicants to have a GPA of 3.25 in all classes and an ACT score above 21, or a GPA of 3.0 and an ACT score above 24.
“This has resulted in a pretty complicated process that creates confusion among the applicants and the counselors and the parents,” said Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Board of Regents, at the meeting in Topeka.
Archer said it was hard for universities to keep track of which high school classes met which admissions requirements. “It’s a pretty onerous process to review individual courses,” he said, “because it’s not something you can automate.”
Under the new admissions criteria, the classes will be recommended, but not required.
Plus, students will be admitted if they meet the same ACT minimum or if they meet a new overall GPA requirement. Emporia State, Pittsburg State, Fort Hays State and Wichita State will require either an ACT score of 21 to get in or a GPA of 2.25. K-State will require either an ACT score of 21 or a GPA of 3.25.
Class rankings, which are currently taken into account, will go away. That’s because, Archer said, it’s easier to compare GPA across different high schools, while class rank is a less useful marker of academic ability.
This story has been corrected to show that the 2.0 GPA requirement at five schools only matters for the currently required set of classes, not a student’s overall GPA.
Nomin Ujiyediin reports on criminal justice and social welfare for the Kansas News Service. Follow her on Twitter @NominUJ or email nomin (at) kcur (dot) org.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the case involving an abandoned infant.
Just after 7p.m. Wednesday, police received the report of an infant found alive in the 2000 block of North Manhattan, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.
The baby was transported to Stormont Vail in Topeka as a precaution.
On Thursday morning, police reported they had identified the mother of the infant and she is in good health.
Further investigation leads police to believe the mother’s intent was to follow the safe haven law, according to RCPD. Police have released no additional details.
COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating four suspects on drug charges
Sedam has previous convictions for Indecent Solicitation Child;GE14 less than 16,sexual act, offender registration and two for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections
On Tuesday, police located a 15-year-old runaway from Ponca City, Oklahoma, in the 2800 block of North Summit Street in Arkansas City.
They determined that she was under the influence of methamphetamine. They interviewed the juvenile, who said she had been staying at 33-year-old Arron Dion Sedam’s residence in in the 1000 Block of First Street, according to police.
She said Sedam provided her with meth and had given her a tattoo while she was at his residence. A search warrant was obtained and executed at the residence resulting in the three arrests. Four juveniles were taken into police protective custody due to the conditions at the residence.
Police arrested Angela Renee Baxley, 51, and Timothy Scott Massey, 46, who is listed as homeless, on suspicion of felony possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Massey also was arrested on a Cowley County District Court warrant for bond violation.
Police arrested Sedam on suspicion of one felony count each of aggravated endangering a child, interference with parental custody and possession of methamphetamine, as well as one misdemeanor count each of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and tattooing a minor without consent. Sedam was transported to and booked into the county jail in lieu of $23,000 bond through Arkansas City district court. He remained in custody.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has denied a request by Missouri to allow a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy to go into effect while the state waits for further court action.
U.S. District Court Judge Howard Sachs had previously paused parts of Missouri’s new abortion law. It was set to go into effect Aug. 28 and criminalizes abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy.
It also triggered bans at 14, 18 and 20 weeks if the initial eight-week ban was found unconstitutional.
The judge issued a preliminary injunction Aug. 27 against the bans based on gestational age. The state immediately appealed the judge’s decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s not clear when the appellate court will hear the case.
Missouri asked Sachs to reinstate just the 20-week abortion ban during the appeal.
COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — A woman who was a fugitive with her son for two years after an Oklahoma man was killed has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison.
Diana Bohlander was sentenced Tuesday to 59 months in prison for her role in the death of 64-year-old James McFarland, of Tulsa, whose body was found in April 2017 in southeast Kansas.
Bohlander’s 23-year-old son, Ty, was given the same sentence Sept. 3.
Bohlanders were living in a van with McFarland when he was killed. Investigators believe McFarland suffered blunt force trauma when he and Ty Bohlander fought. Diana Bohlander was accused of helping her son conceal the crime.
The Bohlanders were fugitives until Ty Bohlander was arrested in March in Santa Monica, California. His mother turned herself in the next month.
SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a traffic stop.
On Tuesday, Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Interdiction Unit conducted a traffic stop on I-70, eastbound just east of the West Union Road exit, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.
The traffic stop resulted in the seizure of approximately 145 pounds of marijuana that was destined for the Topeka area. The marijuana has an estimated street value of $500,000.
Deputies arrested Janae N. Williams, 30, of Topeka, on requested charges that include Possession of Marijuana with Intent to distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
WICHITA, KAN. – A registered sex offender living in western Kansas was convicted Wednesday on federal child pornography charges, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Wayne Wasson photo Kan. Offender Registry
A federal jury convicted Wayne Benjamin Wasson, 59, Great Bend, Kan., on four counts of uploading child pornography to the internet and one count of possessing child pornography.
During trial, a prosecutor presented evidence that Yahoo and Google detected child pornography originating from Wasson’s residence. The digital trail led investigators to Wasson, who admitted he had received child pornography via Skype and had operated a number of other accounts. Investigators found child pornography within the accounts and on Wasson’s devices.
Wasson registered as a sex offender in 2007 following a conviction for possession of child pornography.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 13, 2019. He faces a penalty of not less than 15 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
