SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with a hatchet attack on Sunday.

Just after 11:15 p.m., officers police responded to a residence in the 600 block of SE 37th in Topeka on reports of a possible cutting, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Koenen.

Upon arrival, officers located an adult male victim suffering from what appeared to be a laceration. He was transported to a local hospital by American Medical Response for treatment.

Police arrested 40-year-old Winfred Devine Diamond-Cox and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of battery.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — There may be a cease-fire, but the economic “border war” involving the use of incentives to lure jobs across the state line in the Kansas City area isn’t exactly over.

Missouri officials plan to award more than $62 million in incentives to financial firm Waddell & Reed, based in Overland Park, Kansas.

Holly Koofer-Thompson of the Missouri Department of Economic Development said the incentives come from the Missouri Works program, which offers payroll tax withholdings or tax credits in exchange for growing or retaining jobs.

The company said it will invest about $90 million in its new Missouri headquarters and employ more than 1,000 workers at an average salary of $157,138. The specific location has not been announced.

Disclosure of the incentives comes about a month after Kansas and Missouri governors celebrated an end to the use of tax incentives to lure companies across the state line for moves that do not create new jobs for the region.

Koofer-Thompson said the company’s move was in the works before the so-called “border war” agreement between the two states. But others called the move a prime example of what was wrong with the previous practice.

“Waddell & Reed is benefiting dramatically from what is bad public policy,” said Bill Hall, president of the Hall Family Foundation, who has advocated for an end to state incentives for Kansas City-area companies that hop the state line.

Hall said Waddell & Reed’s $62 million award is among the largest given by either state. He estimates that since 2011, the states have spent more than $330 million luring companies away from each other.

Roger Hoadley, a spokesman for Waddell & Reed, said in a statement that the firm is “pleased that our current options allow us to remain part of the Kansas City community.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said that generally he wants to see the region recruit new employers rather than shuffling around the current ones.

“This is fundamentally inefficient for our regional economy whether it’s border hopping across states, border hopping across cities,” Lucas said. “This is hopefully one of the last projects that would fall within the framework we had before.”

It was just last month that Kansas and Missouri governors celebrated their truce at a ceremony involving more than 300 people in Kansas City, Kansas.

“Sometimes commonsense does prevail,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said at the time.

But Kansas officials did not expect an immediate end to incentives, said Ryan Brinker, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Commerce.

In fact, Brinker said commerce officials had been working to lure Kansas City, Missouri-based Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, to Kansas for six years. The company could be heading to Lenexa, Kansas, after that state approved an incentive package in June that includes up to $5.4 million in withholding taxes over nine years.

Hostess also will receive $930,000 from a program offering tax credits and tax exemptions to employers paying above-average wages.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a bank robbery and have released security camera images of the suspect.

Just after 2:30 p.m. Monday, police responded to a bank robbery call at the Fidelity Bank in the 2100 block of North Bradley Fair in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Upon arrival, officers contacted employees who reported a suspect entering the bank and handing a note to a teller indicating a gun. Money was given to the suspect who then fled the business on foot. There were no injuries in this case.

If you know the identity of this individual or have any information on this case please call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407.

WICHITA, KAN. – The former operator of the water system in Garden Plain, Kan., pleaded guilty Monday to falsifying a report on the quality of the city’s drinking water, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Arthur Wolfe, 64, Norwich, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of a making a false statement in a report to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment that is required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Wolfe certified a bacteriological report in falsely represented water samples taken at the water treatment plant as samples taken at other locations.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 2. He faces a penalty of up to a year in federal prison and a fine up to $100,000.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A man charged with tampering with a vehicle used by two Wisconsin brothers who are missing and presumed dead in northwest Missouri has waived his right to a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial.

Court records show that 25-year-old Garland Nelson was ordered to be arraigned Oct. 7 after foregoing his right to a preliminary hearing during a court appearance Monday.

Brothers Nick and Justin Diemel, from Shawano County, Wisconsin, were on a trip related to their cattle business when they disappeared in July after visiting Nelson.

Human remains found on a Missouri farm owned by Nelson have not been identified. The tampering charge stems from allegations that Nelson drove a truck the brothers rented from his farm to a commuter parking lot, where it was found abandoned.

Nelson is also charged in Bourbon County, Kansas, with endangering the food supply. Prosecutors say Nelson didn’t have proper health papers when he took 35 calves from his family’s farm in Missouri to a farm in Fort Scott, Kansas, in May.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — It sounds like science fiction hype, but supporters believe ultrafast Hyperloop transportation could become reality within a decade, propelling passengers from Kansas City to St. Louis in a 30-minute trip.

“We’ve already completed a feasibility study, and now we’re on to the next steps with this. It’s happening quicker than even I would have guessed,” said KC Tech Council President Ryan Weber, who is working with numerous other Missouri officials on a project that he predicted could be implemented in about seven years.

Hyperloop is a cutting-edge technology that transports passengers in a vehicle floating above a track via magnetic levitation. It moves by electric power through a depressurized, low-friction tube at airline speeds. A test pod exceeded 240 mph in 2017, and the vehicles are envisioned to reach speeds of up to nearly 700 mph.

More testing is needed to get the technology past the experimental stage.

Late last year, Black & Veatch found that a route along Interstate 70 in Missouri was realistically feasible to construct.

Officials are eager for Missouri to be an early adapter of the technology. One advantage is that the state owns most of the right-of-way along I-70, although some land acquisition challenges remain and the overall costs are projected to be $7 billion to $10 billion, Harvest Public Media reported.

Yes, Weber conceded, the project would be enormously expensive, and numerous questions must still be answered. But he said the relatively flat I-70 route from Kansas City to Columbia and St. Louis is ideal. It makes more sense, he said, to invest in a futuristic, energy-efficient transportation mode that moves people quickly and efficiently than to spend billions on new lanes of traditional highway traffic.

“This won’t be impacted by weather. This won’t be impacted by fuel prices,” he said. “And this will be a fully autonomous electric system that will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Kansas City lawyer Greg Kratofil, chair of Polsinelli’s technology transactions group, said motorists are all too familiar with the terrible road conditions currently on I-70, as they drive from Kansas City to the University of Missouri and eastward to St. Louis.

Hyperloop, he said, would be a “fundamental change in transportation,” providing a 15-minute trip to Columbia or about 30 minutes to St. Louis, which would help rural residents along the route as well.

While the project costs appear astronomical, a “Blue Ribbon” panel of Missouri civic and business leaders and elected officials formed earlier this year to explore the specifics of funding and construction.

Weber said an update is expected from the panel later this month or early in October.

“I don’t think there’s an appetite for this to be taxpayer funded,” he said. “I think this has to be likely a public-private partnership where I do think there are a number of investors out there extremely interested in this system.”

Kristen Hammer, business development manager with Virgin Hyperloop One in Los Angeles, said two others U.S. routes are under consideration: Pittsburgh to Chicago and Dallas to Laredo, Texas. But she said she’s been impressed with Missouri’s commitment to the project and the pace of planning in the state.

Hammer said Virgin Hyperloop did a successful quarter-mile test in Nevada and is now scouting locations for a test of several miles, working with state and federal regulators.

“The next step,” she said, “is a longer test that we really are looking forward to using for certification of the technology.”

On Saturday, the public can see the Virgin Hyperloop One XP-1 pod that successfully accelerated to test speeds of over 240 mph on the Nevada test track. It will be on display at the Kansas Speedway during the American Royal Barbecue, and company executives will be present to answer questions.

Hammer said the system’s safety is paramount and will be fully vetted. She said it is also designed to provide a comfortable ride, without excessive G-forces.

“So you’ll actually feel less of that pushback than you do when taking off on an airplane,” she said.

Finally, the cost to passengers would be less than a tank of gas to drive from Kansas City to St. Louis. “That’s really our goal,” Hammer said. “If people can’t afford to take it, then we’re just building an amusement park ride, and that’s not our business.”

RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a report of shots fired at a residence in Manhattan.

Just after 3a.m. Sunday, police received a report of a large fight in progress in the parking lot of a house party located in the 1300 block of Fremont Street in Manhattan, according to Captain Josh Kyle.

Shortly thereafter police received multiple reports of shots fired with people running from the area.

The house where the fight occurred was hit by bullets, according to Kyle. Police have not reported any injuries.

An Aggravated Assault report was filed listing several men as victims ranging in ages from 21 to 31 years-of-age, according to Kyle.

The suspect who allegedly fired the shots was described as a black male wearing a white t-shirt and acid washed jeans.

Police have not made an arrest.

SALINE COUNTY— A burn pit is being blamed for an early Monday fire in the rural Saline County community of Gypsum.

Just before 1a.m. Monday, deputies and crews from the Gypsum Fire Department and Rural Fire District No. 1 were dispatched to 608 Spring Street for a fire in a detached garage that had at one time been converted to an apartment but was being used for storage, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.

A 49-year-old resident had been burning tree branches and stumps in a pit in the backyard during the weekend. It is believed that embers from the pit sparked the fire.

The garage, as well as several weed trimmers, chain saws, and a pickup were destroyed in the blaze, Soldan said. Total loss was estimated at $5,000.

Additionally, a next-door neighbor, reported an estimated $3,000 in damage to two of his vehicles that were parked adjacent to the property, according to Soldan said.

The homeowner was cited for burning without a permit in violation of Gypsum City ordinance, according to the sheriff.

 

COWLEY COUNTY — The Winfield community is mourning the death of a 7-year-old boy after a fatal accident on Sunday.

Max Henderson, a second grader at Country View Elementary died from injuries after an accident on his horse, according to the school.

A statement from his parents Shane and Missi Henderson describes what happened, “We know a lot of people loved our boy, so we want to let you know how God chose to bring him home. We were at home roping the calf sled. His pony flipped over on him. He got up a ran away about 20 feet and went down. We got to him and he said he couldn’t breathe. We rushed him to William Newton Hospital where they stabilized him and the transported him to Wesley. They saw a slight bleed and some minor internal injuries. They soon realized his Vena Cava was severed. A team of doctors worked their tails off, but it wasn’t meant to be. He came out of surgery, but left this earth soon after.”

Country View Elementary said “It is with deep regret we inform you about a recent loss to the Country View School family. Max Henderson passed away from injuries related to his accident. This loss is sure to raise many emotions, concerns and questions for our entire school, especially our students.

Country View will have professionals trained to help with the needs of students, parents, and school staff available tomorrow to help deal with this sudden loss.

We are saddened by the loss to our school family and will make every effort to help you and your children as you need.

In order to show love and support for Max, the school asked students to wear a western outfit on Monday if you have one, cowboy hat, boots, bandana, etc… are all acceptable.”