WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Several Kansas churches are trying to meet the needs of people struggling emotionally this holiday season by offering Blue Christmas worship services.

Blue Christmas services tend to be more subdued and sometimes reflect on themes of loss and hope.

The Rev. Mari Larson is the senior pastor at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita. His church’s Blue Christmas service will include communion and quieter holiday music.

Larson says “Christmas just feels alien” to those struggling with depression or loss.

Dr. Matthew Macaluso is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Macaluso says offering Blue Christmas worship services can help people acknowledge difficulty in a time of year where cold weather and less sunlight contribute to depression.

ANDERSON COUNTY — A Kansas teen died in an accident just before 10p.m. Friday in Anderson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Freightliner semi driven by Thomas Nguyen, 42, Houston, TX., was northbound on U.S. 169 two miles south of Welda.

The semi left the roadway to the east, traveled through the grass and struck a concrete culvert.

The driver overcorrected, re-entered the highway and collided with a southbound 2000 Chevy Tracker driven by Andrew K. Metcalf, 19, Independence.

Metcalf was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Feuerborn Funeral Home.  Nguyen and a passenger were not injured.

Seat belt usage by those in both vehicles is still under investigation, according to the KHP.

The crash blocked both northbound and southbound lanes of highway 169 for several hours.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) – A Blue Springs, Missouri, man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a sheriff’s deputy in Johnson County, Kansas.

The Kansas City Star reports that 25-year-old William Luth will face a recommended sentence of more than 40 years in prison after entering the plea Friday. A second suspect, Brady Newman-Caddell, is due in court Thursday.

The attack happened in October 2016 outside the Johnson County Detention Center in Olathe. The female deputy testified at a preliminary hearing in February that she was on her way to work when a man punched her and forced her into a vehicle, where another man was in the driver’s seat.

The deputy testified she was attacked by both men. Authorities say DNA testing was among the evidence linking the men to the crime.

BY MADELINE FOX

Descriptions of an underfunded, under-resourced foster care system short on child placement options sounded familiar to Kansas lawmakers and child welfare advocates at a task force meeting this week.

But the events described this week actually played out 30 years earlier, when a 1989 class-action lawsuit — alleging that the state’s foster care system violated the rights of Kansas children — raised issues that eventually led to the current privatized system.

Rochelle Chronister, former secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (now the Department for Children and Families), said she believes privatization of the foster care system in the late 1990s made sense although it was a tumultuous process.

“I hope none of my colleagues are going to come up here and tell you it was a smooth transition, because it wasn’t,” Chronister said. “Oh my, any day I wasn’t on the front page of the Topeka Capital-Journal was a good day.”

Lawmakers and advocates are revisiting that privatization decision, and other changes to Kansas foster care in the last 20 years, as part of a multiyear review of child welfare that the Legislature approved earlier this year.

Tuesday’s meeting offered a grim view for task force members, as former SRS administrators and others described the problems they hoped to fix with privatization: understaffing and inadequate funding, the same issues that have been highlighted in recent cases when children died in foster care or ran away from foster care placements.

“It’s the same story over and over and over,” said Dave Ranney, a court-appointed special advocate for children in the foster care system who was a reporter for the Wichita Eagle and the Lawrence Journal-World during the privatization process.

However, former SRS commissioner Teresa Markowitz said she has noticed an improvement in the high percentage of children placed with family members now.

“Here’s the good news for people who are only interested in money, and the good news for people that are only interested in good outcomes for kids,” said Markowitz, now vice president of the Center for Systems Innovation at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national child welfare organization. “Keeping a kid with a family member is most cost-effective, and it has the best outcomes.”

Markowitz said placements with relatives are generally far less disruptive for children, who don’t have to adjust to unfamiliar adults and are often able to stay within the same community.

So far this fiscal year, nearly 33 percent of Kansas children in out-of-home care have been placed with relatives.

Markowitz was shocked to learn, though, that relatives taking care of Kansas foster kids were paid only $3 per day on average. Licensed foster care parents who care for non-relative children are eligible for a higher reimbursement rate of close to $20 per day for kids who don’t require specialized care.

Relatives who do go through formal licensing, including a 10-week, 30-hour training course, are eligible for the higher reimbursement rate. But Markowitz said paying relatives more, even without the formal training, would still save the state money down the road, as less-disruptive placements with relatives help prevent children from needing more social services later in life.

Placements with family members and non-relatives such as teachers, coaches or other adults who have a relationship with the child are among the fixes the task force has examined during its review of the child welfare system.

The task force will submit final recommendations to the Legislature in January 2019.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on multiple charges following a routine traffic stop.

Just before 8p.m. Thursday police stopped a silver Toyota Camry for traffic violations in the area of SW Huntoon and Clay in Topeka, according to Lt. Colleen Stuart.

During the traffic investigation, officers located an illegally altered shotgun, methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and checks not belonging to the occupants of the vehicle. A potential explosive device was also located and the TPD Bomb Squad was called to further investigate and deemed it a homemade firework device.

James Harris, 33, was transported to the Department of Corrections on traffic related charges and Felon in Possession of Firearm.

Candice King, 34, was transported to the Department of Correction on warrants, drug related charges and identity theft charges.

KANSAS CITY – Ten Kansas City area are defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute at least 100 pounds of methamphetamine, according to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri,

Juan Rodriguez-Rivera, also known as “Juan Carillo,” “Armando Garcia,” and “Luis Rodrigues,” 32, a citizen of Mexico, Rafael Elodaid Baylon-Palma, also known as “Eli,” 27, Mauricio Daniel Dominguez, 34, and Rolando Segura, age unknown, all of Kansas City, Mo.; Jesus David Baylon-Palma, also known as “Raul,” “Fathead,” and “Primo,” 29, and Esmeralda Contreras-Fernandez, 27, both of Raytown, Mo., Jose Carlos Baylon-Carrasco, age unknown, a citizen of Mexican residing in Grandview, Mo., Eduardo Luna-Avina, 26, a citizen of Mexico, and Jose Santana-Chavez, 36, both of Kansas City, Kan., and Rory Sanchez, 32, address unknown, were charged in a five-count superseding indictment returned under seal on Dec. 14, 2016, by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. That indictment has been unsealed and made public upon the arrests and initial court appearances of several defendants.

The federal indictment alleges that all 10 defendants participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2013, to Dec. 13, 2016. The indictment also alleges that all 10 defendants participated in a money-laundering conspiracy during that time.

The indictment contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require the defendants to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged drug-trafficking conspiracy, including a money judgment of $700,000 (based on a sale price of $7,000 per pound of methamphetamine and distribution of at least 100 pounds of methamphetamine), a 2007 Land Rover, a 2008 Ford F-250, a 2010 Ford TCN van and a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado.

In addition to the drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies, the indictment charges Rodriguez-Rivera with illegally entering the United States after previously being deported following his conviction in Kansas for possessing cocaine.

Sanchez is also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Sanchez allegedly was in possession of a loaded AA Arms 9mm assault pistol.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal lawsuit alleges that a 12-year-old Kansas girl was raped by a boy in a school bathroom after a teacher failed to supervise their return to a classroom.

The Kansas City Star reports that the girl’s mother filed suit Thursday against Olathe Public Schools, the school board and the student who allegedly assaulted her daughter.

The suit says the victim and the boy finished an assignment in the common area at Olathe’s middle school in 2015 and the common area teacher sent them back to their classroom without supervision.

The suit says the boy pulled the girl into a boys bathroom and raped her. The girl told a teacher that day and was taken to a hospital.

A school district spokeswoman declined comment Friday, citing pending litigation.

 

 

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after an altercation with firefighters.

A Salina man was arrested last night for fighting with firefighters who were trying to contain a fire he set in his backyard.

Just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, fire crews were dispatched to a home in the 900 block of Sheridan in Salina after report of a fire in a backyard of home, according to Police Capt. Mike Sweeney.

Jeffrey Cook, 31, had set a dresser on fire and flames had started to spread outside the fire ring.

The fire was determined to be unsafe and firefighters asked Cook if they could use his garden hose to extinguish it. Cook initially agreed but became agitated once they began to put it out, according to Sweeney.

He grabbed the hose and began thrashing around, spraying firefighters in the process. He was arrested by officers on scene and booked into the Saline County Jail for battery, unlawful interference with firefighters and disorderly conduct.

Capt. Sweeney said that it appeared Cook had consumed alcoholic beverages before in the incident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The first woman to enter the 2018 governor’s race in Kansas joins a crowded field of men seeking to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

Democratic State Sen. Laura Kelly becomes the 22nd candidate to launch a campaign or appoint a treasurer. Twelve Republicans, seven Democrats and three independents are in the race.

The 67-year-old has served in the Senate since 2005.

Kelly is the top Democrat on the Senate Ways and Means Committee and is highly visible in budget and tax debates. She is a leading critic of the Brownback administration, including its oversight of the state’s foster care system and Medicaid programs and a proposal from the state Department of Corrections for a private company to build a new prison in Lansing.