NEWTON, Kan. — Law enforcement authorities in Harvey County were working an incident involving multiple shots fired at a school bus on Tuesday afternoon, according to a social media report.

The school bus was on Highway 50 near Walton northeast of Newton. The shooter was reported as being a teenage boy shooting from the passenger side of a grey or silver pickup truck, according to the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office.

There are no injuries reported and a search for the suspect continues.

Examination of the school bus has not revealed any bullet holes so far, according to the sheriff’s department.

The suspect shooter is reported as being a white male with dark blond hair riding in a possible 2010 or newer full size pick up truck. The bus driver stated she saw the gun and heard one gun shot.

All schools in U.S.D. 373 were temporarily placed on lock-down as a precautionary measure. The lock-down was lifted just after 3:30p.m.

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NEWTON. Kan. — Newton Schools were in lockdown mode after it was reported a school bus was shot at multiple times.

The School bus was on HWY 50 near Walton when the shooting happened. The shooter was reported as being a teenage male shooting from the passenger side of a gray or silver pickup truck. The truck continued east on HWY 50. No one was hurt or injured from the shooting. Schools were reopened around 3:30 p.m.

Newton Police, Harvey County Sheriff’s, Highway Patrol, North Newton Police and Hesston Police have all been active in providing security to schools and attempting to locate the suspect truck.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Crews began the process of lifting the precast concrete panels that will make up the north end of the Hutchinson Sports Arena expansion.

The panels came in on semi trucks overnight and work got under way early this morning getting the panels in place. The panels, which can weigh as much as 30 tons, are lifted off of the trucks with two cranes. A single crane lifts the panels into place where they are welded to steel anchors attached to concrete footings.

Work also continues in the interior of the building as crews get ready for the renovation of the arena’s bowl. That will come May 23rd following the last graduation ceremony.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — On May 3, Hutchinson Community Foundation received 1,376 gifts from 729 donors totaling $213,401 for Match Day 2016. Combined with the Community Foundation’s match and prizes, $268,101 was leveraged for the 35 participating Reno County non-profits. A majority of the donations came in the form of check, cash or Donor Advised Fund transfer between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the Eagle Media Center.

Online, the Give Local America giving platform experienced some technical difficulties. Because of this, online giving was extended through May 4 at 5 p.m. During the extension, total gifts increased by $10,000, bringing the number of online donations to 196, for a total of $17,000.

Prizes will be awarded to the top three non-profits for most money raised for endowment and most individual donors. Organizations that will be receiving prizes are:

Prizes for Most Money Raised for Endowment

1st Place, $1,000: Boys & Girls Club of Hutchinson – $21,117.25
2nd Place, $500: United Way – $14,985.00
3rd Place, $250: New Beginnings – $14,790.00

Prizes for Most Individual Donors

1st Place, $1,000: Cancer Council of Reno County – 79
2nd Place, $500: Dillon Nature Center – 72
3rd Place, $250: Boys & Girls Club of Hutchinson – 69

Match Day Moments – Worth Mentioning

More than 30 families attended Match Day, sharing in the joy of giving.

Five-year-old Ellen Corey toted her own purse to Match Day and made a donation of $7.70, dividing it among four of her favorite organizations: Boys & Girls Club of Hutchinson, Cancer Council of Reno County, Dillon Nature Center and Hutchinson Symphony Association.

With Teacher Appreciation Week in mind, Lauren Denison and her younger brother Clark made donations to the Hutchinson Public Schools’ endowment in honor of their favorite teachers, Mr. Reilly, Mr. Woody and Mr. Hines.

Hutchinson Community College Honors Program students decided to “Make it Greater” on Match Day by giving money they raised in their bake sale and 50/50 fundraiser to the Fund for Hutchinson.

Match Day provided a wonderful networking opportunity for non-profit staff members. Tonya Gehring of Strataca was grateful for the chance to visit with Stacy Cleaves of the Hutchinson Animal Shelter and Adzianna Souba of Cause for Paws. “We discovered we face some of the same challenges, and we were able to talk through ideas of how we may be able to better support one another in our work,” Gehring said.

NEWTON, Kan. — Law enforcement authorities in Harvey County are investigating an allegation against a police officer.

On Friday morning, the Newton Police Department was made aware of a criminal allegation against one of its officers.

A resident posted to their personal Facebook page stating they had witnessed an officer kick a sleeping homeless man who was laying on the ground, according to social media report from Newton Police.

The Department reported, “We take these complaints seriously” and immediately launched an investigation.

“We have dash cam video of the interaction and are confident these allegations are completely false.”

“The officer’s conduct was professional and non-aggressive in nature.”

“The officer had absolutely no physical contact with the man. In fact we cannot see an activity, which could have been mistaken for the actions which were reported,” according to the social media comment from Newton Police.

“We have reached out to the person who wrote the original post and asked them to come and view the video.”

“This incident is consistent with the vast majority of complaints we hear about our officers.

“When the video is viewed we find the claims have been exaggerated or as it appears in this case completely fabricated.”

The Newton Police reminded, “Falsely accusing people of an illegal act, even officers, is a crime.”

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — At one point, the Hutchinson Sports Arena project was about $1 million over budget.

Changes in plans and a few cuts have lessened the overrun and at Thursday’s arena building committee meeting the announcement was made that the project is at the break-even point and has recouped about half of the $320 thousand in contingency fund that was used to help move passage of the bid packages along by the City Council.

There are still a few numbers left to crunch as the third bid package has yet to be opened. That will happen later this month.

As for a construction update: The north walls will go up starting Monday, weather permitting. Crews will begin moving in the large crane that will lift the 40,000 pound concrete panels into place starting Friday, and work to assemble the crane over the weekend.

Demolition work is already under way in various portions of the arena and crews will begin a full-force demolition of the arena’s bowl the day after the last graduation, May 23rd. Crews are ahead in most areas and a little behind in others, but nothing major.

Work crews ran into a snag when they fractured a main conduit that ran power to the main gym. That has since been repaired and everything should be in place for the three graduation ceremonies over the next two weeks.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Another blow for the defense in the case against a teen charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated arson.

Samuel Vonachen is accused of setting a fire to his family’s home that killed his mother and sister. He was 14 at the time and the state has charged him as an adult for those crimes.

The defense wanted the video interview officers did with the defendant, where he allegedly confessed to the crimes, suppressed, but Judge Trish Rose denied the motion.

The Judge Thursday noted in her written opinion that the defendant was advised of his rights and signed a written waiver. She says while the interview occurred in the evening, the same day of the early morning fire, the defendant did not appear groggy or ill. “He was able to communicate fluently and the interview didn’t exceed a reasonable length of time,” Judge Rose said.

She also says that police didn’t employ unfair or coercive tactics during that interview. She says based on what she saw from the video of the interview, the defendant’s statements were voluntary. Again, she denied the motion to suppress.

The case centers on Vonachen allegedly spreading gas through the downstairs of his family’s home, then setting it on fire. This occurred back on Sept. 26, 2013.

The case is still pending a jury trial.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Fire units under the direction of Battalion Chief W. Lang responded to the unit block of West 4th for a motel fire around 7:30 Wednesday morning.

Initial arriving units reported heavy fire involvement on the first floor with fire extension to the second story. Crews made an aggressive attack on the room involved. Significant fire damage was sustained to the fire room.

Preliminary damage is estimated at $75,000, to include the building and contents. No injuries were reported.

The fire was controlled in 10 minutes, while units remained on scene for an hour overhauling and monitoring for hot spots.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Match Day is complete at the Eagle Media Center with the Hutchinson Community Foundation and all the endowments for local charities.

Match Day brings hundreds of donors together on a single day to raise significant funds for local needs.

The total is $256,000.

For one day, every donation given to local non-profit endowments will be matched by funds from a $50,000 local pool, making every gift go further.

They did have some issues with the www.iHeartHutch.org site, so it will be up and still taking donations until 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon for this event to grow nonprofit endowments exponentially. So if you haven’t given yet, you can still do so. 

Those you have helped by this effort include:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Reno County

Boys & Girls Clubs of Hutchinson

Boy Scouts of America, Reno County

Buhler USD 313 Education Foundation

Cancer Council of Reno County

Cause for Paws, Inc.

Children’s Emergency Shelter Home, Inc.

Communities That Care

Cosmosphere

Dillon Nature Center

Family Community Theatre

Food Bank of Reno County

Fund for Buhler

Fund for Hutchinson

Hospice and HomeCare of Reno County

Hutchinson Animal Shelter

Hutchinson Meals on Wheels

Hutchinson Public Schools

Hutchinson Regional Medical Foundation

Hutchinson Symphony Association

Hutchinson’s Historic Fox Theatre

Interfaith Housing Services

Kansas Association of Community Foundations

Mennonite Friendship Communities

New Beginnings, Inc.

Radio Kansas

RSVP/Volunteer Center of Reno County

Salvation Army of Reno County

Sexual Assault Domestic Violence Center

Stage 9

Strataca (Kansas Underground Salt Museum)

Sunshine Meadows Retirement Community

TECH, Inc.

United Way of Reno County

Wesley Towers, Inc.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — During a community briefing on Medicaid Expansion this afternoon, those speaking at the event made it clear that expanding Medicaid in Kansas is something they feel is the right thing to do.

They argue that Medicaid expansion would bring in $400 million into Kansas each year, which will reduce the number of uninsured Kansans by 50 percent.

Dr. Timothy Crater with the Hutchinson Clinic talked about how many people become sick and could have been taken care of earlier, but because they are not insured, it rises to a critical situation.

And he says this is a tremendous cost not only to hospitals like Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, but the entire state of Kansas.

According to numbers released by the Kansas Hospital Association, if Medicaid expansion were to happen and begin in 2017, it would generate a cost savings of $159.4 million and a net financial gain of $101 million.

Ken Johnson, President and CEO of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, talked of the losses to hospitals including his own organization which he says with uncompensated care comes to around $22 million. According to the Kansas Hospital Association, that will continue to be high with uncompensated care over $15 million, but with Medicaid Expansion, that would drop to just over $10 million. Those numbers are based on a 10-year average.

Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican Legislators are opposed to any expansion, in fact voted it down in both the Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate earlier this year. They fear that the federal government would, at some point, not hold their end, meaning Kansas would get stuck with the tab.

Cindy Samuelson with the Kansas Hospital Association says they would put in any legislation that if that were to happen, there is a poison pill. If the federal government doesn’t keep their end of the bargain, it all becomes null and void.

It should be noted that this would have no impact on the Kansas Budget. It would be budget neutral and Medicaid expansion has happened in 31 states and none have backed out of it thus far.