HUTCHINSON, Kan. — CrossPoint Church in Hutchinson was filled to capacity Monday morning as friends, family and military personnel celebrated the life of Christina Schoenecker. The 26-year-old Army Reserve soldier died in a non-combat incident in Iraq Feb. 19.
The service included the Fallen Soldier Tribute from the Tornado Alley Young Marines as well as a standing ovation to honor Schoenecker and those who serve. A picture slideshow before the service displayed her love of fishing and family.
The Rev. Steve Gill spoke on behalf of Schoenecker’s teachers and coaches who remembered her outgoing personality and toughness:
One of Schoenecker’s friends, Tasha Miller, talked of her friend’s willingness to help others. While Tina — as Schoenecker was known to friends and family — had a tough exterior, she also had a soft spot in her heart for others:
The sermon was presented by the Rev. Dennis Wallace, who talked about Schoenecker’s love of art and her artistic abilities:
Schoenecker’s flag-draped casket was brought to the church, escorted by the Patriot Guard, which also led the procession to the Arlington City Cemetery where Schoenecker was laid to rest with full military honors from the Fort Riley Honor Guard.
Schoenecker was a human resources specialist who joined the Army in 2009. She was promoted to sergeant in January 2015 and was completing her first deployment at the time of her death. Her awards include the Army Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster and the Army Reserve Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters.
Schoenecker grew up in the Arlington area and was a 2010 graduate of Fairfield High School.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Organizers of the first Hutchinson Polar Plunge announced that, by the end of Saturday’s festivities at the Hutchinson Mall, they had surpassed their goal of $5,000. There were at least $8,000 in donations raised to benefit the local athletes of Special Olympics.
Missouri and Kansas have joined 18 other states in seeking to have the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional following Congress’ repeal last year of the tax penalty associated with the individual mandate.
Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, a plastic surgeon from Johnson County, supports the state’s latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Kansas and several other states say Congress’ elimination of of tax penalties on people who don’t obtain insurance effectively nullifies Obamacare. CREDIT FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
In a lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court in Texas, the coalition of 20 mostly red states claimed that the elimination of the tax penalty for those who don’t buy health insurance renders the entire healthcare law unconstitutional.
In announcing that Missouri had joined the lawsuit, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said in a statement that the Affordable Care Act “was never constitutional.”
“My office will continue to fight to take health care choices out of the hands of D.C. bureaucrats and put them in the hands of families and physicians,” Hawley said.
Hawley’s statement that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was never constitutional flies in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 decision finding that the mandate was constitutional under Congress’ power to levy taxes.
The 20 suing states are now citing that same decision to argue that with the tax penalty eliminated, the mandate — and with it the entire law — should be struck down.
“The U.S. Supreme Court already admitted that an individual mandate without a tax penalty is unconstitutional,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “With no remaining legitimate basis for the law, it is time that Americans are finally free from the stranglehold of Obamacare, once and for all.”
Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel are leading the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Fort Worth.
The Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, the most controversial part of Obamacare, was meant to force younger and healthier people to get coverage to help keep premiums low.
Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, who assumed office last month after Sam Brownback took a job with the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador of religious freedom, said he supports the legal challenge.
In a statement released by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Colyer, a plastic surgeon, said, “The legal and policy failures of Obamacare are well known, and I am pleased that Kansas is joining this new effort to expose them.”
The Republican-led Congress eliminated the requirement that individuals have health insurance or pay a tax penalty as part of the tax overhaul it passed in December on a strictly party line vote. But the mandate that people have health insurance technically remained in place.
In addition to Missouri, Kansas, Texas and Wisconsin, the other states joining the suit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.
All but eight of those 20 states have opted not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts says President Donald Trump’s unexpected announcement about tariffs on imported steel and aluminum “is not going to go down well in farm country.”
Roberts and Mo. 4th District Rep. Vicky Hartzler
Roberts and other Republican senators received no formal warning from the White House before Trump said Thursday he’d impose a 25 percent import tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum to boost U.S. manufacturers.
Roberts says he and other Republicans from farming states and from the Senate Finance Committee have lobbied Trump hard in efforts to convince him that raising tariffs would negatively impact the rural and middle-class voters who supported his 2016 election.
The senator fears a foreign backlash will hit U.S. agricultural exports.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 34-year-old man charged with first-degree murder for a Sept. 22 fatal shooting was bound over for trial Thursday by District Judge Joe McCarville.
Moore
Quinton Moore is accused of shooting 42-year-old Clarence D. Allen multiple times in his head and neck while he slept in his bed at a residence at 1701 E. 30th in Hutchinson.
Thursday’s testimony began with Steven Griffith Jr., who told the court that his sister — Jessica Crowe — called him late the night of the crime and wanted him to help her because she was scared of Allen and was worried he would wake up and batter her.
Crowe, Moore and Allen were all staying in the same home.
Griffith arrived at a neighbor’s home to get his sister. Moore was there and said he was going back to the house to get his shoes. While Moore was back at the house, the others heard multiple gunshots. Shortly after, they saw Moore coming back across the street. Griffith said Moore was walking, but Crowe said Moore was running.
Later that night, all three went to a home on East 6th. Crowe and her mother eventually went back to the home, where they found Allen’s body.
In court Thursday, Crowe testified that Allen abused her and her children.
In 2016 there were allegations of possible abuse by Allen of the children, but an investigation by Hutchinson police found insufficient evidence that the abuse actually occurred. Allen took a polygraph test and passed.
During an interview with Hutchinson Police Detective Curtis Black, Moore — at first — denied shooting Allen. However, Moore later admitted to shooting Allen, but said he blacked out during the incident.
The gun used in the shooting was found in a poly cart at the home on East 6th. It was a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
At the scene, officers found six .40-caliber shell casings and three bullets.
The victim had been shot five times in his head and face. One bullet entered his neck and exited his back. All of the wounds were on his right side since he was sleeping on his left side. Officers determined there was no indication of a struggle.
Moore will be arraigned on the charges Monday. He remains jailed on a $500,000 bond.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Starting today, Reno County residents will be alerted to emergencies and other notifications through “Everbridge.” Reno County 911 Director Michelle Abbott says the new alert system went online after Emergency management and Reno County 911 felt the change was needed to keep up with technology:
Abbott says, while the previous alert system featured weather alerts, the new system will not provide that mass alert from the National Weather Service:
The system can, however, provide a new program that is event-specific in providing alerts for weather and any other potential emergency situations:
Sign-up is underway. anyone who was on Civic Ready will need to sign up again. Abbott explains how to register:
RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident on Tuesday in Reno County.
A Honda Passport owned by Carl Yoder, 58, Burrton, became stuck in a ditch in the 9000 Block of South Worthington Road, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
Yoder’s neighbor 64-year-old Steven McLaughlin drove a Ford F150 to help pull the Honda out of the ditch.
After getting the Honda pulled out of the ditch both vehicles were facing southeast in the northbound lane of travel to unhook the tow rope.
As they were standing outside their vehicles, a northbound Dodge pickup driven by Brian Hoopes 40, Burrton, did not see the vehicles. The Dodge struck both vehicles and both men were struck by a vehicle.
First responders performed CPR on Yoder but he died at the scene, according to Deputy Kevin Sipe.
McLaughlin and Hoopes both had non-life-threatening injuries. The accident remains under investigation.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A report given to the Hutchinson USD 308 School Board shows that nearly one in every five students in the 8th grade reads below that level or — in some cases — as many as four or five grades below the 8th grade level.
Principal Bruce Hurford reported to the board steps the school is taking to ensure students reading below the required level get the special help they need:
Of the 18 percent of students reading below the grade level, nearly half are reading several grades under the requirements. A majority of those require special education programs.
Students can make their way through the program, and eventually get out of the support classes and back into a normal school schedule. Hurford says, once a student gets back to an acceptable level of reading, there are steps taken to ensure they can maintain that level:
Student assessments are taken twice a year in both reading and math to help track learning trends.
RENO COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal Monday morning crash.
Just after 8:30 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the area of Sego Road and Castleton Road in Reno County for report of an overturned vehicle, according to Deputy Michael Morrel
First responders found a Chevy Suburban on its top in a clump of trees in a field on the east side of the road approximately a half mile south of Irish Creek Road on Sego Road.
Authorities located a man a few feet from the vehicle. The victim identified as Johnnie Nelson, 66, of Hutchinson, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Morrel.
Authorities released no additional details.
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RENO COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal Monday morning crash.
Just after 8:30 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the area of Sego Road and Castleton Road in Reno County for report of an overturned vehicle, according to Deputy Michael Morrel
First responders found a Chevy Suburban on its top in a clump of trees in a field on the east side of the road approximately a half mile south of Irish Creek Road on Sego Road.
Authorities located a man a few feet from the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Morrel.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The growth in the offshore market, combined with their merger, vaulted Siemens Gamesa to the top of the wind power charts for 2017, although the company still lagged behind Vestas in the onshore market.
According to a report Monday from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Siemens commissioned 9.52 gigawatts of onshore and offshore turbines last year. Vestas, based in Aarhus, Denmark, added 7.71 gigawatts and remained the top onshore turbine maker. That doesn’t include offshore equipment from a Vestas joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
Goldwind Science & Technology Co. of China and Boston-based General Electric Co. rounded out the top four, which — combined — added 27.72 gigawatts.
Global wind installations — onshore and offshore — reached about 56 gigawatts in 2017, slightly above the 54 gigawatts booked in 2016, but well below the record 63 gigawatts in 2015, according to BNEF. The recovery is expected to continue with additions reaching about 59 gigawatts in 2018 and 67 gigawatts in 2019.
The offshore wind market is expected to grow 16 percent a year to 2030 as Taiwan and the U.S. join core markets in the U.K., Germany, Netherlands and China. Four U.S. states along the East Coast plan to add about eight gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, a build out that may eventually encourage makers of the massive offshore turbines and blades, most of which are manufactured in Europe, to open plants in the U.S.
Onshore, Siemens Gamesa recently announced a move away from direct-drive platforms onshore in favor of the more traditional gear-drive turbine. That included a new small platform for low wind areas. That 2.7 MW turbine and two others will be manufactured in Hutchinson.
Developers representing 82 percent of the new-build market commissioned 46.9 gigawatts of onshore wind in 2017, 12 percent less than in 2016.
