RENO COUNTY — Two task forces monitored the fire in the Highlands area near Hutchinson overnight.
Just after 9 p.m., residents in the area were allowed to return to their homes, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
Residents were advised to use a garden hose to put out any embers that come into yards and not call 911 every time a glow is spotted. If there is an open active flame currently threatening a structure, then call 911.
It is estimated 1200 acres have been burned in the other Reno County fire in Jupiter Hills. It is 80 percent contained.
All roads, except 69th Avenue from Old K-61 to Mayfield and 56th Avenue from Old K-61 to the dead end, have been opened.
The county has declared a state of emergency, which will bring in state resources to help.
Critical fire weather conditions will continue the next few days.
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RENO COUNTY — We continue with another prairie fire reported in the area of 82nd Avenue and Hendricks, which has led to evacuations in the Highlands addition.
According to officials, earlier today, units were dispatched to a large grass fire in the area of 82nd Avenue and Hendricks. The fire was contained and extinguished with no structure damage, just natural grass and trees. Around 1:30 Sunday afternoon there was a rekindle and the fire flared back up. With the strong winds and dry conditions, the fire grew extensively. This fire swiftly moved into the Highland Golf Club area. Fire units from several departments are actively working on these fires. The golf course and residences in this area have been evacuated for their safety. They continue to ask the public to avoid this area so as not to impede the fire units in their duties.
Officials are meeting with residents this evening at First Church of the Nazarine at 43rd & Monroe to discuss a timeline for when they can return to their homes.
The affected area is approximately from 82nd Avenue to 108th Avenue and Monroe Street to Hendricks Street.
No homes or other structures were destroyed with only some siding melting, according to Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar.
Meanwhile, the Jupiter Hills fire is 80 percent contained. This is the one northeast of Hutchinson.
As we have been telling you, the county has declared a state of emergency, which will bring in state resources to help.
Critical fire weather conditions will continue the next few days. Residents will continue to see smoke and fire crews working in the area throughout the day. You’re asked to stay out of the area.
The damage will still be there several days down the road when crews have left the area, but, for your safety and theirs, please stay out of the area.
RENO COUNTY — Hutchinson/Reno County Fire units are continuing to work a grass fire northeast of Hutchinson, however, they now say it’s about 75 percent contained.
Deputy Fire Chief Doug Hanen says it was reported around 2:20 p.m. along 43rd east of Old K-61. By the time they arrived, he says it had spread as far north as 69th. He told us they were able to contain it at or around 69th. He says the fire did jump the road at a couple of locations along that street, but they were able to keep it from spreading north.
They called in multiple resources from neighboring counties with about 40 units and 100 firefighters on scene at the height of the fire. Hanen says they have now released between one-half and three-fourths of those firefighters, but others remain on scene to basically babysit until morning. He says where the fire is now is in heavy brush and that it’s too dangerous to have anyone in there overnight.
As far as structures, he says two sheds caught fire, one is completely destroyed and the other was badly damaged.
All of the roads leading in and out of the area were closed, but all but two have reopened at this point, that being 56th from Old K-61 east to the dead end, and 69th, also east of Old K-61.
Emergency Management Director Adam Wieshaar says they have declared Reno County a disaster area because of the fires both Friday and Saturday. He says this has been signed by the County Commissioners, which allows them to seek assistance from the state.
He adds, “We are bracing for more possible fire over he next few days because of the extreme dry conditions and very strong winds.”
One of the big issues was residents driving in to the area to see the fires. That’s why law enforcement blocked all the roads to those trying to get in to take pictures.
The smoke did cause some concern along K-61 Highway near Medora because of low visibility in that area.
Hanen says they don’t know the cause at this point and they will be monitoring overnight.
They are also working a fire at the landfill west of Hutchinson, but it isn’t threatening any structures that we are aware of.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — All Hutchinson and Reno County fire crews have been called in as well as fire crews from as far away as Marquette and Canton to battle several major brush fires Friday afternoon and evening.
The first is located around 17th and Worthington, near the Reno/Harvey County line. A second started just over the Reno/Rice County line north of the Highlands. A third fire was reported around 3:20 p.m. at 30th and Woodburry. The fire that started along Woodburry has reached 30th Avenue and continues to burn.
The most serious fire appears to the be the Rice County fire, which has made it to areas around Plum Street. Plum is closed at Sterling Road.
Hutch Fire also has to deal with another fire in the 3700 block of West 7th Friday afternoon. When crews arrived, they found a brush fire located between several structures. No major damage was reported. There have been some evacuations in Rice County, but so far no reports of major damage or injuries.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A man suspected in two slayings in Mississippi has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of a Pratt convenience store clerk.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt on Thursday announced charges against 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton, who is also a suspect in other crimes in Mississippi and New Mexico.
Deaton is accused of shooting a 19-year-old Riley Juel on Wednesday. Authorities arrested Deaton after he allegedly fled the store with the clerk’s car and wrecked it in Ellsworth County.
The clerk was in stable condition Thursday at Via-Cristi St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Wichita.
Schmidt says Deaton is also charged with aggravated robbery, theft and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. He is being held on $5 million bond.
Deaton’s first court appearance is scheduled for Monday at 1:30 p.m. in Pratt County District Court.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a Kansas Supreme Court ruling on public school funding (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is calling on legislators to enact school choice measures in response to a state Supreme Court ruling directing the state to increase its spending on public schools.
The conservative Republican governor said in a statement Thursday that the GOP-controlled Legislature has an opportunity to engage in what he called “transformative educational reform.”
Brownback said lawmakers should write a new school funding formula that puts students first and focuses on performance.
But he added that the state should give parents of struggling students a greater say over their children’s education. He said if parents do not believe a public school is best, they should have the resources to make other choices.
The governor was not more specific about what school choice measures he advocates.
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Several parents say they’re pleased with a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that directs the state to increase spending on its public schools.
Taunia Ross from the Kansas City suburb of Olathe said Thursday that additional state dollars would improve schools and parents would not have to pay as much in fees. She is the mother of four children aged 8 to 22.
Angie Sutton of Ottawa in eastern Kansas said legislators “absolutely” should be spending more on schools. She’s the mother of a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old.
In Wichita, community activist Djuan Wash pointed to the court’s finding that a significant percentage of minority students aren’t proficient in reading and math. Wash says such problems help create a cycle of poverty. Wash is the father of a 9-year-old daughter.
4:20 p.m.
Kansas’ attorney general says a state Supreme Court ruling suggests that lawmakers should concentrate on helping underperforming students by boosting spending on public schools.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt called Thursday for a “bold legislative response” to comply with the court’s order in a lawsuit filed by four school districts against the state in 2010.
The high court said the state’s funding for public schools is not adequate but did not say how much more lawmakers must provide.
In its decision, the court noted that about a quarter of the state’s students aren’t proficient in reading and math with higher percentages for minorities.
Schmidt said such a statement implies that underperforming students should be lawmakers’ main focus in crafting a new school funding formula before the court’s June 30 deadline.
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12:10 p.m.
Attorneys for four Kansas school districts that are suing the state to increase school funding say the state Supreme Court’s new ruling will require a funding boost of at least $800 million per year.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state isn’t spending enough money on its schools to provide a suitable education to every child, which the state constitution requires. The justices did not set a specific figure for how much more the state must spend a year.
Attorneys Alan Rupe and John Robb say the ruling suggests that the increase must be sizeable because it affirmed a lower court panel’s findings that spending was inadequate.
Rupe and Robb represent the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas, districts. They used the state in 2010.
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11:15 a.m.
The Kansas Supreme Court has ordered the state to increase its spending on public schools, but it didn’t say by how much. Read the court decision here.
The court ruled Thursday that legislators must enact a new education funding law by the end of June.
The decision comes with the state already facing projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019. Lawmakers are considering rolling back steep income tax cuts championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
The justices ruled in a lawsuit filed by four school districts in 2010. They argued that legislators were violating the state constitution by failing to finance a suitable education for each of the state’s 458,000 students.
The districts argued for an $800 million increase in the state’s $4.1 billion in annual aid.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is preparing to rule on whether the state is spending enough money on its public schools to provide a suitable education for every child.
The court announced that it would issue a decision Thursday morning in a lawsuit filed in 2010 by four school districts. The districts have argued that the nearly $4.1 billion a year the state provides in aid to its 286 school districts about $800 million a year short of what’s necessary.
Previous rulings in the same lawsuit forced legislators and Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to boost aid to poor districts.
The decision comes with the state facing projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019. Lawmakers already are considering rolling back past income tax cuts championed by Brownback.
Alex Deaton courtesy of Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The condition of a Kansas convenience store clerk has been upgraded after police say he was shot by a fugitive charged with two Mississippi killings.
A spokeswoman for Via Christi Hospital in Wichita says the man was in fair condition Thursday. He was listed in critical condition after being shot Wednesday in Pratt as officers searched for the suspect, 28-year-old Alex Deaton.
Police say Deaton stole a vehicle after shooting the clerk. Deaton was arrested when the vehicle crashed about 80 miles away.
The clerk’s family has identified him as 19-year-old Riley Juel. His sister tells Wichita television station KSNW that her brother was able to call police and his mother after being wounded to tell them what happened.
Deaton also is suspected of killing his girlfriend and another woman in Mississippi, and kidnapping two hikers in New Mexico.
3:30 p.m.
A convenience store clerk in Kansas is in critical condition after police say he was shot by a fugitive charged with two murders in Mississippi.
Maria Loving, a spokeswoman for Via Christi Hospital in Wichita, says the clerk is in critical condition Wednesday but she could not release the man’s name.
Authorities say the man was shot Wednesday in Pratt as officers were searching for 28-year-old Alex Deaton. Pratt Police Sgt. Edward Gimpel said Deaton was being chased in a stolen car when he went into a Kwik Shop, shot the clerk and stole a vehicle. Deaton was later arrested when the vehicle car crashed in Ellsworth County.
Mississippi authorities have charged Deaton in the death last week of his girlfriend and the shooting death
Scene of Wednesday’s crash-photo courtesy KHP
of another woman at a rural Mississippi church. He’s also suspected of other crimes in Mississippi and New Mexico.
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Noon
Mississippi authorities say they will seek extradition of a fugitive who left a nearly 2,000-mile trail of violence that ended in a fiery crash Wednesday in central Kansas.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey told reporters that Kansas authorities have agreed to hand over 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton, who is suspected of strangling his girlfriend last week in a suburb of Mississippi’s capital city. Deaton is then believed to have shot a jogger from the SUV he stole from the girlfriend, and officials say he may have also killed a woman at a rural Mississippi church.
Bailey says Deaton sent a series of texts, some incriminating, to friends and family before he went silent Saturday. He resurfaced Tuesday, with New Mexico authorities saying he carjacked and briefly abducted two hikers. Kansas authorities say he shot a store clerk in that state and stole another vehicle, before being captured following a chase.
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10:45 a.m.
Authorities have arrested a man suspected of shooting a Kansas convenience store clerk and kidnapping two hikers in New Mexico while on the run after his girlfriend was killed and a jogger was shot in Mississippi.
Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Tod Hileman said in a tweet that 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton was taken into custody Wednesday near the town of Wilson, about 80 miles from where the clerk was shot.
Kansas authorities began pursuing Deaton because he was driving a vehicle reported stolen in New Mexico. Kansas investigators say the suspect ditched the vehicle before shooting the clerk and stealing another vehicle. Hileman says Deaton was arrested after his vehicle crashed and caught fire.
Authorities were seeking Deaton in the death of 30-year-old Heather Robinson. Mississippi officials also consider him a suspect in the shooting death of a woman found dead at a rural church.
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Deaton-photo Mississippi Bureau of Investigation
ELLSWORTH COUNTY– A suspect wanted for a Wednesday morning shooting in Pratt County is in custody after a chase and crash in Ellsworth County.
Just before 8a.m. on Wednesday, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper attempted to stop an eastbound black Cadillac on Interstate 70 just west of Bunker Hill Road, according to a media release from the KHP.
The vehicle matched the description of a vehicle included in an attempt to locate after a shooting at a convenience store in Pratt early Wednesday.
The suspect, Alex Deaton, 28, was wanted for the incident in Pratt County. He refused to stop the vehicle and deputies successfully deployed stop sticks. The driver took the Wilson exit and drove a mile south to the town of Wilson. Troopers used tactical vehicle intervention to prevent Deaton and the vehicle from entering the community.
Officers caught Deaton after the Cadillac crashed and caught on fire. There were no injuries to officers or Deaton.
He faces charges through multiple county courts in Kansas and is also wanted for a double-murder in Mississippi and other crimes in multiple states including kidnapping two hikers in New Mexico while on the run after his girlfriend was killed and a jogger was shot in Mississippi.
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ELLSWORTH COUNTY– The wanted suspect who allegedly shot a convenience store clerk Wednesday morning in Pratt County was arrested in Ellsworth County after a chase, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
The KHP is expected to release addition details later on Wednesday.
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PRATT COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Pratt County are investigating a shooting and stolen vehicle after officers engaged in a pursuit involving a vehicle that had been reported stolen from a location in New Mexico.
The vehicle was later abandoned by the suspect, who fled on foot to a convenience store located on the west side of Pratt, according to a media release from Pratt County Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect entered the store where he shot a clerk before stealing a vehicle from the parking lot. The stolen vehicle is described as a black, Cadillac CTS bearing Kansas license plate 013JVR.
The suspect in this case has been tentatively identified as 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton.
He is wanted for a homicide in Mississippi and a robbery and shooting in New Mexico.
Any who sees either the black Cadillac or Deaton is urged to contact law enforcement immediately.
Do no approach or make contact as Deaton is deemed armed and extremely dangerous.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Kwik Shop that was robbed a few weeks ago has apparently been hit again. According to Hutchinson Police, the store at 17th & Plum was robbed early Monday.
It reportedly happened around 3:50 a.m. with the report of a male coming in armed with a handgun and taking an undetermined amount of cash.
Police say they don’t believe the latest robbery is related to the earlier two.
Sixteen-year-old Ke’von Ford was recently arrested and is charged with two counts of aggravated robbery for the Feb. 12 holdup of that same Kwik Shop as well as the one at 17th and Monroe, which occurred on Feb 20.
Police told us Tuesday morning that, at this point, they’re getting conflicting information over the description of the suspect, but are looking at video from the store in hopes of gaining leads. They’re also conducting interviews in the case.
HUTCHINSON Kan. — The Hutchinson Fire Department has released the cause of the fire that killed an Arizona man over the weekend.
According to Interim Fire Chief Doug Hanen, the fire has been ruled accidental.
Hanen says the fire origin was on the first floor in a couch. Cigarettes and candles were found in the area of origin with no other sources being located.
The victim, Jason Conrad, was located by firefighters as they made entry minutes after their arrival on scene. Hanen added that Conrad was partially blocking the door from being opened.
He was pronounced dead at the scene with second- and third-degree burns to a third of his body.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – One person has died as a result of an early morning fire in Hutchinson.
The victim has been identified as 44-year-old Jason Conrad from Tucson, Arizona. He was the only occupant in the apartment at the time of the fire.
It was around 2:40 a.m. Saturday morning when Hutchinson Fire crews responded to the 1000 block of North Poplar for a report of a shed fire. Initial arriving units found smoke and fire venting from a window on a small apartment. Fire attack procedures were initiated. While entering the structure, crews found Conrad. He was removed from the structure and pronounced dead by Reno County EMS.
The fire was controlled in 20 minutes.
Crews remained on scene for about 3 hours and 50 minutes performing overhaul and investigation operations.
The fire is still under investigation. Damage is estimated at $40,000.
Hutchinson Fire responded with seven units with assistance from Reno County EMS and Hutchinson Police.
NEWTON, Kan. — A woman in custody in Harvey County in a shooting that left four people dead, including the gunman has been released and will not be charged in the case.
Harvey County authorities say 42-year-old Corina Castro of Newton was arrested for conspiracy to commit capital murder, but Harvey County Attorney David Yoder told the Hutchpost late Friday afternoon that Castro would not be charged. Castro was a person of interest who turned herself into authorities Thursday morning.
The suspect in the shootings, 33-year-old David Lee Montano of Newton was shot and killed by a Newton Police officer after he pointed a shot gun at them.
The three victims in the case, 36-year-old Nelton Lemons, 34-year-old Michael Lemons and 36-year-old Jason Stubby were found inside the home after law enforcement responded to the call of a shooting in the 2100 block of N Spencer Rd. around 12:30 Thursday morning.
Yoder said Friday the shootings appeared to be a domestic situation, rather than drug-related.
Yoder also said Montano was facing federal charges in a separate case but that case apparently was not related to Thursday’s shooting.
