Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 54
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 31-year-old Dodge City man has been found guilty of first-degree murder in a 2015 shooting death. Julio Fraire was convicted Tuesday after a five-day trial. Prosecutors say 32-year-old Ramiro Nicolas Bernal was shot to death on July 25, 2015 in the parking lot of the Dodge City Daily Globe . Fraire was arrested and charged in October 2016. Besides the murder charge, Fraire also was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon by a felon. The newspaper's parking lot was being used as overflow parking for a concert B...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A small pharmacy based in Overland Park will pay $9.5 million to settle a federal health care fraud lawsuit. The Kansas City Star reports $1.5 million of that will go to Emily Barnes, of Lenexa, who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Stark Pharmacy in 2015. She alleged she saw several types of health care fraud, including changing prescriptions without a doctor's authorization and charging full price for prescriptions that weren't totally full. The federal government intervened in that lawsuit, which named Stark P...
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have accused a Wichita man of threatening workers of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. A four-count indictment on Wednesday charges 22-year-old Christopher M. Thompson with making threats to injure a person. The indictment alleges Thompson made calls on Aug. 14 threatening to kill Operation Rescue employees and rape their daughters. The government said in a news release that Thompson faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250 if convicted. Online court records do not indicate w...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House will consider a state constitutional amendment that would grant human rights from the moment of fertilization, even as lawmakers await a state Supreme Court ruling on whether the constitution guarantees a right to abortion. The amendment, which was introduced Monday, is sponsored by 21 legislators. It would grant "inalienable rights, equal protection and due process of law of every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being, including fertilization," The Wichita Eagle r...
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a mother has been arrested after going to a Lawrence bar and leaving her two toddlers in a vehicle parked outside on a dangerously cold night. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that police responded around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to a report that a customer was trying to get back into the bar after she was kicked out. Staff told police that the woman had been at the bar while her 2- and 3-year-old children stayed unattended in the vehicle as temperatures were in the single digits amid a polar vortex. O...
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City man says he discovered he had won $22,000 in the Kansas Lottery when he was bickering with his wife about how much he spends on lottery tickets. Shawnee resident and avid lottery player Louis Kronawitter tells the Topeka Capital-Journal that he and his wife were surprised when he found the winning 2by2 Quick Pick ticket last week. The Kansas Lottery confirmed the jackpot Tuesday. Lottery officials say 2by2 is a daily game that offers players eight ways to win. It has a top prize of $22,000. K...
LINCOLN, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is helping with an investigation into a hidden video camera at a girls basketball tournament in north-central Kansas. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office says the camera was found Jan. 16 in a restroom area at a tournament in Lincoln. The Hays Post reports the KBI said a juvenile suspect has been identified but no one has been arrested. Lincoln County authorities have released no additional details. ___ Information from: KAYS-AM, http://hayspost.com...
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a western Kansas county after the only polling site in Dodge City was moved outside of town before the November election. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree on Wednesday granted an unopposed motion filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas to voluntarily dismiss the litigation. The decision was made after Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox announced plans to open two voting sites in Dodge City for future elections. The ACLU sued Cox in October, a...
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors will make their case Wednesday that there is a sufficient evidence for a suburban Kansas City man to be tried in the sexual assaults of three women during home break-ins. The Kansas City Star reports that 18-year-old William Louis Elliott, of Overland Park, Kansas, is jailed on $75,000 bond on charges of rape, sodomy, sexual battery and burglary in the sexual assaults. Prosecutors say they happened within a few days of each other in September and October. Police in Shawnee and Overland Park investigated. D...
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican lawmakers are proposing an overhaul of how Missouri universities handle sexual harassment and assault claims to add more protections for the accused. The Kansas City Star reports that two measures in the Missouri House and Senate include provisions that give more power to those accused under Title IX, the federal law that bars gender-based discrimination in schools that receive federal money. Both bills would borrow judges to hear appeals from students punished for sexual misconduct. The proposals would a...
LAUREL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina have accused six children ages 12 and 13 of discussing a 'Columbine-style attack' on their middle school on social media. WRAL in Raleigh reports the Scotland County Sheriff's Office said the students, who were removed from the school, face felony charges of communicating a threat of mass violence on school property. Capt. Jessica Sadovnikov says the discussion was such that investigators considered it serious. The sheriff's office says two Carver Middle School students alerted staff m...
CHESHIRE, Conn. (AP) — Parents at a Connecticut elementary school have planned a vigil for an 11-year-old girl who killed herself, allegedly because she was bullied. The vigil planned for Friday evening in front of Cheshire's First Congregational Church comes more than a month after Anjelita Estrada, who was a sixth-grade student at Doolittle Elementary School in Cheshire, killed herself on Dec. 23. The Republican-American reports that vigil organizer Ruth Harlow says candles will be provided to those who attend the non-denominational and "...
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy revealed on Wednesday that it secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium from South Carolina to a nuclear security site in Nevada months ago despite the state's protests. The Justice Department notified a federal judge in Reno that the government trucked in the radioactive material to store at the site 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Las Vegas before Nevada first asked a court to block the move in November. Department lawyers said in a nine-page filing that the previously classified information a...
BERLIN (AP) — The heirs of a Jewish collector say a painting from a Texas museum on loan in Germany was stolen from their family by the Nazis, and have filed a legal request for its return, a German newspaper reported Wednesday. German daily Bild reported the unidentified heirs are claiming ownership of Henri-Edmond Cross's "Regatta in Venice" from 1903/04, which is currently on show at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, near Berlin. The painting is on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. The painting originally belonged to J...
DENVER (AP) — Colorado's new attorney general said Wednesday the state will withdraw from a lawsuit challenging one of the Obama administration's biggest climate change initiatives. Democrat Phil Weiser's announcement signaled a reversal from his predecessor, Republican Cynthia Coffman, who signed Colorado on to a multistate lawsuit seeking to roll back the Clean Power Plan. "Instead, we'll be on the side supporting it," Weiser said. Speaking at the Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show in Denver, Weiser promised other legal action to restore or r...
Stocks powered higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled it could hold off on interest rate increases in the coming months, citing muted inflation. The Fed's announcement allays one of the biggest concerns for investors: That the economy, and corporate profits, could be hurt if the Fed continued to steadily increase interest rates after raising them four times last year. "The Fed gave the market everything it wanted in terms of a dovish message," said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. "Now it's saying maybe there will b...
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico would open its Medicaid program to new paying customers in an effort to expand affordable health care options under proposed legislation unveiled on Wednesday. The measure from Democratic Rep. Deborah Armstrong of Albuquerque aims to create a Medicaid buy-in option for state residents who make too much to qualify for Medicaid coverage or marketplace subsidies under the Affordable Care Act but still may struggle to afford adequate care. Medicare recipients would not be eligible. The concept was embraced by Democr...
The first generic version of the popular Advair asthma inhaler has been approved by U.S. regulators. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Mylan's version in three strengths for ages 4 and up. The inhalers are used twice daily to keep airways open and prevent flare-ups of wheezing, shortness of breath and other symptoms of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. About 42 million Americans have those conditions. The device contains two medicines, inhaled in a precise mixture. That complexity has stymied a couple of...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana lawmakers are considering legislation meant to address what officials call the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women. The Great Falls Tribune reports that supporters of the bills testified for hours before a legislative panel on Wednesday then held a rally in the Capitol rotunda. One measure would appropriate $100,000 a year to the state Department of Justice to hire a missing persons specialist who would work with local, state, federal and tribal law-enforcement authorities. Members of the l...
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans of every age, class and profession poured into the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that President Nicolas Maduro step down and to express their support for the young opposition leader who has declared himself interim president. Dressed in suits, scrubs, and jeans, they waved the national flag, displayed signs, and chanted slogans. One disgusted vendor threw devalued national currency into the air. Protesters who made an appearance were heeding a call from opposition leader Juan Guaido to s...
PHOENIX (AP) — A nurse suspected of raping an incapacitated woman who later gave birth at a long-term care facility in Phoenix has been indicted on charges of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. The document filed Tuesday mirrors charges that prosecutors filed last week against 36-year-old Nathan Dorceus Sutherland. Sutherland is expected to enter a plea to the charges at an arraignment hearing next Tuesday. His attorney, David Gregan, didn't immediately return a call Wednesday seeking comment. Authorities say the 29-year-old v...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major new study provides the strongest evidence yet that vaping can help smokers quit cigarettes, with e-cigarettes proving nearly twice as effective as nicotine gums and patches. The British research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, could influence what doctors tell their patients and shape the debate in the U.S., where the Food and Drug Administration has come under pressure to more tightly regulate the burgeoning industry amid a surge in teenage vaping. "We know that patients are asking about e...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A colony of elephant seals took over a beach in Northern California during the government shutdown when there was no staff to discourage the animals from congregating in the popular tourist area, an official said. Now they're not going anywhere. About 60 adult seals that gave birth to 35 pups took over a beach in Point Reyes National Seashore, knocking down a fence and moving into the parking lot, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. The park north of San Francisco is home to a colony of about 1,500 elephant s...
PARKER, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota school district is using a talking hot dog to announce closures due to the extreme cold . In a video posted to the Parker School District's Facebook page, Mr. Hot Dog says: "I'm a hot dog! I need some heat! I'm not a cold dog! ... You cannot have school! It's too cold outside." Mr. Hot Dog — complete with eyes, teeth, a bun and mustard — says he spoke with Superintendent Donavan DeBoer and that school will be closed Wednesday. Mr. Hot Dog suggested students can instead watch Netflix or bake a cake, but "No F...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California panel on Wednesday recommended that Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten be paroled after serving more than four decades in prison. After a hearing at the women's prison in Corona, California, commissioners of the Board of Parole Hearings found for the third time that the 69-year-old Van Houten was suitable for release. If her case withstands a 150-day review process, it will rest in the hands of California's new Gov. Gavin Newsom. Van Houten was recommended for parole twice previously, but then-Gov. J...
