Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 77
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas regulators are seeking to take over management of 15 nursing homes after the operator of the facilities advised the state it will not be able to make an upcoming payroll. The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said Wednesday it has asked 13 district courts to put the facilities in their jurisdiction into receivership while arrangements are made for them to continue providing care for about 845 residents. The agency said Skyline Health Services, which operates the nursing homes, appears to be i...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Legislation designed to strengthen Kansas schools against gunmen passed in the House Wednesday, though some lawmakers argued the bill is more ploy than policy. The measure would set aside $5 million for schools to upgrade infrastructure to slow or thwart a potential school shooter. The bill passed on a 119-5 vote and heads next to the Senate for consideration. The bill won Democratic Rep. Jason Probst's vote, but not his support. "This is a nice way for the Republican party to try and control a conversation about school s...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Funeral services are planned for next week for Linda Brown, who as a Kansas girl was at the center of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down racial segregation in schools. Brown died Sunday at the age of 75. Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel says the first visitation for Brown will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 4 at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church in Topeka. The celebration of life service will be held at 7 p.m. after the visitation at the same location. Her father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll t...
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas post office temporarily shut down after receiving a suspicious envelope that authorities later deemed a hoax. The Salina Journal reports that streets near the Salina Post Office were blocked off most of the day Tuesday before the Riley County bomb disposal squad determined the envelope didn't contain an explosive. Police Capt. Paul Forrester says an investigation is ongoing into who left the envelope, which contained some wires and was addressed to the police department. The police department announced on its F...
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Wichita police officer has been charged with felony aggravated battery for shooting a dog and injuring a 9-year-old girl. Dexter Betts was called to a home for a domestic issue in December when he shot the family dog, The Wichita Eagle reported. The girl was wounded from ricocheted bullet fragments that hit her above the eye. The girl's mother and father were both unarmed and standing outside the home with other officers when the shooting occurred. Betts had gone inside to retrieve a handgun. Police have alleged t...
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Texas man has pleaded guilty to murder and involuntary manslaughter for the 2016 crash deaths of a mother and her two children on Interstate 70 in Kansas. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a written release Wednesday that 45-year-old Steven Johnson, of Houston, pleaded guilty Monday in Geary County District Court to one count of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence. Investigators say Johnson was driving a large box truck that crossed the i...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley has chastised his colleagues for failing to make progress on a school finance plan. He urged them Tuesday to come to grips with reality. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that during the debate lawmakers said they were interested in negotiating with school attorneys. They also expressed frustration with the Kansas Supreme Court. They rejected Hensley's efforts to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into public schools. Hensley says lawmakers have made no progress and are now a w...
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The United States Naval Academy says it has dismissed a white midshipman for using a racial slur for African-Americans in online communications with other midshipmen. Jeff McFadden, an attorney for Midshipman 4th Class Ted Colter, tells The Capital the plebe was expelled Feb. 26 for unsatisfactory conduct and plans to appeal on grounds that the language is common to a "generation of street-tough teenagers" from Colter's home in the New York City borough of Queens. Academy spokesman Cmdr. David McKinney says the incident i...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A judge has ordered the conditional release of records about a University of Montana rape case to author Jon Krakauer after a four-year dispute that pitted student privacy against the public's right to know the decisions their government agencies make. But the legal wrangling likely isn't over yet, and the records' release to the public will be delayed beyond the judge's May 23 deadline if Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian appeals to the state Supreme Court. The author of "Into Thin Air" and "Into t...
MARSHALL, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan gun store owner shrugged off criticism and went ahead with a class that teaches people how to build their own AR-15 semi-automatic rifles like those used in many mass shootings, including last month's massacre at a Florida high school. Chris Walden, who owns Walden's Firearms in nearby Battle Creek and taught Tuesday's class, said postponing it until there isn't a mass shooting in the United States could mean it would never happen. "There's always significant things going on and if we tried to weave that b...
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Recent school shootings and the March for Our Lives rallies held in cities around the world on March 24 have rekindled debates over how to keep students safe. “The notion of ‘it can’t happen here’ is no longer a notion,” said Sheriff Tim Cameron of St. Mary’s County, Maryland after a student opened fire on March 20 at Great Mills High School, killing one student and injuring another. Increasingly, schools are turn...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas schools that refuse to allow teachers to carry guns could be held legally responsible in the event of a tragedy under a proposal drafted after last month's mass shooting at a Florida high school. Opponents of the measure, which got its first hearing Tuesday in front of the House Insurance Committee, expressed concern it could effectively mandate arming teachers rather than allowing it, as several states have done. "It would certainly open the door for that conversation," said Democratic Rep. Brett Parker, an O...
DALLAS (AP) — Concho Resources Inc. says it's buying shale-drilling energy producer RSP Permian Inc. for about $9.5 billion in stock, sending RSP shares up more than 15 percent. Concho said Tuesday that the combined company will have the biggest drilling operation in the energy-rich Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, with 27 rigs spread over 640,000 acres. The deal, if approved by RSP shareholders, will immediately increase Concho's earnings per share, according to the company. But a Wood Mackenzie analyst says Concho is paying a rich p...
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — Data shows that Colorado coal production surpassed 15 million tons (14 million metric tons) last year, an improvement from 2016. The Daily Sentinel reported Wednesday that data from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety shows that statewide production in 2017 reached nearly 15.2 million tons, about 2 million tons (2 million metric tons) more than in 2016. Arch Coal's West Elk Mine, east of Grand Junction, produced nearly 5 million tons (5 million metric tons) of coal last year. Peabody Energy's T...
Ten years ago, you could count on one hand the number of hybrid models available from luxury automakers. Today, there are 24 and more on the way. It turns out there's a good reason for the popularity of hybrid powertrains in luxury cars, and it's not just fuel economy. Hybrids are quiet, improve mileage range and can deliver strong acceleration, especially from a stop. Many luxury automakers have seized on those attributes and have made hybrid versions of premium models. But each automaker takes a different approach. Hybrids essentially marry...
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has given initial approval to a proposal that would exempt small farms from parts of the state's clean water law. The proposal, approved Wednesday, says farms would not need a permit to allow water from their property to run into the state's waterways, whether from irrigation or precipitation. The exemption would not apply to larger farms. The Department of Natural Resources would still be allowed to intervene to stop pollution. Proponents say this will relieve farmers of unneeded regulation. O...
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — On the edge of the Mogollon Rim in eastern Arizona, snow covered the ground and blizzard conditions were setting in as biologists prepared to open the gates to a trio of pens, releasing three packs of Mexican gray wolves that would soon have the distinction of being the first of their kind to roam the wild in decades. Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of that release and a major milestone for an effort that started decades earlier when the predators were first declared an endangered species. In the months following t...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas agriculture officials have approved a statewide quarantine in hopes of slowing the spread of an invasive beetle that destroys ash trees. The State Plant Board announced Tuesday the quarantine in response to the emerald ash borer, which is a beetle native to Asia that feeds on and kills ash trees. Under the 75-county quarantine, ash nursery products including firewood can be transported anywhere in the state, but not out of state. The beetle was first detected in Arkansas in 2014 in six counties in the s...
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — When someone asks Candy Spence-Ezzell, who represents District 58 in the New Mexico Legislature, where she grew up, her answer is typically "west of L.A." If your first thought after reading that makes you think of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean, that somewhat-large body of water west of the sprawling metropolis, then you got the wrong interpretation. By "west of L.A." Spence-Ezzell means "west of Lake Arthur," which is that little town in Chaves County not too far from Artesia. Spence-Ezzell was born in Artesia and g...
Notable firings and resignations from President Donald Trump's White House since he took office on Jan. 20, 2017. __March 28: Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin __March 22: National security adviser H.R. McMaster — March 13: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — March 12: Special assistant and personal aide to the president John McEntee — March 6: Economic adviser Gary Cohn — Feb. 28: Communications director Hope Hicks — Feb. 27: Deputy communications director Josh Raffel — Feb. 7: Staff secretary Rob Porter — Dec. 13, 2017: Communication...
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has given initial approval to a bill that would allow chiropractors to receive Medicaid reimbursements. The proposal, approved Wednesday, could make it easier for more patients to visit chiropractors. Proponents say that could help alleviate the opioid epidemic, by directing patients toward alternatives to pain medication. They also say chiropractors can sometimes offer a cheaper option for patients, and legislative researchers say the change could potentially save the state millions of dollars. O...
An online story falsely claims that Muslim nurses in Britain have the option of participating in medical operations or otherwise caring for patients without washing their hands. The story that has appeared online since at least 2013 recently surfaced on the site vtamedia. It says Muslim nurses feared that washing their hands "compromises their modesty." Islamic law requires women to keep their arms covered up to the wrist. According to British health care guidelines updated in 2010 to accommodate religious dress, nurses not wanting to bare...
PROSPECT, Va. (AP) — Carnival Cruise rolled into a small Virginia town this week on the hunt for a local teen and his coveted Snapchat handle @CarnivalCruise. The company surprised 15-year-old Darian Lipscomb at his Prospect, Virginia, home Tuesday night after peppering the town with signs asking "Hey Prospect, does anyone know Darian?" The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the company offered to trade Lipscomb a free trip for his family abroad its newest ship, Carnival Horizon, in exchange for his Snapchat handle. The net worth of the trip is a...
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Despite safety concerns, a recreational ax-throwing venue in Salt Lake City has been approved for a license to serve beer. The state liquor commission approved Social Axe Throwing's request for a recreational beer license on Tuesday. The business asserted that it's "substantially similar" to other recreational businesses that serve beer. Social Axe co-owner Mark Floyd said his company "is a recreational amenity almost identical to a bowling alley," except customers throw axes at a wooden target. But that nature of the b...
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man who signed up for internet gambling has won nearly $194,000 on his very first spin of an online slots game. Anibal Lopes, of Woodbridge, said he was bored after work Monday night, so he created an account on the playsugarhouse.com website on his smartphone. Choosing a slots game called Divine Fortune, the 33-year-old won its Mega Jackpot on his very first spin. "I thought, 'This is not happening,' " he said. "I couldn't believe I won that much money. I told my wife: 'I don't feel well. My legs are s...
