11 years ago
A commission charged with studying efficiencies in Kansas schools considered a proposal that would ban teachers from most collective bargaining. A proposed bill one of several considered Monday by the K-12 Student Performance and Efficiency Commission. It would limit teacher negotiations to only wages, salaries and hours of work, even if the teachers union and Boards ...

11 years ago
Winter weather returns to the area Wednesday night. According to the National Weather Service, mainly light snow is expected across Central Kansas, with a transition to rain and snow across South Central and Southeast Kansas. Snow accumulation will vary from around an inch in Central Kansas to none along the Oklahoma border. For Thursday, flurries and/or light ...

11 years ago
Arkansas City police are investigating a Grinch-like crime in the southwest Kansas town. Police say thieves who hit at least 10 homes during the weekend stole mostly Christmas decorations and broke several windows. Police Captain Mark McCaslin says the thefts were in the northwest part of the city and were likely related. One of the thefts was at ...

11 years ago
Police in south-central Kansas have charged a woman who they say stabbed her 10-year-old son to death in his bedroom. Thirty-three-year-old Lindsey Blansett of Wellington is being held at the Sumner County Jail on $500,000 bond. She is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son, Caleb Blansett. Wellington police say the boy had gone ...

11 years ago
The Shawnee County Sheriff's Office says a first-grade student brought a loaded handgun to school but didn't display it or make any threats. Sheriff's Maj. Phil Blume says that the pupil "self-reported" having the gun on Monday at Indian Hills Elementary School in Topeka. Blume says the gun was "rendered safe" by an officer at the scene. ...

11 years ago
Two Kansas men have pleaded guilty in federal court to operating a synthetic drug business that generated at least $16 million in sales in less than two years. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says 58-year-old Tracy Picanso and 56-year-old Roy Ehrett, both of Olathe, each pleaded guilty Monday to one count each of conspiracy, producing and selling ...

11 years ago
American Civil Liberties Union officials say they have begun a new and more aggressive effort to intervene in Missouri and Kansas over highly public issues like same-sex marriage, privacy and police policy. The ACLU's Missouri chapter has been actively involved in the protests in Ferguson over Michael Brown's shooting death by a Ferguson police officer. It's ...

11 years ago
The University of Kansas Endowment has reached a $1.2 billion fundraising goal two years early but officials say the effort will continue. The endowment's Far Above campaign met its goal last week after it received a $58 million gift from the estate of Madison and Lila Self, the largest individual gift in the university's history. That ...

11 years ago
An Abilene man contacts police after cash is stolen from his wallet. Justin Seaman told officers he had several people in and out of his room at the Quality Inn, 2110 W. Crawford on Sunday. Police allege someone removed $900 in cash from his  wallet and left.

11 years ago
Defense attorneys have finished making their case that a convicted murderer should be sentenced to life in prison and not executed for kidnaping, raping and killing an 8-year-old Topeka girl. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports clinical psychologist June Cooley of Atlanta testified Monday that Billy Frank Davis Jr. has bipolar disorder with psychotic features and post-traumatic stress ...

11 years ago
The state of Kansas is creating a new investigative unit to combat an increase in cattle theft. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and the Kansas Department of Agriculture announced a joint agreement Monday to form a new Livestock/Brand Investigation Unit. The unit will help local law enforcement agencies investigate suspected cattle thefts. It will be part of ...