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For Kansas coaches, money in every move
March Madness is that magical time of the year when a missed free throw in the final seconds can cost a basketball coach thousands of dollars in bonuses.
And you wonder why they throw tantrums on the sidelines.
The coaches at Wichita State University, Kansas State University and the University of Kansas stand to clean up as they lead their teams through their postseason tournaments this month. All of them have earned handsome bonuses already just for getting this far.
Family spokesman: Former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner has died at age 76.
SEATTLE (AP) — Family spokesman: Former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner has died at age 76.
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Convicted felon leads police on chase near Wichita Children’s Home
What started off as a traffic stop Friday night for a defective tag light ended with a 41-year-old man booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a felon, drug charges, several traffic violations and a warrant from the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Sgt. Bruce Watts said police stopped the man about 11 p.m. Friday in the 1400 block of North Hydraulic when he took off.
Officers called off the chase at Ninth and Volutsia. The man parked his vehicle behind the Wichita Children’s Home in the 800 block of North Holyoke and exited the vehicle while holding a shotgun, Watts said. Police identified him as a convicted felon, Watts said.
Driving 90 the wrong way on Second Street leads to arrest
Wichita police called off a chase early Saturday morning after the man they were pursuing began driving the wrong way on Second Street at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour.
Sgt. Bruce Watts said the chase began in the 600 block of North Topeka.
The driver of the silver Dodge Ram pickup truck later smashed into another vehicle at Ninth and Chautauqua and then sped off again, Watts said.
19-year-old injured in shooting at party
Wichita police are investigating an overnight shooting of a 19-year-old man in the 2300 block of North Fairview.
Sgt. Bruce Watts said the man told police he was shot at a party by a stranger who left in a red Mustang convertible. The man sustained injuries to his right shoulder and left calf, Watts said.
The man told police he walked to Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis. Watts didn’t have any information about the man’s condition.
Wichita police investigating shooting on South Yale
A 20-year-old man told police someone shot him about 12:45 a.m. Saturday in the 1700 block of South Yale, southeast of Harry and Hillside.
The man had been at a large party on South Yale, Sgt. Bruce Watts said. Someone took the man to Via Christi Hospital on Harry. Emergency workers then transported him to Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis.
Police found shell casings in the street, Watts said. Three vehicles also were struck by bullets, Watts said.
Disagreements on Fast and Furious negotiations
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department and a congressional committee disagree on the pace of their talks to settle a lawsuit over congressional efforts to get records related to Operation Fast and Furious, a bungled gun-tracking operation.
In a joint filing Friday night, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told the judge in the case that a settlement offer it received from the Justice Department this week was a "grave disappointment" and that a settlement is not possible.
"The parties are very, very far apart," lawyers for the GOP-led committee wrote.
Read more on NewsOK.com
Chicago, Honolulu are competing for Obama library
WASHINGTON (AP) — Where will President Barack Obama put his presidential library?
Four years from the end of the Obama presidency, Chicago and Honolulu are ramping up major campaigns to build the center that will house the records of America's 44th president.
In Illinois and Hawaii, the states Obama calls home, universities and community groups are drafting plans and using a mix of public and private efforts to persuade Obama to choose their site for what will be a monument to his historic presidency and an instrument to continue his legacy.
It's an early down payment aimed at influencing a decision that likely won't be announced anytime soon.
"It is a tough choice, but it's not one that I've made yet," Obama said last month.
In December, top officials from the University of Chicago, where Obama once taught law, traveled to Dallas and met with archivists at The George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University.
Read more on NewsOK.com
Life without Creighton for Wichita State
The Omaha World-Herald’s report on Creighton’s departure to the Big East adds another layer of inevitability to this move. “A move to the Big East would represent a major step up for Creighton both in terms of athletic competition and prestige. The new league has a TV contract lined up with Fox that reportedly will pay league schools at least $3 million a year.
Creighton also would be joining a group of like-minded institutions. All 10 teams in the reconstituted Big East are private schools, nine are Catholic, and all have little or no football history but share reputations for playing big-time hoops.”
Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Creighton – each was considered Wichita State’s biggest MVC rival for a period. All moved on to better conferences, although the shine of Tulsa’s move(s) dimmed in recent seasons. Once again, WSU is left behind and there doesn’t appear to be anything it can do. WSU is marooned geographically and as a non-football public school. It is important to note those circumstances haven’t kept WSU from an impressive run of success, in many sports, over the past 10 years. While the MVC can’t replace Creighton’s punch in men’s basketball, the timing is such that the conference can trudge ahead. WSU is positioned as Creighton’s equal atop the conference. Coaching stability, always the MVC’s No. 1 determining factor, is strong. Only Drake is replacing a coach. Six of the nine programs will have coaches at least in their third season, meaning rosters should be stable. Barry Hinson, entering his second season, appears capable of quickly moving Southern Illinois back toward the top of the Valley. I think the MVC will stay with 10 schools. The round robin is important. Geography is important. Not diluting the auto bid is important. If we struggle to identify one good replacement for Creighton, why add three? From a WSU perspective, Oral Roberts seems to make the most sense. Is ORU interested? Is it a candidate? We’ll see. If other factors are equal, I would think WSU’s athletic department would say it is time for the MVC map to help out the southern and western members for a change. My first instinct is that the new member should be a basketball-only school. However, the MVC tried that with Evansville and it’s been a major disappointment. Northern Iowa, scorned at first, grew into a strong basketball member and contributes heavily in other sports. Missouri State is the Valley’s best addition in recent seasons. Private schools, generally, come without resource-sapping football. However, their all-sports performance lags behind the public schools (even in Creighton’s case) and the evidence says Drake and Evansville are consistently bottom-half finishers. That is a small sample size, but it tells me the MVC should be careful about adding a private school that may lack the resources to compete. The exercise of looking at candidates reinforced that the MVC has a good thing going, even without Creighton. It is hard, almost impossible, to find other schools in the Central time zone (outside of the BCS) which draw 4-5,000 fans. While attendance isn’t everything, it is one indicator of resources and potential. In 2012, the MVC averaged 7,064 (heavily helped by Creighton). Conferences such as the Horizon (3,527), Mid-American (2,970), Summit (2,594) and Ohio Valley (2,506) are significantly behind. I consider this a real long shot: Valley fans should root for Georgetown’s influence to bring Richmond in to the Big East, if reports of those scenarios are accurate. That could leave Dayton or Saint Louis (likely Dayton) out. Would one of those Atlantic 10 members be open to joining the MVC? Unknown, and probably not likely. While the MVC takes a hit from the Big East, the A-10 will be devastated by departures of Xavier, Butler and two more (Temple and Charlotte are also leaving for other conferences). It’s at least worth wondering about. Both programs would be excellent replacements for Creighton.
Appeals Court: Legal Colorado marijuana still against law in Kansas
You can still get busted for possession of pot in Kansas, even if you got it legally in another state, the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
The court ruling comes in response to a case in which a Colorado man was acquitted of possession of marijuana because he had obtained the pot legally under a doctor’s prescription, which has been allowed in Colorado since 2000. The three-judge appellate panel sided with state prosecutors, who pursued the case in order to get a higher court to rule that they can enforce Kansas’ possession law in future cases.
The judges said they decided to take on the question of whether out-of-state marijuana can be legally possessed here because it’s likely to come up more often, now that 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized it for medicinal use.
Suspects in deputy’s shooting charged with attempted murder
Outside of the courtroom, Clara Catherine Crosser’s mother sobbed as she heard the charges against her daughter, one of two people accused of attempted first-degree murder – among other crimes – in the recent shooting of a Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy.
“Ten counts, my god. I just don’t know what to say,” said the woman, who asked not to be named to protect the identity of her 3- and 5-year-old granddaughters – Crosser’s children – who accompanied her and their aunt to the courthouse.
The woman paused and shook her head, then added: “We’re shocked and in disbelief.”
Police: Men beat hotel owner while claiming they were ‘real Americans’
A woman claiming her hotel room contained hidden cameras got a refund Thursday, then returned with two men who beat the owner while claiming they were “real Americans,” police said.
The incident unfolded shortly after 7:30 p.m. Thursday when the 47-year-old woman wanted her money back after she paid for a hotel room at the Pawnee Inn at 532 E. Pawnee, Lt. Joe Schroeder said.
“She believed there were hidden cameras” in her room, Schroeder said.
Early wildfire chars up to 1,000 acres in N Colo.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The wildfire season that Coloradans have been nervously awaiting has arrived in a wind-whipped frenzy in the foothills near Fort Collins.
The year's first major along the populous Front Range was spotted Friday morning and raced across 750 to 1,000 acres by Friday night.
Read more on NewsOK.com
Flaming Lips Unveil 'The Terror' at SXSW
By George Lang, glang@opubco.com
Wayne Coyne did not zip himself into a giant hamster ball, nor did he wear his enormous, laser-firing hands.
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Firefighter's case highlights Oklahoma workers' compensation controversies
BY RANDY ELLIS rellis@opubco.com
A Midwest City firefighter last month was awarded $15,100 in workers' compensation disability payments after his knee locked up while digging out a gopher hole in his own yard.
The firefighter's attorney is the husband of Gov.
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LA Times hack: Security breach or harmless prank?
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal prosecutors say Reuters' deputy social media editor conspired with a notorious hacker network to cause an online security breach that should be punished by decades in federal prison.
Fervent online supporters of Matthew Keys say the journalist was just taking part in an online prank that briefly altered the Los Angeles Times' website, and he shouldn't ever have been suspended from his job.
In an age when the line between tech superstardom and outright hacking grows increasingly blurry, the case against Keys, 26, lays bare sharp divisions about what constitutes Internet crime and how far the government should go to stop it.
"Congress wants harsh penalties doled out for these crimes because they don't want people defacing websites, but there has to be a way that we can bring the law into harmony with the realities of how people use technology today," said Hanni Fakhoury, an attorney at the San Francisco-based nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Keys, a well-known figure in the Twitterverse, was charged Thursday with conspiring with the hacking group Anonymous to alter a Times news story in late 2010.
The federal indictment accuses Keys of giving hackers the information they needed to access the computer system of Times' parent company, Tribune Co.
Read more on NewsOK.com
Oklahoma horse slaughter bill author denies financial motivation
BY ZEKE CAMPFIELD zcampfield@opubco.com
The author of a bill that would legalize horse slaughter in Oklahoma agreed it could mean monetary gain for the livestock auction house owned by her grandparents and managed by her family.
SandRidge President James D. Bennett tells employees settlement aimed to end distractions
BY ADAM WILMOTH awilmoth@opubco.com
An hour after SandRidge Energy Inc. announced its Wednesday settlement with dissident shareholder TPG-Axon Capital, new SandRidge President James D. Bennett told employees the company did not expect to lose control, but opted to settle to end the distraction.
Bennett also said it is unlikely that SandRidge's newly expanded board of directors will sell the company.
TPG-Axon had asked shareholders to approve its plan to replace all seven of SandRidge's directors.
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Oklahoma City real estate market braces for Chesapeake property sales
BY STEVE LACKMEYER AND BRIANNA BAILEY
Chesapeake Energy Corp. spent more than $170 million buying up office properties outside of its core campus over the past several years, but its spending spree appears to have run out of gas after company founder and CEO Aubrey McClendon announced his impending departure earlier this year.
Local real estate market observers are keeping a watchful eye on the natural gas company to see what it will do with the vast amount of office space it holds.
A recent report released by the real estate firm Grubb & Ellis/Levy Beffort, estimates Chesapeake controls about 7 percent of the city's office market.
Although Chesapeake's appetite for office space has been insatiable in recent years, the company has slowed the pace of its acquisitions and has even begun to unload some of its real estate assets at a loss.
A breakup and sale of the company “would have a devastating impact to office vacancy rates,” said Julie Anewalt, a research analyst with Grubb & Ellis/Levy Beffort who authored the report.
Records indicate McClendon, meanwhile, is setting about charting his future.
Read more on NewsOK.com
K-State beats Oklahoma State 68-57 in Big 12 semis
Rodney McGruder’s first trip to the Big 12 Tournament came to an end with one of the saddest locker-room scenes he has ever been a part of.
After beating Oklahoma State and Baylor to advance to the tournament’s championship game three years ago, Kansas State was eyeing a trophy. It was playing well at the time and went on to win a program-best 29 games that season, but it couldn’t beat Kansas in the final.
The Wildcats took the loss hard, shedding tears and showing frustration when it was over. McGruder was a freshman back then, but his emotions were no different than his senior teammates’. He was upset. So upset, that he still mentions that defeat as a learning moment in his college basketball career.
