Tag: kansas

Kansas Senators Kill Bill To Create Medical Marijuana Pilot Program

Kansas lawmakers have voted to table a bill to create a medical marijuana pilot program in the state that has drawn early criticism from advocates who view it as excessively restrictive.

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee took testimony on the legislation in a hearing on Thursday, a little over a week after it was first introduced. But after members heard from supporters, opponents and neutral parties, they accepted a motion to table it until January 13, 2025 in a voice vote—effectively killing the measure for the current session.

After several unsuccessful attempts to legalize medical cannabis in a more conventional manner in recent sessions, lawmakers were exploring whether there would be enough support to enact the more limited reform through a pilot program that would have launched later this year. The committee put an abrupt halt to that conversation.

“Our goal is to provide relief for patients, while also balancing the concerns of legislators and conservative Kansans,” Sam Jones, COO of Kansas Natural Remedies, which helped draft the legislation, said during the hearing.

“By being one of the last states to implement this, I think we’ve learned from other states,” he said. “We’ve tailored this bill to address the things that other states have gotten wrong and to address the things that they may have gotten right. This is a limited bill. This is supposed to be a pilot program. This is a proof of concept for medical cannabis to give proof that medical cannabis isn’t going to cause the end of society.”

Under the measure, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would be responsible for overseeing the program, and regulators could only approve licenses for four vertically integrated cannabis operators across the state. Pharmacies could also be permitted to sell medical marijuana.

To participate in the program, patients with one of 16 qualifying conditions—including cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain—would need to obtain a certification from a physicians.

There are a number of restrictions built into the legislation, including a ban on smoking marijuana products. While the bill also says that vaporizing cannabis would be prohibited, there’s separate language stating that flower could be inhaled through non-combustable vaporization.

Keep reading

Feds Can Film Your Front Porch for 68 Days Without a Warrant, Says Court

Law enforcement in Kansas recorded the front of a man’s home for 68 days straight, 15 hours a day, and obtained evidence to prove him guilty on 16 charges. The officers did not have a search warrant, using a camera on a pole positioned across the street to capture Bruce Hay’s home. A federal court ruled on Tuesday that it was fine for law enforcement to do so, in what’s potentially a major reduction in privacy law.

“Mr. Hay had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a view of the front of his house,” said the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in its decision on U.S. vs Hay. “As video cameras proliferate throughout society, regrettably, the reasonable expectation of privacy from filming is diminished.”

Hay, an Army veteran, was found guilty of lying about his disability status to collect benefits from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). However, the concerning part of this case stems from how VA officers collected evidence against Hay. The veteran appealed his case, arguing that the months-long surveillance of his home crossed a line. However, the federal court ruled that law enforcement can videotape the outside of your home, partially because of how prominent video cameras have become in society.

The federal court’s decision says that video cameras have become “ubiquitous,” and have therefore diminished our expectations of privacy. Police officers wear body cameras now, cellphones have cameras, and many doorbells record your porch. The court isn’t wrong that cameras are everywhere.

Keep reading

Fatal crash in police chase doesn’t count, Kansas says — because it was on purpose

When a Bonner Springs police officer began chasing a man in June 2021 for an expired license plate, speeds on Interstate 70 escalated to 100 mph.

Then the officer intentionally hit the car to bring the chase to an end, a maneuver called a tactical vehicle intervention or TVI.

The driver, Darrell Vincent, of Kansas City, Kansas, was ejected and killed.

In an odd loophole, Vincent’s death is not counted in statewide or federal statistics on police chases because the officer purposely struck his car.

That officials choose not to include injuries or deaths caused by deliberate actions by police is one example of how police chases are not reliably counted by state or federal authorities.

“I think that’s wrong because it was a chase,” said Darrius Vincent, Darrell Vincent’s son. “It cost him his life and I just don’t think that was a good thing. It was a very bad thing.”

Keep reading

Legalizing medical marijuana is popular in Kansas, so why hasn’t it happened yet?

Kansas is one of only a few states with no legal medical or recreational marijuana. Some people are optimistic about a medical cannabis deal this year.

Activists at the Statehouse are renewing a push for state lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana in Kansas. While Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and many state legislators from both parties support the concept, lawmakers have yet to take up the issue this session.

The American Civil Liberties Union held an online day of action for marijuana legalization earlier this month. During the event, activists expressed disappointment that Kansas does not have legal medical marijuana, nearly three years after the state House passed a bill that would have provided for it.

“I’m here in open-mouth amazement that we are still discussing passing a medical marijuana bill,” said Cheryl Kumberg, president of the Kansas Cannabis Coalition. “It just is the same excuses all these years. The same rhetoric from opponents and legislators.”

In 2021, the Kansas House passed a medical marijuana bill with bipartisan support, but it was never taken up by the Senate. That bill would have legalized the prescription of smokeless cannabis products for patients with diseases and disorders including cancer, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

At the time, some Republicans opposed the bill because they wanted more details on dosage and distribution, or because they didn’t want to conflict with the federal government, which continues to prohibit marijuana possession.

Some House lawmakers have said they’re optimistic for a discussion on medical marijuana in the coming weeks, but they’re hoping the Senate will take the lead.

“I think it does have some traction. I know folks are talking about it,” said Republican Rep. Nick Hoheisel, who voted in favor of the 2021 medical marijuana bill. “Everybody’s becoming more aware of it, and how popular medical marijuana is in Kansas currently and how well it polls.”

Republican Senate President Ty Masterson is one of the key lawmakers who has opposed medical marijuana in past sessions, but he recently said he’s open to a discussion.

“I’m actually open to true medical marijuana or to palliative care,” he told KCUR in December. “I am open to that. I am not saying no. I’m just saying we don’t have any real studies on dosing and distribution.”

Keep reading

Mystery Deepens Around NFL Fans Found Frozen in Friend’s Backyard as Fifth Man Is Identified

A new name has arisen in the case of three Kansas City Chiefs fans who died earlier this month.

Alex Weamer-Lee, a friend of the victims, had joined them for a watch party, according to the Daily Mail. That makes five people who attended the event, three of whom later died.

According to the New York Post, Andrew Talge, Weamer-Lee’s attorney, his client was at the party on Jan. 7 that ended up in death, but left at about midnight, and said that when he left the four other men at the party were watching “Jeopardy!”

This is how the case unfolded. On Jan. 7, David Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, visited Jordan Willis’ home in the northen part of Kansas City to watch a game between the Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers, WDAF-TV reported.

On the night of Jan. 9, the men were all found dead on Willis’ property by the Kansas City Police Department. One of the men was dead on the back porch, while the other two were found in the backyard, WDAF reported.

Police said at the time that there were no obvious signs of foul play, and a member of one of the dead men’s families said Willis had claimed they “froze to death.”

Willis reportedly said his friends were at his home as he had gone to bed and had invited them to stay over as long as they wished, the outlet reported. However, an attorney for Willis first said his client watched his friends leave and then later said his client was asleep while the men continued to party at the house.

He said he spent the following two days with “no knowledge” that his friends were dead on his property, according to the New York Post.

Keep reading

Mystery as three Kansas City Chiefs fans ‘freeze to death’ in friend’s backyard two days after play offs – as furious loved ones suggest they may have been POISONED and slam police for failing to investigate

Questions are swirling over the mysterious deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans who ‘froze to death’ in a friend’s backyard after watching a playoff game. 

David Harrington, Ricky Johnson and Clayton McGeeney visited an unnamed friend’s house on January 7 to watch the Chiefs’ playoff win against the Chargers, but never made it home. 

When the fiancé of one of the men couldn’t get hold of him for two days, she broke into the home to discover one of their bodies on the back porch. After police were called, they quickly found the bodies of the other two men also in the backyard. 

The homeowner claimed the three men froze to death, and investigators ruled out foul play as they declined to make any arrests. 

Now, the loved ones of the men are speaking out to demand answers, as they insist the reported circumstances of the deaths simply don’t add up. 

‘Nobody believes this story,’ said Harrington’s mother Jennifer Marquez. ‘None of his friends, none of the families, none of us believe it… Everybody is furious.’ 

The family of Johnson, a father-of-three, spoke with NewsNation this week, saying they have been left grief-stricken and confused at the sudden death of the ‘loving’ man. 

‘It’s very hard holding up,’ said Johnson’s mother Norma. ‘Something is not right.’ 

She said the police are ‘not doing anything’ to solve the mystery of her son’s passing, and called for the owner of the home, who has not been publicly identified, to be ‘at least investigated.’ 

Although relatives of the men feel investigators haven’t given the case enough attention, the Kansas City Police Department previously said they are awaiting medical examiner’s results on a cause of death before moving forward.

The department did not immediately respond to a request for an update on the case. 

Cops have also reportedly doubled down on their determination that no foul play was involved in the deaths, and say they are treating the case as a death investigation, not a homicide investigation. 

Keep reading

GOP Kansas Senate President Is ‘Open’ To Limited Medical Marijuana For Seriously Ill While Dismissing Public Support For Legalization

The GOP Kansas Senate leader says he’s “open” to medical marijuana—but only in restricted form for seriously ill or terminal patients. And he might want to do a pilot program first before potentially expanding the limited reform.

During an interview with KCUR that aired on Thursday, Senate President Ty Masterson (R) was asked about his willingness to enact cannabis legalization given how recent polling shows overwhelming public support for the policy change.

He first suggested that most Kansans only support medical cannabis for “palliative care,” and claimed that “recreational was not addressed as a majority” in the recent survey. The host pressed him, pointing out that the recent Kansas Speaks fall poll found 67 percent support for taxing and regulating adult-use marijuana.

“If you look at that question, I think most people would answer yes, but they don’t know what they’re actually saying yes to,” Masterson, whose chamber declined to act on a House-passed medical marijuana legalization bill in 2021, argued. He cited concerns with the implementation of adult-use legalization in neighboring Oklahoma.

Keep reading

Government-Run Grocery Store Is Predictably Losing Money

Chicago’s city government is infamously corrupt and unable to provide basic services like education and public safety consistently, but Mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing for the city to also try running a grocery store.

It wouldn’t be the first government-run grocery store—and not even the first one in the United States. For some context about what Chicago is planning, The Wall Street Journal dispatched a reporter to check out the municipal-owned grocery store in Erie, Kansas, which opened in 2021.

How’s it going there? Uh, not great.

“Erie Market, which the city took over in 2021, is losing money almost every month amid stiff competition from a Walmart 15 miles away and a Dollar General across the street,” reports the Journal‘s Joe Barrett. Erie Market posted just a single profitable month during 2022 and lost $132,000.

Maybe Erie’s erstwhile government grocers didn’t realize that—unlike with other government services—grocery stores are subject to competition. Bummer.

Keep reading

Fentanyl’s littlest victims: Dozens of babies, toddlers die in Missouri and Kansas

The boy’s tiny lifeless body lay on a bed last year inside a home along The Paseo. When Kansas City police officers found 2-year-old Cillian Miller in August 2022, he was wearing only a green T-shirt and was naked from the waist down. Most of his body was covered in a blanket except his feet, which were already discolored, court records show. Strewn throughout the home were new and used syringes, glass pipes and “multiple strips of foil with apparent burnt residue.” One pipe was left underneath a partially eaten McDonald’s cheeseburger on the dining room table. And somewhere inside that home, the child came across fentanyl. Tests would later show the little boy was yet another victim of the drug ravaging the nation and taking hundreds of lives in the Kansas City area. In KC, and across both Missouri and Kansas, dozens of little children have died from the illicit drug in the past three years, The Star has found in an ongoing investigation into the toll fentanyl has taken on our community. This report on our youngest victims launches an extensive project that will include community outreach and stories about the broader impact of fentanyl on the Kansas City area and the challenges of policing the problem. Unlike other drug crises, including crack, these children aren’t suffering from debilitating addictions because their parents were using; they are dying of actual fentanyl overdoses. The babies and toddlers — ages 4 and under — have come across the synthetic opioid and its residue in their homes, inside hotel rooms and even at a city park. Their deaths have largely gone unnoticed, ending up as statistics inside annual state reports on child deaths or in records kept by county medical examiners. Most of the attention on fentanyl has focused on teens or young adults and the awareness that “one pill can kill.”

Keep reading

TikTok-Famous Police Chief Swapped Incest Vids on Secret Twitter Account: Feds

A TikTok-famous small-town police chief traded incest videos via a secret Twitter account discovered during a search of his home office, according to a newly unsealed federal complaint reviewed by The Daily Beast.

Joel Justice Womochil, 38, went by “@ictbaddad” on the social media platform now known as X, with a profile picture of “Pedobear”—which the complaint describes as “a pedophilic cartoon utilized by some individuals engaged in the pedophile community.”

“Hello kids :)” read the banner across the top of the now-defunct account’s profile page. Womochil, as @ictbaddad, described himself online as a “38 w male looking 4 that special girl that was raised right and wants 2 continue the tradition,” according to the complaint. “If u luv the little things In life message on Wire same name[.]”

Womochil became police chief in Burns, Kansas, a town of 250 people, in February 2022, and served until his sudden resignation in early August. He said only that it was in the “best interest of me and this department,” though he continued working part-time as a detention deputy in neighboring Butler County. A little over a week later, Womochil was arrested on state charges of possessing child sexual abuse material. As of Friday, he is now facing two federal counts of receipt and possession of child pornography, with penalties that could put the disgraced lawman behind bars for decades.

The details of what Womochil allegedly had been seeking out and exchanging online have not been previously revealed.

His TikTok videos of life as a police officer regularly racked up tens of thousands of views, with some getting more than 600,000.

Keep reading