TOPEKA—The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas sent a letter on Monday, August 19th, to East Elementary School Principal Katie Struebing in the roughly 2,000-person city of Belleville, asserting that the school violated the First Amendment. Struebing recruited a member of the Evangelical Christian organization Gideons International, Ben Dreesen, to hand out bibles to students during their recess on May 7th, according to the letter, which was penned by Monica Bennett, ACLU of Kansas legal director.

WICHITA—A Kansas man, Shan Hanes, 53, of Elkhart, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank office, according to court documents, and was recently sentenced to 293 months in prison for using his former position as chief executive officer (CEO) to embezzle tens of millions of dollars in a cryptocurrency scheme which lead the bank to fail at a complete loss of equity for investors, according to the United StatesAttorney. While the CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB) in Elkhart, Kansas, Hanes initiated eleven outgoing wire transfers between May 2023 and July 2023 totaling $47.1 million of Heartland’s funds to a cryptocurrency wallet in a cryptocurrency scheme referred to as a “pig butchering.” The funds were transferred to multiple cryptocurrency accounts controlled by unidentified third parties during the time HTSB was insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas man who admitted stealing and destroying a Jackie Robinson statue from a Wichita Park was sentenced on Friday, August 2nd, after pleading guilty to the theft of the statue from League 42, according to the district attorney’s office in May. Judge Tyler Roush sentenced 45-year-old Ricky Alderete of Wichita to 15 years in prison according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas man who admitted stealing and destroying a Jackie Robinson statue from a Wichita Park was sentenced on Friday, August 2nd, after pleading guilty to the theft of the statue from League 42, according to the district attorney’s office in May. Judge Tyler Roush sentenced 45-year-old Ricky Alderete of Wichita to 15 years in prison according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

DOUGLAS COUNTY—A driverless semi rolled about 300 feet from 11th and Maine, through a four-foot retaining wall, over a patio between two houses and came to rest against a home’s foundation just after 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 25th, in Lawrence.

BUTLER COUNTY—El Dorado Correctional Facility (EDCF) inmate Blade A. Floyd, 24, died Thursday, July 18th, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.

GOVE COUNTY—The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Ford Expedition driven by Tod A. Huddleston, 62, St.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—One person is dead following a helicopter crash on Friday, July 5th, in a rural area of northwest Sedgwick County. Just after 8:00 a.m., first responders were dispatched to the crash in the 5700 block of North 255th Street West, according to a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office 9-1-1 supervisor.

BARBER COUNTY—Early Tuesday, July 2nd, crews restored power to customers impacted by the outage due to an oil spill, according to Southern Pioneer Electric. According to the Barber County Sheriff, Kansas Highway 2 west of Kiowa from Northstar to Highway 281 was shut down due to the oil well blowing across the highway.

RUSSELL—A scammer is using the Russell Police Department’s phone number, 785-4832121, and claiming to be Russell Police Chief Jordan Harrison. The scam artist will claim the person receiving the call has opened several bank accounts and is committing the crime of money laundering.