Month: September 2015

Two KCK residents face drug charges

Antonio Garcia-Viveros, 32, Kansas City, Kan., and Asuncion Cortez-Chavez, 27, Kansas City, Kan., have been charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

In addition, Garcia-Viveros is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

The crimes are alleged to have occurred Aug. 6, 2015, in Kansas City, Kan., according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Upon conviction, the methamphetamine charge carries a penalty of not less than 10 years and a fine up to $10 million; and the firearm charge carries a penalty of not less than five years and a fine up to $250,000.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Krug is prosecuting.

Warm, humid weather continues through weekend

Warm and humid conditions will continue through the upcoming weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Heat indices will remain below critical thresholds however.

Today, the high will be near 91. Winds will be south southwest from 8 to 14 mph, gusting as high as 20 mph, according to the weather service.

Storms will return to the area late Sunday night as a frontal boundary stalls across the Midwest, according to the weather service.

With this boundary in place, storm chances will continue much of next week before cooler and drier air settles by late week, the weather service said.

Widespread severe weather chances look low at this time, according to the weather service.

Kaw Point trail bike path back on the agenda for UG Commission meeting Sept. 3

The three-quarters of a million funding for the three-tenths of a mile Kaw Point trail bike path is back on the Unified Government Commission agenda for Sept. 3.

The commission voted 5-5, with the mayor voting in favor of the project, at the Aug. 27 UG meeting. The project funding did not pass at that meeting.

The UG agenda for the 7 p.m. Sept. 3 meeting provides information that was not discussed on Aug. 27. According to the agenda, if the project does not move forward, about $200,000 in expenses that were incurred so far in the project will need to be refunded with cash in 2016.

Costs overran on the project by around $250,000, according to UG officials. If the project moves forward, the UG would pay $760,000 on the bike path, and the rest of its funding would come from federal funds estimated at $1.2 million. The federal funds are handled through the Kansas Department of Transportation.

The $760,000 was already included in the UG budget that was passed, but the commission did not discuss the project overrun at the time, and some commissioners said they were concerned that the funding increase was not brought before them by UG staff at an earlier date. There were also comments from some commissioners that the project was too expensive for the short length of the trail.

Those in favor of the project said it would connect the Kaw Point Park trail to other metropolitan area trails, and that the project had been previously approved.

Also on the Sept. 3 agenda is an ordinance and resolution to issue $280,000 of taxable special obligation annual appropriation refunding bonds for the Wyandotte Plaza project.

According to the agenda, the $280,000 would cover the scheduled principal payment due Oct. 1, and is a temporary six-month financing. A full refinancing of the Wyandotte Plaza debt is expected to occur during the fourth quarter, according to the agenda. The future refinancing will remove the government’s annual appropriation pledge.

The 7 p.m. Sept. 3 meeting will be in the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.

There also is a special session planned at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, in the ninth floor conference room at City Hall. It will be a closed session on labor.

At 5:30 p.m., a special session will be held in the fifth floor conference room, Suite 515, on the grant process.

The agenda is online at www.wycokck.org.