Month: November 2017

Sunny, windy weather ahead for Wednesday

National Weather Service graphic

Today’s forecast is sunny and windy, with a high near 57, according to the National Weather Service.

A north northwest wind of 8 to 14 mph may gust as high as 24 mph today, the weather service said.

Tonight, it will be mostly clear with a low of 34 and a north northwest wind of 5 to 7 mph, becoming light and variable in the evening, according to the weather service.

Thursday, skies will be mostly sunny with a high near 53, and a southeast wind of 3 to 8 mph, the weather service said.

Thursday night, it will be increasingly cloudy, with a low of 46 and a south wind of 7 to 10 mph, according to the weather service.

Friday, there will be a 30 percent chance of showers before noon, with a high near 68, the weather service said. A south wind of 8 to 13 mph will gust as high as 25 mph.

Friday night, there is a 30 percent chance of showers after midnight, according to the weather service. The low will be 44.

Saturday, skies will be mostly sunny with a high near 51, the weather service said.

Saturday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 30, according to the weather service.

Sunday, the high will be near 52 with sunny skies, the weather service said.

Sunday night, the low will be around 36, according to the weather service.

Monday, it will be mostly sunny with a high near 56, the weather service said.

Monday night, the low will be around 38 with partly cloudy skies, according to the weather service.

Tuesday, the high will be near 53 with mostly sunny skies, the weather service said.

Kansas lawmaker questions DCF about report of destroyed child welfare documents

by Madeline Fox, Kansas News Service

Officials with the Kansas Department for Children and Families responded Tuesday to concerns about destroyed evidence in child abuse cases during a legislative task force meeting.

After a Kansas City Star investigation suggested DCF employees had shredded documents regarding children in state care, an agency official told lawmakers that the claims by former DCF deputy director Dianne Keech were inaccurate.

“During Mrs. Keech’s time with the department, she claims the agency’s attorney directed staff to keep information from the public’s reach by a shredding of all notes. This is not an accurate statement,” said Steve Greene, director of policy and legislative affairs for DCF. “Ms. Keech is likely referring to direction given to staff that they should not include personal notes in case files for incident review. … This is not an effort to keep information from the public, but rather an effort to ensure the file only contains facts, observations pertinent to the case.”

Sen. Laura Kelly, who had asked Greene about the claims, said she was unsatisfied with the response to questions about the destruction of case file notes.

“They still have not answered my question,” said Kelly, a Topeka Democrat. “My question was very specifically, ‘Have social workers been asked to shred notes that they have taken during meetings on kids in custody?’ I don’t have the answer to that question from them yet.”

DCF has been confronted about child welfare problems during meetings of the task force, which legislators established earlier this year to examine issues with the state’s privatized foster care system. In the last few years, Kansas has repeatedly set records for the number of children in foster care.

During the September meeting, task force members learned that some children taken into custody were sleeping in contractors’ offices because placements could not be immediately found. At last month’s meeting DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore told task force member she was not aware of specific cases of foster kids running away from care.

Gilmore, who did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, announced earlier this month that she will retire Dec. 1.

In response to last month’s concerns about missing kids, DCF provided an updated count Tuesday to the task force. Officials said 77 kids were missing from care as of Nov. 12, with the largest number of runaways ages 15 to 18.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/kansas-lawmaker-questions-dcf-about-report-destroyed-child-welfare-documents.

KCKCC’s best soccer season ends with 5-1 loss in national tourney

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

The finest soccer season in Kansas City Kansas Community College history came to an end Tuesday in the NJCAA Division I national tournament in Prescott, Ariz.

No. 7 Monroe College out of New Rochelle, N.Y., sent the 11th-seeded Blue Devils to the tournament sidelines with a 5-1 win.

In the national tournament for the fourth time in the last seven years including two appearances in the national championship game, Monroe (13-1-2) will meet No. 2 Schoolcraft of Livonia, Mich. (16-0) Wednesday with the winner advancing to the semifinals.

Ranked No. 10 in the final NJCAA national rankings – the first time ever in the Top 20 – and in the national tournament for the first time ever, the Blue Devils finished with a 13-5-1 record.

Two goals in the first 14 minutes doomed the Blue Devils against Monroe. Carols Rodriguez beat KCKCC goalkeeper Youssef Gadelkerim to a loose ball and fed Lucas Nishioka for a point blank shot just 10:47 into the game and three minutes later Jorge Figueroa scored an unassisted goal from the top of the box.

The Mustangs widened their lead to 3-0 nine minutes into the second half on a goal by Javier Rodriguez on an assist from Gabriel Machado before KCKCC scored at the 69.51 mark, Piper freshman Jackson Jones passing to another frosh, Bruno Rovares, for the goal. Monroe then closed out the win on goals by Gabriel Machado and Cristian Valencia in the final seven minutes.

Monroe got off 26 shots against KCKCC including nine on goal; the Blue Devils attempted 16 shots, five on goal. The Mustangs also had a 9-5 edge in corner kicks.