Month: February 2018

Compromise could free cop cam videos in Kansas more quickly

by Stephen Koranda, Kansas News Service

Kansas lawmakers have forged a compromise to allow more access to video from police body cameras and vehicles.

Legislation debated in the Kansas House Wednesday followed recent shootings by police in the state.

The bill says people in the videos or their families must be given access to the recordings within 20 days.

In the past, it could take months for families to see a video and find out what happened in a fatal police shooting.

Republican Rep. Blaine Finch said this plan would give families a definite timeline.

“I’m hoping that they can get some comfort and closure and get the information that they want or need in these cases,” Finch said.

Heather Joyce is the sister-in-law of Dominique White, who was shot by police in Topeka last year. She told lawmakers during a committee hearing this month that it took almost three months before her family could see a video of his shooting.

“Our family should have been grieving,” she said. “Instead we were still looking for answers, still trying to comprehend why.”

The Kansas House legislation doesn’t go as far as a previous proposal when it comes to releasing videos. The original plan would have given families access to recordings within 24 hours. Law enforcement officials objected to that, saying the short timeframe would interfere with investigations.

The original bill would have also created timelines for releasing videos to the general public, but that section was stricken from the legislation. Instead, the Kansas Judicial Council will study that issue.

Democratic Rep. John Alcala had pushed the original version of the bill as a way to improve relations between communities and law enforcement. He said the shooting of Dominique White had put strain on Topeka.

“I felt that put the city of Topeka almost at the edge of civil unrest,” Alcala said.

While the bill scales back the scope of the changes, Alcala still supports the legislation.

“It’s a way of starting to build that trust back up,” Alcala said.

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/compromise-could-free-cop-cam-videos-kansas-more-quickly.

Temperature rises above freezing here

Roads in Wyandotte County were generally not slick or icy at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, as the temperature had risen to 33 degrees. However, freezing rain has started to fall in parts of the county.

The National Weather Service forecast still has a winter weather advisory in effect until 6 p.m. Feb. 22. Areas such as bridges could still be slick, with occasional mist in the forecast, according to the weather service.

According to the weather service, there is a 60 percent chance of freezing rain before 3 p.m., then rain likely. The high today will be about 34 degrees.

Tonight, there is a 70 percent chance of rain before midnight, then a slight chance of drizzle between midnight and 1 a.m. Fog is possible between 7 p.m. and midnight. Tonight’s low should be 32 degrees, according to the weather service.

Temperature timeline: The weather service predicts the temperature will be 33 degrees at 4 p.m., 34 degrees at 7 p.m., 34 degrees at 10 p.m., 33 degrees at 1 a.m., and 32 degrees at 7 a.m. On Friday, temperatures may reach a high of 43 degrees in the afternoon. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.1149&lon=-94.7708&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

For more information, visit www.weather.gov.

Loss at Highland to send KCKCC to Fort Scott for playoff Feb. 28

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s short-handed men’s basketball team will open Region VI playoff action on the road at Fort Scott Wednesday, Feb. 28.

That was assured Wednesday when the Blue Devils dropped a 69-51 decision at Highland. The loss left KCKCC 1-8 in Region VI Division II play heading into the season finale at Labette Saturday at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, Highland (7-2) wrapped up the No. 2 seed behind Johnson County (9-0) and earned a first round bye along with the Cavaliers, who just held off Fort Scott 64-59 Wednesday.

Despite being second, Highland is the winningest team in the Jayhawk Division II at 22-7. The other first round game Feb. 28 will send Hesston (2-7) to Labette (3-6) in a re-match of Wednesday play in which Labette took an 86-64 win.

Highland scored the game’s first six points and never trailed in building a 24-9 lead Wednesday only to have the Blue Devils stage a furious rally.

Fueled by 3-pointers by Juvan Davenport, Joshia Laws and Malcolm Tate, the Blue Devils scored 13 straight points to chop the Scotties’ lead to 24-22 with 1:52 left in the half.

Ryan Haskins’ fifth 3-pointer in five attempts in the first half finally ended the KCKCC rally.

Leading 32-25 at the half, Highland got another trey from Haskins to start the second half for a 10-point lead and the Scotties maintained a double digit lead the rest of the way. Haskins finished 7-of-8 from 3-point to lead Highland with 21 points and six assists.

KCKCC’s Juvan Davenport led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field including a sizzling 6-of-8 3-pointers while Tyson Beringer added eight points and DuVonte Beard and Josiah Laws seven each.

Laws also led all rebounders with 11. Beard and Davenport added six rebounds each while Laws and Davenport led in assists with three.

Highland shot 44.3 percent including 41.7 from 3-point (10-of-24), won the rebounding battle 39-30 and had just 12 turnovers to KCKCC’s 17. The Blue Devils were 19-of-56 from the field (.339) and 9-of-29 from 3-point (.310).