Month: February 2020

Police notes

Suspect arrested after trying to punch officer

A suspect was arrested after trying to punch a law enforcement officer at 10:15 p.m. Feb. 24 at South 7th Street and I-70, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

The officer was driving home from work and saw a traffic accident, according to the report. The officer, who was in uniform, stopped to check on injuries, police stated. The suspect then began slapping a passenger in the car, according to the report.

The officer tried to take the driver into custody, and the suspect pulled away, pushed the officer and attempted to punch him, according to the report. The suspect was taken into custody.

Neither the officer nor the suspect was injured, according to the report.

Small rate increase approved for Atmos gas residential customers

A rate increase was approved Monday for Atmos Energy’s natural gas residential customers.

The company had requested an increase that would have raised bills for residential customers about $4.33 per month in the winter and $3.41 per month in the summer, according to a news release from the Kansas Corporation Commission.

The increase that was approved Monday will allow 35 cents more per month in the winter and 11 cents more per month in the summer, according to the KCC. The increase will be a little over $3 a year for average residents.

Parts of Wyandotte County are served by Atmos Energy.

According to the KCC, instead of a net revenue increase, the order calls for a net revenue decrease of $223,953. The slight increase in residential ratepayers’ bills is designed to better align rates between customer classes and reduce the subsidization of the residential class by the commercial sales class, according to the KCC.

The rate case also addressed return on equity and the creation of a system integrity program to accelerate the replacement of aging infrastructure, the KCC stated.

Atmos initially proposed a return on equity of 10.25 percent. The KCC opted to stay with the current return on equity of 9.1 percent, stating the proposed return on equity ran counter to the downward trends in Kansas and nationwide because of lower costs of capital.

The system integrity program was denied, based on the current proposal, according to the KCC. The door was left open for the company to make the recommended adjustments and initiate a new filing with the KCC if desired, according to the KCC.

The KCC’s order is online at http://estar.kcc.ks.gov/estar/ViewFile.aspx?Id=fd4bf519-8109-4591-a339-86922f6bc68f.

Blue Devils divide doubleheader on 2-hit win

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College was held to just two hits Saturday but still came away with an improbable 6-3 over Northeast Nebraska. The Blue Devils were not so fortunate in a 17-2 setback in the nightcap.

The split left the Blue Devils 4-3 heading into a home game with Maple Woods Thursday at 2 p.m. and pair of doubleheaders with Marshalltown Saturday and Sunday starting at noon.

The Blue Devils scored all their runs in the first three innings of the 6-3 win Saturday. Sophomore Griffin Everitt got the Blue Devils off to a 2-0 start with a 2-run home run in the first and KCKCC added a third run on a walk, passed ball, error and Jose Sosa’s ground ball.

They added a fourth run on a walk and two passed balls in the second and scored their final two runs in the third. After Sosa was hit by a pitch, Trey Hoover for the Blue Devils’ second and final hit. Sosa then scored on an error and Hoover on Michael Edgar’s sacrifice fly.

Sophomore Gabby Ramos got the win, allowing two runs on four hits, striking out four and walking four. Ramos had a no-hitter through three innings before Northeast bunched three hits for two runs in the fourth. Freshman Chase Terrill got the save, allowing one run on one hit in two innings of relief.

Northeast pounded out 18 hits off four Blue Devil pitchers in the 17-2 win as the Hawks scored in every inning but the sixth. Northeast was aided by five KCKCC errors, which led to seven unearned runs.

The Blue Devils had seven hits, four for extra bases. Morrow tripled and doubled, Seth Kenagy tripled and Sosa doubled. Sosa’s double and Morrow’s triple scored KCKCC’s first run in the fourth and Kenagy tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.

Starter Jake Shafter took the loss, allowing five runs on four hits in 1.1 innings. Hunter Cashero was tagged with five runs on six hits in 1.2 innings, Nao Fudaka allowed five hits and three runs (one earned) in 1,2 innings and Steven Santiago allowed two hits and five unearned runs in 2.2 innings.

The Blue Devils scored in every inning in a 15-1 win over Northeast in their home opener Friday as seven Blue Devils had at least two hits. Beneficiary of the big attack was sophomore lefthander Orvaldo Mendez (2-0), who gave up just three hits and one run in four innings. He struck out four, walked three.

Leadoff hitter Seth Kenagy set the tone for the assault, rapping out four hits in four trips to the plate. Jose Sosa, Griffin Everitt and Tyler Henry contributed three hits each and Eduardo Acosta, Caleb Adams and Raymond Paniagua two apiece.

Sosa had the lone home run of the day, a 2-run shot in the fifth, while Henry and Palmer Hutchinson doubled for the only other extra base hits. Sosa and Everitt each drove three runs and Kenagy two.