Month: September 2021

Kansas middle schooler death prompts urgency from COVID-19 school safety panel

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka – The recent death of a Kansas middle school student from COVID-19 raised the urgency Wednesday of a panel focused on pandemic school safety to implement precautionary measures across the state.

In addition to the death, outbreaks at schools across Kansas more than doubled over the last week, and cases have continued to outpace the previous school year. Kansas also remains well behind the national average for vaccinations among 12- to 17-year-olds.

Education officials and health professionals in the Safe Classrooms Workgroup are working to encourage local districts to implement mask policies and testing strategies as soon as possible. Vernon Mills, a retired pediatrician on the panel, said some districts may need a more aggressive approach to prevent further illness and death.

“I’m not above putting it right in your face because I think that’s the only way sometimes it gets across to people that this is not a game,” Mills said. “This is not a political contest where we are going to go back at the end of the day and just lick our wounds. We’re talking about somebody who is going to die because of the decision you made.”

Since Monday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has reported 2,562 new cases and three new deaths. There are currently 72 active school outbreaks in Kansas, an increase of 41 since Sept. 13, and 537 cases.

The increase has led to more school districts implementing mask policies and testing strategies, but many are either still holding out or have not responded to Kansas Department of Health and Environment Surveys.

In an update to the latest data on precautionary measures being taken at schools across the state, Marci Nielsen, chief adviser to the governor for COVID-19 coordination, said seven new school districts have submitted a testing budget plan to KDHE.

Through the KDHE’s K-12 Stay Positive Test Negative Initiative, school districts can create a flexible testing strategy from three models with funding and organizational assistance from the state agency. The seven new school districts represent about 2,000 Kansas students.

Of state school districts, 11% have expressed no interest in the funding available.

Kansas education Commissioner Randy Watson said these testing strategies have been well received in the districts that have implemented them.

“It’s a great method to stay in school,” Watson said. “One superintendent noted how many instructional days he has saved by simply doing the testing protocol.”

Watson said there is optimism that COVID-19 vaccines will be available for children ages 5 to 11 by the end of the semester. Kansas youth vaccination rate for 12- to 17-year-olds is currently 48.8%, compared with 56.5% nationwide.

Three school districts have implemented a mask requirement for at least some students since last week and one school, which had previously not reported to KDHE, has no mask mandate. However, more than 50% of school districts have yet to respond to the KDHE survey.

Jennifer Bacani McKenney, a family physician and Wilson County Health Officer, said the workgroup should consider what other states are doing to ensure they have the necessary data.

“We know that things change week by week and day by day really,” Bacani McKenney said. “How do we make it a very simple process for the schools to communicate with us so that we can have even better data, so we don’t have this big void of information?”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2021/09/22/kansas-middle-schooler-death-prompts-urgency-from-covid-19-school-safety-panel/.

Wichita man arrested in connection with Jan. 6 Capitol breach

A Kansas man was arrested Monday for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

Michael Eckerman, 37, of Wichita, is charged with federal offenses that include assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; obstruction of an official proceeding; and disorderly conduct in the Capitol building. Eckerman made his initial court appearance Monday in U.S. Magistrate Court for the District of Kansas.

According to court documents, Eckerman pushed his way to the front of a crowd outside the crypt of the U.S. Capitol building and yelled at officers.

He pushed one officer back several feet, making him fall down a small set of stairs and allowing rioters to move farther inside the Capitol. He then made it to Statuary Hall on the second floor and pushed his way through another set of officers, whom he yelled at for several minutes before making his way through a line of Capitol Police officers, according to court documents.

Eckerman then went through the House of Representatives side of the Capitol and entered the Rayburn reception room before exiting the Capitol through the upper house doors.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Kansas City and Washington Field Offices, as well as the Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance provided by the U.S. Capitol Police.

In the eight months since Jan. 6, more than 600 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including at least 185 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

KCK woman pleads guilty to carjacking

A Kansas City, Kansas, woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing a vehicle at gunpoint from the parking garage at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.

Maricela Delores Lozano, 21, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to one count of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

By pleading guilty today, Lozano admitted that she used a Century Arms Draco AK 47-style 9mm pistol during the theft of a Nissan Altima on July 19, 2020.

Lozano approached the owner of the Altima, who was attempting to start her vehicle to leave the parking garage of the Country Club Plaza, at about 5:48 p.m. on July 19, 2020. Lozano brandished the AK 47-style pistol, pointed it at the victim, and demanded her keys and cell phone, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the Western District of Missouri.

The victim complied and walked away from the vehicle to a nearby business and used its phone to call the police, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lozano later told investigators that she got into the driver’s seat and attempted to start the vehicle, but the ignition was a “push to start,” which confused Lozano because she had never encountered such technology. Once Lozano was able to start the vehicle, she drove out of the parking garage. Lozano stole a license plate from a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle and attached it to the Nissan, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lozano, who was standing beside the stolen vehicle, was spotted by a Missouri State Highway Patrol corporal in a driveway in Fulton, Missouri, on July 21, 2020. When the officer drove toward her, she got into the vehicle and attempted to flee. The officer stopped the vehicle and arrested Lozano and a male passenger. The officer seized the loaded firearm from the floorboard behind the driver’s seat.

Under federal statutes, Lozano is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole, the U.S. attorney’s office stated. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Marquez. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the FBI.