18-year-old charged with rape at child welfare office

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — An 18-year-old has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old at a suburban Kansas City child welfare office where children have been kept overnight because of a shortage of beds.

The Kansas City Star reports that Michael Anthony Hamer was charged last week with rape and aggravated indecent liberties of a child. Bond is set at $500,000. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.

Kansas lawmakers and child advocates have been raising concerns for months about keeping children overnight in child welfare contractors’ offices.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe says authorities have dealt with many troublesome issues at the KVC Behavioral Healthcare office in Olathe, where the rape was reported in May.

KVC spokeswoman Jenny Kutz says the agency takes “this situation very seriously.”

Humboldt Camp member at memorial dedication

Barrett Young, a student at Pittsburg State University, will be in Humboldt Saturday to discuss Civil War gravesites.

Young has concluded his research of members of the Union Army buried in Kansas, which will be a useful source for genealogy groups like Find a Grave, Ancestry.com.

The history major also has been responsible for setting up a web page and Facebook site on Humboldt Camp No. 9 where he posts updates on current events. He has also traveled to shows around the country and is a participant in re-enactment organizations.

Humboldt residents are invited to meet Young at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Henry Walkenhorst Memorial Dedication Service at the Lutheran Cemetery, Humboldt, or at a luncheon at City Hall at 11:30 a.m., prior to the service.

Quilt guild won’t meet but plans other events

HUMBOLDT — There will be no Sunflower Quilters Guild meeting this month, organizers announced Monday.

Members wanting to go on Shop Hop are to meet at the Humboldt United Methodist Church parking lot at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

There will also be a Sit and Sew at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, 202 S. Walnut in Iola at 9:30 a.m. Monday for anyone not going on Shop Hop.

 

Dwayne Wade returning to Heat for a final season

MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade looked into the camera, stood alone in the middle of a darkened room and talked for 10 minutes. He struggled with his words at times, unable to control his emotions. He wept.

And finally, he made what he called the hardest decision of his life.

One more year.

Retirement needs to wait a little bit longer for Wade, who announced Sunday night in a video taped earlier in the day that he’s returning for a 16th and final NBA season. He basically spent the entirety of the last four months weighing his options, and retirement — even just a few days ago — was an extremely real possibility in his mind.

“I’ve always did things my way,” said Wade, who is expected to sign a $2.4 million, one-year deal later this week. “Whether they’ve good or whether they’ve been bad, I got here because I’ve done things the way that I feel is right for me and right for my family. And what I feel is right … I feel it’s right to ask you guys to join me for one last dance, for one last season.

“This is it. I’ve given this game everything that I have, and I’m happy about that, and I’m going to give it for one last season, everything else I have left.”

Wade is Miami’s career leader in points, assists, steals and games played.

Pirates come back late versus Royals

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jacob Stallings has 19 hits in parts of three major league seasons, and the rookie third-string catcher has made a some of them count.

Stallings hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.

It was Stallings’ second career game-ending hit. The catcher also had one on Sept. 23, 2016, against Washington as a pinch hitter.

After Jordan Luplow grounded into a double play, Kevin Kramer walked and moved to second on Kevin Newman’s single. Stallings then singled into left field off Ben Lively (0-3) for his third hit of the game, scoring Kramer.

Stallings was not in the original lineup. He was told 2½ hours before the game he would be subbing for ailing Francisco Cervelli.

“It was pretty similar to my other one, same spot and same kind of pitch,” Stallings said. “It was good to help the team on short notice. It was fun to come through for the guys.”

Stallings has spent the last three years shuttling between Pittsburgh and Triple-A Indianapolis while stuck on the organizational depth chart behind Cervelli and Elias Diaz.

“The biggest thing for me is staying ready,” said Stallings, whose father, Kevin, was the University of Pittsburgh’s basketball coach for two seasons before being fired in March. “On a day like today, when I’m not ready to play, I’m still ready. You get paranoid because you never know what might happen.”

 

Stallings has made a good impression on Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.

 

“He puts his foot down early and hits the ball hard where it’s pitched. Old-school hitting,” Hurdle said. “He’s done a very professional job on everything he’s done.”

 

The Pirates scored twice with two outs in the eighth inning to tie the game at 6-all. The first run scored when first baseman Ryan O’Hearn failed to handle a throw from third baseman Hunter Dozier on a grounder by Pablo Reyes. Starling Marte followed with an RBI triple.

 

Newman had three of Pittsburgh’s 16 hits as the rookie shortstop extended his hitting streak to six games and helped the Pirates win for the ninth time in 12 games.

 

Edgar Santana (3-3) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

 

O’Hearn led off the top of the eighth with his 11th home run in 36 games since making his debut July 31 and gave the Royals a two-run lead.

 

Josh Bell drew Pittsburgh to 5-4 in the seventh with a run-scoring single.

 

O’Hearn’s RBI double capped a four-run fifth inning and put the Royals on top 5-3 following consecutive run-scoring singles by Adalberto Mondesi, Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez.

 

Gordon doubled in the game’s first run in top of the third inning and Corey Dickerson countered with an RBI single in the bottom half. Adam Frazier’s two-run single in the fourth gave the Pirates a short-lived 3-1 lead.

 

Kansas City’s Brad Keller allowed four runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings. Pittsburgh’s Joe Musgrove also pitched six innings, giving up five runs and eight hits.

 

Keller got his first major league hit when he singled off Musgrove to lead off the fifth inning. It came in Keller’s second career at-bat after he struck out in the second.

 

Keller was in line for his team-high ninth win until the Royals squandered the lead. He was selected from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Rule 5 Draft in December after having never pitched above Class A.

 

“He got us into the seventh and did a great job of doing that,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He threw the ball really, really well. He put us in position to win.”

 

O’Hearn’s homer to right field off Steven Brault was the first allowed by the left-hander in 117 career plate appearances against left-handed batters.

 

TRAINER’S ROOM

 

Pirates: 2B Frazier (right knee discomfort) left for a pinch-runner immediately after hitting his double. . Cervelli (flu-like symptoms) was on deck ready to pinch-hit when Stallings delivered the game-winning hit. . Diaz (strained right hamstring) has been cleared to play after sitting out since Aug. 31. . Pitching coach Ray Searage underwent cervical surgery and assistant pitching coach Justin Meccage is taking his place.

 

AND 31 YEARS LATER .

 

Royals 2B Whit Merrifield played his first game in Pittsburgh. Merrifield’s father, Bill, was called up by the Pirates for one day late in the 1987 season then sent to instructional league to make the conversion from third baseman to first baseman.

 

Bill Merrifield did not appear in a game and never returned to the major leagues.

 

REMEMBERING MAC

 

A moment of silence was held for rapper/singer Mac Miller, who died last week. Miller was a Pittsburgh native and Pirates’ fan.

 

UP NEXT

 

Royals: LHP Eric Skoglund (1-5, 6.19) makes his third appearance and second start Tuesday night since being sidelined from May 26-Sept. 6 with a sprained ligament in his left elbow.

 

Pirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (13-9, 3.37) has allowed three earned runs or less in 19 straight starts.

Grand feast

Riley Jones, left, digs into a biscuits and gravy breakfast next to his grandfather, Bill Wilson of Iola, at Lincoln Elementary School during the “Grands for Grandparents” event Friday morning. The three elementary schools in Iola invited grandparents to eat breakfast with the students. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Companies may go younger for long-haul drivers

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A nationwide shortage of truckers has some industry officials and national lawmakers supporting a plan to allow 18-year-olds to become long-haul drivers, while others in the industry say it’s a bad idea that will decrease safety on the nation’s road.
Apex CDL Institute in Kansas City, Kansas, trains truckers and would likely have more students if federal proposals allow those under 21 to drive big rigs across the country. But institute director Jeffrey Steinberg thinks most 18-year-olds would make bad long-haulers.
“Sure, I’d make money” if the law was changed, Steinberg said. “But is it going to create more problems than it would solve? In my opinion, yes. I don’t think it’s safe.”
Bills before the U.S. House and the Senate — co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas — both propose that people under 21 who have commercial drivers’ licenses be allowed to take their cargo across state lines. Federal law now requires truckers to wait until age 21 to get a CDL permitting them to drive big rigs across the country, The Kansas City Star reported.
Steinberg is not alone in his objection to dropping that minimum age to 18. The 160,000-member Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, headquartered in Grain Valley. Missouri, has joined more than a dozen traffic safety groups in writing protest letters to a congressional committee that will hear the idea. The federal proposals set training requirements for young CDL holders.
“Younger drivers both lack overall experience and are less safe behind the wheel than their older counterparts,” their April 17 letter said. “In fact, CMV (commercial motor vehicle) drivers under the age of 19 are four times more likely to be involved in fatal crashes.”
Republican-led proposals before the U.S. Committee On Transportation and Infrastructure would affect Kansas City, a central trucking hub, and other communities long state borders. Both Kansas and Missouri allow 18-year-olds to obtain CDLs, but only for travel within one state.
Some industry analysts with deliveries surging because of Amazon, eBay and Fed Ex, it’s long past time to relax interstate restrictions.
“What isn’t interstate commerce these days?” asked Satish Jindel of shipping logistics adviser SJ Consulting Group, Inc. “Anyone who makes a distinction between interstate and intrastate trucking is stuck in the past.”
He said whether the minimum age is 18 or 21, the federal government needs to be consistent with the state CDL laws.
The American Trucking Associations expect the costs of delivered packages — in addition to groceries, furniture and most every consumer product — to climb as road shippers try to find 51,000 drivers to fill the empty cabs. That’s up from a trucker shortage of 20,000 in 2013 and 36,500 in 2016. The ATA recently forecast a shortage of 100,000 drivers by 2021.
With the median age of a long-hauler at 49 and shipping demands ascending, the industry aims to recruit 90,000 new drivers a year for the next decade to keep cargo moving, said ATA vice president Sean McNally.
Norita Taylor of the independent drivers association said major carriers could fix the driver shortage by paying more but they don’t want to do that.
“Their shareholders benefit from high turnover and low pay,” said Taylor. “Dropping the minimum age to 18 is just another way to get cheap help.”
The median annual wage in 2015 for a trucker working with a private fleet, such as a driver for Walmart, was $73,000, according to ATA.

Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify

WASHINGTON (AP) — The woman accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her is willing to tell her story in public to a Senate panel considering his nomination to the Supreme Court, her lawyer said today.
Kavanaugh had been on a smooth confirmation track, but the new allegations have roiled that process. Republican senators have expressed concern over a woman’s private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.
Debra S. Katz, the attorney for the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, said her client considered the incident to be an attempted rape.
“She believes that if it were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped,” Katz told NBC’s “Today.”
Kavanaugh has “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations, a statement the White House repeated today.
“This has not changed,” said White House spokesman Kerri Kupec. “Judge Kavanaugh and the White House both stand by that statement.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said of Ford today: “She should not be insulted. She should not be ignored. She should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.”
Conway, who said she had discussed the situation with President Donald Trump, said that both Ford and Kavanaugh should testify, but made clear it was up to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She said Sen. Lindsey Graham had told her it could happen as soon as Tuesday  and the White House will “respect the process.”
Stressing that Kavanaugh had already testified and undergone FBI background checks, Conway said: “I think you have to weigh this testimonial evidence from Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh along with the considerable body of evidence that is already there about the judge’s temperament and qualifications and character.”
In morning television interviews, Katz said her client was willing to tell her story in public to the Senate Judiciary Committee, although no lawmakers or their aides had yet contacted her. Katz also denied that Ford, a Democrat, is politically motivated.
“No one in their right mind regardless of their motives would want to inject themselves into this process and face the kind of violation that she will be subjected to by those who want this nominee to go though. … She was quite reluctant to come forward.”
Initially the sexual misconduct allegation was conveyed in a private letter, without revealing Ford’s name. With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the prospect of congressional Republicans defending Trump’s nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprecedented number of female candidates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement.
The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee appeared nonetheless committed to a vote later this week despite Ford’s account in The Washington Post.
Kavanaugh, she told the Post, pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.
Ford said Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” she says — corralled her in a bedroom when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it. Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when Judge jumped on them.
Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys in Maryland while Ford attended a nearby school.
Through the White House, Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals judge in Washington, said: “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”

Royals miss out on road sweep of Minnesota

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There was little for Tyler Austin to be upset about as he headed to the bus on Sunday.
The Twins’ first baseman had hit one of their four home runs in a 9-6 win over the Kansas City Royals. He had escaped unscathed after making a spectacular catch while flipping into the dugout down the first-base line and, perhaps most importantly, he didn’t have to dress up in one of the ridiculous horse-and-jockey costumes that were awaiting his rookie teammates in their locker.
Instead, Austin was able to enjoy all of it — right down to the rookie hazing ritual — after the Twins managed to avoid a four-game sweep and an ignominious start to their final trip this season.
Max Kepler, Johnny Field and Jorge Polanco also went deep for the Twins, who had a season-high 18 hits and got a gritty effort by Kyle Gibson (8-13) to cool off the red-hot Royals.
“You always have something to play for,” said Gibson, who lasted into the seventh to end a four-start losing streak, despite allowing five runs and 11 hits. “When teams start giving up and throwing it in, they’re only doing disrespecting those around you.”
So that’s why Austin was willing to go head-over-heels into an empty dugout, and while the rest of the Twins were there to pick him right back up with a pat on his back.
“I don’t think he cares where fences are,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “He kind of caught it as he got there and unfortunately there were no people there. He took a pretty hard fall but he’s OK.”
Jerry Vasto (0-1) allowed one run on three hits to take the loss in relief.
Ryan O’Hearn and Rosell Herrera staked Kansas City to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back run-scoring doubles in the first, but Minnesota slowly chipped away in building a 5-2 lead in the fourth.
Polanco began the comeback with an RBI single, but it was Kepler’s homer off Jakob Junis — on the pitcher’s 26th birthday, no less — and back-to-back shots by Austin and Field that turned the game.
It was the sixth time Minnesota has gone back-to-back this season.
Brian Goodwin answered for Kansas City with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, and two-run shot by Adalberto Mondesi in the fifth allowed Kansas City to pull even again. But Polanco’s homer off Brian Flynn leading off the sixth gave Minnesota the lead back for good.
“It was a good homestand. I’m glad we’re playing better for our fans,” said Royals manager Ned Yost, whose club has won five straight series. “We haven’t given them much to cheer for all summer long, yet they still cheer for us. So, to have some success here at the end of the season makes me feel a little bit better.”
RIDER UP
The Twins rookies poured out of the dugout long after the final pitch and proceeded to run around Kauffman Stadium in what Gibson dubbed the Kentucky Derby. They’ll have to don their costumes again to run the Preakness after their final game in Detroit, then do it one more time to run the Belmont Stakes when they conclude their final road series in Oakland next weekend.
EWW, GROSS
Twins pitcher Zack Littell left Saturday’s game after developing blood blister on a finger of his pitching hand. “It’s good,” he said before Sunday’s game. “Came in this morning and let them drain it again. Letting it dry up and then take a day or two off catch, then get back at it.”
EASY WITH EDDIE
Eddie Rosario (hamstring) was the DH on Sunday, and Twins manager Paul Molitor said he’s being cautious with putting him back in the outfield. “I’m hoping he gets there. I don’t think he’s feeling that risk is worthwhile,” Molitor said. “As it’s going, I’m getting him in there most days as DH.”
UP NEXT
The Twins continue their 10-game trip when they visit Detroit for three games beginning Monday night. The Royals’ final road trip also begins Monday night, when RHP Brad Keller (8-6, 3.04) is on the mound for the first of three games in Pittsburgh.