Latest news with #Jayhawk
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Small plane carrying six crashes off the coast of Sunset Cliffs
A small plane with six people aboard crashed into the ocean about 3 miles off Sunset Cliffs Sunday afternoon, prompting a search involving several agencies. The Coast Guard received the report at 12:50 p.m. and began searching the debris field with several assets, including a Jayhawk helicopter, a C-27 airplane, the Cutter Sea Otter and two smaller boats, said Petty Officer Charlie Valor. None of the people believed to be on board had been found by early evening as the search continued, Coast Guard officials said. The plane was a Cessna 414, which is a pressurized, twin-engine aircraft designed to carry six to eight passengers, according to officials. San Diego lifeguards initially assisted with the search, then were called off after it became clear the plane went down in water that is probably 200 feet deep or more, a spokesperson said. 'The U.S. Coast Guard alerted San Diego fire department lifeguards after receiving reports from vessels of a large splash approximately three miles off Sunset Cliffs,' said Candace Hadley, a spokesperson for San Diego Fire-Rescue. 'Lifeguards responded with several rescue vessels (boats and some personal watercraft), who located an oil sheen and some debris on the water,' Hadley said. She said lifeguards requested additional support from the Coast Guard because of the depth of the water being searched. The Coast Guard has since assumed responsibility for search, rescue and recovery operations. 'Initial debris recovered by lifeguards have been turned over to Coast Guard authorities. Our Triton vessel is currently on standby in case there is any additional need for assistance,' she said. The high-performance Triton is equipped with hoses and can be used to fight fires. This is the second private plane to crash in the San Diego area in the past 2 1/2 weeks. On May 22, a Cessna 550 Citation II jet crashed into a Murphy Canyon neighborhood, damaging a four-plex in the military housing area and setting 20 vehicles on fire. Six people on board the jet — the pilot and five passengers — were killed in the crash. Miraculously, only a few people suffered minor injuries on the ground. The FAA and NTSB are investigating the cause of that crash. Officials noted the plane was heading to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in Kearny Mesa on a foggy evening when the plane clipped a transmission line about 120 feet in the air. In that incident, the plane had departed from Teterboro, N.J., then stopped in Wichita, Kan., before heading on to San Diego. With Sunday's crash, it was not immediately clear where the plane had taken off from or its intended destination.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kansas Announces Major Coaching Move After Disappointing Season
The Kansas Jayhawks have been one of the premier college basketball programs in the country over the past several years, led by head coach Bill Self. Last season, Kansas entered the year as the No. 1 team in the AP preseason poll. Advertisement The Jayhawks were expected to compete for a national title, behind one of the top players in the nation, Hunter Dickinson, but they struggled. Kansas was defeated in the third round of the Big 12 championship, falling at the hands of Caleb Love and Arizona. They entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed and wound up being upset by John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks. After the season, the Jayhawks made a key coaching move, looking to revamp their staff in hopes of bouncing back from a head-scratching year. Kansas hired Jacque Vaughn as an assistant coach. "Welcome home, Jacque Vaughn," posted the official social media account of the Kansas Jayhawks. "The Kansas great returns to Lawrence as an assistant coach." Advertisement Upon the release of the announcement, Kansas head coach Bill Self revealed his thoughts on the coaching staff decision from the Jayhawks. "We're very excited to welcome Jacque and (his wife) Laura into the fold," Self said, per release. "I've known Jacque from a distance for several years now and have always admired how he has conducted himself professionally and how he has treated people. I think he will be an excellent addition to our program, while also serving as a great mentor, coach and representative of Kansas basketball. We lost an awesome coach in Norm (Roberts) when he retired but feel very fortunate to have replaced him with a tremendous Jayhawk that has a unique and impressive resume." Jacque Vaughn also had some words on his return to Kansas, having played for the Jayhawks from 1993 to 1997. Advertisement "I'm truly honored and overwhelmed with excitement to return to my alma mater and join Coach Self's staff as an assistant coach." Vaughn said. "The game of basketball has provided me the incredible privilege to mentor, coach, and compete alongside some of the best in the game. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring those experiences back to the school that means so much to me. It's a blessing to once again be part of the Jayhawk tradition." Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self.© Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Aside from being a former point guard at the University of Kanas, Jacque Vaughn also has extensive experience in the coaching realm. He started his journey as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs in 2010. After a few stops with the Orlando Magic and the Brooklyn Nets, serving as the Nets' head coach from 2022 to 2024, Vaughn is headed back to the college ranks. Advertisement Related: Hunter Dickinson Reveals Major Personal News on Sunday Related: North Carolina Makes Big Hubert Davis Announcement on Tuesday
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kansas hiring former star, ex-Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn as an assistant
Jacque Vaughn is headed back to Lawrence. Kansas struck a deal to hire the former Jayhawks star and NBA head coach as an assistant on Wednesday afternoon, the school announced. Back where it all began. — Kansas Men's Basketball (@KUHoops) May 21, 2025 "We're very excited to welcome Jacque and [his wife] Laura into the fold," Kansas coach Bill Self said in a statement. "I've known Jacque from a distance for several years now and have always admired how he has conducted himself professionally and how he has treated people. I think he will be an excellent addition to our program, while also serving as a great mentor, coach and representative of Kansas basketball. We lost an awesome coach in Norm [Roberts] when he retired but feel very fortunate to have replaced him with a tremendous Jayhawk that has a unique and impressive resume." Vaughn spent four seasons at Kansas from 1993-97. He averaged 9.6 points and 6.4 assists per game throughout his career there while earning Big 8 Player of the Year honors and twice being a consensus All-American. The Jayhawks made it to the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite Eight while Vaughn was with the program, too. Vaughn, who was selected with the No. 27 overall pick in the draft, played in the league for 12 seasons. He was a member of the San Antonio Spurs when they won the NBA Finals in 2007, too. Vaughn was first hired as an assistant coach with the Spurs in 2010, and he remained there under Gregg Popovich for two seasons before he was hired for the head job in Orlando. Vaughn spent three seasons leading the Magic, though they went just 58-158 under his watch. He landed in Brooklyn as an assistant ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, and he was then promoted to head coach during the 2022-23 season after Steve Nash was fired just seven games in. Vaughn never got a full season running the team, though. He was fired late the following season. Vaughn will now join Self's staff in Lawrence and attempt to help a Kansas program that has struggled to live up to expectations in recent seasons. After winning the national championship in 2022, the Jayhawks have failed to make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament in three straight seasons. They've been ranked No. 1 in the nation to start the past two years, too, before largely falling apart down the stretch. The Jayhawks went 21-13 last season and fell to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament. While it will take more than Vaughn simply coming aboard to turn the blueblood program around, his presence will undoubtedly help that effort.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - Finally, a legal victory against the death penalty
Kansas District Court Judge Bill Klapper is no one's idea of a liberal anti-death penalty activist, having been originally appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) in 2013. But on April 17, Klapper handed down a stunning indictment of his state's death penalty that would make any abolitionist proud. It is as comprehensive a criticism as has ever handed down from the bench, and highlights a path forward for what I call 'death penalty swing states.' Those states have the death penalty on the books but no longer execute anyone — and there are lots of them. Some are red states like Kansas and Ohio; some, like California, are deep blue. All of them are stuck in a kind of death penalty limbo. In Kansas, as the Death Penalty Information center notes, the practice 'has been abolished and reinstated three times' since 1907. No execution has been carried out there since 1965, and no one has received a death sentence since 2016. Currently, there are nine people awaiting execution in the Jayhawk state. In October 2024, two people, Antoine Fielder and Hugo Villanueva, brought forward a suit claiming that the Kansas death penalty 'constitutes a legally prohibited cruel and unusual punishment' and violates both the state and federal constitutions. They argued that it 'has outlived any conceivable use … [and] is imperfect in its application, haphazard in its result, and of negligible utility.' At hearings convened by Klapper, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers representing Fielder and Villanueva presented testimony from a series of nationally known death penalty experts about racial and gender bias, problems in jury selection, the death penalty's economic costs, and whether it deters. They also put forth a 'targeted challenge to a unique aspect of capital trials known as death qualification,' according to public radio — 'a rule requiring that anyone serving on a capital jury must believe state execution is a valid form of punishment.' 'Under death qualification,' the report states, 'a juror who says they oppose the death penalty on principle is automatically struck. Critics say the practice is discriminatory because some types of people are more likely to be excluded from juries than others.' The ACLU contends that 'This practice disproportionately discriminates against Black people, women, and people of faith.' The state cross-examined the expert witnesses but offered no experts of its own. And it argued there was 'no longer a case for the court to consider' since 'the death penalty cannot be a possible punishment' for either of the defendants, and 'the proper way to abolish the death penalty would be to urge legislators to change or repeal the law itself.' Ultimately, Klapper was convinced that 'a defendant may not challenge the constitutionality of a statute … if it does not affect him but may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally in other circumstances.' But what looked like a defeat for Fielder and Villanueva was a total victory for death penalty abolitionists. The judge incorporated the expert testimony almost verbatim, calling it 'decidedly persuasive and well-reasoned.' Klapper's opinion put aside the 'moral issues' surrounding the death penalty, focusing instead on the very issues the ACLU had highlighted. Starting with capital punishment's financial costs, he found that, across the nation, capital cases cost on average '$700,000 more than non-capital cases.' In Kansas alone, 'More than $4 million has been spent with the results being no death penalty sentences and zero executions.' Beyond their costliness, Klapper determined that 'The factors which distinguish death sentence cases from non-death sentence cases are the race and gender of the victim, and the race and gender of the defendant.' Murder cases involving white and female victims, the judge found, are much more likely to result in capital prosecutions. And, if that were not enough, Klapper concluded that 'The scientific community has found no reliable evidence of the death penalty being a deterrent to homicides.' Throughout, his opinion is pragmatic rather than ideological; it offers people in death penalty swing states a way forward by emphasizing the fairness of the death penalty process and its costs and benefits. As Klapper puts it, they should question the 'propriety' of keeping a death penalty as a possible punishment when the state will 'never impose it.' Austin Sarat is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Finally, a legal victory against the death penalty
Kansas District Court Judge Bill Klapper is no one's idea of a liberal anti-death penalty activist, having been originally appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) in 2013. But on April 17, Klapper handed down a stunning indictment of his state's death penalty that would make any abolitionist proud. It is as comprehensive a criticism as has ever handed down from the bench, and highlights a path forward for what I call 'death penalty swing states.' Those states have the death penalty on the books but no longer execute anyone — and there are lots of them. Some are red states like Kansas and Ohio; some, like California, are deep blue. All of them are stuck in a kind of death penalty limbo. In Kansas, as the Death Penalty Information center notes, the practice 'has been abolished and reinstated three times' since 1907. No execution has been carried out there since 1965, and no one has received a death sentence since 2016. Currently, there are nine people awaiting execution in the Jayhawk state. In October 2024, two people, Antoine Fielder and Hugo Villanueva, brought forward a suit claiming that the Kansas death penalty 'constitutes a legally prohibited cruel and unusual punishment' and violates both the state and federal constitutions. They argued that it 'has outlived any conceivable use … [and] is imperfect in its application, haphazard in its result, and of negligible utility.' At hearings convened by Klapper, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers representing Fielder and Villanueva presented testimony from a series of nationally known death penalty experts about racial and gender bias, problems in jury selection, the death penalty's economic costs, and whether it deters. They also put forth a 'targeted challenge to a unique aspect of capital trials known as death qualification,' according to public radio — 'a rule requiring that anyone serving on a capital jury must believe state execution is a valid form of punishment.' 'Under death qualification,' the report states, 'a juror who says they oppose the death penalty on principle is automatically struck. Critics say the practice is discriminatory because some types of people are more likely to be excluded from juries than others.' The ACLU contends that 'This practice disproportionately discriminates against Black people, women, and people of faith.' The state cross-examined the expert witnesses but offered no experts of its own. And it argued there was 'no longer a case for the court to consider' since 'the death penalty cannot be a possible punishment' for either of the defendants, and 'the proper way to abolish the death penalty would be to urge legislators to change or repeal the law itself.' Ultimately, Klapper was convinced that 'a defendant may not challenge the constitutionality of a statute … if it does not affect him but may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally in other circumstances.' But what looked like a defeat for Fielder and Villanueva was a total victory for death penalty abolitionists. The judge incorporated the expert testimony almost verbatim, calling it 'decidedly persuasive and well-reasoned.' Klapper's opinion put aside the 'moral issues' surrounding the death penalty, focusing instead on the very issues the ACLU had highlighted. Starting with capital punishment's financial costs, he found that, across the nation, capital cases cost on average '$700,000 more than non-capital cases.' In Kansas alone, 'More than $4 million has been spent with the results being no death penalty sentences and zero executions.' Beyond their costliness, Klapper determined that 'The factors which distinguish death sentence cases from non-death sentence cases are the race and gender of the victim, and the race and gender of the defendant.' Murder cases involving white and female victims, the judge found, are much more likely to result in capital prosecutions. And, if that were not enough, Klapper concluded that 'The scientific community has found no reliable evidence of the death penalty being a deterrent to homicides.' Throughout, his opinion is pragmatic rather than ideological; it offers people in death penalty swing states a way forward by emphasizing the fairness of the death penalty process and its costs and benefits. As Klapper puts it, they should question the 'propriety' of keeping a death penalty as a possible punishment when the state will 'never impose it.'
