Latest news with #Lenexa
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
ATF offers $5,000 reward for tips after Tesla hit by Molotov cocktails in Kansas
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering a $5,000 reward for information related to a Tesla firebombing in Kansas in April. Security cameras captured a suspect throwing two lit Molotov cocktails at the back of a Tesla collision center in Lenexa, Kansas, around 1:05 a.m. on April 3, 2025, the ATF said in a news release. The suspect drove to and from the scene in a vehicle, the ATF said. The suspect has not been identified and the ATF did not describe the vehicle. Investigators have labeled the incident an "intentional act of arson," the ATF said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police are also investigating. "This was a calculated attack that could have caused significant harm," said ATF Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Bernard Hansen in the news release. ATF Kansas City Field Division is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information related to the April 3, 2025, firebombing at a Tesla collision center in Lenexa. At about 1:05 a.m., a suspect exited a car, threw two Molotov cocktails at the collision center and left in a vehicle seen in the top left corner of the provided video. The fire was an intentional act of arson and investigators are seeking public assistance to identify the suspect and advance the investigation. 'This was a calculated attack that could have caused significant harm,' said ATF Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Bernard Hansen. 'We're working closely with our partners at the FBI and Lenexa Police to identify the individual responsible, and we need the public's help. If you saw something or know something—even if it seems minor—now is the time to speak up.' This case is being worked in conjunction with the FBI Kansas City Field Office and the Lenexa Police Department. Anyone with information is urged to contact FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324). Read more at Posted by ATF on Friday, June 6, 2025 Anyone with information about the attack is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. To be eligible for the ATF reward, a person's tip must lead to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the attack, the agency said. Tipsters looking to receive reward money must leave their name and contact information, the ATF said. "If you saw something or know something—even if it seems minor—now is the time to speak up," Hansen said. The incident is one of several attacks on Tesla vehicles and facilities since President Trump returned to office in January. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, served as a senior advisor to Trump and led the controversial Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. A man was charged with arson and other charges in connection with an attack that damaged multiple Teslas at a Las Vegas dealership in March 2025. Another man was arrested and charged in connection with an arson attack at a New Mexico Tesla facility in February. Tesla showrooms and facilities also became the site of protests in the early months of Trump's second term.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
U.S. House delegation from Kansas votes along party lines on federal budget bill
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, voted against a House bill extending federal tax cuts and slashing billions of dollars in Medicaid spending. Davids hosted a news conference Wednesday on Medicaid with Patty and Mark Hink of Lenexa, clockwise from lower left; Corey Craig, chief executive officer of Monarch Hospice & Palliative Care; and Overland Park resident Samantha Armistead. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of Davids' livestream) TOPEKA — The Kansas congressional delegation split along party lines on the narrowly passed U.S. House budget bill delivering tax breaks endorsed by President Donald Trump while stripping health care and food assistance from lower-income families. U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat who serves the 3rd District in the Kansas City area, said Congress and Trump should be focused on making life more affordable for families rather than lining pockets of 'billionaires and big corporations' with more than $1 trillion in tax giveaways. 'I support responsible government spending. We should be cracking down on things like waste and fraud and abuse,' Davids said. 'This budget is not just out of touch. It's dangerous, irresponsible and means higher costs for hardworking Kansans.' Specifically, Davids said the House Republican budget package would sever health coverage to 16,000 people in her congressional district by altering the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. She said a decline in the reach of Medicaid dollars would echo through communities and erode quality of life, especially in rural areas of the state where half of hospitals were at risk of shutting down. A provision in the House bill would drop an estimated 8,000 households in her district from emergency food assistance, Davids said. 'People shouldn't have to choose between putting food on the table and seeing a doctor,' the congresswoman said. 'Folks shouldn't have to drive hours just to get basic care because their local hospital shut down.' The bill sent to the U.S. Senate had backing of Republican U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann of the 1st District running from Dodge City to Lawrence, Derek Schmidt of the eastern Kansas 2nd District and Ron Estes of the 4th District encircling Wichita. On Thursday, the legislation passed 215-214. Trump and GOP House leadership struggled to appease conservative holdouts who sought to pair tax cuts with deeper spending reductions along with investments in border security and the military. Democrats objected to reductions for energy, education and food assistance programs as well as Medicaid. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the deal could add $2.3 trillion to the national debt in the next decade. Estes said the 'one big, beautiful bill,' which combined 11 different pieces of legislation, was significant because it would extend tax cuts initiated during Trump's first term as president. The legislation addressed wasteful federal spending and poured money into border security, he said. 'It's a bill that meets the mandate provided to this Congress by the American people last November,' Estes said. 'It's a bill for the American people, and my friends on the left have only empty talking points to try and paint this legislation as something that it's not.' Estes said it was wrong for a 'cast of deceivers' to 'dupe Americans by promoting the extension of the law as a tax giveaway for millionaires and billionaires, which it isn't.' He said Americans earning $30,000 to $80,000 annually would pay 15% less in federal taxes in 2027. That's nearly double the percentage reduction for individuals earning more than $1 million per year, he said. 'This bill is not perfect. No legislation is,' Schmidt said. 'There is much more to do to get our country back on track. However, it goes a long way toward cleaning up the unsustainable big-government mess made by the prior administration and its enablers.' Mann said the package invested $60 billion to expand crop insurance for farmers, supported trade promotion programs in response to the agricultural trade deficit and cut $295 billion in 'wasteful and fraudulent spending' within the agriculture budget. He said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, would be reformed to make certain able-bodied adults were working or volunteering to qualify for food aid. 'On November 5, 2024, 77 million Americans gave Washington, D.C., a mandate to get our country back on track,' Mann said. 'I am hopeful the Senate will move quickly to get this bill over the finish line and look forward to President Trump signing it into law.' During a news conference Wednesday hosted by Davids, Kansans explained how they would be impacted by the bill's reduction in Medicaid funding by an estimated $625 billion during the next decade. Lenexa residents Mark and Patty Hink, parents of 49-year-old son Brian with intellectual disabilities, epilepsy and diabetes, said Medicaid was essential to providing him around-the-clock care due to the threat of seizures. Services provided Brian under Medicaid were a lifeline to the community, Mark Hink said. 'Otherwise, these disabled adults would be homebound with parents who are aging and can't provide the level of care that is needed,' he said. Corey Craig, chief executive officer of Monarch Hospice & Palliative Care, said he was anxious reductions to federal spending on Medicaid would 'marginalize a group that is already kind of marginalized, especially in rural communities.' 'I'm here to advocate for, at least at the minimum, keeping things the same because we are doing our best out here to try to service our rural communities,' he said. 'They do deserve care, just like anyone else.' Samantha Armistead, an Overland Park resident, has an adult sibling with intellectual disabilities enrolled in Kansas' Medicaid program. He receives funding for adult day services that allow him to engage in meaningful work and interact with people in the community. 'Connor currently lives with our parents, and this arrangement works well for now,' Armistead said. 'However, our parents are getting older. We know this arrangement is not sustainable long term. He deserves the opportunity to live a meaningful life with dignity and connection. I'm heartbroken, terrified and angry that many of our representatives in D.C. are working to deny basic care for our most vulnerable populations.'
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
Olathe man dies after truck crashed into bridge off I-435 in Lenexa
An Olathe man was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 435 Saturday, the highway patrol said. Brady F. Toole, 34, drove a 2005 Ford pickup truck north on Interstate 435 in Lenexa around 1:30 a.m. when the vehicle left the right side of the road, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol crash report. The pickup truck entered a grassy ditch and struck a wood post before it slid, the report said. The truck then crashed into a pillar on the 95th Street bridge and came to rest against the bridge, the crash report said. Toole was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was pronounced dead from his injuries, according to the crash report. The highway patrol is investigating the cause of the crash.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Lenexa landscape business owner scammed through Facebook Marketplace
LENEXA, Kan. – The Lenexa Police Department has had multiple recent cases involving stolen items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Ryan Ross thought he struck a good deal on a piece of equipment for his landscape company on Facebook Marketplace. Little did he know it was stolen from a retailer before it was listed for sale. Kansas City, Kansas crash leaves motorcyclist dead Sunday evening 'He thought the sale was legitimate. Turns out it was actually a stolen piece of equipment from Home Depot, and we had to sadly go and repossess that. So now he's out of the piece of equipment, and he's out $10,000,' said Lenexa PD Public Information Officer Danny Chavez. Ryan Ross is the owner of Ascend Lawn & Landscape. Like many others in the industry, he uses Facebook Marketplace regularly to buy and sell equipment. He was shocked to learn that the Ditch Witch he bought had been stolen before it was listed for sale. 'Everything you buy off Marketplace, equipment-wise, you pay for in cash. And it's crazy because we've had it for a while, and then the police officers showed up at the job site, and there was a tracker in it, and it had been stolen from a Home Depot, I think they said in Colorado,' Ross said. Ross says the seller was from out of state. 'It was a good deal, and there are a lot of good deals to be had. So they said they would bring it down here, so I bought it,' Ross explained. He's now unable to find the seller's Facebook account. 'I actually had a phone number too, and we were texting back and forth. I screenshotted all the texts, which was great, but that phone number is no longer in service. So these people know what they're doing,' Ross explained. Ross said it was challenging for his small business to lose the equipment and the money, but they were over. He hopes his story helps other people avoid similar scams. New 52,000 square foot sports facility in Lee's Summit set to open 'Everything you're buying that has significant value has a serial number, model number, etc. What I learned through this was that you can take that serial number and usually run it through the manufacturer's system or somebody's system and try to find if it's stolen,' He said. 'Probably the biggest takeaway is that if it seems too good to be true, maybe it is.' Lenexa police talked to FOX4 last week about safety tips and ways to avoid scams when using online resale sites. You can find those tips here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lenexa WWII Vet shares VE Day letter penned 80 years ago on Hitler's stationery
LENEXA, Kan. — May 8, 2025, marks 80 years since Germany's surrender and the end of fighting in Europe in World War II. A Lenexa veteran reflected Thursday on what it was like to be able to send word home to his family in the most memorable way possible. Understandably, for Charles Staubus, 100, those memories have faded a bit. But luckily, they are forever etched in writing on the very tyrant's stationery who had been threatening democracy as we know it. Staubus' letter is dated, 'Somewhere in Germany, May 8th, 1945.' It begins, 'Dear Dad, Well this is it VE Day.' Meet Truman, Missouri's favorite capitol companion Tens of thousands of U.S. service members probably wrote the same triumphant message home 80 years ago. However, few likely announced the day of Germany's surrender and the end of fighting in Europe on Adolf Hitler's own stationery. After Hitler fled and took his own life, Staubus and his unit, which had been mostly responsible for registering the dead, went to Berchtesgaden, Germany. They spent the night in Hans Lammers' office at the Little Chancellery, 'I picked the lock on his desk, the one thing he had left there was this,' Staubus described. He'd find a seating chart of Nazi leaders and Hitler's stationery marked Der Furher. 'I just remember, I thought this was a pretty big deal having his stationery,' Staubus said. FOX4 first introduced you to Staubus last year when he spoke on a panel with other World War II veterans presented by the Valor Partners Foundation. When he told the story of the letter, he smiled about the little secret he kept from military supervisors. 'They didn't know a thing about it,' Staubus said of 'liberating' the stationery. Thursday, he revealed that someone else got a letter on that stationery besides his dad. 'I wrote a letter to the IRS on it, my son didn't think too much of that,' Staubus laughed. Staubus marched in America's victory parade with 13,000 soldiers led by the 82nd Airborne Division playing the clarinet. Kansas City Royals improve to 23-16 with White Sox series sweep 'It was the grand daddy I say of all parades, it was five hours without stopping,' he described. He enjoyed seeing Europe's celebrations both on this date in 1945 and on Thursday's 80th anniversary. But the 100-year-old will never forget where he spent V.E. Day and what he walked away with. 'I thought it was kind of cool,' Staubus smiled. Although the fighting officially ended in Europe, many troops didn't get to rush home. There was still war in the Pacific theater while Staubus spent several months occupying Austria. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
