DOUGLAS COUNTY—An off-duty police detective is under investigation after a car crash.

Just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to a non-injury motor vehicle accident in the 1500 Block of Lindenwood Lane, according to Police spokesperson&nbsp;Laura McCabe.

The reporting party was inside a home in the area and heard a crash, looked out, and realized her parked car was struck and sustained obvious damage.&nbsp;

The responding officer immediately recognized the driver as off-duty detective Adam Welch, who was driving his personal vehicle. 

The officer alerted supervision, who asked for an on-duty Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper to respond but one was not available. Supervisors called in Douglas County Deputies.

Deputies found probable cause to arrest Welch and believe he was operating his vehicle while impaired, according to McCabe.

Deputies transported Welch to the Douglas County Jail and booked him.

Per protocol, Welch was immediately placed on paid administrative leave pending internal investigation by the Office of Professional Accountability and the Chief of Police.&nbsp; According to online jail records, Welch is no longer custody.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662238335372.png" alt="Adam Welch photo Lawrence Police" />
 <figcaption>Adam Welch photo Lawrence Police</figcaption>
 </figure>DOUGLAS COUNTY—An off-duty police detective is under investigation after a car crash.Just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to a non-injury motor vehicle accident in the 1500 Block of Lindenwood Lane, according to Police spokesperson&nbsp;Laura McCabe.The reporting party was inside a home in the area and heard a crash, looked out, and realized her parked car was struck and sustained obvious damage.&nbsp;The responding officer immediately recognized the driver as off-duty detective Adam Welch, who was driving his personal vehicle. The officer alerted supervision, who asked for an on-duty Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper to respond but one was not available. Supervisors called in Douglas County Deputies.Deputies found probable cause to arrest Welch and believe he was operating his vehicle while impaired, according to McCabe.Deputies transported Welch to the Douglas County Jail and booked him.Per protocol, Welch was immediately placed on paid administrative leave pending internal investigation by the Office of Professional Accountability and the Chief of Police.&nbsp; According to online jail records, Welch is no longer custody.

Off-duty Kansas police detective accused of driving while impaired

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement and USD 259-Wichita authorities are investigating after a third gun was found at a school in the district this week.

&nbsp;Just after 8:00 a.m. Thursday, a Wichita Police Department School Resource Officer was working at East High School, 2301 E. Douglas when they were notified by school staff of a student that was possibly in possession of a firearm, according to Officer Trevor Macy.

School staff searched a 16-year-old male student and found a handgun in his possession. The gun was seized, and the 16-year-old was booked into the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center for possession of a firearm by a juvenile and possession of a firearm on school grounds.

On Monday, police took a student at West High School into custody for having a gun on campus. On Tuesday, police arrested a Wichita Heights&nbsp; student with a gun on campus into custody.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office will review charges in each case.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement and USD 259-Wichita authorities are investigating after a third gun was found at a school in the district this week.&nbsp;Just after 8:00 a.m. Thursday, a Wichita Police Department School Resource Officer was working at East High School, 2301 E. Douglas when they were notified by school staff of a student that was possibly in possession of a firearm, according to Officer Trevor Macy.School staff searched a 16-year-old male student and found a handgun in his possession. The gun was seized, and the 16-year-old was booked into the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center for possession of a firearm by a juvenile and possession of a firearm on school grounds.On Monday, police took a student at West High School into custody for having a gun on campus. On Tuesday, police arrested a Wichita Heights&nbsp; student with a gun on campus into custody.The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office will review charges in each case.

3rd student with a gun arrested this week in Wichita school district

JACKSON COUNTY, Kan.—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple charges after a traffic stop.

Just after 1p.m. Aug. 30, a sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop on a 2012 Mitsubishi Galant for an alleged vehicle registration violation near 118th and S. Road, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

Deputies arrested Joshua Kenneth Funk, 45, of Valley Falls, on requested charge of criminal use of weapons, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, interference with law enforcement, transporting an open container, no insurance and driving while suspended.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661887508880.png" alt="Funk-photo Jackson County." />
 <figcaption>Funk-photo Jackson County.</figcaption>
 </figure>JACKSON COUNTY, Kan.—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple charges after a traffic stop.Just after 1p.m. Aug. 30, a sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop on a 2012 Mitsubishi Galant for an alleged vehicle registration violation near 118th and S. Road, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.Deputies arrested Joshua Kenneth Funk, 45, of Valley Falls, on requested charge of criminal use of weapons, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, interference with law enforcement, transporting an open container, no insurance and driving while suspended.

Sheriff: Kansas man jailed on weapons, drug charges

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas jury announced Thursday that it could not reach a verdict in the trial of a woman accused of killing her ex-husband and his girlfriend 20 years ago.

Jurors deliberated for about 35 hours over six days in Dana Chandler's trial. Chandler, now 62, was&nbsp;<a href="http://apnews.com/533881f36a074a55a7699e52b77f0763">charged with two counts of first-degree murder</a>&nbsp;in the shooting deaths of 47-year-old Mike Sisco and 53-year-old Karen Harkness in July 2002, in Topeka.

The jury foreman told Shawnee County District Court Judge Cheryl Rios that jurors were not able to reach a unanimous verdict in the case, The Topeka Capital-Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/crime/2022/09/01/dana-chandler-2nd-murder-trial-double-homicide-charges-hung-jury-topeka/7937917001/">reported.</a>

Thursday's proceedings lasted only a few moments. A status hearing to determine the next step in the long-running case was set for Sept. 29.

Chandler's daughter Hailey Sisco, who testified that she believes her mother killed her father, cried while being hugged by prosecutor Charles Kitt.

Defense attorney Tom Bath hugged Chandler, who will remain in custody at least until the status hearing.

Juror Ben Alford told the Capital-Journal that the final vote was 7-5 to convict Chandler. He said votes taken throughout the lengthy deliberations were always close.

Prosecutors alleged Chandler killed the couple because she was jealous of their relationship after her acrimonious divorce from Sisco. Chandler always maintained her innocence, saying she was in Colorado when the victims were killed.

During closing arguments Aug. 25, prosecutor Kitt acknowledged there was little physical evidence linking Chandler to the crime. But he said obsessive behavior toward Sisco combined with circumstantial evidence should convince jurors that she killed the couple.

“This is not a case that science can solve,” he said. “This case is about jealousy of Mike Sisco. Jealousy that Mike Sisco was able to move on with his life. Jealousy about the new relationship that Mike Sisco had found.”

Investigators said Chandler spied on Sisco and Harkness, entered Sisco’s home without permission and tried to reconcile with him just weeks before the murders. Phone records shows Chandler called Sisco and Harkness nearly 700 times in the seven months before their deaths.

Bath argued that law enforcement missed the opportunity to investigate other suspects because they focused solely on her. He underlined the limited physical evidence found at the scene and questioned the way it was handled by investigators and forensic scientists.

“How many instances did we see where evidence was not followed up on, not collected or not tested?” Bath asked the jury.

He continued: “We see time and time again, the police ignored evidence. They didn’t follow evidence — they followed their bias.”

Prosecutors stunned court observers last week before closing arguments when they called a woman, Terri Anderson, who said she saw Chandler leaving Harkness’ home on the night the couple was killed — the first time in the two-decade-old case that anyone had placed Chandler at the scene.

Anderson, who lived across the street, testified that she called 911 after hearing gunshots that night, and that she talked to investigators the next day. However, she said she had not talked to police or investigators in the last two decades, and defense attorneys noted that no police records exist to confirm that she called police or that she talked to investigators.

On Thursday, defense attorneys called witnesses who undermined Anderson’s story. Topeka Police Det. Lance Green said Anderson’s testimony that Chandler was at the scene shortly before midnight on July 6, 2002, conflicts with other testimony that Sisco and Harkness were at a casino until at least 1:30 a.m. July 7.

Chandler was originally charged with the killings after a decade of investigation, and in 2012&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/1a7254e40a4041a2af6ee2b5dd84dc80">was found guilty of two counts of murder</a>. She was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole for 50 years.

The Kansas Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/a7bf444f550144da85887405174fb2da">overturned Chandler’s conviction i</a>n 2018, citing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-kansas-supreme-court-topeka-crime-1b16fa5d53c75ecb1d863c4f9dbbe497">misconduct by prosecutor Jacqie Spradling</a>, who was later disbarred.

The second trial was delayed as Chandler and her attorneys filed numerous motions seeking to exclude evidence, a change of venue and dismissal of the case. The trial began Aug. 5.

According to court records, investigators said nothing was taken from the victims’ home. The gun was never recovered and no fingerprints were found on empty shell casings at the scene. Hairs later taken from Chandler did not match hair and fiber samples at the scene, and no evidence of the crime was found in her car.

However, some family members suspected Chandler, who they said was upset and angry after Sisco initiated their divorce in 1997 and was given full custody of their children.

Chandler was living in Denver, Colorado, when the couple died. She told investigators she was driving and hiking in Colorado when the murders occurred, but stories about her specific routes were inconsistent, with gaps in her credit card receipts and cellphone use, according to court records.

Prosecutors alleged Chandler drove from Denver to Topeka, killed the couple and returned home.

The investigation went cold until 2009. After CBS’ “48 Hours” aired an episode about the unsolved killings, then-Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor appointed a team to investigate cold cases, including Chandler’s.

Chandler, who had moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, to live with her sister, was arrested in 2011 and charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1592599404405.png" alt="Chandler photo KDOC" />
 <figcaption>Chandler photo KDOC</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas jury announced Thursday that it could not reach a verdict in the trial of a woman accused of killing her ex-husband and his girlfriend 20 years ago.Jurors deliberated for about 35 hours over six days in Dana Chandler's trial. Chandler, now 62, was&nbsp;<a href="http://apnews.com/533881f36a074a55a7699e52b77f0763">charged with two counts of first-degree murder</a>&nbsp;in the shooting deaths of 47-year-old Mike Sisco and 53-year-old Karen Harkness in July 2002, in Topeka.The jury foreman told Shawnee County District Court Judge Cheryl Rios that jurors were not able to reach a unanimous verdict in the case, The Topeka Capital-Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/crime/2022/09/01/dana-chandler-2nd-murder-trial-double-homicide-charges-hung-jury-topeka/7937917001/">reported.</a>Thursday's proceedings lasted only a few moments. A status hearing to determine the next step in the long-running case was set for Sept. 29.Chandler's daughter Hailey Sisco, who testified that she believes her mother killed her father, cried while being hugged by prosecutor Charles Kitt.Defense attorney Tom Bath hugged Chandler, who will remain in custody at least until the status hearing.Juror Ben Alford told the Capital-Journal that the final vote was 7-5 to convict Chandler. He said votes taken throughout the lengthy deliberations were always close.Prosecutors alleged Chandler killed the couple because she was jealous of their relationship after her acrimonious divorce from Sisco. Chandler always maintained her innocence, saying she was in Colorado when the victims were killed.During closing arguments Aug. 25, prosecutor Kitt acknowledged there was little physical evidence linking Chandler to the crime. But he said obsessive behavior toward Sisco combined with circumstantial evidence should convince jurors that she killed the couple.“This is not a case that science can solve,” he said. “This case is about jealousy of Mike Sisco. Jealousy that Mike Sisco was able to move on with his life. Jealousy about the new relationship that Mike Sisco had found.”Investigators said Chandler spied on Sisco and Harkness, entered Sisco’s home without permission and tried to reconcile with him just weeks before the murders. Phone records shows Chandler called Sisco and Harkness nearly 700 times in the seven months before their deaths.Bath argued that law enforcement missed the opportunity to investigate other suspects because they focused solely on her. He underlined the limited physical evidence found at the scene and questioned the way it was handled by investigators and forensic scientists.“How many instances did we see where evidence was not followed up on, not collected or not tested?” Bath asked the jury.He continued: “We see time and time again, the police ignored evidence. They didn’t follow evidence — they followed their bias.”Prosecutors stunned court observers last week before closing arguments when they called a woman, Terri Anderson, who said she saw Chandler leaving Harkness’ home on the night the couple was killed — the first time in the two-decade-old case that anyone had placed Chandler at the scene.Anderson, who lived across the street, testified that she called 911 after hearing gunshots that night, and that she talked to investigators the next day. However, she said she had not talked to police or investigators in the last two decades, and defense attorneys noted that no police records exist to confirm that she called police or that she talked to investigators.On Thursday, defense attorneys called witnesses who undermined Anderson’s story. Topeka Police Det. Lance Green said Anderson’s testimony that Chandler was at the scene shortly before midnight on July 6, 2002, conflicts with other testimony that Sisco and Harkness were at a casino until at least 1:30 a.m. July 7.Chandler was originally charged with the killings after a decade of investigation, and in 2012&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/1a7254e40a4041a2af6ee2b5dd84dc80">was found guilty of two counts of murder</a>. She was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole for 50 years.The Kansas Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/a7bf444f550144da85887405174fb2da">overturned Chandler’s conviction i</a>n 2018, citing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-kansas-supreme-court-topeka-crime-1b16fa5d53c75ecb1d863c4f9dbbe497">misconduct by prosecutor Jacqie Spradling</a>, who was later disbarred.The second trial was delayed as Chandler and her attorneys filed numerous motions seeking to exclude evidence, a change of venue and dismissal of the case. The trial began Aug. 5.According to court records, investigators said nothing was taken from the victims’ home. The gun was never recovered and no fingerprints were found on empty shell casings at the scene. Hairs later taken from Chandler did not match hair and fiber samples at the scene, and no evidence of the crime was found in her car.However, some family members suspected Chandler, who they said was upset and angry after Sisco initiated their divorce in 1997 and was given full custody of their children.Chandler was living in Denver, Colorado, when the couple died. She told investigators she was driving and hiking in Colorado when the murders occurred, but stories about her specific routes were inconsistent, with gaps in her credit card receipts and cellphone use, according to court records.Prosecutors alleged Chandler drove from Denver to Topeka, killed the couple and returned home.The investigation went cold until 2009. After CBS’ “48 Hours” aired an episode about the unsolved killings, then-Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor appointed a team to investigate cold cases, including Chandler’s.Chandler, who had moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, to live with her sister, was arrested in 2011 and charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.

Hung jury: Kan. woman's trial for killing ex-husband, his girlfriend 

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a homicide at a home in Topeka have identified the victim as 24-year-old KeShawn Ivy of Topeka, according to Police Lt. Jerry Monasmith.

Just after 7a.m. Thursday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to a residence in the 1100 Block of SW Lincoln Street in Topeka in reference to a shooting.

First responders found Ivy suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. Detectives continue the investigation, according to Monasmith. Police have not reported an arrest.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662049282439.png" alt="Photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a homicide at a home in Topeka have identified the victim as 24-year-old KeShawn Ivy of Topeka, according to Police Lt. Jerry Monasmith.Just after 7a.m. Thursday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to a residence in the 1100 Block of SW Lincoln Street in Topeka in reference to a shooting.First responders found Ivy suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. Detectives continue the investigation, according to Monasmith. Police have not reported an arrest.

Police ID 24-year-old homicide victim at Kansas home

RENO COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects after a violent incident in Hutchinson.

Just after 3p.m. Thursday police responded to the Porter Commons apartment complex 1417 Katie Drive in Hutchinson.

Police found a woman with facial injuries and apparent broken bones. There was evidence that her apartment door was forced open. Several people were inside when the door was kicked in.

There were several bullet holes on the exterior of several apartments and two more victims were in the area when gunshots were fired by a man later identified as 24-year-old Dakota Ney.&nbsp;

Ney was arrested on requested charges that include two counts of aggravated assault, four counts of aggravated burglary, shooting into an occupied dwelling, felony criminal damage and misdemeanor criminal damage, along with felon in possession of a firearm.

Located elsewhere and also arrested was 21-year-old Aryanna Fernandez on a requested charge of aggravated battery and aggravated burglary.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662116129858.png" alt="Ney has a previous conviction for aggravated robbery, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections." />
 <figcaption>Ney has a previous conviction for aggravated robbery, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.</figcaption>
 </figure>RENO COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects after a violent incident in Hutchinson.Just after 3p.m. Thursday police responded to the Porter Commons apartment complex 1417 Katie Drive in Hutchinson.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662068173611.jpeg" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation in Hutchinson" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation in Hutchinson</figcaption>
 </figure>Police found a woman with facial injuries and apparent broken bones. There was evidence that her apartment door was forced open. Several people were inside when the door was kicked in.There were several bullet holes on the exterior of several apartments and two more victims were in the area when gunshots were fired by a man later identified as 24-year-old Dakota Ney.&nbsp;Ney was arrested on requested charges that include two counts of aggravated assault, four counts of aggravated burglary, shooting into an occupied dwelling, felony criminal damage and misdemeanor criminal damage, along with felon in possession of a firearm.Located elsewhere and also arrested was 21-year-old Aryanna Fernandez on a requested charge of aggravated battery and aggravated burglary.

Police arrest 2 after shots fired at Hutchinson apartment complex 

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas teen after a crash following a chase in Wichita.&nbsp;

Just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a collision involving a 2019 GMC pickup driven by 15-year-old Crispin W.&nbsp;Barajas of Wichita. The pickup fled the scene. 

Police found the pickup traveling eastbound on Kansas 42 at Tyler.&nbsp; The driver fled again, continued eastbound and rear ended a 2016 Infiniti Q50 driven by Tynice Rochell Johnson, 56, Wichita and a 2022 Toyota Highlander driven by Shannon Christine Peterson, 52, Hagerstown, Maryland.

EMS transported Johnson to&nbsp;Asension Via Christi St. Joseph, Peterson and two adult passenger in the Toyota to Wesley Medical Center. Police arrested Barajas.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas teen after a crash following a chase in Wichita.&nbsp;Just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a collision involving a 2019 GMC pickup driven by 15-year-old Crispin W.&nbsp;Barajas of Wichita. The pickup fled the scene. Police found the pickup traveling eastbound on Kansas 42 at Tyler.&nbsp; The driver fled again, continued eastbound and rear ended a 2016 Infiniti Q50 driven by Tynice Rochell Johnson, 56, Wichita and a 2022 Toyota Highlander driven by Shannon Christine Peterson, 52, Hagerstown, Maryland.EMS transported Johnson to&nbsp;Asension Via Christi St. Joseph, Peterson and two adult passenger in the Toyota to Wesley Medical Center. Police arrested Barajas.

15-year-old Kansas boy jailed after chase, 3-vehicle crash

BARTON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a substitute teacher and coach in Great Bend on multiple charges involving students.

On Tuesday,&nbsp; the Great Bend Police Department received a Crime Stoppers tip regarding allegations of sexual misconduct and the sale of tobacco products involving a Great Bend sports coach and local teen students.

Detectives began investigating the tips and compiling more details of the report. After conducting interviews, executing search warrants and collecting digital evidence related to this report, investigators learned that multiple sex offenses occurred in addition to the sale of tobacco products to minors.

Further investigation lead to the arrest on Thursday of 27-year-old Bryce Hofmeister. He was booked on requested charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, indecent solicitation of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, electronic solicitation and contributing to a child's misconduct. The arrest did not happen on school grounds.

Hofmeister served as a substitute teacher at Great Bend Middle School and Great Bend High School. He also was an assistant coach for multiple sports.

In a statement released to USD 428 families, the school district said they will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials. The district also stated Hofmeister not return to work in the district.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662070173589.jpeg" alt="Hofmeister-photo Barton Co." />
 <figcaption>Hofmeister-photo Barton Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>BARTON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a substitute teacher and coach in Great Bend on multiple charges involving students.On Tuesday,&nbsp; the Great Bend Police Department received a Crime Stoppers tip regarding allegations of sexual misconduct and the sale of tobacco products involving a Great Bend sports coach and local teen students.Detectives began investigating the tips and compiling more details of the report. After conducting interviews, executing search warrants and collecting digital evidence related to this report, investigators learned that multiple sex offenses occurred in addition to the sale of tobacco products to minors.Further investigation lead to the arrest on Thursday of 27-year-old Bryce Hofmeister. He was booked on requested charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, indecent solicitation of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, electronic solicitation and contributing to a child's misconduct. The arrest did not happen on school grounds.Hofmeister served as a substitute teacher at Great Bend Middle School and Great Bend High School. He also was an assistant coach for multiple sports.In a statement released to USD 428 families, the school district said they will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials. The district also stated Hofmeister not return to work in the district.

Kan. substitute teacher, coach accused of child sex crimes

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects who were jailed after a chase on Interstate 135.

Just after 5:30p.m. Wednesday, detectives from McPherson County contacted Salina police and troopers from the Kansas Highway Patrol that they were in unmarked vehicles and following a vehicle into Saline County on Interstate 135, according Salina Police Captain Gary Hanus.

A person in the suspect vehicle had active warrants and was wanted in an active investigation in McPherson County concerning a possible missing person.

With the assistance of McPherson County deputies, and the KHP, Salina police stopped the suspect vehicle between the W. Magnolia Road and W. Crawford Street exits.

Officers arrested a passenger in the vehicle, identified as Eric A. Goldberg, 44, Salina, on an active Salina County District Court warrant for probation violation. 

He also was arrested on requested charges of possession of a stimulant, possession of drug paraphernalia, and no drug tax stamp.&nbsp;

Earlier in the day, the Kansas Highway Patrol arrested Goldberg on requested charges of possession of meth, use and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia into human body, driving while license suspended or revoked and no vehicle liability insurance. He was booked into the McPherson County Jail just before 12:30p.m. and released just before 3p.m., according to online jail records. He remains in custody in Saline County.

Officers also arrested the&nbsp;driver of the vehicle identified as Amanda L. Gawith, 45, of Salina, on requested charges of driving while suspended and driving while a habitual violator. She is no longer in custody.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662042870631.jpeg" alt="Gawith-photo Saline County" />
 <figcaption>Gawith-photo Saline County</figcaption>
 </figure>SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects who were jailed after a chase on Interstate 135.Just after 5:30p.m. Wednesday, detectives from McPherson County contacted Salina police and troopers from the Kansas Highway Patrol that they were in unmarked vehicles and following a vehicle into Saline County on Interstate 135, according Salina Police Captain Gary Hanus.A person in the suspect vehicle had active warrants and was wanted in an active investigation in McPherson County concerning a possible missing person. With the assistance of McPherson County deputies, and the KHP, Salina police stopped the suspect vehicle between the W. Magnolia Road and W. Crawford Street exits.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662050634206.png" alt="Goldberg-photo McPherson Co." />
 <figcaption>Goldberg-photo McPherson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers arrested a passenger in the vehicle, identified as Eric A. Goldberg, 44, Salina, on an active Salina County District Court warrant for probation violation. He also was arrested on requested charges of possession of a stimulant, possession of drug paraphernalia, and no drug tax stamp.&nbsp;Earlier in the day, the Kansas Highway Patrol arrested Goldberg on requested charges of possession of meth, use and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia into human body, driving while license suspended or revoked and no vehicle liability insurance. He was booked into the McPherson County Jail just before 12:30p.m. and released just before 3p.m., according to online jail records. He remains in custody in Saline County.Officers also arrested the&nbsp;driver of the vehicle identified as Amanda L. Gawith, 45, of Salina, on requested charges of driving while suspended and driving while a habitual violator. She is no longer in custody.

Kan. man just out of jail arrested after chase with unmarked police vehicle

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide at a home in Topeka.

Just after 7a.m. Thursday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to a residence in the 1100 Block of SW Lincoln Street in Topeka in reference to a shooting, according to Police Lt. Edward Stanley.

 One victim suffering from a gunshot wound was pronounced deceased at the scene. Detectives were on the scene. Police have not reported an arrest or released the victim's name.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662049282439.png" alt="Photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide at a home in Topeka.Just after 7a.m. Thursday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to a residence in the 1100 Block of SW Lincoln Street in Topeka in reference to a shooting, according to Police Lt. Edward Stanley. One victim suffering from a gunshot wound was pronounced deceased at the scene. Detectives were on the scene. Police have not reported an arrest or released the victim's name.

Homicide: One person dead after shooting at Kansas home

MANHATTAN–&nbsp;&nbsp;After further investigation into a July 28, robbery on Waterway Place in Manhattan, police have identified and arrested a third suspect.

On Wednesday, police arrested Evan Megaw, 19, of Junction City on requested charges of aggravated robbery after it was reported he and two other suspects robbed a 17-year-old at gunpoint.

Just before 2p.m. July 28, a 17-year-old boy and a 45-year-old woman reported a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old robbed the 17-year-old victim at gunpoint of his iPhone then shot at the teen and woman in their car as they followed the suspects driving away from the scene.&nbsp; No injuries were reported.&nbsp;

Terriundis Toliver, 15, and Malachi Fielder, 18, both of Manhattan were previously arrested in July and August, respectively, for their roles in the incident.

Megaw remains confined in the Riley County Jail on a total bond of $85,000.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1659795333710.png" alt="On August 5, police in Wichita arrested suspect Malachi Fielder for the alleged robbery." />
 <figcaption>On August 5, police in Wichita arrested suspect Malachi Fielder for the alleged robbery.</figcaption>
 </figure>MANHATTAN–&nbsp;&nbsp;After further investigation into a July 28, robbery on Waterway Place in Manhattan, police have identified and arrested a third suspect.On Wednesday, police arrested Evan Megaw, 19, of Junction City on requested charges of aggravated robbery after it was reported he and two other suspects robbed a 17-year-old at gunpoint.Just before 2p.m. July 28, a 17-year-old boy and a 45-year-old woman reported a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old robbed the 17-year-old victim at gunpoint of his iPhone then shot at the teen and woman in their car as they followed the suspects driving away from the scene.&nbsp; No injuries were reported.&nbsp;Terriundis Toliver, 15, and Malachi Fielder, 18, both of Manhattan were previously arrested in July and August, respectively, for their roles in the incident.Megaw remains confined in the Riley County Jail on a total bond of $85,000.

Police arrest 3rd suspect for alleged armed robbery in Manhattan

YORK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating four suspects after locating more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine and 9 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop.

Just after 1p.m. Tuesday, a trooper observed a Nissan Rogue traveling with a license plate violation on Interstate 80 just before the Utica exit, according to a media release from the Nebraska State Patrol

 During the traffic stop, a Patrol K9 detected the odor of a controlled substance coming from inside the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle revealed 101 pounds of methamphetamine and 9 pounds of fentanyl. The substances were concealed in bags in the rear of the vehicle.

The occupants of the vehicle were identified as Jhonny Murillo Martinez, 38, of Hyattsville, Maryland, and passengers Tonny Guevara Chacon, 24, of Lorton, Virginia; Rene Rodriguez Morales, 27, of Falls Church, Virginia; and Marta Rodriguez, 38, of Falls Church, Virginia. 

All four were arrested on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. All four were are being held in the York County Jail. Utica is approximately 150 north of Manhattan, Kansas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661973739065.jpeg" alt="Photo Nebraska State Patrol" />
 <figcaption>Photo Nebraska State Patrol</figcaption>
 </figure>YORK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating four suspects after locating more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine and 9 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop.Just after 1p.m. Tuesday, a trooper observed a Nissan Rogue traveling with a license plate violation on Interstate 80 just before the Utica exit, according to a media release from the Nebraska State Patrol During the traffic stop, a Patrol K9 detected the odor of a controlled substance coming from inside the vehicle.A search of the vehicle revealed 101 pounds of methamphetamine and 9 pounds of fentanyl. The substances were concealed in bags in the rear of the vehicle.The occupants of the vehicle were identified as Jhonny Murillo Martinez, 38, of Hyattsville, Maryland, and passengers Tonny Guevara Chacon, 24, of Lorton, Virginia; Rene Rodriguez Morales, 27, of Falls Church, Virginia; and Marta Rodriguez, 38, of Falls Church, Virginia. All four were arrested on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. All four were are being held in the York County Jail. Utica is approximately 150 north of Manhattan, Kansas.

Troopers seize 9 pounds of fentanyl, 100 pounds of meth

Recent Booking Activity for the Geary County Detention Center. All persons included in this post are innocent of crimes until proven guilty in a court of law. Bonds have been posted.

Bonds have been posted. Photos are unavailable.

Dominque Burrow, Cancelled / suspended / revoked driver's license, Inattentive driving Improper backing, Arrested 8/30

Adajae Paulus, Failure to appear, Arrested 8/30

Curtis Ellington, Failure to appear, Arrested 8/30

Recent Booking Activity for the Geary County Detention Center. All persons included in this post are innocent of crimes until proven guilty in a court of law. Bonds have been posted.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661955181466.jpeg" alt="Amber Colon, Failure to appear ( 2 counts ), Arrested 8/30" />
 <figcaption>Amber Colon, Failure to appear ( 2 counts ), Arrested 8/30</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661955240463.jpeg" alt="Curtis McDaniel, Aggravated endangering a child, Aggravated assault, Interference with LEO; felony, Criminal threat, Criminal possession of a weapon, Arrested 8/30" />
 <figcaption>Curtis McDaniel, Aggravated endangering a child, Aggravated assault, Interference with LEO; felony, Criminal threat, Criminal possession of a weapon, Arrested 8/30</figcaption>
 </figure>Bonds have been posted. Photos are unavailable.Dominque Burrow, Cancelled / suspended / revoked driver's license, Inattentive driving Improper backing, Arrested 8/30Adajae Paulus, Failure to appear, Arrested 8/30Curtis Ellington, Failure to appear, Arrested 8/30Recent Booking Activity for the Geary County Detention Center. All persons included in this post are innocent of crimes until proven guilty in a court of law. Bonds have been posted.

Geary County Booking Photos Aug. 31

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and have three suspects in custody.

Just before 4:30 p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the 800 block of SE 15th Street in Topeka on a report of a robbery, according to Lt. Kerry Connell.

As a result of the investigation, police arrested Michael C. Carpenter, 60; James F. Harvey, 39 and&nbsp;Dalton R. Hall, 23, all of Topeka.

They remain jailed in the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on a requested charge of Aggravated Robbery. Police released no additional details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661807219476.png" alt="Carpenter-photo Shawnee County" />
 <figcaption>Carpenter-photo Shawnee County</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and have three suspects in custody.Just before 4:30 p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the 800 block of SE 15th Street in Topeka on a report of a robbery, according to Lt. Kerry Connell.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661807397004.png" alt="Harvey-photo Shawnee County" />
 <figcaption>Harvey-photo Shawnee County</figcaption>
 </figure>As a result of the investigation, police arrested Michael C. Carpenter, 60; James F. Harvey, 39 and&nbsp;Dalton R. Hall, 23, all of Topeka.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661807502323.png" alt="Hall-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Hall-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>They remain jailed in the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on a requested charge of Aggravated Robbery. Police released no additional details.

Police: 3 Kansas men jailed for weekend robbery

Little Apple Post - JC Post

Junction City police have reported the arrest of Curtis Manquil McDaniel, 35, Junction City, on requested charges of Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Child Endangerment, Felony Interference with LEO, Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Criminal Threat stemming from the incident at 814 Skyline Dr. on Tuesday.

Tuesday afternoon the Junction City Police Department and Geary County Sheriff’s Office responded to a disturbance between neighbors on the 800 block of Skyline Drive. Upon arrival, an individual barricaded himself within a residence and refused lawful orders given by officers on the scene. At this point, local S.W.A.T. teams were deployed. Following a 4.5-hour long standoff, the barricaded man gave himself up to officers on the scene without further incident. 

There were no injuries resulting from this incident and one individual was taken into custody. There is no longer an ongoing threat to the community. 

The Junction City Police Department thanked the Geary County Sheriff’s Office, Grandview Plaza Police Department, Junction City Fire, and EMS Crews as well as Evergy for their assistance in the incident.

JUNCTION CITY - Junction City police and Geary County Sheriff's Office authorities are working a case on the south side of the city. Police spokesman Cadin Sanner said it involves a barricaded subject. "All we know right now is that officers are responding to an individual refusing to leave their residence."

Sanner said the best thing is for the public to avoid the area, the 500 through 1000 blocks of Skyline Drive. "Officers are dealing with the subject and it is not safe for the public to be in the immediate area right now."

JUNCTION CITY - Shortly before 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, August 30th, the Junction City Police Department has asked the public to avoid Skyline Drive from&nbsp;Jackson St. to Crest Hill Dr.

Due to an ongoing incident, where both the Junction City Police Department and the Geary County Sheriff's Office are responding, both entities are asking the public to avoid the 500 to 1000 blocks of Skyline Drive.

All roads surrounding Skyline Drive are also closed to through traffic until law enforcement is finished responding to the incident.

This is a developing story, additional details will be added as they become available.

by BECKY GOFF - DEWEY TERRILLLittle Apple Post - JC PostUPDATE:Junction City police have reported the arrest of Curtis Manquil McDaniel, 35, Junction City, on requested charges of Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Child Endangerment, Felony Interference with LEO, Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Criminal Threat stemming from the incident at 814 Skyline Dr. on Tuesday.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661954903682.jpeg" alt="Curtis Manquil McDaniel ( Photo courtesy of Geary County Sheriff's Department )" />
 <figcaption>Curtis Manquil McDaniel ( Photo courtesy of Geary County Sheriff's Department )</figcaption>
 </figure>---Tuesday afternoon the Junction City Police Department and Geary County Sheriff’s Office responded to a disturbance between neighbors on the 800 block of Skyline Drive. Upon arrival, an individual barricaded himself within a residence and refused lawful orders given by officers on the scene. At this point, local S.W.A.T. teams were deployed. Following a 4.5-hour long standoff, the barricaded man gave himself up to officers on the scene without further incident. There were no injuries resulting from this incident and one individual was taken into custody. There is no longer an ongoing threat to the community. The Junction City Police Department thanked the Geary County Sheriff’s Office, Grandview Plaza Police Department, Junction City Fire, and EMS Crews as well as Evergy for their assistance in the incident.---JUNCTION CITY - Junction City police and Geary County Sheriff's Office authorities are working a case on the south side of the city. Police spokesman Cadin Sanner said it involves a barricaded subject. "All we know right now is that officers are responding to an individual refusing to leave their residence."No injuries have been reported.Sanner said the best thing is for the public to avoid the area, the 500 through 1000 blocks of Skyline Drive. "Officers are dealing with the subject and it is not safe for the public to be in the immediate area right now."---JUNCTION CITY - Shortly before 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, August 30th, the Junction City Police Department has asked the public to avoid Skyline Drive from&nbsp;Jackson St. to Crest Hill Dr.Due to an ongoing incident, where both the Junction City Police Department and the Geary County Sheriff's Office are responding, both entities are asking the public to avoid the 500 to 1000 blocks of Skyline Drive.<div><iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m28!1m12!1m3!1d3750.1123123779316!2d-96.84462413439677!3d39.01073769786001!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!4m13!3e0!4m5!1s0x87bc4ec5e6515b45%3A0x510c4de62165abc9!2s1000%20Skyline%20Dr%2C%20Junction%20City%2C%20KS%2066441!3m2!1d39.0103355!2d-96.847815!4m5!1s0x87bc4ecc7ec45ecb%3A0x2fe736bbb94f12a8!2s500%20Skyline%20Dr%2C%20Junction%20City%2C%20KS%2066441!3m2!1d39.0111273!2d-96.837076!5e1!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1661899995383!5m2!1sen!2sus" width="600" height="450" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade"></iframe></div>All roads surrounding Skyline Drive are also closed to through traffic until law enforcement is finished responding to the incident.This is a developing story, additional details will be added as they become available.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FJCPDKS%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02Jo9h4g4zMNsQS96K49FhhJByjqSz5w6rypsf8ijwprvfvf6bEthTf7LCRsiFCv4wl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="467" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>

Police say there is no longer a threat to the community from Skyline Drive incident

BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a weekend homicide have identified the victim as 81-year-old Marlyn Valeta Harvey of Andover, according to Police Captain Ben Graber.

Just before 4p.m. Sunday, police responded to the report of an assault at the Summerfield Senior&nbsp;Residences, 420 Lioba Drive.&nbsp;

EMS transported Harvey to an area hospital where she died.&nbsp;

Investigators learned Harvey had picked up her 23-year-old great-grandson Tristan Weir who was released from jail and brought him to her apartment

Police located him driving the victim's car in Wichita and attempted a traffic stop. He ran from officers but was eventually arrested and remains hospitalized, according to Graber.&nbsp;

On February 27, Weir was jailed on requested charges of aggravated battery, according to the Sedgwick County booking report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661872173083.png" alt="Weir-photo Sedgwick County Jail" />
 <figcaption>Weir-photo Sedgwick County Jail</figcaption>
 </figure>BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a weekend homicide have identified the victim as 81-year-old Marlyn Valeta Harvey of Andover, according to Police Captain Ben Graber.Just before 4p.m. Sunday, police responded to the report of an assault at the Summerfield Senior&nbsp;Residences, 420 Lioba Drive.&nbsp;EMS transported Harvey to an area hospital where she died.&nbsp;Investigators learned Harvey had picked up her 23-year-old great-grandson Tristan Weir who was released from jail and brought him to her apartmentPolice located him driving the victim's car in Wichita and attempted a traffic stop. He ran from officers but was eventually arrested and remains hospitalized, according to Graber.&nbsp;On February 27, Weir was jailed on requested charges of aggravated battery, according to the Sedgwick County booking report.

Police ID 81-year-old Kan. woman killed by her great-grandson

MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. He was 91.

The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that Gorbachev died after a long illness. No other details were given.

Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

His decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.

A quarter-century after the collapse, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country.

“The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said.

Many of the changes, including the Soviet breakup, bore no resemblance to the transformation that Gorbachev had envisioned when he became the Soviet leader in March 1985.

By the end of his rule he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.

“I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world,” Gorbachev told The AP in a 1992 interview shortly after he left office.

“I am often asked, would I have started it all again if I had to repeat it? Yes, indeed. And with more persistence and determination,” he said.

Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home.

Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.

His run for president in 1996 was a national joke, and he polled less than 1% of the vote.

In 1997, he resorted to making a TV ad for Pizza Hut to earn money for his charitable foundation. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.

“In the ad, he should take a pizza, divide it into 15 slices like he divided up our country, and then show how to put it back together again,” quipped Anatoly Lukyanov, a one-time Gorbachev supporter.

Gorbachev never set out to dismantle the Soviet system. What he wanted to do was improve it.

Soon after taking power, Gorbachev began a campaign to end his country’s economic and political stagnation, using “glasnost” or openness, to help achieve his goal of “perestroika” or restructuring.

In his memoirs, he said he had long been frustrated that in a country with immense natural resources, tens of millions were living in poverty.

“Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,” Gorbachev wrote. “Doomed to serve ideology and bear the heavy burden of the arms race, it was strained to the utmost.”

Once he began, one move led to another: He freed political prisoners, allowed open debate and multi-candidate elections, gave his countrymen freedom to travel, halted religious oppression, reduced nuclear arsenals, established closer ties with the West and did not resist the fall of Communist regimes in Eastern European satellite states.

But the forces he unleashed quickly escaped his control.

Long-suppressed ethnic tensions flared, sparking wars and unrest in trouble spots such as the southern Caucasus region. Strikes and labor unrest followed price increases and shortages of consumer goods.

In one of the low points of his tenure, Gorbachev sanctioned a crackdown on the restive Baltic republics in early 1991.

The violence turned many intellectuals and reformers against him. Competitive elections also produced a new crop of populist politicians who challenged Gorbachev’s policies and authority.

Chief among them was his former protege and eventual nemesis, Boris Yeltsin, who became Russia’s first president.

“The process of renovating this country and bringing about fundamental changes in the international community proved to be much more complex than originally anticipated,” Gorbachev told the nation as he stepped down.

“However, let us acknowledge what has been achieved so far. Society has acquired freedom; it has been freed politically and spiritually. And this is the most important achievement, which we have not fully come to grips with in part because we still have not learned how to use our freedom.”

There was little in Gorbachev’s childhood to hint at the pivotal role he would play on the world stage. On many levels, he had a typical Soviet upbringing in a typical Russian village. But it was a childhood blessed with unusual strokes of good fortune.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born March 2, 1931, in the village of Privolnoye in southern Russia. Both his grandfathers were peasants, collective farm chairmen and members of the Communist Party, as was his father.

Despite stellar party credentials, Gorbachev’s family did not emerge unscathed from the terror unleashed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: Both grandfathers were arrested and imprisoned for allegedly anti-Soviet activities.

But, rare in that period, both were eventually freed. In 1941, when Gorbachev was 10, his father went off to war, along with most of the other men from Privolnoye.

Meanwhile, the Nazis pushed across the western steppes in their blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union; they occupied Privolnoye for five months.

When the war was over, young Gorbachev was one of the few village boys whose father returned. By age 15, Gorbachev was helping his father drive a combine harvester after school and during the region’s blistering, dusty summers.

His performance earned him the order of the Red Banner of Labor, an unusual distinction for a 17-year-old. That prize and the party background of his parents helped him land admission in 1950 to the country’s top university, Moscow State.

There, he met his wife, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, and joined the Communist Party. The award and his family’s credentials also helped him overcome the disgrace of his grandfathers’ arrests, which were overlooked in light of his exemplary Communist conduct.

In his memoirs, Gorbachev described himself as something of a maverick as he advanced through the party ranks, sometimes bursting out with criticism of the Soviet system and its leaders.

His early career coincided with the “thaw” begun by Nikita Khrushchev. As a young Communist propaganda official, he was tasked with explaining the 20th Party Congress that revealed Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repression of millions to local party activists. He said he was met first by “deathly silence,” then disbelief.

“They said: ‘We don’t believe it. It can’t be. You want to blame everything on Stalin now that he’s dead,’” he told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview.

He was a true if unorthodox believer in socialism. He was elected to the powerful party Central Committee in 1971, took over Soviet agricultural policy in 1978, and became a full Politburo member in 1980.

Along the way he was able to travel to the West, to Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. Those trips had a profound effect on his thinking, shaking his belief in the superiority of Soviet-style socialism.

“The question haunted me: Why was the standard of living in our country lower than in other developed countries?” he recalled in his memoirs. “It seemed that our aged leaders were not especially worried about our undeniably lower living standards, our unsatisfactory way of life, and our falling behind in the field of advanced technologies.”

But Gorbachev had to wait his turn. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, and was succeeded by two other geriatric leaders: Yuri Andropov, Gorbachev’s mentor, and Konstantin Chernenko.

It wasn’t until March 1985, when Chernenko died, that the party finally chose a younger man to lead the country: Gorbachev. He was 54 years old.

His tenure was filled with rocky periods, including a poorly conceived anti-alcohol campaign, the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

But starting in November 1985, Gorbachev began a series of attention-grabbing summit meetings with world leaders, especially U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, which led to unprecedented, deep reductions in the American and Soviet nuclear arsenals.

After years of watching a parade of stodgy leaders in the Kremlin, Western leaders practically swooned over the charming, vigorous Gorbachev and his stylish, brainy wife. But perceptions were very different at home. It was the first time since the death of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that the wife of a Soviet leader had played such a public role, and many Russians found Raisa Gorbachev showy and arrogant.

Although the rest of the world benefited from the changes Gorbachev wrought, the rickety Soviet economy collapsed in the process, bringing with it tremendous economic hardship for the country’s 290 million people.

In the final days of the Soviet Union, the economic decline accelerated into a steep skid. Hyper-inflation robbed most older people of their life’s savings. Factories shut down. Bread lines formed.

And popular hatred for Gorbachev and his wife Raisa grew. But the couple won sympathy in summer 1999 when it was revealed that Raisa Gorbachev was dying of leukemia.

During her final days, Gorbachev spoke daily with television reporters, and the lofty-sounding, wooden politician of old was suddenly seen as an emotional family man surrendering to deep grief.

Gorbachev worked on the Gorbachev Foundation, which he created to address global priorities in the post-Cold War period, and with the Green Cross foundation, which was formed in 1993 to help cultivate “a more harmonious relationship between humans and the environment.”

Gorbachev took the helm of the small United Social Democratic Party in 2000 in hopes it could fill the vacuum left by the Communist Party, which he said had failed to reform into a modern leftist party after the breakup of the Soviet Union. He resigned from the chairmanship in 2004.

He continued to comment on Russian politics as a senior statesman — even if many of his countrymen were no longer interested in what he had to say.

“The crisis in our country will continue for some time, possibly leading to even greater upheaval,” Gorbachev wrote in a memoir in 1996. “But Russia has irrevocably chosen the path of freedom, and no one can make it turn back to totalitarianism.”

Gorbachev veered between criticism and mild praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been assailed for backtracking on the democratic achievements of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin eras.

He said Putin had done much to restore stability and prestige to Russia after the tumultuous decade following the Soviet collapse. He did, however, protest growing limitations on media freedom, and in 2006 bought one of Russia’s last investigative newspapers, Novaya Gazeta, with a businessman associate.

“We should — this is one of our goals — promote the newspaper’s qualitative development in the interests of democratic values,” he said, tacitly criticizing the Kremlin’s efforts to bring Novaya Gazeta and other independent media outlets to heel.

Gorbachev ventured into other new areas in his 70s, winning awards and kudos around the world. He won a Grammy in 2004 along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Italian actress Sophia Loren for their recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, and the United Nations named him a Champion of the Earth in 2006 for his environmental advocacy.

Gorbachev had a daughter, Irina, and two granddaughters.

The official news agency Tass reported that Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661895504846.png" alt="A quarter-century after the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country." />
 <figcaption>A quarter-century after the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country.</figcaption>
 </figure>MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. He was 91.The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that Gorbachev died after a long illness. No other details were given.Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.His decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.A quarter-century after the collapse, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country.“The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said.Many of the changes, including the Soviet breakup, bore no resemblance to the transformation that Gorbachev had envisioned when he became the Soviet leader in March 1985.By the end of his rule he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.“I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world,” Gorbachev told The AP in a 1992 interview shortly after he left office.“I am often asked, would I have started it all again if I had to repeat it? Yes, indeed. And with more persistence and determination,” he said.Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home.Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.His run for president in 1996 was a national joke, and he polled less than 1% of the vote.In 1997, he resorted to making a TV ad for Pizza Hut to earn money for his charitable foundation. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.“In the ad, he should take a pizza, divide it into 15 slices like he divided up our country, and then show how to put it back together again,” quipped Anatoly Lukyanov, a one-time Gorbachev supporter.Gorbachev never set out to dismantle the Soviet system. What he wanted to do was improve it.Soon after taking power, Gorbachev began a campaign to end his country’s economic and political stagnation, using “glasnost” or openness, to help achieve his goal of “perestroika” or restructuring.In his memoirs, he said he had long been frustrated that in a country with immense natural resources, tens of millions were living in poverty.“Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,” Gorbachev wrote. “Doomed to serve ideology and bear the heavy burden of the arms race, it was strained to the utmost.”Once he began, one move led to another: He freed political prisoners, allowed open debate and multi-candidate elections, gave his countrymen freedom to travel, halted religious oppression, reduced nuclear arsenals, established closer ties with the West and did not resist the fall of Communist regimes in Eastern European satellite states.But the forces he unleashed quickly escaped his control.Long-suppressed ethnic tensions flared, sparking wars and unrest in trouble spots such as the southern Caucasus region. Strikes and labor unrest followed price increases and shortages of consumer goods.In one of the low points of his tenure, Gorbachev sanctioned a crackdown on the restive Baltic republics in early 1991.The violence turned many intellectuals and reformers against him. Competitive elections also produced a new crop of populist politicians who challenged Gorbachev’s policies and authority.Chief among them was his former protege and eventual nemesis, Boris Yeltsin, who became Russia’s first president.“The process of renovating this country and bringing about fundamental changes in the international community proved to be much more complex than originally anticipated,” Gorbachev told the nation as he stepped down.“However, let us acknowledge what has been achieved so far. Society has acquired freedom; it has been freed politically and spiritually. And this is the most important achievement, which we have not fully come to grips with in part because we still have not learned how to use our freedom.”There was little in Gorbachev’s childhood to hint at the pivotal role he would play on the world stage. On many levels, he had a typical Soviet upbringing in a typical Russian village. But it was a childhood blessed with unusual strokes of good fortune.Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born March 2, 1931, in the village of Privolnoye in southern Russia. Both his grandfathers were peasants, collective farm chairmen and members of the Communist Party, as was his father.Despite stellar party credentials, Gorbachev’s family did not emerge unscathed from the terror unleashed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: Both grandfathers were arrested and imprisoned for allegedly anti-Soviet activities.But, rare in that period, both were eventually freed. In 1941, when Gorbachev was 10, his father went off to war, along with most of the other men from Privolnoye.Meanwhile, the Nazis pushed across the western steppes in their blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union; they occupied Privolnoye for five months.When the war was over, young Gorbachev was one of the few village boys whose father returned. By age 15, Gorbachev was helping his father drive a combine harvester after school and during the region’s blistering, dusty summers.His performance earned him the order of the Red Banner of Labor, an unusual distinction for a 17-year-old. That prize and the party background of his parents helped him land admission in 1950 to the country’s top university, Moscow State.There, he met his wife, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, and joined the Communist Party. The award and his family’s credentials also helped him overcome the disgrace of his grandfathers’ arrests, which were overlooked in light of his exemplary Communist conduct.In his memoirs, Gorbachev described himself as something of a maverick as he advanced through the party ranks, sometimes bursting out with criticism of the Soviet system and its leaders.His early career coincided with the “thaw” begun by Nikita Khrushchev. As a young Communist propaganda official, he was tasked with explaining the 20th Party Congress that revealed Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repression of millions to local party activists. He said he was met first by “deathly silence,” then disbelief.“They said: ‘We don’t believe it. It can’t be. You want to blame everything on Stalin now that he’s dead,’” he told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview.He was a true if unorthodox believer in socialism. He was elected to the powerful party Central Committee in 1971, took over Soviet agricultural policy in 1978, and became a full Politburo member in 1980.Along the way he was able to travel to the West, to Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. Those trips had a profound effect on his thinking, shaking his belief in the superiority of Soviet-style socialism.“The question haunted me: Why was the standard of living in our country lower than in other developed countries?” he recalled in his memoirs. “It seemed that our aged leaders were not especially worried about our undeniably lower living standards, our unsatisfactory way of life, and our falling behind in the field of advanced technologies.”But Gorbachev had to wait his turn. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, and was succeeded by two other geriatric leaders: Yuri Andropov, Gorbachev’s mentor, and Konstantin Chernenko.It wasn’t until March 1985, when Chernenko died, that the party finally chose a younger man to lead the country: Gorbachev. He was 54 years old.His tenure was filled with rocky periods, including a poorly conceived anti-alcohol campaign, the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.But starting in November 1985, Gorbachev began a series of attention-grabbing summit meetings with world leaders, especially U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, which led to unprecedented, deep reductions in the American and Soviet nuclear arsenals.After years of watching a parade of stodgy leaders in the Kremlin, Western leaders practically swooned over the charming, vigorous Gorbachev and his stylish, brainy wife. But perceptions were very different at home. It was the first time since the death of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that the wife of a Soviet leader had played such a public role, and many Russians found Raisa Gorbachev showy and arrogant.Although the rest of the world benefited from the changes Gorbachev wrought, the rickety Soviet economy collapsed in the process, bringing with it tremendous economic hardship for the country’s 290 million people.In the final days of the Soviet Union, the economic decline accelerated into a steep skid. Hyper-inflation robbed most older people of their life’s savings. Factories shut down. Bread lines formed.And popular hatred for Gorbachev and his wife Raisa grew. But the couple won sympathy in summer 1999 when it was revealed that Raisa Gorbachev was dying of leukemia.During her final days, Gorbachev spoke daily with television reporters, and the lofty-sounding, wooden politician of old was suddenly seen as an emotional family man surrendering to deep grief.Gorbachev worked on the Gorbachev Foundation, which he created to address global priorities in the post-Cold War period, and with the Green Cross foundation, which was formed in 1993 to help cultivate “a more harmonious relationship between humans and the environment.”Gorbachev took the helm of the small United Social Democratic Party in 2000 in hopes it could fill the vacuum left by the Communist Party, which he said had failed to reform into a modern leftist party after the breakup of the Soviet Union. He resigned from the chairmanship in 2004.He continued to comment on Russian politics as a senior statesman — even if many of his countrymen were no longer interested in what he had to say.“The crisis in our country will continue for some time, possibly leading to even greater upheaval,” Gorbachev wrote in a memoir in 1996. “But Russia has irrevocably chosen the path of freedom, and no one can make it turn back to totalitarianism.”Gorbachev veered between criticism and mild praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been assailed for backtracking on the democratic achievements of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin eras.He said Putin had done much to restore stability and prestige to Russia after the tumultuous decade following the Soviet collapse. He did, however, protest growing limitations on media freedom, and in 2006 bought one of Russia’s last investigative newspapers, Novaya Gazeta, with a businessman associate.“We should — this is one of our goals — promote the newspaper’s qualitative development in the interests of democratic values,” he said, tacitly criticizing the Kremlin’s efforts to bring Novaya Gazeta and other independent media outlets to heel.Gorbachev ventured into other new areas in his 70s, winning awards and kudos around the world. He won a Grammy in 2004 along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Italian actress Sophia Loren for their recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, and the United Nations named him a Champion of the Earth in 2006 for his environmental advocacy.Gorbachev had a daughter, Irina, and two granddaughters.The official news agency Tass reported that Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife.___