Free Republic

Wichita will open most of its public buildings – including libraries, recreational centers, CityArts and the Wichita Art Museum – to people carrying concealed guns under a new state law. Fearful of lawsuits, the City Council voted 4-2 to allow concealed-carry in all but 16 of 107 city-owned buildings effective Jan. 1. Guns will continue to be banned at City Hall, Mid-Continent Airport buildings, police buildings and city housing department facilities. In city buildings that are leased to third parties, such as the Wichita Boathouse, the operators retain the right to ban guns. The state law, Senate Substitute for House...

US authorities today announced the arrest of Terry Lee Loewen, 58, of Wichita, Kan. Loewen had attempted to detonate a car bomb at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, authorities said. He was arrested at approximately 5:40 am today. Loewen "was arrested as part of an FBI undercover investigation, and the device used by the defendant was, in fact, inert and at no time posed a danger to the public," a Department of Justice press release stated. According to the DOJ, Loewen was arrested "without incident" after "he attempted to enter the airport tarmac and deliver a vehicle loaded with what he believed...

A 58-year-old airport worker was charged Friday with allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a passenger terminal at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas. The suspect, Terry Lee Loewen, an avionics technician who lives in Wichita, was arrested earlier in the day as he attempted to use his security pass to drive a vehicle that he thought contained explosives onto the tarmac at the airport, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Wichita. In fact, the car contained only dummy explosives. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Loewen spent months developing a plan to drive a carload of explosives...

Federal officials say they've arrested a Kansas man who allegedly wanted to set off a suicide bomb at the Wichita airport. Officials were to announce details of the case at a news conference at 2 p.m. ET in Wichita. In advance of the news conference, an official familiar with the case told NBC News that the suspect was "an older white man," who became radicalized after reading extremist Islamic material on the web.

Terry L. Loewen was identified as the suspect who allegedly wanted to set off a bomb at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas.

Wichita, KS- What started out as the dream of a small Catholic High School class in Beloit, Kansas, has turned into a national pro-life event aimed at activating youth to stand against abortion. This Friday will mark the first Catholic School for Life Rally. Students from St. John’s Catholic High School in Beliot will travel 2½ hours to Wichita for a rally and prayer outside South Wind Women’s Center, the closest abortion clinic to Beliot as a means of education on the reality of abortion. They will be joined by other Catholic High Schools, including Sacred Heart Catholic School in...

Reuters reports that the FBI and other agencies are in the process of investigating multiple threats to Midwest Water Supply Systems. Specifically, the FBI has named Wichita, Kansas as a target, but utility facilities have also been put on alert in other Midwestern cities. (Reuters) The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of the threats in the past two days and has contacted the water supply facilities and law enforcement offices for the municipalities, said Bridget Patton, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in Kansas City, Missouri. Patton declined to discuss the nature of the threats or the number of...

This is not your typical political dynasty-in-the-making: A second cousin to Barack Obama is considering a run for U.S. Senate, and he's a fire-breathing conservative. Milton Wolf, whose mother's cousin was also Obama's grandmother, is a Kansas radiologist who writes columns for The Washington Times and produced videos for The Daily Caller last year. Neither publication is known for its patience with the president, and Wolf fits right in with their politics. He is gauging support among conservative leaders for a primary challenge to Sen. Pat Roberts. 'They say you can't choose your family,' Wolf said in one Daily Caller...

On Thursday, it became legal for the first time in decades to strap on a holster and a firearm in Wichita, carrying it openly without a permit. And today, a group of city officials and business owners are looking for a way to reverse that city ordinance. “I’m not going to live in Tombstone,” Wichita Vice Mayor Janet Miller said. The city’s new open carry laws are a classic case of a state mandate, city officials say: Wichita’s city firearms ordinance, which prohibited the open display of a loaded firearm, has been in conflict with – or in legal terms,...

Wichita, Kansas -- It is now perfectly legal to walk down Wichita city streets with a loaded gun in plain sight. Some restrictions apply. "Well, you've got to have the safety on," says District Court Judge Phil Journey. "And the gun has to be in a holster and on your hip." Journey says, as a lawmaker for years, he followed a lot of changes in gun laws. Now the City of Wichita says it is enacting change. "For this one," says Journey, "In Kansas we have what's called a pre-emption law. We enacted that law in 2005 and we had...

I see very strong rotation/hook on radar. A very strong tornado is on the ground and moving through the highly populated area !

Severe Storms in Wichita. Large Tornado moving into Southwest part of city. Haysville, Derby, Wichita especially in the crosshairs. We're hunkered down here and prepared. It looks like it might miss us, but there are more storms expected tonight. Looks like a long evening. Stay Safe!

The Boeing Co., for decades the brand that helped support Wichita's claim as the aviation capital of the world, announced Wednesday it will shut down facilities in the city by the end of 2013 and send work to plants in three other states as it deals with defense spending cutbacks. The closure will cost 2,160 workers their jobs and end the firm's presence in an area where it has been a major employer for generations. The decision was not a surprise because Boeing said in November it was looking at closing the Wichita plant. But it still drew an angry...

Boeing seems “very serious” about its study on whether to shut down its Wichita plant, Sen. Jerry Moran said Tuesday. “I think Boeing considers this a real option,” Moran said. His comments followed Boeing’s announcement Monday that it was studying the future of its Wichita site, including whether to close the facility. Elected officials from Kansas and Wichita, and union leaders reacted Tuesday by requesting meetings with Boeing officials to remind them of the promises they made to put jobs in Kansas should the company win an Air Force contract for aerial refueling tankers. Gov. Sam Brownback said he and...

Hawker Beechcraft issued 60-day layoff notices Friday to 300 workers, the company said in a statement. A source said the notices included 210 salaried and 90 hourly workers. The same source said there could be more layoffs sometime around February. The company issued a statement saying that many of the employees were notified Friday of the cuts. Hawker Beechcraft employs about 6,000 people, including about 4,700 in Wichita and 200 in Salina. Some employees laid off were walked out the door Friday, although the company has said they would be paid for the next two months. The practice has been...

A 7-year-old boy is hospitalized after being attacked by a leopard at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Dispatchers said the call came in just before 1:30. Zoo officials said the boy climbed a guardrail to get closer to the leopard cage. The leopard was able to reach the child with both of its paws, injuring the boy on his neck. The boy suffered wounds on his neck and face. The zoo official said people riding the zoo tram saw the attack, jumped off and scared the leopard away. Via Christi on St. Francis reports that the child is now in fair...

Wichita, Kan., May 22, 2011 / 01:05 pm (CNA).- Five men will be ordained next weekend by Bishop Michael O. Jackels at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Wichita, Kansas. Four will be ordained to the priesthood and one to the transitional diaconate.David M. VossDavid M. Voss from Wichita will be ordained to the transitional diaconate at a Mass on Friday, May 27. He is finishing studies at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.Voss said as he looks forward to his ordination as a transitional deacon he is filled with gratefulness to God, Bishop Jackels, his seminaries, and his family.“One would...

J.T. Durley and Graham Hatch scored 12 points each to lead a balanced offense, and the fourth-seeded Shockers simply overwhelmed top-seeded Alabama 66-57 on Thursday night to win the NIT championship at Madison Square Garden. ...

Most Wichita-area residents breathed a sigh of relief last December when former Gov. Mark Parkinson, along with city and county officials, inked a $45 million deal for aviation manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft to maintain 4,000 jobs in Wichita. The deal was cut after months of community drama in which company officials threatened to uproot the 75-year-old Wichita company and move it, lock, stock and barrel, to Louisiana. The company had also demanded that union contracts be set aside and vowed to send pieces of the company to Mexico. These threats came after Hawker Beechcraft had cut its Kansas workforce by one-third...

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele made a stop in Wichita on his “Fire Nancy Pelosi” bus tour Monday, exhorting about 200 enthusiastic Republicans to work to elect Mike Pompeo in the 4th Congressional District. “This is your moment, this organic movement that we’ve witnessed coming from the people over the past year,” Steele said. “It’s not manufactured in some board room or in some Fifth Avenue marketing firm. It comes from moms and dads, grandmas and grandads who are fed up, who have had enough.