49 News Now - An afternoon update of news and weather
4:10 p.m. Monday, April 23, 2007
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says he's going to stay on the job as long as he can "serve effectively." His statement came after one by President Bush, who called Gonzales "an honest, honorable man" and said he has confidence in him. Lawmakers from both parties have called for Gonzales to step down over his handling of the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Gonzales says the Justice Department will correct the mistakes it made in handling of those firings.
Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died. A Kremlin spokesman hasn't given a cause of death. Russia's Interfax news agency cited an unidentified medical source as saying he died of heart failure. Yeltsin suffered from severe heart problems while in office. During his nine years as Russia's first freely elected president, Yeltsin engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union.
A Topeka man will face charges for releasing an alligator into Lake Shawnee. Michael Hutson, 26, was cited on April 14 for violating a state law banning the release of exotic animals into the wild. The three-foot-long alligator was found March 24t near the lake's Yacht Club. The alligator was then taken to Stone Nature Center. Authorities believe Hutson released the alligator just two months after buying it because he was moving to a different home.
A judge has dropped charges against a man accused of assaulting a Kansas woman. Mitchell Gresham, a convicted murderer, was accused of kidnapping a former Ogden woman in 2005 after walking away from a Missouri work-release program. A Riley County judge ruled Friday that the time to grant a speedy trial had elapsed. The victim was shocked when she learned the news Friday. "It's quite a shock after all this time," Jenkins said about Friday's ruling. "It's devastating to find out... all the things he did to me, they dropped." Jenkins said she met Gresham at Harrah's Casino in early 2005. She said that in September of that year, Gresham held a knife to her throat and bound her with duct tape in her Ogden home. Prosecutors said Gresham later forced Jenkins into her pickup truck, but she was able to escape when Gresham stopped for a pack of cigarettes before leaving Ogden. Gresham was reportedly on his way to his hometown of Wichita when he was intercepted by Riley County police, who chased him until the truck went airborne over Interstate 70, flipped over and caught fire. The unconscious Gresham was airlifted to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, where police discovered he was wanted in Missouri. Gresham is being returned to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
In weather, a storm system will slide closer to Topeka, increasing the moisture and the giving us a chance for isolated storms. Tuesday, scattered storms are expected; some of those will turn severe. Large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes are possible. See more in weather or watch the video for the forecast from Chief Meteorologist Matt Miller.
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