By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good Morning! Brad Heppner, who sold Kansas lawmakers on the notion of creating a pawn shop for the rich, is on trial for fraud charges — and the judge isn't buying his claim that AI-generated materials fall under attorney-client privilege.
Has it really been four years since I shined a light on his unique Kansas venture?
In other news, we learned this week that we won 17 awards in the annual Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence. We swept the journalist of the year category, with senior reporter Tim Carpenter claiming first place, followed by me and reporter Anna Kaminski. Senior reporter Morgan Chilson, who joined the staff after six years out of journalism, was named new journalist of the year. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone won first place awards for column writing and editorial pages. And freelancer Grace Hills won first place for video journalism.
As I told Clay for his column below: “I love that I get to work with these talented journalists every day, challenging and inspiring one another as we cover the news. The awards recognize our shared commitment to lift up voices, speak truth to power and practice journalism as a public good.”
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
Former executive of company with unique Kansas bank charter goes on trial for fraud charges
TOPEKA — The fraud trial of the former CEO of a company with a unique Kansas bank charter was to begin Tuesday in the wake of a judge’s ruling that the defendant couldn’t shield AI-generated documents from prosecutors by claiming attorney-client privilege.
Brad Heppner, founder of Texas-based Beneficient and at one time the leader of a Kansas subsidiary issued the bank charter on orders of the Kansas Legislature, goes on trial in New York for securities fraud, wire fraud, making false statements, falsifying records and conspiracy. He entered a plea of not guilty on all charges.
He was accused of syphoning at least $150 million from now-bankrupt GWG Holdings by shifting cash to Beneficient and Highland Consolidated Limited Partnership. Heppner was simultaneously chairman of GWG and Beneficient while secretly controlling the partnership’s shell company.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Journalists of the year: Kansas Reflector sweeps category in state press association awards
By Clay Wirestone
At Kansas Reflector, we try to go above and beyond for our readers.
So perhaps its appropriate that our staff went above and beyond in the Kansas Press Association‘s annual contest. We received the results Sunday night, and they reaffirm what I’ve known for a long time. They reaffirm what I’ve written every year when these contest results come around: I’m lucky to work with these supremely gifted folks.
For starters, Kansas Reflector staff dominated the journalist of the year category, finishing first, second and third. Senior reporter Tim Carpenter took that first place (just five months after being named to the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame). Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith was in second, and reporter Anna Kaminski was in third.
Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector
Officials plead with Kansas parents to educate kids about internet safety in light of AI sex abuse
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — State and federal Kansas government officials say that with artificial intelligence being used to create child sexual abuse materials from a simple photo of a child’s face, the best way to protect children is by educating them early.
Wichita police Sgt. Jeff Swanson is part of the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which has existed since 2000. In 2014, Swanson said, the task force received about 650 cyber tips. Last year it received more than 11,000.
“It’s a huge problem. It’s not going to be solved by expecting us to arrest everybody involved in it,” Swanson said.
University of Kansas has plummeted in national rankings as academic focus shifts from core subjects
OPINION
By David S. Awbrey
The brutal truth: Over the past two decades, the University of Kansas has suffered a disastrous drop in its national reputation and once proud place in American academia.
Republican states defend citizenship lists ordered by Trump as ‘optional’ election help
A dozen Republican state attorneys general are moving to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail ballots from legal challenges mounted by Democrats.
Trump’s DOJ sued over campaign to amass data on millions of voters
Voting rights groups launched a legal challenge Tuesday against the Trump administration’s effort to sweep up sensitive data on millions of Americans with the aim of identifying noncitizen voters, arguing that the U.S. Department of Justice is building a dangerous centralized national voter list ahead of the midterm elections in November.
In Medicaid fraud crackdown, feds now looking to audit all 50 states
Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said Tuesday that the Trump administration will require every state within 30 days to turn in a plan to revalidate the health care providers that participate in their Medicaid programs.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
11 a.m. April 25, West Wyandotte Public Library in Kansas City, Kansas. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins a panel discussion on the constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices.
7 p.m. May 11, Books & Brews, Riverbank Brewing in Council Grove. Hosts: Flint Hills Books and Riverbank Brewing.
6:30 p.m. June 12, Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will join a panel discussion: "From the Desk of William Allen White: What Can Journalism Today Learn from the Sage of Emporia?"
7 p.m. June 27, Park City Senior Center. Host: Park City Community Pride.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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