Battery charge filed in hammer beating

A Kansas City, Mo., man was charged Wednesday with beating another man with a hammer.

Jimmie L. Bowser, 27, is charged in Douglas County District Court with aggravated battery. He is in the Douglas County Jail on $30,000 bond.

Bowser is accused of attacking a 41-year-old man Monday morning during a fight in the parking lot of Rockledge Apartments, 711 Rockledge Road. The victim is in serious condition at a Kansas City-area hospital.

Bowser was found by police shortly after the fight at another nearby apartment complex.

Lawrence felon sentenced for ammunition possession

A U.S. district judge on Wednesday sentenced a 25-year-old Lawrence man to 30 months in custody on felony possession of ammunition charges.

Twashane A. Crawley entered a guilty plea on Feb. 13 to previously being a convicted felon in Wyandotte County and Jackson County, Mo., and possessing three live rounds of PMC brand ammunition that had been shipped through interstate commerce, U.S. Atty. Eric Melgren announced Thursday.

Crawley also was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers to two years supervisory release and $100 special assessment.

Police investigate report of inappropriate touching

An 8-year-old girl told Lawrence Police a man touched her inappropriately Wednesday afternoon while she was at Naismith Valley Park, 1400 W. 27th St.

The girl ran away from the man, went home and told her mother, police said.

Police are still looking for the man. No other information about the incident has been released.

Phony calls ask for money

The Better Business Bureau of Northeast Kansas has received reports of fraudulent telephone calls being made to solicit money for the United Way of Greater Topeka. The United Way of Greater Topeka is not soliciting funds by telephone.

If a business or individual receives such a call, do not respond to the caller.

Joyce Woodward, president of the Better Business Bureau, is asking residents to check out any charity solicitation before contributing.

“We must be alert to these scams in order to protect our charitable dollars,” she said.

Call the Better Business Bureau at (785) 232-0454 with questions or additional information.

Web site offers help planning for college

Kansas families now have access to a new Web resource to help them plan and pay for higher education.

The site, www.kansas.wiredschol-ar.com, contains step-by-step tutorials on the college-planning process, including applying for college, preparing academically and financially for college, and repaying student loans. Kansas Wiredscholar features a school-comparison tool, school-affordability analyzer, free online scholarship search, as well as a variety of interactive calculators and checklists.

Kansas Wiredscholar is a cooperative effort of USA Funds, the designated guarantor of federal education loans for Kansas, and wiredscholar.com, an online resource for “going-to-college” information.

Kansas Wiredscholar was developed in consultation with Kansas colleges and higher-education leaders.