Kansas is receiving a $4.4 million federal grant to continue efforts to turn around its persistently lowest-achieving schools.

The Kansas State Department of Education says the money will benefit seven schools in the Wichita, Kansas City, Kan., Topeka, Cherokee and Liberal school districts.

The schools have received funding previously from the U.S. Department of Education program, which requires districts to choose an aggressive turnaround model. One option is replacing the principal and improving the school through comprehensive reforms.

An eastern Kansas sheriff is calling a high school janitor a hero for pulling an elderly man from a burning car that had backed into a ditch.

Denny Gray and his wife, Lori, were headed home from the store earlier this month when he saw what he thought was a brush fire on the side of the road.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Gray, a custodian at Hiawatha High School, instead discovered it was a car that was on fire.

Gray ran to the vehicle and found 94-year-old Gerry Alkire of Hiawatha trapped inside. He pulled Alkire, who suffered only minor burns, to safety as tires started blowing out from the heat.

Brown County Sheriff John Merchant said Gray was a hero for risking his life to save another’s.

Court documents show a Kansas military school accused of fostering a culture of abuse has been repeatedly sued by parents.

St. John’s Military School is due in federal court Tuesday. The Salina school is seeking a gag order prohibiting people involved in the case from publicly talking about the current litigation or past lawsuits that ended in settlements.

But evidence in the public record allege long-running abuses. Nine other abuse-related lawsuits have been filed since 2006.

One lawsuit included photos of a student who had been branded on his arm with a hot, star-shaped medal. A school official acknowledged in a deposition that at least 10 other students were similarly branded.

A cadet testified how higher ranking students would swat young cadets on their bare bottoms with ceremonial sabers.

Three people were injured in a rollover wreck Sunday, nine miles north of Ellsworth.

According to a Kansas Highway Patrol report, 24-year-old Mala A. Alahmadi of Lawrence, was westbound on I-70 at about 2:15 p.m. Sunday when she was distracted by a cellphone and drove off the edge of the road into the median. Alahmadi then reportedly vercorrected and the car rolled three times before coming to a stop in the north ditch.

Alahmadi and two passengers in the car, 20-year-old Sunayn Mullick and 2o-year-old Mygabi A. Byenkya also of Lawrence, were taken to Ellsworth Medical Center. Their conditions have not been released.