Four people were injured in a strange accident on I-70 (207 milemarker, or 1 mile east of the I-70 & K232 junction) Thursday, around 9:25 pm.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, three males and one female from New Orleans were west bound on I-70 in a construction zone when their vehicle ran out of gas. While the car was still rolling the driver, 23-year-old Pokharel Rabin, tried to make a u-turn in an attempt to make it to a gas station he had just passed. The vehicle came to a stop before he could complete the turn, partially blocking the west bound lanes. Pokharel and a passenger, 22-year-old Sharma Jirjan, exited the vehicle and attempted to flag down traffic when another vehicle that was westbound on I-70, struck Rabin and their vehicle head-on.

Rabin along with two passengers; 52-year-old Kumari Pokharel Gita, and 60-year-old Kumar Pokharel Rohini, were injured. Gita and Rohini were transported to Ellsworth County Hospital, while Rabin was transported to Salina Regional.

The driver of the other vehicle, 29-year-old Francisco E. Lemus-Arita of Kansas City, was not injured but a passenger, 23-year-old Osmany Vazquez-Arita was transported to Ellsworth County Hospital with injuries.

Thirty-five defendants are charged in a federal indictment unsealed here today alleging they worked for a drug trafficking organization that distributed $16.9 million worth of high-grade marijuana and cocaine in Johnson and Douglas Counties, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Warner said today.

The 101-count indictment alleges that defendants Los Rovell Dahda, 30, Lawrence, Kan., and Chad Eugene Bauman, 33, Lawrence, made millions as the leaders of a drug trafficking organization that operated from 2005 to 2012. Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to order more than $16.9 million in cash and real estate that were proceeds of the crimes to be forfeited to the government.

The indictment includes allegations that the defendants laundered the proceeds of their drug operations through unlawful financial transactions involving businesses, real estate and personal property in Lawrence, Topeka, Iola, Kan., Gladstone, Mo., and elsewhere. The indictment also identifies residences and commercial properties in Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City, Kan., and other locations where the traffickers stored or distributed drugs.

The indictment also seeks additional penalties against traffickers who are accused of distributing drugs within the 1,000-ft. protected areas around playgrounds and schools including Lawrence High School, West Middle School, Haskell Indian Nations University, Holcomb Sports Complex, Olathe North High School and New York Elementary.

The indictment grows out of a federal criminal complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. The indictment adds 10 defendants and 100 counts. In the initial complaint, prosecutors alleged the organization’s primary method for getting drugs to Kansas from California was by commercial carrier.

Defendants named in the indictment are:

Los Rovell Dahda, 30, Lawrence, Kan.
Roosevelt Rico Dahda, 30, Lawrence, Kan.
Sadie Jolynn Brown, 25, Lawrence, Kan.
Justin Cherif Pickel, 32, San Lorenzo, Calif.
David James Essman, 35, Lawrence, Kan.
Amos Moses Hurst, 31, Eureka, Calif.
Phillip Villereal Alarcon, 43, Hayward, Calif.
Jeffery David Paviva, 39, Union City, Calif.
Mark Lee Romero, 31, Lawrence, Kan.
Samuel Villeareal, II, 32, Overland Park, Kan.
Peter Park, 41, Olathe, Kan.
Wayne Suhan Swift, 39, Hayward, Calif.
Charles Thomas Kreisler, 38, Kansas City, Mo.
James Michael Soderling, 42, Fort Bragg, Calif.
Simon Andrew Tyson, 27, Kansas City, Mo.
Trent Jordan Percival, 32, Overland Park, Kan.
Chad William Pollard, 34, Lenexa, Kan.
Jason Marcus Hansen, 38, Lenexa, Kan.
Daniel Mark Sieber, 31, Lawrence, Kan.
Justin Jerome Mercer, 35, Olathe, Kan.
Jacob Paul Forbes, 30, Lawrence, Kan.
Chad Eugene Bauman, 33, Lawrence, Kan.
Carey Lynn Willming, 36, Lawrence, Kan.
Michael Shane Witt, 37, Olathe, Kan.
Stephen Mallison Rector, 50, Kansas City, Kan.
Michael J. Berry, 27, Kansas City, Kan.
Adam Christiansen, 31, Lawrence, Kan.
Aaron G. Gunderson, 36, Topeka, Kan.
Nathan Wallace, 28, Topeka, Kan.
Ryan Kearns, 24, Lawrence, Kan.
Karl Havener, 25, Overland Park, Kan.
Damien J. Mick, 33, Shawnee, Kan.
Joshua Simpson, 28, Lenexa, Kan.
Sarah Soderling, 35, Ft. Bragg, Calif.
Elizabeth Dominique Watson, 44, Kansas City, Mo.

• Criminal counts and potential penalties upon conviction include:
• Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more 1,000 kilograms of marijuana: Not less than 10 years and not more than life and a fine up to $10 million.
• Conspiracy to commit money laundering: A maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $250,000.
• Engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise: Not less than 20 years and not more than life and a fine up to $2 million.
• Money laundering: A maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
• Possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana: Not less than 5 years and not more than 40 years and a fine up to $5 million.
• Distributing marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school or playground: 10 years and a fine up to $500,000.
• Possession with intent to distribute marijuana: A maximum penalty of five years and a fine up to $250,000.
• Unlawful possession of a firearm after a felony conviction: A maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
• Maintaining a residence in furtherance of drug trafficking: Not less than a year and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $500,000.
• Using a telephone in furtherance of drug trafficking: A maximum penalty of four years and a fine up to $250,000.
• Unlawful possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking: Not less than five years and not more than life, consecutive to other sentences.
• Unlawful possession of a firearm by a user of controlled substances: Not less than a year and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $250,000.

Kansas has reached a $1 million settlement with a tobacco company.

The settlement calls for Grand River Enterprises to put $672,000 into escrow funds and pay the state $336,000 in penalties and reimbursement for attorney fees and expenses.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office says the settlement stems from a lawsuit Kansas filed against GRE in 2008, saying the company wasn’t participating in a settlement agreement between states and tobacco companies.

Schmidt says the $336,000 in penalties will go to the state’s general fund, and the $672,000 are to help Kansans who make health-related claims as part of a 1998 settlement with tobacco companies.

Kansas is facing claims that it should cover more than $669,000 in legal bills from parties in a federal lawsuit over the Legislature’s failure to redraw political boundaries.

That’s despite an attempt by the judges handling the case to limit the potential tab.

The three judges imposed new lines last month for congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts to account for population changes over the past decade. Twenty-seven individuals were allowed to sue over redistricting.

Last month, the judges received requests from 19 of the individuals to have nearly $700,000 in legal bills covered by the state. Last week, the judges issued an order imposing narrower rules for such claims.

But the total from the new filings, due by midnight Wednesday, was only 4 percent smaller than before.