A preliminary hearing for two men charged in the beating death of a Tabor College student has been rescheduled to January.

The hearing for Alton Franklin and DeQuinte Flournoy, both 19-year-olds from Dallas, was scheduled for Monday. But it was postponed until Jan. 21. McPherson County Attorney David Page offered no reason for the delay in a brief email.

This is the third time the hearing has been delayed.

The suspects both are former McPherson College football players. They’re charged with being accessories to second-degree murder in the Sept. 22 death of 26-year-old Brandon Brown.

Brown was a redshirt defensive lineman for Tabor College. He died after being injured in a fight early Sept. 16 at a party in McPherson.

Both men remained jailed on $500,000 bonds.

Two men were injured in an accident after attempting to avoid a herd of deer in Russell County, Monday morning around 6:30 am.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 42-year-old Timothy D. Horacek was driving southbound on US 281 (10 miles north of Russell) when he came upon a herd of deer on the highway.

Horacek swerved to avoid the deer, went off the road, down an embankment, and into a dry creek bed.

Horacek and a passenger, 41-year-old Gary Horacek, both of Downs, were taken to Russell County Regional hospital with injuries. Their conditions were not immediately known.

A new state program that gives irrigators flexibility in managing their water allocations while also encouraging conservation has about 750 participants.

The program was created last year by the Kansas Legislature to conserve the future of the Ogallala Aquifer.

The Hutchinson News reports that the multi-year flex account program allows irrigators to use more water during drought years. They can manage their water rights over five years, which helps the state’s aquifers recover during years with more moisture.

Kansas Department of Agriculture issued about 2,300 drought emergency term permits during last year’s drought that allowed irrigators to pump 2012 water allotments to save their crops.

Irrigators who enrolled in the flex account program by the Oct. 1 deadline were forgiven their overuse of water from last year.

Kansans between the ages of 65 and 74 have only a few days left to enjoy hunting and fishing for free.

The state will stop providing free hunting and fishing licenses for people in that age range, starting in January.

The exemption began in 1971. State officials estimate ending the practice will bring in $900,000 to $1.5 million.

Mike Miller, spokesman for the state’s wildlife department, says Kansas misses out on federal money because it doesn’t sell enough licenses. He says an estimated 30,000 hunters don’t have to buy licenses because of the age exemption.

The Joplin Globe reports no general tax dollars support Kansas wildlife conservation and management efforts. Besides revenue from license sales, Kansas gets federal revenue through an excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Lottery officials say revenue from the Kansas Star Casino’s first 10 months in operation has exceeded the revenue earned by the two other casinos in Kansas in about the same period.

The Kansas Lottery Commission says the Kansas Star casino, which opened in Mulvane on Dec. 20, 2011, had earned about $158 million through the end of October.

That is more than the revenue earned in nearly the same period by the two other state-owned casinos. Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City earned $119 million. Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, which opened Feb. 3, has earned $93 million.

The Wichita Eagle reports thatthe Kansas Star employs about 1,000 people.