The Kansas state school board has approved new science standards for public schools that treat both evolution and climate change as key concepts to be taught from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

The board voted 8-2 on Tuesday for standards developed by Kansas, 25 other states and the National Research Council.

The new guidelines are designed to shift the emphasis in science classes to doing hands-on projects and experiments and blending material about engineering and technology into lessons.

Past work on science standards in Kansas have been overshadowed by debates about how evolution should be taught. The latest standards were adopted in 2007 and treat evolution as a well-established, core scientific concept.

Kansas law requires academic standards to be updated at least once every seven years.

The former Kansas lawman convicted in the death of his wife could face a punishment that would keep him in prison for decades.

Jurors found Brett Seacat guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of his 34-year-old wife, Vashti Seacat, in their home just days after she filed for divorce in 2011.

Sentencing was set for Aug. 5, and prosecutors say they intend to seek a “hard 50” sentence, which means Seacat would have no chance for parole for at least 50 years.

Investigators found Vashti Seacat’s body among the charred remains of the Kingman house where the couple lived with their two sons, ages 2 and 4.

Brett Seacat, a former police instructor and sheriff’s deputy, escaped the blaze safely with the two boys.

(AP) — A northeast Kansas man is going to prison for nearly 20 years for traveling into Missouri to have sex with a child.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says 39-year-old Robert Poe III, of Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced Tuesday in federal court.

Poe pleaded guilty earlier to three counts of crossing state lines to engage in sex with a child.

The charges stemmed from a complaint to Kansas City, Kan., police in November 2000 by the mother of a 7-year-old boy. The mother said Poe was a friend of her boyfriend and sometimes babysat her son.

The child told investigators Poe forced him at gunpoint to perform a sex act. Investigators were also told that Poe and the mother’s boyfriend molested the boy and his brother.

On May 8, 2013, a woman wearing a purple and white colored shirt, used a stolen credit card at Walmart, 2900 S. 9th, to purchase various items. Total loss is approximately $1000.

If you have any information concerning who committed this crime, call Crimestoppers at 825-TIPS, text SATIPS to CRIMES (274637), or visit www.pd.salina.org and follow Crimestoppers link to submit a web tip. You may receive a cash reward of up to $1,000 and you are
not required to give your name.

A Salina man was cited Monday afternoon on a charge of public nudity.

Lt. Scott Simesen says officers were sent to the water spray park at the Friendship Center just after 1:00pm on the report of a man that had taken his pants off , and was in just his underwear, and his genitals while not exposed, were turgid.

When officers arrived the man 43-year-old Tommy Tripp of Salina had put his pants back on, and after taking statements of witnesses both adults and children, Tripp was cited with public nudity.

University of Kansas officials are asking a racy online site to stop selling merchandise with the official school trademark.

The university’s official licensing company wrote to the owners of a website called www.kuboobs.com in May ordering them to stop selling merchandise by Wednesday. That site was inactive as of Tuesday.

The online store has companion sites on Facebook and Twitter encouraging people to submit photos of women wearing KU or Jayhawk T-shirts showing their chests.

The letter also asks the website’s owners how much merchandise with university trademarks they sold so that damages could be assessed.

Kansas was successful in 2009 in ordering Lawrence businessman Larry Sink to repay $100,000 for sales of T-shirts over similar trademark concerns.