Four women were injured in a rural Trego County crash on Thursday.

According to the Kansas Highway  Patrol, Forty-one year old Nichole D Campbell of Hoxie was driving a 2011 GMC Denali east on Trego County Road AA, 18 miles East of U283 on Thursday. Twenty-year

old Victoria E. Miller of Sand Springs, Oklahoma was driving a 2006 Honda westbound. The two vehicles almost struck head on at the crest of a hill.

The Denali came to rest in south ditch facing southwest. The Honda came to rest in the south ditch facing northwest.

Campbell was transported to Trego County-Lemke Memorial hospital in WaKeeney.

Three passengers in the Honda were injured. Jaisey P. Critchfiled, age 16, of Hill City was flown by Eagle Med to Via Christi in Wichita.  Jessica M. Murphy, age 35, of Stillwater, Oklahoma, was transported by ambulance to Wesley Medical Center. Rachel Miller, age 11, of Sand Springs, Oklahoma was transported to Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital.

(AP) — Kansas is shutting down a Topeka nursing home, saying that it failed to comply with state and federal health and safety regulations.

The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services’ revocation of the Topeka Community Healthcare Center’s license will require its 55 residents to find new homes by September.

The department says the center consistently failed to achieve “substantial compliance” with standards since September 2010. Spokeswoman Angela de Rocha says it’s the first time since September 2011 that the state’s aging agency has shut down a nursing home.

Attorney Meredith Duncan says in a statement that the center disagrees with the decision but is cooperating with the agency. Duncan says the home would pursue an appeal and remains in discussions to stay open.

(AP) — A federal jury has found a Kansas veteran guilty of unlawfully having explosive materials.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that Alfred Dutton, of Eureka, was convicted on one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device. The 67-year-old veteran of both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines is accused of having grenades and other parts to make destructive devices.

Prosecutors told jurors at his trial in Wichita that Dutton added chemicals to gunpowder to increase the explosive power of the grenades he was making.

His defense attorney portrayed his client as a tinkerer who was experimenting with making fireworks and was working on creating a mock grenade that he planned to sell on eBay.

Sentencing will be set at a later date.

A Salina woman was seriously injured Thursday morning when her husband accidentally hit her with the car while backing up.

Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield says the 65-year-old woman suffered cuts, scrapes, and broken bones, when her 91-year-old husband was backing up in a car, and he ran over her. The accident occurred around 8:30am, in the 900 block of E. Jewell

The man took his wife to Salina Regional Health Center. She was in serious condition. The hospital contacted police. Authorities say the man didn’t see her and it was an accident.
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5p.m. update U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) released the following statement today regarding his support for the bipartisan student loan interest rate proposal. Negotiations have been ongoing in the Senate to reverse a hike on interest rates for new federally subsidized undergraduate student loans that went into effect July 1st. These subsidized undergraduate Stafford loans account for roughly 40 percent of all federal student loans.

“It is well past time for Congress and the President to pass a student loan policy that provides certainty and reflects the long-term financial planning students and families undertake to pay for higher education. Education is often a family’s most important investment and ought not be complicated by short-sighted Washington politics.

“In the interest of both students and taxpayers, I will support the bipartisan agreement in the Senate to permanently address interest rate levels for all federal student loans, and am pleased it appears it will be signed into law before many students return to school later this summer.”

3 p.m. update   (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators is announcing a deal that lets students dodge higher interest rates when they go back to campus this fall.

The group on Thursday told reporters they have reached a compromise that lowers the rates for all students who borrow from the federal government. The rates would be linked to financial markets, meaning interest rates would climb in coming years.

Democrats insisted on and won a cap on how rates could climb.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois says the bill does not give any negotiator everything he sought. But it provides relief for students who were facing interest rates that doubled to 6.8 percent on new loans.

The House has already passed similar legislation and the differences could be resolved before students return to campus.

5: 10 a.m. (AP) — Senators are ready to offer students a better deal on their loans this fall, but future classes could see higher interest rates.
The Senate could vote as early as Thursday on a bipartisan compromise that heads off a costly increase for returning students. The compromise would be a relative deal for students through the 2015 academic year, but then interest rates are expected to climb above where they were when students left campus this spring.
Rates on some loans doubled on July 1 because Congress failed to reach an agreement.
Under the deal, rates would be linked to the financial markets. Rates would increase as the economy improves. Democrats demanded and won a cap on how high those rates could climb.