Congressman Tim Huelskamp made an appearance Wednesday night on CNBC to discuss the current Budget Deal

(AP) — The Kansas State Board of Education is drafting a plan that would require all teachers in the state to submit fingerprints and undergo extensive background checks, but some school districts are concerned about requiring more costs from their educators.

Education Board attorney Scott Gordon says some districts already require fingerprint checks as a condition of employment, but those can’t legally be transferred to the state. The state-required checks would mean new fingerprints would have to be completed — often at the expense of the teachers.

The state board in September called for new rules as part of an effort to strengthen enforcement of state laws and regulations prohibiting anyone who has committed certain crimes from receiving or renewing a teaching license.

(AP) — Sedgwick County officials want the state to increase funding for a ranch for juvenile offenders, but the top Kansas corrections official says that might be a tough sell because of all the surplus bed space in other facilities.

County Manager William Buchanan told Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts on Wednesday that unless the state increases the $126 it pays per boy each day, he will recommend closing the Judge James V. Riddel Boys Ranch near Afton on July 1.

Buchanan says it costs about $206 per day to run the facility, which serves medium- to high-risk juvenile offenders on 63 wood acres 23 miles west of Wichita.

The facility nearly closed this year before the state provided a one-time infusion of $750,000.

(AP) — A flamingo that escaped from the Sedgwick County Zoo in 2005 has been spotted again, this time in Texas.

A Massachusetts birder says the flamingo, known as No. 492 because of the number on its leg band, was seen last week off the Texas Gulf Coast. The bird was with a companion, a Yucatan-born Caribbean flamingo with a band reading “HDNT.”

Two flamingoes escaped from the zoo in Wichita after employees did not clip their wings to prevent them from flying. No. 492 has been spotted many times since then, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. No sightings of the other flamingo have ever been made.

No. 492 was born in Africa before being shipped to the Sedgwick County Zoo in 2004 with 39 other flamingos.

(AP) — Kansas environmental officials are seeking volunteers to help count birds at Cheyenne Bottoms near Great Bend from Saturday through the first week of January.

The Christmas Bird Count is an annual tradition across the U.S. More than 40 such counts are held across Kansas.

The Kansas Wetlands Education Center and the Nature Conservancy are asking for help counting birds at Cheyenne Bottoms, an important migratory stopover for thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl.

More than 148 species of birds have been recorded spending their winters in the area. Volunteers are asked to help count the numbers of bird types Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Anyone interested in preregistering to help with the count should call the education center, 10 miles northeast of Great Bend.

Not good news for Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce. His wife has been arrested after a minor car accident.

According to police, 41-year-old Sarah L. Bruce was arrested for DUI and possession of a controlled substance. She was also cited with a traffic infraction for unsafe backing after her vehicle struck a vehicle driven by 16-year-old Spencer Cox of Hutchinson, in the 100 block of South Main just after 3 p-m, Wednesday afternoon.

Sarah Bruce is jailed on a 1-thousand dollar bond and will most likely make that bond, meaning she would appear in District Court at a later date.

U.S. Senator Pat Roberts released the following statement Wednesday announcing his opposition to the budget deal announced yesterday by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the leaders of the Senate-House conference committee on the budget.

“This budget deal falls far short of what is needed to address the nation’s fiscal challenges. It will not have any significant impact on the national debt, and, in fact, increases federal spending for the next two years.

“The new agreement does not tackle entitlement reform, provide for tax reform, or re-orient spending toward more pro-growth policies. Rather than moving forward with the spending reductions built into the Budget Control Act, the Ryan-Murray budget deal immediately increases spending by about $65 billion over the next two years, which is the exact wrong direction.

“This additional spending would be ‘paid for’ by targeted tax hikes, which would hit many Kansans square in their wallet. This latest deal is just more taxing and spending, based on promises of additional spending reductions which are not likely to ever be implemented. I am disappointed by the lack of scope in the Ryan-Murray budget proposal, and I intend to vote against it on the Senate Floor.”