TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is sponsoring a motorcycle rally in Junction City and a ride through nearby Fort Riley in June to raise money for programs for veterans and scenic highways routes in the area.

The third annual Governor’s Freedom Rally is set for June 7 in Heritage Park in Junction City. Each participant must pay a $25 fee, and there’s a $10 fee to enter a motorcycle show.

The daylong event will feature a wreath-laying at the local Veterans Memorial, as well as live entertainment, an auction and recognition of wounded veterans.

Brownback is a motorcyclist himself and plans to lead the ride through Fort Riley.

The Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism says it expects more than 1,000 motorcyclists to participate.

Salina Post

SALINA—A gas barbeque grill is the likely source for a fire Sunday afternoon at a house and garage at 1001 N. 11th street just before 4pm.

Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams said that firefighters dispatched to the fire were able to see smoke from the fire several blocks away.

Williams said three alarms were sounded for the fire because of concern about about the number of structures involved and having crews ready to respond to other areas of the city if needed.

A natural gas line was also damaged.  Debris prevented access to the line which presented a challenge to firefighters being able to totally extinguish the blaze.

“A man who lives at the home suffered a slight burn to his arm, but declined medical treatment,” said Williams. “Damage to both the home and garage is going to be extensive.”

As of late Sunday afternoon Firefighters were still on the scene nearly two hours after they were dispatched.

More details on the fire will be released on Monday.

BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) — Officials say the Baxter Springs and its residents affected by a recent tornado won’t get financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Jonathan York, response and recovery branch director for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, said during a town hall meeting Saturday that preliminary reports show the April 27 that hit Baxter Springs didn’t have a magnitude to meet public assistance or individual assistance from FEMA. About 100 of the city’s 2,000 homes and 12 businesses were damaged by the EF-2 tornado.

FEMA looks at the concentration and extent of damage in a community when making a disaster declaration.

The Joplin Globe reports  Gov. Sam Brownback has requested a Small Business Administration disaster declaration for Cherokee County and adjacent counties, which would make low-interest, long-term loans available.

MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A spokesman says eight acrobats fell from a platform at a circus in Rhode Island while one dancer was injured on the floor below.

Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., confirmed that nine performers were seriously injured, including eight who were in the air.

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare says officials and inspectors haven’t yet determined what caused the accident.

The show’s general manager says the accident occurred during the “hair hang” act while performers are hanging from their hair.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — The Hutchinson City Council is considering a change to a sick leave policy that’s been part of the city firefighters’ contract for 40 years.

The Hutchinson News reports the council is scheduled to consider the proposed change Tuesday.

Firefighters can currently accumulate 360 hours of unused sick leave, plus an additional 36 hours for each year of perfect attendance. The city will buy those hours back when a firefighter takes full retirement, disability, retirement or dies.

The city wants to go to a system that would pay the employees at most 33 percent of the hours they’ve accumulated and then only if they had a low to moderate utilization rate for sick leave.

The change is similar to one the council approved earlier for the Service Employees International Union.

BURTON— A Hutchinson man was injured in a Sunday morning motorcycle accident in Harvey County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Harley-Davidson driven by David D. Nordling, 59, was eastbound on U50 just west of Burton. The rider lost control of the vehicle causing it to land in the middle of roadway.

Nordling, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — New government figures show Lawrence is the most expensive metro area in Kansas.

Numbers released recently by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis show that although the city’s cost of living is lower than the national average, it’s higher than in any other metro area in Kansas. Lawrence residents also earn less than residents in other Kansas communities.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the new figures are part of a project by the Bureau of Economic Analysis designed to give people a better idea of how much it costs to live in various metro areas.

The agency measured both income levels and how much it costs for goods and services such as transportation, education, household staples, entertainment and other categories based on 2012 data.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas resident roams eight states with the start of each spring. He hauls a refrigerated trailer, lives in a tent and looks for the morel mushrooms that he’s hunted since childhood.

The Lawrence Journal-World report that 40-year-old Ryan Gregg, of Lawrence, collected nearly 1,800 pounds of the mushrooms last year in his travels.

He started a website for morel hunters four years ago, when he also started hauling his trailer across the nation’s midsection, starting in Texas and Oklahoma and moving north.

His hunting started when he was about 10 and lived on 80 wooded acres near Lawrence, a hotbed for morels. The mushrooms are prized for their nutty, meaty flavor. Hunters seek them for weeks between late March and mid-May.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are turning down an invitation extended in a full-page ad in their hometown newspaper asking them to join a public debate on climate change.

The Wichita Eagle reports  that Friday’s advertisement was placed by NextGen Climate Change, a group supporting the views of retired billionaire investor Tom Steyer.

Koch corporate spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia says they are not experts on climate change.

NextGen spokeswoman Heather Wong says they are glad Koch Industries has acknowledged they are not experts on climate change.

The political advertisement labeled itself as “An invitation to the Koch brothers,” and juxtaposed photographs of David Koch vs. Steyer side by side.