WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court has scheduled arguments in the case of a Kansas abortion opponent who sent a letter to a Wichita doctor saying someone might place an explosive under her car.

A notice Monday at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sets a Nov. 18 hearing in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Angel Dillard.

At issue is whether a federal judge in Wichita wrongly concluded Dillard’s letter was not a “true threat.” The judge ruled that the letter was constitutionally protected speech. The government appealed.

Dillard claims in a cross-appeal that the government violated her speech and religious rights when it sued her in 2011 for sending the letter to Dr. Mila Means, who at the time was training to offer abortions after Dr. George Tiller’s 2009 murder.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — State and local officials in four Kansas counties are conducting an exercise to practice the state’s plan to respond to a foreign animal disease.

The state Department of Agriculture says the drill began Monday and continues through Wednesday. Emergency response teams from Clay, Lyon, Riley and Pottawatomie counties are taking part.

Agriculture officials said the exercise is based on a hypothetical case of foot-and-mouth disease, which was last identified in the U.S. in 1929. Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious disease that affects cattle, sheep, swine and other cloven-hooved animals.

Kansas Agriculture Secretary Jackie McClaskey says the exercise will identify gaps in the state’s response plan and give state and local officials experience in carrying out the plan.

The Office of Kansas Attorney General

TOPEKA – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today asked a state court to end a lawsuit challenging the school-funding law enacted in April by the Legislature.

 Schmidt filed the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed in August by the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA), in Shawnee County District Court in Topeka.  The filing is the State’s first formal response to the lawsuit.

 “At its core, KNEA disagrees with the Legislature’s policy choice to amend the Kansas statutes regarding teacher dismissal and termination of teacher contracts,” Schmidt wrote in his filing.  “Rather than attack that issue directly, the KNEA raises an abstract challenge to the process by which the Legislature enacted the law.”

 Schmidt argues that the KNEA lacks standing to challenge the law, that no actual controversy has yet arisen under the new law, and that the education bill enacted by the Legislature complies with the state Constitution’s requirement that each bill contain only a single subject.

 Allowing the lawsuit to proceed, Schmidt argues, could put in jeopardy more than $134 million in K-12 spending that was provided by the new law.  That spending is being used in schools throughout Kansas during the current school year.

 The case is Kansas National Education Association v. State of Kansas, et al., in the District Court of Shawnee County, Kansas, Case No. 2014-CV-789.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities in northeast Kansas have arrested a man suspected of firing a shot at a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy.

The deputy was unhurt in the shooting early Monday, which set off a massive search for more than 12 hours in the southern part of the county. The sheriff’s department says the suspect was arrested without incident several miles from where the confrontation occurred.

The deputy was investigating a reported break-in at a construction site when the suspect fired a shot before fleeing. Authorities said the deputy did not return fire.

Several schools in the Blue Valley district were placed on heightened alert during the search. Law enforcement officers patrolled bus stops during the morning.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Jackson County judge says a 34-year-old man accused of fatally shooting three people and brutally beating two others who later died will be allowed to wear street clothes during his courtroom appearances.

Brandon Howell is facing a dozen charges in the Sept. 2 attacks, including three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 88-year-old Alice Hurst, her son, 63-year-old Darrel Hurst, and 69-year-old Susan Choucroun. Charges have not been updated in the beatings of George and Ann Taylor, who died after the other counts had been filed.

Howell appeared in court Monday wearing a blue pullover sweater and slacks, but no visible shackles. His attorney told Associate Judge Mary Weir the jury pool could be tainted if news stations repeatedly showed him in leg irons or other restraints.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expressing concern that an intruder carrying a knife was able to get into the White House where his family lives.

Obama press secretary Josh Earnest says Obama is “obviously concerned” that a man got through the White House front doors Friday evening a few minutes after the first family left for Camp David. But Earnest says Obama has complete confidence in the Secret Service.

Earnest wouldn’t say whether Obama wants to see security expanded to a wider perimeter around the White House. The Secret Service is discussing that as an option.

Earnest says in response to the breach, the Secret Service is reviewing its policies, technical enhancements, staffing levels and previous interactions with the Texas man who gained access by jumping a fence.

SALINA- One woman was injured in an accident just before 10:30 a.m. on Monday in Saline County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Honda CRV driven by Michelle Suzan Gunzelman, 52, Ruckersville, Mo., was westbound on Interstate 70 just west of Interstate I35 in the right hand lane.

The driver could not get the vehicle slowed down fast enough for traffic. The driver downshifted and swerved to the left causing the vehicle to enter the center median and roll.

Gunzelman was transported to Salina Regional Medical Center.

The KHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.