TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Court documents show a 30-year-old Kansas man accused of fatally shooting a Topeka police officer earlier this month told investigators he had used methamphetamine two hours before the incident.

Ross Preston Lane is charged with capital murder in the Sept. 7 shooting death of 40-year-old police Cpl. Jason Harwood during a routine traffic stop in Topeka.

According to affidavits filed Sept. 8 and obtained Friday through an open-records request, Lane told a passenger in the car that he didn’t want to go back to prison, before pulling a gun from between the front seats and shooting Harwood.

Lane was taken into custody several hours later after calling a Topeka television station and saying he wanted to give up. He is being held without bond.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says about 500 voters living overseas will be told they may have to re-vote in the U.S. Senate race after ballots are mailed to them Saturday.

The Kansas election official on Friday directed counties to begin mailing overseas ballots under a federal deadline.

The ballots will have no Democratic candidate in the U.S. Senate race after the Kansas Supreme Court ordered Kobach to honor nominee Chad Taylor’s request to remove his name. Some Democrats pushed Taylor out to help independent candidate Greg Orman’s chances of defeating Republican Sen. Pat Roberts.

Kobach said Democrats are still obligated to pick a new nominee.

The ballots going out Saturday will come with a disclaimer saying a new ballot will come later if Democrats pick a new candidate.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas City-area medical relief nonprofit Heart to Heart International is sending a team to West Africa to assess how its volunteers could help with the Ebola crisis.

The Kansas City Star reports  the four medical professionals plan to leave Sunday for a weeklong fact-finding trip in Liberia.

Heart to Heart, based in Olathe, provides medical assistance worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters. Operations director Dan Neal the West African mission is different because the Ebola epidemic is ongoing.

Once the assessment group returns, the plan is to send a series of medical teams over at least the next six months for two-week stints each. The teams would be comprised of about 10 people each.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Statewide data presented to a Kansas commission studying school efficiency shows districts are hanging onto more cash.

Several members of the K-12 Student Performance and Efficiency Commission expressed concerns Friday about a $152 million increase in unspent balances from 2008 to 2014. But there weren’t enough votes to request a study of how money is carried over for use in future years.

Commission member Mike O’Neal noted that a 2011 state law was designed to make it easier to transfer unspent money into a fund where it can be spent on general expenses such as salaries. But data shows the size of those transfers dropped from $18.1 million in the 2011-12 school year to $6.3 million this year.

School officials say funding uncertainty is one reason for saving money.

WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) — The Cowley County Attorney says the fatal shooting of an Arkansas City man by a sheriff’s deputy was justified.

Attorney Chris Smith said Friday that the deputy had reason to believe he was going to die if he did not shoot 22-year-old Tayler Rand Rock after a traffic stop in May. The deputy stopped Rock, of Arkansas City, on U.S. 166 near Dexter for a traffic violation.

Smith said Rock refused to get out of the car before grabbing the officer’s wrist and trying to drive away, dragging the deputy with the car. The deputy shot Rock several times.

Rock’s 9-month-old child was in the car but was not injured. The deputy continues to receive medical treatment for injuries to his left ankle, knee, foot, shoulder and hand.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Corporation Commission this week ordered its staff to shut down and seal an oil company’s wells, saying it reaped more than $1 million from illegal drilling operations.

The Wichita Eagle reports Viva International Inc. was also issued a $75,000 fine by the state commission on Thursday.

According to commission records, the company has been penalized for 87 different violations of state oil regulations and had its license suspended 11 times since June 2013.

Kansas law requires oil companies to acquire licenses and provide the commission with information on well locations and operations. The commission says the company has given incomplete and wrong records, ignored repeated requests for more information and continued to operate unlicensed wells.

A message left with the company wasn’t immediately returned Friday.

Related: This week’s edition of “News from the Oil Patch”

TOPEKA- A semi was involved in an accident Friday morning in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Department of transportation reported the southbound U.S. 75 to eastbound Interstate 70 ramp is closed to all traffic.

A semi hit the overhead sign truss, damaging it. The truck as well as and strewn cargo are blocking the roadway. Law enforcement and first responders are on scene. The road is expected to be closed until mid afternoon Friday. No injuries are reported.

Eastbound Interstate 70 mainline lanes are fully open to traffic, just the ramp is closed. Southbound U.S. 75 traffic is being detoured onto westbound Interstate70 to Fairlawn Road to turnaround back onto eastbound Interstate 70.