WASHINGTON, D.C. – Friday night, the U.S. Senate passed S. Res. 588 – a resolution introduced by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – to recognize the importance of hospitals and other health care providers to the survival and success of communities in Kansas and throughout the country. Sen. Moran introduced the original version of this bipartisan Senate resolution (S. Res. 26) in February 2013, and he introduced the updated version earlier this week to pass the Senate in commemoration of National Rural Health Day, which was celebrated yesterday.

“When visiting towns across Kansas, I am reminded of what I loved about growing up in rural America – the strong sense of community,” Sen. Moran said. “Our special way of life in these towns would not be possible without the quality health care that our rural doctors, nurses, support staff, and administrators provide. Additionally, rural health care providers are a vital part of the local economy of a community. I am pleased that last night the Senate formally recognized the importance of rural health care.”

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — The family of a Salina girl who was fatally shocked may press ahead with a $10.5 million lawsuit.

The Salina Journal  reports that a Judge Bill Elliott on Friday rejected the city of Salina’s motion to dismiss the suit. But he also stressed that Kansas law provides broad protection to municipalities.

The family of Jayden Hicks alleges that the city was aware of wiring problems.

Jayden was 11 in May 2013 when she came into contact with the metal cover of an in-ground electrical junction box while playing in the rain with friends near a downtown plaza. The box had been installed without a grounding wire and contained damaged wires. Jayden underwent months of hospitalization and rehabilitation before she died in December.

A Jan. 18 trial is scheduled.

CHANUTE, Kan. (AP) — A man has died after his pickup truck went off the side of a bridge in southeast Kansas.

The Kansas Highway Patrol identified the victim as 51-year-old Jack R. Cheyney of Chanute. The patrol says the accident happened around 9 a.m. Saturday when his truck went off the roadway, struck a bridge rail and flipped into the water. The truck landed on its wheels on the north side of the creek.

Cheyney was pronounced dead by a Neosho County deputy. The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say that a mother of four has died just more than a week after she was sexually assaulted and set on fire at a Wichita park.

Police Lt. James Espinoza told The Wichita Eagle that the woman died around 9:40 a.m. Saturday at a Wichita hospital. Espinoza didn’t immediately return a phone message or email from The Associated Press.

The 36-year-old woman suffered severe burns on more than half her body and had cuts on her head when firefighters found her Nov. 14 in the park near the Wichita State University campus.

Twenty-six-year-old Cornell A. McNeal of Wichita was charged Friday with attempted capital murder, rape and arson. The Sedgwick County Public Defender’s Office says it has not yet assigned McNeal a lawyer. Bond was set at $250,000.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Sunset Zoo in Manhattan is without cheetahs after the death of a 13-year-old feline.

The Manhattan Mercury reports that the veterinary staff euthanized its last remaining cheetah on Thursday. The health of the male cheetah, named Jaleni, had been declining since a cancerous mass was found near his heart in June.

The Veterinary Health Center at Kansas State University cares for the zoo’s 200-plus animals. A full necropsy of Jaleni is planned.

In 2004, Jalani and his brother, Adolpho, came to Sunset Zoo from the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas. Adolpho died earlier this year from liver cancer.

Zoo staff is working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to identify additional cheetahs for its empty exhibit.

WABAUNSEE COUNTY- There people were injured in an accident just before 8 a.m. on Saturday in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Dodge Stratus driven by Chancy Agustus Taylor Nulsen, 17, Hudson, CO., was traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 at Keene-Eskridge Road.

The vehicle left the roadway to the south, traveled down the embankment, struck a washout, and overturned.

Nulsen and passengers Zachary Vega, 17, and a child, also of Hudson, CO., were transported to Stormont Vail.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) — Missouri authorities are investigating the death of a Kansas man whose body was found inside a burned portable restroom.

On Friday, Jackson County authorities identified the victim as 30-year-old Jackson Guzman of Shawnee, Kansas.

A Jackson County park ranger found the body Thursday night in the parking lot of the Frank White Jr. Softball Complex near Longview Lake in Lee’s Summit.

Authorities are asking anyone with information to come forward.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — It has been 50 years since the announcement that Schilling Air Force Base was closing rattled Salina residents.

The Salina Journal reported  that the economic disaster then spared no part of the community — real estate, retail, civic involvement, church attendance, population.

At the time the base pumped the equivalent of more than $154 million annually into the local economy. It employed 763 officers, 4,244 airmen and 357 civilians.

Salina eventually regained its footing. It acquired the base, and it was converted into an industrial site and a municipal airport.

Many had predicted Salina would be a city of 60,000 by 1974. Instead, it lost 13 percent of its population by the end of the 1960s. Not until 2000 did the numbers surpass those of four decades before.

MULVANE- A Kansas man died and three others were injured in an accident just before 3 a.m. on Saturday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Olds passenger car driven by Jason A. Minson, 22, Udall, was attempting to elude law enforcement officers with the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office for driving over the speed limit.

The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed, went over a curb, struck a fence, and then struck a tree.

Minson was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center.

Two passengers in the vehicle Jacob Alexander Minson, 19, Udall, and Patrick Allen Moore, 19, Ashton, were transported to St. Francis Medical Center.

Another passenger in the vehicle Jonathan Andrew Douglas, 18, Udall, was transported to Wesley Medical Center.

The KHP reported they also were not wearing seat belts.