WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Unseasonably early frigid temperatures gripping the Plains have pushed the winter wheat crop into dormancy and halted planting before it was finished.

Wheat planting was already behind schedule in the southwestern Midwest, even before the chill hit. Experts say the cool weather over the next few weeks will likely mean fewer acres of wheat to harvest next year.

Agricultural meteorologist Don Keeney of MDA Weather Services says the wintry weather will overall be positive for wheat. This is because snow will replenish soil moisture and offset expected winterkill wheat damage in western Nebraska and along the northeastern Colorado border, where temperatures are forecast to dip below zero Thursday.

Keeney says corn and sorghum harvest will be delayed, but that those crops shouldn’t be hurt.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The families of three people killed earlier this year outside two suburban Kansas City Jewish facilities are planning community events to mark the first anniversary of the slayings.

The Kansas City Star  reports plans for the event in April include a faith walk and songwriting to commemorate the April 13 deaths of William Corporon, Reat Griffin Underwood and Terri LaManno.

Corporon and his grandson were fatally shot outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas, while LaManno was killed at a nearby Jewish retirement home.

Wednesday’s announcement was timed to coincide with the preliminary hearing for the man accused of the shootings, Missouri resident Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. The hearing was postponed for an evaluation to determine if Miller is competent to stand trial.

DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House and Senate will vote in coming days on legislation to build the Keystone XL pipeline in a high-stakes political poker game.

The two candidates in the Dec. 6 runoff for a Louisiana Senate seat are both pushing the bills. They are three-term Democrat Mary Landrieu in the Senate and Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy in the House.

The House is virtually certain to approve the bill on Thursday. Landrieu says she has the votes to pass it in the Senate next Tuesday.

That would leave the fate of the bill up to President Barack Obama. The White House had no immediate comment on the day’s developments.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback isn’t giving up on defending the state’s gay-marriage ban despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling clearing the way for same-sex marriages in his state.

The court on Wednesday denied the state’s request to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying while Kansas fights the issue in court.

The Republican governor supports the ban and has said it is worth defending because voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution against gay marriage in 2005.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the governor issued a statement saying he took an oath to support the state constitution.

He added that he would review the decision and consult with state Attorney General Derek Schmidt on “how best we continue those efforts.”

TOPEKA- The Kansas Bureau of Investigation in a media release today reported the completion of an independent investigation pertaining to the events and circumstances concerning the death of Matthew Worsham on August 3, 2014.

Worsham had experienced a medical episode while serving a 48-hour hold at the Johnson County Adult Detention Center in Olathe and was transported to the Olathe Medical Center where he later died. The investigation and autopsy determined that Mr. Worsham died of acute ethanol withdrawal.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation presented the investigation to the Johnson County Attorney’s Office where it was decided that there was insufficient evidence to support any criminal charges concerning correctional or medical staff employed by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

DALLAS (AP) — Federal officials say crash tests will show by early 2015 whether guardrails found along many U.S. highways are safe.

The Federal Highway Administration said Wednesday that crash tests involving guardrails made by Trinity Industries Inc. will be done at an independent lab in San Antonio.

Critics say that a 2005 design change made it more likely that cars would be impaled if they hit either end of a guardrail head-on. The company faces several wrongful-death and injury lawsuits.

Trinity stopped selling the ET-Plus guardrails last month after a Texas jury ruled that the company should pay at least $175 million for failing to tell regulators about the change. Trinity has hinted that it will appeal.

Office of Kansas Governor

Today, Governor Sam Brownback in conjunction with members of the Induced Seismicity Task Force, announced the procurement and funding for the acquisition of a six station portable seismic network to monitor increased seismic activity in Harper, Sumner, and Barber counties.

“Public safety is my top priority,” said Governor Brownback. “We must balance the safety of all Kansans, and consider the impacts to industry. This deployment will give our state geologists the data they need to better understand the increased seismic activity being experienced in south-central Kansas and to formulate a plan going forward.”

The funding for the seismic network represents the continued cooperation between state agencies and will allow the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) to deploy monitoring stations in areas with significant seismic activity. The KGS anticipates the monitoring stations will cost about $85,000 and will be operational in early 2015.

Governor Brownback established the Induced Seismicity Task Force with representation from the KGS, Kansas Corporation Commission, and Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The Task Force developed a draft plan with input from experts and the public that was presented and adopted by Governor Brownback. The plan calls for a portable seismic network. The KGS continues to develop a permanent statewide seismic network in addition to the portable network that was partially funded during the last legislative session.

Thus far in 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center has recorded 93 earthquakes in Kansas, ranging from a magnitude 1.3 to 4.3, nearly all in Sumner, Harper, and Barber counties. This is an increase over 2013 and prior years.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Monsanto Co. says it will pay $2.4 million to settle a dispute with farmers in the Pacific Northwest over genetically modified wheat.

The discovery of the genetically modified wheat in Oregon in 2013 prompted Japan and South Korea to temporarily suspend some wheat orders, and the European Union called for more rigorous testing of U.S. shipments.

No genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming.

Federal agriculture officials determined the wheat is the same strain as one tested by Monsanto a decade ago that was never approved.

Monsanto will put $2.1 million into a settlement fund to pay farmers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho who sold soft white wheat between May 30 and Nov. 30 last year. It also will make payments to several regional growers associations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says same-sex marriages can go ahead in Kansas.

The court on Wednesday denied the state’s request to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying while Kansas fights the issue in court.

A federal district judge last week blocked the state from enforcing its ban, saying it was in keeping with an earlier ruling by the federal appeals court that oversees Kansas that struck down bans in Oklahoma and Utah.

The judge’s ruling was supposed to go into effect Tuesday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor temporarily put it on hold while the high court reviewed the case.

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would have sided with the state.