TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to continue enforcing its ban on gay marriage.

Schmidt’s office filed the request Monday with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles emergency requests from the federal appeals circuit that includes Kansas.

The appeals court rejected a similar request last week.

Schmidt wants the high court to put on hold an injunction last week from U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree that prohibits Kansas from enforcing its policies against gay marriage, including a provision of the state Constitution.

Crabtree’s order is due to take effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The judge issued the order in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union for two lesbian couples denied marriage licenses last month.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 42-year-old Missouri woman has been sentenced for more than four years in federal prison for preparing false income tax returns that resulted in a loss to the government of more than $316,000.

Kansas U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says Cynthia M. Raymond of Jackson, Missouri, was sentenced Monday to 51 months after pleading guilty to five counts of filing false tax returns and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Raymond admitted submitting 98 false tax returns under the names of 36 clients for the 2007 through 2010 tax years. Her clients weren’t aware that she included false deductions on their tax returns and kept part of the refunds.

Grissom says Raymond filed the returns electronically and provided her clients with different returns than the ones she filed with the IRS.

Great Bend Post

HOISINGTON— Authorities in Barton County are investigating a weekend stabbing.

Police reported that on Sunday at 12:41 a.m. officers were dispatched to 260 W. 6th Street in Hoisington

Upon arrival, officers contacted Brian Scott Reed, 49, who stated he had just stabbed someone.

Reed was taken into custody and later transported to the Barton County Jail where he was booked for attempted first-degree murder and held on a $1 million bond.

A private vehicle transported the victim, Eric Ehster, 26 to Clara Barton Hospital and later flown to St. Francis in Wichita.

The case remains under investigation by the Hoisington Police Department.

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas juvenile has died after being struck by a freight train, and authorities are calling her death an apparent suicide.

Lenexa police and first responders were called to the scene in the Kansas City suburb shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday. The girl was taken to a hospital and later died.

Investigators said Monday the girl had been standing on the tracks in the path of the oncoming Burlington Northern Santa Fe train. The engineer summoned authorities.

Police say the girl was a student at Olathe Northwest High School.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas gay-rights leader says he expects same-sex couples to seek marriage licenses at county courthouses later this week and have weddings quickly as the courts consider whether the state can enforce its gay-marriage ban.

Tom Witt of Equality Kansas said his group is advising couples to get married quickly.

A federal judge’s injunction to prevent the state from enforcing its ban takes effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. A federal appeals court refused last week to put the judge’s order on hold indefinitely.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is promising to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The injunction came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two lesbian couples denied marriage licenses.

The issue is whether the state can keep enforcing its gay-marriage ban as the case moves forward.

WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) — A state lawmaker from southeast Kansas has won re-election after canvasses in his House district confirmed the victory.

Democrat Ed Trimmer had trailed Republican challenger Larry Alley by six votes following the initial tallies from last Tuesday’s election.

But the Winfield Daily Courier reports Trimmer picked up 59 votes and Alley just 36 in Monday’s canvasses in the 79th House District. The result was a 17-vote victory for Trimmer in the district, which includes parts of Cowley and Sumner counties.

Alley said afterward he was proud of his volunteers, and he offered congratulations to Trimmer.

Alley could still request a recount, which would be conducted within five days.

WASHINGTON (AP) — McDonald’s is recalling a Hello Kitty-themed whistle given to children in Happy Meals, citing a chance they could choke on some of its parts.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Monday that two children have reportedly coughed out pieces of the whistle that they had sucked into their mouths, including one child who received medical attention.

The safety agency said that parts of the three-inch tall “Hello Kitty Birthday Lollipop” whistle can detach and be inhaled, posing a risk to small children.

McDonald’s handed out about 2.3 million of these whistles in the U.S. and 200,000 in Canada from October through November in Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals.

Consumers should return the whistle to any McDonald’s for a free replacement toy.

BRANDON BAILEY, AP Technology Writer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kansas City, Kansas, police say a sword-wielding man was shot to death after he threatened people with a sword.

Police announced Monday that 50-year-old Carlos Davenport, of Kansas City, Kansas, died in the shooting on Saturday.

Two officers arrived at an apartment complex after a woman called to say a man was trying to stab her sister. The department says in a news release that the officers heard screaming as they ran up to a second floor apartment.

After the women came out of the apartment, Davenport followed with a sword raised above his head. Police say the man was shot after he ignored the officer’s demand to drop the weapon. The two women and officer were not injured.