DOVER, Del. (AP) — Police in Delaware say they are investigating a domestic assault allegation made against NASCAR driver Kurt Busch.

The Dover Police Department said in a statement Friday that the allegations were brought to the department on Wednesday. His ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, said the allegations involved an incident inside his motorhome at a race.

NASCAR said it was aware of the situation, and gathering information. Busch has not been charged.

Known as “The Outlaw” in racing circles, Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and one of the more accomplished drivers in the series. He also has a history of run-ins on and off the track with drivers and NASCAR officials.

He was in his car practicing Friday for this weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.

VALLEY FALLS (AP) — Jefferson County officials say a 58-year-old man died after apparently falling into a grain bin.

Sheriff Jeffrey Herrig says emergency crews were called Thursday afternoon to the farm of Mike Miller about 8 miles west of Valley Falls.

WIBW reports that Herrig says Miller fell into a grain bin and died before crews could rescue him.

Details of how Miller fell were not immediately available.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The justices on Friday say they will decide whether the law authorizes subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people afford their health insurance premiums.

A federal appeals court upheld Internal Revenue Service regulations that allow health-insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act for consumers in all 50 states. Opponents argue that most of the subsidies are illegal.

The long-running political and legal campaign to overturn or limit the 2010 health overhaul will be making its second appearance at the Supreme Court.

The justices upheld the heart of the law in a 5-4 decision in 2012 in which Chief Justice John Roberts provided the decisive vote.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas wildlife official are predicting that bird populations will be 70 percent higher than a year ago when the state’s quail and pheasant seasons open this weekend.

But after the lowest pheasant and quail harvest in 75 years, Kansas Department of Wildlife small game specialist Jeff Prendergast says the numbers still will be pretty poor.

Prendergast tells The Salina Journal  that low bird numbers in recent years have discouraged some hunters, which is partly why there should be more birds when hunting season opens Saturday.

Hunting season typically provides area hotels with brisk business for about three weeks. Beloit Super 8 general manager Janet Remus says her motel is lodging hunters from as far away as South Carolina and Kentucky.

Quail and pheasant seasons run through Jan. 31.

 

NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch has emerged as the leading choice to be the next attorney general, but President Barack Obama does not plan to make a nomination until after a trip to Asia next week.

People with knowledge of his plans say Obama has decided against pushing for confirmation in the lame duck and instead will leave it up to the Republican-controlled Senate next year.

The White House would not comment on whom Obama plans to name. But the people with knowledge of his thinking say Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for Eastern New York, has risen to the top of his list in the past couple of weeks. If selected, she would be the first black female attorney general. Florida’s Janet Reno was the first woman attorney general.

United States Attorney

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Federal charges were filed Thursday in a Lenexa bank robbery, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Donald Rucks, 42, was charged with one count of bank robbery. Rucks is accused of robbing the Arvest Bank in Lenexa on Nov. 4, 2014. Investigators alleged he entered the bank and was talking on a cell phone for several minutes before giving a teller a note saying, “BE QUIET, 100s, 50s and 20s PLEASE.” He put the money in the pocket of the white hoodie sweatshirt he was wearing and fled with the money.

After surveillance footage from the bank was made public, police received tips leading them to Rucks. He was arrested Nov. 5 in Olathe, Kan.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The Olathe Police Department and the FBI investigated. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Douglas County judge has agreed to release a redacted version of a previously sealed probable cause affidavit in an early test of a new state law.

District Judge Sally Pokorny ruled last month that the affidavit in a rape case should be withheld but changed course this week.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that her ruling on Thursday comes under a new state law, which became effective in July, that allows judges to release some legal documents that had previously been withheld.

In October, the newspaper cited the statute in filing a motion in October to challenge the ruling in withholding the affidavit.

The newspaper has requested 10 affidavits to be released since July, including the rape case affidavit. Seven have been redacted and released, and three more are awaiting court action.

 

By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment this week released its annual summary of vital statistics for 2013.
The 206-page report features county-by-county data on pregnancies, births, deaths, abortions, marriages and divorces.

A sampling of the findings:

• Kansas’ infant mortality rate increased from 6.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012 to 6.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013. The state recorded 248 infant deaths in 2013.

• Kansas recorded 505 resident suicides in 2012 and 426 in 2013.

• The 10 leading causes of death remained the same as 2012: cancer, heart disease, lung disease, accidents, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, kidney disease, pneumonia/influenza, diabetes and suicide.

• Tobacco use contributed to almost one in five deaths.

• Kansas’ birth rate in 2013 – 13.4 births per 1,000 populations – was the lowest since the state began compiling vital statistics in 1912. The state’s birth rate peaked at 26.8 births per 1,000 population in 1954.

• Out-of-wedlock births accounted for 36.2 percent of all Kansas births in 2013. Since 1994, the state’s out-of-wedlock birth rate has increased 45.6 percent.

• One in eight mothers reported “cigarette use” at some time during their pregnancies last year.

• In 2013, Kansas recorded 17,328 marriages, 8,869 divorces and 216 annulments.

• The state recorded 7,485 abortions last year; 3,722 involved out-of-state residents and 3,763 involved in-state residents.

Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.