TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A tax exemption championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback helped about 90,000 more business owners than previously anticipated, as well as about 53,000 farmers.

New state Department of Revenue figures have intensified a debate over how to address the budget problems that arose after lawmakers cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 in a bid to boost the economy.

But Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said Tuesday that tax relief for owners of small businesses should not be blamed for budget difficulties.

Lawmakers in 2012 eliminated personal income taxes for many owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships and other businesses. The state had said 191,000 business owners would be helped.

The department now estimates that nearly 281,000 business owners were helped, along with the farmers, whose numbers weren’t estimated previously.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has advanced Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s proposal to give his office the power to prosecute election fraud cases.

But Tuesday’s debate on the measure exposed a split among Republicans who control the Legislature. Kobach also is a Republican.

The Senate gave the bill first-round approval on a voice vote. It’s expected to pass in a final vote Wednesday and go to the House.

Kobach says county prosecutors are usually too busy to pursue election fraud cases. But critics say there’s not enough election fraud to justify such a move.

The measure also boosts the penalties for election crimes. Senators considered an amendment to strip out the provision giving Kobach’s office prosecutorial power.

The vote was 23-15 against the amendment. But eight Republicans supported it.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A key Republican legislator says he’s not sure how Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s efforts to obtain the authority to prosecute election fraud cases will fare when the state Senate debates the measure.

The Senate was taking up the bill Tuesday. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, a Republican from Independence, said senators have supported the concept in the past but are likely to have questions about the details.

Kobach has argued that his office needs to the power to pursue election fraud cases because county prosecutors have too many other cases that are a higher priority for them.

But Kobach’s critics contend that there’s no need for such a change.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley said while Kobach is an attorney, future secretaries of state might not be.

BEATTIE, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas farm cooperative has been fined $65,900 after a worker lost the toes on his left foot when he became entangled in an auger.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Tuesday that the employee of the Beattie Farmers Union Cooperative was injured in August 2014 while he was cleaning out a grain bin near Waterville. It said locking devices were not placed on the augers to prevent them from turning on while workers were in the bin.

OSHA said in a news release that it found one willful, one repeated and three serious safety and health violations at the operation. The employee has not been able to return to work.

Representatives for the cooperative did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Salina Post

SALINA -Police have arrested a teenager on a half dozen counts of arson and one count of aggravated assault, in connection with setting a series of small grass fires.

Police Captain said David Eklund, 15, is accused of starting a small grass fire in the 700 block of Gypsum on February 13, two grass fires in the 600 block of South 2nd, two fires in Oakdale Park, one small grass fire in the 100 Block of South Kansas on the February 18.

Sweeney said Eklund also allegedly threatened an 11-year-old boy with a lighter and an aerosol bottle of deodorant spray.

Eklund is being held in the juvenile detention facility in Junction City.

ANTHONY, Kan. (AP) — Harper County officials say frequent earthquakes are adding to the cost of repairing the century-old county courthouse, which was already deteriorating because of age.

The Hutchinson News reports the county was considering spending $400,000 to fix cracks in the courthouse’s staircases. Then a sharp increase in earthquakes began hitting south-central Kansas, causing more damage. The latest estimate is that it will cost $1.1 million just to fix the staircases. Other damage includes cracks in interior walls of the courthouse.

County commissioners say photos show the quakes have worsened the damage in the courthouse.

The Kansas Geological Survey has recorded more than 200 earthquakes in Kansas since Jan. 1, 2013, with most in south-central area. There had been five earthquakes detected in the state in the previous 10 years.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The attorney for a Kansas airman says a ruling by the nation’s highest military court that reversed his client’s conviction for exposing multiple sex partners to HIV will effectively end such prosecutions in the armed forces.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces on Monday unanimously ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that any of David Gutierrez’s acts at swinger parties in Wichita were likely to transmit HIV to his partners.

Defense attorney Kevin McDermott says the ruling overturns a 25-year precedent that allowed military personnel to be convicted of aggravated assault solely on the basis of a positive HIV test.

However, the court upheld Gutierrez’s lesser conviction of assault by battery for offensive touching to which partners did not provide meaningful informed consent.