TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka town house fire has sent an adult and a child to the hospital to be treated for possible smoke inhalation.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that fire crews responded shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday to the blaze. The two adults and two children who lived in the town house were able to escape.

The preliminary investigation says the fire started accidentally due to an unattended candle near curtains.

There was an estimated $15,000 in structural damage and $5,000 in content loss.

NICHOLAS CLAYTON, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers want to boost their campaign contribution limits to keep pace with a boom in outside election ads.

The House Elections Committee unanimously endorsed a bill Wednesday that would at least double contribution limits to campaigns for state offices. Lawmakers from both major parties said the move is necessary after an election cycle in which outside groups vastly outspent official campaigns.

Democratic Rep. Tom Sawyer of Wichita said both sides are scared of the rising influence of special interest groups that he said now have the power to swing elections with their ad spending.

The boom in outside money followed a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed for unlimited campaign spending by special interests, some of which are not required to disclose their donors.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — In the four decades since Oscar recipient William Inge’s death, the statuette that symbolizes his success has resided in the building that houses the University of Kansas’ theater program.

Inge received this Oscar in 1961 for best original screenplay for “Splendor in the Grass,” a story of sexual repression. The Lawrence Journal-World  reports that Inge was 60 years old in 1973 when he committed suicide after a decades-long struggle with depression.

His Oscar went to live at his alma mater, where it is brought out several times a year.

Besides serving as managing director and budget officer of theater at the university, Kathy Pryor also serves as caretaker of sorts for the Oscar. She calls it “priceless” and says it “serves as an inspiration” to aspiring thespians.

PLAINS – A man was injured in an accident just after 10:30 a.m. on Sunday in Seward County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1983 Cadillac Deville driven by Eugene A. Jendrezejak II, 49, Phoenix, AZ., was eastbound on U.S. 54 five miles west of Plains.
The vehicle went left of center and collided with a westbound semi.

The semi slid into the eastbound lane and stopped in the westbound lane. The Cadillac spun and came to rest in the south ditch.

Jendrezejak II was transported to Southwest Medical Center. The semi driver from California was not injured.

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

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Despite past opposition, some Kansas residents want the channel catfish to become a state symbol.

Supporters of the fish say it has a long history in Kansas and remains one of the most popular species in the state’s waters.

Bills to designate it as a state symbol have been introduced in Senate and House Committees. It was nominated by Robin Jennison, secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.

The Hutchinson News reports that earlier efforts to honor the fish failed. Opponents suggested a rarer species like the Topeka shiner, or considered the catfish a “second-class” species.

The Kansas Agriculture Department says the fish helps the state’s economy, as a favorite of anglers and as a major part of the state’s aquaculture industry.

JUNCTION CITY – One person died and two were injured in an accident just after 6 a.m. on Sunday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Chevy Malibu driven by Ronald E. Stump, Jr, 35, Belleville, was southbound on Laurel Canyon Road five miles north of Kansas 244

The vehicle came to a dead end, traveled off the end of roadway, rolled down embankment and came to a rest on its top.

Stump Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Penwell-Gabel.

Passengers in the Malibu Wesley A. Peters, 33, and Kayleen J. Notter, 26 both of Belleville were transported to Geary Community Hospital.

The KHP reported they were not wearing seat belts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. –A Wichita attorney is among five defendants who have pleaded guilty in federal court this week to their roles in a multi-million dollar scheme to transport hundreds of thousands of cartons of contraband cigarettes from the Kansas City, Mo., area to the state of New York, where they were sold primarily on Indian reservations according to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Harry Najim, 67, of Wichita, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to failing to file a Form 8300 related to his representation of a client involved in the scheme, who was actually an undercover federal agent.

William F. Parry, 54, of Irving, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to contraband cigarette trafficking. Philip Christ, 55, of Hamburg, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and contraband cigarette trafficking.

Nicole Sheffler, 37, of Independence, Mo., and Gholamreza “Reza” Tadaiyon, 51, of Weston, Fla., pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Feb. 18, to their roles in the conspiracy.

USA v. Najim

Najim was a lawyer employed by the Adams Jones Law Firm in Wichita. By pleading guilty today, Najim admitted that he provided legal services for an undercover ATF agent from March 2011 through January 2012. The undercover agent sold large quantities of untaxed cigarettes to a group of individuals who transported the contraband cigarettes to retail outlets in the state of New York. Those individuals were engaged in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and contraband cigarette trafficking.

The undercover agent paid Najim $16,500 for his legal services when they met at the McCormick and Schmick’s restaurant on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo., on June 23, 2011. Najim knew federal statutes required the law firm to file a report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network upon receipt of more than $10,000 in a single transaction. Najim, however, did not report the $16,500 payment to the law firm, which caused it to fail to file a report.

Najim was also the attorney for co-defendant Craig Sheffler, 45, of Independence, and Sheffler’s business, Cheap Tobacco Wholesale. Sheffler pleaded guilty on Dec. 19, 2014, to participating in the conspiracy to commit wire fraud and contraband cigarette trafficking and forfeited $599,206 to the government.

Sheffler admitted that he made regular purchases of contraband cigarettes from undercover ATF agents. The contraband cigarettes were transported to New York without prior approval by the New York Department of Taxation and Finance and without first paying the required $4.35 per pack excise tax. The unstamped, untaxed cigarettes were then sold to smoke shops on the reservations in New York, which sold the contraband cigarettes at a considerable discount and deprived the state of its tax revenue.

According to the indictment, conspirators purchased more than $17 million worth of contraband cigarettes from ATF agents during an undercover operation. Sheffler admitted in his plea agreement that the amount of loss exceeded $7 million. Cigarettes were transported to New York without paying the required $4.35 per pack excise tax. The untaxed cigarettes were sold by New York retailers and smoke shops on the reservations in the state of New York. The total state excise tax lost to the state of New York

By Amelia Arvesen
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — What started as 10-gallons of home-brewed beer for Jeff Gill has evolved into Kansas’s largest microbrewery producing 15,000 barrels in 2014.

Gill founded Tallgrass Brewery in Manhattan in 2007, becoming one of 20 craft breweries in a state with an industry ranked 34th in the nation, according to the National Brewers Association.

Tallgrass beer is available in cans and on tap in 14 states. With a new $5 million, 60,000-square-foot brewing facility, Gill said he anticipates a significant production increase this year.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good plan but we do need some help to get some laws fixed,” he said.

Gill and other microbrewers might get some help. The limits on kegs rolling out of Kansas microbreweries could change drastically depending on how legislators respond to proposed liquor law bills in the next few weeks.

A key component of House Bill 2189 would allow breweries to sell beer directly to retailers, public venues and caterers. Currently, brewers must go through a distributor to get on the shelves in bars, restaurants and liquor stores.

Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant in Topeka produces 1,300 barrels a year, a fraction of the maximum 30,000 barrels allowed by state law. Owner Jay Ives said 10 percent of his beer is sold through a distributor to several Topeka restaurants and bars.

He said he sees self-distribution as an advantage for home brewers wanting to enter the industry.

“If we cut out the middleman, which is the distributor, then that markup goes back to the brewery and allows the brewery to reinvest in itself and grow,” Ives said.

The second part of HB2189 would double the manufacturing cap from 30,000 to 60,000 barrels a year, a limit that has quadrupled in two years.

Kansas is bordered by two states with thriving beer industries and higher production caps. Given an unlimited production cap, Colorado’s craft beer culture is bursting with 175 breweries including the large manufacturer MillerCoors.

To the east of Kansas, Missouri is home to the original Anheuser-Busch location in St. Louis and established in 1852, and the state’s regional Boulevard Brewing Company.

For Tallgrass Brewery, Gill said he would be able to utilize the new facility to produce up to 100,000 barrels a year. Gill said he’s aiming for a 2015 output just shy of 30,000 barrels, close to 700,000 gallons.

Free State Brewery in Lawrence, the first brewpub and second largest brewery in Kansas, produced nearly 11,000 barrels in 2014, only one-third of the current manufacturing cap. About 25 percent is sold in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri, said Steve Bradt, head brewer at Free State and president of the Kansas Craft Brewers Guild.

“There’s good steady growth in those things so at some point (HB 2189) will be a concern for us,” Bradt said.

Bradt said before he can determine how the law might affect breweries, he wants to see legislators weed out other liquor laws like Uncork Kansas, a movement in support of House Bill 2200 that would allow the sale of full-strength beer, wine and liquor in convenience stores and grocery stores starting in 2018.

Rep. Steven Brunk (R-Wichita) is waiting too. He is the House’s Federal and State Affairs committee chairman, where the microbrewery bill was introduced last month.

Similar legislation to sell in convenience stores has been unsuccessful in recent sessions, and Brunk said any new liquor law deserves careful discussion. He said it would completely modernize a well-established system.

Rep. Mark Hutton (R-Wichita), chairman of the House Committee on Commerce, Labor and Economic Development, said they plan to amend HB 2200 on Monday and decide whether to send the bill to a vote.

If brewers and some Kansas legislators have their way, more beer could be readily available to residents in more locations.

“This bill is … not going to hurt anything,” Gill said. “It’s going to help an emerging industry within Kansas.”

Amelia Arvesen is a University of Kansas senior from San Ramon, California, majoring in Journalism.

HUTCHINSON— A 35-year-old woman is jailed on a $100,000 bond after an incident Saturday morning where she allegedly fired a weapon at another vehicle.

According to police, officers were dispatched just after 8:40 a.m. to Midas Muffler and Brake Shop at 1101 North Lorraine after a vehicle struck the building.

The occupants of the vehicle, 28-year-old Daniel Newburn, 42-year-old Stacey Plantz and 39-year-old Michael Beason reported they were at Wal-Mart and were confronted by Nichole Rene Green in the parking lot.

After a brief argument, Newburn, Plantz and Beason left the parking lot and drove south on Kansas 61.

Police say Green followed them in her vehicle and repeatedly shot at them until they crashed the vehicle they were driving into the southwest side of Midas.

Green left the scene and later turned herself in at the Reno County Law Enforcement Center. Green was arrested for three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of criminal discharge of a firearm at a motor vehicle.

Police say this is an ongoing investigation and unless Green makes bond, she should make a first appearance in District Court Monday.