KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City high school’s purchase of an estimated $47,000 grand piano is striking some sour notes among critics.

The school board approved the purchase last month for Sumner Academy. District officials say the old piano is in poor condition due to use and age. It’s at least 40 years old.

The Wichita Eagle reports some, like former state Sen. Chris Steineger, wonder whether a public high school needs such a high-end instrument.

Rep. Steve Huebert is a member of the House Education Budget Committee and says such expenditures raise questions of stewardship of the public’s money.

The district’s director of purchasing says several students are preparing for careers in music performance and need a quality piano to prepare for scholarship auditions.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Jury selection resumes in the trial of the leader and self-proclaimed seer of a Kansas commune accused in the 2003 drowning of a woman whose death he had foretold weeks earlier.

Fifty-five-year-old Daniel U. Perez returns to court Tuesday for his trial for first-degree premeditated murder of Patricia Hughes at the group’s compound in the Wichita suburb of Valley Center. Prosecutors say the group lived off life insurance payouts from its dead members.

Witnesses have testified Perez called himself a seer and portrayed him as a domineering leader who kept a tight rein on his young, mostly female followers.

Perez also faces multiple counts of lying on life insurance applications, rape, sodomy, criminal threat, making false statements on auto credit applications and sexual exploitation of a child.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas abortion rights activists say a proposal to ban a specific abortion procedure could end up establishing broader restrictions.

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee conducted a hearing Monday on a bill that would ban the procedure known as dilation and evacuation. Kansas already bans most abortions at or after the 22nd week of pregnancy. The new measure could prevent some pregnancies from being terminated earlier.

Kathy Ostrowski of Kansans for Life told the committee the procedure was cruel to the fetus and should be banned.

Julie Burkhart of the Trust Women Foundation said the ban would endanger women’s health and lead to additional costs due to legal challenges.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has said that he would sign the bill if it passed.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 32-year-old Kansas man is suspected of drunken driving after being found passed out in the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant with nine children in his vehicle.

The man, who was arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of driving under the influence and child endangerment, had not been formally charged as of Monday afternoon.

Wichita police say officers responded at 12:30 a.m. Sunday to a McDonald’s restaurant where they found the driver. The Wichita Eagle reports the driver refused to submit to a test for substances and was arrested.

The children in the SUV ranged in age from 5 months to 12 years old.

Police spokesman Lt. James Espinoza says the driver was father of six of the children and uncle of the other three.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new report says a monthly economic survey index for nine Midwestern and Plains rose slightly in January.

The survey report issued Monday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index climbed to 54.8 last month from 54.4 in December.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says growth for companies outside of energy and agriculture will more than offset expected declines in those sectors.

The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today said the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Proposal is more of the same tired, agenda-driven wish-list that taxes, borrows and spends too much.

“The President’s budget is especially hard on Kansans. It raises taxes on savings and small businesses. It borrows so much that at the end of President’s plan, annual interest costs would be larger than his proposed spending for national defense, Medicaid or the combined total of all non-defense agency spending.

“The President is especially hard on farmers, proposing to cut the crop insurance program and again placing a disproportionate share of federal budget cuts on the shoulders of producers.

“Following four years of extreme drought, Kansas is living proof that the crop insurance program works for the farmer, the taxpayer and the economy.

“Our nation cannot afford the President’s course. Fortunately, the new Senate Republican Majority will soon debate a budget, one that will actually balance and one that will work for the taxpayer.”

Senator Roberts is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

MARYSVILLE – One person was injured in an accident just before 1 p.m. on Monday in Marshall County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Volkswagen New Beetle driven by Justin B. James, 28, Sanger, NE., was northbound on U. S. 77 ten miles north of Marysville.

The vehicle drove left of center, struck a guardrail and came to rest in the west ditch.

Sanger was transported to Community Memorial Healthcare.

The KHP reported indicated they were uncertain of his seatbelt usage.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a proposal to expand the state Open Records Act so that it would cover private emails by state officials about government business.

The House on Monday voted 86 to 30 against a proposal from Wichita Democrat Jim Ward.

His measure was inspired by a Wichita Eagle report that Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director used a private email account in December to give two lobbyists a preview of Brownback’s proposals weeks before they were formally unveiled to lawmakers.

Ward offered his proposal as an amendment to an open records bill that later received first-round approval in the House.

Brownback’s office declined to comment on Ward’s proposal. But several GOP lawmakers criticized Ward for not bringing his proposal to a committee for a thorough vetting.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack at a Wichita airport claim the undercover government agent who befriended him radicalized him to induce him to commit the crimes.

The legal maneuvers Monday come in the case of Terry Loewen, a former avionics technician who was arrested in an undercover sting when he allegedly tried in December 2013 to bring a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac at Mid-Continent Airport.

His attorneys argued their client was entrapped. They also asked the court to suppress evidence seized from the van.

Loewen has pleaded not guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and related charges.

The U.S. attorney’s office says it will review the defense filings and respond to the court.