LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — An eastern Kansas jury has recommended a 50-year prison sentence for a woman convicted of killing her roommate and former employer by nearly decapitating him.

A Douglas County jury made the recommendation Monday for 20-year-old Sarah Gonzales McLinn of Lawrence after concluding her January 2014 killing of 52-year-old pizza shop owner Harold Sasko was committed in an “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner.”

McLinn, who was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, is to be sentenced April 29.

During her trial, McLinn’s attorneys acknowledged their client killed Sasko. But they sought an acquittal on claims that she had mental disease or defect at the time of the slaying. Defense witnesses also testified that McLinn had multiple personalities.

But jurors concluded McLinn was able to form intent in killing Sasko.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Georgia couple is suing a Kansas organization that once helped run the state’s privatized foster care system, claiming that the company failed to inform them that one of the three children they adopted had abusive tendencies.

The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports that in 2012, a couple adopted three brothers after being approached by TFI Family Services.

The couple alleges that one of the brothers, a 7-year-old, exhibited inappropriate behavior toward other children. After obtaining the boy’s medical records through a pediatrician, the couple learned that the child had been in therapy in mental health facilities, and had a history of attempting to molest other children. The couple eventually had the boy removed from their home.

TFI has denied all allegations of misrepresenting the boy’s history during the adoption process.

The Associated Press is not identifying the couple involved in the lawsuit to avoid identifying the child.

FAIRBURY, Neb. — Firefighters are in the midst of battling a fire at a 8,000-hog farm in southeast Nebraska, with crews from Kansas and Nebraska called in to help.

Click HERE for more.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s appointment of a veteran Kansas Highway Patrol officer as the agency’s superintendent has been endorsed by a state Senate committee.

The Federal and State Affairs Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend the confirmation of Maj. Mark Bruce as the patrol’s leader. The action sends Bruce’s appointment to the full Senate.

Bruce has served 25 years with the patrol and was named to its top job in January after Superintendent Ernest Garcia retired.

Meanwhile, another key Brownback appointee faces a confirmation hearing Tuesday.

The Public Health and Welfare Committee plans to consider Susan Mosier’s appointment as secretary of the Department of Health and Environment.

She’s held the job since former Secretary Robert Moser’s resignation in November and previously ran KDHE’s Division of Health Care Finance.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate committees are planning to hold confirmation hearings this week for two of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s major appointees.

The Federal and State Affairs Committee was meeting Monday to consider the appointment of Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent Mark Bruce.

Bruce is a 25-year patrol veteran elevated by Brownback to its top job in January after Superintendent Ernest Garcia retired.

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee scheduled a hearing Tuesday for Susan Mosier, who has been serving as secretary of the Department of Health and Environment since the resignation of then-Secretary Robert Moser at the end of November.

She ran KDHE’s Division of Health Care Finance before being named secretary.

Both Mosier and Bruce are expected to be confirmed by the full, GOP-dominated Senate.

 

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON— Police in Hutchinson are investigating an attempted robbery of a local convenience store early Monday morning.

Police say an employee of the Pic-Quik at 901 East 11th Street reported that a woman entered the store just before 6:30 a.m. and demanded cash.

The clerk started to grab at the woman as she laid down a black handgun. The woman then ran out of the store with no money.

Police are reviewing video from the store to see if that helps in their investigation.

Police Lt. John Moore said officers did make a traffic stop of a vehicle with a woman driver that possibly matched the description of the suspect but they could not identify her as the suspect.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A doctor who was bitten by a shark while vacationing in Hawaii is recovering at home in Kansas.

KCTV reports  58-year-old Ken Grasing of Overland Park suffered deep cuts to his left forearm and a gash on his left thigh when he was bitten by a tiger shark while snorkeling with his sons in Hawaii last week.

Grasing, who works at the Kansas City Veterans Administration Medical Center, says he was standing in about 4 feet of water when the 10- to 12-foot tiger shark suddenly bit his left forearm. He hit the shark and a stranger helped him out of the water.

Grasing had surgery in Hawaii to repair tendons, a nerve and a muscle. He says he’s been told he will make a full recovery.

SALINA -Law enforcement authorities in Salina are investigating reports of damage caused by BB guns over the weekend.

Police say windows and doors were damaged at Mr. Goodcents on Planet Ave and at Dillards, Jo-Ann Fabrics, J.C. Penney, and Sears in the Central Mall.

Damage total was estimated at $3,250.

Eight vehicles were also damaged.

They were parked in the Central Mall parking lot, the lot at Salina South High School and on Ray, Rockhurst and Allen Streets

Total damage was estimated at $4,150.

A man dressed as the iconic “Star Wars” character Darth Vader robbed a North Carolina bank last week.

Click HERE for coverage from WSOC-TV.