WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a 21-year-old man to prison for his role in the 2013 death of an Arkansas man.

The Wichita Eagle reports a Sedgwick County judge on Thursday ordered Dijon Thomas of Wichita to serve a 38-month sentence on an involuntary manslaughter conviction and 26 months for marijuana possession.

A spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office says the sentences will run concurrently.

Thomas was one of four men charged in the death of Paul Danny Khmabounheuang, who was visiting relatives when a shootout occurred during a robbery at a house in November 2013.

The other men convicted in the killing are Corey Pollard, Dallas Guy and Orville Smith.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — School districts suing Kansas over education funding are asking the Kansas Supreme Court to keep their entire lawsuit before a lower court.

Attorneys for the four districts asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to reject the state’s appeal of a recent decision from a three-judge Shawnee County District Court panel.

The panel ruled in December that the state must boost its annual spending on public schools by at least $548 million.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt asked the panel to reconsider, but it refused on March 11. Schmidt notified the panel that he would appeal.

The lower-court panel still is considering whether the state distributes its aid fairly among districts.

The aggrieved districts said the Supreme Court should have the lower-court panel finish with the entire case before considering any appeals.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas universities would be required to publicize information on their graduates’ average salaries, student loan debt and employment under a bill passed by the Senate.

The bill passed the chamber on a 27-11 vote Thursday.

Supporters say the measure would help prospective students make informed decisions on which university and major to choose by requiring institutions to provide them a “prospectus.” The information would compare the average economic outcomes of their graduates from each degree track.

Republican Sen. Julia Lynn from Olathe said graduates today face higher education costs and a tougher job market and not all incoming students are aware of the realities.

But other senators balked at the potential cost of up to $5.5 million annually and said broader research on such subjects is already available.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has ordered drilling operations in two counties to cut back on a practice that may be causing earthquakes.

The Kansas Corporation Commission issued the order Thursday. It requires drillers in five areas in Harper and Sumner counties in south-central Kansas to reduce the amount of water they inject into underground wells as a part of their businesses.

The process is commonly part of the hydraulic fracking technique used to reach previously inaccessible oil and gas deposits.

More than 200 earthquakes have been recorded in Kansas since 2013 in an unprecedented spike in seismic activity. Many have been in the two counties.

Interim Director Rex Buchanan of the Kansas Geological Survey has said there is a strong correlation between the injection-well process and the dramatic increase in earthquakes.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has approved a bill designed to protect religious groups on public college campuses that want to restrict their memberships to people who share their beliefs.

The vote Thursday was 30-8 and sends the measure to the House.

The bill says that state universities, community colleges and technical colleges can’t refuse to recognize or deny campus facilities to groups that limit membership based on their religious beliefs.

Supporters of the bill say it protects groups’ religious liberties.

Some critics have worried that the bill would force taxpayer-funded colleges to recognize groups that exclude gays and lesbians.

The measure is a response to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision saying that universities could adopt anti-bias policies requiring religious groups to accept anyone who wants to join.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration says it has issued online retailer Amazon a certificate to experiment with unmanned aircraft for research, development and crew training.

The FAA said Thursday that under the provisions of the certificate, the flights must be conducted at 400 feet or below during daylight hours. The drone must also remain within the line of sight of the pilot and observer. The person flying the aircraft, meanwhile, must have a private pilot’s certificate and current medical certification.

Amazon.com Inc. must also provide monthly data to the FAA on the number of flights conducted, pilot duty time per flight, unusual hardware or software malfunctions and other information.

The Seattle company had asked the FAA for permission to fly drones for package deliveries last July.

By ANDY MARSO

Robert Moser, who until December was the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, headlined a long list of Kansans asking legislators Wednesday to expand Medicaid.

In a long-awaited and much-anticipated hearing in the House Health and Human Services Committee, Moser urged legislators to look past dissatisfaction with the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and consider the practical implications of continuing to refuse expansion and the federal dollars that come with it.

“Expansion is critical for Kansas,” Moser said. “Our providers need it. Our people need it.” Wednesday’s hearing concerned House Bill 2319, which would compel Gov.

Sam Brownback and KDHE to develop an expansion plan and negotiate with federal officials for its approval. Proponents of the bill testified Wednesday and opponents were scheduled to testify Thursday.

Wednesday’s hearing brought a standing-room only crowd that spilled out to the hallway of the Statehouse’s fifth floor, where custodial staff brought in extra chairs to accommodate the overflow.

Testimony in favor of expansion came from more than 150 health care providers, business organizations, religious leaders and activists like Finn Bullers, a Prairie Village man with muscular dystrophy , and Marcillene Dover, a Wichita State University student recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Dover said there was a delay in getting her symptoms diagnosed correctly because she did not have insurance and could not afford an MRI. “I thought ‘No way, not me, I don’t have a disease. I’m 21, in the prime of my life,’” Dover said. “I didn’t have insurance.

Just to get diagnosed would be extremely expensive.” Dover gets her expensive medications and neurological treatments through a patchwork of charity and public health groups.

She asked the committee to think about others who are uninsured and don’t have those connections. “No one should have to go through receiving a devastating diagnosis and then feel further devastation having to figure out how they’re going to pay for the health care they need,” Dover said.

A binder with hundreds of pages of written testimony was compiled by the Kansas Hospital Association, the organization that has taken a leading role in pushing for expansion because of its financial benefits to the state’s hospitals.

The ACA cut Medicare payments to hospitals on the assumption that expansion of Medicaid would make up the lost revenue. But the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the ACA also said that states could opt out of expansion, and about half the states — all controlled by Republican legislatures — have done so. Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program, KanCare, covers about 425,000 children and low-income, disabled and elderly adults.

But that number includes relatively few non-disabled adults. Adults with dependent children can participate in KanCare, but only if they have incomes below 33 percent of the federal poverty level, or a little more than $8,000 annually for a family of four.

Adults without children aren’t eligible for coverage no matter how poor they are. Expansion would make all Kansans with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty eligible for KanCare. The eligibility cap would be set at annual income of $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four. Estimates vary, but it’s thought Medicaid expansion would extend coverage to between 140,000 and 170,000 Kansans.

“With one stroke, you could reduce the number of uninsured in this state almost by half,” Jerry Slaughter, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society, told legislators.

Recently, some Republican governors have negotiated with the federal government for expansion plans intended to allay conservatives’ concerns about cost and government growth.

Tom Bell, president and CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association, said HB2319 gave the Brownback administration the opportunity to do the same. “This is a way to build on the current privatized Medicaid program in a way that supports the economy, in a way that’s fiscally responsible, in a way that promotes personal responsibility and in a way that provides person-centered care for thousands of people who do not have it,” Bell said.

The hospital association released a study in 2013 that found accepting expansion and its federal dollars would spur $3 billion in economic growth and 4,000 new jobs by 2020. Rep. Jim Kelly, a conservative Republican from Independence, said Medicaid expansion was not “high on his list” of things to do, until he started hearing from hospitals in his mostly rural district that are struggling mightily.

“We have one very stressed hospital,” Kelly said. “We have another that’s probably not at the same level but certainly not good.” Kelly said he’s concerned about facilities closing in part because of the failure to expand Medicaid.

Brownback and legislative leadership have thus far made no move to expand Medicaid, but Moser said Wednesday that now is the time. Moser, a physician, now heads a heart attack and stroke unit at the University of Kansas Hospital.  He said the hospital had lost about $10 million in Medicare reimbursements per year since the ACA passed and is now absorbing about $60 million per year in uncompensated care.

“Not all of that is charity care, but with the KanCare expansion model being proposed, we believe we can cut charity care costs by 30 percent,” Moser said.

Moser said that while he was speaking on behalf of KU Hospital, his support for expansion “goes beyond hospital interests.” As one of the architects of KanCare, Moser said the program was increasing primary care for those on Medicaid, keeping them out of emergency rooms and improving their health at lower costs. He emphasized that expansion would help Kansas’ working poor.

“The vast majority of those in the expansion population are hard-working people, some working multiple jobs,” Moser said. “The trouble is, they are not benefits-eligible at any of those jobs.”

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

SALINA- Law enforcement officials in Salina are investigating a report of a car held for ransom.

According to Police, on Wednesday between 5 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. an employee of Tony’s Pizza reported the theft of her 2007 Ford 500, a cell phone and her purse. Total losses are valued at just over $5,000.

Police say the victim’s husband received a text message from his wife’s phone while she was at work.

He thought it was odd knowing that she is not allowed to have her phone or other personal possessions on her while at work. He called the number back and a man answered the phone.

The husband drove to Tony’s Pizza where he found his wife and they discovered her car had been stolen along with personal items left inside the car.

They made contact with the man by her cell phone and he requested $10,000 in ransom for the vehicle.

They agreed to do the trade in the parking lot of Ace Hardware on North Broadway. At that time undercover police arrested Ngamo Debo for theft of the vehicle. He is being held in the Saline County jail.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has tabled a bill that would end a tuition break at state colleges for some young immigrants living in the state illegally.

The Education Committee’s 10-8 vote Thursday showed that Republicans who control the panel are split on immigration issues. The bill appears unlikely to advance this year.

A 2004 law allows high school graduates who came to the U.S. illegally to pay the lower tuition rates at state universities, community colleges and technical colleges normally reserved for legal residents.

About 650 higher education students enrolled in fall 2014 under the law. Committee members amended the bill to apply starting with 2018 high school graduates.
Supporters of the law say the young students are an asset. Critics of the law say it encourages illegal immigration.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee has approved a proposed $15.5 billion state budget that would not balance without tax increases.

The Ways and Means Committee’s 9-2 vote Thursday was part of a crowded legislative agenda. The Senate Commerce Committee also approved a bill limiting collective bargaining between state agencies and public employee unions.

The budget plan and the bargaining bill go next to the Senate.

Lawmakers must close a projected budget shortfall of nearly $600 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that arose after they cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy.

The proposed budget trims overall spending slightly for the fiscal year beginning July 1 but still would require tax increases of more than $200 million.