RADIUM – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6 a.m. on Saturday in Stafford County

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy Passenger vehicle driven by Dallas C. Murrow, 22, Macksville, was northbound on Northwest 80th Avenue six miles north of Radium.

The vehicle approached a curve and left the roadway. The driver overcorrected and the vehicle rolled multiple times.

Murrow was transported to Great Bend Regional Hospital.

The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON— On Thursday a Reno County Judge granted a defense request to continue the trial for a Hutchinson teen accused of killing his mother and sister and attempting to kill his father.

Public Defender Kelly Driscoll who represents Samuel Vonachen told the judge during a brief hearing that she won’t be ready for trial on May 5.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell had no objection to the hearing, but told the judge he wants a hard date for the trial to make sure witnesses from out of town are available for the trial.

Judge Trish Rose, before setting a new date, asked Vonachen if he had any questions over his right to a speedy trial and how this continuance would not count against the state.

He told the judge, “no, I have no questions.” The state is required to get any defendant to trial within a certain amount of time after they’ve been arraigned on the charges. Judge Rose set a new date of July 20 for the trial of the teen.

A pretrial hearing in the case is scheduled for April 17, but with the change in trial date, that could also be pushed to a later date.

Vonachen was 14 at the time of the alleged crimes and is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two alternate counts of felony murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated arson.

He’s accused of setting fire to the family home on Sept. 26, 2013, by pouring gas throughout the house, then lighting it. The blaze killed his mother, Karla Jo Vonachen, and his sister Audrey. The teen’s father was able to escape the fire.

He remains jailed on a $1,000,000 bond and is being housed outside of Reno county.

MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say a drug-resistant strain of a nasty stomach bug made its way into the U.S. and spread, causing more than 200 illnesses since last May.

Many cases were traced to people who had recently traveled to the Dominican Republic, India or other countries.

Outbreaks of the shigella  bacteria are not unusual, but this strain is resistant to the antibiotic most commonly prescribed for adults.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report Thursday. The superbug sickened at least 243 people, in 32 states including Kansas.

Shigella is a common cause of diarrhea. Sometimes antibiotics are prescribed, especially for more serious cases.

NEW YORK (AP) — Faith leaders who have made religious liberty a rallying cry are stunned by what they see as Indiana’s abrupt retreat this week on the issue.

The Indiana governor revised a religious liberty law to add language against discrimination after a national uproar over the law’s potential impact on gay rights. Arkansas also changed its religious freedom law in response to the backlash.

Religious freedom at one time consistently united leaders across the political and theological spectrum. But several years ago, religious conservatives adopted religious freedom as a call to arms as they found themselves more on the losing side of culture war debates.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Southern Baptist Convention and others have made this issue a priority and say Indiana’s events this week won’t change that.

KANSAS CITY –  A woman employed by a Kansas City bank pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to stealing up to $1 million from her employer and to failing to pay taxes on the embezzled income according to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney.

Jennifer Regans, 39, Kansas City, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to a federal information that charges her with embezzlement by a bank employee and filing a false tax return.

Regans was employed as an administrative assistant by Pioneer Services, the military banking division of MidCountry Bank in Kansas City, Mo. Pioneer Services is a finance company that exclusively serves the military community, providing unsecured loans, promoting financial literacy and other financial services. Regans was terminated on July 18, 2012, after the embezzlement was discovered.

By pleading guilty today, Regans admitted that she embezzled at least $500,000 from her employer from Nov. 30, 2007, to July 2, 2012. The government believes the actual loss amount may be as much as $1,013,980. Regans also admitted that she did not pay taxes on the embezzled funds, although the IRS concluded that she should have paid a total of at least $139,746 in federal income taxes during that time frame.

As an administrative assistant, Regans had access to an administrative credit card account for charging company expenses related to her duties. Regans admitted that she embezzled $84,989 via her corporate American Express card and that she purchased another $75,380 worth of American Express gift cheques that were deposited to her personal bank accounts. Pioneer Services found that she embezzled $828,045 on her American Express corporate card. The federal investigation matched up Regans’ expenses against the expenses she listed in the company ledger, and noted which entries were altered. The total amount that the government argues that she certainly embezzled is at least $575,114. The total amount of possible fraud, adding in the charges the company deemed fraudulent (but the government was unable to confirm), is $1,013,980. The actual amount of loss and the actual amount of taxable income that was unreported will be left open for the court to determine at Regans’ sentencing hearing.

According to the plea agreement, Regans’ fraud was discovered when the bank received a notice from American Express about a past due corporate credit card that was held by Regans. The accounting department noted that Regans had several apparent personal charges on her corporate credit card and an audit was conducted. The audit revealed that Regans had been making personal expenditures on her corporate American Express since 2007. She then submitted cost allocation reports that disguised her personal expenses as business in nature. The statement balances and sums of the application spreadsheets submitted by Regans were identical, but the description of the expenses did not match.

Regans self-prepared her federal income tax returns from 2008 to 2012 and submitted them online. The embezzled funds were knowingly omitted from Regans’ federal income tax returns, which resulted in an additional tax due and owing of $139,746 based upon the government’s position that she embezzled at least $575,114.

Under federal statutes, Regans is subject to a sentence of up to 33 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1.1 million and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel M. Nelson. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.

JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Blue Bell Ice Cream says it’s suspending operations at an Oklahoma production facility that officials had previously connected to a foodborne illness that contributed to the deaths of three people.

In a statement released Friday, Blue Bell says it’s “taking this step out of an abundance of caution.” It says the action is voluntary.

Last month, the company and health officials said a contaminated 3-ounce cup of ice cream was traced to a plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Ten products recalled earlier in March were from a production line at a plant in Brenham, Texas, the company’s headquarters.

The recall began after five patients in Wichita became ill with listeria while hospitalized. Officials determined at least four drank milkshakes containing Blue Bell ice cream. Three of the patients died.