ABBYVILLE, Kan. (AP) — Competitors will round up once again to participate in a rodeo held since the 1960s in a small central Kansas town.

The Hutchinson News reports the 53rd annual Abbyville Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo will open Friday night.

The demise of the rodeo and Abbyville — which has a population of around 80 — has been predicted several times in the past.

Residents say the rodeo is proof of their determination for their community to survive. Between 1,500 and 2,000 people are expected to attend the competition each night this weekend.

The Abbyville Rodeo is a fully sanctioned competition under the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. A pavilion that will be used in the rodeo was dedicated during an informal rope-cutting ceremony Thursday.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The father of the pilot flying a helicopter that went down in Nepal says U.S. Marine officials have notified the family that the wreckage was found but they haven’t confirmed the identities of any bodies.

Ronald Norgren of Wichita said Friday that “it doesn’t look good.”

His 31-year-old son, Capt. Chris Norgren, was flying a helicopter that disappeared Tuesday while delivering disaster aid to earthquake victims. The helicopter was carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers.

Nepalese rescuers on Friday found three bodies near the helicopter’s wreckage. Officials said it was unlikely anyone survived the crash.

Norgren says his son loved helping people and he loved to fly. He said his son was doing everything that he loved and lived life to the fullest.

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BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, Associated Press
NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s Defense Secretary Iswori Poudyal says army rescuers have found 3  bodies at the site where the wreckage of the U.S. Marine helicopter was found. Poudyal gave no other details on Friday.

Capt. Chris Norgren, 31, Wichita, was flying the U.S. Marine helicopter delivering disaster aid to earthquake victims.

Norgren’s father Richard said Wednesday his son was flying the U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared Tuesday.

He says Marine Corps officials came to the family’s house in Wichita to inform him and his wife that their son was missing.

Six Marines and two Nepalese army soldiers were on board.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a bill to increase the state’s sales tax to close a projected shortfall.

House members refused Friday on a voice vote to give the measure first-round approval. The bill would have raised the sales tax to 6.85 percent from 6.15 percent.

The measure also would have dropped the sales tax rate on food to 5.9 percent and eliminated most personal income tax exemptions.

Democrats and some Republicans saw the sales tax increase as too high. And conservative Republican Rep. Mike Kiegerl of Olathe said he couldn’t vote for any tax increase until lawmakers do more to control state spending.

The House’s action is likely drag out the debate on closing a projected budget shortfall of $406 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

PRATT, Kan. (AP) — The superintendent of a south-central Kansas school district has resigned so the district won’t have to pay his $81,000 salary.

Superintendent Mike Sanders announced during a meeting Wednesday that he would resign from the Skyline district in Pratt County at the end of the school year.

He says he and the school board had already decided he would be part-time and a consultant next year, but it was apparent the district couldn’t afford his salary.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports 18 people in the district have been reassigned, had their hours cut or are losing their jobs, saving about $477,000.

Sanders says the district’s financial problems began with the 2008-2009 recession but has not improved. He says the district is anticipating increased costs and further reductions in education funding.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a proposal to repeal an income tax break for business owners and farmers as it debates measures for raising new revenues to balance the state budget.

The House was debating a bill Friday to increase the state’s sales tax to 6.85 percent from 6.15 percent while dropping the rate on food to 5.9 percent.

Republican Rep. Bill Sutton of Gardner proposed an amendment to repeal a policy enacted in 2012 exempting the profits of more than 330,000 business owners and farmers from income taxes.

The House rejected Sutton’s proposal on a voice vote. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has championed the tax break as an economic stimulus.

Legislators must close a projected budget shortfall of $406 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.