JOHN HANNA, Associated Press
NICHOLAS CLAYTON, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas House members are preparing to finish voting on a bill that would raise taxes to close a budget deficit.

But heading into Thursday’s session, they appeared poised to vote the measure down and increase the likelihood of deep spending cuts.

The House broke off its session at midnight Wednesday in the midst of the tax vote and was to pick up its work at the same point.

The roll will be open under a procedure that was used to call in 10 absent members to vote. The tally stood at 86-29 against the bill, but it’s not yet final.

The measure increases sales, cigarette and business taxes to help raise more than $400 million to balance the budget lawmakers have approved for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

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JOHN HANNA, Associated Press
NICHOLAS CLAYTON, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has adjourned in the midst of a vote on a bill raising taxes to close a budget shortfall with the measure failing.

The House ended its session at midnight Wednesday. Its GOP leaders relied on a rule that cuts off business at that hour unless members vote to extend it.

Top Republicans said the House would reconvene Thursday morning at the same point. The roll will be held open so that 10 absent members can vote.

The last unrecorded tally was 86-29 against the bill. It raises sales, cigarette and business taxes to help raise more than $400 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The tax increases are necessary to balance the $15.4 billion budget already approved by lawmakers for the next fiscal year.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man accused of shooting his wife has been charged with second-degree murder.

Wichita media outlets report 31-year-old Derek Campbell was charged Tuesday and is being held on $200,000 bond at the Sedgwick County Jail.

Police say Campbell told them he accidentally shot his wife, Rebecca, in April when he removed his gun from its holster.

Officers found the victim dead in the living room. Campbell was booked into the jail following the incident, but was released pending further investigation.

Lt. Todd Ojile said a 5-year-old girl was asleep inside the house at the time of the incident. She was placed in the custody of relatives.

Campbell, who is being represented by a court-appointed attorney, is scheduled to appear in court again June 23.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka jewelry store owner has pleaded guilty to charges accusing him of knowingly buying stolen jewelry.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Kansas said in a release Wednesday that 53-year-old John O. Dasher, of Silver Lake, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of transporting stolen goods.

The federal prosecutor’s office says Dasher admitted the crimes occurred from 2010 to 2013 when he owned The Diamond House in Topeka and that he knew he was buying stolen jewelry taken in home invasions.

A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Blue Bell Creameries says it has likely identified the source of listeria contamination at its Oklahoma plant, but it may not be able to pinpoint a single source for the problem at its Texas plant.

In March, the company issued a recall after ice cream contaminated with listeriosis was linked to three deaths at a Kansas hospital. The foodborne illness was tracked to a production line in Brenham, Texas, and later to a second line in Oklahoma.

The Texas-based company gave the information the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in response to federal inspections. The FDA publicly released the 35-page report Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information request by The Associated Press.

Blue Bell said ice cream products at its facility in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, might have been contaminated by equipment and sealed-ingredient buckets stored in a non-sanitary room. But a contamination source hasn’t been found at its plant in Brenham, Texas.

The FDA also confirmed a surface area at Blue Bell’s plant in Alabama tested positive for listeria.

TOPEKA– The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is reporting the first reported case of West Nile virus for 2015. The individual that tested positive is an adult from Lincoln County.

Mary Powel, Ash Grove, a longtime listener and caller to Eagle Radio in Salina is the first to contract the virus.

She called the Eagle studios in Salina on Wednesday morning to let listeners know she had the virus, and warned anyone who spends time outside to protect themselves from mosquitoes.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued the following release late Wednesday afternoon to confirm the virus was located in Lincoln County.

West Nile virus can be spread to people through bites from infected mosquitoes, but it is not contagious from person to person. Symptoms range from a slight headache and low-grade fever to swelling of the brain or brain tissue and in rare cases, death. People who have had West Nile virus before are considered immune.

KDHE recommends the following precautions to protect against West Nile virus:
When you are outdoors, use insect repellent containing an EPA-registered active ingredient on skin and clothing, including DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol or IR3535. Follow the directions on the package.
Many mosquitoes are most active at dusk and dawn. Be sure to use insect repellent and wear long sleeves and pants at these times or consider staying indoors during these hours.

Make sure you have good screens on your windows and doors to keep mosquitoes out.
Get rid of mosquito breeding sites by emptying standing water from flowerpots, buckets and barrels. Change the water in pet dishes and replace the water in birdbaths weekly. Drill holes in tire swings so water drains out. Keep children’s wading pools empty and on their sides when they aren’t being used.

West Nile virus cases are most common in the late summer and early fall months. Through mosquito surveillance conducted in Sedgwick County, we have seen an increase in mosquitoes that can spread West Nile Virus and therefore it is not surprising to see a case this early in the summer. In 2014, there were 54 cases of West Nile virus in Kansas. In addition to tracking cases of human illnesses caused by West Nile virus, KDHE assesses the potential for West Nile virus by conducting limited mosquito surveillance, including laboratory testing. At this time, there has not been a positive mosquito sample in Kansas.
Birds are not tested for West Nile virus in Kansas and KDHE will not be collecting information about dead birds. If you find a dead bird, KDHE recommends that you wear gloves, place the bird in a plastic bag, and dispose of it in the garbage.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides this web page with additional information about West Nile virus and preventing mosquito bites: https://www.cdc.gov/features/StopMosquitoes/ or visit the KDHE website: www.kdheks.gov/westnilevirus

HUTCHINSON– A Kansas man arrested in April for a series of arson fires was in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing and was bound over for trial on nine counts of arson.

James Farra, 37, Partridge, was charged with ten counts, but Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell noticed in the complaint that he had charged one count twice.

The defense wanted the case dropped because of alleged problems with the charges and the affidavits in the case, saying the property owners were never contacted by law enforcement.

The fires are alleged to have occurred on April 7 and April 23.

Deputy Andrew Soule testified that he was sent to the fires on April 23, and that he noticed shoe prints at two locations he believed matched each other.

When they made contact with Farra, they asked to see his shoes. The defendant provided a pair of work boots and a pair of tennis shoes. The work boots according to the deputy matched what he saw at two locations where fires were set.

Farra was arrested and later interviewed by Sheriff Detective Richard Jennings. During that interview, Farra allegedly admitted setting as many as six of the fires.

All the fires were in Reno County pastures.

Fara is scheduled for arraignment on July 6.

BILL DRAPER, Associated Press

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A judge is considering requests to suppress evidence filed on behalf of an avowed white supremacist charged with killing three people at two Jewish sites in Kansas.

Previous attorneys for 74-year-old Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. filed the motions, but the Aurora, Missouri, man is now representing himself. He asked a judge Wednesday to withdraw the motions, but the judge refused and said he would rule at a July 17 hearing.

Miller is charged with capital murder in the April 2014 killings in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.

Miller has said he is dying from emphysema and went to the sites to kill Jewish people. All three victims were Christians.

Law enforcement officers who responded in the chaotic first moments were among the witnesses who testified Wednesday.

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BILL DRAPER, Associated Press
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Law enforcement officers are testifying during a hearing for an avowed white supremacist accused of killing three people at Jewish sites in Kansas.

The hearing being held Wednesday is to consider motions in the case against 74-year-old Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. He’s asking the judge to bar witness identifications of him from being used during trial.

The officers testifying responded to the deadly shootings at the two sites in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.

Miller is charged with capital murder in a shooting spree that killed a 69-year-old man, his 14-year-old grandson and a 53-year-old woman.

Miller has said he is dying from emphysema and went to the sites to kill Jewish people. All three victims were Christians.

Miller is representing himself, although attorneys are on stand-by.

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OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A white supremacist accused of killing three people last year at two Jewish sites in Kansas is due in court for another hearing in the run-up to his August capital murder trial.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. got permission last month to fire his attorneys and represent himself during a contentious hearing in which he repeatedly interrupted Johnson County District Judge Kelly Ryan.

The hearing Wednesday will focus on two motions from Miller: one asking a judge to let him stay in the courtroom during recesses and another to suppress certain evidence.

The 74-year-old Aurora, Missouri, man has told several news outlets, including The Associated Press, that he is dying from emphysema and that he went to the sites in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park to kill Jewish people.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators are proposing changes to a plan for raising Kansas sales, cigarette and business taxes aimed at winning final approval for the tax increases to balance the budget.

GOP House members presented their changes Wednesday to negotiators on tax issues for their chamber and the Senate.

Their proposals are mostly technical changes to policy measures added to a Senate-passed bill increasing the sales tax to 6.55 percent from 6.15 percent and boosting the cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack to $1.29.

The plan also would raise business taxes by $24 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1, the biggest increase Republican Gov. Sam Brownback will accept.

If negotiators agree to the changes, both chambers would consider them separately from the sales, cigarette and business tax increases.

WICHITA -A Kansas man died in an accident just after 4 a.m. on Wednesday in Sedgwick County.

The Sedgwick County Sheriff reported a van driven by Coleton Stitt, 20, Wichita, was traveling on Greenwich Road just east of MacArthur.

The van rolled and the driver was partially ejected.

Stitt was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt according to the Sheriff’s office.

Greenwich was closed south of 31st Street for several hours as deputies worked at the scene.

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ, AP Airlines Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of fliers might soon need to buy new carry-on suitcases.

Global airlines announced Tuesday new guidelines that would shrink the size of bags allowed on planes, part of an effort to free up space in packed overhead bins.

The move means that many bags now allowed would need to be checked. Fliers would either need to buy smaller suitcases or pay a fee to check their bags, typically $25 each way.

Under the new guidelines set by the airlines’ trade group, the International Air Transport Association, bags could be no larger than be 21.5 inches tall by 13.5 inches wide by 7.5 inches deep. That’s smaller than the current maximum size allowed by U.S. airlines: 22 inches by 14 inches by 9 inches.