HAVEN, Kan. (AP) — Residents in three Kansas school districts approved bond issues for capital improvements in the districts.

Voters in Haven on Tuesday approved a $12 million bond issue for athletic facilities including a gymnasium, baseball and softball fields and a new weight room/tornado shelter.

In Haysville, voters approved a $59 million bond issue for 16 projects, including a new school, tornado shelters and secure entrances at all district schools. The proposed projects will be scheduled at different times but all major projects are expected to be completed by 2017.

Also in Tuesday, voters in the Maize school district approved a $70.7 million bond issue for several projects including storm shelters and an early childhood center. But voters rejected a proposal to fund a swimming pool and natatorium complex.

JC Post

JUNCTION CITY- Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a case of child abuse and criminal threat after a Fort Riley soldier was arrested on Tuesday.

Police say Brian A. Mastin, 29, surrendered to authorities on Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of Child Abuse and Criminal Threat.

Police Chief Tim Brown said officers learned that Mastin was suicidal, armed with several weapons, and were also advised that if police were sent to his home they would die.

Brown said the first police officers arrived on at the Mastin residence in the 1500 Block of West Ash about 1:20 p.m., set up a perimeter around the apartment building, and began evacuating residents from the area.

Police opened up a dialogue with Mastin by telephone. “And luckily at about 3:03 p.m. a police negotiator with the assistance of members of his military unit were able to convince him to come out and surrender, and he was taken into custody without any further incident,” said Brown.

There were no injuries.

Mastin is confined at the Geary County Jail without bond pending his first appearance in Geary County District Court on Wednesday.

The Junction City / Geary County SWAT Team along with members of the Junction City Drug Operations Group, Geary County Emergency Management, and Deputies from the Geary County Sheriff’s office assisted the Junction City police in the operation.

MULVANE, Kan. (AP) — A 4-year-old girl has been taken to a hospital after being pulled out of a hotel pool in Mulvane, Kansas.

Wichita media outlets report the girl is in serious condition after being pulled from the pool at a hotel near the Kansas Star Casino Tuesday night. Dave Williams, Mulvane’s public safety director, said the girl had been removed from the pool before emergency personnel had arrived. Williams said she was “conscious and breathing and crying.”

The victim was transported to Wesley Medical Center with injuries that are not life threatening.

Williams said there was no lifeguard at the pool.

MANHATTAN – A Kansas teenager was injured in an accident just after 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Riley County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Chevy passenger vehicle driven by Joshua Adam Smothers, 19, Manhattan, was northbound and stopped at the stop sign at U.S. 24 and Kansas 113

The vehicle pulled out in front of and struck the driver’s side of a semi.

Smothers was transported to Via Christi. The semi driver from Denver was not injured.

Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a man used a candy bar in place of a weapon in what a manager thought was a robbery at a Wichita convenience store that was robbed the day before.

Wichita media outlets report that around 3 a.m. Tuesday, the man walked into the store and pulled what the manager thought was a handgun and pointed it at him, saying “Freeze! Get on your knees!”

Lt. James Espinoza said when the suspect began laughing, the manager looked up and saw that the man was actually holding a Kit Kat candy bar. Espinoza said the suspect then left the store without taking anything.

Espinoza said the incident does not seem to be related to the robbery that took place the day before.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill putting new limits on appeals by sex offenders committed indefinitely to a state treatment program.

The measure was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers and Brownback signed it Tuesday. The new law takes effect July 1.

Offenders determined by a court to be sexual predators are committed to a treatment program after serving their criminal sentences. The bill would remove the right of confined offenders to request a jury trial when petitioning for release. It also would limit their right to file grievances on some issues.

Brownback also signed a bill helping victims of human trafficking by allowing them to file civil lawsuits against perpetrators and collect damages. The new law also takes effect July 1.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The grain elevator in Kiowa is reporting that it has gotten its first truckloads of winter wheat from this year’s harvest.

Assistant manager Brett Courson at OK Co-op Grain said Tuesday the elevator had gotten six loads from a single Kansas farmer who started harvesting his crop the day earlier. More farmers are likely to start cutting anytime now as well.

The elevator expects this year’s harvest will not quite reach the 1.2 million bushels his elevator normally takes in on average. But he says that he anticipates will come a lot closer to that than the 650,000 bushels during last year’s drought-plagued harvest.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service is scheduled to release Wednesday its new production forecast, an outlook expected to be much improved given the past month’s rains.