TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill that blocks furloughs for Kansas state government workers.

The Republican governor acted Saturday, only hours after lawmakers approved the measure by unanimous votes in both chambers. The measure took effect Saturday night.

The GOP-dominated Legislature has yet to complete a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 because lawmakers are divided over raising taxes.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he’ll sign a bill aimed at blocking furloughs for Kansas state government workers.

The Republican governor made the promise Saturday in a statement shortly after lawmakers approved the measure. The vote in both chambers was unanimous.

The GOP-dominated Legislature has yet to complete a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 because lawmakers are divided over raising taxes.

Without a budget, the state has no legal authority to pay employees for work after Saturday. Employees’ compensation lags several weeks behind their work, so their pay for the two-week period beginning Sunday won’t be distributed until early July.

The bill approved by lawmakers declares all state employees essential for the next few weeks so that they can at least stay on the job.

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NICHOLAS CLAYTON, Associated Press
JOHN HANNA, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have approved a bill aimed at preventing a partial state government shutdown by blocking planned furloughs for thousands of workers.

The Senate approved the bill on a 39-0 vote Saturday only hours after the House passed it, 106-0. It goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature are deeply divided over raising taxes to close a projected budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

State agencies and state universities sent furlough notices Friday to at least 24,200 workers deemed nonessential. Without a budget for the next fiscal year, the state had no authority to pay employees for work starting Sunday.

But the bill declares all state workers essential for the next few weeks, allowing them to at least stay on the job.

HOME – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 5 p.m. on Saturday in Marshall County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 specialty motorcycle driven by Michael Howard Dixon, 69, Axtell, was traveling on U.S. 36 at the railroad crossing in Home.

The driver crossed the railroad tracks and lost control of the vehicle. It skidded and came to rest in the eastbound lane.

Dixon was transported to Marysville Hospital.
He was not wearing a helmet according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are advancing a bill to allow a top social services official to loosen or end a restriction on ATM withdrawals by recipients of cash assistance from the state.

The Senate approved the measure Saturday, 28-11. It goes next to the House.

The bill would allow the Department for Children and Families’ secretary to increase or eliminate a $25-a-day limit on ATM withdrawals with a state cash assistance card.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the limit in April as an anti-fraud initiative in a bill rewriting policies for cash assistance and food stamps. Department officials now worry that the federal government could object to the ATM rule and withhold its funding for cash assistance.

The bill also increases a tax on HMOs to help close a projected budget shortfall.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man in the killing of the owner of a popular Wichita eatery.

Wichita police Lt. Todd Ojile says the man is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder after confessing to killing 45-year-old Tanya Tandoc. The Wichita Eagle reports that police plan to present their case to prosecutors on Monday.

Police went to Tandoc’s home late Thursday after receiving a 911 call from a friend who told dispatchers he had been unable to reach Tandoc for about 24 hours. Her body was found in the basement, and Ojile said she appeared to have been dead for several hours. Ojile wouldn’t discuss a possible motive.

As word spread, notes and flowers began accumulating at her home and restaurant, Tanya’s Soup Kitchen.

ROSSVILLE, Kan. (AP) — The northeast Kansas town of Rossville is drying out after a creek overflowed its banks and inundated homes.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that residents spent Friday sandbagging and moving their belongings out of basements after rain swelled Cross Creek. Police Chief Jason Connell says more than three dozen home were affected and about 75 residents of the Rossville Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center were taken to other facilities.

Sheriff’s Lt. Danny Lotridge said in a news release that heavy rainfall had filled water reservoirs that feed into Cross Creek. The National Weather Services reported that the creek fell below flood stage just before 5 a.m. Saturday.

But minor to moderate flooding continued Saturday along several other waterways, including the Little Blue River near Barnes and Stranger Creek at Easton.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison for fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run crash that killed a motorcyclist.

Thirty-one-year-old David Michael Bowers was sentenced Friday in Shawnee County District Court for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Bowers will be required to have supervision for 24 months after his release from prison and must be registered as a violent offender for 15 years.

Bowers was driving 100 mph before the October 2014 crash that killed 53-year-old Michael Munoz of Topeka.

Before his sentencing, Bowers apologized to the victim’s family members and friends who were in the courtroom. Assistant Shawnee County district attorney Dan Dunbar told the judge the victim’s family had “suffered greatly.”

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One Missouri man and two Kansas men have been charged with attempted capital murder in the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy.

The Wyandotte County district attorney’s office said Friday that 18-year-old Charles D. Bowser, of Kansas City, Missouri, and 24-year-old Dyron M. King and 35-year-old Cecil D. Meggerson, both of Kansas City, Kansas, are being held on $1 million bond. Wyandotte County officials say an off-duty deputy was shot and severely wounded when he walked in on a March 4 robbery at a 7-Eleven in Kansas City, Kansas.

The prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email asking if the suspects had attorneys.

The men previously were charged with the March 3 robbery of a Family Dollar store in Kansas City, Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has approved a measure that could potentially prevent the furlough of thousands of state employees if a balanced budget is not passed.

The chamber voted unanimously to approve the bill, which would deem all state employees essential. Absent such a measure or without a deal by Sunday on taxes and spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1, the state is not authorized to pay nonessential state employees next week.

The bill must be approved by the Senate and signed by the governor to take effect.

Republican Rep. Virgil Peck of Tyro said he voted for the bill despite the fact he would like to see more cuts to state spending, including potential layoffs. But he said no legislators wanted to see furloughs due to Legislature’s inaction.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is revising a ban on what critics call “webcam” abortions in hopes of allowing enforcement of the 4-year-old restriction.

Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill Monday making technical changes in a 2011 law enacting health and safety regulations specifically for abortion providers. The changes take effect later this month.

The state hasn’t been able to enforce the law because two providers filed a lawsuit in Shawnee County District Court against it.

The measure modifies a provision of the law requiring a doctor providing an abortion-inducing drug to be in the room when a patient takes it. It creates an exception for medical emergencies.

Advocates on both sides say Kansas doctors aren’t using webcams or similar technology in that way. But abortion opponents see the ban as preventative.