LOU KESTEN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says he has directed the Transportation Security Administration to revise airport security procedures, retrain officers and retest screening equipment in airports across the country.

Johnson’s directives come after the agency’s inspector general briefed him on a report analyzing vulnerabilities in airport security — specifically, the ability to bring prohibited items through TSA checkpoints.

Johnson would not describe the results of the classified report, but said he takes the findings “very seriously.”

ABC News first reported Monday that undercover agents were able to smuggle prohibited items, such as mock explosives or weapons, through TSA checkpoints in 67 out of 70 attempts. ABC cited anonymous officials who had been briefed on the inspector general’s report.

PERRY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 11 p.m. on Monday in Jefferson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Peterbilt semi driven by P J Kocher, 37, Beloit, was eastbound on U.S 24 two miles east of Perry.

The driver made a left hand turn, failed to yield and a 2008 Hyundai Sonota driven by Martha A. Socolofsky, 56, Topeka, struck the semi in the 4th and 5th axles.

Socolofsky was transported to St. Francis Medical Center. Kocher was not injured.

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

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a Salina man after being convicted in a retrial.

The Salina Journal reports Douglas Aldrich of Kanopolis was convicted in 2003 of voluntary manslaughter. But his 51 ½-year sentence was later set aside by a district judge after Aldrich argued that his attorney was ineffective.

Aldrich has about six-and-a-half years left to serve in prison in connection to the stabbing of Jerry Bird at the Red Kitten, a former Salina bar, on Feb. 8, 2003.

Prosecutors said Bird told Aldrich to leave the bar after he became combative. Aldrich contended he stabbed Bird in self-defense.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Legislature’s session this year is closing in on a record for length.

Lawmakers were convening Tuesday for the 103rd day of their annual session and were expected to remain in session at least through Wednesday, the 104th day.

According to legislative researchers, only one session was longer. In 2002, lawmakers met 107 days.

Republicans who control the Legislature are sharply divided over raising taxes to close a projected $406 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

A similar impasse vexed legislators in 2002. But they also had a contentious battle over the once-a-decade job of redrawing members’ districts to reflect population shifts.

Legislative leaders traditionally schedule sessions to last 90 days. Each extra day this year is costing the state more than $40,000.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An abortion rights group is challenging Kansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on a commonly used procedure to end second-trimester pregnancies.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Shawnee County District Court by the Center for Reproductive Rights asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional. It also seeks to block implantation of the law, which is to take effect in July. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of doctors Herbert Hodes and Traci Nauser of the Center for Women’s Health in Overland Park.

A spokeswoman for Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said his office would issue a statement later.

Anti-abortion activists describe the method as dismembering a fetus.

The lawsuit contends it is the most commonly used procedure to end a pregnancy after 14 weeks, and is used in 95 percent of abortions nationwide.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court says homeowners who declare bankruptcy can’t void a second mortgage even if the home isn’t worth what they owe on the first mortgage.

The justices on Monday ruled in favor of Bank of America in two Florida cases where bankrupt homeowners wanted to “strip off” a second loan because they were underwater on the primary mortgage.

Lower courts allowed both homeowners to nullify the second loans and the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed both cases.

But Bank of America said the rulings conflicted with Supreme Court precedent. The company argued that the second loan might be repaid eventually if the property’s value rises.

The homeowners argued that the second loans were basically worthless.