DODGE CITY – Law enforcement authorities in Ford County are investigating a double homicide and abduction.

The Dodge City Police Department reported in a media release that just before 10:30 on Sunday morning, officers were dispatched to 310 W. Frontview for a reported shooting.

Upon the officers arrival they found an adult male gunshot victim in the parking lot. The victim was transported to Western Plains Regional Hospital where he died.

Just after 10:30 a.m. on Sunday a reported abduction occurred from 1701 N. 14th Street.

Upon the officers arrival they were told a male suspect removed an adult female from the location at gunpoint.

Officers located the suspect’s vehicle in the abduction just before noon in the 400 block of Crawford in Dodge City.

The abducted female and male suspect occupied the vehicle.

As law enforcement was trying to make contact with the subjects the suspect shot the female and then turned the gun on himself. The female later died at the hospital and the suspect is listed in critical condition in a Wichita hospital. At this time there are no other suspects wanted in the incident and both incidents are related.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Many Kansas Republicans are critical of the federal government’s efforts to cut carbon emissions from power plants.

Yet the GOP-dominated Legislature anticipated earlier this year that the state would attempt to comply and enacted a law spelling out how.

Then, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tightened standards this week for Kansas in the final version of its rule, aimed at addressing climate change.

EPA’s announcement last week prompted Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas House energy committee chairman Dennis Hedke to suggest Kansas must reconsider how it responds to the rule.

Under the revised rule, the EPA is giving states an additional two years, until 2022, to start reducing carbon emissions. But Kansas and 15 other states saw the EPA toughen their targets. The Kansas figure is now 43 percent.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The daughter of a man who died after two hospital falls is suing Wesley Medical Center for $600,000.

Donald Carlson passed away in 2013 at age 91. According to court documents obtained by the Wichita Eagle  Carlson went to Wesley Medical Center after a car accident on Aug. 5, 2013. Carlson fell two days in a row while a patient at Wesley, according to the lawsuit. Medical providers had labeled him a high fall risk.

Wesley Medical Center would not discuss the lawsuit or provide fall data. Wesley’s attorneys in the case deny allegations made by Carlson’s daughter, Donna Sierks, that the center was negligent in its care.

No court date has been set.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A recent audit showed that an eastern Kansas school district could save money by employing health aides instead of nurses.

But the district’s recent superintendent said nurses are worth the extra money because of the services they can provide.

A Legislative Post Audit study of staffing and other practices at Auburn-Washburn Unified School District 437 showed the 6,200-student district could save $68,000 a year by replacing four of its 10 nurses with health aides.

The switch also would save the state $9,000 a year in pension funding because lower pay would mean lower retirement obligations.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Brenda Dietrich, superintendent of the district from 2001 until last month, said the district considers nurses worth the money and that parents are more comfortable with a nurse at school.

OZAWKIE – Two Kansas teens were injured in an accident just after 12:30 a.m. on Sunday in Jefferson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1988 Ford F 150 driven by Jonathan P. Henney, 17, Valley Falls, was eastbound on 126th Road seven miles northeast of Ozawkie.

The vehicle left the roadway and struck a power pole.

Henney and a passenger Andrew S. Dake, 17, Oskaloosa were transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. They were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

HUTCHINSON— After a Reno County Judge suppressed the confession of a suspect in a child sex case the state filed an appeal.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday rejected that appeal by the state and affirmed the decision made by the judge.

Brandon Cousins, 21, Hutchinson, is currently charged with five off-grid felonies that could see him get life sentences on each count with no chance of parole for 25 years.

He is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The alleged crimes involved a then 6-year-old girl and allegedly occurred between Jan. 7 and July 23 of 2012. The investigation led to Cousins’ arrest back on Dec. 15, 2012.

The defense was granted a suppression of the defendant’s statements to law enforcement with Attorney Sam Kepfield arguing that they were not given voluntarily.

The District Judge agreed with the defense contention after taking it under advisement. She listened to the taped interview for herself and made her decision. District Attorney Keith Schroeder had appealed her decision and for a relatively brief period of time, upheld the suppression.

The trial is scheduled to begin in late September but Schroeder said Friday that he wants to look over the opinion of the appeals court before he decides how he will proceed. He could ask for a review with the Kansas Supreme Court.