TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that being drunk was no excuse for a Topeka man to fire a weapon at law enforcement officers.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the court on Friday upheld four convictions against David Allen Kershaw for aggravated assault on a law officer with a deadly weapon.

Kershaw was convicted in Shawnee County District Court and sentenced to 38 months for firing a shot in February 2012 at Shawnee County deputies who responded to a domestic dispute call.

Testimony at trial showed Kershaw had consumed a large amount of whisky and was taking prescription medications, otherwise he wouldn’t have shot at the deputies.

The Court of Appeals reversed his conviction because of an instruction the judge gave to jurors, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita officials are considering a plan to end penalties for people who ride bicycles at night without headlights. And the city will give away hundreds of free lights to riders who need them.

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board is recommending that riding without a light be treated as an equipment violation instead of a moving violation. If the City Council approves, violators would receive a “fix-it” ticket and could avoid a fine by putting a light on their bike and getting a police officer to sign off.

The Wichita Eagle reports that riding without a light at night is listed in the city code as a $20 fine, but the fine comes with $67 in add-on costs.

About 140 bikers were cited for headlight violations last year.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The top U.S. environmental regulator says she wants to make sure Volkswagen’s use of software in its vehicles to evade U.S. auto emissions limits was a “one-off,” and other models will be tested aggressively to determine if other carmakers are trying to defeat pollution tests.

Gina McCarthy, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, responded to a question Friday during a news conference on global climate change at Notre Dame university.

“We’re going to continue to aggressively pursue this issue with VW,” she said.

And EPA would not stop there, she said. The agency would “look at all of the other models aggressively and do the testing we need” to foil any efforts to defeat the emissions system.

Earlier Friday, EPA announced plans for more robust emissions testing following the VW revelations.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say they’re on pace to fulfill their goal of having all officers equipped with body cameras by the end of the year.

The Wichita Eagle reports the first 106 cameras for the north patrol unit have been ordered and officers will start training on them next month. Interim Police Chief Nelson Mosley says a policy governing use of the cameras is still being developed.

The police department promised the cameras last year during a public hearing in the aftermath of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, over the shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

Cost of equipping all of the officers is estimated at more than $2 million. The U.S. Justice Department awarded the department a $250,000 grant last week to buy the cameras.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas jail deputy convicted of sex crimes involving inmates has been ordered to spend more than two years in jail for violating probation.

The Wichita Eagle reports Sedgwick County District Judge Joe Kisner found David Kendall guilty of violating probation when he drove drunk and refused to take a breath test on Jan. 3 in Sumner County.

Kendall was granted probation on those two charges Friday before Kisner ordered him to serve 26 months for violating probation in the sex case.

The former Sedgwick County Jail detention deputy pleaded no contest in June 2014 to six counts of unlawful sexual relations with inmates and one count of making a false information.

Kendall was accused of becoming involved with six different men incarcerated at the jail.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute is one of four entities that will get part of a $3.9 million grant over three years for providing telemedicine to underserved rural areas.

The grants will focus on rural children living in poverty and their families. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the money is coming from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Rural Health Policy.

HHS estimates that 1.5 million children and 4.5 million adults who live in rural areas have income below the poverty line. It says the poverty rate is 20 percent or higher in more than 300 rural counties.

Telemedicine refers to consulting with a doctor or other health care providers through electronic means such as a web chat.

WELLINGTON, Kan. (AP) — A southern Kansas man says a photo taken on a trail camera last week proves his suspicion that a mountain lion lives on his property.

Danny Holden was cutting up sand near a creek bottom on his Sumner County property on Wednesday when he noticed the image of a large mountain lion on the camera.

The 51-year-old told The Wichita Eagle he had waited a long time for the photo after thinking for several years a mountain lion was living there.

But wildlife biologist Matt Peek with the state wildlife department says it’s more likely that the mountain lion was just passing through from somewhere else on his search for other mountain lions.

He says no evidence has been found of lions are reproducing in the state.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A pilot killed when his twin-engine Cessna 310 plummeted into a Wichita neighborhood has been identified as a former Cessna engineer who owned an aviation company in Colorado.

KSNW-TV reports Wichita Fire Chief Ron Blackwell on Saturday identified the pilot as 47-year-old Aaron Waters of Parker, Colorado.

Family members say he was the owner and president of Aircraft Certification and Systems Engineering, based in Parker.

Waters’ twin-engine airplane crashed soon after takeoff on Friday afternoon, just moments after he radioed that he needed to return to the airport and then quickly issued an emergency call.

Blackwell says Waters likely died a hero because he was able to steer the aircraft away from homes in the area and crashed into some woods near Cowskin Creek.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed near a west Wichita neighborhood Friday killing the pilot Aaron Waters, Parker, CO.

Wichita Fire Chief Ron Blackwell says the plane crashed about 4 p.m. in a wooded area behind some homes.

Blackwell says the pilot was the only person on board the plane. He says there was no fire at the crash site and no homes in the area were seriously damaged.

The pilot had taken off from a Wichita airport and then radioed that the plane was experiencing problems. Blackwell says the pilot was told to return to the airport and that is when the plane went down.

The fire chief says the investigation is continuing. The pilot’s identity has not been released. According to tracking site Flightaware.com, it was headed to Centennial Airport in Denver.

 

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed near a west Wichita neighborhood Friday, killing the pilot.

Wichita Fire Chief Ron Blackwell says the plane crashed about 4 p.m. in a wooded area behind some homes.

Blackwell says the pilot was the only person on board the plane. He says there was no fire at the crash site and no homes in the area were seriously damaged.

The pilot had taken off from a Wichita airport and then radioed that the plane was experiencing problems. Blackwell says the pilot was told to return to the airport and that is when the plane went down.

The fire chief says the investigation is continuing. The pilot’s identity and the flight plan of the plane were not immediately available.