GARDEN PLAIN, Kan. (AP) — Shrinking farm incomes are putting pressure on Kansas farm co-ops to merge as a way to help producers cut their costs.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Farmers Cooperative Elevator in Garden Plain will vote in about six weeks on whether to merge with co-ops in Anthony and Kiowa. Andale Farmers Co-Op voted in December to merge with Kanza Co-op in the Pratt County town of Iuka.

Kansas State University professor Brian Briggeman says the number of co-ops in Kansas has fallen from about 350 in 1950, to about 80 today.

Kanza Co-op CEO Bruce Krehbiel says the latest round of mergers won’t be the last because bigger co-ops can increase efficiencies and lower costs.

Krehbiel says there are limits to the economies of scale, but those haven’t been reached.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo is repeatedly evading questions about whether he is mulling over a primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran.

Speculation has been fueled by an unusual and at times demeaning written statement Pompeo put out earlier Monday about his Kansas colleague’s shifting positions on whether the Supreme Court nominee should have a hearing.

Pompeo says he never comments on campaign activities they are engaged in.

He told The Associated Press he did not realize the political speculation his written statement had generated until contacted by media outlets.

Moran says in an email that he is not surprised Pompeo has suggested he is not running for the U.S. Senate. Moran says he wouldn’t have expected him to run against him without the courtesy of a conversation.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities in Shawnee County, Kansas, are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in Lake Shawnee.

Sheriff Herman Jones says someone in a sailboat spotted the body Monday afternoon about 25 yards from a yacht dock and summoned authorities.

A wildlife park department worker put a boat in the water and retrieved the body.

The man’s identity was not immediately released.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been sentenced to five years of probation in an investment fraud scheme.

Kansas Securities Commissioner Josh Ney announced in a news release Monday that 44-year-old Jeffrey Williams, of Wichita, pleaded guilty in Sedgwick County to charges that included felony securities fraud.

He was ordered to repay $55,150 in restitution. Williams also is barred from dealing in securities and financially advising clients.

Ney’s office said in a news release that Williams defrauded at least three Kansas investors out of thousands of dollars by selling what he purported to be interests in third-party life insurance contracts. But the release says Williams didn’t own the interests in the policies he sold to them.

Williams operated under the name Hybrid Asset Management.

HUTCHINSON — Clean up continues and US-50, just west of the South Hutchinson interchange, was expected to be open again by Monday night after a semi hauling a crane crashed into the overpass at Kansas 14 and Kansas 96 overpass.

The impact damaged two concrete girders and forced the closure of both lanes of U.S. 50 and the northbound lane of the bridge, according to Zach Oswald with the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Motorists going west on U.S. 50 were still able to use the interchange with Kansas 14 going south, but the eastbound entrance ramp was closed.

The impact with the bridge knocked the loader off of the semi trailer and scattered debris over all four lanes of the highway.

Oswald says there is no danger of the bridge collapsing, but crews are assessing the overall damage to the span.

There were no injuries in the accident.

RILEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are investigating a pair of weekend accidental shootings, according to a media release.

Just before 4p.m. on Sunday, it was reported to police that Kevin L. Worrell, 59, was manipulating a handgun at his residence in the 4200 Block of Kaw in Manhattan when it accidentally discharged.

The bullet struck his son Travis J. Worrell, 33, in the left leg, who was standing nearby.

Travis was transported to Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan and then later transferred to a medical center in Wichita.

His injuries are considered to be serious, but non life-threatening.

Just after 2:30 a.m., on Saturday, officers were dispatched to Via Christi Hospital for a report of an individual that had accidentally shot himself while manipulating a handgun in his residence in the 800 block of Ratone Street in Manhattan.

Police reported Matthew T. Collet, 29, accidentally shot himself in the hand as well as the leg. Collett’s injuries are considered to be non-life threatening.

By DAN MARGOILES

Cerner Corp. employees who claim the health care information giant improperly calculated their overtime payments overcame a legal hurdle this week, allowing their two-year-old lawsuit to move ahead.

A federal judge conditionally certified the workers as a class, grouping them together after finding that they were “similarly situated” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). That will allow them to proceed collectively, increasing the possibility of a large damage award if the case goes to trial.

The 21-page order by U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. is not a ruling on the merits of the employees’ claims, but it sets the stage for a possible legal showdown over Cerner’s overtime practices.

According to the lawsuit, the Kansas City-based company pays nonexempt employees – employees who must be paid overtime for any hours worked beyond 40 each week – a full pay period late and fails to include all additional compensation in their regular rate of pay.

The case is a so-called collective action under the FLSA, similar to a class action with a couple of major differences. Unlike a class action, where plaintiffs who meet the class definition are automatically included in the class unless they opt out, in collective actions plaintiffs must actively opt in.

In addition, the legal standard for certifying a class in a collective action is much more lenient than the one employed in a class action. As such, Gaitan’s ruling did not come as a big surprise. But a lawyer for the employees said it was a step forward.

“I think this order is significant in that it might get Cerner to actually take some responsibility, but it’s not a surprising ruling,” said the lawyer, Tracey George.

“It’s 100 percent consistent with the law; it’s what we expected and the court got it right. It’s more significant to us in getting Cerner to come around and realize that there are consequences for trying to save money and take that from your employees’ pocket.”

Cerner did not respond to a request for comment.

Gaitan issued his ruling several months after Cerner asked its nearly 17,000 workers in the United States to agree to submit labor disputes to arbitration rather than sue it in court. Workers who didn’t agree are not eligible for performance-based raises. The vast majority of employees, faced with that prospect, signed the agreement.

The agreement, however, won’t affect the lawsuit, since it was filed before workers signed the agreement.

In his ruling, Gaitan said that between 650 and 850 Cerner employees had been paid as salary nonexempt workers over the period covered by the case. George, however, said that, taking into account employee turnover and additional information discovered in the case, the figure is probably closer to 3,000 workers.

Gaitan’s ruling stands in contrast to one handed down in another overtime case against Cerner in 2007. The plaintiffs in that case sought to recover overtime on behalf of 4,500 “staff associates” who were treated by Cerner as exempt from overtime pay.

Gaitan’s colleague, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey, found that the plaintiffs had failed to meet “even their lenient burden to establish that these fellow employees are similarly situated to their own jobs as business analysts and software engineers.”

Another overtime suit against Cerner in federal court was settled last year on undisclosed terms. The settlement agreement was sealed.

Two other cases, both class actions alleging overtime violations, are pending in Jackson County and Cass County circuit courts. Both allege that Cerner improperly classified workers as exempt.

Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.