WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a 35-year-old man has died after being run over by a vehicle that crashed into a building in downtown Wichita.

Wichita police Lt. Jason Stephens said Monday that officers were called to a security alarm going off at a building around 4 a.m. Sunday and discovered that the alarm had been triggered by a vehicle that had driven through the front of the business.

Stephens said that the vehicle’s occupants had fled the scene, but officers found a pedestrian who had been run over and “pushed into the business.”

The pedestrian, Mandrell Washington, was taken to a hospital, where he later died. Police say it is unclear if Washington was struck intentionally.

Stephens said that police have identified the vehicle’s occupants, and that they are 18 and 19 years old.

An investigation is ongoing.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The former controller of a Kansas company could be facing up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $135,000 from his employer.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says 43-year-old Alan Wenk pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of bank fraud. He admitted the crimes happened while he was working as regional controller and corporate accounts payable manager for Performance Contracting Group Inc. in Lenexa.

Prosecutors say Wenk caused the company to issue 20 fraudulent checks to him and business entities he controlled. PCG has 50 offices throughout the U.S.

Wenk is scheduled to be sentenced May 16. In addition to a possible prison sentence, he faces a fine of up to $1 million on each count.

HUTCHINSON – Downed power lines are believed to be responsible for a fire in Reno County on Monday afternoon.

Just before 1 p.m. Hutchinson Fire Department Red Crew, under direction of Battalion Chief W. Lang responded to the canal area of Willowbrook for a grass fire, according to a social media report.

Upon arrival, units found a 1-2 acre fire that quickly spread to a total of 5 acres, due to the windy and dry conditions.

The fire was controlled in 30 minutes, while units remained on scene for an hour overhauling and monitoring for hot spots. There was no damage to any structures.

No injuries were reported.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City hospital has resumed taking new patients after it reported 18 cases of gastrointestinal illness with at least one of them preliminarily identified as norovirus.

The University of Kansas Hospital’s Marillac Campus in Overland Park said last week that 10 patients and eight staff members became ill with symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

In a statement released on Sunday, the hospital said that the campus underwent extensive cleaning to combat norovirus and patients and staff had been free of symptoms since Thursday.

The hospital, which focuses on inpatient pediatric behavioral health services, became part of The University of Kansas Health System last year.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new budget proposal from Kansas legislators could force the University of Kansas to raise private funds to pay off construction bonds issued out-of-state.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee added the measure Monday to a bill for balancing the state budget through June 2017.

The provision would bar the university for two years from using state dollars or student fee funds to pay off the $327 million in bonds issued last month for construction projects.

The university formed a nonprofit corporation which then had Wisconsin’s Public Finance Authority issue the bonds. University officials contend they complied with Kansas law.

Republican Sen. Tom Arpke of Salina said lawmakers have had no oversight. He drafted the measure.

Democratic Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka called Arpke’s proposal an attack on the university.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A spring festival in Kansas is planning to take its fun on the road starting in 2018.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas Sampler Festival of the state’s products, music, food and places will travel from city to city in 2018.

Director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation Marci Penner said that the festival’s purpose is to inspire travel in Kansas, so the festival should actually do the traveling.

Penner said that if it’s a success, the idea could spread to a road trip two or three times a year.

The Kansas Sampler Festival will be in the same format it has used in for nearly three decades in Winfield this May and in 2017.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has signed legislation to keep Kansas’ courts open following a legal dispute involving their budget and the state Supreme Court’s power.

Brownback signed the bill Monday, and it could take effect later this week. The measure repeals a 2015 law threatening the court system’s budget.

That law said the judiciary’s budget through June 2017 would be nullified if the courts struck down a 2014 law.

The 2014 law stripped the Kansas Supreme Court of its power to appoint chief judges in the state’s 31 judicial districts and gave it to local judges instead. The high court invalidated the 2014 law in December.

GOP lawmakers who supported both laws have said they never intended to close the courts. Brownback said questions about judicial funding are now resolved.