WASHINGTON — During a Wednesday afternoon session, the United State Senate approved  Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s bid to be ambassador for international religious freedom in the Trump administration.

For the second time on Wednesday, Republicans needed a deciding vote from Vice President Mike Pence to determine the outcome. Senators voted along party lines, 50-49. Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee were absent.

Thank you to @POTUS, @VP, and all the Senators who supported my nomination. I’m looking forward to starting my new position as Ambassador and working hard for the American people and religious freedom around the world. #ksleg

— Sam Brownback (@govsambrownback) January 24, 2018

Pence had arrived in the chamber earlier and cast the final vote to cut off debate on Brownback’s nomination.

Brownback will now set a date to resign and, fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer would be elevated to governor.

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — A medical plane has been replaced after a gear-up landing at a southwest Kansas airport earlier this month.

A pilot and two crew members were on the EagleMed plane at the time of the Jan. 17 belly landing. A report from the Federal Aviation administration says there were no injuries.

The plane was taking off from Garden City Regional Airport to pick up a patient when the emergency landing occurred. EagleMed immediately sent an aircraft from Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport to pick up the patient instead.

A spokesman for EagleMed says a backup replacement aircraft was in service within a day.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a reported costly email scam.

In mid-January, Occupational Performance Corporation located at 917 E. Prescott Road in Salina received several emails claiming to be from the CEO of the organization requesting money transfers that ranged from $37,000, $70,000, and $90,000, according to police captain James Feldman.

The company became suspicious and did not transfer the third request for $90,000 and notified police.  Once the emails were proven to be fraudulent, the bank did stop the transfer of $37,000. Authorities are working to recover the $70,000 transaction, according to Feldman.

Police have no suspects at this time.

Occupational Performance provides post offer employment testing system matching employees’ physical abilities to their new job, according to the company web site.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man suspected of robbing a Kansas bank has been arrested at a Missouri casino.

Timothy Karpovich, 39, Kansas City, Missouri, was charged in federal court Tuesday. Prosecutors say he fled Monday from KCB Bank in Bonner Springs, Kansas, with about $1,050 in cash after handing a teller a handwritten robbery note. Police later received a tip that he gambled regularly at Harrah’s Casino in North Kansas City, Missouri, where an employee identified him from a surveillance image. Investigators found that serial numbers from bills used at the casino matched those of bills from the bank heist.

Court records say Karpovich admitted to the robbery. The FBI says no weapon was shown during the robbery and no injuries were reported.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Police say the death of the 22-year-old grandson of Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder has been ruled a suicide.

A Riley County Police Department report obtained through an open records request says Matthew Snyder died last week of asphyxiation at his home in Manhattan.

The police document says Riley County police responded to an emergency call made by his father, Sean Snyder, who is Kansas State’s special teams coach. No one else was injured and no foul play is suspected.

The Snyder family is requesting that only family and friends attend the funeral on Thursday at a Manhattan church. Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor said in a statement last week that the Snyder family is “greatly appreciative of the outpouring of support.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Toys R Us, squeezed by Amazon.com and huge chains like Walmart, will close 180 stores, or about 20 percent of its U.S. locations, within months.

Hobbled by $5 billion in debt, the company that once dominated toy sales in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy protection in September.

Chairman and CEO Dave Brandon said in a letter Wednesday that tough decisions are required to save Toys R Us.

The list of stores closing includes locations in Wichita and Overland Park. Toys R Us operates about 900 stores in the U.S.

The store closings will begin in February and the majority of the targeted locations will go dark by mid-April. At some other locations, the retailer is combining its Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.

Toys R Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, has struggled with debt since private-equity firms Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust took it private in a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005. The plan had been to take the company public again, but weak sales have prevented that from happening.

While its numbers have been shrinking, Toys R Us still sells about 20 percent of the toys bought in the U.S. according to Stephanie Wissink, an analyst at Jefferies LLC.

Competitive pressures will force the company to take a close look at all of its stores, and more will likely be shuttered over the next year or two, Wissink said.

Toys R Us reigned supreme in the 1980s and early 1990s, when it was one of the first of the “category killers” — a store totally devoted to one thing: toys. Its scale gave it leverage with toy sellers and it disrupted general merchandise stores and mom-and-pop shops.

Now Toys R Us and other category killers like the now-defunct Sports Authority, Borders and Circuit City, are being upended by a new force: Amazon.com.

GlobalData Retail estimates that about 13.7 percent of toy sales were made online in 2016, up from 6.5 percent five years ago.

Toys R Us has been hurt by a shift to mobile devices as well, which take up more and more play time.

About three dozen retailers sought bankruptcy protection last year due in large part to a radical shift in consumer behavior, both in where they shop, and what they buy.

Toys R Us closed its flagship store in Manhattan’s Times Square, a huge tourist destination, about two years ago.

The struggles of Toys R Us have rippled outward and rumors continue to swirl around the possibility of a merger between Mattel and Hasbro, the nation’s largest toy makers.

Wissink estimates that Toys R Us accounts for about 11 percent of Mattel’s annual sales and about 9 percent of Hasbro’s annual volume. Shares of both Mattel Inc. and Hasbro Inc. slipped in early trading.

Brandon said Wednesday that the company made some missteps during the critical holiday shopping season.

“As the leader of this company, I want you to know that we can and will address the gaps in the experience that you may have had when shopping this holiday,” Brandon said. “My team is already hard at work to make the improvements necessary to ensure that we have the products you want, when, where and how you want them.”