OVERLAND PARK— Law enforcement authorities have arrested a Kansas man after his wife’s body was found across the state line in Missouri.

Police say the man was alone when officers went to his Overland Park, Kansas, residence in the 800 Block of Perry Monday afternoon, according to a media release. Police had received calls about a domestic disturbance. The man called police hours later to return to his residence to report that his wife was missing.

Police said officers became suspicious during the interview and that the man admitted to having a role in her disappearance. Her body later was found later in nearby Raymore, Missouri, and the man was taken into custody. The name of the man and his wife weren’t immediately released.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A former Kansas postal worker was sentenced Tuesday to five years on federal probation for smuggling marijuana through the mail, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Terrell Dewayne Shears, 25, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

In his plea, he admitted he gave addresses on his route to marijuana traffickers in Arizona. The traffickers mailed parcels containing marijuana to addresses on his route and Shears intercepted the packages. Shears dropped the packages off at an apartment building where he had been instructed to leave them and texted a recipient he knew only as “John” to pick them up.

Investigators seized more than 40 pounds of marijuana from his postal vehicle.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback proposed Tuesday that the state phase in a $600 million increase in spending on public schools over five years in hopes of meeting a court mandate, without telling legislators how he would pay for it.

The term-limited conservative Republican governor outlined the proposal in his eighth and final State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature.

Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning of Overland Park said Tuesday night that they do not think the state can sustain the spending Brownback is proposing.

Brownback tied the extra money to goals for raising teacher salaries, increasing the number of school counselors and psychologists and offering high school students courses that earn them college credit.

He also told lawmakers in his speech, “My proposal does not include a tax increase.”

Wagle called it a feel-good proposal that will force lawmakers to consider tax increases later. Denning said the plan is “insulting.”

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the state’s total aid of about $4.3 billion a year to its 286 school districts isn’t sufficient to meet a duty under the state constitution to provide a suitable education for every child. The court mandated more spending even though lawmakers last year phased in a $293 million increase over two years.

The Supreme Court didn’t set a specific spending target but hinted in its decision that spending must rise by as much as $650 million a year. It told lawmakers that a new school funding law must be in place before July 1, and it expressed a growing impatience with delays in boosting spending.

Many lawmakers, particularly Republicans, were frustrated by the court’s ruling because bipartisan majorities raised income taxes last year by roughly $600 million a year to help balance the budget while providing extra money for schools.

Top GOP leaders see no appetite for raising taxes again — or making deep cuts elsewhere in the budget to shift money to schools. Many legislators are skeptical that school funding can rise significantly without either step.

And lawmakers have been debating whether the court would accept a law that phases in an increase in school funding over several years.

Brownback was expected to outline the details of his school funding proposal in budget recommendations released to lawmakers Wednesday.

The governor said he was proposing goals along with the funding because, “the people of Kansas expect results.”

“Money by itself will not solve the problem,” he said in his prepared text.

Brownback is term-limited after winning re-election in 2014, and President Donald Trump has nominated him to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

He gained national attention for a first-term experiment in aggressive income tax-cutting and saw his popularity wane as the state experienced persistent budget problems. Voters in 2016 turned on his legislative allies, electing enough Democrats and GOP moderates to roll back some of his tax cuts.

In the Democratic response prepared before the speech, House Minority Leader Jim Ward, of Wichita, who is running for governor this year, said funding schools “fairly and sufficiently” is the most important issue facing lawmakers. He also praised the bipartisan majorities that raised taxes last year over Brownback’s veto.

The tax increase approved last year rolled back most of the past income tax cuts championed by Brownback in 2012 and 2013. State tax collections have exceeded expectations each of the past seven months.

“We made significant progress in restoring fiscal responsibility to our state,” Ward said.

Brownback and his aides had not expected him to be giving this year’s address after Trump nominated him for the ambassador’s job in July. They had expected the U.S. Senate to confirm Brownback’s appointment in the fall, triggering his resignation and elevating Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer to governor.

But the Senate failed to vote on Brownback’s nomination by the end of last year, requiring Trump to renominate him. The delay has created an awkward transition.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on traffic and drug charges after a Tuesday morning chase.

Just after 4 a.m., a Shawnee County Sheriff’s deputy attempted a traffic stop with a White Pontiac Grand Prix near NW 46^th & Rochester Road in Topeka for a traffic violation, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.

The driver of the Grand Prix identified as 42-year-old Jeremy L. Rhoads of Topeka failed to stop for the deputy and a pursuit was initiated.

The vehicle continued northbound on Rochester and turned east on NW 50^th.  The vehicle continued east at a high rate of speed.  The pursuit continued north on Topeka boulevard before the Grand Prix turned into a neighborhood in the 5700 block of N. Topeka Boulevard.

The driver fled the vehicle and let it roll into a tree. The deputy arrested Rhoads.  There were no other occupants in the vehicle.

Rhoads was transported to the Shawnee County Dept. of Corrections where he was booked for requested charges of, Speeding, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of opiate, opium, narcotic, and certain stimulant, and additional traffic violations.  Rhoads has 18 previous convictions for drugs, theft, burglary and aggravated battery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

By JIM MCLEAN

Lawmakers arrived in Topeka Monday with monumental money problems facing the state and an executive branch stuck in a confusing transition.

It’s the start of a roughly 90-day session in which they, once again, must juggle the state’s checkbook to meet multiple pressing needs. That includes an ultimatum from the Kansas Supreme Court to find more tax dollars for schools.

It’s a tough job made that much harder by unusual political circumstances.

A lame-duck governor made even less relevant by his desire to jump to a job in the Trump administration as soon as the U.S. Senate can muster the votes to confirm him. A lieutenant governor chomping at the bit to take over. And a herd of wannabe governors inside and outside the Statehouse sure to criticize every move.

Thinking his confirmation was imminent last fall, Gov. Sam Brownback started sharing budget preparation duties with Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer. That created confusion over who was calling the shots — the existing governor or the one in waiting. And that forced Brownback to reassert himself.

He, not Colyer, will give the annual State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature on Tuesday. And he, not Colyer, will lay out the administration’s plan for addressing the court ruling that once again declared the state’s funding of public schools unconstitutionally low.

“This is the governor’s response,” Brownback said in an interview last week. “I’m the governor.”

But how much influence the governor commands remains an open question. Multiple polls in the last couple of years consistently ranked him among the nation’s least popular governors. That, coupled with the fact that he is widely seen as having one foot out the door, have eroded his influence, said University of Kansas political scientist Burdett Loomis.

“He’s been a non-factor,” Loomis said.

Brownback’s ebbing power was glaring at the end of the 2017 session, when lawmakers overpowered him to pass a bill that rolled back the income tax cuts he championed in 2012. The revolt was led by a group of Democrats and moderate Republicans elected in 2016 on a promise to fix the budget mess in Topeka.

A lack of leadership at the top makes the job of a part-time legislature harder, said House Minority Leader Jim Ward.

“It makes it much, much more difficult to get to a resolution,” said Ward, a Democratic candidate for governor.

Perhaps nothing looks harder to fix than school financing. The court demands could require another $600 million, even as the state searches for a way to pay back money borrowed from its employee pension fund.

Republican leaders have said their members have no appetite for another tax increase. But heading into an election year makes service cuts — to education, highways and the like — just as unsavory.

Tough choices, made tougher by the leadership questions that loom large as lawmakers begin their work.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas state legislator who suggested at a public forum that blacks are predisposed to abusing drugs has resigned from two committee leadership jobs.

Republican state Rep. Steve Alford of the western Kansas town of Ulysses stepped down Tuesday as chairman of the House Children and Seniors Committee and vice chairman of a legislative task force on child welfare.

Alford resigned from those positions a day after apologizing for remarks he made Saturday at a public meeting in Garden City.

During the meeting, Alford discussed his opposition to legalizing any use of marijuana and referenced a time in the 1930s when it was outlawed.

He said marijuana and other drugs were prohibited partly because blacks responded “the worst” to them “because of their character makeup — their genetics and that.”

———-

4:45 p.m.

A white Kansas state lawmaker has apologized for suggesting that blacks have a genetic predisposition to abusing drugs.

Republican state Rep. Steve Alford, of the western Kansas town of Ulysses, said in a statement that he was wrong and regrets the remarks he made Saturday during public meeting at a hospital.

He said: “I sincerely apologize to anyone whom I have hurt.”

At the meeting, The 75-year-old Alford argued against legalizing any use of marijuana. He suggested it and other drugs were originally outlawed in part because blacks were “basically users” and “responded worst” to the drugs because of their “character makeup — their genetics and that.”

Alford said in his statement that he opposes legalizing any use of marijuana because doing so opens the door to harder drugs.

___

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A white Kansas state lawmaker arguing against the legalization of any use of marijuana suggested that it and other drugs were originally outlawed in part because blacks were “basically users” and “responded worst” to the drugs because of their “character makeup — their genetics and that.”

State Rep. Steve Alford, a 75-year-old Republican from Ulysses, in the west of the state, made the comments Saturday during a public meeting at a hospital in Garden City. The Garden City Telegram first reported on the statement Monday and posted a video of it to YouTube.

Kansas is one of the few remaining states that haven’t legalized some form of medical marijuana, including low-THC marijuana derivatives that can’t get a user high. But the legalization question has been percolating in Kansas in recent years.

At the meeting, Alford referenced a time in the 1930s when marijuana was prohibited.

“What was the reason they did that?” he asked a crowd of about 60 people, none of whom were black. “One of the reasons why — I hate to say it — is the African-Americans, they were basically users and they responded the worst off to those drugs. It’s because of their character makeup — their genetics and that. And so basically what we’re trying to do, is we’re trying to do a complete reverse of the people not remembering what’s happened in the past.”

Asked about his remarks Monday by The Associated Press, Alford said: “I’m not going make any more remarks about that. To me, that’s neutral. Basically, I got called a racist, which I’m really not, and it’s just the way people — the interpretation of people. To me, I’m trying to look at what’s really the best for Kansas.”

Alford said the marijuana issue is very important to him because he believes it’s a gateway drug that introduces user to other drugs.

“I’m really looking for the safety of the people of Kansas, the children of Kansas, the adults of Kansas,” Alford said during a brief interview.

TOPEKA — Kansas legislators heard what Republican Gov. Sam Brownback proposes on funding for public schools in his annual State of the State address.

Brownback gave the annual speech Tuesday evening at 5p.m. Watch a replay here.

This is the term-limited Republican governor’s last address.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is not advising the agency on election fraud issues.

But Kobach told The Kansas City Star on Monday that the White House has informed him that it wants him to work closely with President Donald Trump and his team.

He said his role is not formal and has not been fleshed out after Trump disbanded a commission on election fraud. Kobach was the commission’s vice chairman.

Acting DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton told The AP in an email last week that Kobach was not advising the department. He told The Star on Monday that Kobach was not advising the agency formally or informally.

The White House said DHS would handle any future election fraud review.