SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City attorney who served as a White House fellow during President Barack Obama’s administration is seeking the Democratic nomination for a Kansas congressional seat currently held by Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder.

Sharice Davids, of Shawnee, announced her candidacy Thursday for the 3rd Congressional District seat. She is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and spent time working as a legal counsel on a reservation in South Dakota before her stint at the White House.

Today I officially announced my candidacy to represent the Third Congressional District of Kansas in the U.S. Congress. I am ready to take action for our communities and bring our voices to Washington D.C. Let’s get to work! #votesharice pic.twitter.com/7T9PO4yFu0

— Sharice Davids (@sharicedavids) February 15, 2018

Her campaign announcement noted that if elected she would be the first female Native American to serve in Congress and the first openly gay member of the Kansas delegation.

Democrats are targeting Yoder because Hillary Clinton carried the district in the 2016 presidential race. Five other Democrats also are running.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and asking the public for help to identify suspects.

Just after 8:30 Wednesday, officers responded to an armed robbery call at the Arby’s in the 4300 Block of east Harry, in Wichita, according to a social media report. A 20-year-old female employee told police two unknown suspects entered the store and ordered food. The male suspect then brandished a grey handgun and took money from the register.

The two suspects then fled the store on foot. There were no injuries, One suspect is described as black woman, 5-foot-9,160lbs, wearing a teal, black, white dress, and high heels.

The second suspect is described a black male, 5-foot-8, 130lbs, wearing gray sweat pants, bulky blue coat, black ball cap, and armed with a dark gray handgun.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Wichita Police.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities and officials with USD 305 Salina are investigating graffiti alleging a potential shooting threat.

After discovery of the graffiti at Lakewood Middle School, 1135 East Lakewood Circle, school district officials contacted police to determine the credibility of the threat, according to a media release.

USD 305 want to reassure the community that the district takes all threats seriously and is working with local law enforcement to ensure the safety of all staff and students.

The district reminded parent/guardian, students, staff, and community to share information and report anything suspicious or concerning.

School will be in session Friday with a continued focus on safety.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Corrections has reassigned the superintendent of the state’s juvenile corrections complex after he allegedly grabbed and shoved a female worker.

The agency announced Thursday that Kyle Rohr is reassigned to the central office until his criminal case is resolved. The Topeka city prosecutor’s office said Rohr has been issued a citation on a charge of battery.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Rohr is accused of twice grabbing a female employee at the Topeka juvenile complex and shoving her into a cubicle. Rohr reportedly was upset with the planning of a holiday event for incarcerated juveniles.

Press conference over the criminal investigation into the Juvenile Justice Superintendent, who was reassigned just a few minutes prior to the press conference: #ksleg pic.twitter.com/oe9BIbNhrq

— Kansas House Dems (@kshousedems) February 15, 2018

More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for Rohr’s firing.

The corrections department said Megan Milner, director of community-based services in the agency, would be acting superintendent of the complex.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has reimbursed the state for more than $7.1 million after auditors concluded last year that its social welfare school overbilled the state’s Medicaid program.

Chancellor Douglas Girod formally notified Gov. Jeff Colyer and other officials of the reimbursement this week in a letter released to The Associated Press by the university. It said the repayment occurred in January.

According to Girod’s letter and interviews with state officials, the university audited contracts with the Department for Aging and Disability Services.

The review came after the department and a now-closed research center in the social welfare school could not agree on an annual contract in 2016.

The center’s work included training for community mental health centers. Girod’s letter said the overpayments occurred between July 2010 and June 2016.

By STEPHEN KORANDA

If you’re released from prison in some states after a wrongful conviction, you could be owed millions of dollars or a promise of a college education.

In Kansas and 17 other states, you get nothing.

On Wednesday, lawmakers heard from men who’d lost decades behind bars on bogus convictions. They emerged middle-aged and broke, with no work history or credit rating.

A bill under consideration would promise $80,000 for every year a later-exonerated person spent in prison and an additional $25,000 for each year on probation or parole.

Lamonte McIntyre spent 23 years in prison for a double murder in Wyandotte County he didn’t commit. He struggles just to get by. He told a Senate committee that financial compensation would help  because he was locked up during a period of his life when most people would be building a career.

“All that passed me,” he said. “It would help me by way of getting myself established as a man in America, basically.”

Another man wrongly convicted of a rape and murder, Floyd Bledsoe, said that once he was released it wasn’t as if life returned to normal. He’s had difficulty finding jobs. Background checks will show his criminal convictions, even though he’s been exonerated.

“I had to work for myself because it was so hard to find a job,” Bledsoe said. “It’s an uphill battle. It’s a day-to-day battle.”

Bledsoe said he lost 16 years of his life, his family and all his possessions. Compensation, he said, would help relieve the financial pressure on him and other people who have been exonerated.

“It would give people legs to make it in life,” he said. “It would help us to build a retirement fund.”

Kansas is one of 18 states that has no law on the books to compensate someone locked up on a botched conviction, says the Innocence Project.

States that do offer compensation set widely varying rules. Montana won’t pay cash, but will cover university or community college expenses. Florida pays $50,000 a year up to $2 million.

Missouri offers $50 for every day spent behind bars. Colorado pays $70,000 for each year, another $50,000 for every year on death row and $25,000 per year on probation, parole or on a sex offender registry. Nebraska sets no standard, but caps compensation at $500,000 total. Oklahoma has a $175,000 maximum.

“This bill would really put Kansas squarely in line with what other states do,” said Michelle Feldman, with the Innocence Project.

The change could ultimately save Kansas taxpayers money, Feldman said.

She pointed to the example of Eddie Lowery, convicted of rape and other charges in 1982. In 2003, a court wiped out his conviction based on DNA evidence.

He ultimately sued Riley County and won a $7.5 million settlement that showed up in a special assessment in residents’ property tax bills.

Feldman said a fair compensation plan for people wrongly convicted could help prevent larger settlements stemming from lawsuits.

“So this is really a better solution for the taxpayers and the exonerees,” Feldman said.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Rick Wilborn, said he plans for the committee to amend and debate the bill on Monday.

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump struck a solemn tone Thursday after the deadly school shooting in Florida, describing a “scene of terrible violence, hatred and evil” and promising to “tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” but avoiding any mention of guns.

Taking up the now-familiar ritual of public consolation after terrible violence, Trump spoke from the White House Diplomatic Room. In a slow, deliberate style, he sought to reassure a troubled nation as well as students’ families and shooting survivors in Florida.

“We are all joined together as one American family, and your suffering is our burden also,” Trump said. “No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school.”

Trump, who owns a private club in Palm Beach, Florida about 40 miles from the town of Parkland, where the shooting happened, said Thursday he was making plans to visit the grieving community.

He did not answer shouted questions about guns as he exited the room.

The president’s address came a day after a former student opened fire at the Parkland, Florida, high school with an AR-15 rifle, killing 17 people and injuring 14 more. It was the nation’s deadliest school shooting since a gunman attacked an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, more than five years ago.

At the Capitol, the usual divisions over gun laws were evident.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a statement that it is time for action. “Congress has a moral responsibility to take common-sense action to prevent the daily tragedy of gun violence in communities across America,” she said. “Enough is enough.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, did not mention guns as he said the Senate would observe a moment of silence at noon. “To say that such brutal, pointless violence is unconscionable is an understatement,” he said.

Before he was a candidate, Trump at one point favored some stricter gun restrictions. However, early in his administration, he told the National Rifle Association he was their “friend and champion.” He signed a resolution passed by the GOP-led Congress blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people.

Trump on Thursday praised teachers and first responders and also offered a direct message to children.

“I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be,” Trump said. “You have people who care about you who love you and who will do anything at all to protect you. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local police officer or a faith leader. Answer hate with love, answer cruelty with kindness.”

Trump also pledged that his administration would work with state and local officials to improve school safety and to “tackle the difficult issue of mental health.”

He later added that “it is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference, we must actually make that difference.”

Trump, who did not speak publicly immediately after the shooting, weighed in on Twitter early Thursday, calling the suspect “mentally disturbed” and stressing it was important to “report such instances to authorities, again and again!” He tweeted about the shooting twice on Wednesday, expressing condolences and saying he spoke with Florida’s governor.

The president also issued a proclamation mourning the victims and ordering American flags at public buildings across the country flown at half-staff.

Trump has offered consolation before after horrific violence. A mass shooting in Las Vegas last year was the deadliest in modern history, with a gunman killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more, before killing himself. And a shooting in a Texas church in November left more than two dozen dead.

He has largely focused on mental health as a cause for mass shootings, dismissing questions about gun control.

After the Texas church shooting, the president said, “This isn’t a guns situation.” When he visited Las Vegas to mourn with the families of those victims, Trump called the shooter “demented” and a “very sick individual,” though he added that “we’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.”

The 19-year-old suspect, Nikolas Cruz, is a troubled teenager who posted disturbing material on social media. He had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for “disciplinary reasons,” Broward County, Florida, Sheriff Scott Israel said.

Mayor Beam Furr said on CNN that the shooter was getting treatment at a mental health clinic for a while, but that he hadn’t been back to the clinic for more than a year.

While Trump has offered sober responses to some tragedies since he took office, he has also drawn criticism for more inflammatory reactions to acts of violence.

After the Orlando shootings at a gay nightclub that left 49 dead, he tweeted, “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism.” In the wake of a deadly terror attack in London in June, he went after the Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter, suggesting he wasn’t taking the attacks seriously enough.