RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man arrested after he led police on a short foot-chase is facing numerous charges.

William Crider, 29, is jailed on a $17,000 bond for theft of property or services. Police say he has stolen mail from as many as 100 homes since March.

Crider is also facing a potential charge of criminal use of a financial card for allegedly using a stolen Home Depot Credit Card to order a security system online. He’s also accused of using a Visa debit card to buy miscellaneous items in Hutchinson.

Cider has a number of other cases pending in connection to the theft of a $4,000 piece of equipment from Oz Chiropractic and several cases of buying merchandise with counterfeit $100 bills.

In those cases, he faces potential charges of making false writings, theft by deception and failure to appear. He’s also in violation of his parole in two similar cases.

He is scheduled back in court next week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration launched an investigation into whether tariffs are needed on the imports of automobiles into the United States, moving swiftly as talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement have stalled. President Donald Trump predicted earlier that U.S. automakers and auto workers would be “very happy” with the outcome of the NAFTA talks.

The White House said in a statement Wednesday that the president had asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to consider whether the imports of automobiles, including trucks, and automotive parts threaten U.S. national security. The president said in the statement that “core industries such as automobiles and automotive parts are critical to our strength as a Nation.”

The U.S. remains far apart on the talks over rewriting the trade pact with Canada and Mexico, with the discussions at an impasse over rules for car production. The initiation of the trade investigation could be seen as an attempt to gain leverage in the talks with the two U.S. neighbors. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that efforts to renegotiate the trade agreement could spill into next year.

Nearly half of the vehicles sold in the U.S. are imported, with many coming from assembly plants in Mexico and Canada. During a meeting with auto executives earlier this month, Trump said he would push for an increase in the production of vehicles built at U.S. plants. He has also criticized European Union auto imports and tariffs and earlier this year threatened a “tax” on European imports.

A person familiar with the discussions said the president has suggested seeking new tariffs of 20 to 25 percent on automobile imports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak about private deliberations.

Trump brought a little-used weapon to his fight to protect auto workers: Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The provision authorizes the president to restrict imports and impose unlimited tariffs on national security grounds.

The Trump administration used that authority in March to slap tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports. Until then, the United States had pursued only two such investigations since joining the World Trade Organization in 1995. Both times — in a 1999 case involving oil imports and a 2001 case involving iron ore and steel imports — the Commerce Department refused to recommend sanctions.

Critics fear that other countries will retaliate or use national security as a pretext to impose trade sanctions of their own.

Daniel Ujczo, a trade lawyer with Dickinson Wright PLLC, said the tariff threat is likely meant to pressure Mexico into accepting U.S. demands for NAFTA changes that would shift more auto production to the U.S. from Mexico. But he questioned whether it would work.

“I do not believe that it will have the desired effect,” Ujczo said. “Everyone knows that (the investigation) will take too long and has no chance of surviving any legal challenge.”

Trump offered a hint about the move earlier in the day on the South Lawn, telling reporters that “you’ll be seeing very soon what I’m talking about.” He noted that both Mexico and Canada have been “very difficult to deal with” during the negotiations.

“I am not happy with their requests. But I will tell you in the end we win, we will win and will win big,” Trump said before departing for New York. He said America’s neighbors have been “very spoiled because nobody’s done this but I will tell you that what they ask for is not fair. Our auto workers are going to be extremely happy.”

Mexico has so far resisted U.S. attempts to get higher regional content rules in the auto industry and move production to higher-wage U.S. and Canadian factories. The U.S. has also sought to change NAFTA’s dispute-resolution system, and include a sunset clause that would allow countries to exit after five years.

The Trump administration has already missed an informal deadline that had been set by House Speaker Paul Ryan to get a revamped deal to Congress in time for lawmakers to vote on it in a midterm election year. Mexico, meanwhile, will hold presidential elections on July 1 and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist candidate who has led in polls, has said the re-negotiation shouldn’t be rushed through and should be left to the winner of the election.

If the negotiators fail to agree to a revamped version of NAFTA, the discussions could be extended into 2019. Trump could also carry out his threat to abandon the agreement that he has long railed against, throwing commerce among the three countries into disarray.

Trump has sought to overhaul NAFTA in an effort to return auto production to the United States and reduce America’s trade deficit. The U.S. has been demanding that a percentage of a car’s content of auto parts originate in a country — the U.S. or Canada — with average auto worker wages of about $15 an hour to qualify for NAFTA’s duty-free status.

But companies have built supply chains that straddle NAFTA borders and changing the rules could disrupt their operations, raise costs and potentially put them at a competitive disadvantage with manufacturers in Asia and Europe.

MANHATTAN— Fire investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal, and the Manhattan Fire Department, have determined the fire that occurred at Hale Library was accidental due to the roofing operations that were being conducted.

A damage estimate has not been created due to the unknown amount of smoke and water damage throughout the structure. Assistance from Kansas State University will be needed to determine an accurate loss amount once an assessment of the building and contents is complete.

The building has been turned back over to Kansas State University. Hale Library will remain closed until further notice.

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MANHATTAN — Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal, and the Manhattan Fire Department are continuing their work to determine the cause of Tuesday’s fire at Hale Library.

According to Ryan Almes with the Manhattan Fire Department, at 4:10 p.m, Fire crews were dispatched to 1117 Mid-Campus Drive, Hale Library, on the Kansas State University campus for a report of smoke on the fourth floor. Upon arrival, crews found a four-story section of the building with smoke showing from the roof. The fire reached a third alarm before it was contained in approximately two hours and controlled in four hours. A total of 70 firefighters responded on 12 fire apparatus with the last units still on scene Wednesday morning.  No injuries were reported to occupants or firefighters. Hale Library will be closed until further notice.

Hale Library is the main Kansas State University library. It was dedicated in 1997 after a multiyear renovation and expansion project of the original campus library building, Farrell Library, which opened in 1927. Hale Library has more than 400,000 square feet of space and has more than two million books in its collection. The fire occurred in the roof of the original Farrell Library, in an area containing several large air handling units and proved very difficult for firefighters to gain access to extinguish the fire. Damage estimates are not available at this time.  Fire damage was limited to a portion of the roof, with extensive water and smoke damage throughout the structure.

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MANHATTAN —Crews remained on the scene overnight of the fire at the Hale Library on the Kansas State University campus.

Fire official are working to determine the extent of damage and what caused the blaze.

The university said on its website that smoke was reported around 4 p.m. in the library, which had been undergoing repairs.

Manhattan Assistant Fire Chief Mike Kaus says 70 firefighters from four agencies responded to the fire in the roof of the oldest part of the four-story building. The fire was contained by around 6 p.m. Tuesday but crews continued working to extinguish it.

No injuries have been reported. The 400,000-square-foot building was evacuated, and the university said it will remain closed until further notice.

Due to the fire the university also brought down their online systems including HRIS, KSIS and Canvas.

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MANHATTAN —Crews have contained the fire at Hale Library on the Kansas State University campus. The building will remain closed until further notice.  The university also must bring down online systems including HRIS, KSIS and Canvas due to the fire.

Seventy firefighters and emergency personnel combined were on the scene from multiple departments battling the fire at the library Tuesday.

They included Fort Riley, and Manhattan Fire Department. No injuries have been reported. The building was evacauted.

Firefighters were focused on  extinguishing the top of the blaze at the northeast corner of the building.

There is no word on what caused the fire.

The library was built in the 1920s and underwent a massive remodel and addition in the 1990s.

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Fire crews from Manhattan and Fort Riley are at the scene of a fire at Hale Library on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

No injuries have been reported. The building was evacuated late Tuesday afternoon.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — More than $8 million was awarded Wednesday to a woman who alleged that the spiritual leader of a cult forced her to work without pay for a decade.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree of Kansas wrote in the order that Royall Jenkins and his organization, The Value Creators, exploited Kendra Ross’ vulnerability, “knowing that she was unfamiliar with the world outside the cult, had received no standard education, was constantly moved from place to place, and had no money.” Ross alleged in the lawsuit that from the age of 11 until 2012, when she “gathered her courage and strength to escape,” she was forced to work without pay in restaurants and as a maid, cook and childcare provider in Kansas City, Kansas; Atlanta; Dayton, Ohio; Newark, New Jersey; and New York City.

Crabtree said Jenkins and his group, formerly known as the United Nation of Islam, controlled Ross’ romantic relationships, imposed strict discipline and that she became “severely malnourished” because of the treatment she received. Crabtree said Ross was led to “believe that if she did not continue to work for them, she would suffer serious harm.” She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to her lawsuit.

No attorney is listed for Jenkins, and he doesn’t have a listed phone number. Jenkins was a member of the Nation of Islam until 1978 when he formed the separate United Nation of Islam after he said that “angels and/or scientists” abducted him and escorted him through the galaxy on a spaceship and instructed him on how to govern earth. He established a small community of followers and business in economically depressed areas. The group, which taught that black males were superior to women and men of other races, changed its name to The Value Creators after Ross escaped.

Ross’ attorney, Betsy Hutson, said her client, whose location is being kept confidential, is “thrilled” and described the judgment as a “powerful tool for the anti-trafficking movement.” Hutson said that there were “no chains but an immense amount of psychological damage.” Hutson said the “next big challenge” is to collect on the settlement but adds there is reason to believe that the group has “significant properties.”

“This has been a really long process,” Hutson said. “It is a result of a lot of years of hard work. We see that she has made incredible progress, coming out of this cult and facing her perpetrators.”