TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has received additional federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) operational into March, during the Federal Government shutdown.

On Thursday, KDHE received an additional $1,603,809 in food funds and $602,897 in administrative funds. These funds now allow Kansas to purchase foods until March 20, 2019 and keep staff operational until March 26.

“We are pleased to receive these additional funds,” said David Thomason, Director of the Nutrition and WIC Services Section in the KDHE Bureau of Family Health. “There is an average daily food cost in Kansas of $92,134 under this program, and we continue to work with the USDA to see that WIC funding in Kansas continues through the shutdown.”

The USDA monitors state WIC programs and is working to ensure that programs remain operational. States were instructed to contact the USDA prior to implementing any changes to the program that would curtail operations or in any way limit or restrict access to the program and its benefits.

WASHINGTON — Roger Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, was arrested in the special counsel’s Russia investigation in a pre-dawn raid at his Florida home on Friday and was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing the probe.

The seven-count indictment against Stone, a self-proclaimed “dirty trickster,” is the first criminal case in months from special counsel Robert Mueller.

It provides the most detail to date about how Trump campaign associates in the summer of 2016 were actively seeking to politically benefit from the release of hacked material damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It alleges that unnamed senior Trump campaign officials contacted Stone to ask when stolen emails relating to Clinton might be disclosed.

The indictment does not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published the emails, or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked them. Instead, it accuses him of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to WikiLeaks’ release. Some of those false statements were made to the House intelligence committee, according to the indictment.

CNN aired video of the raid at Stone’s Fort Lauderdale home, showing FBI agents in body armor using large weapons and night-vision equipment, running up to the home and banging repeatedly on the door.

“FBI open the door!” one shouts. “FBI, warrant!” Stone could then be seen in the doorway in his sleepwear before he was led away. He is expected to appear in court later Friday.

Stone is the sixth Trump aide charged in Mueller’s investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign and the 34th person overall. The investigation has laid bare multiple contacts between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign and transition period and efforts by several to conceal those communications.

Well-known for his political antics and hard ball tactics, Stone has reveled in being a Washington wheeler-dealer dating back to the Nixon administration. He has also pushed several conspiracy theories and was an early and vocal supporter of Trump’s candidacy.

The case against Stone comes weeks after Trump’s former national security adviser was castigated by a judge in open court and just hours before Paul Manafort, his ex-campaign chairman , was due in court on allegations that he had lied to Mueller’s prosecutors.

Stone was one of Trump’s earliest political advisers, encouraging both his presidential runs. He briefly served on Trump’s 2016 campaign, but was pushed out amid infighting with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Stone continued communicating with Trump on occasion and stayed plugged into the circle of advisers — both formal and informal — who worked with and around Trump.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s press secretary, told CNN Friday the charges brought against Stone “don’t have anything to do with the president.”

According to the indictment, many of those conversations involved WikiLeaks. The indictment lays out in detail Stone’s conversations about stolen Democratic emails posted by the group in the weeks before Trump, a Republican, beat Clinton. Mueller’s office has said those emails, belonging to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, were hacked by Russian intelligence officers.

The document says that by June and July 2016, Stone had told senior Trump campaign officials that he had information indicating that WikiLeaks had obtained documents that could be damaging to Clinton’s campaign.

After the July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks release of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, the indictment says a senior Trump campaign “was directed” to contact Stone about additional releases and “what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had “regarding the Clinton campaign.” The indictment does not name the official or say who directed the outreach to Stone.

Another Trump campaign official cited in the indictment is Steve Bannon, who later became Trump’s chief strategist in the White House. Bannon, referred to as a “high-ranking Trump Campaign official,” exchanged emails with Stone in October 2016 about WikiLeaks’ plans for releasing hacked material. The indictment quotes from those emails, which had previously been made public by news outlets.

While the indictment provides some new insight into the Trump campaign, it deals largely with what prosecutors say were Stone’s false statements about his conversations with conservative writer and conspiracy theorist, Jerome Corsi, and New York radio host, Randy Credico. Corsi is referred to as Person 1 in the indictment, and Credico as Person 2.

The indictment accuses Stone of carrying out a “prolonged effort” to keep Credico from contradicting his testimony before the House intelligence committee. During that effort, prosecutors note that Stone repeatedly told Credico to “do a ‘Frank Pentangeli,'” a reference to a character in “The Godfather: Part II” who lies before a congressional committee.

Stone is also accused of threatening Credico. The indictment cites several messages, some of which have already been public, that Stone sent to Credico last year. On April 9, Stone called Credico a “rat” and a “stoolie” and accused him of backstabbing his friends. Stone also threatened to “take that dog away from you,” a reference to Credico’s dog, Bianca.

“I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die (expletive),” Stone also wrote to Credico.

The indictment had been expected. Stone has said for months he was prepared to be charged, though he has denied any wrongdoing. A grand jury for months had heard from witnesses connected to Stone. And the intelligence committee last year voted to release a transcript of Stone’s testimony to Mueller as a precursor to an indictment.

Attorney Grant Smith, who represents Stone, did not return a phone message seeking comment Friday.

Stone has publicly denigrated the Mueller investigation and echoed the president’s descriptions of it as a witch hunt. But he has long attracted investigators’ attention, especially in light of a 2016 tweet that appeared to presage knowledge that emails stolen from Podesta would soon be released. Stone has said he had no inside information about the contents of the emails in WikiLeaks’ possession or the timing of when they’d be released.

Stone has said he learned from Credico that WikiLeaks had the emails and planned to disclose them. Stone has also spoken openly about his contacts with Corsi.

Credico hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing. Last year, Mueller’s prosecutors offered a plea agreement to Corsi that would have required him to admit that he intentionally lied to investigators about a discussion with Stone about WikiLeaks. But he rejected the offer and denied that he lied.

In a tweet Friday, Podesta wrote that it was now “Roger’s time in the barrel.” That was a play on Stone’s own words. Stone had tweeted cryptically before the Podesta emails were disclosed that it would soon be Podesta’s “time in the barrel.”

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Read the indictment: https://apne.ws/1P23qpR

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects for alleged armed robbery.

Just before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, police contacted two suspects identified as 39-year-old Brian Mitchell and 35-year-old Krystal Anderson both of Wichita outside of a residence in the 5100 block of east Funston, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Police spoke to them regarding an ongoing investigation of an aggravated robbery case which occurred on January 15.

A 41-year-old female victim reported while in the parking lot of The Smoke Shop, 4703 E. 13th Street, a suspect pointed a gun at her and took her purse, according to Davidson. There were no injuries reported.

Through the investigation, both Mitchell and Anderson were identified as involved in the armed robbery.

Police arrested Mitchell for two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated assault and traffic charges. They also arrested Anderson  for aggravated assault and theft.

The case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

ABILENE – A Kansas woman was ordered Wednesday to repay more than $2,500 to the Kansas Medicaid Program after being found guilty of Medicaid fraud-related charges, according to Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Ashley Loomis, 29, of Abilene, pleaded no contest in November and was found guilty in Dickinson County District Court of one felony count of making a false claim to the Medicaid Program and one felony count of conspiracy to commit making a false claim to the Medicaid Program.

On Wednesday, Dickinson County District Judge Benjamin J. Sexton ordered Loomis to repay $2,532.85 to the Kansas Medicaid Program. Judge Sexton also sentenced Loomis to 24 months probation with an underlying prison sentence of 16 months. Convictions such as this one may also result in a period during which the defendant is prohibited from being paid wages through a government health care program.

An investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division revealed that Loomis’ mother, Dawn Penrod, billed Medicaid on Loomis’ behalf for services provided as a personal care attendant to Penrod, who is a disabled person, while Loomis was incarcerated between August 2014 and October 2015. There were approximately 352 hours billed to Medicaid while Loomis was incarcerated in either Dickinson County, Harvey County or Pottawatomie County jails.