WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Sunday it will send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up another 150 miles of concertina wire and provide other support for Customs and Border Protection.

The additions will bring the total number of active-duty troops on the border to 4,350.

The announcement is in line with what Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan had said on Tuesday when he provided estimates for the next phase of a military mission that has grown in size and length. Critics have derided it as a political ploy by the White House as President Donald Trump seeks billions to build a border wall.

Shanahan said on Tuesday that several thousand more troops would be sent mainly to install additional wire barriers and provide a large new system of mobile surveillance and monitoring of the border area. Sunday’s announcement said the mobile surveillance mission would last through Sept. 30.

Members of Congress have question whether the border mission is distracting troops from their main work of fighting extremists abroad and training for combat. The first active-duty troops were sent to the border on about Oct. 30 for a mission that was to end Dec. 15. It has since been extended twice.

“What impact does it have to readiness to send several thousand troops down to the Southern border? It interrupts their training. It interrupts their dwell time,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said at a hearing on Tuesday.

Vice Adm. Mike Gilday, the director of operations for the Joint Staff, told the panel that he does not believe military readiness has been significantly affected. He said some units have missed training opportunities because of the deployment and others have seen less time at home between deployments than the military likes to provide.

But he said there is an effort to rotate service members in and out of the mission every six to eight weeks in order to minimize any impact.

HUTCHINSON — A Kansas man has been found guilty in the September 2017 shooting death of a man who was sleeping.

A Reno County jury on Thursday found 35-year-old Quinton Moore guilty of first degree murder.

Moore shot 42-year-old Clarence D. Allen multiple times in his head and neck while he slept in his bed at a residence at 1701 E. 30th in Hutchinson.

During an interview with a Hutchinson Police Detective, Moore at first denied shooting Allen, but later said he did but blacked out during the shooting.

The gun used in the shooting was found in a poly-cart at the home on East 6th. It was a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun which police believe was the murder weapon.  At the scene, police found six .40 caliber shell casings and 3 bullets.

Moore did not take the stand in his own defense. He is scheduled for sentencing March 15.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police are investing a shooting in Kansas City’s historic Jazz District that left one man dead and another man seriously injured.

Police in Kansas City, Missouri, sat the shootings happened just before 2 a.m. Sunday in the city’s historic 18th and Vine district.

The Kansas City Star reports that when officers arrived several witnesses pointed them toward a dead man in a vehicle. A short time later, the second victim arrived at a hospital with gunshot wounds.

Police believe both men were shot in the Jazz District. The victims’ names were not immediately released.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A software company owner in northeastern Kansas has decided to open an exhibit to showcase his car collection to the public.

CivicPlus owner Ward Morgan and his wife, Brenda, have spent the past 18 months purchasing some of the vehicles that will be featured in the Midwest Dream Car Collection museum in Manhattan. Morgan plans to open the exhibit this spring.

“We’ve got about 60 cars,” Morgan said. “They’re somewhere between automotive icons and dream cars.”

Some of the vehicles include a 2014 Lamborghini Aventador, a 1961 Morgan Plus 4 Drophead Coupe and a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette.

Morgan purchased a 54,000-square-foot space property to house the cars last year. The space will also have a self-service bar, a mechanic shop and event rooms. Visitors will be able to put money on a prepaid card to purchase beer and wine while relaxing in the recreation room, Morgan said.

Morgan hopes to tell the history of each car in his exhibit, he said.

“The proceeds are all going to the museum for preservation and display of the cars,” Morgan said. “To share automotive history and also the history of automotives with people, that’s our mission.”

KANSAS CITY– Two Kansas City brothers and a Sugar Creek, Missouri woman have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a conspiracy to commit a series of armed robberies by luring their victims with online advertisements and ambushing them.

Dylan J. Houston, 22, his brother, Andrew J. Houston, 29, and Nicole Waguespack, also known as Nicole Covey, 36, were sentenced in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019.

Dylan Houston was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison without parole. Andrew Houston was sentenced to seven years and eight months in federal prison without parole. Waguespack was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison without parole. They are among 10 defendants who have been sentenced in this case. Two defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Co-conspirators posted ads on several websites in order to entice customers to meet in person at area hotels, residences and apartments in Kansas City, Mo. When the customers arrived, co-conspirators were lying in wait, armed with firearms and weapons that appeared to be firearms. They ambushed and robbed the customers at gunpoint. They often committed more than one robbery in a night.

According to court documents, the proceeds of the robberies was divided up and usually used to pay for narcotics or to pay for a room where the co-conspirators could use narcotics. When confronting the victim, the co-conspirators used verbal threats, pointed real and fake guns at them, physically hit them, and intimidated them. Records obtained from social media services and hotels corroborate statements by participants that only a small percentage of the victims called the police to report their robbery.

Dylan Houston pleaded guilty on July 12, 2018, to his role in the armed robbery conspiracy as well as to three counts of armed robbery. According to court documents, Dylan Houston was one of the enforcers in this violent robbery scheme. Once a victim was led into a room, he surprised the victim and used firearms and threats of physical violence to intimidate him and take electronics and cash. Dylan Houston admitted that he participated in three armed robberies, including one robbery in which the victim, after being forced into his truck at gunpoint, later jumped out of the moving vehicle while driving at highway speeds, in fear for his life. In another robbery, Dylan Houston stole a firearm from a victim that was later used in subsequent robberies.

Andrew Houston pleaded guilty on July 11, 2018, to his role in the armed robbery conspiracy, as well as to three counts of armed robbery. Andrew Houston served as a look-out for multiple robberies, notifying co-defendants about the arrival of victims and watching for law enforcement response. He also shared in the proceeds from the robberies.

Waguespack pleaded guilty on May 3, 2017, to her role in the armed robbery conspiracy as well as to five counts of armed robbery. Waguespack created dozens of online ads designed to lure men to robberies. When victims arrived, she met the victims at the door. As part of the plan, she then excused herself to the restroom while the other co-conspirators surprised and robbed the victims with threats of violence and firearms.