TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Commerce has no written guidelines governing a fund designed to promote job creation and sometimes awards money to groups not clearly associated with economic development, according to a new audit.

The department oversees the Kansas Job Creation Fund, which receives about $3.5 million annually from state income tax payments. It has provided 71 awards totaling $25.6 million during the past five years.

An audit released Monday said the agency sometimes provides awards without requiring an application and requires some companies to produce measurable economic activity to receive funds but doesn’t have the same requirements for other companies.

The commerce secretary and governor control the program.

“This is why there’s a lack of trust in government right now. Because we have $25 million of taxpayer money that is in the hands of two people and it’s been that way for a long time,” said Sen. Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday that she had not seen the audit but that the state is reviewing all incentive programs.

“There just hasn’t been an evaluation process for each of them to make sure we’re getting our bang for our buck,” Kelly said. “And so the job creation fund is just one more we’ll take a good, close look at.”

The auditors reviewed five awards in detail, including a $90,000 award to the Renwick school district in Sedgwick County to create a Future Farmers of America chapter and agricultural education program and $80,000 for the Kansas Business Hall of Fame in Emporia, which used the funding as matching dollars to build the hall.

Other awards — such as $70,000 given in 2015 to New York-based Genesis Corporation, a technology firm, for construction costs and to help create 200 new jobs — appeared to more closely meet the goals of the fund.

In three of the five cases, the agency awarded money without requiring the organizations to produce jobs or other economic activity.

Auditors said decisions on awarding the funds are largely left to the expertise of Commerce Department staff because the agency doesn’t have a formula or written guidance to determine how much money to give a company.

Commerce Secretary David Toland, appointed by Kelly, said in a letter to auditors that all the projects that were reviewed complied with Kansas law. He said the fund helped create 12,916 jobs and retained 20,196 jobs between 2014 and 2018.

“This program helps attract new business to our state, retain and grow existing business and foster economic development. The program is structured to be flexible which allows us to meet the needs of the businesses we serve,” Toland said.

An agency official acknowledged Monday that some employees questioned the awards to Renwick schools and the Kansas Business Hall of Fame, which were awarded under previous secretaries.

“The reason I mention that is that they were done against the objection of multiple staff members who feel it did not meet the required provisions or intended goal of what JCF was for. They were carried out regardless,” David Soffer, public service executive at the agency, told lawmakers.

PAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas man made a first appearance in the Pawnee County District Court on Tuesday morning on two counts of felony burglary and two counts of misdemeanor theft, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett.

The defendant Thomas L. Robison, 20 of Larned, has been charged with the July 20 burglary of the State Theater in Larned, including theft of currency and gift certificates totaling $1,074. He is also charged in the July 25 burglary of a Subway restaurant in Larned and the theft of $405 in cash.

If convicted, the defendant faces a prison sentence between 11 months and 34 months in the custody of the Department of Corrections, depending on his criminal history, according to McNett.

Robison was arrested by the Larned Police Department at his home on July 26 without incident and is being held in the Pawnee County jail in lieu of $15,000 bond.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security issued a security alert Tuesday for small planes, warning that modern flight systems are vulnerable to hacking if someone manages to gain physical access to the aircraft.

An alert from the DHS critical infrastructure computer emergency response team recommends that plane owners ensure they restrict unauthorized physical access to their aircraft until the industry develops safeguards to address the issue, which was discovered by a Boston-based cybersecurity company and reported to the federal government.

Most airports have security in place to restrict unauthorized access and there is no evidence that anyone has exploited the vulnerability. But a DHS official told The Associated Press that the agency independently confirmed the security flaw with outside partners and a national research laboratory, and decided it was necessary to issue the warning.

The cybersecurity firm, Rapid7, found that an attacker could potentially disrupt electronic messages transmitted across a small plane’s network, for example by attaching a small device to its wiring, that would affect aircraft systems.

Engine readings, compass data, altitude and other readings “could all be manipulated to provide false measurements to the pilot,” according to the DHS alert.

The warning reflects the fact that aircraft systems are increasingly reliant on networked communications systems, much like modern cars. The auto industry has already taken steps to address similar concerns after researchers exposed vulnerabilities.

The Rapid7 report focused only on small aircraft because their systems are easier for researchers to acquire. Large aircraft frequently use more complex systems and must meet additional security requirements. The DHS alert does not apply to older small planes with mechanical control systems.

But Patrick Kiley, Rapid7’s lead researcher on the issue, said an attacker could exploit the vulnerability with access to a plane or by bypassing airport security.

“Someone with five minutes and a set of lock picks can gain access (or) there’s easily access through the engine compartment,” Kiley said.

Jeffrey Troy, president of the Aviation Information Sharing and Analysis Center, an industry organization for cybersecurity information, said there is a need to improve the security in networked operating systems but emphasized that the hack depends on bypassing physical security controls mandated by law.

With access, “you have hundreds of possibilities to disrupt any system or part of an aircraft,” Troy said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that a scenario where someone has unrestricted physical access is unlikely, but the report is also “an important reminder to remain vigilant” about physical and cybersecurity aircraft procedures.

Aviation cybersecurity has been an issue of growing concern around the world.

In March, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general found that the FAA had “not completed a comprehensive, strategy policy framework to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks.” The FAA agreed and said it would look to have a plan in place by the end of September.

The UN’s body for aviation proposed its first strategy for securing civil aviation from hackers that’s expected to go before the General Assembly in September, said Pete Cooper, an ex-Royal Air Force fast jet pilot and cyber operations officer who advises the aviation industry.

The vulnerability disclosure report is the product of nearly two years of work by Rapid7. After their researchers assessed the flaw, the company alerted DHS. Tuesday’s DHS alert recommends manufacturers review how they implement these open electronics systems known as “the CAN bus” to limit a hacker’s ability to perform such an attack.

The CAN bus functions like a small plane’s central nervous system. Targeting it could allow an attacker to stealthily hijack a pilot’s instrument readings or even take control of the plane, according to the Rapid7 report obtained by The AP.

“CAN bus is completely insecure,” said Chris King, a cybersecurity expert who has worked on vulnerability analysis of large-scale systems. “It was never designed to be in an adversarial environment, (so there’s) no validation” that what the system is being told to do is coming from a legitimate source.

Only a few years ago, most auto manufacturers used the open CAN bus system in their cars. But after researchers publicly demonstrated how they could be hacked, auto manufacturers added on layers of security, like putting critical functions on separate networks that are harder to access externally.

The disclosure highlights issues in the automotive and aviation industries about whether a software vulnerability should be treated like a safety defect — with its potential for costly manufacturer recalls and implied liability — and what responsibility manufacturers should have in ensuring their products are hardened against such attacks. The vulnerability also highlights the reality that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to separate cybersecurity from security overall.

“A lot of aviation folks don’t see the overlap between information security, cybersecurity, of an aircraft, and safety,” said Beau Woods, a cyber safety innovation fellow with the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. “They see them as distinct things.”

The CAN bus networking scheme was developed in the 1980s and is extremely popular for use in boats, drones, spacecraft, planes and cars — all areas where there’s more noise interference and it’s advantageous to have less wiring. It’s actually increasingly used in airplanes today due to the ease and cost of implementation, Kiley said.

Given that airplanes have a longer manufacturing cycle, “what we’re trying to do is get out ahead of this.”

The report didn’t name the vendors Rapid7 tested, but the company alerted them over a year ago, the report states.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a cold-case murder in Saline County.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Roger Soldan and Lt. Mike Smith shared an update on what has been known as the “Miss Molly” murder case. The body of the unidentified woman was exhumed Monday morning from her grave in Gypsum Hill Cemetery in Salina and the FBI collected DNA evidence before she was reburied .

The woman was found dead in January of 1986 underneath the Mulberry Creek bridge on I-70 west of Salina.  Sheriff Soldan said earlier this year the FBI was contacted by Interpol to see if DNA evidence could connect the woman back to a missing person report that had been considered earlier.

Soldan said it will be 6 to 8 months before results of the test will  determine if she is the missing woman from Europe.

 

Hays meeting scheduled for Aug. 5

PRATT – The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is seeking input from individuals who hunt waterfowl in Kansas through a series of public information meetings. KDWPT staff wish to reexamine current waterfowl regulations ­– including season dates and duck zone boundaries – utilizing the critical input waterfowl hunters have to share.

Public information meetings will be held in Hays (Aug. 5), Great Bend (Aug. 6), Wichita (Aug. 7), Manhattan (Aug. 12), Pittsburg (Aug. 13), and Kansas City (Aug. 14). Each meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m., and all are welcome to attend. See below for meeting locations.

Should proposed changes arise as a result of the public meetings, staff will make a formal presentation to the KDWPT Commission for final action, beginning in November. All proposed changes that are voted on and approved by the Commission will then go into effect for the 2021-2022 waterfowl seasons.

Meeting locations are as follows:

August 5 – Hays
Ellis County Fairgrounds
1344 Fairground Rd
Hays, KS 67601

August 6 – Great Bend
Kansas Wetland Education Center
592 NE K-156 Hwy
Great Bend, KS 67530

August 7 – Wichita
Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E 29th St N
Wichita, KS 67220

August 12 – Manhattan
K-State Alumni Center
100 Alumni Center
1720 Anderson Avenue

Manhattan, KS 66506
August 13 – Pittsburg
Lamplighter Inn
4020 Parkview Dr

Pittsburg, KS 66762
August 14 – Kansas City
Cabela’s
10300 Cabela Drive
Kansas City, KS 66111

For more information, or to provide comments outside of the scheduled meeting times, contact KDWPT migratory game bird program manager Tom Bidrowski at (620) 566-1465 or [email protected].