TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man has been convicted of participating in the stabbing or strangulation deaths of three others at a Topeka house.

A Shawnee County jury on Wednesday convicted 32-year-old Joseph Lowry of three counts of first-degree murder and several other charges in the killings in March 2017.

Lowry was one of five people charged in the deaths of 19-year-old Matthew Leavitt, 20-year-old Luke Patrick Davis and 38-year-old Nicole Star Fisher.

Prosecutors said Lowry held all three victims to help others kill them. Police said another man, Joseph Aaron Krahn admitted strangling some victims but said Lowry helped him.

Defense attorneys argued Lowry robbed the victims but no evidence showed that he intended to commit murder. They also contended he was too incapacitated by meth to kill anyone.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on protest in favor of Medicaid expansion at the Kansas Statehouse (all times local):

5:20 p.m.

Capitol Police have banned three Kansas State University students from the Statehouse for a year for participating in the hanging of huge banners favoring Medicaid expansion inside.

Four banners hung briefly from the fifth floor rotunda. They criticized Republican legislative leaders who oppose Medicaid expansion by name and said they have “blood on their hands.”

A legislative policy requires protesters to obtain permission in advance to bring banners into the Statehouse. Legislative Administrative Services Director Tom Day removed them within minutes.

Officer Scott Whitsell said he imposed the yearlong ban because of the policy violation. The banned students are Jonathan Cole, Nate Faflick and Katie Sullivan.

Sullivan questioned whether the ban is legal. But Whitsell if the students return within a year, they face being cited for criminal trespassing.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas have briefly hung huge banners inside the Statehouse criticizing Republican legislative leaders who oppose the idea.

“Blood on their hands” banners drop in the Statehouse naming Kansas Senate President Wagle and Majority Leader Denning who are blocking over 100,000 Kansans from healthcare access #ExpandMedicaid pic.twitter.com/FpAnamSzTt

— Davis Hammet (@Davis_Hammet) March 27, 2019

The four banners hung Wednesday from the fifth floor railings of the rotunda said GOP leaders have “blood on their hands” for blocking Medicaid health coverage for up to 150,000 more Kansas residents.

Protester Thea Perry said such coverage would be life-saving for some individuals. House Majority Leader and Wichita Republican Dan Hawkins dismissed the banners as “ridiculous.”

The House approved a modified version of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s expansion plan last week over GOP leaders’ objections. The Senate has yet to consider it.

Legislative Administrative Services Director Tom Day took the banners down within minutes. He said legislative rules require prior permission to hang banners.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man involved in an autopsy of Michael Brown after the black teenager was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, has been temporarily banned from conducting autopsies in Kansas.

A judge ruled Monday that Shawn Parcells, of Leawood, Kansas, can’t resume his work until a lawsuit filed last week by the Kansas attorney general is resolved.

The lawsuit alleges Parcells is a self-taught pathology assistant who conducted coroner-ordered autopsies for Wabaunsee County without a qualified pathologist, as required by state law.

The suit also alleges Parcells billed the county for 14 autopsies that weren’t performed and collected payments for private autopsies that he also failed to conduct. The lawsuit noted that some families who sought Parcells’ services believed he had medical qualifications and was licensed to perform the exams.

Parcells, 37, also faces criminal charges filed last week by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office. Parcells is charged with theft and criminal desecration in regard to the autopsies.

His attorney, Eric Kjorlie, said they’re considering their next steps.

Parcells assisted a privately hired pathologist in a second autopsy of Brown in 2014, after St. Louis County performed an initial examination but Brown’s family and attorneys wanted an independent review.

Brown was 18 and unarmed when he was fatally shot by Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson resigned from the police force that November, and he was later cleared of wrongdoing by a St. Louis County grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department.

The shooting and lack of charges against Wilson sparked nationwide protests and helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has approved a bill that provides legal protection for people who treat medical conditions with CBD oil containing a small amount of the chemical in marijuana that produces a high.

The House approved the bill Wednesday on an 89-35 vote.

The bill allows people charged with possessing CBD oil with up to 5 percent THC to defend themselves in court if they can prove they are using the oil to treat a severe medical condition. Parents also could give the oil to their children with chronic conditions.

Supporters say CBD oil with THC can reduce seizures and relieve pain.

But law enforcement and medical groups say the bill would be difficult and expensive to enforce.

The legislation now goes to the Senate.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas teen found with a gun on a school bus.

Just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a disturbance call in reference to a 38-year-old parent concerned about a handgun missing from her home, according to officer Charley Davidson.

The woman believed her 16-year-old daughter was in possession of the gun on a school bus.  Offices located the juvenile on the bus at Maple and Glenn in Wichita with the loaded handgun in her backpack, according to Davidson.

Police arrested the juvenile without incident and booked her into the Juvenile Detention Center on requested charges of criminal possession of a firearm by a juvenile and theft, according to Davidson.

There were no threats made to any students, no disruptions to any school and no one was injured.

Investigators will present the case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

By STEPHAN BISAHA
Kansas News Service

When a student comes home with a C on their report card, it often isn’t clear what that means.

Are they average in geometry? Or did their math proficiency get dragged down by poor class attendance?

Wichita Public Schools is hoping to clarify those grades by isolating academics from everything else that happens in the classroom.

“We really want to focus on what it is that students know and what can they do,” said Christy O’Toole, the executive director of Curriculum and Instruction for Wichita Public Schools.

For years, elementary schools in Kansas have graded academic performance separately from other skills. Whether a student forgets a pencil or hands in their work late doesn’t affect their final score — often reflected as a number between zero and four.

But Kansas middle and high schools have been slow to adopt the same practices. They’ve found it difficult to lose the A’s and F’s in high school when GPAs are obsessed over by students and their parents.

Standards-based — or standards-referenced — is a method of grading where the teachers emphasize a student’s mastery of one of the state standards. Wichita Public Schools is narrowing its focus on what it sees as critical content.

“If we did ( all the state standards) in the course of a child’s life, K-12, we’d need 15,000 hours, but we only have 9,000 hours with a child,” said Andi Giesen, assistant superintendent at Wichita Public Schools. “So we’re narrowing the focus to the critical content.”

Wichita will start implementing standard-referenced grading in its elementary schools next school year. Other elementary schools in the state have used standard-based grading for years.

Augusta public schools began the practice about seven years ago. Report cards still report nonacademic performance — students receive grades in areas like group work and responsibility.

“When we were kids and parents went to parent-teacher conference, they said, ‘Johnny got an A in math and a B in science’ but they really don’t know what their child knows and what they don’t know,” said Holly Francis, assistant superintendent at Augusta Public Schools.

The practice stops after Augusta students move past fifth grade. While standard-based grading is common in Kansas elementary schools, it’s rare at the middle and high school levels.

“Everyone understands that zero to 100 scale,” said Ryan Arnold, administrative intern with Highland Park High School in Topeka. “That equates to a certain scores for the GPA. And the colleges recognize that as well.

“In my opinion that’s been the kind of sticking point for high schools.”

Wichita Public Schools will implement its new learning standards in its middle schools in 2020 and high schools in 2021. Parents won’t notice much of a difference on the final report card, however, with the grades converted to traditional A’s and B’s.

Yet Wichita high schools will be the exception, with few schools willing to change how grading is done past eighth grade when college applications depend on them.

Advocates point to Iowa for its above-average adoption of standard-based grading. Yet less than 20 high schools in Iowa have made the conversion, according to Matt Townsley, assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Northern Iowa.

Townsley said for students at schools that haven’t switched, their performance remains foggy.

“It’s possible for a kid to get B’s on all their tests in a high school course and then they complete a bunch of extra credit crossword puzzles, bring some Kleenex boxes to school and get a bunch of homework right and that pads their grade and brings it up to an A,” Townsley said. “It’s really just not an accurate communication of what a student has actually learned.”

Stephan Bisaha reports on education and young adult life for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on @SteveBisaha.