TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans in the Kansas Senate have thwarted an attempt by the chamber’s top Democrat to advance Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s proposal to boost spending on public schools.

The Senate vote Tuesday was 28-12 against an amendment offered by Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka to a bill to clarify a law dealing with which programs for at-risk students can receive state funds.

The amendment contained Kelly’s proposal to increase education funding by roughly $90 million a year to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court ruling last year.

No legislative committee has voted on Kelly’s proposal. Republican leaders said they want a funding bill to be thoroughly reviewed.

The Supreme Court said a law enacted last year to boost education funding wasn’t sufficient because it didn’t adequately account for inflation.

BELOIT, Kan. (AP) — A jury has acquitted a man who was charged with his mother’s murder nearly 15 years after she died.

46-year-old Chuckie Fleming was found not guilty of first-degree murder Monday after a trial in Mitchell County.

Fleming was arrested and charged in July in the death of Carol Fleming. She was found in August 2003 shot to death as she slept in her Beloit home.

His defense attorney, Julie Effenbeck, said the decision came down to a lack of evidence and a lack of credibility with the state’s witnesses.

Mitchell County Attorney Mark Noah argued during the trial that Carol Fleming was killed with a shotgun from one of her son’s trucks, and that he received $370,000 from his parents’ estate.

RENO COUNTY—Two suspects arrested for a February 18, robbery at a Kansas convenience store have been formally charged.

Emerson Noble, 19, and Elaina Matos, 27, have been charged with aggravated robbery. Noble is also charged with interference with law enforcement.

They are accused of robbing the Kwik Shop at 17th and Lorraine in Hutchinson. Noble allegedly entered the store and requested to purchase an item from behind the counter. Once the clerk opened up the register, the suspect punched her one time in the face and grabbed some money from the register.

Police believe he conspired with Matos, who drove him to the Kwik Shop and dropped him off with the intent to commit robbery.

Both will be back in court on March 20.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The United Methodist Church, America’s second-largest Protestant denomination, faces a likely surge in defections and acts of defiance after delegates at a crucial conference Tuesday rejected a move to ease the faith’s ban on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy.

Some supporters of greater LGBT inclusion were in tears, while others vented their anger after delegates, on a 449-374 vote, defeated a proposal that would have let regional and local church bodies decide for themselves on gay-friendly policies.

“Devastation,” was how former Methodist pastor Rebecca Wilson of Detroit described her feelings. “As someone who left because I’m gay, I’m waiting for the church I love to stop bringing more hate.”

Delegates then took up a competing measure, known as the Traditional Plan, that would tighten enforcement of the LGBT bans and encourage Methodists who oppose those policies to leave the church. It won majority support in a preliminary vote on Monday.

The Traditional Plan’s success was due to an alliance of conservatives from the U.S. and overseas. About 43 percent of the delegates are from abroad, mostly from Africa, and overwhelmingly support the LGBT bans.

If the bans were eased, “the church in Africa would cease to exist,” said the Rev. Jerry Kulah of Liberia. “We can’t do anything but to support the Traditional Plan — it is the biblical plan.”

The deep split within the church was evident in several fiery speeches opposing the Traditional Plan.

“If we bring this virus into our church, it will bring illness to us all,” said the Rev. Thomas Berlin of Herndon, Virginia. He predicted many Methodist churchgoers and some regional bodies would leave the church, while others would “stay and fight,” performing same-sex weddings even if it meant punishment.

Many supporters of the more liberal plan stood in support as Berlin spoke. Some wore rainbow-motif garments or sat behind rainbow banners.

The Rev. Allen Ewing-Merrill, a pastor from Portland, Maine, pledged defiance of the Traditional Plan, tweeting: “I will not participate in your bigotry, sin & violence.”

An association of Methodist theological schools warned that if the Traditional Plan passes, the church “will lose an entire generation of leaders in America.”

Formed in a merger in 1968, the United Methodist Church claims about 12.6 million members worldwide, including nearly 7 million in the United States.

While other mainline Protestant denominations, such as the Episcopal and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches, have embraced gay-friendly practices, the Methodist church still bans them, though acts of defiance by pro-LGBT clergy have multiplied.

___

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee rejected a proposed law that sought to prevent judges from reducing sentences if they believe that victims under the age of 14 were willing participants in sex crimes.

The bill was proposed by Attorney General Derek Schmidtafter a county judge in December gave a 67-year-old man a shorter sentence than prosecutors sought for soliciting a 13-year-old girl on Facebook. Leavenworth County District Judge Michael Gibbens was publicly criticized after he said young girls were “more aggressor than a participant” during sexual encounters with the man.

After the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee heard details of the case Monday, committee members said the legislation was well-intentioned but they argued judges must have discretion in sentencing for such cases. A voice vote to table the bill appeared to be unanimous.

“I don’t like calling a sex victim, be it male or female, an aggressor,” said Rep. John Wheeler, R-Garden City, but he said that is the reality in some situations.

When he introduced the bill, Schmidt said “no matter the child’s behavior, child victims are not responsible for the criminal conduct of adults who commit sex crimes against them.”

Gibbens sentenced Raymond Soden, of Leavenworth, in December to five years and 10 months in prison for soliciting sex from teens online, which is eight years less than required by Kansas sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutors had sought more than 13 years behind bars because Soden had prior convictions. Soden admitted in his plea that he knew one of the girls was 13 when he began exchanging messages with her online.

During the sentencing, Gibbens said the 13- and 14-year-old girls Soden had sex with were “more an aggressor than a participant in the criminal conduct.” He said he was already “pretty familiar” with the girls and he believed it was possible they set Soden up to be robbed.

He noted the girls went to Soden’s house voluntarily and took money in exchange for sexual favors. They also didn’t appear to testify at Soden’s sentencing, which Gibbens said made him believe they didn’t suffer the typical harm in such cases.

Schmidt’s bill would have eliminated the judge’s finding of who was the aggressor as a factor in sentencing in sex crimes when the victim is younger than 14 and the offender is an adult. It also would take away judges’ ability to find the victims were “participants” in the conduct.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said the judge made a difficult decision in a “terrible, terrible situation.”

“I think we have to trust judges. I think we have to give them some level of discretion,” Carmichael said.

After the vote, Schmidt’s spokesman, C.J. Grover, said the “attorney general continues to believe Kansas law should not allow children to be labeled ‘aggressors’ who are responsible for the criminal conduct of adults who commit sex crimes against them.”

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges.

Just before 4p.m. Monday, police responded to 2337 SE Adams in Topeka to assist on a call for service, according to Lt. Robbie Simmons.

While Officers were working this call they observed a semi-automatic rifle and marijuana in plain view inside the residence.

The homeowner 31-year-old Adrian Nash was found to be a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms.

Police arrested Nash and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Sell and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia for Sales

This is the 21st case in 2019 with a charge involving a felon in possession of a firearm reported by the Topeka Police Department.