WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The boyfriend of a woman found dead in her home after being beaten with a shovel has pleaded guilty to killing her.

38-year-old Travis Becker Jr. entered the plea Friday afternoon in a Sedgwick County courtroom to reduced charges of first-degree felony murder and aggravated kidnapping in the November 2017 death of 42-year-old Perla Rodriguez. He had originally been charged with first-degree premeditated murder.

He’s expected to serve about 40 years after he’s sentenced on Jan. 2.

Rodriguez was outreach director for the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center. Her severely battered body was found Nov. 14, 2017, in her home by Wichita officers. They also found a wooden handle shovel inside the bedroom, with the shovel blade covered in blood and hair.

KINGMAN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just after noon Saturday in Kingman County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Jeep Patriot driven by Reginald F H Smith, 34, Wichita, was westbound on Kansas 42 nine miles west of Norwich.

The Jeep traveled left of center, left the roadway entered the south ditch and struck a tree.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensic Center. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

SALINE COUNTY—A small earthquake shook north-central Kansas Saturday. The quake just after 3:30 p.m. measured a magnitude 2.8 and was centered approximately 2 miles southeast of Salina, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was the first quake in Kansas since a 2.5 magnitude quake shook near the Sumner County community of Belle Plaine.

There are no reports of damage or injuries from Saturday’s quake. However, the quake did generate a lot of attention among Saline County residents who reported they felt it.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced this week to 10 years in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Miles Joseph McWhorter, 34, Paola, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. McWhorter was yelling, moving erratically and acting aggressively toward law enforcement officers when they stopped his car in Ottawa, Kan.

Investigators found almost a pound of methamphetamine in the car, as well as ammunition and $2,724 in cash.

After McWhorter was arrested, McWhorter’s girlfriend was arrested with 200 grams of methamphetamine and a shotgun, both belonging to McWhorter.

He has previous convictions for drugs and weapons charges, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A two-alarm fire has swept through a Wichita apartment complex, although no injuries have been reported.

The fire was reported shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday at the Parke East Townhomes.

Officials say about 20 fire units responded to the fire.

Drivers were asked to avoid the area as emergency responders and vehicles packed streets around the scene.

Firefighters have not said what caused the fire.

By STEPHAN BISAHA

Seven Kansas school districts freed from some state rules now say getting that special status isn’t worth the effort.

Those districts are part of the Kansas Department of Education’s “Coalition of Innovative School Districts” program that started in 2013. Districts that join have the freedom to ignore state oversight on some of the ways they run their schools in exchange for pursuing novel approaches for improving student achievement.

The coalition uses the program to loosen teacher licensure and state assessment requirements. The relaxed rules for hiring teachers and instruction has come under criticism from some unions and education advocates who argue that the regulations are needed to maintain high standards.

“We think all of those kind of things are important and should never have been essentially done away with to begin with,” said Marcus Baltzell, the director of communications for the Kansas National Education Association.

Despite the extra freedom, the districts asked the Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday to release them from the program.

McPherson and Concordia needed to reapply this year to remain part of the coalition. But they felt that their concerns regarding regulations were already addressed by other programs and legislation that loosened guidelines for school districts across the state. Some of the new rules are based on experiments conducted by the coalition.

“The state has caught up,” said Quentin Breese, the superintendent for Concordia Public Schools. “The state board has been very progressive in that process.”

With McPherson and Concordia leaving, the other five districts decided to do the same instead of letting the coalition “die a slow death” as some superintendents described the situation.

“We, as a unified group, felt the best course of action was just to ask for release,” said Bill Mullins, superintendent at Marysville Public Schools.

The districts said they will continue to collaborate with each other, but as an informal network instead of as a group that must report its progress to the Kansas Legislature. The superintendents also expressed confidence that the state is better positioned to deal with future restriction issues that may arise.

“We fully believe that teacher barriers that may come about, they will address,” said Adrian Howie, superintendent of Hugoton Public Schools. “They don’t need us challenging that part of it.”

Stephan Bisaha is an education reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @SteveBisaha.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is reporting that its unemployment rate remained at 3.3 percent in October for the third month in a row.

The state Department of Labor has reported that Kansas also saw an increase in the number of nonfarm, private sector jobs during the previous 12 months. Such unemployment was almost 1.17 million in October, or 17,100 more than in October 2017. The growth was 1.5 percent.

Mining and logging businesses, financial services companies, and professional services firms saw the most robust job growth.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has been less than 4 percent since February 2017. In October 2017, it was 3.5 percent.