SHAWNEE COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County continue to investigate a murder and have made a second arrest.

On Thursday, police interviewed Ebony Lanay Porter, 30, Topeka, in connection with the December 16, death of Mark Everett Johnson, according to a media release.

She was booked into the Shawnee County jail for aiding and abetting murder in the 2nd degree, according to a media release.

Just after 8 p.m. on December 16, police found Johnson’s body in a residence in the 600 Block of SW Taylor

Police indicated Johnson died of blunt force trauma.

On December 20, police arrested Arthur Lee Ford IV, 36, Topeka, for the murder.

Ford was is being held in the Shawnee County Jail for 2nd Degree Murder, according to police.

RENO COUNTY – Two Kansas teens were injured in an accident just before 7 p.m. on Thursday in Reno County.

The Reno County Sheriff’s Department reported a 1994 Pontiac Bonneville driven by Nicholas J. Bergkamp, 19, Mount Hope, was traveling in the 14300 block of east Smoots Creek Road south of Cheney Lake in southeast Reno County.

The driver lost control of his vehicle. It left the north side of the roadway and struck a driveway embankment before becoming airborne.

The vehicle then struck a power pole and rolled over.

Bergkamp and his passenger Alexander J. Purcell, 15, Cheney, were transported to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita.

Both of the occupants were believed to be wearing their seatbelts. Bergkamp was able to get out of the vehicle on his own and Purcell had to be extricated by Reno County Fire District #9.

Alcohol was not believed to be a factor; however, the accident remains under investigation.

HOUSTON (AP) —  Texas-based ice cream maker Blue Bell wants federal regulators to ease precautions in place since a deadly listeria outbreak and allow the company to return to more normal procedures followed by its competitors.

The Houston Chronicle reviewed documents obtained under a federal open records request, says Blue Bell has been working for months with a laboratory to develop tests to meet federal Food and Drug Administration requirements, prevent future outbreaks and help Blue Bell improve its economics.

An attorney for Blue Bell, Joseph Levitt, has written the FDA that it’s time for the company “to transition to the industry norm.”

Blue Bell had to shut its flagship Brenham creamery for several months after last year’s recall was linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.

BURLINGTON, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a fired eastern Kansas sheriff’s deputy has been charged after an investigation into child sex crimes.

Matthew Vander Linden, 28, was charged Wednesday in Coffey County with one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. A criminal complaint accuses Vander Linden of having sex with a 15-year-old.

It wasn’t immediately known if Vander Linden had an attorney.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said that its agents began to investigate last week at the request of the sheriff’s office. The deputy was arrested Tuesday and has been fired. He had worked for the sheriff’s office since March 2014.

A preliminary hearing for Vander Linden is scheduled for Feb. 7.

By Phil Galewitz

Despite rising prices, decreased insurer participation and a vigorous political threat to the Affordable Care Act’s survival, consumer enrollment in online health insurance marketplaces for 2017 is outpacing last year’s numbers, according to new federal data and reports from state officials across the country.

Americans’ anxiety about how a new Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump will repeal and replace the health law is helping fuel early enrollment gains in the online marketplaces that sell individual coverage, state officials and health consultants said.

Healthcare.gov, the federal marketplace that handles coverage for 39 states, enrolled 6.4 million people from Nov. 1 through Monday, about 400,000 more than at the same time a year ago, officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday. Monday was the deadline in those states to sign up for coverage starting Jan. 1, but open enrollment will continue until Jan. 31 for 2017 coverage.

“The marketplace is strong … and now we know the doomsday predictions about the marketplace are not coming true,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a media briefing.

The surge in sign-ups on the federal marketplace mirrors activity on several state-run Obamacare marketplaces, according to figures obtained from states independently by Kaiser Health News. Minnesota, with more than 54,000 enrollees as of Monday, doubled the number of sign-ups it had at the same time last year. Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington had enrollment growth of at least 13 percent compared to a year ago.

“Because of the new administration and the high likelihood of changes coming to the ACA, it is creating a sense of urgency” for people to enroll, said Michael Marchand, director of communications for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. Enrollment exceeded 170,000 customers in Washington as of this week, up 13 percent compared to same time a year ago.

Other state marketplaces saw moderate increases: Connecticut, 3 percent; Idaho, 4 percent; Maryland, 1 percent. California’s enrollment is about same as a year ago. Rhode Island’s enrollment dropped to 27,555 from 31,900 for the same period last year. State officials cited a drop in customers who were automatically renewed because UnitedHealthcare dropped out.

About 12.7 million people enrolled in the state and federal marketplaces for 2016 coverage at the end of the previous enrollment season. HHS predicted in October that an additional 1.1 million people would sign up for 2017 coverage. Burwell said Wednesday that her department is sticking with that projection, even though “the headwinds have increased” since the election.

Obamacare, now in its fourth open enrollment season, took some heavy blows this year after several big insurers — including UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Aetna — withdrew from many marketplaces for 2017 because of heavy financial losses. At the same time, remaining insurers increased premiums by 25 percent on average.

All of that, plus a changed political climate in Washington, was expected to dampen enrollment. While the presidential election outcome may have been the primary force for changing those expectations, other factors also have fueled enrollment growth this fall, state officials pointed out in interviews.

More people who don’t qualify for government subsidies are buying health plans on the marketplace because it’s an easier way to compare available plans in one place. Noting that trend, Premera Blue Cross in Washington recently stopped selling individual coverage off the marketplace.

In Minnesota, higher government subsidies — which reduce premiums for people with lower incomes — are the main reason why more people have signed up, according to Allison O’Toole, CEO of MNsure, the state-run marketplace. The subsidy amount is tied to the cost of the second-lowest silver plan on the marketplace, so as premiums rise for that plan, the subsidy rises too. Premiums soared by an average 50 percent in Minnesota for second-lowest silver.

Another factor driving earlier enrollment in that state was caps set by several Minnesota insurers on the number of new enrollees they would accept. People signed up earlier to make sure they could get the plan they wanted, according to O’Toole.

Minnesota’s growth is surprising because one of its biggest carriers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, stopped selling its most popular health plan on the marketplace. That forced about 20,000 people to change insurers or switch from Blue Cross’ PPO, which has a broad provider network, to its HMO plan with a narrower network.

In Colorado, the 18 percent increase in enrollment so far has exceeded officials’ expectations, said Luke Clarke, the spokesman for Connect for Health Colorado, the state marketplace. “We had an office pool and no one picked a number that high,” he said. “It was a healthy surprise,” particularly because premiums increased in the state by about 20 percent on average.

Conservatives warn it’s still too early for Obamacare supporters to celebrate.

“I suspect that some states saw big increases because local advocacy groups were able to tell their constituents that they should enroll before Trump is sworn in and Republicans take over Congress — thereby pretty much guaranteeing that they get a full year’s coverage regardless of what Republicans might do on repeal,” said Joe Antos, a health economist with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Under that scenario, large enrollment increases this fall might be followed by a dropoff in January over the 2016 numbers and the final enrollment tally could end up similar this year’s, he said. Antos noted the true enrollment figures will be known once people pay for their coverage and stay enrolled for the full year.

“As with everything related to ACA,” Antos said, “it’s easy to find a happy story if you squint hard enough and don’t wait for the enrollment process to complete — or the plan year to end.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two of the Kansas Department of Revenue’s top officials have stepped down shortly after Gov. Sam Brownback appointed a new revenue secretary, who is expected to make changes to the department.

The Wichita Eagle eports Brownback announced in the first week of December that former lawmaker Nick Jordan would step down as revenue secretary and Wichita businessman Sam Williams would replace him.

Jim Conant, the agency’s director of resource management, left Dec. 9. Steve Stotts, the state’s director of taxation, retired last week.

Williams says Conant left before Williams became secretary, and that Stotts’ departure was not Williams’ decision.

Stotts couldn’t be reached for comment. Conant declined comment.

Agency spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda says both positions are vital and the agency will work to replace them with the best possible candidates.

GRANBY, Colo. (AP) — A woman is dead and two children are injured after falling from a chairlift at a small Colorado ski area.

Police say the three people, who were all visiting from out-of-state, fell from a lift at Ski Granby Ranch on Thursday. Police say one of the children was in stable condition at a nearby hospital and the other was flown to Children’s Hospital in suburban Denver for treatment.

The ski area is located about 90 miles west of Denver. It promotes itself as a family-friendly resort without the hassles of larger, more famous ski resorts.

The death comes during one of the busiest weeks of the season for ski resorts in Colorado.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Regents universities in Kansas are reviewing earthquake insurance policies after several quakes were reported in the state this year.

Chief financial officers decided to review the policies out of “due diligence.”

University of Kansas CFO Leisa Julian says the regents system has $1 billion in property insurance, at a cost of more than $2 million a year. The coverage includes $100 million in earthquake protection. Adding another $100 million would increase the annual premiums by $44,000.

The CFOs have taken the matter under advisement for now.

Wichita State University President John Bardo strongly supported increasing coverage. Some earthquakes centered in Oklahoma and south central Kansas were felt in Wichita. He says $100 million is not a lot of money to protect the entire system.

BARTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating a stabbing and have arrested a suspect.

Just after 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Police officers were dispatched to the area of 2507 11th Street in Great Bend for a man who had been stabbed, according to a media release.

First responders found Edward Johnson, 46, who appeared to have several stab wounds to his torso.

Officers were able to quickly identify a suspect and located Joseph Miller, 24, in the 2300 block of Lakin Street.

Both Miller and Johnson were found to have active warrants for their arrest.

Based on the investigation thus far, officers believe that the stab wounds occurred in an alley approximately one block east of 2507 11th Street.

It appears that Johnson was stabbed in the course of an altercation with Miller.

There were also possibly other individuals involved in the altercation, but both Miller and Johnson have been largely uncooperative with law enforcement’s efforts to investigate the incident.

The Great Bend Police Department asks that anyone who may have further information about this incident contact the Police Department at 793-4120 or Crimestoppers at 792-1300.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas federal judge has lifted a stay of execution for a former soldier who was sentenced to death for killing two women and three rapes.

Ronald A. Gray has been held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since a military court sentenced him to die in 1988. The U.S. military has not carried out an execution since 1961.

Last week, U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten sided with the U.S. government in denying a bid by the former Fort Bragg, North Carolina, soldier to block the military from pressing ahead with the execution by lethal injection.

No execution date has been set.

A message left Tuesday with Gray’s appellate attorney was not immediately returned.

Civilian courts also sentenced Gray to eight life terms for two other killings and other rapes.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A $48,000 settlement has been reached with two women who claimed they were wrongly terminated from their jobs in the Shawnee County prosecutor’s office.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Shawnee County commissioners agreed to the settlement Thursday. It only frees the county commission, not the district attorney’s office, from the litigation.

The plaintiffs contend in court filings that outgoing Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor had a propensity to use “insulting and intensely degrading language and sexual epithets” to describe women.

Taylor has called the claims inaccurate. Because the settlement doesn’t release his office, a jury trial is expected to start as scheduled Jan. 9 in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. Taylor didn’t run for re-election in November, and his successor will be sworn in that same day.

GREENSBURG – A Kansas man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for killing a man three days after he was released from a state psychiatric hospital in a case that prompted a state inquiry.

Brandon Lee Brown, 31, Havilland, was sentenced in Kiowa County District Court by Judge Sidney R. Thomas to 240 months in prison, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

In October, Brown,  pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. Prosecutors said he beat 61-year-old Jerry Martinez so severely in May 2015 at a residential care facility that Martinez died a few weeks later.

Brown spent a week at the state-run psychiatric hospital in Osawatomie after he scuffled with two other residents at the Haviland Care Center west of Wichita. The beating happened after he returned to Haviland.

The case was investigated by the Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant Attorney General Charles W. Klebe of Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case.