OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A former music instructor in Kansas was sentenced to life in prison for sexually molesting some of his young students.

Sean Andrew Dow, of Overland Park, was sentenced Thursday for one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child younger than 14.

The Kansas City Star reports authorities charged Dow last year with sexually abusing two students he gave music lessons to at Funky Munky Music in Shawnee.

Police learned about four other victims when investigating. The prison sentence he received Thursday was for charges involving all six victims.

Dow is also charged in Jackson County, Missouri, with first-degree statutory sodomy, first-degree child molestation, sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.

Those allegations involve a 7-year-old girl in Kansas City.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Board of Regents President Blake Flanders says Kansas is facing the prospect of a “brain drain” as fewer people who graduate from a Kansas college or university choose to stay in the state.

It’s unclear whether people are leaving because the higher education system is failing to align itself with the Kansas economy, or whether the local economy is failing to offer the opportunities college graduates seek.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Flanders addressed the board Wednesday during its annual retreat, which was held in Wichita.

Flanders said that from 2010 to 2014 the percentage of Kansas college graduates employed in Kansas within one year of finishing school has remained relatively flat. But he said the number employed here five years after graduating has been declining.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Former Lawrence Mayor Jeremy Farmer has been charged with stealing money from his old job as executive director at a food pantry.

A criminal information filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Kansas charges Farmer with one count of interstate travel of embezzled funds. The filing also seeks a forfeiture judgment.

Court records do not indicate a defense attorney, and a phone number for Farmer was disconnected.

Federal prosecutors allege Farmer embezzled more than $5,000 from Just Food beginning in 2013 until he resigned from the nonprofit food pantry and as mayor in August 2015.

Farmer left those positions after it was revealed he had not paid about $50,000 in federal payroll taxes. He said at the time it was an oversight that the taxes weren’t paid.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget chief is asking state agencies and university’s to study the prospect of a 5 percent funding cut.

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley tells the Wichita Eagle that budget director Shawn Sullivan requested the information from state agencies. But Hawley stresses no decision has been made about whether cuts will be needed, saying it’s common to ask agencies to think about reduced budgets.

A revenue-estimating group that includes Sullivan and the state’s economics next meet in November to determine the state’s revenue outlook.

The group meets twice a year and has lowered revenue estimates each of the past four times it has met. If that happens again, budget cuts could be necessary since the state is already operating at razor thin budget margins.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect in connection with a shooting.

Justice Kennedy, 22, is accused of confronting Kwentin Gunter, 21, in the parking lot of Lowe’s Home Improvement, 3035 South 9th, on Thursday evening August 4, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

The two men exchanged words and a handgun was pulled out.

Multiple shots were fired and one hit the passenger side of Gunter’s vehicle.

Sweeney said Kennedy was arrested by officers Wednesday in the 600 block of South Santa Fe in Salina.

He was booked into the Saline County Jail on multiple requested charges including assault, criminal discharge of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon by a felon with a previous conviction.

The handgun used in the incident has not been recovered, according to Sweeny.

NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s says it plans to close about 100 stores next year as the department store operator aims to become more nimble in a competitive market.

That represents close to 14 percent of its store base. See store’s statement here.

Macy’s has a Topeka store and 4 more in the immediate Kansas City area.

Macy’s has not revealed the list of stores scheduled to close.

The closures come as Macy’s reported Thursday that second-quarter profits and sales fell. The results, however, beat Wall Street estimates as efforts to bring back customers are taking hold.

The nation’s largest department store chain says that it earned $11 million, or 3 cents per share, in the quarter ended July 30. That compares with $217 million, or 64 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding charges that are related to store closings, the company earned 51 cents, which is above the 48 cent estimate from FactSet.

Revenue fell 3.9 percent to $5.87 billion. That topped the $5.77 billion estimate from FactSet.

ELLSWORTH – Investigators are working to determine the cause of a Tuesday evening fire at a business in Ellsworth.

Fire crews were called just after 9:30p.m. to G’G’s Liquor, 1404 Prospect Street, according to Fire Chief Bob Kepka.

“We’ve determined a point of origin in a closet area but it is still undetermined,” he said.

“The structure is sound but there was considerable fire, smoke and water damage.”

It is still unclear if the state will allow the store to sell the remaining inventory.

COWLEY COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in Cowley County are investigating a fatal accident in Winfield.

Just after 10p.m. on Wednesday, Sheriff’s Deputies assisted the Winfield Police Department in the 600 Block of West 14^th Street where a train hit a pedestrian, according to media release.

The victim, Danny Lee Stalnaker, 38, Winfield, was transported to the hospital where he died, according to police.

No additional details were released.

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COWLEY COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in Cowley County are investigating a fatal accident in Winfield.

Just after 10p.m. on Wednesday, Sheriff’s Deputies assisted the Winfield Police Department in the 600 Block of West 14^th Street where a train hit a pedestrian, according to media release.

The victim was transported to a hospital and died.

No additional details were released early Thursday.

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say three Kansas men have been charged in connection with the shooting of a southern Illinois police officer last month.

Carbondale police said in a news release that the three men were arrested Sunday and Monday in Salina.

They are charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder and booked into the Saline County jail on $1 million bond.

The Southern Illinoisan reports a team led by Illinois State Police is continuing to investigate the July 31 shooting of officer Trey Harris, who was released from the hospital last week. The team is cooperating with investigators in Kansas.

The Kansas investigation led to a sealed indictment associated with Harris’ shooting.

Harris was shot when someone opened fire from a vehicle speeding away from a shooting scene.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) —The family of dirt-track racer Bryan Clauson says his organs have been donated to five other people.

Clauson died after a crash in a Kansas race last weekend.

In a statement posted on the Twitter account of Bryan Clauson Racing on Wednesday, Clauson’s family members say they knew as they were saying their last goodbyes “that five families were also sitting in a hospital room somewhere, comforting their loved one and each other while praying for a miracle that Bryan ultimately delivered for them.”

 

Thank you for your continued love and support. Please see below. pic.twitter.com/5qfEJE4Lbj

— Bryan Clauson Racing (@BryanClausonInc) August 10, 2016

They say he will live on in part through “the lucky individuals that will benefit from Bryan making a decision to be a donor.”

Clauson died in a Nebraska hospital Sunday following Saturday night’s crash at the Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has denied a man’s efforts to withdraw a plea in the killing of a Salina girl.

Saline County District Judge Rene Young on Wednesday denied the motion from 18-year-old Andrew Woodring to withdraw his no contest plea to felony murder in the May 2015 death of 17-year-old Allie Saum.

The Salina Journal reports Woodring testified at a July hearing that he felt pressured to enter the plea and he doesn’t think he should get a life sentence because he did not fire the shot that killed Saum.

Woodring was one on five people charged in Saum’s death. She was a passenger in a truck that police say some of the defendants mistakenly believed belonged to a person who had been in an earlier altercation with them.

HUTCHINSON— A preliminary hearing date is scheduled for a Kansas man charged in a child sex case.

Testimony against Tanner Ward, 23, Hutchinson, will be heard on August 18.

He is charged with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated burglary and criminal threat.

The charges involving a child 14 to 16 years of age are alleged to have occurred on January 9 and 11.

The aggravated burglary is alleged to have occurred on June 23 where Ward allegedly went into a home in the 100 block of East 5th in Hutchinson with what the state says was to intimidate a victim or a sexually motivated crime.

The final charge of criminal threat is alleged to have occurred on Feb. 15, 2016, where he allegedly threatened to cut another person’s head off.

Ward has another case also pending involving burglary where he allegedly stole some copper pipes from the construction site at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, then took the pipes to Midwest Iron and Metal and sold them for cash.

In doing so, he apparently signed papers saying the items were his.

KANSAS CITY – Friends and families from across the country have raised over $30,000 to help the family of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, who died on Sunday while riding the world’s tallest water slide in Kansas City.

See Caleb’s GoFundMe page here.

A family spokesman, the Rev. Clint Sprague, says visitation will be held Thursday evening at Life Mission Church in Olathe. A memorial service is scheduled for Friday afternoon. See more details here.

Neither investigators nor park officials have released specifics about how the boy sustained his fatal injuries. Caleb was the son of Republican state Rep. Scott Schwab.

The park reopened on Wednesday, though the waterslide remains closed.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report