HUTCHINSON -The second of two teens arrested on a single count of conspiracy to commit capital murder in a threat at

Hutchinson High School entered a plea in the case Tuesday Reno County Juvenile Court.

As with his co-defendant, 15-year-old Carson Cabral entered a no contest plea as charged.

Cabral and Ayrton Morraquin now await disposition in their cases.

The two were arrested after several students came forward to express concerns about a threat to students. Officers were called in to investigate, and the two students were then taken into custody.

Several search warrants were issued, which turned up plans for making pipe bombs as well as sketches and plans of where certain teachers and staff would be so they could be targeted.

Police also recovered items that could be used to build explosive devices, which were confiscated by law enforcement.

On Monday, Morraquin scheduled sentencing was continued until July 12.

No date for such a hearing has been set for Cabral.

STAFFORD COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Stafford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Freightliner semi driven by Jesus N. Rubio, 42, Garden City, was eastbound on U.S. 50 two miles south and four miles west of St. John

The truck collided with the trailer of a 2009 Freightliner semi driven by William K. Koelsch, 43, St. John, that was making a right turn to go south on SW 40th Avenue from U.S. 50.

The 2009 semi then entered the south ditch and struck a KDOT stop sign, a mile marker 190 post and came to rest jack knifed in the south ditch.

The cab of the 2005 semi became detached from the truck and slid across the opposing lane and entered the north ditch facing south in a culvert. It entered the south ditch and jack knifed taking out 2 delineator posts.

Rubio was transported to the hospital in Pratt.

Koelsch was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a markup of the Kelsey Smith Act, a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) to aid law enforcement’s response to emergencies when a person’s life is threatened. The markup will take place on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, at 10:00 am Eastern.

Senator Roberts applauded the committee’s decision to markup the bill saying, “I thank Chairman Thune for holding a markup of this important bill, which has already saved many lives in the 22 states where it is already law. It is past time we make sure all Americans have the same protections provided by the Kelsey Smith Act.”

“Sadly, research has shown that 76 percent of abducted children who are killed are dead within three hours of being taken. This bill helps prevent another tragedy like Kelsey’s by providing industry and law enforcement with the necessary tools to work together to find a loved one in danger when every minute counts, while also ensuring that citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights remain protected.”

Roberts introduced the Senate version of the bill in April. For full text of the bill, go here.

The Kelsey Smith Act honors the memory of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith who was abducted in broad daylight from an Overland Park, Kansas, department store and murdered. Four days after she disappeared, authorities were able to locate Kelsey’s body after her wireless provider released the location information from her cell phone. Providing this information as fast as possible is critical to ensure law enforcement officials can rescue victims in imminent danger of death or serious physical harm.

The Kelsey Smith Act is cosponsored in the Senate by Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.). Representative Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) introduced this legislation in the House earlier this year.

Greg and Missey Smith, Kelsey’s parents, testified on behalf of the bill in April at a hearing of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

BOSTON (AP) — Toy guns, kiddie pools, hoverboards and backyard trampolines are among the playthings that have made a consumer watchdog’s annual list of hazardous summer toys.

The Massachusetts-based World Against Toys Causing Harm, or W.A.T.C.H., has presented its annual report Tuesday at a children’s hospital in Boston.  See the summer list here.

Joan Siff, the group’s president, says the items named on the list aren’t the only risky toys on the market. She says they’re meant to represent the range of hazards faced by children with summer toys.

Siff says the summer months account for nearly half of all injury-related deaths to children. She adds that over 2.5 million children are injured in accidents each summer.

W.A.T.C.H. has released a “worst toys” list for more than 30 years.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lawsuits alleging that Emporia State University discriminated against two minority assistant professors are continuing in federal court.

A federal judge on June 15 refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Melvin Hale, although some of the original defendants and claims were dismissed. The university and seven officials are now defendants.

Hale, who is black, alleges the school retaliated against him and his wife after they reported finding a racial slur in the School of Library and Information Management in 2015.

Rajesh Singh, who is Asian and previously taught in the same department, also claims he was retaliated against after asking for pay equal to two other staff members. Depositions are being taken in

that lawsuit.

The Kansas Attorney General’s office and the university declined to comment on the pending litigation.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has signed off on a new education funding law that boosts state aid to poor school districts.

The justices issued a brief order Tuesday saying that the Legislature “has currently satisfied” the court’s previous orders on education funding by approving the measure last week.

The decision ends a threat that the state’s public schools would be shut down after Thursday.

The court issued its three-page order a day after Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed the school finance measure into law. Lawyers for the state and attorneys for four school districts suing the state submitted a joint statement saying that the measure complied with the court’s dictates.

The justices ruled last month that the state’s school funding system remained unfair to poor school districts.

BLUE HILL, Maine (AP) — In a glass box in a private school in Maine sits a 40-year-old chemistry experiment still going strong: A decades-old Twinkie.

ABC News reports the experiment started in 1976 when Roger Bennatti was teaching a lesson to his high school chemistry class on food additives and shelf life.

After a student wondered about the shelf life of the snack, Bennatti sent the students to the store with some money. When they returned with the treat, Bennatti ate one and placed the still-surviving Twinkie on the blackboard.

Bennatti has since retired, but the snack now resides in the office of George Stevens Academy’s Dean of Students Libby Rosemeier.

Rosemeier told ABC News she isn’t sure who will inherit the Twinkie when she retires, but joked that the Smithsonian hasn’t called yet.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas man is charged with stealing a shuttle van at an airport and then trying to take off in a jet to fly to Miami.

The Kansas City Star reports 21-year-old Adam Scott, of Overland Park, was charged Friday in Clay County, Missouri, with two counts of first-degree tampering. He also faces a tampering charge in Platte County.

Investigators say Scott took the van from Kansas City International Airport after he couldn’t afford to buy tickets. He allegedly drove to Wheeler Downtown Airport, where he again tried to buy tickets but couldn’t.

Scott eventually got into the cockpit of an Embraer Phenom 300 that was preparing for takeoff. He tried to manipulate the controls but was arrested within minutes.

Court records don’t indicate that Scott has an attorney.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s disappointed the state’s backlog in unprocessed Medicaid applications is four times as large as previously thought.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Brownback discussed the situation in a brief interview as the state and a contractor battle over who bears blame for the error. The number of unprocessed Medicaid applications stood at about 3,500 people until the state acknowledged earlier this month the actual figure was more than 15,000.

Brownback described the situation as “frustrating.” Brownback is reiterating the steps the state is taking to whittle down the backlog, such as retaining temporary staff.

Brownback also defended the overall performance the state’s privatized Medicaid program, known as KanCare. It grew out of Brownback administration efforts during the governor’s first term.

WICHITA, KAN. – The former recreation director for the City of Osawatomie was sentenced Monday to five years on federal supervised probation for embezzling more than $125,000 from the city, according to acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Ron Maring, 54, Osawatomie, pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud and false statement, and one count of money laundering. In his plea, he admitted the crimes occurred while he was director of the Osawatomie Recreation Commission.

He wrote checks from the recreation commission’s account to himself and to American Legion Baseball. He converted the money for his own use and not for the use of the recreation commission or American Legion Baseball.

As part of the scheme, he persuaded recreation commission board members to sign blank checks, used his own signature as an endorsement and instructed a recreation commission employee to endorse checks.

When he filed his 2010 federal income tax return he failed to report the embezzled income, which would have added $14,902 in taxes owed.

Beall commended the Osawatomie Police Department, the Kansas Department of Revenue, Office of Special Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith for their work on the case.

The Latest: EU leaders at summit condemn Istanbul attack
ISTANBUL (AP) — The Latest on the explosions at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport (all times local):

11:40 p.m.

European Union leaders holding an unprecedented summit about Britain’s departure from the bloc are condemning a deadly attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted from a closed-door meeting Tuesday in Brussels, “Despicable terror attack. Stand together with people of Turkey.”

Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania, wrote “Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul airport. We condemn those atrocious acts of violence.”

The 28 EU leaders are meeting for an exceptional summit at which Prime Minister David Cameron announced his country has voted to leave the EU. They are also discussing migration via Turkey to the EU.

Two explosions rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport Tuesday, killing at least 10 people.

___

11 p.m.

A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport after police fire at them.

Turkish media quoted Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag as saying 10 people were killed in the attack on Tuesday.

Turkey’s state-run news agency quoted Bekir Bozdag as saying: “According to the information I was given, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up. We have around 10 martyrs (dead) and around 20 wounded.”

The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check.

Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

___

10:25 p.m.

A Turkish official says two explosions have rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, wounding multiple people.

The official said Tuesday it was unclear whether the explosions were caused by a suicide attack.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

Turkish media reported the sound of gunfire at the scene.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

By ANDY MARSO

Public health officials in Wyandotte County and Johnson County say they are seeking funds to continue comprehensive sexual education programs into 2018 after the state declined to renew a federal grant.

Kansas is one of seven states that decided not to take funding this year from the Personal Responsibility Education Program, also known as PREP. The federal program provides grants for a sex education curriculum that the Centers for Disease Control certified as evidence-based to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The other states that declined the funds this year were Florida, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia. Missouri received $973,624.

The PREP funding began in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act. It provides an alternative to federal Title V funds, which pay for abstinence-based sexual education.

Kansas traditionally has applied for and received money for both programs. The state then funnels the money to local governments and school districts that request it.

The state has received almost $500,000 in PREP funds in each of the past five years before declining any this year. State officials accepted almost $600,000 in additional Title V abstinence-education grants this year.

Two PREP counties

The health departments in Johnson County and Wyandotte County have been the main users of programs funded by the PREP grants.

“We got it in the public schools, and it’s been really successful,” said Greg Stephenson, a personal health services manager with the Wyandotte County Public Health Department. “The schools love it.”

Stephenson said PREP teaches abstinence as a means of preventing pregnancy and disease transmission. But the program also provides information on things like contraception and sexual consent.

He said the state’s decision not to take PREP funds means the programs are funded through most of 2017 but in limbo after then.

“It’s disappointing to us, but I don’t know what to do,” Stephenson said.

Lougene Marsh, director of the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, said her agency was similarly disappointed.

She said teens who get pregnant are less likely to graduate and more likely to live in poverty than those who don’t.

“If teens don’t know how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, they’re bearing an exorbitant cost for the lack of investment of funding,” Marsh said.

Cassie Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the state decided not to draw down PREP funds this year because Johnson County and Wyandotte County were the only counties using them and the state wanted those counties to apply directly to the federal government.

“Removing KDHE as the coordinator would allow for direct interactions between the true grantee and the grantor,” she said, “thereby removing KDHE as the intermediary.”

Sparks said the counties have enough time to make that transition.

Stephenson and Marsh both said they would try to access PREP funds that way, but they weren’t sure if it was possible. The federal government generally has granted PREP funds only to state agencies.

Both also said they would petition their county commissioners to consider funding the programs with local dollars, but a property tax lid that the Kansas Legislature imposed makes that a long shot.

Pregnancy rates declining

Teen and adolescent pregnancy rates have declined in Johnson County — from 11.1 per 1,000 girls 19 and under in 2010 to 7.9 per 1,000 in 2014 — and Wyandotte County — from 44.8 per 1,000 girls 19 and under in 2010 to 29.4 per 1,000 in 2014 — since they began using PREP, but Stephenson and Marsh said it’s too early to tell how much of that decline can be attributed to the program itself rather than other factors.

The rates have been declining in Kansas as a whole and nationwide over that same period.

Stephenson and Marsh said they did not believe the state’s decision to turn down future funds was based on any analysis of the effectiveness of PREP.

“I assume it must have been controversial politically,” Stephenson said, “because those abstinence-only grants were controversial (as well).”

Marsh said some schools in her county have asked the health department not to deploy PREP at their locations. Others, like the Shawnee Mission School District, have opted to use the program under the administration of district employees rather than health department employees.

Marsh said a Shawnee Mission school was participating in PREP in 2014 when it used a poster describing ways people express sexual feelings that quickly became a lightning rod for criticism.

The poster was taken down after parents complained about how explicitly it named sexual acts. Socially conservative legislators continued to take issue with the poster years later, introducing a bill in February inspired by it that would have allowed for prosecution of teachers who present material “harmful to minors.”

Vanessa Sanburn, co-founder of a nonprofit sexual education organization in Lawrence called Let’s Talk, said some legislators yearn to return to the days of abstinence-only sex education, and that likely influenced the state’s decision to turn down PREP funds.

She said that’s problematic.

“Kids are sexually active,” said Sanburn, who’s also a member of the Lawrence school board. “We know that, and not acknowledging that and not providing the tools they need to prevent pregnancy and STDs … that’s not going to prevent them from being sexually active.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso

FINNEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Finney County are investigating a pedestrian accident involving a teenager.

Just before 9:30 p.m. on Monday, Officers of the Garden City Police Department responded to a report of a Pedestrian Accident at the intersection of Campus Drive and Kansas Avenue, according to a media release.

First responders located Tomas Lacost-Nevarez,14, Garden City in the street with multiple injuries.

Finney County EMS transported him to St. Catherine’s Hospital and he was then flown to Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita with life threatening injuries.

The investigation revealed that Lacost-Nevarez and a friend were riding their bicycles westbound on the sidewalk of Kansas Ave, as they approached the intersection of Campus Drive and Kansas Avenue, the friend stopped on the sidewalk and Lacost-Nevarez continued into the street on Campus Drive.

He crossed the northbound lane of traffic, crossed the median and was struck by a red 2015 Chevrolet truck driven by William Roebke, 47, Garden City in the southbound lane of Campus Drive

Lacost-Nevarez failed to use a posted crosswalk and attempted to cross the street when both north and south lanes of traffic on Campus Drive had green lights, according to police.