MERRIAM – Law enforcement authorities say a woman has been arrested after driving off with a Johnson County deputy’s vehicle.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that the vehicle was recovered around 2 a.m. Monday — just minutes after the woman drove off in it. The theft happened after the deputy was dispatched to De Soto to check on a distraught woman standing on a street corner.

The release said the woman asked to be taken to a hospital in Merriam after it was determined that she hadn’t committed a crime and wasn’t a victim.

Upon arriving at the hospital, she is accused of sliding from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat as the deputy was walking around the vehicle to let her out.

The woman, identified as Stevi Zinn, 28, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s office, was apprehended nearby.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SALINA – A rally has been planned for Monday afternoon to show support to USD 305 educators, according to a media release.

Education funding has been a hot topic among state officials over the several weeks causing high frustrations for Kansas students and educators.

The public is invited to the rally that begins at 4p.m. at Indian Rock Park, across the street from the USD 305 board of education offices.

In addition to food and children’s activities, the League of Women Voters will register voters, State Legislative candidates are expected to attend, and the Salina National Education Association President is scheduled to speak.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected challenges to assault weapons bans in Connecticut and New York, in the aftermath of the shooting attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 people dead.

The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that upheld laws that were passed in response to another mass shooting involving a semi-automatic weapon, the elementary school attack in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly turned away challenges to gun restrictions since two landmark decisions that spelled out the right to a handgun to defend one’s own home.

MITCHELL COUNTY – A Kansas man died in an accident just before 8p.m. on Sunday in Mitchell County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Wade W. Cross, Jamestown, was northbound on Kansas14 highway one mile south of X Road.

The driver failed to navigate a curve, lost control and landed in the west ditch.

Cross was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to McDonald Funeral Home.

He was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for a series of identity thefts that cost victims more than $11,000.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Sedgwick County District Court Judge Bruce Brown ordered Reu Chamberlain to serve 38 months in prison for 10 counts of identity theft, one count of forgery and one count of theft by deception. Chamberlain must also pay restitution.

Court records show Chamberlain pleaded guilty to the charges in April. Prosecutors agreed to drop several other criminal counts against Chamberlain and to not charge him in other cases in exchange for his guilty plea.

The district attorney’s office says Chamberlain used personal information to open credit accounts at Wichita businesses between September 2015 and January.

JEFFERSON COUNTY- Four people died in an accident just after 3pm. on Sunday in Jefferson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Ford Ranger pickup driven by Ronald D. Heston, 56, Oskaloosa, was westbound on U.S. 24 one mile west of Perry.

The vehicle left the roadway onto the north shoulder and the driver overcorrected.

The pickup then travelled back across the roadway into the eastbound lanes and hit a 2001 Ford Windstar minivan driven by Travis D. Askew, 35, Basehor, head-on.

Askew and passengers Ashley A. Askew 27, and a 6-month-old child both of Basehor, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

Heston was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported by Barnett’s Funeral Home in Oskaloosa.

Two passenger in the van Linda J. Askew, 5, and Lilly Askew 3 both of Basehor were transported to Stormont Vail.

Heston and Ashley Askew were not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

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PERRY, Kan. (AP) — Four people were killed when two vehicles collided head-on in eastern Kansas.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the crash occurred Sunday afternoon on U.S. Highway 24 near Perry.

Casey Quigley, fire chief of Perry and Kentucky Township in Jefferson County, said the four people killed were in a pickup and SUV that collided head-on. He says two other people were injured.

He says one of the vehicles was on fire when emergency responders arrived.

Quigley says the cause of the crash is under investigation.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal report shows that construction jobs in Kansas fell 3,400 over the past year.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the U.S. Labor Department report released Saturday shows that employment in Kansas’ construction industry since May 2015 slipped 5.6 percent. The Kansas percentage decline was surpassed only by drops in West Virginia and North Dakota.

The report also shows that four neighboring states experienced growth in the construction jobs sector, adding a combined 20,000 jobs to the economy.

Bob Totten, executive vice president of the Kansas Contractors Association, said diminished state spending on bridge and road work was a factor in Kansas’ low ranking on construction employment.

In April, Kansas delayed up to three years authorization of highway construction projects valued at $550 million because of budget shortfalls.

WABAUNSEE COUNTY -One person died in an accident just before 4p.m. on Sunday in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Toyota passenger vehicle driven by Eva M. Rogers, 65, Fort Wayne, IN., was eastbound on Interstate 70 one mile west of Carlson Road.

The driver lost control of the vehicle. It left the roadway to the left, entered median, overturned, entered the westbound lanes and came to rest on its top.

Rogers was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

A passenger in the Toyota Millard R. Rogers, 65, Fort Wayne, IN., was transported to Stormont Vail.

They were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas company has recalled some of its pies because the flour may contain peanut residue.

The Kansas City Star reports that Kansas City, Kansas-based Tippin’s Gourmet Pies has voluntarily recalled certain key lime pies because of the possibility of peanut residue in the flour.  See more details here.

The company initiated the recall after learning that Kellogg Co., its supplier of graham cracker crumbs used in pie crusts, had recalled the crumbs.

Tippin’s says it hasn’t received any notices of allergic reactions involving its pies.

The recall affects its 8-inch key lime pies with a UPC code of 680816050057 sold in Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona and Illinois. The possibly affected pies carry lot number dates between April 7, 2016, and May 17, 2016.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As Kansas lawmakers prepare to start a special legislative session on school funding, some lawmakers who were around for a 2005 school funding special session say the bitterness between the state Supreme Court and the Legislature still lingers.

In 2005, as now, lawmakers and the state Supreme Court were at odds over which branch of government had authority to decide how schools are funded.

The special session scheduled to start Thursday was called after the high court said the state’s education funding system remains unfair to poor school districts.

Former Rep. Mike O’Neal was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in 2005. He told The Lawrence Journal-World (https://j.mp/28OMe6F) this session could be more contentious than the 2005 session in part because few believed schools would actually be closed.

PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press

BIGFOOT, Texas (AP) — The worst oil bust since the 1980s is leaving Texas and other states with newly abandoned drilling sites at a time when they have little money to plug wells.

At least 60 oil producers have declared bankruptcy since 2014 as U.S. rig counts plunge to historic lows. Even with oil prices slowly creeping upward in recent weeks, energy-producing states are confronting both holes in their budgets and potentially leaking ones in the ground.

In Texas alone, the roughly $165 million needed to plug nearly 10,000 abandoned wells is double the budget of the agency that regulates the industry.

Texas regulators now want taxpayers to cover more of the clean-up. Wyoming and Louisiana have raised fees, and Oklahoma has reshuffled money in the face of a $1.1 billion state budget shortfall.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita church is tightening its security after one of its important religious images was reported stolen.

Mike McDaneld, pastoral assistant for St. Joseph Catholic Church, said a painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was stolen from the sanctuary recently. He says the icon has been an important focal point for the church community since it arrived from Rome in the 1920s.

He told The Wichita Eagle he doesn’t know if the 24-by-30-inch painting has any real value, aside from its ornate frame.

Before the theft, he says it was customary for St. Joseph to leave its doors unlocked during the day. But now the church will lock its doors between services.

Wichita police say so far there are no suspects.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court says solitary confinement can violate an inmate’s constitutional rights in some extreme cases.

Friday’s ruling came in the case of 33-year-old James Jamerson, who was serving 24 years for second-degree murder linked to a 2001 Topeka homicide.

Jamerson was placed in solitary confinement in 2010 after being threatened with gang violence and accused of taking part in contraband trafficking. The Topeka Capital-Journal (https://bit.ly/1Sa31oG ) reports he filed a writ of habeas corpus in August 2013 after he had been in solitary confinement for more than 1,000 days.

The court ordered Kansas judges to consider an inmate’s duration in solitary confinement when determining whether the inmate’s rights had been infringed upon.

The ruling has no effect on the Jamerson’s treatment because he is no longer in segregation.