WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican primary challenger to U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp has filed a complaint with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office raising questions about his opponent’s residency, allegations that the congressman has dismissed as desperate and frivolous.

The complaint filed Thursday by Roger Marshall, a Great Bend obstetrician, contends Huelskamp did not disclose his address when he filed his candidacy paperwork and should not therefore appear on the ballot. It also alleges the address on his Federal Elections Commission filing does not belong to him.

Huelskamp’s campaign manager, Jimmy Keady, says the congressman returns to Kansas every week. His children are enrolled in Kansas schools and the family attends church in Kansas. He says Huelskamp is also registered to vote in Kansas and is a properly filed candidate.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government is taking a key step in relinquishing control of the internet’s addressing system, fulfilling a promise made in the 1990s.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration said Thursday that it endorses a March proposal to turn full control over to a private international organization. All that remains is completing some contracts and operational testing. That’s expected to be done in the coming months.

The addressing system — including the assignment of internet suffixes such as “.com” and “.org” — has already been managed by a private organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. But the U.S. government, as the internet’s early funder, has retained veto power. The March proposal calls for ICANN to take full control after creating additional mechanisms to resolve disputes.

BARTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County continue to investigate a Great Bend teacher and coach for alleged sex crimes.

Todd Kaiser was arrested Monday for one count of alleged sexual exploitation of a child.

USD 428 announced the Eisenhower Elementary School Physical Education teacher was suspended without pay while the investigation continued.

The agenda for the regularly scheduled USD 428 Board of Education meeting for Monday, June 13 reveals that Kaiser will resign from the school district after nearly 30 years of employment.

Barton County Sheriff’s deputies conducted an investigation after receiving a report of sexual exploitation of a child and identified Kaiser as the suspect.

A search warrant was obtained for electronic media. After searching Kaiser’s phone, the Sheriff’s Office found evidence of an inappropriate relationship between Kaiser and an underage person.

Kaiser also served as the Great Bend High School cross country and track and field coach.

The school board meeting on Monday is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the District Education Center, 201 South Patton Road.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A woman has given birth to a boy weighing in at 14 pounds, 4 ounces in Hutchinson.

The Hutchinson News reported Thursday that Moses William Hilton arrived 11 days early on June 2 at the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. He was delivered by C-section and was 22 inches long.

Gina Hilton said she knew she was carrying a big baby because both of her and her husband’s daughters weighed around 9 pounds at birth.

Jill White, nursing director of the hospital’s birthing unit, said Moses was the largest baby that had been delivered in her nine years of working at the hospital.

Hospital officials say that Moses is healthy and will remain at the hospital for a day or two more before going home.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A former prison guard was indicted Wednesday on federal charges alleging he received more than $200,000 in bribes for smuggling tobacco to prisoners in Leavenworth Penitentiary, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Marc Buckner, 46, Kansas City, Kan., is charged with one count of accepting bribes. The indictment alleges that from 2005 to 2014 while he worked at the prison he accepted more than $200,000 in bribes. He received approximately $750 from inmates each time he smuggled tobacco into the prison.

If convicted, he faces a penalty of up to 15 years in federal prison and a fine up to three times the value of the contraband. The FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble is prosecuting.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Republican legislator is drafting a proposed constitutional amendment to prevent Kansas courts from shutting down public schools in lawsuits over education funding.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has called a special session for lawmakers to address a Kansas Supreme Court decision that said the state’s education funding system is unfair to poor schools. The court said schools will be unable to reopen after June 30, if lawmakers don’t act.

The Kansas Senate’s vice president, Sen. Jeff King, outlined his proposal amendment Thursday and said he plans to have the Senate Judiciary Committee review it next week. The Republican chairs the committee, which will meet with its House counterpart before the special session starts June 23.

If lawmakers approve King’s proposed amendment, it would go on the ballot in November.

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government investigators say the Food and Drug Administration failed to force a recall of peanut butter and almond products for three months after advanced DNA testing confirmed salmonella contamination.

The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office says the FDA has allowed some food safety investigations to drag on, leaving consumers at risk. Such delays come despite new legal powers to force recalls and sophisticated technology to fingerprint pathogens.

The FDA’s top food safety official says the cases singled out by investigators are outliers — a selective sample in which recalls didn’t proceed quickly and efficiently in a matter of days.

Still, Deputy Commissioner Stephen Ostroff says food safety officials will now review slow-moving cases on a weekly basis.

By ANDY MARSO

Eleven agencies that provide support to help Kansas seniors stay in their homes are starting to put some on waiting lists following state budget cuts. The $2.1 million reduction to the state’s Senior Care Act programs was part of a package of cuts Gov. Sam Brownback made last month after the Legislature sent him a budget that didn’t balance.

Brownback and the Legislature have faced several budget crises since enacting large income tax cuts in 2012. The Senior Care Act cuts will affect in-home services that are provided to Kansans 60 and older who aren’t poor enough to qualify for them under the Medicaid frail/elderly waiver.

Jocelyn Lyons, executive director of the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging (AAA) in Topeka, said in a news release that the decrease in funding “came as a complete shock” and represents about 30 percent of the program’s budget. “The cut to the Senior Care Act program challenges our agency in determining how our consumers will continue to receive services and avoid early nursing home placement,” Lyons said.

Lyons and her colleagues estimate that about 1,300 of the 4,500 Kansans currently served by Senior Care Act programs will be affected. The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services administers the program with the help of Area Agencies on Aging throughout the state that were created by the federal Older Americans Act in 1973 to help older adults “age in place” rather than move into nursing homes.

To do that, the program provides attendant care, respite for family caregivers, housekeeping and chore services, and adult day care. Monica Anderson, a case worker with the Johnson County AAA, said the agency has started to wait-list some Kansas seniors applying for housekeeping and attendant care services. “

We’re trying to serve as many people as we can,” Anderson said, “and we’re doing that by looking at their long-term care threshold scores when we go out and assess them.

Depending on their level of need, we’re kind of allocating hours — a few here, a few there.” Anderson said, for instance, that a senior eligible for six hours a week of attendant care might get two right away and be put on a waiting list for the other four.

Anderson recently visited a 96-year-old client named Julia in her subsidized apartment in Overland Park. Julia, who asked that her last name not be published, receives attendant care to help her climb in and out of her bathtub because she has a bad knee.

She also receives housekeeping services to keep her apartment tidy. The services are wonderful, she said, and living independently is good for both her and the state. “They always tell you the reason they do allow people to come here is it costs so much less than if they go to a nursing home, which, who wants to go to?” Julia said.

Anderson said Julia’s services cost about $500 a month, while a nursing home in Johnson County could cost 10 times more. Julia says she moved to the Kansas City area from London 70 years ago after marrying an American who was a reporter for Stars and Stripes covering World War II.

She survived the Blitz on London as a young woman, an experience she said may have contributed to the personality that drives her to continue wanting to live independently, without asking for daily help from her family. “I don’t want to be a problem to anyone,” Julia said.

Anderson has worked for the Johnson County AAA for 22 years. She said the budget cuts have taken a personal toll as she tells Kansans like Julia they will be placed on waiting lists for some of their services.

“When I have to go out and meet people in desperate need and say, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t accommodate all of your needs,’ it’s very difficult,” Anderson said.

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

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect for alleged rape.

Jordan Brehm, 29, Bennington, is alleged to have had sexual intercourse without the consent of a woman in her 20s at a southwest Salina home between 5a.m. and 2:30p.m. Wednesday, according to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

The victim called police just before 3:30p.m.

Brehm was arrested at the home.

He and the victim are acquaintances.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — All sides of the ethanol and biofuels debate are getting the chance to weigh in on a federal agency’s proposal to boost the amount of renewable fuels blended into gasoline.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding its only hearing Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri, on its announcement last month to boost output of biofuels next year, as well as biomass-based diesel levels for 2018.

The EPA’s final rule is expected by the end of the year.

Next year’s target of 18.8 billion gallons of renewable fuels, mostly ethanol, is less than the 24-billion-gallon threshold set in a 2007 renewable fuels law.

Ethanol advocates largely in farming states want the target raised. Oil companies counter that the market, not the government, should determine how much ethanol is blended into gas.

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — Junction City police say a 25-year-old Fort Riley soldier was shot during a disturbance at an apartment.

Officers called to an apartment early Thursday found evidence a shooting had occurred. The victim then called officers to report he had been involved in the shooting.

The solider was flown to a Topeka hospital, where he underwent surgery.

A 32-year-old Junction City man was arrested and jailed facing charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated burglary.

He is being held on no bond pending his first appearance in the Geary County District Court.

ABILENE, Kan. (AP) — Dickinson County authorities say laboratory tests found no evidence to indicate how an Abilene man died.

The skeletal remains of 42-year-old Jason Southern were found northwest of Abilene in March 2015. He had been reported missing in July 2014.

The Salina Journal reports Southern worked as a forklift operated for Russell Stover Candies.

Hoffman says the remains were tested by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratory in
Great Bend. He says officers will continue to investigate the death.

WICHITA – Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating the death of approximately 30 Egrets from a residential area near Central and Interstate 235, according to a social media report from Wichita Police.

The birds are protected by federal law and it is illegal to injure or kill them. Individuals also cannot harass or move the Egrets once they have nested.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks is assisting with the investigation.

Egrets had been known to roost in a residential area a little more than a mile north of where the deceased birds were found, sometimes irritating residents. But most of the trees they used to roost were bulldozed last year.

Police are expected to released additional details on Thursday.