RENO COUNTY – A man and woman from Hutchinson died in an accident just after 11a.m. on Thursday in Reno County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Buick Century driven by Dakota Tate Heim, 17, Hutchinson, was northbound on Kansas 14 between Yaggy and Wilson Road.

The vehicle traveled left of center and hit a 2002 Buick Century driven by Jimmie Ray Narron,

Narron and his wife Carolyn Sue Narron, 68, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensics Center.

Heim was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.

The drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

The accident remains under investigation.

——

RENO COUNTY, Kan.– Two people were killed Thursday morning in an accident northwest of Hutchinson.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol the accident happened just before 11 a.m. just north of the interchange with Nickerson Blvd and Kansas 14 and 96 highway.

A northbound vehicle crossed the centerline and hit another car head on killing a husband and wife.

The driver of the first vehicle was taken to the Hutchinson hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

No names have been released at this time.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two separate Kansas legislative committees have approved proposals from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to provide an additional $17 million to the state’s two mental hospitals.

The decisions Thursday by the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee mean both chambers will consider the spending as part of broader budget legislation next week.

The extra funds will provide pay raises and offset lost federal funds over the next 15 months.

Most of the funds would be spent at Osawatomie State Hospital, about 45 miles southwest of the Kansas City area. The federal government decertified the hospital in December over the reported rape of an employee and other safety issues.

But legislators also have been concerned about staffing shortages at Larned State Hospital in western Kansas.

TOKYO (AP) — Officials are investigating after Mitsubishi Motors Corp. after the company said it had found employees manipulated fuel efficiency data of more than 620,000 light vehicles it manufactured.

Local media reports showed investigators entering offices of the company’s assembly plant in central Japan’s Nagoya on Thursday. On Wednesday, the company apologized for what it said was intentional falsification of mileage test data.

Trading in Mitsubishi Motors’ shares halted before the close on Thursday after the shares fell nearly 20.5 percent.

Mitsubishi Motors was tarnished by a massive recall cover-up 15 years ago.

The inaccurate tests by the Tokyo-based automaker involved so-called “minicars” with tiny engines whose main attraction is generally great mileage. Mitsubishi said fuel economy was falsely boosted by about 5 percent or 10 percent.

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Pottawatomie County are investigating 2 suspects on drug charges and asking for help to locate two others.

On Wednesday, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the Wamego Police Department, executed a search warrant at a residence in the 100 Block of East Valley Street, in Wamego, according to a media release.

The search warrant was in reference to the possession and distribution of illegal drugs.

As a result of this search warrant a large quantity of marijuana was seized, as well as drug paraphernalia, and cash.

The residents of the home, Brendon Sexton, 24, and Kristin Stalnaker, 22, were arrested for Possession of Marijuana with intent to distribute, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Felony Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Jeroid Garcia, 25, and Nicole Jackson, 22, both of Topeka, were arrested for Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia,

All four are currently confined at the Pottawatomie County Jail pending bond being set.

On March 26 the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Wamego Police Department executed a search warrant in a hotel room at Simmer Motel, 1215 Highway 24.

The search warrant was in reference to the alleged possession and distribution of illegal drugs. Deputies seized large quantities methamphetamine, marijuana, as well as drug
paraphernalia and scales.

The occupants of the room had left prior to the search. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s asks for assistance in locating
Leona Craven, 39. She is wanted for the distribution of controlled substances. They are also looking for John Swartz, 45, whose last known address was in Manhattan. He is also wanted for the distribution of controlled substances.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office at 785-457-3353 or their local law enforcement agency.

CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) — Pop music superstar Prince has been found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis.

His publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The Associated Press the music icon was found dead at his home Thursday in Chanhassen.

The singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist was widely acclaimed as one of the most inventive musicians of his era, drawing upon influences ranging from James Brown to the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix. His hits included “Little Red Corvette,” ”Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.”

The Minneapolis native broke through in the late 1970s with the hits “Wanna Be Your Lover” and soared over the following decade with such albums as “1999” and “Purple Rain.”

The title song from “1999” includes one of the most widely quoted refrains of popular culture: “Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.”

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has suspended the license of a Lawrence attorney for 18 months amid complaints from her clients and others attorneys.

Under an order issued last week, Joan M. Hawkins also was instructed to pay the costs for the disciplinary proceedings. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Hawkins is the owner of J Hawk law firm and handles family law cases. She didn’t immediately return a phone message that The Associated Press left at her office seeking comment.

The court’s order said Hawkins had filed false pleadings in district court, delayed returning unearned legal fees to a former client and improperly called into question the veracity of a court employee. The court also found that she engaged “in behavior that unreasonably delayed the resolution of two legal matters.”

BY JIM MCLEAN

Kansas officials got the bad news they were expecting Wednesday.

After reading the economic tea leaves and noting that tax collections had trickled in short of expectations in 11 of the past 12 months, the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group reduced its projections for this budget year and the next one by $228.6 million.

The problem is likely bigger than that number suggests.

The amount the state expects to collect in taxes over the next two years was reduced by nearly $350 million. But Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators are using about $120 million in revenue transfers from the Kansas Department of Transportation and other agencies to temporarily replace that lost tax revenue.

Shawn Sullivan, Brownback’s budget director, said problems in three mainstays of the Kansas economy — agriculture, aircraft manufacturing and oil and gas production — are largely responsible for the gloomy forecast.

“We are facing headwinds in those three areas,” Sullivan said.

But others say the income tax cuts passed in 2012 at Brownback’s urging are to blame for the state’s continuing revenue and budget problems.

“The lowered revenue expectations released today are the product of failed tax policy — not a broken estimating process,” said Annie McKay, director of the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and a frequent critic of the governor’s tax policies.

“More one-time ‘fixes’ will be used to inadequately support schools, health care and other areas key to a prosperous future for all Kansans,” McKay said.

“Unfortunately, unprecedented and unaffordable tax policy continues to wreck our state’s prospects.”

Former Kansas Budget Director Duane Goossen, now senior fellow at KCEG, said if the Brownback tax cuts hadn’t passed, the state would be collecting more than $1 billion of additional tax revenue per year. “

Those tax changes upended the budget,” Goossen said.

Three budget-balancing plans

Brownback is proposing three options for addressing the projected shortfalls. All three would take an additional $185 million from KDOT, forcing a two-year delay in all major highway projects. Two of the three plans also call for extending a $17.7 million cut in the 2016 higher education budget into 2017.

In addition, option one, which Sullivan said the governor prefers, includes a controversial proposal to bond part of the money Kansas receives annually under an agreement reached in the late 1990s to settle a multistate lawsuit against the major tobacco companies.

The state has used the bulk of the money, which in recent years has averaged around $52 million, to fund early childhood education programs. The governor’s proposal would earmark about $42 million a year for those programs and sell the remaining revenue to bondholders. Securitizing a portion of the tobacco settlement would generate an estimated one-time payment to the state of approximately $158 million, Sullivan said.

“There have been approximately 20 states that have done this,” he said. “There are positives and negatives to doing it. But it is one option to consider.”

If securitization proves too controversial, a second option would free up nearly $100 million by delaying the final 2016 payment into the state’s pension plan until 2018.  Previously the governor had said he intended to delay it only to September.

The third option outlined by Sullivan would cut spending to public schools, universities and most state agencies by nearly $140 million in the 2017 budget year, which begins July 1.

The cuts, which would range from 3 percent to 5 percent, would reduce funding to the Department of Education and school districts by more than $57 million.

In addition, cuts of $35 million to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would force the agency to reduce contractual payments to the companies that manage KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. The companies, Sullivan said, would likely attempt to recoup their losses from doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.

“I would anticipate that it would probably lead to reimbursement reductions,” he said.

Hensley: ‘Borderline extortion’

Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, accused Brownback of resorting to scare tactics to coerce lawmakers into supporting his preferred option.

“What the administration has done is to set this up in such a way as to hold a gun to the Legislature’s head to say, ‘You’ve got to go along with this tobacco securitization or you’ve got to accept these other options,’” Hensley said. “It’s borderline extortion in my mind.”

Hensley said a growing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle would prefer a fourth option: repealing the part of the 2012 tax bill that exempted more than 330,000 business owners from state income taxes.

“I think the people of Kansas get that that is a very unfair tax system,” he said.

When lawmakers were scrambling to balance the budget at the end of the 2015 session, Brownback used a veto threat to block an effort to repeal the business tax exemption, forcing them to approve large increases in the sales and cigarette taxes to balance the budget. But Sen. Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, recently said he believed the governor might sign a repeal bill this year.

When asked about Denning’s statements, Sullivan said the governor remains opposed to any changes in the tax plan.

“The governor doesn’t believe that it’s useful to have a debate at this point about raising taxes on small businesses or anyone else,” he said.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

McPherson College will offer a new music series and a student scholarship, thanks to a generous $1 million commitment to the college’s “Power the Future” campaign in honor of MC alumna and piano teacher Fern Lingenfelter, according to a media release.

Her son, Steve Clark – chairman of Clark Investment Group in Wichita, Kan. – has generously established the fund at MC to support the new Fern Lingenfelter Artist Series. This cultural series will consist of two annual music performance events with a special emphasis on piano.

Dr. Steven Gustafson, coordinator of the college’s arts and lecture series, said that the Fern Lingenfelter Artist Series will be a significant enhancement to the college’s cultural offerings, both to the campus and surrounding communities.

“Not only will the series enrich opportunities to hear great performances,” Dr. Gustafson said, “but it is also a most fitting tribute on behalf of Mr. Clark to honor his mother, Fern Lingenfelter, and her significant work as a piano teacher and advocate for music education.”

The fund will not only support great musical performances and masterclasses for the campus and community, it will also foster future generations of musicians. After establishment of the performance series, the fund will create the Fern Lingenfelter Scholarship in Music – an annual merit-based scholarship for one or more full-time MC students majoring in music.

“McPherson College has seen a rebirth in our music programs the last few years,” McPherson College President Michael Schneider said. “This gift solidifies both Steve’s commitment to his mother’s legacy and our place as a leader in performing arts across the state of Kansas.”

Lingenfelter taught piano in McPherson for years – both traditional college students on the MC campus and younger students at a studio downtown. She developed her skills studying with Jessie Brown at McPherson College – where she earned a certificate in piano in 1924 – and with Swedish pianist Oscar Thorsén at Bethany College.

Lingenfelter earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1925 and later a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938 from McPherson College. After marrying Layman Clark and leaving McPherson in 1940, Fern and Layman had one son together – Steve Clark. Lingenfelter later married William D. Stoebuck of Wichita.

History speaks to Lingenfelter’s dedication to teaching music and public piano performance; she was described in a 1939 “Quadrangle” McPherson College yearbook as “busy filling the air with music.”

Her schedule must have been packed. Her public performances are frequently mentioned in the 1920s through the 1940s in the “McPherson Daily Republican,” she played organ during services at the original First Baptist Church in McPherson until 1940, and the “Quadrangle” spoke of her “frequent recitals in the college chapel.”

Throughout her career, those she encountered remarked upon her patience, ability, and joy. She was credited with the large enrollment in the Junior Piano Department. Her students from elementary age through college won contests and learned with “unusual rapidity.”

But her kind, understated personality was likely her most remarkable characteristic. The 1932 “Quadrangle” remarked that, “Although very quiet, she has a ready smile and willingly gives of her talent.”

That commitment to community, strong work ethic, and a kind disposition has apparently been passed from mother to son. Steve Clark has been a central figure in the Wichita real-estate market for more than 45 years and has properties in many states. His long history of supporting the local and regional community includes work with the Greater Wichita YMCA, Wichita State University and the Kansas Board of Regents. He was honored in 2015 by the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce as Wichita’s “Uncommon Citizen” and in 2013 was inducted into the Wichita Business Hall of Fame.

Although his mother passed away in 1962, Steve said he has seen a long and lasting influence from her lifetime of work. Establishing the fund is his way to say, “Thank you,” and to support the music and the instrument she loved so much.

“Music and piano were her passion, and even years later people in McPherson would tell me, ‘Your mother was my piano teacher,’” Clark said. “One of my biggest regrets is not fulfilling her desire for me to play the piano. She always spoke fondly of McPherson College. I know she would be pleased to know what the college is now doing in her remembrance.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have booked into jail Guy D. Harris,  28,  who was identified as a person of interest in a sexually battery at a Wichita high school.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the man is being held on suspicion of multiple charges, including sexual battery and criminal discharge of a firearm. Jail records show the man was booked into jail Wednesday and is being held on a $65,000 bond.

Authorities began investigating in September after an 18-year-old student told administrators that a stranger approached her in Wichita East High School and asked her where the gym was located. Police said the teen alleged that the man followed her into a bathroom and sexually battered her as she attempted to return to the hall.

The school has adopted stricter security measures.

Wednesday the Board of Regents appointed 20 individuals to assist and advise the Board in the selection of the next President of Kansas State University, according to a media release.

The search committee includes representation from K-State students, faculty, staff, athletics, alumni, and the wider Manhattan community.

“I am so pleased with the quality of the Search Committee that the Board has selected,” stated Regent Dennis Mullin, chair of the Presidential Search Committee. “With this talented and dedicated group of individuals, I believe we are well on our way to finding excellent candidates for the Board’s review. I have total confidence that we will find the right person for Kansas State University, the community of Manhattan, and the State of Kansas.”

Over the next several months, the search committee will work closely with an executive search firm to identify and recruit candidates for the position of President. In addition to approving the committee’s membership, the Board also approved a formal charge which instructs the search committee to identify “three to five candidates who are the most qualified for Board selection as the next President of Kansas State University.”

Search committee members representing K-State alumni/foundation include: Carl Ice, President and CEO for BNSF Railway; Travis Lenkner, Chair of the K-State Alumni Association Board of Directors; Sylvia White Robinson, Ph.D., independent consultant with an emphasis on leadership development and executive coaching, and former Regent; and Mary Vanier, President of Grand Mere Development.

Search committee members representing K-State faculty/administration and staff include: Ethan Erickson, Assistant Vice President for Budget Planning at Kansas State University; John Floros, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Director of K-State Research and Extension; Dr. David Griffin, Assistant Dean/Director of the Center for Student and Professional Services in the Kansas State University College of Education; Fred Guzek, K-State Faculty Senate President and professor at Kansas State Polytechnic; Mike Tokach, professor of animal sciences and industry and researcher for K-State Research and Extension; Dr. Mary Hale Tolar, Director of the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University; Kerry Jennings, Master Electrician and past president of the K-State University Support Staff Senate; and John Currie, Director of Athletics.

Search committee members representing K-State students include: Olivia Baalman, sophomore at Kansas State University from Wichita, KS, studying Computer Science; Jessica Van Ranken, incoming Student Body President of Kansas State University; and Nicholas G. Wiggins, graduate student in the College of Education and program coordinator for Call Me Mister, an African-American teacher education program housed in the College of Education at Kansas State University.

Search committee members representing the wider Manhattan community include: Kent Glasscock, president of K-State’s Institute for Commercialization (KSU-IC), and James Gordon, Chairman-Elect of the Greater Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

The Board of Regents is represented by: Regent Dennis A. Mullin, Chairman and CEO of Steel and Pipe Supply; Jarold W. Boettcher, former Regent and President of Boettcher Enterprises, Inc., Boettcher Supply, Inc., and Boettcher Aerial, Inc., who will serve as vice-chair of the Presidential Search Committee; and Blake Flanders, President and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Three men have been charged in a Kansas City, Kansas, bank robbery that a federal prosecutor witnessed.

The Kansas City Star reports that 33-year-old Jonathan Dehaven, 29-year-old Brandon Wright and 37-year-old Darus Mebane are accused in the Saturday morning robbery at a UMB branch.

Court documents say two robbers tied an employee’s wrists with a zip tie before fleeing in a sport utility vehicle that a third person drove.

After witnessing the robbery from outside the bank, an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas called 911 and chased the robbers. Police pursued the SUV until it wrecked. Investigators found money and a handgun inside the vehicle.

Dehaven’s attorney declined to comment, and Mebane’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to an email. No attorney is listed for Wright in online court records.

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers appear uninterested in Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to end the business “border war” between the two states.

Brownback last week offered to reduce his state’s efforts to lure jobs away from the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area if Missouri’s lawmakers would in turn weaken a law they approved in 2014 addressing the issue.

The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday that some Missouri legislators say Brownback’s proposal wouldn’t completely stop incentives for businesses to relocate from Missouri to Kansas.

A current Missouri law offers a truce in the business fight if Kansas agrees to the law’s terms by Aug. 28.

Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, a Joplin Republican, says he has no desire to change the 2014 law in response to Brownback’s offer.