WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man will serve five years of probation for defrauding customers and can no longer work in the homebuilding business.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office says 44-year-old Brett Horth was sentenced Wednesday and ordered to repay $344,236. He could be sent to prison for one year and four months if he doesn’t repay the money or follow his probation terms.

The Wichita Eagle reports Horth pleaded guilty in February to two counts of felony theft for keeping money paid by homeowners for subcontracting work.

Most of the fraud occurred last year, when Horth ran Dream Life Homes and built houses in Andover, Colwich, Derby, Garden Plain, Goddard, Park City, Pratt and Wichita. Eleven homeowners were affected.

TOPEKA – Attorney General Derek Schmidt has filed the legislative response to the Kansas Supreme Court’s school district equity ruling earlier this year in Gannon v. Kansas, according to a media release.

Schmidt, on behalf of the State, officially transmitted to the Supreme Court Senate Substitute for House Bill 2655, which is the Legislature’s response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in February that the distribution of school funds was unconstitutionally inequitable. Governor Sam Brownback on Thursday signed the bill into law.

Because the Court directed the Legislature to show how it analyzed and considered the Constitution’s requirements when crafting this bill, Schmidt also filed with the Court the legislative history of the bill, except the legislative committee minutes, which will be filed after they are adopted and approved in official form.

Schmidt requested that the Supreme Court expedite its review of the bill because of the Court’s threat to close public schools July 1 if the constitutional defects identified in the law are not remedied.

“There is clearly no need to order the schools to close, and we are asking the Court to act quickly so that worry can be eliminated as soon as possible for educators, parents and schoolchildren throughout our state,” Schmidt said.

A copy of the filing is available here.

DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai is recalling 173,000 Sonata midsize cars in the U.S. because the power steering can fail, making them harder to steer.

The recall covers Sonatas from the 2011 model year when the car was Hyundai’s top-selling U.S. vehicle.

The company says in government documents that the computer circuit board in the power steering control unit can become damaged. If that happens, the cars would still have manual steering, but it would take more effort to turn the cars and could cause a wreck.

If the control unit fails, drivers would see a warning light on the dashboard.

Hyundai says it’s not aware of any crashes or injuries from the problem. The company started investigating the problem in March of 2015 after getting warranty claims.

Investigators found the circuit boards could fail over time when exposed to the environment.

The recalled cars were built from Dec. 11, 2009 to Oct. 31, 2010. Cars built after that had an improved protective coating over the circuit board.

Hyundai will notify owners and dealers will replace the control unit at no cost to owners starting May 30.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities suspect a hit-and-run driver may have killed a man in Kansas City, Kansas.

Police Chief Terry Zeigler announced Thursday that the death of the victim has been ruled a homicide. The Kansas City Star  reports that police think the man may have been struck by a vehicle that left the scene before officers arrived Wednesday.

There is no description of the vehicle. The identity of the victim wasn’t immediately released.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas woman has been ordered to spend two years and three months in federal prison for embezzling about $471,000 she now must repay to her employer.

Kimberly Joyce Padgett of Osawatomie, Kansas, was sentenced Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri. That’s where she pleaded guilty in November to five counts of wire fraud.

Prosecutors say Padgett admitted embezzling about $471,000 from Reliant Financial Services in Kansas City, Missouri, from 2007 to last year. Among her duties at the company were paying bills and preparing paychecks.

She was accused of writing $350,000 in checks to herself and using a company credit card to pay for such things as clothing, jewelry and hotels.

RENO COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 5 p.m. on Thursday in Reno County,

The Reno County Sheriff’s Department reported a 2010 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Gary A. Hornbaker, 54, Stafford, was traveling on Parallel Road at Kansas Highway 11.

The motorcycle was traveling at a speed that didn’t allow the driver to negotiate the curve in the road. The vehicle left the right side of the roadway and Hornbaker was thrown from the motorcycle, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Hornbaker was transported to St. Francis Hospital. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the Sheriff.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A preliminary hearing for a northeast Kansas man accused of first-degree murder in a chase-related traffic death has been discontinued after his attorney cited an unspecified conflict of interest.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that a Shawnee County judge on Thursday halted the hearing for 62-year-old Sherman Norman Jenkins after his attorney said she no longer could represent him.

Donna Asher did not publicly identify her conflict in the case. But District Judge Mark Braun said he would appoint a new attorney for Jenkins.

Jenkins is accused in the Feb. 4 death of Mia Holden. She was a passenger in a car when authorities say her car was hit by Jenkins’s pickup truck while he was being pursued by police.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City restaurant owner has admitted in federal court that he failed to pay income and employment taxes totaling more than $566,000.

Sixty-seven-year-old Roger Geisler of Lenexa, Kansas, waived his right to a grand jury Thursday and pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

Prosecutors say Geisler has owned Domo Sushi and Japanese Grill as well as Matsu.

Geisler admitted that in the tax years 2007 through 2009, he submitted corporate tax returns under-reporting his restaurants’ gross receipts. He also acknowledged he didn’t report and pay employment taxes from 2007 to 2010.

Court documents show Geisler spent roughly $157,000 in business funds on such things as a Lenexa home and a Lexus SUV, and that he gambled more than $400,000 at area casinos.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The League of Women Voters of Kansas has joined a federal class action lawsuit seeking to overturn a state law that requires voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in November on behalf of all individuals who’ve unsuccessfully attempted to register since the state’s citizenship requirement took effect in 2013.

Plantiffs say that since then, nearly 23,000 Kansas residents have had their registrations placed “in suspense” or have been slashed from the voting lists altogether for failing to show the required proof of U.S. citizenship.

The conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation filed a brief this week arguing that a great number of non-citizens have been registered to vote and cast ballots in other states.

The Salina Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance with locating a missing family.

Police say Rebecka L. Lorentsen (a.k.a. Rebecka Swatsenbarg) and her two children, 15 year-old Donald Lorentsen and 7 year-old Ember Schultz were last seen on the evening of March 31st, when they left their residence in the 1400 block of South 9th Street to go to a school function at Salina South High School.

They left the residence between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. and were going to ride a CityGo bus to the school. They did not arrive at the school and did not return home.

If you have information about the location of Rebecka and the children, please call the Salina Police Department at 785-826-7210 and ask for Detective Mangels,

Detective Everett, Officer Venables or Officer Adams.

LINN COUNTY – Five people were injured in an accident just before 6:30 a.m. on Thursday in Linn County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported an unknown semi lost wet distillers grain in the middle of U.S 69 one mile south of Kansas 52.

A Ford Econoline van driven by Gervin A. Aldana-Oroman, 21, Kansas City, was southbound on U.S. 68, struck the grain and lost control of the van.

It entered the west ditch and overturned several times.

Aldana-Oroman and passengers Victor J. Armijo, 25, Independence, MO., were transported to Fort Scott Mercy Hospital.

Luis D Tomas, 21, Overland Park, was transported to Research Medical Center.

Martinez, Antonio Martinez, 31, Kansas City, was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

Alnival Aldana, 26, Kansas City, was transported to KU Medical Center.

Rolando Antonio Estrada, 26, Overland Park was not injured.

Estrada and Aldana-Oroman were the only occupants wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say a 2-year-old boy hospitalized after a small octopus became wedged in this throat is improving.

Police Lt. James Espinoza said Thursday the boy has been upgraded to good condition and doesn’t show signs of long-term injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain.

The boy has been hospitalized since Tuesday night. That’s when the child’s 21-year-old mother returned home from work and found her boyfriend performing CPR on her son.

Espinoza says the couple took the boy to the hospital, where doctors found and removed the dead octopus, which had a head about 2 inches in diameter, from the boy’s throat.

Police said the octopus was likely to be used for sushi.

The 36-year-old boyfriend was arrested on suspicion of child abuse.

GREAT BEND -On Monday, April 4 the board of directors for Great Bend Regional Hospital received the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer, Brent Hanson. He and his family will be moving to Houston, Texas where he has accepted a position as CEO for another healthcare facility.

Kerry Noble, an experienced hospital administration professional, has been appointed the new CEO for Great Bend Regional Hospital, according to a  media release.

Noble has more than 40 years’ experience in the financial management and healthcare industries, including 30 years as CEO for various proprietary, public, and physician-owned hospitals across the Midwest.

“I have been working alongside Great Bend Regional Hospital since 2011 on several projects,” Noble says. “With the help of the leadership team at the hospital, I am looking forward to enhancing our operations and facilitating growth opportunities in the future.”

Noble earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from Arkansas State University, and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He and his wife, Anna, of 45 years have two adult children and four grandchildren.