TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have started their annual spring break and will be out of session for nearly five weeks.

The House and Senate adjourned Thursday afternoon after both approved a Republican education funding plan. The measure avoids increasing state spending while attempting to meet a state Supreme Court order to improve aid to poor school districts.

Lawmakers plan to resume their session April 27.

They’ll reconvene after state officials and economists issue revised projections for state tax collections through June 2017.

With monthly tax collections regularly falling short of expectations, legislators are likely to consider budget adjustments. They’ll also be awaiting word from the Supreme Court on whether the school funding plan is acceptable.

Thursday was the 67th day of the annual legislative session, with 90 days traditionally scheduled.

HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man arrested for the alleged crime involving the installing a new electric meter by a utility company employee was before a judge Thursday for the formal reading of charges.

Kerry Getz, 62, has been charged by the state with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery causing reckless bodily harm and criminal damage to property.

Just after 11:30 on Thursday, Reno County Sheriff Deputies were called to the area of 5000 West Nickerson Blvd. northwest of Hutchinson for the report of an aggravated assault.
When deputies arrived, they found a wrecked Ford Ranger pick-up with Westar Energy signage on the sides.

As they investigated, they discovered that a sub-contracted employee of Westar Energy was in the area replacing electrical meters on the houses in the area. This is a project that has been going on for quite some time.

As the employee changed out the meter at one house, the resident, 62-year-old Kerry Getz became outraged that the meter had been changed. A verbal assault of the employee also occurred, according to deputies.

As the employee tried to explain the reasons for doing this, Getz became more outraged.
The man who was distinctly marked as a Westar employee fled the residence in his truck for safety.
As the employee was calling his supervisor, Getz allegedly followed him in his own vehicle and blocked Westar vehicle from leaving.

Another confrontation occurred and Getz allegedly damaged the Westar vehicle and attempted to take property from the truck.
In one of the verbal exchanges, he made the comment to the Westar employee that had a weapon and may have to use it.

At some point, Getz attempted to use his vehicle in an effort to run over the Westar employee, however the employee was able to escape with no injuries.

Eventually, the Westar employee attempted to flee again in his truck and the resident chased him down in his vehicle and forced him off of the road by ramming into him, according to deputies.
After hearing the account of what had happened and speaking with Getz, he was arrested on charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and criminal damage to property.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey-based Gerber Products Co. says it’s recalling two types of organic baby food because of a packaging defect that could make them susceptible to spoilage while being transported and handled.

The Florham Park company says the voluntary recall involves two batches of Gerber Organic 2nd Foods Pouches – Pears, Carrots & Peas and two batches of Gerber Organic 2nd Foods Pouches – Carrots, Apples & Mangoes. It says the products have best by dates of July 12, 13 and 14. It says those pouches may be bloated or the product inside may have an off taste or odor.

Gerber said Thursday consumers who have the food pouches shouldn’t use them.

The food pouches are being removed from the company’s retail and online stores.

Amazon.com, Inc. announced plans on Thursday to open a state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Edgerton, Kansas. This facility will create approximately 1,000 full-time hourly positions, plus many managerial and support roles to support customer fulfillment, according to a media release from the Department of Commerce.

In Kansas, Amazon currently operates facilities in Lenexa.

“We’re excited to bring 1,000 great full-time jobs with benefits to the Kansas City region and proud to further invest in the state with this new fulfillment center,” said Akash Chauhan, Amazon’s vice president of North American operations. “We are grateful for the enthusiasm of our many state and local partners who have supported Amazon in bringing a new fulfillment center to Kansas. This has been a true team effort.”

Governor Sam Brownback said, “This is good news for Kansas. In addition to creating 1,000 jobs, Amazon is investing in our state, workforce and the community. The quality of the Kansas workforce and our central location in the heart of the nation contributed to their decision to locate in Logistics Park Kansas City.”

Amazon employees at the 800,000-plus square-foot Edgerton fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship large items to customers such as big-screen televisions, sports equipment or kayaks, for example.

Full-time employees at Amazon receive competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one, as well as generous maternity and paternity leave benefits.

Amazon also offers regular full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where it will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch, employees are pursuing degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.

“This investment by Amazon is good for our workforce and community,” said Sen. Molly Baumgardner (District 37-R) “I am pleased they chose to locate at the Intermodal facility and we look forward to working with them as a strong community partner.”

“This is a good day for our community and for the entire state, said Rep. William Sutton (District 43-R). “Amazon will find a strong local workforce and supportive business environment. We welcome them.”

“The City of Edgerton is pleased that Amazon has chosen a site at Logistics Park Kansas City,” said Edgerton Mayor Donald Roberts. “Amazon’s innovative new facility and quality job creation supports and validates the City’s continued efforts of creating global routes with local roots. We look forward to having Amazon as a community partner in Edgerton for years to come.”

Greg Martinette, of Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corp. said, “Our residents along with our central location, squarely in the middle of the country, have given us this opportunity to partner with one of America’s best corporations. Most importantly, Amazon will create good career and job opportunities for our residents.”

This project is a joint effort of the following partner organizations: Kansas Department of Commerce, Kansas Department of Transportation, BNSF, NorthPoint Development, KCP&L, City of Edgerton, Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corporation.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man has admitted that he fatally shot a man who answered an online sex ad.

The Kansas City Star reports that 24-year-old Ladarrious White pleaded guilty Tuesday in Wyandotte County to intentional second-degree murder.

Prosecutors say White shot 31-year-old Jose Solis-Robles last October after the victim responded to an ad placed by White’s female companion, 25-year-old Kimberly Winn of Kansas City, Kansas.

Winn pleaded no contest Tuesday and was found guilty of aggravated battery and promoting the sale of sexual relations.

Charges of attempted aggravated robbery and a conspiracy count against White and Winn were dropped Tuesday.

Sentencings of White and Winn are scheduled for April 29.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate on school funding (all times local):

4:50 p.m.

The top Democrat in the Kansas House has lost his temper during the chamber’s debate on a school funding plan, yelling and pointing at a Republican member who suggested Democrats never offered proposals of their own.

House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs of Kansas City’s unusually intense outburst came as he was responding Thursday to comments from Republican Rep. John Whitmer of Wichita. Burroughs angrily accused Republicans of not supporting schools and said Democrats supported education and schools.

Burroughs pointed in Whitmer’s direction and denounced the Republican as an “ideologist” and “politician.” Republican leaders immediately sprung to their feet to calm Burroughs down as fellow GOP members shouted, “Whoa!” and “No!”

They interrupted Burroughs. He apologized for his breach of decorum but insisted, “I will stand for children.”

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4:15 p.m.

Kansas legislators have sent Gov. Sam Brownback an education funding plan designed to meet a state Supreme Court order to help poor districts and prevent the justices from shutting down public schools in July.

The House approved the bill Thursday on a 93-31 vote. The Senate approved the bill hours earlier on a 32-5 vote.

The bill redistributes $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus in annual aid to its 286 school districts. Total spending on schools would not increase, but no district would lose any of the aid it was promised for the next school year.

The court ruled last month that poor districts weren’t getting their fair share of the aid. The justices gave lawmakers until June 30 to fix the problems or face having schools shut down.

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3:05 p.m.

The Kansas House is debating whether a Republican education funding plan will satisfy the state Supreme Court enough to avoid having the justices shut down the state’s public schools in July.

The bill under consideration Thursday would redistribute $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus in annual aid to its 286 school districts. Republicans argue that it complies with a Supreme Court order last month to boost aid to poor districts.

The court gave lawmakers until June 30 to respond or face having schools shut down.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Ron Ryckman Jr. says the measure will keep schools open. The Olathe Republican helped draft it.

Democrats say the plan won’t fly with the court. Democratic Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita says GOP lawmakers are “playing Russian Roulette with our schools.”

KIOWA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a wildfire in Kansas and Oklahoma (all times local):

2 p.m.

Grass fires burning several counties northeast of a massive two-state blaze have forced evacuations and destroyed a home.

The Harvey County sheriff’s office said in a news release Thursday that dozens of firefighters are battling two blazes northwest of the town of Burrton. One home was lost Wednesday night, but the owner wasn’t home.

The sheriff’s office says multiple outbuildings have burned and livestock also have been killed.

The office says two firefighters were treated and released Wednesday evening for eye irritation from blowing ash and smoke. No other injuries have been reported.

The National Weather Service says wind gusts of up to 50 mph were reported early Thursday in nearby Wichita. Winds had died down to 30 mph around daybreak and were expected to continue losing strength.

 

10:20 a.m.

Another grass fire has started burning in Kansas, several counties northeast of a massive two-state blaze.

The Harvey County sheriff’s office says on Facebook that multiple homes have been evacuated as crews fight the blaze. A shelter for displaced residents has been established at a high school.

The post says several small structures have been damaged but that no injuries have been reported.

A sheriff’s department official wasn’t able to immediately comment on the size of the Harvey County fire.

The National Weather Service says wind gusts of up to 50 mph were reported early Thursday in nearby Wichita. Winds had died down to 30 mph around daybreak and were expected to continue losing strength.

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8:50 a.m.

Authorities estimate that a wildfire has burned 625 square miles in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Preliminary estimates from the Oklahoma Forestry Services say about 220 square miles have burned in Oklahoma and 405 square miles in Kansas. The worst damage in Kansas is in Barber and Comanche counties, where the fire continues to burn Thursday.

Forestry Services spokeswoman Michelle Finch-Walker says crews are surveying the wildfire by aircraft Thursday morning and more concrete numbers will be available once that’s complete.

An emergency management official said earlier Thursday that the fire had burned more than 300 square miles in southern Kansas.

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8:35 a.m.

Fourteen patients have been evacuated from a small hospital in rural southern Kansas because of a wildfire.

Medicine Lodge Memorial Hospital sent 12 patients to a nursing home Wednesday night and the other two to a nearby hospital. Authorities say the blaze went around the Barber County town of about 2,000 residents, and plans are being made to return the patients to the facility Thursday.

Hospital CEO Kevin White describes the evacuation as precautionary.

He says the smoke was so thick that it “completely obliterated the sun” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, an hour before the patients left.

The hospital kept its emergency room open and treated one firefighter and one member of the public for smoke inhalation. He described what was happening as “pretty scary stuff.”

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8:20 a.m.

A wildfire has reignited in a Kansas county where it was briefly brought under control.

Comanche County Emergency Management coordinator John Lehman says crews have been sent back out Thursday morning to resume the firefight. The blaze had been under control Wednesday night.

Lehman says the blaze reignited when winds blew embers onto unburnt land. He says that once embers hit dry grass, “away it goes.” He says crews are fighting a mile-long moving fire line.

The fire has claimed about 37 square miles in the county after starting Tuesday near the Kansas border in Oklahoma, and has burned a further 280 square miles in neighboring Barber County.

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6:45 a.m.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling a 30 to 40 mile line of fire in a rural Barber County in southern Kansas that has already lost 280 square miles of land to the wildfire.

Kansas Incident Management Team spokeswoman Darcy Golliher said Thursday that she doesn’t know how much land has burned in neighboring Comanche County, where the fire is now under control, nor in nearby Oklahoma, where the blaze started Tuesday.

She says the Kansas State Highway Patrol will fly over Thursday afternoon to evaluate the damage.

No one is hurt, but one home has burned.

Strong winds have complicated the firefight. The National Weather Service says 25 mph winds are forecast in the area until noon, when they are expected to drop to 15 mph. Gusts of 45 to 50 mph were reported Wednesday.

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KIOWA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a wildfire in south-central Kansas still poses a threat but conditions are improving in the two counties most affected.

Ben Bauman, director of public affairs for the Kansas Department of the Adjutant General, said in a statement early Thursday that the fires in Comanche County were under control. Fires in adjacent Barber County have improved but are still being monitored.

Bauman says the fire went around the town of Medicine Lodge, where authorities had said earlier that up to 1,000 structures were threatened. One home and outbuilding were destroyed on the outskirts of town.

The fire started in an Oklahoma border county Tuesday and moved into Kansas. It has burned nearly 110 square miles. Gov. Sam Brownback has declared a state of disaster emergency for some areas, authorizing state resources to assist.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect in connection with an alleged battery.

Just before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, police officers were sent to a trailer park at 1200 W. Crawford in Salina for the report of a man hitting a woman with a metal pot.

Randy Shelinbarger, 59, Salina, is accused of hitting a Dortha Pace, 83, after she told Shelinbarger to leave the area, according to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

She was taken to Salina Regional Health Center by EMS for treatment of cuts to her head.

Shelinbarger was arrested and booked into jail on request charges of aggravated battery and criminal restraint.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has passed legislation that would require teachers to vote every three years in order to maintain their local union.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the bill passed the chamber with a 22-18 vote after more than two hours of debate Wednesday.

The measure would direct the Kansas Department of Labor to hold elections for teachers to weigh in on whether or not to keep their union every three years. Unions would continue to have negotiating power as long as more than 50 percent of employees who vote in the election are in favor of the union.

The task would entail more than 300 elections at an estimated $340,000 cost. The state might be able to charge professional organizations for the expense.

SUMNER COUNTY- Fire officials in Kansas are alerting residents that due to the fires across the state, smoke will be in the air.

“Do you smell or see smoke in the air? Yes you do, and so too, is everyone else,” Sumner County Emergency Management wrote on social media,

 

Thick smoke is rolling into the area from a very large fire in southern Kansas pic.twitter.com/0n29i0i3C7

— Blue Township Fire (@BTFD5) March 23, 2016

That fire started in Oklahoma on Monday, and has burned into Kansas, with well over 55,000 acres of very dry grassland has burned…and a lot of smoke has been carried across the state.

Please do not call 911 if you do not see flames…as fire departments are becoming overwhelmed with false calls from the smell of smoke, according to Sumner County officials.

Smoke from the wildfires has traveled hundreds of miles.

The National Weather Service says the smoke has been detected as far away as Springfield, Missouri, about 290 miles to the east, and in St. Louis, about 460 miles to the northeast of the fires.

Springfield meteorologist Mark Burchfield says the smell of smoke was “pretty strong” as he was leaving for work Thursday morning.

St. Louis meteorologist Mark Britt says the weather service posted on social media advising of the smoke.

The strong winds that are blowing the smoke also are complicating efforts to fight the fires that have consumed more than 600 square miles of largely rural land along the Kansas-Oklahoma border since Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate on school funding (all times local):

 

1 p.m.

The Republican-dominated Kansas Senate has approved a GOP school funding bill that would avoid an increase in state spending while trying to meet a state Supreme Court order to help poor school districts.

The vote Thursday was 32-5.

The measure goes next to the House. GOP leaders there hoped to take a vote on it later Thursday.

The bill was drafted this week and redistributes about $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus in annual aid to its 286 school districts. It guarantees that no district loses any aid already promised for the 2016-17 school year.

The court ruled last month that the state is shorting poor districts on their fair share of state aid and threatened to shut down schools statewide if the problems aren’t fixed by June 30.

12:15 p.m.

Kansas Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce says there are many ways to meet a Kansas Supreme Court order to help poor school districts and his chamber is focusing on making the distribution of education funds fairer.

The Nickerson Republican defended a GOP school funding plan during a debate Thursday in his chamber.

The measure redistributes $83 million of the $4 billion-plus in annual aid to the state’s 286 school districts. The court ruled last month that the state shorted poor districts on their fair share of the aid.

The plan does not boost overall state spending. Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said the state needs to provide additional dollars.

But Bruce said the court order does not require an increase in overall state spending.

11:35 a.m.

The Kansas Senate is debating whether it is moving too quickly in considering a school funding plan drafted by Republican legislators.

The Senate was debating a bill Thursday that would avoid an increase in state spending while attempting to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court order last month to help poor school districts.

The measure redistributes $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus in annual aid to its 286 school districts. No district would lose any aid it was promised for the 2016-17 school districts.

Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said the chamber is likely to pass flawed legislation.

Republicans like budget committee Chairman Ty Masterson of Andover said lawmakers must move quickly because the court threatened to shut down schools statewide if lawmakers didn’t fix the problems.

10:25 a.m.

A lawyer representing four school districts suing the state over education funding is predicting that the Kansas Supreme Court will reject a school finance plan top Republican lawmakers hope to pass.

Newton attorney John Robb said the plan up for debate Thursday in the Senate doesn’t really change anything for poor districts.

The measure redistributes $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus in annual aid to its 286 school districts in an effort to comply with a Supreme Court order last month to help poor school districts. But the plan guarantees that no district loses any aid for the next school year and doesn’t boost overall state spending.

Robb represents the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas school districts. They sued the state in 2010.

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9:34 a.m.

Top Republican lawmakers hope to pass a school funding plan that would avoid an increase in state spending while attempting to satisfy a Kansas Supreme Court order to help poor school districts.

The Senate planned to debate a bill Thursday that redistributes about $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus in annual aid to its 286 school districts.

If the measure passes the GOP-dominated Senate, the Republican-controlled House was expected to schedule a vote later Thursday.

The measure shifts some of the $83 million to poor districts but also guarantees that no district sees a reduction in the aid it’s been promised for the next school year.

The court threatened in last month’s ruling to shut down public schools statewide if lawmakers did not fix the problems by June 30.

SALINA -Quick-service chicken restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is looking to enter the Salina market early next year.

The Atlanta-based company is preparing to open a Salina store at some point in the 1st Quarter.

“Projections are currently for early 2017,” according to Brenda Morrow, a Public Relations Representative for the company.

The new restaurant will be located near the Salina Central Mall and will create several full and part-time jobs in the Salina market.

The company, which opened its first restaurant in 1946, has nearly 1,900 locations nationwide.