WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship when people register to vote at state motor vehicle offices.

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday contends the documents requirement violates the National Voter Registration Act, a federal law that aims to increase voter participation by eligible citizens.

That law is sometimes called the “Motor-Voter Law” because of a provision requiring states to provide voter registration services in conjunction with drivers’ license applications.

The ACLU lawsuit contends more than 35,000 Kansans have been blocked from voting since Kansas implemented the documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach did not immediately return phone and email messages.

Dale Ho, the ACLU’s director of voting rights project, contends Kansas has become the nation’s “epicenter of voter suppression.”

WICHITA— Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County and across Kansas continue to search for David Earl Hatcher, the father of 2 girls involved in a state-wide Amber Alert on Wednesday.

Police say that Hatcher crashed into a room at a Wichita Days Inn around 1 a.m. Wednesday after arguing with his girlfriend on the phone and then abducting the children.

The 5- and 2-year-old girls were located shortly before 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at a Wichita home. They were not injured.

The vehicle used in the abduction was found abandoned around noon, according to police.

Hatcher was last seen wearing black jeans, black hoodie, and black shoes, according to the KBI.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HUTCHINSON- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Hutchinson.

Christopher Lyle Hamby, 41, Hutchinson, was riding a moped that crashed near the intersection of Grandview and East 3rd, according to Hutchinson Police.

Police reported speed may have been a factor in the crash.

Hamby suffered head injuries and was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and then flown to St. Francis in Wichita for treatment.

He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, according to police.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Costa Rica’s president is scheduled to give a Landon Lecture at Kansas State University.

Luis Guillermo Solis will speak May 19 at the Manhattan campus. The university says he will be the second Costa Rican president to give a Landon Lecture, joining Oscar Arias Sanchez who spoke in 1987.

Solis also has served in other political posts and published more than 10 books.

The lecture series is named for former Kansas Gov. Alf Landon, who was the 1936 Republican nominee for president. The series was established in 1966 to bring in speakers to discuss issues facing business, politics and international relations.

MCPHERSON, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man accused in connection with the fatal stabbing of a former Oregon resident has been ordered to stand trial.

The Salina Journal reports that 46-year-old Samuel Darrah was ordered Wednesday to stand trial. He is charged with first-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the 2014 death of 39-year-old James Croft. It is unclear if Darrah has an attorney.

Authorities say Croft’s body was found in a car in a ditch near Galva, 10 miles east of McPherson. Croft lived in Portland, Oregon, before moving to Kansas.

Thirty-two-year-old Clinton Bascue was sentenced to life in prison after pleading no contest to first-degree murder in the case. Another defendant was charged last year with felony murder in connection to Croft’s death.

WABAUNSEE COUNTY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 8:30p.m. on Wednesday in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Dodge Ram pickup driven by Collin A. Wood, 22, Manhattan, was westbound on Interstate 70 one mile east of Kansas 99.

The pickup collided with a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria, which was disabled in the right lane due to a previous accident.

The pickup left the roadway and entered the north ditch.

Wood was transported to the hospital in Manhattan. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A memorial will be dedicated in April to three people who were shot to death at two Jewish sites in Kansas.

The Jewish Community Center in Overland Park announced in a news release Tuesday that donations received after the April 2014 shootings at the center and nearby Village Shalom partially financed the memorial to Dr. William Lewis Corporon; his grandson, Reat Underwood, and Teresa LeManno.

The memorial sculpture will be on the west side of the Jewish Community Center Campus. The memorial will be open to the public after a private dedication in mid-April.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., of Aurora, Missouri, was sentenced to death in November for the shootings. The avowed anti-Semite said he shot the victims because he wanted to kill Jews. The three victims were Christians.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A House bill under discussion would deny resettlement of refugees in Kansas communities that lack a sufficient amount of services or local law enforcement.

Under the measure, the governor and local governments would determine whether a community has the resources to accommodate the arrival of refugees. A community also could request a moratorium on resettlement if it is unable to provide services to the incoming population.

Christopher Holton, a lobbyist from Outreach Center for Security Policy, was one of two people who spoke in favor of the bill Wednesday before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.

Kansas is one of 17 states that announced they would not be accepting Syrian refugees after attacks in Paris last November.

Committee Chairman Jan Paul says the hearing will continue on Thursday.

WICHITA – A Hugoton man has pleaded guilty to producing and distributing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Andrew Clint McDaniels, 30, Hugoton, pleaded guilty Tuesday, Feb. 16, to one count of producing child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography. In his plea, McDaniels admitted he used the Internet to successfully solicit a 15-year-old victim in South Carolina to send him pornographic photos of the victim. In addition, McDaniels used a file-sharing network to possess and distribute a movie file of two minor females engaged in sexual activities.

Sentencing is set for May 4, 2016. The parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 210 months in federal prison.

Grissom commended the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Wichita Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.

FINNEY COUNTY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 5p.m. on Wednesday in Finney County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Peterbilt semi driven by Andres Chavez-Morales, 25, Garden City, was southbound on Farmland Road just south of U.S. 50.

The truck was following a Honda off-road dirt bike driven by Carlos Ortega, 55, Garden City, that was slowing for a left turn.

The semi tried to pass and collided with the dirt bike.

Ortega was transported to St. Catherine Hospital. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

Chavez-Morales was not injured.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Although the CEO of Apple says an order from a federal magistrate could threaten the security of millions of iPhones, the White House doesn’t see it that way.

The magistrate ordered Apple to help the FBI hack into an iPhone that had been used by one of the shooters who carried out the massacre in San Bernardino, California last year.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will resist. He says the administration is trying to get Apple to build a “backdoor” that would bypass digital locks protecting consumer information on iPhones. And he says the software would be “too dangerous to create.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest disagrees. He says the court isn’t trying to get Apple to “redesign its product” or “create a new backdoor.” Instead, Earnest says, the order would “have an impact on this one device.”

At the center of the debate is the private information carried on nearly 900 million iPhones sold worldwide.

In Congress, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Richard Burr, said, “Court orders are not optional and Apple should comply.” Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN’-styn) said she thought the government should be able to access the phone. On the campaign trail, Republican Donald Trump said he agreed “100 percent with the courts.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Fire crews have extinguished a blaze in a multi-story downtown Kansas City building where part of the movie “In Cold Blood” was filmed.

The Kansas City Star reports that the fire started Wednesday morning at the former Pickwick Plaza complex, which was undergoing a $65 million renovation. The 85-year-old building includes an area that once was the Union Bus Terminal, while another part housed a hotel.

The building is being turned into apartments and commercial space.

The 1967 film that was partially filmed in its lobby is based on Truman Capote’s acclaimed novel about the Holcomb, Kansas, killings of Herb and Bonnie Clutter and two of their children. Two parolees, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, were eventually convicted of killing the Clutters and were executed in 1965.