KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Officials are trying to hammer out a deal to address competing water needs of south-central Kansas irrigators and a national wildlife refuge that’s lost considerable water to them.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, has been asking Kansas for years to address the fact that hundreds of area farmers have been using water for irrigation that the refuge has prevailing rights to use.

An area water manager says reducing access for farmers who are already dealing with limited water raises considerable concern about the economic impact on families and communities.

Federal, state and local stakeholders say they’re hopeful a solution can be reached that would work for the refuge and irrigators.

by MEGAN HART

A bill originally promoted as preventing lottery winners from claiming public assistance would now also cut off households that have received cash assistance for more than two years.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, confirmed that the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee had amended Senate Bill 372 to lower the lifetime Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) limit from 36 months to 24 months.

Theresa Freed, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said approximately 424 households would be affected if the 24-month limit is adopted this year. The bill has passed out of committee but has yet to be scheduled for a hearing before the full Senate.

The Hope, Opportunity and Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE) Act, passed in April 2015, lowered the lifetime limit from 48 months to 36 months. About 200 families that hit the new limit received their last check from the TANF program in January.

Federal law allows for up to 60 months of TANF payments, though states can fund additional time from their own money. In recent years, however, states have tended to move in the opposite direction, with Arizona instituting the lowest limit in the country in July, capping assistance at 12 months. Missouri has a 45-month limit.

In January, 5,370 Kansas households received cash assistance through TANF. Those households included 3,039 adults and 9,450 children. Removing the 424 families affected by the 24-month limit would reduce the caseload by about 8 percent.

The bill also would limit people who received a “TANF diversion payment,” a one-time case payment meant for an emergency, to 30 months of payments if they eventually did need to receive TANF. The current limit is 42 months. Diversions aren’t common, with cases numbering in the single digits in recent years. None would be affected at this point by shortening the time limit, Freed said.

Employment elements

The bill also requires food assistance recipients to accept a “suitable employment offer” and would forbid them from quitting a job where they were working at least 30 hours per week. The penalty for not complying is a three-month ban from food assistance for the first offense, a six-month ban for the second offense and a one-year ban for any subsequent offenses.

Joseph Mastrosimone, an associate professor of law at Washburn University who specializes in employment law, said banning a person from “voluntarily” quitting doesn’t mean the person could never leave a job, if the bill uses the same standard used in unemployment claims. For example, a person can’t receive unemployment if he or she leaves voluntarily, but there are exemptions, such as if that person is being sexually harassed in the workplace or if the company relocates, he said.

“I would think they wouldn’t be voluntary for the purposes of benefits,” he said.

Mastrosimone said the language likely wouldn’t run afoul of federal labor law. Most provisions have to do with preventing unjust firings rather than determining whether people can be prevented from quitting, he said.

“There’s no provision of federal law that says you can’t restrict somebody’s ability to quit their job,” he said.

Other requirements

The bill also states that any individual who doesn’t cooperate with a fraud investigation would be ineligible to receive TANF or child care subsidies until he or she cooperated. Currently, there are no penalties for not cooperating with fraud investigations, Freed said.

In addition, the bill would direct DCF to monitor benefit card requests for signs of fraud and authorize the state to collect any assistance that is improperly conveyed to another person. If a person requested a replacement card four times in a year, he or she would be notified the account was being monitored, and the department would investigate possible fraud if the person requested a fifth card. DCF and the contractor in charge of benefit cards already monitor replacements, Freed said.

Another provision would require DCF to verify the identity of all adults living in a household applying for benefits and to cross-check with the Kansas Lottery Commission to determine if any benefit recipients have won $10,000 or more, which could make a household ineligible for assistance. Current policy is to verify the identity of the applicant and only check on other adults in the household if they seem “questionable,” Freed said. The state currently doesn’t cross-check lottery winners.

The bill’s fiscal note hadn’t been updated to reflect the lower time limit for TANF. The Budget Office estimated the bill as it was originally written would cost the state general fund about $157,343 in fiscal year 2017.

Megan Hart is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach her on Twitter @meganhartMC

COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — A former southeast Kansas high school coach has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old girl and getting her pregnant.

Forty-seven-year-old Larry “Scott” Madden faces lifetime court supervision upon his release under the sentence imposed this week in Cherokee County District Court. The Joplin Globe reports that he also will be required to register as a sex offender.

The former coach and physical education teacher at Baxter Springs High School pleaded no contest in November to three criminal counts.

Court documents say he began having sex with the girl in 2013 after helping her with softball hitting at a sports training business he operated. DNA testing gave a high probability of him being the father of the baby the girl delivered.

SHAWNEE COUNTY- Law enforcement officials in Shawnee County are investigating a fatal crash involving a car and an Amtrak train in Topeka.

The motorist drove around a crossing gate and died in the crash that occurred at 12:36 a.m. on Friday at Topeka Boulevard and 57th Street, according to the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Department.

The name of the victim has not been released.

Nobody on the train was injured.

Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police have identified a 26-year-old man who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Wichita.

Wichita Police Department Lt. Todd Ojile said Thursday that Bishop Robles was shot several times in the front yard of his friend’s house by someone in a blue SUV shortly after arriving at the home with his common-law wife on Wednesday morning.

Robles was transported in critical condition to a hospital, where he later died.

According to Ojile, two 17-year-old males were arrested Wednesday evening after leading police on a chase in a stolen car matching the description of the shooter’s vehicle. They were arrested on outstanding warrants and auto theft charges.

Ojile said that it is unclear why Robles had been targeted. An investigation is ongoing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man who spent nearly 16 years in prison for a killing his brother later admitted to testified for a measure that would require law enforcement to record some interrogations.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement groups oppose the measure, which mandates recorded interrogations of suspects arrested for capital murder, first-degree murder and second-degree murder.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports a House committee Thursday heard testimony from Floyd Bledsoe, who was wrongfully convicted in the 1999 murder of Camille Arfmann in Oskaloosa. His brother, Tom, originally admitted to the crime but later recanted his confessions, which were not recorded.

Floyd Bledsoe told the committee he might not have been convicted if jurors would’ve been able to hear his brother confess and hear him maintaining his innocence.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Scheduled air service will return to Salina beginning this spring.

Salina Airport Authority officials said Thursday Great Lakes Airlines will fly 12 roundtrips a week between Salina and Denver beginning April 1. The Wyoming-based airline will use 30-seat Embraer EMB-120 turboprop planes.

Great Lakes will take over from SeaPort Airlines, which ended its service from Salina to Kansas City last month. Seaport filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

The two-year, nearly $2 million service comes under an Essential Air Service contract, which provides funding for airlines serving small airports.

The Salina airport officials said in a news release Great Lakes has a code-share agreement with United Airlines, which provides more than 180 connecting flights in Denver.

Great Lakes also provides service from Dodge City and Liberal to Denver.

OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — Testimony in the capital murder trial of a 30-year-old Kansas man accused of killing four people, including an 18-month-old girl, has been postponed.

The Kansas City Star reports that testimony in Kyle Trevor Flack’s trial was scheduled to start Feb. 17, but has now been postponed until March 7. It is unclear why the trial has been pushed back.

Flack is charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of 21-year-old Kaylie Bailey and her 18-month-old daughter, Lana. He is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of 30-year-old Andrew Stout and 31-year-old Steven White.

Stout, White and Kaylie Bailey were found dead at Stout’s farm in Ottawa, about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City. Bailey’s daughter’s body was found a few days later in neighboring Osage County.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

CASS COUNTY, MO- Two adults and a toddler from Kansas were injured in an accident just before 7p.m. on Thursday in Cass County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Honda Accord driven by Brandon R. Stoner-Thebo, 25, Lacygne, was traveling on Highway 2 at Groh Road. The vehicle traveled off the left side of the road, struck an embankment and overturned.

Stoner-Thebo and passengers Heather D. Pouche, 24, and Anderson K. Orales, 2, both of Osawatomie, were transported to Belton Regional Hospital.

All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A pipe organ that has served as the musical backdrop to Louie, an amusement park clown is now the subject of a civil court case.

The Wichita Eagle reports an attorney for Joyland Amusement Park owner Margaret Nelson Spear filed a civil breach-of-contract lawsuit Wednesday in Sedgwick County District Court.

The lawsuit claims that ex-Joyland employee Damian Mayes didn’t pay money he owes after agreeing to purchase the Wurlitzer organ about six years ago.

Spear demands that Mayes either pay her the $9,000 he owes or allow her to repossess the organ.

Court records don’t list an attorney for Mayes.

Kansas Department of Corrections records say Mayes is serving a sentence and isn’t eligible for parole until 2028. He was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy in Harvey County.

HUTCHINSON— A Reno County jury found a Kansas man accused of injuring and abuse of a child not guilty on Wednesday.

Alexis Silva, Hutchinson, was charged with reckless aggravated battery as well as two other alternate counts of abuse of a child.

The theory for the first abuse count included shaking the child. The second included cruel or inhuman corporal punishment.

The injuries to the child, according to doctors, consisted of a fracture to the left leg of the 3 month old, but also other injuries that included bruising on both cheeks, fractured ribs and retinal hemorrhaging in one eye, doctors testified would indicate possible shaking of the child.

The crimes charged against Silva were alleged to have occurred between September and October of 2013.

District Attorney Keith Schroeder said that some information that Silva may have abused the mother of the child, but says he couldn’t present that evidence.

He said the jury just didn’t find the mother of the child credible. He says we know the abuse occurred, we just couldn’t prove who did it. “The good news is that the child is not back in the home,” according to Schroeder.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — More than 30 advocacy groups are asking a federal elections official to withdraw changes made to a national form requiring residents of Kansas, Alabama and Georgia to provide proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote.

The groups sent a letter Thursday to the new executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission says the impact would be particularly significant because 2016 is a presidential election year when people typically register in greater numbers.

EAC had no immediate comment on the groups’ demand, but executive director Brian Newby has insisted the action he took at the states’ request is within his authority.

One of the agency’s own commissioners has said Newby’s action contradicts policy and precedent.

Among those signing the letter were Common Cause, Public Citizen, and NAACP.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A second case of mumps has been reported at Kansas State University.

The university said in a release Thursday that both students with confirmed cases of the mumps live off campus. The university says it’s working to contact people who may have had close contact with the infected students.

The university says it’s asking students to review their vaccination records to see if they have had two measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccinations.

Students are also being advised to contact a medical provider if they experience mumps symptoms, which include fever, headache and swollen salivary glands under the ears.