HUTCHINSON. — A Kansas man was granted three years community corrections in a child sex case in Reno County court on Friday.

Samuel Peterson, 20, Wichita, was originally charged with a single count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child in association with his contact and sexual acts with a 12-year-old girl.

As part of a plea agreement, the state reduced the charge to aggravated indecent solicitation.

Peterson entered a no contest plea to the charge and the defense was granted a border box finding in the case and sentenced Peterson to two years and eight months in prison, then placed him on corrections with additional conditions.

He is to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18, except for his younger sister. He must also complete the sex offender treatment and must abide by the curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

According to testimony, Peterson made contact with the victim through an Internet site called “Hot or Not” and then met with her on September 2, 2014 where the alleged sexual encounter occurred.

The victim’s mother made a report leading to the investigation by the Reno County Sheriff’s Office and Peterson’s arrest.

On the website, the victim indicated that she was older, but did tell Peterson her real age prior to him touching her.

Apparently she punched him and ran away from him after the incident.

The judge allowed two members of the victim’s family to speak including her mother who told the court she thinks prison would be appropriate saying he manipulated her and after the defense commented that Peterson is going through sex offender treatment, she told the court that her daughter is also in treatment.

Peterson has already registered as a sex offender in Sedgwick County.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The executive director of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s Council of Economic Advisors has been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Shawnee County jail records show that Stanley Ahlerich, executive director of the Kansas Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Ahlerich was released about an hour later on $1,000 bond.

A Brownback spokeswoman declined comment Sunday. A message left at a home phone listing under Ahlerich’s name Sunday wasn’t immediately returned.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Ahlerich, of Winfield, has led the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors since Brownback formed the group in 2011. The council provides the governor with economic insights from assessments of local, national and global business conditions and trends.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Law enforcement would be required to record some interrogations under a bill influenced by the case of a Kansas man who spent nearly 16 years behind bars for a killing his brother eventually admitted to committing.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the legislation mandates recorded interrogations of suspects arrested for capital murder, first-degree murder and second-degree murder.

Rep. Ramon Gonzalez, a Perry Republican, says the bill he introduced Tuesday is “partly” a response to the wrongful conviction of Floyd Bledsoe. He was sentenced to life in prison but released Dec. 8, 2015, after a DNA test and suicide notes indicated his brother, Tom Bledsoe, killed Zetta Camille Arfmann in 1999.

Alice Craig, Bledsoe’s attorney with the Project for Innocence at the University of Kansas, supports recording interrogations.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Marco Rubio’s rivals launched multiple salvos at him during the final Republican debate before their New Hampshire presidential primary. They challenged his readiness to be president and the depth of his expertise as they sought to salvage their own White House hopes. Sen. Ted Cruz, fresh off his victory in the Iowa caucuses, also came under withering criticism for controversial political tactics. Front-runner Donald Trump slipped through largely untouched.

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By Miranda Davis

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA ¬— The House Social Services Budget committee hearing this week centered on staff hiring and retention in the state’s mental health hospitals despite concern over individualized treatment plans for residents in the sex offenders program at Larned State Hospital.

The two state mental hospitals in Kansas would receive an additional $3 million total in their current budgets under a proposal approved by the House Appropriations committee on Thursday.

The state hospitals have come under fire in recent months after a worker was sexually assaulted at the Osawatomie hospital in October 2015. The incident led to an audit of the hospitals, and in December the Osawatomie hospital lost its federal funding after losing its Medicaid certification.

Tim Keck, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, provided an update on the audit of the Larned Hospital. There are three areas the audit wanted the hospital to focus on: realigning the program with research-based methods, addressing issues related to management and addressing population growth.

Richard D. Cagan, executive director of the Kansas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said he hoped the committee would discuss more than the staffing concerns. Specifically, he wanted committee members to discuss whether those in the treatment program were truly getting more individualized care and the opportunity to move through different levels, so they can eventually be reintegrated into their communities.

“This is supposed to be a treatment, a rehabilitative program,” Cagan said. “It’s not a prison.”

However, the main concern voiced at the committee meeting was staffing. Currently, the nursing staff has a 38 percent vacancy at Larned Hospital. Keck said KDADS is working with the hospitals to hire as soon as possible but didn’t offer a solution to what he said was a multifaceted problem.

“I don’t want to say money’s not the issue, because people always want to get paid more and nurses and doctors and those kinds of people deserved to get paid more,” Keck said. “But I think it’s a little more complex than that. It’s the lack of people available in the workforce, it’s the location, I suppose of the hospitals to some extent, it’s the local attitudes that exist in both of those communities.”

Cagan acknowledged the staffing issue has several causes but also said that geography is a factor in Larned’s case, citing an absence of qualified workers in the area.

Keck did not ask the committee for any financial help or adjustments from the state. He said KDADS is doing more research and continuing to meet with hospital staff to determine what changes need to happen. He said he wants to make sure he’s asking for the right things when he does eventually ask for additional funding from lawmakers.

“We need to take the time to make sure we get all of the problems and all of the issues addressed,” Keck said.

WICHITA –Four people were injured in an accident just before 11:30p.m. on Saturday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Chevy Avalanche driven by, Brian W. Hauschild, 39, Derby, was on the ramp from Kansas 42 to Interstate 235 Southbound.

The driver failed to yield and the Avalanche collided with a 2003 Buick Park Avenue driven by Kyle D. Goebel, 23, Sebastian, Arkansas.

The Buick went off the roadway to left, struck the inside wall and spun back across the roadway and struck the outside wall.

Goebel, Kaleigh L. Goebel, 24; Kaleb J. Streeter, 7; and Caden R Goebel, 4, all of Sebastian, Arkansas were transported to St. Francis Medical Center.

Hauschild was not injured.

The 4-year-old was only in a seat belt, according to the KHP.

MANHATTAN -Dalton Trundle, 16, has been missing since January 26.

He has family in the Doniphan County and Hiawatha area and authorities believe he may be there.

He has multiple tattoos. The one pictured above is on this left arm. Click the flier for additional information.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The student newspaper at the University of Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit accusing university administrators of approving funding cuts to the newspaper that were enacted after an editorial critical of the student senate.

The University Daily Kansan’s leadership filed the lawsuit Friday, accusing university officials of approving funding cuts to the newspaper made by the student senate in violation of the newspaper’s freedom of speech protections.

According to the lawsuit, the student newspaper ran a 2014 editorial highlighting “inadequacies” in the student senate election code. The Topeka Capital-Journal (https://bit.ly/1Q22x9R) reports the lawsuit alleges that university officials later approved newspaper funding cuts sought by student senators to punish the newspaper’s leadership for the unflattering coverage.

University spokesman Joe Monaco didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Saturday.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A legislative dispute over how Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected is a political struggle centering on Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

The issue is whether Brownback and his supporters can make their conservative fiscal and social policies stick well into the future.

Brownback and his allies contend their goal in seeking change is to make the judicial selection process more democratic. His critics say they’re fighting to preserve the court system’s independence.

But comments from both sides showed what really was at issue as the House rejected a proposal to give the governor and legislators more control over Supreme Court appointments.

Brownback’s allies believe a court that’s more in touch with voters will be more conservative in its rulings. His opponents celebrated the vote as checking Brownback’s ambitions.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The chairman of the Kansas House education committee says his panel won’t vote on a school consolidation measure.

Rep. Ron Highland, R-Wamego, told The Topeka Capital-Journal Saturday he doesn’t intend to move forward this year with a House measure introduced by Rep. John Bradford, a Lansing Republican. The measure would pare down the number of school districts to one per county in most counties.

The Kansas Association of School Boards estimated the number of districts would drop from 286 statewide to 132.

A hearing in Highland’s committee on Wednesday attracted 41 opponents to the bill.

Highland says the measure has “too many unknowns,” such as whether it would truly generate savings. He also says a recent state efficiency audit produced recommendations for other potential avenues for savings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas apparently won’t join several other states that have passed recent laws aimed at making it more difficult for domestic abusers to have weapons.

Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican, last year proposed a bill that would create a gun restraining order that would allow courts and law enforcement to seize firearms from domestic abusers in specific situations. Bollier says she doesn’t think the bill will be heard this session because of the state’s strong pro-gun climate.

FBI data analyzed by The Associated Press showed Kansas had 65 people killed with firearms by spouses, ex-spouses or dating partners between 2006 and 2014. That number is likely low because not all law enforcement departments report such information, and the numbers don’t include children or other bystanders killed by domestic violence.