TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has approved a bill that would eliminate a projected deficit of nearly $200 million in the state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The measure approved Thursday by the Appropriations Committee includes many of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposals for closing the gap by juggling funds and capturing unanticipated savings.

But the committee also added $2.4 million to the next budget so the state can give uniformed corrections officers at state prisons a 2.5 percent pay raise.

Several committee members said the state needs to boost pay for corrections officers because the turnover rate at state prisons is almost 30 percent. Their starting hourly pay is $13.61.

The bill goes next to the House for debate as early as next week.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has pleaded guilty in a drunken driving crash that killed three people and injured two others.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 32-year-old Juan Pablo Gandara-Rodela was three days away from going on trial when he pleaded guilty last week to second-degree reckless murder in the July 2014 deaths. The hit-and-run crash killed Zachary Taylor and Jake Hallacy, both 26 and of Valley Center, and 21-year-old Emily Phillips of McPherson.

Gandara-Rodela also admitted to leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated battery. Police have said Gandara-Rodela had been at a bar before running a red light in a sport utility vehicle and slamming into the side of a car. He has a history of DUI and traffic convictions.

Sentencing is set for March 23.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has approved a proposal to give uniformed corrections officers in state prisons a 2.5 percent pay raise later this year.

The Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to add $2.4 million for the pay raises to the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The vote came as the committee considered other proposals for closing a projected deficit of nearly $200 million in the next state budget.

Several committee members said the state needs to boost pay for corrections officers because the turnover rate at state prisons is almost 30 percent. Their starting hourly pay is $13.61.

But other committee members said turnover is high at state mental hospitals and in other agencies. They said lawmakers need to eliminate inefficiencies in government to make broader raises possible.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been arrested after a police pursuit that ended in a deadly three-vehicle crash in Topeka.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the crash occurred early Thursday. Police say the victim, 34-year-old Mia Holden, was a passenger in a vehicle that the fleeing vehicle struck.

Three others suffered non-life threatening injuries, including the driver of the vehicle that was being pursued. Police said the driver was in a hospital later Thursday evening but would be booked on charges including first-degree murder.

Police say the pursuit started when the driver refused to pull over. Police say officers used tire deflation devices but the driver kept going. Authorities said the chase was moving at only 18 mph at times.

The crash shut down a busy intersection for most of the morning.

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TOPEKA – Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating a suspect involved in a Thursday morning chase and fatal crash.

Just after 5 a.m. on Thursday officers with Topeka police attempted to stop a vehicle at Northwest St. John and Kansas Avenue, according to a media release.

The suspect’s vehicle initiated a slow-speed pursuit through north Topeka, crossed southbound over the Kansas Avenue Bridge and a hit law enforcement placed tire deflation device.

During the pursuit, the suspect’s vehicle was involved in an accident at Southwest 6th and Topeka Boulevard.

A passenger in the vehicle struck by the vehicle attempting to elude police was transported to a local hospital and died. The suspect and a second passenger in the collision received non-life threatening injuries.

Names of the victim’s have not been released.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says faith is the “great cure” for the fear that sometimes leads people to do “funny things.”

Watch the President’s address here.

He says his faith also helps him deal with the “unique elements of my job.”

The president made the comments at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. It’s his final address as president to the annual nondenominational gathering.

He says fear of change and the uncertainty it often brings can lead people to lash out against anyone who’s different.

He says fear can also lead people to give in to despair and it can feed man’s most selfish impulses.

The president says faith and Jesus are good cures for fear. Obama also spoke about tolerance for different religions.

HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man arrested January 27, on a charge of sexual exploitation of a child is back in jail after the state requested the bond be increased.

Douglas A. Kennel, 45, Hutchinson, was arrested following an investigation that began when he took an old phone to have data transferred to a new phone.

The phone store employee transferred the data and saw images that he thought to be child porn.

In court, Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell argued that the state has charged Kennel with sexual exploitation of a child and aggravated violation of the offender registration act.

Maxwell told the court of Kennel’s two convictions in Harvey County for aggravated indecent liberties with a child, but also two federal convictions for receipt of materials depicting a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

He also argued that due to the prior convictions, he’s looking at a life sentence with no chance of parole under the aggravated habitual sex offender statute. He asked for a 1-million dollar bond.

The Defense attorney argued that the images in question in this case were found on a damaged disk and that he believes his client had deleted them and no longer had access to them. He also argued that the old convictions are nearly 20-years old and said Kennel is not a flight risk.

Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen after hearing the arguments increased the bond to $250,000.

She also ordered that Kennel have no contact with any child under the age of 18 and not be within a thousand feet of any school.

Hutchinson Police Detective Scott Carlton reported that after the investigation officers allegedly found over 4,000 images on the phone’s SD card, which they believed were downloaded from a file-sharing site.
The convictions in Harvey County for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child are from 1997.
No date was set for the preliminary hearing.

By DAN MARGOILES

The state of Kansas is asking the state’s highest court to review last month’s decision by the Kansas Court of Appeals finding that the Kansas Constitution creates a “fundamental right to abortion.”

The request for the Kansas Supreme Court to take up the case was expected after the court of appeals upheld a lower court decision blocking a Kansas law that bans the abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation. The measure was signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback in April 2015 and was set to take effect on July 1, 2015.

Kansas was the first state in the nation to prohibit the procedure, which is the most commonly used method for second-trimester abortions. Oklahoma passed a similar ban shortly afterward.

The Kansas ban was challenged by two Overland Park physicians, Dr. Herbert Hodes and his daughter, Dr. Traci Lynn Nauser. Their practice is one of only three abortion providers in the state.

Last July, Shawnee County District Judge Larry D. Hendricks found in their favor and blocked the law from taking effect. Hendricks ruled that the Kansas Bill of Rights “independently protects the fundamental right to abortion.”

The court of appeals, in a highly unusual decision on Jan. 22 involving all 14 sitting judges, upheld Hendricks in a split 7-7 vote. When an appeals court is equally divided, the trial court’s ruling is upheld.

The appeals court’s ruling marked the first time a Kansas appellate court had based the right to an abortion in the Kansas Constitution.

Six of the appeals court judges found that the first two sections of the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights mirror those in the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. A seventh judge found that section 1 created a “natural law” protection broader than that provided by federal law.

In its appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court, the state argues that “(w)hether the Kansas Constitution creates a right to an abortion is a fundamental and compelling constitutional question of first impression, a question that can only be resolved definitively by this court.”

Dan Margolies is editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

DETROIT (AP) — Another problem has developed with automotive air bags, this one resulting in recalls of 5 million vehicles.

Continental Automotive Systems says in documents filed with the government that moisture can get inside its air bag control computers, causing the power supplies to corrode and fail. If that happens, air bags may not inflate in a crash or they could deploy without a crash.

Documents say Continental will notify automakers, who will recall cars dating to 2006. Already Honda, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes have issued recalls.

Automakers will replace the computers at no cost to owners.

The announcement comes in the middle of a recall crisis involving Takata Corp. air bag inflators. About 24 million U.S. vehicles are being recalled for that problem. It’s the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A former Olathe high school teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student has pleaded guilty in the case.

The Kansas City Star reports that 33-year-old Jeana Marie Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual relations on Wednesday in Johnson County District Court. Prosecutors say Fleming and the student had sex in December 2014 while she was a teacher in the Olathe school district’s alternative education program for high school students.

Assistant District Attorney Keith Henderson said that the boy reported the relationship to school officials in May.

Under Kansas law, it is illegal for a teacher to have sex with a student at the same school, even if the student is above the age of consent. In Kansas, the age of consent is 16.

Fleming is scheduled to be sentenced April 12.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS says it has stopped accepting electronically filed tax returns because of problems with some of its computer systems. The outage could affect refunds, but the IRS says it doesn’t anticipate “major disruptions.”

The agency on Wednesday experienced what it is calling a “hardware failure.” The e-file system and the “where’s my refund” service are among the affected areas.

The IRS says some systems will remain out of service at least until Thursday.

Taxpayers can continue to send electronic returns to companies that serve as middlemen between taxpayers and the IRS.

But the agency says those companies have to hold on to the tax returns until the IRS systems are up and running again.

The IRS says 90 percent of taxpayers will receive refunds within three weeks.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court will be conducting a special evening session at Topeka High School next month as part of its ongoing outreach efforts to familiarize state residents with the court.

The session on March 9 will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the school auditorium.

Chief Justice Lawton Nuss says the Supreme Court has conducted special sessions in communities across Kansas, but it’s the first time for an evening session in Topeka.

The public is invited to attend the session as the court hears oral arguments in cases that haven’t been announced yet. The justices will meet with the public at an informal reception in the school’s cafeteria after the hearing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee is preparing to debate proposals for closing a projected deficit of almost $200 million in the state’s next budget.

Chairman and Olathe Republican Ron Ryckman Jr. hoped the Appropriations Committee would approve a budget-balancing bill Thursday.

The committee planned to start by reviewing Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposals to close the gap largely by juggling funds and capturing unanticipated savings.

If the committee approves a bill Thursday, the measure would go to the full House for debate next week. Republican leaders want to finish work by the end of this month on a plan for balancing the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee also was debating budget measures Thursday but wasn’t sure it would vote on a plan.

GEARY COUNTY -The Junction City Police Department is requesting help from the public in locating a runaway juvenile that’s been missing since January 31 at approximately 10 p.m.

Allison Y. Blanco, 16, is a Hispanic female.

If you have seen her or know where she may be located contact the JCPD at 785-762-5912 or the Junction City / Geary County Crime Stoppers TIPS line at 785-762-TIPS ( 8477 ).