WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita’s Eisenhower National Airport recorded a nearly 2.5 percent increase in passengers in 2015.

Wichita Airport Authority official Valerie Wise credits the gains to a new $160 million terminal that opened last June, offering passengers more conveniences and amenities.

The Wichita Eagle reports  about 1.57 million passengers flew into and out of Eisenhower last year, an increase of 37,679 passengers from 2014. Last year was the third-busiest year in the airport’s history, trailing only 1.59 million passengers in 2007 and 1.61 million passengers in 2008.

Wise says the gain in passenger growth came despite a reduction in capacity in flights using the airport. Passenger capacity at Eisenhower last year was down 4 percent from 2014, or 36,763 fewer seats.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The latest on the fight against the Zika virus that health officials suspect is linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil. (All times local):

4:45 p.m.

U.S. health officials have again expanded their travel alert to pregnant women about trips to the Caribbean and Latin America.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday added the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic to the list of destinations with Zika virus disease outbreaks. Research in Brazil is suggesting a link between the infection in pregnant moms and a rare birth defect.

Previously, the CDC recommended that pregnant women should consider postponing trips to 22 destinations. In Latin America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela. In the Caribbean: Barbados, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. Also, Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa; and Samoa in the South Pacific.

United Airlines says customers booked to fly to areas affected by the Zika virus can reschedule or get refunds.

American Airlines says it will give refunds to pregnant women who were planning to travel to parts of Central America.

The United Airlines offer began Tuesday and includes any country covered by a CDC travel notice. American Airlines began refunds Monday for pregnant passengers holding tickets to El Salvador, Honduras, Panama or Guatemala.

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4:10 p.m.

Health authorities in Panama are recommending that members of an indigenous community hard-hit by Zika avoid getting pregnant.

At least 42 cases of the mosquito-borne virus have been detected in the sparsely populated province of Guna Yala along the Caribbean coast, one of them a 22-year-old pregnant woman. The area formerly known as San Blas is dominated by indigenous groups and popular with tourists.

Israel Cedeno, a Health Ministry expert, said that authorities are going house-to-house explaining how to prevent transmission but that it’s running up against cultural barriers and the lack of family planning among the Guna tribe.

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4:30 p.m.

The Arkansas Department of Health says a person who recently traveled out of the United States has tested positive for the Zika virus.

The department says that the person has a mild case of Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes and is suspected of causing a spate of birth defects in Brazil. Spokeswoman Meg Mirivel would not say whether Tuesday if the infected person is a man or woman or give the person’s age.

Mirivel says the individual traveled to the Central America-Caribbean region, though she would not specify which country. Some U.S. travelers have been infected abroad with Zika but there are no cases of local infection in the U.S. so far.

Brazilian officials have linked the virus with a rare birth defect, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women to consider postponing flights to areas where the virus is prevalent.

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4:25 p.m.

Latin America’s largest airline says it’s waiving cancellation or flight-change fees for pregnant women who want to cancel flights to countries where the Zika virus is present.

Grupo LATAM says the policy applies to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, French Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged pregnant women to consider postponing visits to 22 destinations because of concern that the mosquito-borne virus could be linked to a wave in Brazil of microcephaly cases in which children are born with heads that are smaller than normal and often have developmental problems.

The World Health Organization cautions that the link is not yet scientifically proven.

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4:00 p.m.

Colombian officials are raising the number of suspected cases of the Zika virus in their country. They say 16,490 people now apparently have had the disease that’s been linked to birth defects in Brazil. Of those 1,090 are pregnant women.

The new figures come as health minister begins a nationwide effort to rally local officials to battle the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the virus.

Minister Alejandro Gaviria said Tuesday he hopes Colombia will become “an example for Latin America” in the battle against Zika.

President Juan Manuel Santo has said Colombian officials expect to see 600,000 cases of Zika this year, and are preparing for the possibility of infants born with microcephaly, a birth defect that has skyrocketed in Brazil along with cases of Zika.

So far, there’s only one case of microcephaly in Colombia suspected of being linked to Zika.

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3:00 p.m.

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is reporting a jump in the number of mosquito-borne Zika virus cases.

Health Secretary Ana Rius says there are 18 confirmed new cases in addition to one known earlier. None involve pregnant women. Brazilian officials have linked the tropical illness to birth defects.

Puerto Rico epidemiologist Brenda Rivera said Tuesday the majority of cases are in the island’s southeast region. She says many of the victims are elderly.

Officials said they are testing more than 200 other potential Zika cases that have tested negative to dengue and chikungunya.

U.S. officials say pregnant women should consider postponing trips to 22 destinations with Zika infections, including Puerto Rico.

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2:55 p.m.

U.S. health officials are putting out advice to doctors on testing newborns for Zika virus, a tropical infection linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil.

The guidance is for doctors caring for infants born to mothers who traveled to Zika outbreak areas in Latin America or the Caribbean during their pregnancy. The advice covers which situations call for Zika testing and when to do fetal ultrasounds.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the guidelines Tuesday.

Zika is spread by mosquitoes, and in most people causes no more than mild illness. But there’s been mounting evidence linking Zika infection in pregnant women to a birth defect in which a newborn’s head is unusually small and the brain may not develop properly.

2:40 p.m.

Argentina authorities say they are investigating a possible case of infection by the mosquito-borne Zika virus. It would be a first for the nation that shares a border with Brazil.

Santa Fe Health Department official Andrea Uboldi tells La Red radio that the man is in the city of Rosario and had recently visited Brazil, where hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika are suspected and authorities are investigating a possible link to birth defects.

Meanwhile, officials in the Argentine province of Corrientes have declared an epidemiological alert due to an outbreak of dengue in the area. Dengue and Zika are both transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

HERSHEY, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a traffic stop near North Platte on Interstate 80 has led to the seizure of nearly 50 pounds of marijuana.

The patrol says a trooper stopped a pickup Monday afternoon at the Hershey exit for a license plate violation. The trooper says he smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the truck and searched it, turning up 47 pounds of marijuana inside three plastic totes in the cab of the pickup.

The driver of the truck — a 30-year-old California man Christopher Jensen — was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and not having a driver’s license.

HUTCHINSON -The lockdown at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility-Central Unit where multiple altercations occurred on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 and Thursday January 21, 2016, has been lifted, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.

There were no staff injuries during any of the four incidents.

Inmate movement has returned to normal. Visits will resume as scheduled for this weekend, January 30 and January 31, 2016 at HCF-Central Unit.

KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will pitch some new proposals to expand access to retirement savings accounts and revisit some old ones when issuing his budget next month.

The White House says Obama’s proposals, if enacted, would provide more than 30 million people with access to retirement savings accounts.

The biggest chunk of that increase would occur through legislation requiring employers that don’t offer a retirement plan to automatically enroll their workers in an Individual Retirement Account. The employers that did so would get a tax credit of $3,000 to help them offset the administrative expense. The proposal was also part of last year’s budget.

On the new front, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez says the administration will seek to make it easier for multiple employers to join together to offer retirement plans.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee isn’t ready to endorse a narrow medical marijuana proposal.

The Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee voted Tuesday to forward a medical marijuana bill to the full Senate without a recommendation on whether it should pass. The measure would allow therapeutic hemp oil to be used in treating seizures.

Republicans who control the panel expect the measure to be sent to another committee that handles health issues.

The medical marijuana proposal had been tied to another proposal to lessen criminal penalties for first- and second-time marijuana possession. The House passed a single bill covering both subjects last year.

The Senate corrections committee split the measures into two bills. It approved the one lowering penalties for marijuana possession and sent it to the full Senate for debate.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee is preparing to debate a bill that would loosen the state’s marijuana laws.

The Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee was meeting Tuesday to discuss a bill that passed the House last year.

The measure would decrease the maximum penalties for first-time, misdemeanor marijuana possession to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine from a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. A second possession conviction would no longer be a felony.

The bill also would allow therapeutic hemp oil to be used in treating seizures and set up a program to research industrial hemp production.

The measure drew support in a hearing from parents with children who suffer serious seizures, but some advocates for medical marijuana do not think it goes far enough.

SALINA – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating an incident at the Saline County Jail Monday evening where a man in custody became involved in an altercation with corrections deputies and later died.

The man who was in his 50’s became involved in a physical altercation with two corrections deputies around 6:00p.m. Monday evening, according to Saline County Sheriff’s Captain and jail administrator Brent Melande.

The inmate and deputies were transported to Salina Regional Health Center.

The man whose name has not been released, died early Tuesday morning.

Corrections Deputy Andrew Fillipe was treated and released from the hospital, while deputy David Grove was held for observation for serious injuries.

Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney said officers were sent to the 2000 block of Norton just before 5:30p.m. on a domestic disturbance report.

The man who was taken into custody for punching a woman in her 50s in the face, resisted arrest but eventually taken to jail.

The Kansas Bureau is expected to release additional details in the case.

HUTCHINSON – A Kansas man was in court Monday for a new preliminary hearing on human-trafficking and other charges.

The state had earlier dropped the case against Steven Beranek, 52, Wichita, on technical grounds.

He is charged with one count of human trafficking involving his wife, aggravated battery, criminal threat-domestic battery, criminal restraint and misdemeanor battery.

The first charge accuses him with human trafficking between May 2011 and June 2013. The other charges occurred in January and June of 2013.

Beranek’s wife is the adult female victim, in the case, and was allegedly held against her will on a farmstead near Pretty Prairie.

She was able to get free and showed up at a Reno County restaurant.

Police and sheriff officials then began the investigation, which was made more difficult because of her inability to speak English.

During the hearing she told of her ordeal, however the defense got her to admit that some of things she was asked or told to do were part of her duties or chores.

But, when asked why she didn’t leave sooner, she testified she was told she wouldn’t be able to take her child the two had together.

Beranek is also alleged to have battered a 14-month-old child in this case as well.

He is now scheduled for arraignment.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas lawmaker has apologized and retracted a dress code that banned plunging necklines and short skirts for women testifying before his committee.

Republican state Sen. Mitch Holmes issued a statement Tuesday saying it was unacceptable for him to provide specific guidance about how women should dress in the state’s Ethics and Elections Committee’s rules without also producing similar guidance for men.

Legislators in both parties have strongly criticized the guidelines issued last week that said “low-cut necklines and mini-skirts” are inappropriate “for ladies.”

Holmes of St. John, who is the committee’s chairman, apologized and said he “meant no offense.”

Similar issues have arisen in Missouri and Montana in recent years.

The Kansas Legislature’s rules generally allow its committee leaders to set their own rules.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Salina man will be sentenced in April after pleading no contest in the stabbing death of another man.

Ivan Huizar Alvarez was scheduled to go to trial Monday for first-degree murder in the March 2015 death of Scott Johnson of Salina. Instead, he agreed to a plea deal on Friday to intentional second-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Huizar Alvarez chased Johnson and stabbed him several times during an argument. Huizar Alvarez had claimed the stabbing was in self-defense.

The Salina Journal reports prosecutors expect Huizar Alvarez to be sentenced to about 22 years in prison. He also is expected to be required to register as a violent offender for 15 years.

ELLSWORTH – Officials are investigating a violent incident at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

An inmate attacked and battered a corrections officer on Sunday evening, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The officer was transported to the Ellsworth County Medical Center for treatment and released.

The inmate remains in the Administrative Segregation unit.

No additional details have been released.

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling nearly 391,000 Ranger pickups because the driver’s air bag inflators can explode with too much force and cause injuries.

The recall covers trucks from 2004 through 2006 in the U.S. and Canada.

It comes just days after the government announced that a South Carolina man was killed when an inflator exploded in December. Joel Knight of Kershaw died when he was struck in the neck by metal shrapnel after his 2006 Ranger hit a cow in the road and struck a fence.

The government says automakers will recall another 5 million vehicles equipped with faulty inflators made by Takata Corp. of Japan. Some of the recalls are because of the crash that killed Knight, with the rest due to air bags failing in lab tests.