HUTCHINSON -A Kansas man arrested by police in a domestic case appeared before a judge Tuesday morning where he was read the formal charge against him.

Jose Luis Faudoa, 31, Hutchinson, has been formally charged with aggravated kidnapping, a level one-person felony, with a maximum sentencing of over 54 years in prison if convicted.

On December 17, police were called to the report of a woman screaming in the 300 block of East 7th Street in Hutchinson.

They ran into Faudoa after not being able to locate the woman.

He told police that his ex-girlfriend had broken a window in his home.

After further investigation, they learned that he had brought the victim home from work and allegedly assaulted and beat her.

He also allegedly put a gun to her head. The victim also claims that he wouldn’t let her out of the bedroom of the home and repeatedly put the gun to her head. She told police she was in the bed with two children. She eventually broke a window and started screaming for help.

Faudoa remains jailed on a $100,000 bond and the case will now move to a waiver-status docket in January.

SALINA – Fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire at a home in Salina.

Firefighters responded to the 700 block of North 5th just before 1:30 a.m. and found a home just south of Woodland Avenue fully engulfed in flames.

All occupants were able to escape the home without injury, according to police.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Kansas state officials are considering stiffer penalties for water violations.

The Hutchinson News reports that the higher penalties are among four proposed changes that state water officials plan to present to Gov. Sam Brownback’s office by Feb. 1.

The plan is the result of 500 meetings and 15,000 comments over the past couple of years. They’re all part of Brownback’s effort to develop ideas to preserve and extend the state’s water resources.

The plan proposes fines for failing to provide water use information, unauthorized diversions, failure to install a flowmeter, tampering with a meter and falsifying a water use report.

WICHITA -Unofficially, 124 tornadoes moved across Kansas in 2015. This number is preliminary and subject to revision, according to the National Weather Service.

This ties with 2004 for the 4th most since 1990, and is 33 above the 1990-2014 annual normal of 91. Interestingly, last year (2014) only recorded 41 tornadoes across the state, which was the lowest annual total in the 27 year record since 1990.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas is extending its fast-track law degree program to undergraduates at Kansas State University.

The Lawrence Journal-Worldsays the Lawrence school will expand the program to other Kansas Board of Regents universities, first with Kansas State.

The University of Kansas launched its Legal Education Accelerated Degree program for its undergraduates in 2012. That so-called “3+3” program allows students to earn a bachelor’s and a law degree in just six years instead of the usual seven.

The University of Kansas is the only regents university with a law school.

Steven Freedman is assistant dean for admissions at the law school at Kansas. He says the first Kansas State freshmen are to begin the program next fall and would enter the law school at Kansas three years later.

KASEY JONES, Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — The number of law enforcement officers killed by guns dropped 14 percent this year, but all line-of-duty police deaths rose slightly.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said in a report Tuesday that 42 officers were killed this year by gunfire, compared with 49 last year.

The report says seven of those shooting deaths occurred during traffic stops.

A total of 124 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in 2015, a 4 percent increase over 2014. Fifty-two officers were killed in traffic incidents this year, compared with 49 in 2014.

The report comes amid a national debate about police conduct and law enforcement’s treatment of black men, including 25-year-old Freddie Gray. Gray died in Baltimore in April from injuries received in the back of a police transport van.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Democratic legislator in Kansas says safety problems at a state mental hospital should prompt employee firings, but a Republican lawmaker argues it’s too early to call for such actions.

Democratic Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita and GOP Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook sparred during a legislative committee hearing Tuesday over safety issues at Osawatomie State Hospital.

Federal officials said earlier this month that the Medicare program would stop paying for patient care at the mental hospital in eastern Kansas.

Among multiple issues, federal officials cited a report that a patient raped an employee in October.

Ward said in the private sector, such problems would prompt firings. Pilcher-Cook said lawmakers should gather all the facts first.

Kansas Department for Aging and Disabilities Services Secretary Kari Bruffett declined to discuss personnel issues.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita’s city attorney says the city’s police department didn’t violate any laws by keeping decades-old sensitive cases in a limited-access file separate from other investigations.

The Wichita Eagle reports the files include those dealing with police officers and city employees.

City Attorney Jennifer Magana’s three-month internal review came after City Manager Bob Layton said he became aware of the so-called “confidential” files dating to the 1980s.

Most police records are accessible by more than 800 Wichita police employees. But the limited-access files are available to 92 people across five agencies or departments.

PRATT COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Pratt County are investigating an accident that injured two men just after 1p.m. on Tuesday.

The Pratt County Sheriff’s office reported a 2005 International tanker truck driven by William Blomander, 65, Ulysses, was northbound at the intersection of NE 60th Street, and NE 70 Avenue.

The truck collided with an eastbound 2011 Ford F-250 Pickup driven by Donald Fisher, 65, Preston.

Fisher had to be extricated from the truck and was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.

Blomander had crawled out of the cab. He was transported to Pratt Regional Medical Center.

Life Team was called from Hutchinson to assist in the transports, according to the Pratt County Sheriff.

HUTCHINSON— After one of the five teens arrested and accused of making criminal threats against Hutchinson High reached a plea agreement, the other four did the same Tuesday afternoon in Reno County Juvenile Court.

Takota Bowman, Jacobsen Eells, Andre Smith and Tyler Cabral all entered pleas to one count of criminal threat, while the charge of conspiracy to commit murder was dismissed.

The pleas are similar to the one offered and accepted by Dominic Collins just before Christmas.

Like Collins, the four were sentenced to court services until May of 2016 and time already served.

According to Daniel Gilligan of the District Attorney’s office, all had made strides to improve their lives, including obtaining or trying to obtain their GEDs.

Bowman is also attending classes at Allen Community College in Iola, and will go through his court supervision there.

All must write a letter of apology to Hutchinson USD 308 for their actions.

SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect in connection with a series of robberies in Salina.

Travis R. Moreland, 23, Chapman, is being held in connection with the robberies of the Howard Johnson Motel on December 5th, Days Inn on December 12th, and Horseman’s Headquarters on December 21st., according to Salina Police Captain Chris Trocheck.

Moreland is also charged with a burglary at the Howard Johnson Motel on December 16.

Trocheck said Salina Police were able to develop Moreland as a suspect while Abilene Police and the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office were investigating cases where Moreland was a possible suspect.

Moreland was booked into Dickinson County jail on December 26. Additional arrests are possible in the Salina robberies, according to Trocheck.

Moreland faces requested charges in Salina of three counts of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, assault, and criminal possession of a firearm.

RENO COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 1:30p.m. on Tuesday in Reno County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Ford passenger car driven by Carissa S. Freeman, 36, Sterling, was southbound on Kansas 14 two miles south of Sterling.

The driver reached for her cell phone and overcorrected. The car traveled into the west ditch and rolled into a field.

Freeman was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.

She was wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

LIBERAL – A heat lamp is blamed for a fire that scorched the side of a home, blew out a window and destroyed two doghouses in Liberal just after 1:30 on Monday, according to Fire Chief Kelly Kirk.

The residents of the home near 11th and Calvert Avenue were using the heat lamps to keep pets warm.

Two adult dogs survived the fire. A puppy died. No other injuries were reported.