LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The superintendent of Lawrence public schools has announced his resignation.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Rick Doll, Lawrence’s superintendent of public schools since 2009, announced his resignation Monday.

Doll says he’s resigning to take a job as an associate professor and executive director of the Kansas Educational Leadership Institute at Kansas State University. His resignation is effective June 30, 2016, the end of the current school year.

The Lawrence school board is expected to begin the process of replacing Doll immediately.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is alerting Americans to the possible risks of travel due to increased terrorist threats around the world.

A travel alert issued on Monday says current information suggests that Islamic State militants, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and other terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in multiple regions. U.S. authorities say the likelihood of terror attacks will continue as members of IS return from Syria and Iraq, and others not affiliated with terror groups engage in violence on their own.

Extremists have attacked in France, Nigeria, Denmark, Turkey and Mali and IS has claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner in Egypt.

U.S. citizens are advised to be vigilant in public places and on transportation and avoid large crowds, including holiday events or festivals.

FORT SCOTT- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6p.m. on Monday in Bourbon County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Chevy Silverado driven by Brandon M. Weyant, 22, Uniontown, was northbound on 215th Street a mile south of Fort Scott.

The pickup left the west side of the roadway and traveled across a cemetery, striking headstones.

The pickup became airborne and struck a cedar tree.

Weyant was transported by EMS to Mercy Hospital and later flown to Mercy Hospital in Joplin. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

DERBY, Kan. (AP) — A new report says a plane crash that killed a California traveling pastor and his longtime pilot in 2013 near Derby was the result of the pilot attempting to navigate icy conditions with malfunctioning controls.

The National Transportation Safety Board report also says 49-year-old pilot Mitchell Morgan had reported problematic equipment to maintenance in another state after arriving in Wichita. Personnel replaced one of the faulty instruments before the flight, but no other work was performed on it at the time.

The report says Morgan likely became disoriented as he attempted to maneuver and maintain control after an air traffic controller gave him altered flight instructions.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the crash killed Morgan and 72-year-old Ed Dufresne, who was a pastor in Murrieta, California.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita Municipal Court is offering an amnesty program next month for drivers whose licenses have been suspended for failing to pay or go to court for a traffic citation.

The Wichita Eagle reports the program will run from Dec. 4 to Dec. 30, during which fees and traffic-related warrants will be waived. Applicants who can’t afford to pay the fines and court costs can receive credit toward their fines by performing community service with local organizations or attend training offered by Workforce Alliance.

State Sen. Michael O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, says the pilot program is being watched closely at the state level. If it’s successful, he says legislation will be intruduced in the next session allowing for the waiver of city and state fees.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Sen. Marco Rubio has filed for the Kansas Republican President caucus, making him the sixth presidential contender to file in the state.

He joins former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

The caucus will be held March 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 95 different locations around Kansas.

All registered Kansas Republican voters are allowed to take part in the caucus.

SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Salina County are investigating a north central Kansas man for alleged theft.

Justin Kemmerer, 27, Jewell County, was arrested just after 12-noon on Saturday in connection with an attempted theft at a Salina motel, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney

Officers were sent to the Ambassador Hotel, 1616 W. Crawford, after an employee of the hotel observed a man attempting to pry open a coin operated washing machine.

Kemmerer was initially spotted near a van but he fled as police were arriving at the hotel.

Inside the van, police found Kemmerer’s four children under the age of 9.

Kemmerer later returned to the hotel and was taken into custody.

He was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges that included attempted theft, criminal damage to property and child endangerment.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton is the latest recipient of a prize named after the man he defeated in the 1996 election.

Clinton was at the University of Kansas Monday to receive the Dole Leadership Prize, named in honor of the longtime Republican senator from Kansas. Dole was the 1996 GOP presidential nominee who lost when the Democrat Clinton was re-elected.

The award is granted by the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the university.

In accepting his award, Clinton urged people from both parties to be more willing to work together.

In a statement last month, Dole said he and Clinton have become friends over the years. Dole, who is 92, did not attend.

JACKSON COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 4p.m. on Monday in Jackson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford truck driven by Donald D. Griffiths, 83, Holton, was westbound on Golden Pond Road at U.S. 75.

The truck pulled out in front of a 1985 Peterbilt Dump Truck that was northbound on U.S. 75.

Griffiths was transported to Stormont Vail.

The dump truck driver Paul W. Aubert, 50, Topeka was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

FORT RILEY, Kan. (AP) — The opening of Fort Riley’s new hospital faces another delay.

The new hospital would replace the Irwin Army Community Hospital, the oldest Army hospital in the nation.

The Manhattan Mercury  reports that the new hospital was originally scheduled to open in 2012 and was later scheduled to open in January 2016.

The Kansas City District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has been managing the project, says the most recent delay is because of disagreements between the contractor and the government.

Since the 2009 groundbreaking, the project’s contractor has faced lawsuits from subcontractors, and then filed its own subsequent claim against the Corps of Engineers. The case against the Corps of Engineers is under review by the federal government’s Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.

HUTCHINSON -The second of three suspects arrested on drug charges appeared in a Reno County District Court Monday for the reading of formal charges.

Benjamin Cullum, 40, has been charged by the state with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession of marijuana with a prior conviction, unlawfully acquiring proceeds from a drug transaction and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was arrested along with Nicole Hays and 24-year-old Maira Meza.

They were arrested after a search of the home belonging to Hays, in the 400 block of North Plum Street in Hutchinson.

The Reno County Drug Unit allegedly found the drugs and a large amount of cash, including many bills that were used for a control buy.

In the garage of the home was a Ruger LCP 380 gun in a metal case, a baggie of methamphetamine and a scale.

Additional marijuana and smoking pipes with residue were also found.

The cases against Hays and Cullum will now move to a waiver-status docket.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett has blocked a recall effort against a county commissioner who has refused to accept millions of dollars in grants for local health programs.

Bennett announced Monday that the petition for an election seeking the recall of Sedgwick County Commissioner Richard Ranzau does not meet the narrow grounds prescribed by state law.

He told reporters that the remedy prescribed by law when someone disagrees with an elected official is the ballot box.

The petition contends Ranzau failed to fulfill his legal duties to contract for the protection and promotion of public health.

Ranzau says the DA’s decision is a victory for taxpaying American citizens and legal immigrants.

The director of the citizens group who filed the petition says they are disappointed.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A lobbyist for a Kansas police association has expressed concerns over the way state social workers handle foster care.

Lobbyist Ed Klumpp of the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police told state lawmakers that social workers with the Department for Children and Families can be difficult to contact, supervisors are sometimes unreachable and calls to a hotline to assist with problems may go unanswered.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Klumpp voiced these concerns at a meeting of the Foster Care Adequacy Committee last week. He said that law enforcement officers responding to a situation involving a child in a foster home are left with very limited options, and a last resort is placing the child in protective custody.

Department secretary Phyllis Gilmore acknowledged Klumpp’s statements are concerning. Gilmore says the agency will make any needed corrections.