WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One of two men charged with the shooting deaths of a Wichita couple pleaded not guilty to capital murder and other crimes.

Steve Wade Edwards on Thursday also waived his preliminary hearing and asked for a jury trial.

Edwards is charged with capital murder, or two alternative counts of first-degree premeditated murder, in the October 2014 deaths of Godofredo and Martha Moreno. He also faces four other charges.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett told The Wichita Eagle (https://bit.ly/1kwxZyw ) he won’t seek the death penalty.

Edwards is accused of shooting the Morenos while trying to collect a debt from the couple’s son.

The other suspect, Carlos Delacadena-Edwards, is scheduled for a Nov. 30 jury trial on two counts of first-degree felony murder and one count of aggravated robbery.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former information systems director has been ordered to repay more than $1.2 million he stole from a company which owns assisted living centers in Kansas and Missouri.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten also sentenced on Thursday Brent Shryock of Augusta to three years in prison, as the parties had proposed in their plea deal. His ex-wife, Lori, faces sentencing Monday. Both pleaded guilty to mail fraud.

Marten said he was troubled that Shryock stole the money not out of some need, but to finance his own lavish lifestyle.

The indictment alleges the thefts occurred while Brent Shryock was employed as information systems director for Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, where he was in charge of purchasing equipment. Prosecutors allege the couple created four fictitious companies to submit fraudulent invoices.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former information systems director faces sentencing for stealing more than $1.2 million from a company which owns assisted living centers in Kansas and Missouri.

Brent Shryock of Augusta has a hearing Thursday in federal court in Wichita after cutting a deal for a 36-month prison term. His wife, Lori, faces sentencing Monday. Both pleaded guilty to mail fraud.

The indictment alleges the thefts occurred while Brent Shryock was employed as information systems director for Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, where he was in charge of purchasing equipment.

Prosecutors allege that beginning in November 2007, the couple created four fictitious companies to submit fraudulent invoices for computers, telephones, and other electronic equipment. Among them was LGR Technology, which stood for Let’s Get Rich Technology.

The scheme continued until about November 2013.

JUNCTION CITY –Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a blast from a homemade explosive device.

Just after 10 p.m. on Monday the Sheriff’s office and Junction City EMS responded to the 3800 block of Kansas 157 Highway for a reported gunshot wound.

After arriving on scene deputies discovered inconsistencies with the original report.

Further investigation by the Geary County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division revealed that Mark Ayers, 25, Junction City, sustained major wounds to his lower extremities as the result of a blast caused by a homemade explosive device.

Life Star transported Ayers to Salina Regional Health Center.

Scott Wayne Aldrich Jr., 28, was arrested on suspicion of Aggravated Battery and Criminal Use of Explosives.

TOPEKA – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the federal government’s legal authority to require the State of Kansas to pay a tax that finances a portion of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”

Texas, Kansas and Louisiana filed suit in federal district court in Wichita Falls, Texas, against the federal government, particularly the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service, seeking a court order that prevents collection of the new Health Insurance Providers Fees assessed against companies that manage state Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance programs. The states allege that the new fees, which are required by the Affordable Care Act and are legally required to be passed on to the states, constitute a de facto tax on state treasuries. The federal government does not have legal authority to tax the states to raise money for the federal treasury, the states argue.

In the first year of the new tax, Kansas paid the federal government about $32.8 million. The lawsuit seeks a refund of that amount and an order prohibiting future collections of the tax from states or from companies managing state Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance programs.

“If the federal government wants to tax and spend, it may do so within the confines of the law,” Schmidt said. “But it may not, we think, employ accounting tricks that force the states to do the taxing while the federal government does the spending. Kansas has state priorities for that $32 million that do not include financing the federal government’s operations.”

The states raise six arguments they think render the federal taxing scheme unlawful. A copy of the complaint may be found https://1.usa.gov/1GXc3l4 .

HUTCHINSON -At a motion hearing Thursday for the case of a 16-year-old charged with two counts of first degree murder, Judge Trish Rose denied a defense request to ban showing a video of the defendant in open court during a motion to suppress hearing scheduled for next week.

Samuel Vonachen is charged with setting a fire in his family’s home that killed his mother and sister.

The video shows the defendant admitting to the crime. His attorney, John Henderson had concerns that showing the video again could cause another wave of publicity denying his client a fair trial.

He didn’t want the entire video shown in the presence of the media and the public.

Judge Rose ruled that during a suppression hearing, the state has the burden of proof and should be allowed to present whatever evidence they choose.

She did agree with a suggestion from Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell to not allow the video to be taped again during that hearing. However that is a moot point since area television stations had already taped it from an earlier hearing.

The case centers on Vonachen, age 14 at the time, allegedly spread gas through the downstairs of his family’s home, then setting it on fire on Sept. 26, 2013.

The motion to suppress hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29, in front of Judge Rose.

SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a bomb threat at a truck stop in Salina.

Police say the Petro Travel Center on North 9th was briefly evacuated after a bomb threat was called into the business just after 8p.m. on Tuesday.

The automated call indicated that a bomb had been placed inside the business and could explode at anytime, according Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

A search, which kept the business closed for less than an hour, was conducted and no bomb was found.

By JIM MCLEAN

Lawrence Memorial Hospital is forcefully denying fraud allegations made in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former employee.

The lawsuit was originally filed under seal in May 2014 by former emergency room nurse Megen Duffy and unsealed this summer. It charged that the hospital defrauded the federal government by submitting falsified Medicare and Medicaid claims.

In its response last week, the hospital charged that Duffy’s lawsuit and her failure to disclose it violated the terms of a settlement it reached with her after she was fired.

“By bringing a purported claim against LMH for alleged violations of the False Claims Act, which was concealed by Duffy from LMH at the time she entered into the agreement, and by making the scurrilous accusations set out in her purported complaint, Duffy has breached the terms of the agreement,” the hospital alleged.

Duffy was fired in October 2013 for threatening a co-worker, according to the hospital. LMH said it agreed at the end of that month to pay her $9,000 to avoid the “nuisance” of litigation. Had it known that Duffy filed the whistleblower lawsuit under seal in May 2013, the hospital said it would not have entered into the agreement.

LMH is seeking unspecified damages from Duffy to cover the costs of defending itself against the lawsuit and for “enduring public disparagement” caused by her “baseless allegations.”

Duffy’s lawsuit, filed under a federal law that allows whistleblowers to act on behalf of the federal government, was unsealed after the U.S. Justice Department investigated the charges and decided not to intervene in the case.

Robert Collins, Duffy’s attorney, said the department’s decision didn’t necessarily reflect on the merits of the case. He said the department intervenes in fewer than 25 percent of the cases pursued on the government’s behalf because of staffing limitations and other factors.

Duffy alleged that emergency room personnel at LMH were instructed to alter the arrival times of possible heart attack patients to coincide with timestamps automatically generated when patients were connected to electrocardiogram monitors.

Showing that patients were being monitored the minute they arrived significantly improved LMH’s performance data and qualified it for higher incentive payments from the federal government, according to Duffy’s complaint.

In its response, the hospital denied altering records and said Duffy’s allegations were based on “an incorrect understanding of reporting obligations” and the mistaken assumption that the time at which electrocardiogram monitoring begins cannot be reported as a patient’s arrival time.

The hospital cited the same treatment guidelines referenced in Duffy’s complaint but argued they don’t support her allegations.

Instead, it said, “These guidelines confirm that emergency department ECG reports are one of the types of documentation that may be used to document hospital ‘arrival time.’”

Under the federal False Claims Act, whistleblowers alleging fraud are entitled to between 25 percent and 30 percent of whatever money is recovered. Duffy’s lawsuit doesn’t specify a damage figure, but Collins said that, when combined with penalties, it could reach as high as $10 million.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A longtime Kansas State University employee has filed a lawsuit claiming the school discriminated against him because he is an Iranian-born Muslim who was in line for promotion to an associate vice president post.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Abdullah “Abe” Fattaey worked at Kansas State from 1971 until 2014. A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month claims he was terminated after a concerted effort by top university officials to get rid of him.

Fattaey was the school’s director of campus planning and facilities management when he was nominated in April 2013 to become associate vice president for campus planning and facilities management.

He says that instead of the promotion he was given a “terminal contract” and was told he would be dismissed in 12 months.

WAMEGO -Law enforcement authorities in Pottawatomie County are investigating a suspect that prompted a lockdown at the middle school in Wamego.

The school at 1701 Kaw Valley Road was briefly under a lockdown Thursday morning according to the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Dispatch.

Wamego Police Department also responded to the scene as back up to the county sheriff’s deputies.

Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office did confirm that one suspect was taken into custody in the area.

No additional details have been released.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Board of Regents has chosen an administrator at a private university in Texas to serve as the next president of Emporia State University.

The board announced the appointment of Allison Garrett on Thursday. She’s currently executive vice president at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas.

She was one of two finalists for the Emporia State job. The other was Petra Roter, the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Garrett takes over as Emporia State’s 17th president in January. She has been Abilene Christian’s executive vice president for three years.

Michael Shonrock left the Emporia State presidency in April to become president at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. Retired Butler County Community College President Jacqueline Vietti has served as interim president since May.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is opening its new $55-million Topeka crime laboratory next month, replacing a facility that opened in the 1980s.

KBI Director Kirk Thompson says the previous Topeka lab space didn’t meet accreditation standards, and the new lab located at Washburn University will allow for more efficiency in processing evidence.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the new lab is one of four operated by the KBI. Others are in Kansas City, Pittsburg and Great Bend. But the new lab will be the only one with facilities for all of the various forensic science disciplines.

Members of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on State Building Construction toured the site Wednesday. The committee has overseen the project since it was authorized in the state’s 2013 budget.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas agency says its workers are locked out of a computer program, delaying them from processing veterans’ claims through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports  the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs uses a computer program that allows them to process hundreds of claims each month and send them to the VA’s regional office in Wichita.

But commission workers have been locked out of the program lately. Without the program, the claims have to be faxed or mailed, which can take weeks.

Wayne Bollig, a deputy director at the commission, says the outage began Tuesday, and if the issue isn’t resolved soon, the agency will receive a flood of claims at the end of the month.

The VA didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.

DETROIT (AP) — Mazda says it is recalling 1.2 million older cars and minivans in the U.S. because ignition switches could overheat and catch fire.

The recall covers the 1990-1996 323 and Protégé, the 1993-1998 626, the 1993-1995 929, the 1993-1997 MX-6, the 1989 to 1998 MPV and the 1992-1993 MX-3.

Mazda says it put too much grease on electrical contact points in the switches when the cars were manufactured. The grease can carbonize and reduce electrical insulation. The company says continuous use can cause electricity to flow between the points and make the switches overheat. That can cause smoke and possible fire.

Mazda says the problem doesn’t affect the cars’ operation or safety devices. It says there haven’t been any crashes or injuries.

The recall will start in December.