HUTCHINSON – A Kansas teen entered a guilty plea in Reno County Court on Wednesday in a conspiracy to traffic contraband into the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

Kevin Wilson, 19, serving time in prison for numerous burglary and theft convictions, admitted that between Dec. 19, 2014, and Jan. 13 of this year, he attempted to introduce items into the prison that are forbidden.

It was not the usual drugs or tobacco products, but things like cell phones and cash.

He admitted that he conspired with another inmate 46-year-old Bryant Colbert to commit the crimes.

After Wilson admitted guilt, he apologized for his actions, but not to the court or the prosecutor. He apologized to the prison investigators who were present in the courtroom.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 6.

His co-defendant Colbert is serving time for aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated burglary and rape from Montgomery County. His case is pending.

Wilson is now being housed at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s spokeswoman calls Medicaid expansion “morally reprehensible” in a recent email, signaling the administration has no plans to expand Medicaid and bring coverage to 150,000 uninsured Kansans.

The Wichita Eagle reports that in an email Tuesday to Brownback supporters, Melika Willoughby, Brownback’s deputy director of communications, says Brownback believes Medicaid expansion creates “new entitlements for able-bodied adults without dependents.”

The administration has often said it won’t expand Medicaid until it removes disabled Kansans already on Medicaid from a home services waiting list.

Critics say the waiting lists shouldn’t be used as an excuse to not expand Medicaid.

Willoughby’s email also comes as Kansas has been encouraging low-income state workers to sign their children up for the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, possible through the Affordable Care Act.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man who authorities say was stopped on a western Shawnee County highway with more than 13 pounds of cocaine in his possession has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said 37-year-old Jamal Shareef Williams, of Homestead, Pennsylvania, was sentenced Monday. He had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Prosecutors say Kansas Highway Patrol found cocaine in metal compartments attached to the rims inside the spare tires of a rented pickup Williams was driving on Interstate 70 on July 23, 2014.

ELLSWORTH – Two people were injured in an accident just before 3:30p.m. on Tuesday in Ellsworth County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Dodge pickup driven by James W. Westley, Palestine, TX., was northbound on Kansas 14 just south of Ellsworth.

The pickup stopped at the stop sign at Kansas156 and drove forward into the cross traffic and collided with a 2010 Ford Focus driven by Alison K. Helfrich, 21, Wright, going northeast on K156.

Westley and Helfrich were transported to Ellsworth County Medical Center. A passenger in the pickup was not injured.

They were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 44-year-old Chanute man has been indicted on charges of manufacturing and selling gun silencers illegally.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Tuesday that Shane Cox, owner of Tough Guys Army surplus store, was charged with 12 criminal counts, including possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiracy and National Firearm Act violations.

Prosecutors say Cox advertised unregistered silencers and manufactured silencers without paying federal taxes or without serial numbers. Authorities also say Cox made false statements to agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on April 21.

Cox faces prison time and fines.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — The Governor’s Water Conference next month aims to focus on implementation of the Kansas water vision plan.

The two-day event begins Nov. 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn and Conference Center in Manhattan.

Other major topics slated for discussion include the development of additional water supplies for rural communities. Also up for discussion is how to help the public understand water issues and the value of conservation.

Kansas State Water Office Director Tracy Streeter notes the water vision and recording breaking drought in recent years. He says there is no better time to focus attention in to the state’s water needs and the role water plays in growing the economy.

The deadline for registration is Nov. 2.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to consider reinstating death sentences for two brothers convicted of notorious multiple murders in Kansas in cases that roiled the state’s politics.

The nation’s highest court is taking up cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr, sentenced to lethal injection for four killings in Wichita in December 2000.

The justices also planned to hear the case of Sidney Gleason, sentenced to die for the 2004 murder of a Great Bend woman and her boyfriend after she witnessed a robbery.

The Kansas Supreme Court overturned death sentences in all three cases last year, and Attorney General Derek Schmidt appealed.

The state’s highest court has yet to uphold a death sentence since Kansas reinstated capital punishment in 1994. Republican officials have complained about the decisions.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A state disciplinary panel has recommended a second suspension for a Kansas district court judge suspended from the bench earlier this year over allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the Commission on Judicial Qualifications has found that Sedgwick County Judge Timothy Henderson wasn’t credible and candid when he testified last year about sexual-harassment accusations against him.

The panel wants the state Supreme Court to suspend Henderson for 30 days and publicly censure him.

The high court in February suspended Henderson from the bench without pay for three months over the first complaint against him after finding he made “repeated inappropriate and offensive remarks” to female staff members and prosecutors.

Thomas Haney, Henderson’s attorney, says he’ll file objections to the panel’s new findings.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Republican Party’s chairman is demanding that Democrats’ last nominee for governor withdraw as an attorney from a federal lawsuit challenging voter registration policies.

GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold said Tuesday that former Kansas House Minority Leader Paul Davis’ involvement in the case filed last week violates state law.

Davis says he intends to proceed with the case.

Davis represents two northeast Kansas residents seeking to block enforcement of a 2013 law requiring new voters to provide proof of their U.S. citizenship to register.

They’re also challenging Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s directive to counties to cancel thousands of incomplete registrations.

Arnold cited a state law preventing some ex-legislators from participating in such lawsuits unless they voted against the statute being challenged. Davis voted for the proof-of-citizenship law.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Low grain prices are driving down Kansas cropland values, at the same time that high prices for cattle are pushing up the value of pastures.

Agriculture Department data shows the value of cropland slipped to an average $2,210 per acre in Kansas. That is down 2.2 percent compared to last year.

But the average pasture values rose nearly 7 percent to $1,390 per acre in Kansas.

Kansas State University agricultural economist Mykel Taylor researched property valuation records of actual sales transactions and found those tend to be higher than those reported on government surveys, although general trends are the same. Her study included factors such as location, rainfall and taxes.

Irrigated cropland in south-central Kansas is worth more than land in western counties where it rains less.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A pesticide company has found evidence of bedbugs at a Topeka library.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports  Schendel Pest Services’ bug-sniffing dog, Scout, on Monday found signs of the bugs in two sections of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Library spokeswoman Diana Friend says no bedbugs were seen, but materials including several books were removed from the library for treatment.

The library check comes after a report last week of bedbugs in upholstered chairs at the library.

Friends say the company has told her all public buildings can have bedbugs, and that the library will continue to monitor for the pests.

Shawnee County health officials also say bedbugs aren’t known to carry diseases and should be considered a nuisance instead of a public health risk.

SALINE COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating why a woman was lying in the middle of a highway Monday night and injured when struck by an SUV.

Sheriff’s Captain Roger Soldan said a Solomon woman was driving eastbound on Old Highway 40 just after 8:40 p.m., when she saw a woman lying on the highway on the northeast edge of New Cambria near the intersection with Cunningham Road.

The driver swerved to avoid 49-year-old Tammy Stiefel but ran over her legs.

Stiefel was transported to Salina Regional Health Center for treatment of injuries.

Another westbound driver had stopped and tried to get the attention of the eastbound driver.

Soldan said deputies have no idea why the woman was on the highway, and don’t know how she wound up at that location.