WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is heading toward a postelection showdown over President Donald

Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, as GOP leaders signal they’re willing to engage in hardball tactics that could spark a partial government shutdown and the president revs up midterm crowds for the wall, a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign and a top White House priority.

Trump is promising voters at rallies across the country that Republicans will bring tougher border security in campaign speeches that echo those that propelled him to office two years ago. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., promised a “big fight” over the border wall money and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has not ruled out a mini-shutdown as GOP leaders look to help Trump “get what he’s looking for” on the wall.

“Democrats want to abolish America’s borders and allow drugs and gangs to pour into our country,” Trump said without evidence Wednesday during a swing through Erie, Pa.

“Right after the election we’re doing something very strong on the wall,” Trump added Thursday in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”

Republicans steered clear of shutdown politics ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm election. They know voters have soured on government dysfunction, hold low views of Congress and are unlikely to reward Republicans — as the party in control of Congress and the White House — if post offices, national parks and other services are shuttered.

GOP leaders struck a deal with Democrats earlier this year to fund most of the government into next year. They presented their case to Trump in a White House meeting in September — complete with photos of the border wall under construction. Trump, who previously warned he would not sign another big budget bill into law without his border funds, quietly signed the legislation before the start of the new budget year Oct. 1.

Left undone, however, is the portion of the government that funds the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border, and a few other agencies. They’re now running on stopgap funds set to expire Dec. 7.

The deadline sets the stage for a new round of budget brawls.

“We intend on having a full-fledged discussion about how to complete this mission of securing our border and we will have a big fight about it,” Ryan said in a speech at the National Press Club.

Asked if he made a commitment to Trump for a shutdown over wall funds, Ryan said blame would fall to Democrats, who are in the minority in Congress and largely oppose increased funding for the wall. Trump promised during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall — a claim Mexico rejects and Republicans routinely ignore.

“We have a commitment to go fight for securing the border and getting these policy objectives achieved,” Ryan said.

House Republicans approved $5 billion for Trump’s wall, including physical barriers and technology along the U.S. southern border, in a key committee, although it comes without Democratic support. A bipartisan bill being considered in the Senate allocates $1.6 billion for the wall, far short of the $5 billion the White House is seeking as part of a $25 billion, five-year plan to complete the project.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., upped the stakes Friday by introducing legislation for the full $25 billion in border funds as he bids for Ryan’s job as the speaker retires. McCarthy’s toured the southern border this week to make the case for the wall as he seeks to shore up support from conservatives skeptical of his possible leadership promotion.

McConnell predicted a “lively” lame-duck session and didn’t close the door on the possibility of a mini-shutdown.

“We’ve got a lot of work left to do,” he said in an AP Newsmakers interview. “That episode, if it occurs, would be in that portion of the government that we haven’t funded.”

Asked how much money Congress would try to secure for the border wall, McConnell said, “We’re going to try to help (Trump) get what he’s looking for.”

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Senate Republicans are willing to fight for more than the $1.6 billion currently being considered, but stopped short of predicting how much money Congress would approve.

“I think it’s going to be a big fight . always because of the different views,” Shelby said.

The midterm results will play a key role in how the fight over wall funding is resolved. If Republicans lose the House majority, as some analysts predict, they will lose leverage, although the GOP would still be able to force House passage of a wall-funding package in the lame-duck session. Prospects are murkier in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to break a filibuster.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said “Democrats believe in strong border security,” but would not commit to a specific spending figure. “We’re going to keep fighting for the strongest, toughest border security,” he said.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A lawsuit alleges that a Kansas man who spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he didn’t commit was targeted because his mother rebuffed a homicide detective’s sexual advances.

Forty-two-year-old Lamonte McIntyre and his mother, 64-year-old Rose Lee McIntyre, sued Thursday in federal court. Lamonte McIntyre was freed last year . He was 17 when he was arrested in 1994 in the deaths of 21-year-old Doniel Quinn and 34-year-old Donald Ewing. They were shot in broad daylight in a drug-infested neighborhood.

No physical evidence linked him to the crime, and he didn’t know the victims. The lawsuit blames his arrest on a “dirty cop who used the power of his badge to exploit vulnerable black women.”

A police spokesman says the department is reviewing the lawsuit.

By STEPHAN BISAHA

Kansas schools are still struggling to hire teachers. 

There are more than 600 vacant teaching positions in Kansas, nearly 100 more than in the fall of 2017. Special education and elementary positions have the largest number of vacancies. 

The Kansas State Board of Education received the update on Tuesday from the Teacher Vacancy and Supply Committee. The main reason for the open positions is a lack of applicants or qualified applicants. 

The committee also hinted that the vacancy numbers could be worse than reported, as some schools have been reluctant to report open positions. 

“I have calls from superintendents that say, ‘Man, what’s going to happen to me if I don’t get a person in this position?’ ” said Susan Helbert, the assistant director for teacher licensure at the Kansas State Department of Education. “Well, actually nothing is going to happen except I need to know that so we can address those issues.” 

2018 saw a drop in the number of new graduates receiving teaching licenses in the state. 

Wichita Public Schools reported that it had cut its teacher shortage in half this fall, though more than 50 vacancies remained at the start of the school year. 

Stephan Bisaha is an education reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @SteveBisaha. 

MCPHERSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and asking the public to help locate a suspect. Just before 7p.m. Friday, police responded to report of a shooting in the 400 Block of Lynn’s Lane, according to a media release.

A 23-year-old woman at the scene told police she was out walking when an unknown suspect approached and shot her.

EMS transported the woman to a Wichita hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, according to the release. .

Police and sheriff’s deputies searched the area but found no suspect. Police had no new information to release Saturday or early Sunday, according to McPherson County Communications Anyone with information is asked to contact McPherson Police.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The suspect from two officer-involved shootings which occurred Thursday in Topeka was discharged from the hospital and arrested.

According to a media release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Trevon L. Brown, 23, was discharged from the hospital just before noon Saturday and immediately transported to the Shawnee County Jail where he was booked for two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, two counts of felony possession of a firearm, interference with law enforcement, and criminal use of a weapon. These are initial booking charges, according to the KBI.

Once the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) concludes its investigation, the findings will be turned over to Shawnee County District Attorney Michael Kagay for his review. Any further information related to this investigation will come from the District Attorney’s Office.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating the discovery of human remains in Riley County.

Just after 3 p.m. Saturday, the Riley County Police Department received a call from a citizen reporting the discovery of possible human remains in the 300 block of North Park Road in Ogden, according to a media release.

When officers arrived on scene, they began the initial investigation and confirmed the remains are human.

The identity of the deceased is not known at this time. This is an active investigation. Further information is not available.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Riley County Police Department.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Faneuil, a Virginia-based company that plans to bring hundreds of jobs to downtown Wichita, is looking to hire 250 workers in the next few weeks.

The company says it will interview customer care representatives on Tuesday for a call center.

Faneuil will train employees, who must have a minimum of a high school diploma or GED.

The hiring rush is prompted by the annual open enrollment period for health insurance. Many of the positions will work with people enrolling in health insurance plans.

Jay Hinckley, senior director of the company’s Wichita sites, said with the new hires, the company will have 600 employees in Wichita.

Union Station in downtown Wichita is being renovated to accommodate up to 700 Faneuil employees.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump welcomed American pastor Andrew Brunson to the Oval Office on Saturday, celebrating his release from nearly two years of confinement in Turkey that had sparked a diplomatic row with a key ally and outcry from U.S. evangelical groups.

WELCOME HOME PASTOR ANDREW BRUNSON! pic.twitter.com/HijeAGU1gy

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2018

Brunson, who returned to the United States aboard a military jet shortly before their meeting, appeared to be in good health and good spirits. He thanked Trump for working to secure his freedom and then led his family in prayer for the president. “You really fought for us,” he told Trump.

“From a Turkish prison to the White House in 24 hours, that’s not bad,” Trump said.

Administration officials cast Brunson’s release as vindication of Trump’s hard-nosed negotiating stance, saying Turkey tried to set terms for Brunson’s release, but Trump was insistent on Brunson’s release without conditions. Trump maintained there was no deal for Brunson’s freedom, but the president dangled the prospect of better relations between the U.S. and its NATO ally.

“We do not pay ransom in this country,” Trump said.

Where previous administrations kept negotiations over U.S. prisoners held abroad close to the vest, Trump has elevated them to causes célèbres, striking a tough line with allies and foes alike.

Trump thanked Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had resisted the demands of Trump and other high-level U.S. officials for Brunson’s release. Erdogan had insisted that his country’s courts are independent, though he previously had suggested a possible swap for Brunson.

The U.S. had repeatedly called for Brunson’s release and, this year, sanctioned two Turkish officials and doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports citing in part Brunson’s plight.

Trump said the U.S. greatly appreciated Brunson’s release and said the move “will lead to good, perhaps great, relations” between the U.S. and fellow NATO ally Turkey, and said the White House would “take a look” at the sanctions.

Brunson’s homecoming amounts to a diplomatic high note for Trump, who is counting on the support of evangelical Christians for Republican candidates in the Nov. 6 election. Thousands of Trump’s supporters cheered Friday night at a rally in Ohio when Trump informed them that Brunson was once again a free man.

Trump asked Brunson and his family which candidate they voted for in 2016, saying he was confident they had gone for him. “I would like to say I sent in an absentee ballot from prison,” Brunson quipped, before praying that God grant Trump “supernatural wisdom.”

Evangelical voters overwhelmingly voted for the president despite discomfort with his personal shortcomings, in large part because he pledged to champion their causes, from to defending persecuted Christians overseas to appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court. In the space of seven days, less than a month from the midterm elections, Trump delivered on both fronts.

Brunson’s case has been championed by prominent evangelical leaders such as Tony Perkins, as well as Vice President Mike Pence.

First word of Brunson’s arrival back on American soil Saturday came from Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. Perkins tweeted just after noon that he had landed at a military base outside Washington with Brunson and his wife, Norine.

Erdogan said on he hoped the two countries will continue to cooperate “as it befits two allies.” Erdogan also called for joint efforts against terrorism, and he listed the Islamic State group, Kurdish militants and the network of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016.

Relations between the countries have become severely strained over Brunson’s detention and a host of other issues.

A Turkish court on Friday convicted Brunson of having links to terrorism and sentenced him to just over three years in prison, but released the 50-year-old evangelical pastor because he had already spent nearly two years in detention. An earlier charge of espionage was dropped.

Hours later, Brunson was flown out of Turkey, his home for more than two decades. He was taken to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for a medical checkup.

“I love Jesus. I love Turkey,” an emotional Brunson, who had maintained his innocence, told the court at Friday’s hearing.

Brunson’s release could benefit Turkey by allowing the government to focus on an escalating diplomatic crisis over Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi contributor to The Washington Post who has been missing for more than a week and is feared dead after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, was killed in the consulate; Saudi officials deny it.

Trump maintained the two cases were not linked, saying Brunson’s release amid the Khashoggi investigation was “strict coincidence.”

Turkey may also hope the U.S. will now lift the tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports, a move that would inject confidence into an economy rattled by high inflation and foreign currency debt.

But Brunson’s release doesn’t resolve disagreements over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, as well as a plan by Turkey to buy Russian surface-to-air missiles. Turkey is also frustrated by the refusal of the U.S. to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of engineering the failed coup.

Brunson was accused of committing crimes on behalf of Gulen and Kurdish militants who have been fighting the Turkish state for decades. He faced up to 35 years in jail if convicted of all the charges against him.

The pastor, who is originally from Black Mountain, North Carolina, led a small congregation in the Izmir Resurrection Church. He was imprisoned for nearly two years after being detained in October 2016. Brunson was formally arrested that December and placed under house arrest on July 25 for health reasons.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Female veterans now have their own Veterans Affairs’ health center in Topeka.

The Topeka VA opened the new women’s center on Friday.

nearly 4,000 women veterans use the VA Eastern Kansas Health Center.

VA Eastern Kansas director Rudy Klopfer said that 10 years ago, the organization had one provider for women housed in a small, one-room space.

The new center boasts five exam rooms, two primary care providers, a full-time gynecologist, a mental health provider and a social worker.

In 1945, women made up 2 percent of the military. Today 15 percent of those on active duty are women.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and have released a security camera image of the suspect.

Just before 6:30 a.m. Friday while making a purchase, a man removed a deposit bag from a counter at Rod’s 6, 220 W. Magnolia in Salina. The deposit bag contained $1,891.00 in cash, according to a media release from police.

The suspect was captured on video. He was described as a black male, 6 feet tall, with shoulder-length “dreads.” He left in a small dark colored SUV-type vehicle.

Anyone with information concerning who committed this crime should call Crime Stoppers at 825TIPS, text SATIPS to CRIMES (274637), or visit www.pd.salina.org