By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

The fight over an oil-related waste disposal well in Kansas’ Flint Hills has broadened into a campaign to protest similar wells across several counties and lobby lawmakers for regulatory changes.

Last month residents of Chase, Morris and other counties known for their rolling topography, open pastures and tallgrass ecology lost their effort to block operation of a saltwater injection well near Strong City and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

Related story: Kansas regulators approve oil company’s Flint Hills injection well request

Matfield Green resident Cindy Hoedel, one of those who opposed the Morris County well, said petitioners will not appeal the decision issued Sept. 21 by the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC), the state’s energy-regulating body.

Doing so would be “fruitless,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any chance that they would change their minds.”

But, she said, residents are scouring local newspapers for legally required public notices for plans of additional wastewater disposal wells across several counties.

“It’s our full intention to fight every one of them,” Hoedel said.

They already have filed protest letters against another application for saltwater injection — this one near Hamilton in Greenwood County south of Emporia.

See the application for a saltwater injection well in Greenwood County.

Robert Vincze, an attorney representing Quail Oil & Gas, which will operate the Morris County well, said the protesters’ decision not to appeal is “good news.”

“We believe that it was a good result for all involved,” he said of the recent KCC order.

Vincze had argued to the KCC during an August hearing that Quail’s application met all the state’s criteria and protesters failed to give any valid reasons for rejecting it.

Read the transcript of the August hearing at the Kansas Corporation Commission.

The KCC ultimately agreed.

Saltwater injection

Energy companies use saltwater injection wells to dispose of wastewater churned up in the course of producing oil and natural gas. The liquid is primarily brine but also can contain chemicals.

Saltwater injection wells are commonly confused with fracking — a technique of injecting water and chemicals into the earth to extract natural gas or oil — but the processes are different. The U.S. Geological Survey says a proliferation of wastewater disposal wells is behind the spike in earthquakes that have rattled Oklahoma and south-central Kansas in recent years.

Since 2008, more than 5,000 temblors strong enough for people to feel have struck Kansas and Oklahoma.

The U.S. Geological Survey has responded with annual seismicity reports, the most recent of which concluded that parts of the region now face risks similar to those in earthquake-prone California.

At the same time, geologists say most saltwater injection wells are not linked to earthquakes. The Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association also points to such findings in industry-funded research.

Geologists say the risk for a given well to trigger quakes depends on factorsincluding proximity to faults and other geological characteristics, as well as daily injection volumes and pressurization.

Morris, Chase and surrounding counties do not have a history of temblors with local epicenters, but residents of the area have been able to feel the shaking from quakes that strike farther south.

Some fear that oil and gas operators will install more wells in their region after the KCC capped daily disposal volumes in south-central Kansas to stem the quakes there — a measure that appeared to have effect. They worry the advent of more wells would trigger epicenters in their direct vicinity or that faulty wells or unscrupulous wastewater disposal practices could contaminate groundwater.

In the Quail Oil case, the KCC concluded it can only act in limited circumstances, including “to prevent or avoid the immediate danger to the public health, safety or welfare,” and that the protestors hadn’t proven such a danger, either regarding earthquakes or water contamination.

Current operations

The Quail Oil well will not set precedent in the Flint Hills. Morris and its neighboring counties already have scores of active saltwater injection wells.

Quail Oil, a company with a Garden City post office box address, received permission to dump up to 5,000 barrels of wastewater a day.

Vincze argued 5,000 barrels was not a large volume compared to wells in south-central Kansas that can dump thousands more barrels per day. Some can dump more than three times as much.

However, Flint Hills residents presented testimony from James Aber, Emporia State University professor emeritus of geology, suggesting further proliferation of saltwater wells in the area ultimately could trigger quakes, as eventually happened in Oklahoma and south-central Kansas, because the area is riddled with faults.

The KCC decision has the grassroots group of Flint Hills protesters planning to seek regulatory changes through the Kansas Legislature.

Hoedel said her concern is that no agency in Kansas is tasked with proactively guarding the state, its residents and property owners against activities that cause earthquakes. She and others argue the KCC only capped wastewater disposal in south-central Kansas after temblors had become frequent.

“We don’t find it a satisfactory answer to drill, cause damage and then try to mitigate the damage,” Hoedel said.

In May, 30 state lawmakers — 28 Democrats and two Republicans — wrote to the KCC expressing concern about Quail Oil’s Morris County well. They urged the body to “err on the side of caution,” lest the Flint Hills begin to see temblors, too.

“Man-induced earthquakes are a relatively new phenomenon,” they wrote. “What is the tipping point of risk?”

Read the letter to the KCC from 30 Kansas lawmakers.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas police are investigating after about 20 used shell casings were found outside the university’s administrative building.

Police say they have found no evidence that a weapon was shot anywhere near Strong Hall before the cases were found Tuesday in bushes.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports police believe the person or people who left the shell casings were trying to make a statement but they didn’t elaborate on what type of statement.

A Kansas law that took effect in July required state universities to allow concealed guns on their campuses. There has been strong opposition to the law on many of the universities’ campuses.

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug, domestic battery and alleged kidnapping charges.

Just before noon Tuesday sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Old Manor Road in Ellinwood to assist the Ellinwood Police Department with a domestic battery case.

While deputies were on their way to the area, the Ellinwood Police Department advised the suspect had fled north from Ellinwood on 100 Avenue.

Deputies were able to locate the suspect vehicle, a gray 2016 Ford Focus.

When Sheriff’s officers attempted to stop the vehicle the suspect fled.  Sheriff’s officers pursued the vehicle in an area north and west of Ellinwood on rural roads.

Deputies deployed stop sticks at two locations but the suspect vehicle was able to get around them and continued to the 500 block of North East 30 Road where it turned north into a field.

Deputies continued to pursue and were able to box in the suspect vehicle. The driver Kurt Doll, 35, Ellinwood, was taken into custody without incident.

It was about this time Ellinwood police advised this was also a kidnapping case.

Deputies transported Doll to the Barton County Jail where he was booked on charges of felony flee and elude, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. These charges are in addition to the charges sought by Ellinwood for domestic battery and kidnapping.

Doll is being held in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

WASHINGTON — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is in Washington for a U.S. Senate committee hearing on his nomination for ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

Watch a replay of Wednesday’s hearing presided by Senator Marco Rubio   from Washington here.

The hearing in Dirksen Senate Office Building before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee begins started at 9:30 a.m. CDT.

President Donald Trump nominated the two-term Republican governor for the ambassadorship in late July. Brownback said he’ll step down as governor when the Senate confirms him. There is no timetable on when the committee would schedule a vote for confirmation.

Members of the committee include

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on the mass shooting in Las Vegas

A U.S. law enforcement official says FBI agents met Marilou Danley at the airport in Los Angeles late Tuesday night. She is the girlfriend of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock.

Immigration documents show Danley had been abroad for weeks and was in the Philippines on Sunday when Paddock opened fire on a crowd, killing 59

A Filipino official says Paddock traveled at least twice to the Philippines, where his girlfriend was born.

The official said Paddock visited the Philippines in 2013 and 2014, around his birthday, staying for five to six days on both occasions. There were no immediate details available about those trips.

The Filipino official was not authorized to discuss the trips publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

___

3:45 a.m.

The Australia-based sisters of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend say they believe Paddock sent her away so she wouldn’t interfere with his plans to go on a shooting rampage.

Marilou Danley’s sisters were interviewed by Australia’s Channel 7 TV network with their faces obscured and their names withheld. They said they were surprised to learn Danley had gone to the Philippines two weeks ago.

One sister tearfully said: “I know that she don’t know anything.”

The woman said Danley is “a good person” who would’ve stopped Paddock had she been there.

___

2 a.m.

A nephew of Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend says he’s stunned by the actions of the Las Vegas gunman and didn’t even know that Paddock was interested in guns.

Jordan Knights’ aunt is Marilou Danley, a 62-year-old who recently returned to the United States from a weekslong trip abroad. The Australian man says he spent time in Las Vegas with Paddock and Danley just a few months ago.

Knights told Australia’s Channel 9 from his home near Brisbane, “It seemed like he just looked after my aunty and that was it.”

The 23-year-old said he didn’t give Paddock another thought until he was identified as the gunman who killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 on Sunday.

He said that Paddock “didn’t seem like he was the type of guy to do that.”

___

12:09 a.m.

The investigation of a gunman who killed 59 people at a Las Vegas concert now shifts to his girlfriend, who has returned to the United States from the Philippines.

Sheriff Joseph Lombardo says investigators are hoping to get some insight from Marilou Danley on why her boyfriend Stephen Paddock opened fire on a concert crowd from a high-rise hotel room.

Danley had been out of the country for weeks before the shooting. A law enforcement official says she arrived on a flight from Manila to Los Angeles where FBI agents were waiting for her late Tuesday night.

The official wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Las Vegas to meet with

.

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a 21-year-old woman in a Manhattan apartment fire.

The Riley County Police Department says the Monday night fire was intentionally set. Bond for the suspect is set at $75,000. Police say she was sent to the hospital. Her condition wasn’t immediately known.

The blaze did an estimated $15,000 in damage.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man who called himself rapper C-Los El Gran was sentenced to 14 years in prison for participating in a $4 million drug trafficking ring.

U.S. Attorney Tom Beall says 30-year-old Carl Sierra pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. As part of his plea, he admitted being a member of a drug trafficking conspiracy led by his half-brother, Edwin Pacheco. Authorities say they distributed methamphetamine throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Investigators used confidential informants and electronic surveillance to monitor Sierra’s conversations with Pacheco, during which they discussed the drug distribution.

Pacheco is awaiting sentencing.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and continue to search for suspects.

Just after 2p.m. Tuesday, officers were dispatched to a call for reported domestic violence  in the area of the 2200 block of SE Davies in Topeka, according to a media release.

As officers approached the scene, they witnessed one man firing a hand gun at another man at the intersection of 22nd and SE Davies.

The victim ran to the northwest while the subject who fired the gun ran from the officer to the south east. A perimeter was set up and a K9 track was attempted, but the officers were unable to locate the suspect.

No injuries were reported as a result of the aggravated assault and area schools were notified and put on lock down for a short period of time while officers searched for the suspect.

Anyone with information relating to this crime is asked to call the Topeka Police Department.

PAWNEE COUNTY — A Kansas man is facing charges multiple drug charges and made a first court appearance Monday.

Pawnee County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Joseph Shane Allen, 42 of Pierceville, Thursday without incident following a routine traffic stop, according to the Pawnee County Attorney.

He is charged with possession of between 3.5. grams and 100 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of between 10 and 100 doses of an opioid or narcotic drug with intent to distribute, unlawful drug manufacturing precursors, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia suitable for manufacture of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon; possession of hallucinogenic drug, circumvention of an interlock device, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia suitable for ingesting a controlled substance, and speeding.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for October 16, 2017. He has 8 previous convictions for drugs and or driving charges, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The defendant remains in the custody of the Pawnee County Sheriff on a $90,000 bond.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man accused of walking into a tax office in Wichita and shooting a state tax agent has pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder.

Fifty-two-year-old Ricky Wirths waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered the plea Tuesday. Investigators say Wirths went to the Kansas Department of Revenue office Sept. 19 and shot Cortney Holloway several times.

Wirths, of Wichita, owed nearly $400,000 in outstanding tax warrants and Holloway was working on the case. The day of the shooting, agents had gone to Wirths’ home to seize assets.

Earlier Tuesday, Holloway’s family issued a statement urging prosecutors not to allow Wirths to plead to a lesser charge, saying he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

His trial was set for Nov. 13.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

The Kansas Supreme Court on Monday struck down the state’s aid to schools as unconstitutionally low — and unfair to poor school districts in particular. The decision could pressure lawmakers to increase school funding by hundreds of millions dollars.

In June, Kansas lawmakers passed a new school finance formula that included an infusion of nearly $300 million by 2019. The question now, justices wrote, was whether Kansas had shown this complies with the Kansas Constitution.

“We hold the State has not,” they said, even if the formula “makes positive strides.”

Read the latest Kansas Supreme Court ruling in Gannon v. Kansas.

The need for more education spending will likely force lawmakers into yet more difficult conversations about tax policy. This summer the Legislature wrapped up a 114-day session — a tie for the state’s longest ever — that revolved around the fate of Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature 2012 tax cuts.

That political fight ended when, after multiple attempts at a resolution, lawmakers overrode a veto from the governor and hiked taxes over the next two years to dodge a $900 million deficit and increase aid to schools.

Related story: 5 themes at the heart of Kansas’ school funding lawsuit

Monday’s ruling requires lawmakers to pass legislation to fix the situation by April 30, which is the deadline for the state to file a legal brief in defense of that new legislation. Oral arguments are scheduled for May 22, and the state Supreme Court will issue its next ruling by June 30.

The justices pointed to the history of litigation against the state, saying courts had found funding for Kansas public schools insufficient for 12 of the past 15 years, even before Monday’s decision.

“We will not allow ourselves to be placed in the position of being complicit actors,” they wrote, “in the continuing deprivation of a constitutionally adequate and equitable education owed to hundreds of thousands of Kansas school children.”

‘Not going to happen’

Republican legislative leaders including Senate President Susan Wagle expressed consternation about the ruling in a joint statement.

“This ruling shows clear disrespect for the legislative process and puts the rest of state government and programs in jeopardy,” the statement said. “Senate Republicans remain committed to providing every Kansas student with an exceptional education, however, raising taxes to fund this unrealistic demand is not going to happen.”

Related story: To craft school funding bill, Kansas Senate relies on math from 41 districts

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley urged lawmakers to appoint a special panel to begin crafting a fix as soon as possible.

“Today’s decision once again validates what I have been saying throughout the school finance litigation,” he said. “We cannot wait until the 2018 session to remedy these constitutional violations.”

House Minority Leader Jim Ward called the ruling “no surprise.”

“The Democratic caucus is ready to get to work immediately” on a new formula, he said.

Brownback’s office did not have an immediate comment on the ruling. A spokeswoman said his office was still reviewing it.

Some Democrats had speculated the court would order a fix sooner than next spring or summer, making a special legislative session necessary. But Monday’s ruling means lawmakers can pass legislation during their next regular session, which starts in January 2018.

During this year’s session, lawmakers were under court pressure to increase funding for schools. The new school finance formula that they passed in June was designed to increase annual aid by $293 million over the next two years — with most of that increase coming this school year — and to tie funding to inflation after that.

Lawmakers were divided at the time over whether this amount would satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court, which in March struck down the state’s previous school finance scheme as unconstitutional.

The state’s lawyers argued in court that it should be enough, but plaintiffs pushed for three times as much.

The justices not only concluded the $293 million boost wasn’t sufficient, they said several details in the new school finance formula were unfair to poorer school districts and taxpayers in those areas.

Among these problems, they cited a provision that benefited only two school districts in the state —Blue Valley and De Soto, both in Johnson County — by giving them dollars to serve more children from low-income families than are actually registered as attending those districts.

Plaintiff schools reaction

Four school districts — Wichita, Dodge City, Hutchinson and Kansas City Kansas — are plaintiffs in the Gannon v. Kansas lawsuit, with dozens more co-sponsoring it.

Dodge City superintendent Fred Dierksen applauded the court’s decision.

“The bottom line is that I want to be able to offer the same education in Dodge City that they’re able to offer in the Kansas City area,” Dierksen said. “I think it goes without saying that we all deserve that.”

Kansas City Kansas superintendent Cindy Lane expressed frustration that schools would not see a resolution this school year. But she was optimistic about the eventual effect of the ruling.

“I am hopeful now with this ruling, as strong as it is, that our legislative body will do what they need to do,” she said.

Related story: Learn the history behind ‘Rose Standards’ central to Kansas school funding fight

John Robb, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called it yet another “great ruling for Kansas kids.”

“It shows the courts are going to enforce our constitution and they’re going to insist that the Legislature provide suitable funding,” Robb said Monday. “They keep telling the Legislature what they need to do, and the Legislature sooner or later needs to listen.”

Monday’s ruling was just the latest in a series of decisions over the past seven years in which Kansas courts found fault with the state’s K-12 funding. The various court orders found overall funding inadequate or otherwise unfair to students living in districts with less local wealth as defined by taxable property, a key money source.

School districts had already sued and won a similar court case that ran from 1999 to the mid-2000s and that ended with the state agreeing to increase annual school funding by more than $750 million. The recession hit before the money had been fully phased in, and the plan to do so fell by the wayside.

Instead, the recession sparked hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts. Brownback’s signature 2012 tax cuts and the ensuing state revenue woes in recent years perpetuated the situation.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

DICKINSON COUNTY —  Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects for a drugs and child endangerment charges.

After the execution of a search warrant Monday at homes in the 200 Block of East Hawley in Herrington, deputies arrested Brandi Nicole Gantenbein, 27, and Tonya Lynn Braucher, 30, on multiple drug related counts, according to a media release from the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies arrested Gantenbein on suspicion of felony counts of Possession of Methamphetamine and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, plus misdemeanor charges of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Endangering a Child.

Deputies arrested Braucher on suspicion of felony counts of Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a misdemeanor count of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and two counts of Endangering a Child.

The search warrants were executed by The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Enforcement Unit, Deputies of that department, and officers with the Abilene and Herington Police Departments.

During the search of the residences law enforcement officers seized more than one ounce of methamphetamine and several items of drug paraphernalia. The case is ongoing and more arrests are possible.

Braucher has previous convictions for Aggravated child endangerment, theft, drugs and burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.