ANDERSON COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 9p.m. Saturday in Anderson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Lincoln Navigator driven by Rebecca L. Brown, 42, Garnett, was westbound on 2000 Road at U.S. 169.

The driver failed to stop at a stop sign and collided with a 2011 Harley Davidson Motorcycle driven by Flint A. Macklin, 42, Kincaid, that was northbound on U.S. 169.

Macklin was thrown from the bike into the southbound lane of the highway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brown was transported to Research Medical Center. A 12-year-old in the SUV was not injured.

Brown was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An 18-year-old is facing 11 felony charges related to a string of arsons in Topeka.

KSNT-TV reports Alexander Jarvis, of Topeka, was arrested last December and originally charged as a juvenile because of his age at the time. He turned 18 in February.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay announced Friday that Jarvis is now charged as an adult with four counts of arson of a dwelling, four counts of aggravated arson of an occupied dwelling, one count of arson of a building, and two counts of criminal damage to property.

The charges are related to fires set at homes and detached garages in Topeka neighborhoods. A total of 15 fires were intentionally set between April and December 2016.

The fires didn’t cause any deaths or serious injuries.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A Kansas woman died in an accident just after 1p.m. Saturday in Montgomery County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Ford Ranger driven by Linda Sue Bruce, 64, Coffeyville, was west bound on U.S. 160 one mile east of Independence.

The pickup drifted right onto the gravel shoulder. The driver overcorrected, drove across the highway, entered the south ditch, overturned and unknown number of times and collided with a fence.

Bruce was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics. A passenger in the pickup Betty Ann Colgan, 58, Coffeyville, was transported to a hospital in Tulsa.  Another passenger Charles Thomas McCabe, 60, Independence, was transported to Labette Health Independence Clinic.

Bruce and McCabe were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Kansas man has pleaded guilty to raping two children for several years.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports 54-year-old Edwin Wasson pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of rape.

Prosecutors say he raped the first victim between 2002 and 2008 and the second child between 2013 and 2015.

Wasson will be required to register immediately as a sex offender and to remain registered for the rest of his life.

Attorneys on both sides requested a sentence of 24.5 years, or 12 years on each count to run consecutively. He will be sentenced Oct. 20.

The victims are now 23 and 17.

TOPEKA–Nine people have been indicted on federal charges of drug trafficking in Marshall County, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

The six-count indictment unsealed on Aug. 30, 2017, alleges John Haver, 61, Waterville, Kan., and others obtained methamphetamine from California and distributed it to buyers in Marshall County, Kan. Charges in the indictment include conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to launder money and money laundering. In addition to Haver, defendants named in the indictment include:

Cally Hanshaw, 41, Waterville, Kan.

Jose Martinez, 40, Porterville, Calif.

Clayton Chase, 28, Marysville, Kan.

Philip Pagan, 38, Waterville, Kan.

Curtis Wichman, 39, Blue Rapids, Kan.

Lorinda Patton, 37, Blue Rapids, Kan.

Kimberly Krunze, 26, Waterville, Kan.

Robert Zidek, 43, Blue Rapids, Kan.

Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:

Count 1: Not less than 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $10 million.

Count 2: Not less than 5 years in federal prison and a fine up to $5 million.

Count 3-6: Up to 20 years and a fine or more than $500,000

Investigative agencies involved in this case include the Waterville, Blue Rapids, and Riley County Police Departments, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Skip Jacobs is prosecuting.

JOHN HANNA, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top prison official says protests outside the walls are helping to fuel unrest in state prisons by inspiring inmates to use mass demonstrations to air grievances.

KANSAS CITY— (AP) — A Kansas City librarian has been found not guilty of charges he faced after he tried to stop the arrest of a library patron during a public forum.

A municipal court judge on Friday found Steve Woolfolk not guilty of obstruction, interfering with an arrest and assaulting a police officer.

The Kansas City Star reports Woolfolk was charged after a May 2016 confrontation at Kansas City library lecture by Middle East expert and diplomat Dennis Ross. Woolfolk intervened when off-duty police and private guards arrested Jeremy Rothe-Kushel of Lawrence, who was trying to ask Ross several questions.

Library executive director R. Crosby Kemper III publicly criticized the arrest. The library and Woolfolk received national awards for his stance.

City prosecutors had earlier dropped trespassing and resisting arrest charges against Rothe-Kushel.

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal pedestrian accident.  Just before 5a.m., Saturday, first responders were dispatched to Kansas 10 at County Road 1057 after report of a vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department.

Eastbound K10 near CR1057 down to 1 traffic lane due to pedestrian being hit and killed by vehicle. Law enforcement still on scene.

— Douglas Co. Sheriff (@DGSOSheriff) September 9, 2017

Traffic was closed to one lane until almost 9 a.m. as a result of the crash.  The Kansas Highway Patrol has not released the name of the victim or details of the crash.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is touting a controversial multistate voter database as a key resource in response to U.S. Department of Justice questions about Kansas’ compliance with federal voting law.

In a recent letter to the Justice Department, obtained by the Kansas News Service through an open records request, Kobach describes the database as “one of the most important systems” Kansas uses to check the accuracy of voter rolls.

Kobach has long said the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program — which began in 2005 under previous Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh — serves as a valuable tool for protecting the integrity of elections by allowing officials in about 30 states to compare their voter rolls in search of people who are double registered.

Critics, however, question the program’s value, saying poor data quality means there is far greater potential for mistakenly assuming people with the same name and birthdate to be the same person.

Related story: Kansans caught in crosscheck system singled out for Kobach’s voter fraud campaign

In his letter to the Justice Department, Kobach said the database serves to identify “potential duplicate registrations,” which can then be checked further.

His letter is a reply to the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which in June contacted election officials in all 50 states seeking details about how they comply with the National Voter Registration Act.

Read Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s letter to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department made its request on June 28 — the same day that Kobach, as vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s commission on voter fraud, asked all states for voter roll data.

The Justice Department asked states to reply within 30 days, but the reply from Kobach’s office is dated Aug. 31.

Read the Justice Department letter regarding the National Voter Registration Act.

A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed this week that Kansas’ letter has been received and is being reviewed. The spokeswoman declined to answer questions about the content of Kansas’ reply, the date of its submission and whether the Justice Department has received responses from all 50 states yet.

Kobach’s office declined to answer questions about the timing of the response and whether the office had sought an extension from the Justice Department.

Among the Justice Department’s questions to Kobach’s office, also obtained through an open records request, are requests for copies of policies and statutes related to removing names from the rolls when voters die or become ineligible because of a change of address. Kobach’s letter points the Justice Department to an online manual for Kansas elections.

The president’s commission on voter fraud, which includes Kobach as vice chairman, will meet Tuesday in New Hampshire.

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

SEDGWICK COUTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a student after an altercation at a Kansas high school.

Just after 1p.m. Friday The School Resource Officer (SRO) at Northwest High School radioed for immediate assistance after a 16 year old student caused a disturbance inside of the school and was punching walls and lockers, according to Wichita Police Officer Charley Davidson

The SRO and two Board of Education (BOE) security officers contacted they boy and he was uncooperative.

He pushed a BOE officer.  The officers attempted to take him into custody and he resisted.   A Sedgwick County Deputy was also in the school and assisted with the situation by deploying a Taser as the 3 officers were having difficulty with the student.

Officers took the student into custody and transported him to an area hospital for treatment of minor injuries. He was booked into the juvenile detention facility for battery of a school official and resist arrest.  No officers were injured.

TESCOTT, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas homicide victim’s Australian shepherd has been found in California where it had been adopted out by an animal shelter.

The dog, named Zeus, and a pickup truck were missing when a family member found Matthew Schoshke’s body at his rural home on Aug. 12.

Thirty-four-year-old Robert Colson, of Bucksport, Maine, is charged with second-degree intentional murder in the killing. He was arrested about two weeks after the killing in Martinez, California. He had been injured while trying to escape from an Amtrak train after a person was stabbed.

Meanwhile, Schoshke’s family took to social media to search for Zeus. They posted this week that Zeus had been located. The newspaper reports that the dog will be reunited soon with Schoshke’s family.