TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is preparing for a new fiscal forecast for state government this week that officials hope is more optimistic and makes fixing serious budget problems easier.

The forecasting group plans to meet Thursday to revise a pessimistic forecast issued in November. The previous forecast left the state with projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019.

Since that November forecast, the state’s tax collections have exceeded expectations by $57 million and given the state a 1.4 percent revenue surplus for its current fiscal year.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators will use the new numbers in budgeting. If the forecast is more optimistic about tax collections, the budget gaps will shrink.

The forecasting group includes legislative researchers, university economists, Department of Revenue officials and Brownback budget staffers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after admitting in court that he drunkenly caused an Interstate 70 wreck that killed two children and left their father paralyzed.

Sixty-one-year-old James L. Green was sentenced Thursday in Jackson County after pleading guilty to two counts each of second-degree murder and assault. The Odessa man also pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated.

Prosecutors say Green was intoxicated and driving with a suspended driver’s license when his sport utility vehicle hit another vehicle from behind on the freeway in Blue Springs. Three other vehicles later were involved in the wreck.

The crash killed 7-year-old Chloe Beaird and 13-year-old Gavin Beaird, both of Warrenton. Two injured adults included the children’s father, who was left paralyzed from the chest down.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An organization representing Kansas’ local governments says it’ll push for legislation that would allow greater flexibility in boosting property taxes without first seeking voter blessings for them.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the League of Kansas Municipalities said Wednesday it will press for amending a “property tax lid” law adopted by the Legislature in 2015.

That law generally requires cities and counties to seek voter approval before they can adopt a budget that increases the spending of property tax revenues beyond a five-year average rate of inflation.

Two measures relating to the tax lid are pending in Topeka. One would repeal it, while the other one supported by the League of Kansas Municipalities that would make bigger budgets subject to protest petitions, not automatically requiring an election.

RENO COUNTY —  Law enforcement authorities in Reno Count are investigating a suspect on drug distribution charges.

Just before 3p.m. Saturday, police stopped a driver for speeding at U.S. 50 and Main Street in South Hutchinson, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.

Allissa Holler, 31, Mesa, AZ., granted a search by officers and they uncovered 44 pounds of suspected marijuana in the vehicle.

Police arrested Holler on suspicion of being in possession of marijuana with intent to
distribute.

She is being held on a $100,000 bond and is expected to make a first appearance in court Monday.

MEADE COUNTY – Three people died in an accident just before 7p.m. on Friday in Meade County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Ford F250 pulling a camper and driven by George Albert Lane, 53, Buffalo, MO., was eastbound on U.S. 54 one mile west of Fowler.

The camper trailer came unhooked from the pickup as it exited the bridge.

A 2013 Kenworth semi driven by Zachery Howard Duncan, 43, Watertown, SD., drove through the camper trailer. The collision caused a flat tire and the semi’s brakes locked up.

The camper trailer rotated off into the south ditch and hit a 2015 Kia Soul driven by Laura M. Perez, 44, Liberal, on the driver’s side front.

The Kenworth semi was pulled left of center and hit a 2015 Freighliner semi driven by John Franklin Kemp, Jr. 56, Brandon, MS., which was eastbound on U.S. 54. The Freightliner came to rest in the middle of the eastbound lane and completely burned.

The cab of the Kenworth semi became disconnected from the chassis and came to in the bottom of the creek.

Duncan, Kemp and a passenger in the Kenworth Manda J. Price, 35, Watertown, SD, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Fidler, Orme Bachman Mortuary.

No other injuries were reported.

ATCHISON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Atchison County are investigating what caused injury to a bald eagle.

The Atchison County Game Warden and along biologist Tyler Warner captured an injured bald eagle near Atchison State Fishing Lake, according to a social media report.

The eagle shows signs of having lead poisoning.

Local veterinarian and certified rehabilitation specialist Sherri McNarry did x-rarys on the eagle.

They showed a lead object either in the muscle or intestine. Treatment is underway, but the outlook is grim. Further testing will be done to see if further treatment is an option or if the eagle will have to be euthanized by the vet. At this point it is unsure if the lead was ingested by the eagle, or if the eagle was shot.

MCPHERSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities, including the Kansas Bureau, are investigating a murder in McPherson County.

On Friday, police responded to the report of a man on the floor of his home in the city of McPherson, according to a media release.

When first responders arrived, the man was dead. Police believe the victim was targeted and knew the suspects. They do not believe the crime is a random act.

Officers identified the murder victim as 58-year-old Steven Carlson of McPherson.

Through the course of the investigation, officers identified 25-year-old Travis Ryan Belt as a suspect in the homicide. Just after 12:20 a.m. Saturday, police arrested Travis Belt on the requested charge of Murder in the First Degree and booked him into the McPherson County Jail.

Charges will be sent to McPherson County Attorney Torrance Parkins for review and filing.

Belt has previous drug, theft and weapons convictions in Reno and McPherson County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

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MCPHERSON COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities including the Kansas Bureau are investigating a possible murder in McPherson County.

On Friday, police responded to report of a man on the floor of his home in the city of McPherson, according to a media release.

When first responders arrived, the man was dead. Police believe the victim was targeted and knew the suspects. They do not believe the crime is a random act.

No additional details were released late Saturday morning.
Anyone with information on the murder is asked to contact McPherson County Crimestoppers.

GEARY COUNTY –A Kansas woman entered a “no contest” plea in a first-degree murder case on Friday in Geary County District Court.

Gabrielle “Gabby” Williams, 20, was convicted of conspiracy to commit premeditated first degree murder in the death of 24-year-old David Phillips of Manhattan.

Phillips was found dead from gunshot wounds to the head at 827 West 12th Street, Apartment C in Junction City in January of 2016.

She used electronic communication to lure Phillips to an apartment, according to prosecutors.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors recommended 180 months in prison.
Sentencing is set for July 27th.

Her co-defendant Joseph Craig is charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Robbery, Criminal Possession of a Firearm by a Previously Convicted Felon, and in the alternative Premeditated 1st Degree Murder or Felony Murder.

BY MEG WINGERTER

Additional funding for some mental health facilities in Kansas may depend, at least in part, on the number of lottery tickets sold from new machines.

The Kansas House and Senate have approved versions of House Bill 2313, which would direct proceeds from newly legalized lottery ticket vending machines to crisis stabilization centers and mental health clubhouses.

The bill must go to a conference committee, which will work out differences between the House and Senate versions, before it can proceed to Gov. Sam Brownback.

HB 2313 would allow a maximum of $4 million to go to mental health facilities in the fiscal year beginning in July and a maximum of $8 million in the following years. The actual funds could be lower, however, if businesses are slow to install lottery ticket machines or players don’t use them.

Community mental health centers had sought a bill that would have pulled more money from lottery proceeds and restored their funding to 2007 levels, but that plan failed to gain traction among legislators.

Crisis centers would receive 75 percent of the lottery ticket machine proceeds, though the bill doesn’t specify how to divide the money among the three centers, which are in Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka. They treat patients in mental health or substance abuse crisis for up to three days, with the goal of diverting them from the state hospitals.

Marilyn Cook, executive director of COMCARE, which runs the crisis center in Wichita, said the center needs about $1 million to sustain itself financially because of the high number of uninsured patients it treats. She said she hopes the lottery money and additional funding from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services will fill that gap.

“It’s an effort to find some sustainable funding,” she said.

The COMCARE crisis center was able to reduce the number of patients Sedgwick County sends to Osawatomie State Hospital roughly by half, Cook said. Many patients stabilize in less than a day because staff can assist them in a calm environment, she said.

“EMS (emergency medical services) benefits, law enforcement benefits, the state hospital benefits and of course the patients benefit,” she said.

Treating More Patients

Bill Persinger, CEO of Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, said he wasn’t sure how much its crisis center, known as The Residence, might gain from the lottery funds. The crisis center typically provides patients with a safe place and treatment for about 72 hours, he said.

Any extra money could go toward hiring more mental health and security staff so the center could treat patients with more serious mental health issues, Persinger said. All patients at the center are there voluntarily, he said, but some may need extensive supervision so they don’t harm themselves or someone else.

“Maybe we could keep that person safely in Topeka in our voluntary facility,” he said. “If we didn’t have access to that level of staffing, that person’s needs might require hospitalization.”

Extra funding also could go toward having a physician on call to prescribe medications and offsetting the cost of caring for uninsured patients, Persinger said.

Sharon Sawyer, executive director of RSI, a Kansas City crisis center, said she wasn’t counting on any additional funding. RSI receives $3.5 million from the state annually, which came from savings when Rainbow Mental Health Facility closed. The funding was supposed to end this year but has been extended to 2018, she said.

“We would just like to receive continued support from the state,” she said.

More Funding For Clubhouses

The lottery bill would direct 25 percent of proceeds from the new machines to rehabilitation programs known as “clubhouses” that help people with mental illnesses improve their job and life skills.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man has pleaded no contest in the stabbing death of his grandmother.

Jaered Long entered the plea Thursday to second-degree murder and two counts of battery of a law enforcement officer.

Long was arrested in December 2015 after his 67-year-old grandmother, Deborah Bretthauer, was found dead in her Lawrence apartment.

He was 16 at the time but was to be tried as an adult for first-degree murder before he entered the plea.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the two battery charges were filed after Long attacked two corrections officers while he was held at a juvenile facility.

A Lawrence detective testified at a hearing in September that Bretthauer was stabbed dozens of times with a bread knife.

Long will be sentenced June 5.