TOPEKA – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan in a news release today reminded Kansans to be mindful of attempts to steal personal information during tax filing season.

Tax identity theft typically involves another person filing a false tax return using someone else’s Social Security Number. When that taxpayer later files his or her return, it could be rejected because records indicate he or she has already received a refund. Earlier this month, the IRS reported that during the 2013 federal fiscal year it initiated nearly 1,500 criminal investigations of tax-related identity theft. From 2011 to 2013, the IRS reported stopping 14.6 million suspicious returns.

“Identity theft is growing problem in Kansas and nationwide,” Schmidt said. “Our office has expanded our ability go after those who steal personal information and to educate consumers on ways to prevent identity theft.”

Jordan said his office is taking steps to prevent tax fraud.

“Tax fraud is a monetary and emotional burden for Kansans that we work hard to prevent,” said Jordan. “We’ve set up our system to make tax fraud difficult and are constantly adapting to prevent new schemes.”

Schmidt and Jordan offered the following tips to help consumers avoid identity theft:

• Only disclose Social Security Numbers when absolutely necessary, such as filing taxes or applying for a loan. Be wary of websites or retailers that request this information.
• Keep personal financial documents and past years’ tax returns in a secure location, such as a locked filing cabinet or a fire safe box.
• Protect personal computer files by installing firewalls and anti-spam/virus software. Protect online accounts using strong passwords and PIN numbers.
• Monitor credit reports for unauthorized or suspicious activity.

Victims of identity theft can file a report online with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at www.InYourCornerKansas.org.

TOPEKA (AP) — A Kansas House committee is getting an update on hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas in the state and the potential connection to increased seismic activity.

Officials of state agencies and the Kansas Geological Survey were scheduled to speak Tuesday to the House Energy and Environment Committee.

Kansas has seen an increase in oil and gas exploration in southern counties as new technology allows extraction in difficult geological formations.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, involves high-pressure injections of liquid into underground rock to release trapped fossil fuels.

Fracking has been suspected as a cause of increased seismic activity in parts of the U.S. that typically aren’t prone to earthquakes.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A spring golf tournament is being planned to help the family of a Smithville man who died after an altercation at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Kyle Van Winkle golf classic will be held May 5 at Meadowbrook Golf & Country Club in Prairie Village.

The 30-year-old Van Winkle died Dec. 1 after he was beaten in an Arrowhead parking lot during a Chiefs game. Court documents say Van Winkle was injured after he was found in a stranger’s vehicle. Van Winkle apparently got into a vehicle that looked like the one he rode to the game in.

He left behind a widow and 7-week-old son.

His death was ruled a homicide but no one has been charged.

DUNMORE, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania homeowners Gregory and Sandi Leeson are thoroughly creeped out by their 113-year-old Victorian home.

So when they put the house up for sale last month, they advertised it as “slightly haunted.”

Then things got really weird.

The Leesons say they’ve had lots of calls from ghost hunters and curiosity seekers, but no legitimate buyers. And a former resident came out of the woodwork to tell the couple that when he was a kid, he found a human skull in the basement.

Leeson says if the house doesn’t sell, they might consider renting it out — by the night — to folks looking for spooky thrills.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Bayer HealthCare plans to invest about $10 million to improve efficiency at its St. Joseph and Shawnee, Kan., facilities.

The company announced Monday it will combine and transfer operations from its three locations in the St. Joseph area to one location. Bayer also will transfer its regulatory and development work to its U.S. headquarters in Shawnee, Kan.

The St. Joseph News-Press reported about $6.5 million will be spent in St. Joseph and $3.5 million in Shawnee, Kan.

Company spokeswoman Lauren Dorsch says the changes are expected to be finished by next year. The company says it’s too soon to determine how the changes would affect employees.

Bayer took over the St. Joseph facilities in January 2013 after it acquired the U.S.-based animal health business of Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Police in South Texas say data stolen during the Target security breach are now being divided up and sold off regionally as evidenced by the arrest of two Mexican citizens carrying 96 fraudulent credit cards.

McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said Monday that the cards used by 27-year-old Mary Carmen Garcia and 28-year-old Daniel Guardiola Dominguez, both of Monterrey, Mexico, carried the account information of South Texas residents. They were used to buy tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise at national retailers in the area.

The two were arrested on Sunday morning trying to re-enter the U.S. at the border.

The Target security breach is believed to have involved 40 million credit and debit card accounts and the personal information of 70 million customers.

WICHITA (AP) — The number of homeless children in the Wichita school district is expected to set a record this year.

The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/1ml12ig ) reports that educators and staff members have identified 2,182 homeless children in Wichita schools so far this school year. That number includes 177 homeless preschoolers — an age group that wasn’t included last year.

School districts are required by federal law to identify and help homeless children because of the extra challenges they face.

The U.S. Department of Education counts anyone “doubling up” — or living with another family — as homeless. The Wichita district’s homeless children liaison, Cynthia Martinez, says most of the homeless children in Wichita schools are living doubled up.

Martinez says the children often bounce around after their families are evicted.

TOPEKA (AP) — Audio and video of Kansas legislative committee sessions would be streamed live over the Internet under a bill introduced in the House.

The Lawrence Journal-World reported state Rep. Stephanie Clayton, R-Overland Park, says her bill would help citizens stay current on matters that affect their lives and ensure legislators are paying attention.

The bill also would require video broadcasts of House and Senate sessions. Audio of the sessions already is streamed on the Internet.

Clayton says all the committee rooms in the renovated Statehouse are wired to provide audio and video, so the state would only have to purchase cameras. She said she thought the equipment could be purchased for $10,000.

The bill has been referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

TOPEKA (AP) — Topeka police say a special operations division made several important arrests last year that helped take armed robbers off the streets.

In one case, seven people arrested last year have admitted to committing more than 40 armed robberies in the last six years. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported the seven were all charged under a federal statute and face long prison sentences.

Police Maj. Mike Haugen, the commander of the special operations division, says his division also helped break up a multistate robbery crew that hit Topeka. He says five people were involved in that ring, and they are all in federal custody. They are accused of robbing a Family Dollar and EZ Payday Advance in Topeka, as well as robberies throughout the Midwest and in Utah.

WICHITA (AP) — Hundreds of people attended the weekend funeral for Ken Landwehr, the retired Wichita police commander who helped solve more than 600 homicides.

Landwehr died Jan. 13 at age 59. The Wichita Eagle reported Landwehr was diagnosed with kidney cancer just before his 2012 retirement.

During the Saturday service at Central Community Church in Wichita friends and colleagues remembered Landwehr as a devoted family man and tough investigator who fought hard for victims.

He joined the Wichita Police Department after he was himself a victim of armed robbery in 1977. He went on to lead the agency’s homicide unit for 20 years and the task force that captured BTK serial killer Dennis Rader, who killed 10 people and eluded police for decades, in 2005.

TOPEKA (AP) — The bitter legal battle in Kansas over education spending is garnering national attention, thanks to the defiant tone struck by conservative Republican leaders as they wait for a state Supreme Court ruling in a funding lawsuit.Top Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature contend the Supreme Court doesn’t have the authority under the state constitution to tell lawmakers how much to spend on schools.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is with them. He pointedly called out the Supreme Court in his State of the State speech last week with five of the seven justices present.

With such statements, Brownback and GOP legislative leaders suggest they’re prepared to ignore a Supreme Court order for a massive spending increase.

And experts say such a move could resonate around the country.

TOPEKA (AP) — The Topeka Zoo’s master plan includes dreams of new geographical areas, new animals, improved elephant exhibits and even a butterfly house.

Zoo officials acknowledge the plan is ambitious and will change over time. They also have no cost estimate, except an estimated $9.8 million for expanding the elephant exhibit.

Zoo director Brendan Wiley presented the plan in a public hearing Wednesday, saying zoo officials wanted to be sure of public support before embarking on the plan.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported the elephant exhibit is the zoo’s first priority. It would increase the exhibit from three-quarters of an acre and add elephants.

The layout will be grouped according to where they are from, such as North America, Asia and Africa.

By DAVE RANNEY
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — The head of an instructional software company that’s been awarded a no-bid contract aimed at improving the state’s grade school reading scores today assured legislators that early test scores will show that hundreds of once-struggling students are now reading at or above their grade level.

“We look forward to providing that information to you,” said Don Fast, co-owner of Educational Design Solutions, a Newton-based company that sells access to Lexia Reading Core5 software in Kansas.

Testifying before an informational meeting of the House and Senate education committees, Fast said he would be presenting a mid-year evaluation of the company’s performance by mid to late February.

Fast said that since August, 173 of the state’s 771 elementary schools have signed up for the Kansas Reading Initiative.

About 100 of the schools, he said, were Educational Design Solutions customers prior to the $12 million initiative — $6 million a year for two years — added to the state budget in the waning hours of the 2013 Legislature by Rep. Marc Rhoades, a Newton Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

Rhoades later said he was unaware that Educational Design Solutions was headquartered in his district, though it was his proviso that put Fast’s company in charge of the initiative.

“Was this ‘sole source’ and not subject to the competitive bidding process?” Sen. Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, asked Fast of his company’s contract during today’s hearing

“Right,” Fast replied.

Hensley said he had “really strong concerns” that the initiative had been enacted without being vetted by the appropriations or education committees in either the House or Senate.

“I’m real interested in transparency and making sure (legislators) understand what this program is all about,” he said.

Fast said he hoped his mid-year report would allay those concerns.

Liz Brooke, a Lexia vice president in charge of education and research, told committee members that students “love” using the company’s software program.

“It’s extremely motivating,” she said.

Brooke said that about 5,000 of the 20,000 Kansas students who have been using Lexia for at least two months had been found to be one or two years behind in their grade levels when they started using the software.

But by late December, she said, data showed that two-thirds of those students were reading at or above grade level or were no more than one year behind.

“We’re seeing progress,” Brooke said.

Most of the committee members expressed support for the initiative.

“I’ll be very excited to hear your report,” House Education Committee Chair Kasha Kelley, an Arkansas City Republican, told Fast.

The initiative is being funded with revenues from the state’s master settlement agreement with the nation’s tobacco manufacturers. The funds are administered by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet.

In November, eight of the cabinet’s nine members voted not to include the initiative in the group’s spending recommendations for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

“There are concerns that this was some kind of backroom deal that somehow was allowed to circumvent the vetting processes that have been in place for many years now,” said Jonathan Freiden, a cabinet member and chief executive of U.S. Toy Company. “It definitely has the appearance of a boondoggle.”

Mark Desetti, a lobbyist with the Kansas-National Education Association, listened to Fast and Brooke’s presentations.

“I’m not here to judge Lexia,” he said. “The issue for us is why did (lawmakers) specify just this one program instead of letting school districts decide which program best meets their needs? I don’t know of anything that says Lexia is a bad program, it’s just that we think that’s a decision that’s best made at the local level.”