Kansas education officials are asking for public comments on new science standards for public schools.

Comments received through Jan. 29 will help refine a final draft of the Next Generation Science Standards. That’s part of a state-led effort to create national standards for science education for kindergarten through 12th grade.

The effort is similar to the Common Core standards adopted by states for reading and math.

The new science standards should be completed in March.

More information is online at:

Next Generation Science Standards: www.nextgenscience.org

Kansas Department of Education: https://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid5391

Former Rooks County Sheriff Randy Axelson has been sentenced to 49 months in prison for distributing methamphetamine.

The sentence given to 44-year-old Axelson Tuesday afternoon in Rooks County District Court is shorter than the five years and four months requested by prosecutors.

Axelson was the Rooks County Sheriff when arrested by KBI agents December 30, 2011 following an investigation.  He was accused of distributing meth over a period of four months at the Rooks County Fairgrounds and within 1,000 feet of Stockton High School.

Axelson resigned in May.

He pleaded guilty July 27, 2012 to four counts. Prosecutors dropped five other counts in exchange for the plea.

Axelson will be housed in the Ellis County jail and then will be transferred to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

LIBERAL–Authorities are asking the public’s help as they investigate the death of a southwest Kansas woman.

The High Plains Daily Leader reports 23-year-old Yesenia Rodriguez was found dead Sunday morning in the driveway of her home just outside Liberal.

Seward County Sheriff Bill McBryde says an autopsy performed Monday showed no signs of trauma. But authorities are treating the case as a homicide as they wait on a toxicology report.

According to McBryde, the woman’s last known contact was with her roommate at 3 a.m. Her body was found outside her home slightly more than five hours later.

The sheriff says Rodriguez’s car – a gray 1994 Toyota Corolla – which was missing, was found about mid-morning Tuesday in Tyrone, Okla.   McBryde also says law enforcement is looking for a man who may have valuable information.

If you don’t feel well, please don’t visit anyone at Russell Regional Hospital.

Medical staff say there’s an increase in viral illnesses among residents in Main Street Manor at the hospital.

Anyone with flu-like symptoms, such as fever, body aches, headache, weakness and cough, is asked not to visit residents or patients until further notice.

The U-S is in the throes of a wide-spread flu outbreak.

The National Weather Service’s office in Wichita will be offering advanced storm spotter training for the first time since it started giving basic sessions more than 50 years ago.

The Wichita Eagle reports meteorologist Robb Lawson will present the advanced classes in Salina, Parsons and Wichita starting in early April. He says anyone who wants to take the advance training should attend a basic session first.

Lawson says the weather service has been working to make its storm spotter sessions interesting yet not so technical that they turn people off. Too much science can get boring, while too many light-hearted videos and anecdotes lead to people saying they didn’t learn much.

Lawson says the basic sessions will focus on safety, while the advanced ones will focus on the science.

Butler County Community College leaders are considering a proposal to ban smoking and tobacco on all its campuses.

A task force created last year to consider the proposal presented its findings last week to the college’s Board of Trustees, which could vote on the issue in March. Butler currently bans smoking inside campus buildings but smoking is allowed outside 25 feet from the buildings.

Bill Rinkenbaugh, a vice president at the school, says if the policy was approved, it might be implemented in the upcoming fall semester. He estimates the college would spend between $25,000 and $30,000 to implement the ban, for signs and educational materials.

So far, about a dozen small colleges in Kansas have banned tobacco.

Two 15-year-old girls were taken to the Graham County Hospital in Hill City following a one-vehicle accident Saturday night.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Courtney Kenyon, Bogue, was northbound on 355th Avenue about  a mile south of Bogue at 8:05p.m. when a deer ran in front of the pickup she was driving. Kenyon swerved the avoid the deer.  The pickup slid sideways into the west ditch, rolled once and landed on its topl

Both Kenyon and her passenger, Lynzee Zeigler, Hill City, were wearing seat belts.

Also Saturday, an Oakley man was injured in a rollover about 8 miles west of town on U.S. Highway 40.

Joshua Joe Ahrens, 34, was driving eastbound at 10:30 p.m. when his vehicle lost control on a curve, rolling an unknown amount of times into a field.

Ahrens was ejected.  He was taken to the Logan County Hospital, Oakley.

Starting Monday, January 14, and continuing for approximately three weeks, a survey team from the Kansas Department of Transportation will begin surveying along K-9 Highway in Norton County.

The survey work will take place approximately 4.5 miles west of U.S. 283.  Specifically, the survey will focus on the bridge located over a drainage tributary of the North Fork Solomon River.

The survey is necessary for the detailed design of the replacement of the bridge.

Survey activities will include the use of survey instruments on the ground to determine locations of features within the survey corridor.  When it becomes necessary for crew members to enter private property, they will first obtain permission from the landowner or tenant.

A former photojournalist for The Topeka Capital-Journal is the new public information officer for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

KDOT said in a release Thursday that Ann Williamson replaces current spokesman Steve Swartz, who is becoming the agency’s chief of public affairs. Swartz is a former editor at The Capital-Journal.

Williamson’s duties at KDOT will involve working with reporters and producing material for the agency’s website and social media sites.

Williamson joined The Capital-Journal in 2002 as a photojournalist. She previously worked at newspapers in Wichita and in Montana, Indiana, Alabama and North Dakota.

She is a graduate of the University of Montana.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has appointed Judge Anthony Powell of Wichita and Judge Kim Schroeder of Hugoton to the Kansas Court of Appeals.  The announcement was made Friday.

Judge Anthony Powell received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University and his Juris Doctorate with honors from Washburn University School of Law.  He currently serves as a Judge for the Sedgwick County District Court and was first elected in 2002.

Judge Schroeder received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Washburn University and went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from Washburn University. He is a District Court Judge for the 26^th Judicial District and has served in that role since 1999.

Security guards at Emporia’s high school and middle school will be able to carry guns starting Feb. 1.

The Emporia school district’s board of education voted Wednesday to allow the security guards to carry guns while on duty at the schools. Currently, all school employees are banned from carrying guns.

Superintendent Theresa Davidson said the change will move the district closer to a comprehensive plan for making all students and staff safe.

KVOE reports the board also changed the job description for security officers. Officers will be required to have some law enforcement experience, be certified with a 70 percent target practice accuracy, get 20 hours of law enforcement training every year and follow legal “use of force” protocols.