The Kansas Chamber of Commerce plans to push legislators next year to reopen a debate over public pensions and start a 401(k)-style plan for new teachers and government workers.

Two chamber officials said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press that a further overhaul of the state pension system is on the group’s legislative agenda because pension costs help boost state spending.

The powerful chamber plans to formally release its agenda next month, but Vice President Kent Eckles and Legislative Affairs Director Eric Stafford provided details during the interview.

Legislators approved measures earlier this year and last year to deal with a projected $9.2 billion long-term funding gap faced by the state pension system. But lawmakers stopped short of putting new hires in a 401(k)-style plan.

 

State labor officials say the unemployment rate in Kansas fell to a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in November despite slowing job growth.

The Department of Labor reported Thursday the unemployment rate had fallen from 5.7 percent in October. The rate is a full 1 percent below the seasonally adjusted rate in November 2011.

Interim Labor Secretary Lana Gordon said the job market is moving in the right direction. Kansas added 1,100 private sector jobs in November and employers have increased payrolls by 4,900 jobs over the past year.

The workforce has shown slight growth in recent months, standing at 1.49 million in November, up about 7,000 people since September.

On a county level, Wilson had the highest jobless rate in Kansas at 7.8 percent.

A Lawrence woman whose daughter died after ingesting drugs found in a plastic Easter egg has been sentenced to three years of probation.

Twenty-five-year-old Rebecca Lynn Wynne was sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest in November to reckless involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated child endangerment.

Prosecutors say Wynne’s 5-year-old daughter died in April after ingesting opiates in her parents’ home.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the child endangerment charges involved Wynne’s 6- and 4-year-old children, who have been in protective custody since April. All three of the children were playing with morphine and Oxycontin pills that Wynne obtained the day before her daughter died.

At the sentencing, Judge Paula Martin said Wynne posed no danger to the community and was dedicated to rehabilitating herself.

A new report shows the Kansas population growing more slowly than the nation and most other states.

The U.S. Census Bureau is estimating that the population in Kansas grew by one-half of 1 percent from July 2011 to July 2012, while the nation’s population grew by three-quarters of 1 percent.

The Census Bureau said Kansas ranked 30th among states and the District of Columbia in population growth.

According to the figures, Kansas gained 15,000 new residents to make its population almost 2.9 million.

But North Dakota, the leader, saw its population grow nearly 2.2 percent during the same period.

Among neighboring states, Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma saw greater growth than Kansas, while Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri lagged behind the Sunflower State.

Top officials in Wichita have apologized for failing to prevent streets from icing up just before a morning rush-hour that saw dozens of accidents.

Mayor Carl Brewer and city manager Robert Layton issued the apologies Thursday and pledged to do a better job the next time freezing precipitation is in the forecast.

With the forecast late Wednesday calling for a light dusting of snow, city crews were prepared overnight to treat and clear intersections, hills and curves. But the snow was preceded by rain, and the temperature stayed above freezing.

Layton says crews were caught by surprise when the temperature suddenly plummeted after 6 a.m., creating a glaze of ice on the roads.

Wednesday night’s blizzard conditions and its prolonged effects led to several area accidents, including a fatal three-vehicle accident in Ford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reports that a 21-year-old Dallas man was killed Thursday night around 7:45 on Highway 50 east of Dodge City. A semi-truck was westbound near milemarker 136.9 when blizzard conditions lead to a semi-truck to collide head-on with the vehicle the Dallas man was riding in. A third vehicle following the semi-truck was also involved in the accident. The drivers of the three vehicles were listed as having possible injuries.

A 58-year-old Colby man was also injured in another three-vehicle accident around 4:30 p.m. Thursday near Colby when a vehicle lost control and another swerved to miss the spun vehicle, striking another car head-on. No other injuries were listed in this accident.

On Friday morning a 53-year-old Colorado Springs man had possible injurie when the vehicle he was driving hit a patch of ice as he was traveling westbound on I-70, causing him to lose control with the vehicle rolling onto its passenger side in the north ditch.

Another accident Friday occurred on Highway 40 just east of Hays when the driver lost control of a Ford Ranger, with the vehicle rolling onto its passenger side. The driver reportedly refused treatment at the scene.

A 24-year-old Kansas man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for using his cell phone to send graphic texts and photos to a 13-year-old girl.

Richard J. Byler of Baxter Springs was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty earlier to attempting to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for western Missouri says in a release that the child’s mother discovered the texts in August 2012 and told authorities. The child met Byler earlier in the summer when she was performing community service at a Joplin non-profit where Byler worked.

Federal prosecutors say a law enforcement officer then portrayed himself as the girl on her cell phone, and Byler asked that she send him nude images and proposed meeting for sex.

Students at the state’s six universities will pay more for room and board next year.

The Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday approved rate increases for all six schools, ranging from a 3.7 percent increase at Emporia State University to 1.08 percent at Fort Hays State.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports other rate increases will be 2.5 percent at the University of Kansas; 3.5 percent at Kansas State and Wichita State universities; and 3 percent at Pittsburg State.

Driving remains challenging in northeast Kansas as workers struggle to keep roads clear of snow driven by strong winds.

Interstate 70, which was closed on Wednesday, was reopened across the state early Thursday. But U.S. 183 north into Nebraska and U.S. 36 in northwest Kansas remain closed.

Kimberly Qualls, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Transportation, told KMBC-TV that many roads were snow packed and travel remains difficult, particularly in northeast Kansas. She says the high winds were blowing snow back onto roads as soon as it’s removed, causing several vehicles to slide off roads.

More than 30 schools called off classes across the state, with some opening late.