Attorneys and lower-court judges in Kansas have until November 14 to apply for a seat on the state Court of Appeals.

A statewide nominating commission is taking applications for the position formerly held by Chief Judge Richard Greene, who died last week.

The commission will interview the candidates and pick three finalists for Governor Sam Brownback to consider. No dates for the interviews have been scheduled.

Commission members are also reviewing applications for the Court of Appeals seat that will become vacant in January, when Judge Christel Marquardt plans to retire.

The commission has received 21 applications for Marquardt’s seat, including one from Caleb Stegall, the governor’s chief counsel. Interviews with those applicants are scheduled for November 13 and 14.

Police in Salina are looking for whoever stole or damaged more than $37,000 worth of wire from an auction lot.

Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield says it happened sometime between Sunday night and late Monday afternoon.

Thieves cut a metal chain to gain access to the lot at Wilson Auction. Once inside, they cut a 500-foot spool of 4-inch pressurized wire, leaving it damaged beyond repair. The wire was worth $22,500.

Several other spools of wire and coaxial cable were stolen from the property, including 250 feet of 2.5-inch wire worth $7,500.

Kansas officials involved in drafting proposed science standards dispute an Emporia State University biology professor’s criticism of the guidelines as weak.

Matt Krehbiel is the state Department of Education official overseeing work on the standards for Kansas public schools. Krehbiel said Tuesday the goal is to concentrate on important core, scientific concepts.

And State Board of Education Chairman David Dennis said he thinks the work is moving in the right direction.

Emporia State professor John Richard Schrock said earlier Tuesday the proposed standards don’t have enough material on such subjects as botany, zoology and microbiology.

Kansas is working with 25 other states and the National Research Council on common standards for possible adoption in their public schools.

The state board of Education heard an update Tuesday.

A Topeka man has been charged with trying to smuggle $150,000 in cash from Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan to Kansas.

The government alleges in a criminal information filed Tuesday that 50-year-old Donald Garst tried to evade currency reporting laws in May 2011 by concealing cash in a DHL shipping box for transport to Topeka.

The U.S. attorney’s office says Garst was formerly with the Army National Guard, but was working as a private contractor in Afghanistan at the time.

Garst’s lawyer, Christopher Joseph, says in an email that nothing in the charge alleges the cash was obtained unlawfully. Joseph says Garst acknowledges he mailed the money, and that details about why he did so will be revealed in future court proceedings.

A federal appeals court has ruled that a St. Louis suburb can enforce a funeral protest ordinance aimed at preventing picketing by an anti-gay Kansas church.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Tuesday reverses a previous ruling by a three-judge panel of the court. The panel ruling last year prohibited the St. Louis suburb of Manchester, Mo., from enforcing the law it drafted in response to activities by members of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church.

Members of the church frequently protest at funerals of soldiers, claiming the deaths are God’s punishment for American immorality and tolerance of homosexuality and abortion.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Tony Rothert represented Westboro member Shirley Phelps-Roper in the case and says a decision about whether to appeal will be made soon

A University of Kansas student says she was robbed at gunpoint while she was on the campus in Lawrence.

The student told police she was on a swing set Monday evening between Irving Hill Road and Stouffer Place Apartments when the man approached her, showed her a gun and demanded her property.

The man left after the student gave him her cellphone and iPod.

The robber is described as a black man about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 170 pounds. He was wearing a black ski mask and a gray hooded sweatshirt.

Starting this week, Kansans will start receiving a redesigned and more secure driver’s license.

“We are committed to protecting people from driver’s license fraud and identity fraud,” said Director of Vehicles Donna Shelite. “That sort of fraud is typically a building block crime from which more serious crimes are committed.”

Shelite and Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan along with Governor Sam Brownback unveiled the new design at a press conference on Tuesday.

“It is important to protect the integrity of our identification cards for all Kansans,” said Governor Sam Brownback. “This new card will make illegal duplication very difficult, and in turn will protect Kansas citizens better.”

The new license includes several security features that make it extremely difficult for counterfeiters to forge including:

Ultra-violet image of the cardholder’s portrait and date of birth on the back of the card (viewable with UV light)

Multi-colored, highly detailed holograms

Highly detailed ultra-violet (UV) image of the state flower (viewable with UV light)

Two ghost images of the cardholder’s portrait in addition to the conventional photograph

Tactile printing that you can feel

Kansas’ driver’s license and ID card design was last changed in 2004; states typically change their designs every four to six years.

“The new Kansas driver’s license card is among the most secure in the country,” said Alcoholic Beverage Control Director Dean Reynoldson, who also oversees the department’s Office of Special Investigations, which investigates driver’s license fraud. “The card, combined with a new more secure driver’s license and ID card application process, makes Kansas one of the most difficult states to commit driver’s license or identification card fraud. “

Driver’s license and ID cards using the old design will still be valid and people will not need to come in to get a new card until their current card expires. The new design will also not cost extra.

A former death row warden from Georgia will headline a conference in Kansas next month on abolishing capital punishment.

The 2012 Abolition Conference takes place November 10 in Olathe, sponsored by the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

Allen Ault was responsible for overseeing executions as a death row warden in Georgia. Ault plans to talk about what he calls the traumatic impact of executions on himself and many of the corrections officers with whom he worked.

Kansas Coalition executive director Mary Sloan says Ault’s story highlights an issue sometimes forgotten in debates about capital punishment.

Kansas health officials are expecting the state to have another relatively mild flu season, but they’re still encouraging shots for nearly everyone 6 months or older.

Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer and Health and Environment Secretary Robert Moser had a Statehouse news conference Monday to promote getting vaccinated. Both received flu shots from a Walgreen Co. pharmacist during the event.

The flu season typically starts in early October, but the state has yet to receive a report of any influenza cases. But Colyer said it’s still wise to get a shot to reduce the chances of spreading the illness.

Moser said the state’s 2011-12 flu season was relatively mild because the winter weather was warmer than normal. He said the state is expecting the same pattern this winter.

A 24-year-old Salina man has been arrested on charges of forgery, for allegedly taking checks from his grandmother’s checking accounts and cashing them for himself.

Bryant Whidden is accused of taking and cashing checks for a total amount of $2,446 between October 7th and October 12th.

Whidden was living at his grandmother’s house at the time the forgeries occurred, but the booking information lists a Smolan address.

He was booked into the Saline County Jail on Saturday.

A Kansas lawyer has been charged in federal court here with stealing more than $460,000 from clients’ trust funds, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Robert M. Telthorst, 52, Topeka, Kan., is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. A criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Topeka alleges that from November 2005 to August 2011 Telthorst executed what was in essence a Ponzi scheme in which he took clients’ money and used it both to benefit himself and to cover up the fact he was taking money from other clients’ trust accounts.

The list of clients he allegedly defrauded includes the following:
– The daughters of a man identified in court documents as Otto K. After the man’s death, Telthorst was appointed to administer $463,344 for the man’s two daughters. The man wanted the first daughter, identified as Sheri T., to receive a lump sum. Money for the second daughter, identified as Marlene O., was to be invested, with monthly payments to be made to her. Before providing the lump sum to Sheri T., Telthorst took approximately $22,000 for his own benefit. In the trust for Marlene O, the balance dropped from more than $208,500 to less than $150 after Telthorst removed most of the funds for his own benefit.
– The granddaughters of a client, identified as Mia, Olivia and Lillian. Telthorst set up three educational gift trusts of $10,000 each. He depleted all three trusts, leaving them each with balances of less than $350.
– Arnold and Bertha J., who established a charitable trust of $80,000 for the KU School of Business. The balance in the account dropped to less than $1,750 after Telthorst diverted funds to his own benefit.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the wire fraud charge; and a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $500,000 on the money laundering charge. The FBI and the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office worked on the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway is prosecuting.

Several Kansas food companies have been working to boost their export opportunities.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture says in a release Friday that five Kansas food companies participated in a forum this month in Chicago where to develop business with representatives from 30 countries.

The Kansas companies participated in sessions on free trade agreements, foreign market pricing and consumer preferences worldwide.

The companies that participated in the Food Export Midwest Marketing Forum in Chicago were CopperLeaf Gourmet of Lawrence, New Beginnings Food Company of Kansas City, Pantry Shelf of Hutchinson, Rabbit Creek Products of Louisburg and Sticky Stacks Syrup of Kansas City.

The state Department of Agriculture says it works with Food Export Midwest to provide international trade opportunities for Kansas companies.