Kansas Democrats have made funding for public schools a major issue in legislative races, highlighting key differences between them and Republican Governor Sam Brownback.

Democrats are criticizing Brownback and his conservative allies over massive income tax cuts enacted this year, suggesting they’ll create big budget problems. They contend the tax cuts will force the state to dramatically reduce aid to public schools.

Brownback sought to undercut the criticism in a news conference, arguing the tax cuts will spur economic growth that will allow the state to boost school funding.

The back-and-forth showed how Democrats see increased spending on public schools as a much higher priority than tax cuts, while Brownback and his allies place the biggest premium on reducing income taxes to stimulate the economy.

Developers of a large wind energy project in southwest Kansas have an agreement to sell some of the wind-generated energy to Alabama.

TradeWind Energy, of Lenexa, has reached a purchase agreement with Alabama Power Co. to supply power from its Buffalo Dunes Wind Project near Garden City. The project is expected to be built across about 42,000 acres in southwest Kansas.

TradeWind says in a release that the Alabama Public Service Commission approved the agreement last month.

TradeWind officials have been working to secure long-term leases for land largely in Grant County and Haskell County for the turbines and that commercial operation is expected by December 2013.

 

A Kansas man has been charged with sex crimes that allegedly occurred while he was being held in the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program at Larned State Hospital, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Mark D. Brull, 38, Larned State Hospital, Larned, Kan., is charged with one count of attempting to entice a 14-year-old child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography and one count of receiving and distributing child pornography. Co-defendant Ryan J. Dancosse, 39, Wichita, Kan., is charged with one count of receiving and distributing child pornography. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in April and May 2011.

The indictment alleges that while Brull was in the state hospital he communicated with the child and received child pornography via computer over the Internet.

Brull was adjudicated under the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act and involuntarily committed to Larned State Hospital in 1999.

Upon conviction, the production charge carries a penalty of not less than 25 years and not more than 40 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The receipt and distribution charge carries a penalty of not less than five years and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $250,000. The Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Wichita Police Department and the Sudbury, Mass., Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting. Assistant Attorney General Steve Karrer of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office is assisting with the case.

A former executive with a Topeka-based nonprofit corporation has pleaded guilty to scheming to steal more than $2 million in Medicaid funds, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Jason Sellers, 43, Lyndon, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. In his plea, he admitted that while he was chief financial officer of Kansas Health Solutions he diverted Medicaid funds to Advanced Business Consulting, which was a shell company he created. Sellers fraudulently billed Kansas Health Solutions for information technology services ostensibly performed by the sham business. He also billed Kansas Health Solutions for sports equipment and uniforms for sports teams with which he associated, as well as computer equipment for the local school, for himself and for his family.

From about 2007 to 2011, Sellers was involved with several Topeka area sports teams. In addition to billing Kansas Health Solutions for sports equipment and uniforms for sports teams, Sellers used some of the stolen money to build and furnish a $375,000, 3,755-sq. ft. home on 11 acres in Lyndon, Kan.

Medicaid funds are state and federal monies that were administered in Kansas by the Kansas Health Policy Authority and the Kansas Department of Health And Environment, Division of Healthcare Finance. In order to manage community-based mental health services for Medicaid recipients, Kansas Medicaid contracted with Kansas Health Solutions in Topeka. Kansas Health Solutions was responsible for overseeing a provider network that provided all community-based health services covered under the contract with Kansas Medicaid.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 17. The parties are recommending a sentence of three years in federal prison and restitution of more than $2 million. Grissom commended the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway for their work on the case.

A Kansas City, Kansas, middle school student has suffered serious injuries in a school bus crash.

Broadcaster KCTV reported that an occupant in another vehicle also was injured. District spokesman David Smith says the crash happened around 5 p.m. Thursday as the bus was transporting students from after-school activities.

Smith says the injured student was taken to a hospital but is expected to survive.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

A 25-year-old south-central Kansas woman was sentenced to three years of probation in the death of a 2-year-old boy who died after drinking rust remover.

Jennifer Bowman of Arkansas City was sentenced Thursday for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Davin Manly.

The boy died last October after he drank the rust remover while Bowman was babysitting him.

Authorities said the substance was in a plastic beverage bottle.

Several witnesses spoke on Bowman’s behalf during Thursday’s sentencing. As part of her sentence, she must undergo drug screening and mental health counseling.

The judge could have sentenced Bowman to prison, but he said that would have hurt her three children.

Governor Sam Brownback will attend an event later this month in Wichita to discuss ways to improve the state’s recruiting and training of workers.

The Kansas Skills Summit is scheduled for Oct. 29 at the National Center for Aviation Training. It will be a four-hour round-table discussion.

Brownback and state Commerce Secretary Pat George are planning to attend, along with representatives of various industries needing highly trained workers.

The governor’s office says the goal is develop ways to standardize skills among workers and develop a system for providing credentials to businesses. State official believe that such a system will help Kansas companies find skilled workers and keep them competitive.

Kansas Highway Patrol troopers will be issuing electronic citations instead of written ones starting next week.

The system will first be used in the northwest part of the state, with the other six regions to make the switch in a few months.

District courts throughout the state support the move because it is expected to reduce lag time in getting ticket information to the courts and help law enforcement track violations.

A news release from the Highway Patrol says motorists being issued a ticket won’t see much of a delay, and their signature won’t be required.

The system also won’t allow fine amounts to be changed.

The patrol says no new hardware was required to implement the system in patrol vehicles.