Police say they have recovered a bronze statue stolen from a Topeka church.

The 10-foot bronze statue, called “Forgiven Man,” was stolen Oct. 3 from a memorial garden in front of the First Congregational Church. Detectives recovered it Thursday after police received a telephone tip.

Police had said the statue was worth at least $10,000.

Police did not provide any more information on how the statute was found. No arrests have been made and the case is still under investigation.

The church’s pastor, Tobias Schlingensiepen, is the Democratic nominee for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

A Salina woman has been sentenced to 12 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $574,000 in restitution for embezzling from her employer, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Jill Marie Gregg, 41, Salina, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. In her plea, she admitted that from July 2010 until her termination in November 2011 she embezzled money from her employer, Crane Rental of Salina. As Crane’s office manager, she had authority to pay the company’s accounts receivable. She used her access to the company’s bank account at Bennington State Bank to pay her personal debts.

One of four inmates who fled a north-central Kansas jail has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a carjacking after the escape.

Prosecutors announced Thursday that 22-year-old Eric James was sentenced on one count of carjacking. He admitted that after escaping from the Ottawa County Jail in April, he assaulted a man leaving his home and stole the man’s vehicle. James was arrested April 20 in Omaha, Neb.

The sentence will follow the 12 years that James still must serve for robbery and other state charges.

As part of the plea deal, James was not charged for the escape. The other three inmates were all captured and face state charges for the escape.

A federal judge has again refused to toss out an abuse lawsuit brought by families of 11 former cadets at St. John’s Military School in Salina.

The academy wanted the lawsuit dismissed or an order putting the dispute into arbitration. The school contends the enrollment contract signed by cadets’ parents requires any claims to be submitted to arbitration.

U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum on Wednesday denied the school’s request on the same grounds that he denied it in June. He had previously ruled the arbitration clause agreed to by the parents does not apply to claims from the students.

St. John’s renewed the request because four plaintiffs had been added to the case and it wanted to preserve all legal issues for appeal. The school denies the abuse claims.

Governor Sam Brownback’s administration is trying to reassure Kansas legislators that Medicaid participants won’t suffer if the federal government delays an overhaul of the program.

State Division of Health Care Finance Director Kari Bruffett said Wednesday that services won’t be interrupted if the state can’t go ahead with its Medicaid overhaul in January as planned.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Bruffett told the Legislative Budget Committee that the state remains committed to the January 1st start date. Critics say Brownback’s administration is moving too quickly, which it denies.

Brownback plans to turn administration of the $2.9 billion-a-year Medicaid program over to three private companies. Medicaid covers health care for poor, disabled and elderly Kansans.

The state needs the federal government to waive some of its rules to implement its program.

A 53-year-old Leavenworth woman has pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud charges.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for western Missouri says in a release Wednesday that Paula A. Cathey pleaded guilty to 15 counts of bank fraud. She is accused of embezzling more than $561,000 from her Kansas City employer, Mega Industries Corp., a highway and general contractor construction company.

Cathey worked as controller for the company from 1997 through March 2011. In her plea, she admitted that she embezzled the money by depositing company checks in her personal bank account. The prosecutor’s office said Cathey used the money for gambling.

A sentencing date hasn’t been set. Cathey faces up to 30 years in prison, restitution and a $1 million fine when sentenced.

Some state lawmakers are criticizing the new Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission for not disbursing funds to local arts groups.

Lawmakers authorized $700,000 for the commission, to replace arts funding that had been vetoed earlier by Gov. Sam Brownback.

Peter Jasso, director of the commission, told lawmakers Wednesday that only $30,000 has been spent so far, on administrative costs and membership in the National Association of State Arts Agencies.

He said the rest of the money won’t be distributed to local arts groups until a strategic plan for arts funding is completed by the end of the year.

Some lawmakers said that decision has left local arts groups who depend on funding in a difficult situation. But others agreed a plan was needed before funds go out.

A western Kansas ranch that contains historically significant chalk formations is up for sale, after the final bid from an auction came in too low.

The owners of the Pyramid Ranch in southwest Gove County are asking for $15 million for the 12,900-acre ranch and the mineral rights that come with it.

The ranch contains Monument Rocks, a National Natural Landmark, as well as other historic and culturally important artifacts.

The ranch owners thought an $8.5 million bid from an online auction was too low.

Realtor Mark Faulkner of Ulysses, who is handling the sale, says the ranch owners and the high bidder are still negotiating. But with the auction officially over, the ranch was put up for sale.

A 30-year-old Lyons man is in the Saline County Jail on charges of attempted 1st degree murder in the commission of a felony, and aggravated kidnapping in connection with a chase and exchange of gunfire with a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper near Gypsum early Tuesday evening.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reports that the trooper about 6:30pm tried to stop a vehicle driven by Jason Gleason in the area of K-4 Highway and Ohio Street south of Salina,because it fit the description of the suspect vehicle involved in a bank robbery in Chase in Rice County late Tuesday morning.

The chase ended near the area of Gypsum Valley Road and Assaria Road and Gleason exchange gun fire with the trooper and then fled from the scene on foot.

Gleason was apprenhended about 9:00pm in the area of Hobbs Creek Road.

Kyle Smith with the Kansas Bureau Of Investigation says they will not be releasing very much information on the case since the investigation continues.

Smith did say that a woman who was a passenger in the vehicle driven by Gleason was taken by helicopter for treatment of injuries she sustained , and a child was taken to Salina Regional Health Center for treatment of injuries.

Smith said there were three children in the vehicle.

Smith said it’s not yet known whether the woman is a co-suspect in the robbery case or a victim so her name and the name of the children are not being released.

Smith said it is possible more information could be released as the investigation continues.

by Neil Ochs ~ Great Bend Post

The construction area on US Highway 281 has seen another accident with a motorcyclist.

According to the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 49-year-old Mark Letourneau was driving his 2009 Harley Davidson motorcycle northbound on US-281 in a construction area when Letourneau’s front tire went off a ridge from the highway overlay at the shoulder and came back to the roadway. The bike’s rear tire came off the roadway and Letourneau lost control and was thrown from the motorcycle..

Letourneau was transported by Great Bend Emergency Medical Services to Great Bend Regional Hospital. Information regarding his condition has not been released.

Kansas’ largest electric utility says new wind farms in central and southwest Kansas are now producing power for its customers.

Westar Energy has agreements with the developers of the wind farms to buy up to 369 megawatts of electricity from them. That more than doubles the electricity the Topeka-based utility can generate from renewable resources to 670 megawatts.

The 201-megawatt Post Rock Wind Farm in Ellsworth and Lincoln counties began production Sept. 28. It was developed by St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group.

The Ironwood Wind Power Project farm in Ford and Hodgeman counties can produce up to 168 megawatts of electricity for Westar. It began production Aug. 31. It was developed by Duke Energy Generation Services of Charlotte, N.C.

Westar has nearly 700,000 customers in Kansas.