Kansas State University is holding back-to-back conferences on climate change this week.

The first gets under way Wednesday and will address how climate change will affect agriculture and rural communities. Called “Adapting to a Changing Climate on the Central Great Plains,” the conference will feature the latest science and options for preparing for warmer temperatures.

On Thursday, Kansas State will host an event called Sustaining Kansas: The 2012 Kansas Higher Education Sustainability Conference. The featured presenter will be Nancy Jackson, founder and chairwoman of the Lawrence-based Climate and Energy Project.

A Kansas City man was killed late Sunday afternoon in an accident in Scott County.

According to the Kansas Highway patrol, just after 5:00 p.m Sunday, Charles Brooks, 63, of Scott City was eastbound in a 1994 GMC Sierra on K-96 about two miles east of the U-83 junction when he attempted turn onto Pittman Lane, striking a westbound 1995 Harley Davidson motorcycle head-on.

The driver of the motorcycle, 51-year-old Patrick Vega, of Kansas City, Kansas, was killed in the collision. His passenger, 49-year-old Shelly Vega was transported to Scott County Hospital and then flown by Eagle Med to Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita with disabling injuries. Neither were wearing a helmet.

Brooks was not injured in the accident.

A Leavenworth man involved in seven separate police chases has been sentenced to four years in prison.

29-year-old Franklin Donnie Stevens Dougherty was sentenced Friday.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said the chases spanned from December 2011 to March of this year. During one of them, Dougherty drove 100 mph through a 30 mph school zone in front of Leavenworth High School.

The last chase was on March 14. That’s when Leavenworth police chased Dougherty nearly to the Wyandotte County line. Kansas City, Kan., police picked up the pursuit, which continued into Overland Park.

Spike strips laid on the road shredded Dougherty’s tires, but he continued driving until he lost control and crashed.

Dougherty still faces charges in Johnson County.

Abortion opponents are turning on a Kansas prosecutor who abandoned a high-profile criminal case against a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Some publicly question explanations Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe has given for dropping the most serious charges.

Anti-abortion activists had seen Howe as sympathetic and well-intentioned. But the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue has called for Howe to resign in the days since the last charges were dismissed against the clinic in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.

The clinic once faced 107 charges, including 23 felonies, accusing it of falsifying documents and performing illegal late-term abortions, allegations it strongly disputed. Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate believed it was the first criminal prosecution of a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Howe said he’s not surprised by the criticism.

Authorities in Kansas are on the lookout for a female inmate who escaped from the Topeka Correctional Facility, Friday.

Officials from the Kansas Department of Corrections say 23-year-old Kasandra Morris, escaped Friday around 3:08 pm. She is now wanted for aggravated escape from custody from the Topeka Work Release Center.

According to information published on the KDOC site, Morris was serving time on theft, and burglary charges and she should be considered dangerous.

It is still unclear how Morris was able to escape.

ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ON MORRIS CAN CALL THE TCF-WR AT (785)296-3432, THE KANSAS BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION AT 1-800-572-7463, OR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

A leading critic of the Kansas death penalty says the latest reversal of a conviction serves as reason enough for the state to abolish capital punishment.

Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty chairwoman Donna Schneweis says the Kansas Supreme Court has found flaws with each of the six death penalty appeals it has heard since the law took effect in 1994.

She says the state should repeal the law to avoid any chance of an error getting by the courts and an innocent person being executed. The coalition is pushing for life without parole to replace death by lethal injection.

Policymakers say there’s slim chance of the law changing. They argue the law is narrowly written to protect society and that the reversals are part of ensuring justice.

Kansas schools are about to get some help confronting bullying.

University of Kansas psychology professor Robert Harrington is creating a certificate program to help schools address the problem. The program will be available online for educators across the state.

Kansas is not among the 33 states with statewide policies on school bullying. Instead, districts adopt their own. Harrington analyzed about half of the Kansas policies.

Harrington found none included language on when parents should be notified of bullying. Also, very few involved training for teachers or parents on how to handle bullying.

The program will show teachers and schools methods to curb bullying, such as problem-solving conflict resolution, anger control, social skills training, relaxation and tolerance training. It also discourages suspending bullies, saying the traditional punishment doesn’t curb the problem.

Police in Wichita say a 51-year-old man ended up with a fractured skull after trying to steal a 92-year-old woman’s purse at a grocery store.

The Wichita Eagle reports the man approached the victim Thursday afternoon and grabbed her purse. The woman resisted and began screaming.

Police spokesman Lt. Doug Nolte says the woman hung onto the purse even after being knocked down. A bystander got the robber in a bear hug, but the assailant bit the man’s hand and pulled away.

The suspect dropped the purse and struck his head on a pole as he tried to flee. He was treated for a fractured skull at a hospital, and will be booked into the Sedgwick County jail when he’s released.