A new minimum-security unit is set to open at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts will be among those attending the grand opening Friday at the Ellsworth prison’s east unit. It will house 95 minimum security inmates.

The unit will be in the former St. Francis Academy Ellsworth. The state bought the building this summer for about $350,000.

Prison spokesman Todd Britton says the state put another $100,000 in renovations into the building. Sixty-eight inmates will be moved into the unit on Tuesday.

One Lyons man was killed and another was injured in a head-on collision on US-56 in Rice County, shortly after 9pm Thursday.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 55-year-old Luis Gonzales Gonzales was Westbound on US-56 (2.1 miles East of Lyons) when he crossed the centerline and struck an Eastbound vehicle head-on.

Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other driver, 65-year-old Jimmy M. Bound was transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita with injuries.

A beetle that has killed millions of ash trees in the eastern U.S. and parts of the South has now been detected in Kansas.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture said Thursday a live emerald ash borer was found in a tree in Wyandotte County. Trees there were being inspected after the presence of emerald ash borer was found last month in nearby Platte County, Mo.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture notified Kansas of the confirmation Wednesday.

Kansas has imposed an emergency 90-quarantine in Wyandotte County in hope keeping the insect from spreading in the state. All ash trees and materials in the county must be treated or disposed of.

Ash trees become infested when adult beetles lay eggs on the bark, leading to larvae that bore into the tree.

Kansans who purchased certain electronic books will share more than $628,000 in refunds, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced today.

Attorney General Schmidt, along with attorneys general from 54 other states, districts and U.S. territories, reached a settlement with three of the largest U.S. book publishers to resolve alleged antitrust violations. Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC and Simon & Schuster Inc. have agreed to pay more than $69 million to U.S. consumers. The attorneys general alleged the publishers unlawfully conspired to fix the prices of electronic books (e-books). As part of the settlement, the publishers have agreed to change the pricing of e-books going forward.

“We take anticompetitive action that harms Kansas consumers very seriously,” Schmidt said. “Colluding to fix prices raises costs for customers, who here have paid millions of dollars more than they would have for popular e-book titles. Today’s settlement provides restitution for consumers harmed by the scheme. True competition is essential to the working of the free market.”

The settlement occurs in conjunction with a civil antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. A separate suit has been filed against two other publishers and Apple Inc., which are not part of this settlement.

Under the proposed settlement agreement, which must be approved by the Court, publishers Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster will compensate consumers who purchased e-books from any of the five conspiring publishers between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. Payments will begin 30 days after the court’s approval of the settlement becomes final. Kansas consumers are expected to receive approximately $628,319 in total compensation. Consumers will be notified electronically if they are eligible for refunds.

In addition, the publishers have agreed to terminate their existing agency agreements with certain retailers that allow the publishers to set the prices for e-books. The publishers are also prohibited from making new, similar agreements for two years.

The case against non-settling publishers — Penguin Group, Inc. and Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC dba Macmillan — and Apple, Inc., remains pending in the Southern District of New York.

Consumers can contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-432-2310 or online at www.ag.ks.gov for further information.

The U.S. Census Bureau says more Kansans under the age of 65 are living without health insurance.

The bureau issued a report Wednesday showing that more than 380,000 Kansas residents under age 65 did not have health insurance in 2010. That’s 15.8 percent of that age group, an increase from 14.6 percent in 2009.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the census for the first time estimated health coverage for people between ages 50 to 64, who are more likely to use health insurance than younger age groups.

In 2010, about 60,800 people ages 50 to 64, or 11.4?percent of that group, did not have health insurance.

Residents of drought-stricken Kansas are being urged to continue observing local burn bans as the risk of wildfires remains high.

A multi-agency group called the Kansas Wildland Fire Prevention and Education Team said Wednesday that recent, scattered rain did little to lower the threat.

The Education Team says Kansans should be especially careful using equipment that may create sparks.

Meanwhile, the Kansas Forest Service reports that more than 41,000 acres and 26 structures have burned statewide since May. The agency says the past week alone saw seven fires that scorched more than 8,000 acres.

Officials say this summer’s fires are burning especially hot, making them harder to suppress.

Rain chances are in the forecast over the Labor Day weekend, but the precipitation isn’t expected to eliminate the drought conditions.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration will sponsor meetings in 12 cities next month on its plans to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program.

Administration officials say the meetings are designed to educate Medicaid participants and health care providers about the coming changes. The $2.9 billion-a-year program covers medical services for the poor, disabled and elderly.

Brownback plans to turn management of the entire Medicaid program over to three private insurance companies beginning in January.

The first meetings will be held Sept. 24 in Manhattan, Pittsburg, Colby and Dodge City. Other sessions will be held Sept. 25 in Atchison, Chanute, Russell and Pratt, and on Sept. 26 in Olathe, Emporia, Hutchinson and El Dorado.

In each city, Medicaid participants and health care providers will have separate meetings.

A south-central Kansas woman has pleaded guilty in the death of a toddler who drank rust remover in her home.

Two-year-old Davin Manly became fatally ill last October at the Arkansas City home of baby sitter Jennifer Bowman. Authorities said the rust remover was in a plastic beverage bottle.

KSNW-TV reports Bowman pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter. She had been scheduled for arraignment but entered the plea instead.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 11, a little more than one year since the toddler died