Wichita police arrested a woman who they say left nine young children at a mall while she used drugs.

The children, ranging in age between less than 1 to 10 years old, were left at the Towne East Square mall Tuesday evening.

Authorities say a 35-year-old woman was supposed to be watching the children but abandoned them at the mall while she smoked methamphetamine.

Mall security noticed the children walking around unsupervised. Three of the children were returned to their parents. The other six were placed into police protective custody.

The woman was booked into the Sedgwick County jail. She faces six counts of child endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Voters in the Plainville school district recalled a school board member over a confrontation with a former school principal.

By a vote of 524-284, voters on Tuesday recalled Plainville School Board member Darlene Jones, who served for 33 years.

The recall petition accused Jones of verbally assaulting and committing battery on former Plainville High School principal Troy Keiswetter during a confrontation at the high school.

Recall organizers said such confrontations should not be allowed on school grounds.

The Salina Journal reports Jones denied the claims. Keiswatter left Plainville to work at McClouth High School.

Saline County Emergency Management Director Joe Koch’s resignation was accepted by Saline County Commissioners Tuesday morning.

Koch was arrested last week on multiple charges including aggravated battery, aggravated sodomy, criminal restraint and damage to property. He was placed on paid administrative leave shortly after the arrest.

Koch had been the Director of Saline County Emergency Management since January 2010. No details have been announced regarding a replacement for the position.

Three people are jailed after being arrested in 15 burglaries in Hutchinson.

The crimes began April 10 with a burglary at a convenience store. Targets also included seven churches and Hutchinson High School.

The suspects were arrested Monday after Hutchinson police received an anonymous tip.

Prosecutors have charged 24-year-old Justin Lee Branscom and 19-year-old Tyler Schmucker of Hutchinson with multiple counts of burglary, criminal damage, criminal trespass and theft. A 16-year-old faces similar charges.

Branscom and Schmucker are in custody of the Reno County Sheriff, each on a $45,000 bond. The teenager is in a juvenile facility.

A Salina couple were injured after striking a deer in Ellsworth County (Approximately 6 miles North of Kanopolis), shortly after 7:15 PM Monday.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 26-year-old Christopher T. Stromski and 25-year-old Sarah J. Stromski were driving a 2008 Harley Davidson motorcycle Southbound on K-111 when they struck a deer and slid on left side of the motorcycle into the West ditch.

Christopher Stromski was transported to Via Christie in Wichita with disabling injuries. Sarah Stromski was transported to Salina Regional with injuries.

Their conditions were not immediately available.

A 22-year-old man working on a highway improvement project on Interstate 470 near Topeka died after he was hit by a car.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says Curtis James Harlan of Arma died on impact Sunday. The accident occurred Sunday under an interstate bridge in Topeka.

Harlan worked for R.A. Knapp Construction Inc., a Kansas City, Kan., contractor hired by the state transportation department to work on the pavement repair project.

The patrol says the cause of the collision is still under investigation.

The accident closed a section of Interstate 470 for several hours Sunday.

A Wichita man is dead after a weekend kite-boarding accident at a central Kansas lake.

The Wichita Eagle reports the 42-year-old was knocked unconscious after a gust of wind caught his kite Saturday before it hit the water on the west side of Cheney Lake.

Cheney State Park ranger Mike Satterlee says the accident occurred about 5:30 p.m. on the west side of the Kingman County lake.

Witnesses pulled the man from the water and administered CPR until rescue crews arrived and pronounced him dead at the scene.

Satterlee says kite boarding is common on the east side of the lake but moves to the west side when the wind is more favorable there.

Emergency crews have rescued a man who became trapped inside a concrete mixer at a Topeka business.

The worker was cleaning a stationary concrete mixer shortly before noon Saturday when he slipped and fell into it. Emergency responders were able to get him out of the mixer within half an hour.

Fire Department investigator Alan Stahl says the only opening on the mixer is 24 inches wide and about 20 feet above the ground.

The unidentified worker sustained what officials characterized as nonlife-threatening injuries.

A disabled Army veteran’s service dog is found dead along a Kansas interstate highway about three hours after its owner reported it stolen.

The Wichita Eagle reports Ryan Newell stopped at a car wash in Park City shortly before 7 p.m. Friday to let the dog, a Doberman named Red, stretch its legs.

The Marion resident told police he noticed Red missing at about the same time a man and woman sped away from the car wash in a pickup truck.

Newell, who lost his legs when an improvised bomb exploded in Afghanistan in 2008, said he looked for the dog for about an hour before calling police.

Red’s body was recovered later near Interstate 135 after it was seen running toward the highway and being struck by a vehicle.

A Macomb County man was one of two soldiers killed earlier this week during an explosion in Afghanistan.

The Defense Department reports that 25-year-old Todd Lambka of Fraser, north of Detroit, died Wednesday when an improvised explosive device detonated in Paktika province.

Private first-class Jesus Lopez of San Bernardino, Calif., also was killed. Lopez was 22.

Lambka and Lopez were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in Fort Riley, Kansas.

Four from Wamego and teenager from Missouri were injured in two separate accidents in Gove County Friday evening.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, around 9:00 p.m. Bernice Birdsall, 31, was eastbound on I-70 about two miles east of Grinnell when the right rear tire of her 1999 Ford Explorer blew causing her to lose control and enter the median, where the vehicle rolled approximately five times.

Birdsall and her three passengers were transported to Logan County Medical Center. Birdsall and a 11-year-old boy were then flown to Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado with disabling injuries. A 9-year-old boy and 5-year-old boy were also treated at Logan County Medical Center with injuries. Their conditions were not released.

Another accident in Gove county occurred in Quinter at 8th and Garfield at approximately 11:45 p.m.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Creig Bailey, 18, was southbound on Garfield when he failed to yield at a yield sign and crossed a T intersection into a yard on the south side of 8th street. Bailey’s 2003 Chevrolet Impala then struck a tree approximately 50 feet into the yard.

Bailey was transported to Gove County Medical Center with injuries. His condition was not released.

All drivers and passengers involved in the two accidents were wearing seat belts.