The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating reports that a man impersonated a patrol trooper in south-central Kansas.

The man was driving a white Ford Crown Victoria with a light bar on top, and stopped a motorist in Kingman County.

Patrol Lt. Roger Baughman said that the impersonator handcuffed the motorist, searched his vehicle, took the handcuffs off the man and then left.

He says the impostor is carrying a pistol and wears a phony uniform.

The suspect is described as a white man, about 5-feet-10-inches tall, and wearing a navy blue top and pants. He also had a duty belt, pistol, handcuffs and a magazine holder.

Army officials say a Fort Riley soldier from southeast Kansas has died in Afghanistan.

The 1st Infantry Division said in a release Tuesday that 26-year-old Sgt. Erik May of Independence died July 14 at a medical facility in eastern Afghanistan. The cause of his death is under investigation.

May joined the Army in September 2007 and was assigned to Fort Riley in February 2009. He was on his second deployment when he died. May also served in Iraq in 2009.

His awards include an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghan Campaign Medal with one campaign star, and the Iraq Campaign Medal with one campaign star.

A 19-year-old eastern Kansas man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for using text messages to solicit a 12-year-old girl for sex.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Coffey County District Court Judge Philip Fromme sentenced Dylan T. Redding, of Gridley, to six years and five months last week after he was convicted in June of using text messages to solicit sex from a minor, which is a felony.

Coffey County Attorney Doug Witteman says the investigation began in March after the 12-year-old victim’s parents called authorities to report inappropriate text messages.

Redding will also be required to register as a sex offender for 25 years after he’s released.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued an Emergency Order of Suspension against Dee’s Day Care Home operated by Delilah L. Godfrey at 2809 Forrest, in Great Bend.

According to the order, on July 13, surveyors were denied access to the daycare, but once they were allowed in, they discovered 25, kids ranging in age from infancy to 12 years. Godfrey was the only one in the home and she couldn’t locate records for many of the children, and in some cases, didn’t even know their names. She also allegedly admitted to to the surveyors that she told some of the kids to hide to avoid being seen by the surveyors.

Due to having so many kids, and her not having real knowledge of many of them, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment closed the daycare down.

State law allows KDHE to issue such an order when they feel its necessary to protect children from any potential threat to health or safety.

Godfrey does have the right to appeal the order, if she makes a request within 15 days from when the date of the order was issued. If she fails to do so, the order then becomes permanent, suspending her license.

A truck driver from Iowa and his two passengers were injured in a one-vehicle accident in Gove County around 10:40 p.m. Monday.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Kenneth Larsen, 46, of Winterset, Iowa was eastbound on I-70 when the accident occurred. Larsen reportedly stood up to get something out of an overhead compartment, crossed both lanes of traffic before heading into the median, with the truck turning over in the median on the driver’s side.

Larsen and his passengers, Katherine Larsen, 47, and Dillon Larsen, 14, were transported to Gove County Medical Center with injuries. No information on their conditions was released.

A record number of people applied for a Kansas license to carry a concealed firearm during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says that the Concealed Carry Licensing Unit in his office received 12,408 permit applications during the 2012 fiscal year, a 24-percent increase over the 9,418 applications received in fiscal year 2011. The past two fiscal years rank first and second in number of permit applications received in the six-year history of the program. During the most recent fiscal year, Schmidt’s office received an average of 49 permit applications each and every working day. These figures include only first-time applications and do not include applications for renewal of expiring permits.

In total, more than 44,000 valid permits are currently issued in Kansas. Through recognition agreements negotiated by the attorney general’s office, Kansas-issued permits are honored by 29 other states. Kansas honors permits issued by 23 other states.

The concealed carry licensing program was enacted by the Legislature in 2006 over the veto of then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. By law, the program is administered by Attorney General Schmidt’s office.

A Beloit woman was injured after falling asleep at the wheel and crashing on US-24 (6 miles east of Beloit) around 2:40 pm Monday.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 27-year-old Christina Clemente was westbound on US-24 when she fell asleep. When she woke up the vehicle was heading towards the right ditch. Clemente then apparently overcorrected to the left, crossing the lane of traffic and then overcorrected again sliding into the right ditch. The vehicle overturned flipping once, coming to rest on its’ right side facing the highway.

Clemente was transported to the Mitchell County Hospital with injuries. Her condition was not immediately known.

Three children, an 8-year-old, 1-year-old, and a 4-day-old baby were in the vehicle but fortunately none of the children were injured.

A new report shows the drought gripping the United States is the widest since 1956.

The monthly State of the Climate drought report released Monday by the National Climactic Data Center says 55 percent of the continental U.S. is in a moderate to extreme drought. That’s the most since December 1956, when 58 percent of the country was covered by drought.

This year, 80 percent of the U.S. is abnormally dry, and the drought expanded last month with the 14th warmest and 10th driest June on record going back to 1895.

The nation’s corn and soybean belt has been especially hard hit. The report says Midwest has experienced its seventh warmest and 10th driest April-to-June period. And it says crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at an alarming rate.

A Kansas couple is probably wishing their basset hounds could tell them where they’ve been for the last five years.

Brenda Travis and Tom Shields gave up hope of ever seeing their dogs after they were stolen five years ago from their home in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

But on Saturday, the dogs, called “Allie” and “Bama” were back with their owners in Wichita.

Travis says she got a call last Wednesday from the Paulding County animal shelter in Dallas, Ga. The dogs had been turned into the shelter and, fortunately, Bama had been microchipped. That allowed the shelter to trace their owners.

The Wichita Eagle reports friends and volunteers on Facebook organized a way to bring the dogs nearly 1,000 miles to reunite them with their owners.

A Beloit teen was killed and three others were injured in a single-vehicle, rollover accident on H Road, about 10 miles east of Beloit, shortly after midnight.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a 2002 GMC Denali driven by 16-year-old Quenton K. Foulke was Eastbound on H Road and failed to make the curve, drove into the creek and the vehicle overturned.

A passenger, 14-year-old Sabastian Roubedaux of Beloit was pronounced dead at the scene.

Foulke along with two other passengers, 15-year-old Aaron T. Beam of Beloit, and 18-year-old Patti A. Thomison of Ovieda, Florida were transported to Mitchell County Hospital with injuries.

Authorities have released the name of a man killed while breaking into a Topeka home.

Cpt. Jerry Stanley said Friday that the man killed in Thursday night’s shooting was 31-year-old Cyril K. Smith.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that he was one of at least two men who broke into a Topeka home. Smith was shot and killed by the homeowner.

Police say one person believed to be linked to the case has been arrested, and several other people have been interviewed.

Stanley said the motive for the intrusion is being determined, but he stressed that there is no indication that it was a “random act” or that the public is in danger.

Police are asking the public to call with tips.