The Maine medical examiner’s office says a Harvard Business School student’s death was an accidental drowning.

Nathan Bihlmaier  of Cambridge, Mass., went missing early Sunday after he was told to leave a waterfront bar for being visibly intoxicated. The 31-year-old’s body was recovered from Portland Harbor by divers Tuesday, and the autopsy was conducted Wednesday in Augusta.

Bihlmaier was last seen when he was asked to leave the Ri Ra Irish Pub where he was celebrating his upcoming graduation with two friends.

Bihlmaier, who was married and whose wife is expecting their first child, was scheduled to graduate from Harvard Business School on Thursday.

He was a native of Osborne, Kan., and a University of Kansas graduate.

https://www.hayspost.com/2012/05/22/name-it-claim-it-13/

A Kansas judge has delayed the sentencing of a Great Bend man convicted of killing a 14-year-old cheerleader whose charred body was found at the asphalt plant where he worked.

No new sentencing date has been set for 38-year-old Adam Longoria. A jury found him guilty in April of guilty of capital murder for the August 2010 death of Alicia DeBolt.

Sentencing had been scheduled for June 8, but Barton County District Judge Hannelore Kitts on Tuesday delayed it. There was no explanation in court records.

Prosecutors aren’t seeking the death penalty, but a capital murder conviction carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Alicia disappeared the weekend before she was due to start her freshman year at high school. Her remains were found three days later.

Wichita police are looking for a man who approached a customer in a McDonald’s drive-thru lane, bashed him on the head and walked off with less than $10 in cash.

The weapon is described as a rock the size of a baseball.

The Wichita Eagle reports the incident happened just before 11:30 p.m. Monday. The victim told officers the man walked up to his vehicle, asked what he was doing and clubbed his head with the rock.

The assailant then walked away with the victim’s $8.

Police Capt. Troy Livingston says the victim was not seriously injured.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed massive cuts in state income taxes into law.

Brownback signed the bill during a Statehouse ceremony Tuesday.

A contentious debate continues about whether the cuts will usher in economic prosperity or create massive budget problems.

The law will cut individual income tax rates for 2013 and eliminate income taxes for the owners of 191,000 businesses.

Coupled with a sales tax reduction already scheduled for July 2013, the income tax cuts would provide $231 million in tax relief for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The annual figure would grow to $934 million after six years.

A forecast from the Legislature’s research staff shows that a budget shortfall would emerge by July 2014 and, if left unchecked, grow to nearly $2.5 billion by July 2018.

A former city clerk of the City of Thayer in Neosho County, Kan., has pleaded guilty to embezzling $120,000, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Laura Whittley, 49, Thayer, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of money laundering. In her plea, she admitted she used more than one method to steal money from the city including:

– Pocketing cash paid by citizens for utility bills, municipal court payments, parks and wildlife licenses and permits.
– Issuing unauthorized checks to herself.
– Using a city credit card to pay for her personal purchases.
– Submitting fraudulent bills for clean up work done after a large storm in May 2009. The bills were paid by the city, partly with funds received through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In order to conceal the thefts, she presented a fraudulent letter to Emprise Bank in Chanute, Kan., directing the bank to cash a $100,000 certificate of deposit belonging to the city. She had the bank put $50,000 into a new CD, and she deposited some of the remaining proceeds into the city’s account to conceal the thefts.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 13. She faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million on the bank fraud count, and a maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the money laundering count.

The top official at Larned State Hospital has resigned after eight months leading the state’s largest psychiatric facility.

Christopher Burke joined the staff at the central Kansas facility in 2005. He was director of the sexual predator treatment program before being named superintendent last fall by then-Secretary of Social and Rehabilitation Services Rob Siedlecki.

Current SRS Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said Monday that Burke was leaving for other career opportunities.

Gilmore named Thomas Kinlen interim director. Kinlen has been on the Larned staff since 2003, serving as director of psychology since 2008.

Kansas lawmakers have approved funding increases for the hospital to help ease difficulties in recruiting doctors, nurses and other staff.

By Brett Regan ~ Little Apple Post

A 22-year-old Fort Riley Soldier remains confined in Riley County Jail following a police chase through the Manhattan city limits on Sunday.

The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. Sunday. Riley County Police were attempting to pull over Andrew Brenneman on Poyntz Avenue after making an improper turn from 14th Street in Manhattan. Brenneman continued traveling on Poyntz on his 2002 yellow Suzuki motorcycle at speeds up to 70 miles per hour.

Brenneman, a Junction City resident, then led police onto Fort Riley Boulevard and K-18 Highway while weaving in and out of traffic lanes. Riley County Police stopped their pursuit when Brenneman turned onto Wildcat Creek Road.

The Kansas Highway Patrol picked up the pursuit near Scenic Drive before pulling Brenneman over on Interstate 70 near mile marker 306.

Brenneman was arrested by KHP officials and transferred to the Riley County Jail.  He was charged on suspicion of fleeing and attempting to elude, reckless driving, driving with a cancelled/suspended/revoked license, and unlawful acts involving a motor vehicle.

His bond was set at $10,000; $5,000 from RCPD and $5,000 from KHP.

A Kansas state representative is dead after a one-car accident in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says State Rep. Bob Bethell, a Republican from Alden, died Sunday night when his car went off Interstate 70 near the Paxico exit. It hit several trees, overturned and ended up on its roof.

WIBW reports Bethell was the only person in the car.

The 69-year-old Bethell represented the 113th district since 1999. The district covers Rice County and parts of Reno and Butler counties.

The accident occurred just hours after the Kansas Legislature ended a contentious session that went nine days longer than scheduled.

A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper has been injured after an SUV struck his patrol car while he was attempting to stop another vehicle in southwest Kansas.

KAKE-TV reports the crash happened around 11:30 p.m. Saturday in Liberal. The trooper, 38-year-old James Parr, called for backup after a Lincoln SUV driven by a 19-year-old Liberal resident hit his car.

The patrol says Parr suffered a small cut to his head and was taken to a Liberal hospital for treatment. He was released and wasn’t expected to miss any work.

Neither the driver of the SUV nor her 18-year-old passenger was hurt in the crash.

A new grain elevator is scheduled to open soon in west-central Kansas, just in time for the unusually early start of the wheat harvest.

The elevator near the Ness County ghost-town site of Riverside will hold 400,000 bushels in its twin towers.

Gary Gantz’s company D.E. Bondurant Grain is building the elevator. He had hoped to stage a grand opening. But with the wheat harvest expected to begin within days in southern Kansas, his contractors are scrambling to get the elevator operational, perhaps by Friday.

Gantz says the elevator will serve farmers in a major growing area. He says the closest elevators are located 11 miles north in Ness City and 15 miles south in Jetmore.

The Kansas Senate has blocked debate on a compromise plan to cut income taxes, leaving the proposal’s fate in doubt.

The Senate voted 21-18 Friday against removing a procedural hurdle to debating the measure. The proposal was drafted earlier this week by House and Senate negotiators.

The compromise would gradually lower individual income tax rates and eliminate income taxes for 191,000 businesses over six years.

A separate bill making the same cuts in one year has already gone to Gov. Sam Brownback. Some lawmakers fear the more aggressive measure would create massive budget problems.

But many senators had misgivings about the compromise and wanted negotiations to restart. However, House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, has said that won’t happen.