The Kansas Senate has rejected a bill that would have eliminated discounts to the state parks for senior citizens and the disabled.

The bill rejected Monday also would have allowed people to buy yearly state park passes with their vehicle registration.

It would have reduced the cost of park permits for drivers who bought them while renewing their car license plates. But it would have increased the cost for senior citizens and the disabled to $5.

The Wichita Eagle reports supporters said the bill would make it easier for people to buy park passes and would bring in revenue for the state parks department.

But opponents said it was not the right time to take away a popular discount for senior citizens, who often are on fixed incomes.

The Kansas House has approved a compromise bill involving the rights of grandparents in custody cases.

The bill approved Monday gives “substantial consideration” to grandparents of children who have been removed from their parents’ custody.
The Wichita Eagle reports the bill is not as strong as one originally passed by the House, which would have given grandparents “preference” in custody disputes.

After the Senate passed a version that would have required courts to give “consideration” to grandparents, the compromise bill was worked out.

Under the bill, if a judge decides not to place a grandchild with grandparents, the reason would have to be recorded in the official case record.

The bill now goes to a final vote in the Senate.

Tax collections in Kansas in April are down slightly from what state officials were anticipating, but officials say the numbers remain strong compared to a year ago.

The Department of Revenue says Monday that collections were off $1.4 million in April. The agency said taxpayers had two more days than last year to file their tax returns and that the department was still processing filings. Individual income tax collections were off $1.5 million from estimates.

Kansas collected $723.1 million compared to the $724.5 million that was anticipated.

Sales tax collections exceeded the estimate by nearly $1.3 million in April. That was still $15.5 million more than during April 2011.

For the fiscal year that began July 1, Kansas has collected $280.3 million more than the same point in 2011.

A committee of the National Academy of Sciences will hold three teleconferences this week to hear expert testimony on the need for a proposed biosecurity lab in Kansas.

The $1.14 billion National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan would be a center for research of deadly animal diseases.

The National Academy of Sciences panel has been asked to determine if the Department of Homeland Security needs the lab. The committee will recommend whether to proceed with design and construction, modify the project or find alternatives for conducting the research.

The teleconferences are scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, lasting about one hour each.

A recent survey of supply managers suggests growing economic strength in a nine-state region of the Plains and Midwest.

The Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to 60.0 in April, compared with 58.6 in March and 58.4 in February.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says in a report released Tuesday that heavy manufacturing continues to be propel economic growth for the region, with export-oriented manufacturers leading the way.

Survey organizers say it uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100 and that any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor. The survey of business leaders and supply managers covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says the number of methamphetamine labs in the state increased dramatically between 2010 and 2011.

The KBI says the number of meth lab reports increased from 143 in 2010 to 204 last year.

Kansas law enforcement reported 24 meth lab incidents in the first three months of this year.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Cherokee and Montgomery counties lead the state in reports this year with six and five incidents, respectively.

Experts say the number of methamphetamine labs has risen across the nation. They attribute the increase to the popularity of methods that require less equipment and pseudoephedrine to produce the drug.

Kansas ranked 14th in the country in meth lab reports in 2011.

Violent weather has been pounding southwestern and south-central Kansas with hail, funnel clouds and a couple of tornado sightings, but there have been no immediate reports of damage or injury.

The National Weather Service in Dodge City began issuing tornado warnings shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, mostly based on Doppler radar showing strong rotation. At least eight counties were under tornado warnings of varying lengths over the next few hours.

The emergency manager in Comanche County reported a tornado near Coldwater Lake around 7 p.m. Earlier, Kiowa County law enforcement reported a brief, rain-wrapped four miles southwest of Greensburg. The twister lifted quickly but spawned a funnel cloud a short distance away.

Funnel clouds were spotted by storm chasers and law enforcement in Barber and Clark counties.

Lawyers for former cadets who sued St. John’s Military School over alleged abuse now say the school recently ordered all students to surrender their phones for a review of photos and videos.

Documents filed Monday in federal court claim officials at St. John’s Military School in Salina deleted hundreds of videos and photos from cellphones related to the school.

The court filing says 1 of the videos showed a staff member abusing a student, while some others showed abuse of former cadets who have filed suit.

The school did not immediately respond to emails Monday to it and its attorneys for comment.

The plaintiffs want a judge to forbid the destruction of evidence and to appoint a computer forensics expert at the school’s expense to retrieve deleted material.

Emergency crews in southeastern Kansas have recovered the body of a woman whose truck hydroplaned into a flooded creek during a night of heavy rain.

Montgomery County Sheriff Robert Dierks says the body was found Monday morning about a quarter-mile from where her truck turned up in the creek beneath a bridge on a rural county road. The woman’s name was being withheld while relatives were notified.

The sheriff says the woman called a relative around 10 p.m. Sunday saying her truck had washed off the road into high water while she was driving between Independence and Coffeyville. A night-long search began immediately, but Dierks says the floodwaters and heavy rain kept crews from spotting the truck.

A Kansas City woman and a co-defendant have been sentenced to federal prison for running an adoption scam in which she pretended to be pregnant with twins and willing to let them be adopted in return for money and gifts, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Roxanne Janel Jones, 35, Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced to 87 months. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Taj A. Isaiah, 29, Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced to 24 months. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud.

In her plea, Jones admitted she contacted adoption agencies, claimed to be pregnant and sought to meet couples who wanted to adopt. Jones asked the couples for money for rent and other living expenses.

In her plea, Jones admitted she swindled 14 couples. The couples were from Bonner Springs, Overland Park, Florence, Olathe, Shawnee and Leavenworth, as well as Minnesota, Georgia, California, Tennessee and Massachusetts.

Isaiah sometimes assisted her by pretending to be her landlord. He picked up money orders and wire transfers from prospective adoptive families and he made false statements to the couples.

The victims included the following:

• – R.S. and L.S., who lived in Minnesota. Jones falsely told them she was pregnant with twins and wanted to place them up for adoption. In June 2009 they wired $16,265 to an escrow account to be used for Jones’ care during the pregnancy. Jones received $2,400 in gift cards and rent money from the couple.
• – K.M. and J.M., who lived in Georgia.
• – M.J. and D.W., a couple who lived in California. They flew to Kansas to meet Jones and Isaiah. They bought Jones massages, a haircut, groceries and meals. In September, 2009, Jones sent them a text message saying she had given birth at KU Medical Center. The couple met Jones and Isaiah in the hospital cafeteria before sending the couple to the hospital nursery to pick up the babies. At the nursery, the couple were told there was no record of Jones giving birth.
• – J.B. and her husband, who lived in Bonner Springs. Jones contacted them after they placed an advertisement on Craigslist in hopes of putting their dog up for adoption. Jones adopted their dog and then told them she was pregnant with twins and wanted to give them up for adoption. The couple met with an attorney and a social worker in preparation for the adoption. Jones balked at giving them her Social Security number until they insisted. She shouted the number at them and they wrote it down. A check of the number showed it belong to Jones’ son. The couple sent 11 e-Money Grams to Jones totaling $830.
• – Jes. B and Jer. B. of Knoxville, Tenn. The couple traveled to Kansas City where they took Jones and Isaiah to dinner. Isaiah pretended to be her
• landlord. The couple wrote checks to Isaiah to pay Jones’ rent.
• – Ji. B. and Je. B., who sent checks to Isaiah to pay Jones’ rent.
• – R.P. and A.P., who lived in Olathe. They bought Jones $100 worth of
• groceries.
• – C.D. and D.D., who lived in Minnesota. Jones met them by
• responding to an online advertisement.
• – S.W. and R.W., who lived in Shawnee. They took Jones and Isaiah to
• lunch. They gave Jones a $200 gift card and a check for $525.
• – E.E. and M.E., who lived in Leavenworth. They gave $1,000 to an
• adoption agency in Overland Park. The agency gave $500 to Jones.
• – D.K. and R.G., who lived in Massachusetts. An adoption specialist
• for an adoption agency in Overland Park gave Jones a $200 Wal-mart gift card and a check for $550, both of which were paid for by the couple.
• – H.G. and M.G., who lived in California. Jones sent them photos of two newborn babies who she claimed were her children.
• – C.R. and M.R., who wired $650 to Jones to pay her rent.
• – K.S. and T.S., who lived in Florence, Kan., They visited Jones while she was incarcerated at the New Century Jail in Johnson County, Kan., and then used a debit card to put $50 on her jail commissary account.

Kansas legislators are still trying to pin down how a compromise plan for cutting income and sales taxes will affect the state budget.

Resistance to the proposal appeared to be hardening Monday among Democrats and some Republicans who already were skeptical.

But Gov. Sam Brownback told The Associated Press that he’s still confident that the tax plan won’t cause major budget problems.

The plan would cut individual income tax rates, exempt 191,000 businesses from income taxes and reduce the sales tax to 5.7 percent in July 2013 from its current 6.3 percent. Eventually, the tax cuts are expected to be worth $500 million a year.

The proposal was drafted by House and Senate negotiators last week. They were scheduled to reconvene Monday afternoon to review numbers.

An Iowa woman has been ordered to serve 90 days in a Nebraska prison for dumping 23 dead or dying dogs in a cornfield.

Hall County District Judge William Wright said during Friday’s sentencing hearing that Denise Withee surrounded herself with animals to help her cope with depression. Wright ordered the prison to evaluate Withee, of Mapleton, Iowa, and report back to him so he can make a final determination on her sentence.

Withee said during her animal cruelty trial that she was taking the dogs to someone in Nebraska when she became sick, pulled over and passed out. She said that when she awoke, most of the dogs were dead from the heat. She said she panicked and dumped them near Grand Island.