Kansas legislators must whittle down a long list of attractive proposals that have passed one or both houses if they’re to cut taxes this year.

And the work is likely to prove difficult.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback proposed overhauling the individual income tax code. But lawmakers have been aggressive as well in considering different scenarios for reducing different taxes.

Both the House and Senate have approved bills to reduce income and sales taxes, and both have passed measures aimed at holding down local property taxes. Their negotiators were scheduled to start meeting Monday to work on the final version of a package.

Each possible tax cut has significant support, but lawmakers can’t include too much without pushing the state toward large budget cuts.

The United States has paid $50,000 in compensation for each Afghan killed and $11,000 for each person wounded in the shooting spree allegedly committed by a U.S. soldier in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official and a community elder said Sunday.

The sums, much larger than typical payments made by the U.S. to families of civilians killed in military operations in Afghanistan, come as the U.S. tries to mend relations following the killing rampage that has threatened to undermine the international effort here.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of sneaking off his base on March 11, then creeping into houses in two nearby villages and opening fire on families as they slept.

U.S. investigators believe the gunman returned to his base after the first attack and later slipped away to kill again, American officials have said. Bales has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and other crimes and could face the death penalty if convicted.

That would seem to support the U.S. government’s assertion – contested by some Afghans – that the shooter acted alone, since the killings would have been perpetrated over a longer period of time than assumed when Bales was detained outside his base in Kandahar province’s Panjwai district.

But it also raises new questions about how the suspect could have carried out the pre-dawn attacks without drawing attention from any Americans on the base.

The families of the dead, who received the money Saturday at the governor’s office, were told that the money came from U.S. President Barack Obama, said Kandahar provincial council member Agha Lalai. He and community elder Jan Agha confirmed the payout amounts.

Survivors previously had received smaller compensation payments from Afghan officials – $2,000 for each death and $1,000 for each person wounded.

Two U.S. officials confirmed that compensation had been paid but declined to discuss exact amounts, saying only that it reflected the devastating nature of the incident. The officials spoke anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the subject.

A spokesman for NATO and U.S. forces, Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, said only that coalition members often make compensation payments, but they are usually kept private.

“As the settlement of claims is in most cases a sensitive topic for those who have suffered loss, it is usually a matter of agreement that the terms of the settlement remain confidential,” Cummings said.

However, civilian death compensations are occasionally made public. In 2010, U.S. troops in Helmand province said they paid $1,500-$2,000 for a death and $600-$1,500 for a serious injury.

The provided compensation figures would mean that at least $866,000 was paid out in all. Afghan officials and villagers have counted 16 dead – 12 in the village of Balandi and four in neighboring Alkozai – and six wounded. The U.S. military has charged Bales with 17 murders without explaining the discrepancy.

The 38-year-old soldier, who is from Lake Tapps, Washington, is accused of using his 9mm pistol and M-4 rifle, which was outfitted with a grenade launcher, to kill four men, four women, two boys and seven girls, then burning some of the bodies. The ages of the children were not disclosed in the charge sheet.

Bales is being held in a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The mandatory minimum sentence if he is convicted is life imprisonment with the chance of parole. He could also receive the death penalty.

Families of the dead declined to comment on any payments by U.S. officials on Sunday, but some said previously that they were more concerned about seeing the perpetrator punished than money.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and remains a dangerous area despite several offensives.

In the latest violence, a bomb struck a joint NATO-Afghan foot patrol in Kandahar’s Arghandab district late Saturday, killing nine Afghans and one international service member, according to Shah Mohammad, the district administrator.

Arghandab is a farming region just outside Kandahar city that has long provided refuge for Taliban insurgents. It was one of a number of communities around Kandahar city that were targeted in a 2010 sweep to oust the insurgency from the area.

The Afghan dead included one soldier, three police officers, four members of the Afghan “local police” – a government-sponsored militia force – and one translator, Mohammad said.

NATO reported earlier Sunday that one of its service members was killed in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan on Saturday but did not provide additional details. It was not clear if this referred to the same incident, as NATO usually waits for individual coalition nations to confirm the details of deaths of their troops.

The governors of Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado are collaborating on how to attract more tourists to their states.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman hosted Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on a crane-watching tour Friday, where the three discussed efforts to boost tourism.

While Colorado is a well-established draw for its winter sports and Rocky Mountains, Brownback said his state and Nebraska could do a better job of marketing their outdoor experiences.

Heineman said the region could draw tourist from “two coasts … to experience what it is like to live on a farm for a couple of days.”

Tourism represents Nebraska’s third-largest source of income, bringing in almost $4 billion in 2010.

 

New allegations of abuses at a Salina military boarding school have been raised in a revised lawsuit brought by parents of former cadets from across the nation.

An amended complaint filed Friday in federal court adds more plaintiffs to the case against St. John’s Military School in Salina.

The school has denied there is a culture of abuse or failure to supervise.

A California student who attended St. John’s for only four days suffered two broken legs. An x-ray attached to the court documents shows the bone displaced several inches above the knee from the alleged abuse.

Another exhibit in the filing also depicts a uniformed Texas cadet gagged, blindfolded and bound with black duct tape.

An ex-cadet from Tennessee contends he was branded on his stomach as an initiation.

Almost two years after authorities found a 14-year-old Kansas girl’s charred remains, the man accused of luring her through text messages is facing a murder trial.

Adam Joseph Longoria is accused of killing Alicia DeBolt in August 2010, then leaving her body at an asphalt plant where he worked.

Prosecutors say the 38-year-old Longoria became obsessed with DeBolt after seeing her at a party. Investigators have hundreds of text messages between the two, and surveillance photos from the store where Longoria bought gas the night DeBolt disappeared.

Longoria denies the charges, claiming he never saw Alicia that night.

His trial begins Monday. Attorneys will face a daunting task of finding jurors who haven’t heard about the case. Defense lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get the trial moved out of Barton County.

Police in Junction City say an argument over loud music turned violent when a gunman opened fire outside an apartment building.

WIBW-TV reports a resident told police he argued Thursday afternoon with a stranger who was sitting in a vehicle in the building’s parking lot with loud music blaring.

The stranger apparently took offense and drove away, but came back a short time later. The resident says he went outside when the music started up again.

Junction City Police Chief Tim Brown says that’s when the suspect fired three shots at the resident, missing him but hitting the building behind him.

Police are investigating the case as an attempted homicide.

Gov. Sam Brownback has appointed the owner of a McPherson construction company to lead the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Brownback introduced 52-year-old Mike King as transportation secretary during a news conference Friday. King’s appointment must be confirmed by the state Senate.

The governor said King has extensive experience in construction, including highway work. The new secretary has owned King Enterprise Group since 1991.

King said his company isn’t involved in any state highway projects and concentrates on projects for the oil and gas industry. However, he said, he will put his interests in a blind trust.

He’ll replace Barb Rankin, formerly KDOT’s chief counsel, who became acting secretary in December following the resignation of Deb Miller.

Miller stepped down after nearly nine years as secretary to take a private-sector job.

A Salina teenager who pleaded guilty in the death of his 9-year-old stepbrother has been referred to a psychiatric hospital.

Ryan Velez of Assaria pleaded guilty in September to unintentional but reckless second-degree murder in the shooting death of his stepbrother, Kaden Harper. Velez had been certified to stand trial as an adult.

The Salina Journal reported that Velez is referred to Larned State Hospital on Wednesday. His lawyer, Mitch Christians, said Larned is better equipped to deal with Velez’s mental health needs than prison.

A sentence report recommended Velez be admitted to Larned. His maximum stay will be about 10 years, the maximum prison sentence he could have received.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify minors accused of crimes until they’ve pleaded guilty or been convicted as adults.

A Kansas City, Kan., woman has been accused of leaving three children alone in a car in 40-degree weather while she gambled in a casino.

WDAF-TV reports that Katrina Denise Roades is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Police said Roades left the children, ages 9, 8 and six months, in a parked car while she went into the casino on March 3. A security officer found 1 of the older girls wandering in the parking lot. The child led the officer to the family’s car, where he found the other children.

Police believe Roades was inside the casino for about an hour and a half.

Roades also faces a trespassing charge because her name was on voluntary self-exclusion list designed as a tool for compulsive gamblers.