A proposal to name a state dog has lost its bite.

A Kansas House committee on Tuesday declined to hear a bill that would have named the cairn terrier the official state dog. The breed is best known in Kansas for playing Toto in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Brenda Moore, of the South Central Kansas Kennel Club, originally asked State Rep. Ed Trimmer, a Democrat from Winfield, to introduce the bill.

She said she plans to conduct a statewide campaign this summer, including a petition drive to present to state politicians.

The Wichita Eagle reports Trimmer said he plans to re-introduce the bill next year. In the meantime, he will visit with Kansas schoolchildren about the process of getting the Legislature to pass a law.

A McPherson man was injured in a single vehicle accident on I-70 near Ellsworth, Monday morning around 8:40.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 53-year-old Barry S. Hardman was west bound on I-70 when he fell asleep. The vehicle then drifted off of the right hand side of the roadway where it traveled through the ditch before striking a concrete bridge structure.

Hardman was transported to Salina Regional with injuries. His condition has not been released

by Randy Picking ~ Salina Post

Salina Police have released the identity of a man who died in a fire last October while staying in an abandoned trailer house in north Salina.

DNA was used to identify 42-year-old John Mosher, who was a homeless man. Mosher’s body was found in the ruins of the trailer destroyed by the fire in the 1700 block of N. 9th October 20th of 2011.

Lt. Scott Siemsen says that DNA from law enforcement in Florida was used to get a positive id on Mosher. Mosher had talked to Salina Police in the day prior to his death concerning a meal skip case at a Salina restaurant and thought he might have been the victim of the fire after talking with another homeless man who had stayed with Mosher at the abandoned trailer.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation was able to make the identification.

A Lyons, Kan., man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for robbing a bank in Arlington, Kan., with a sawed off shotgun, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Jacob W. Schrock, 27, Lyons, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. In his plea, he admitted that on Sept. 13, 2011, he robbed the Citizen’s Community Bank in Arlington. He walked into the bank about 10:45 a.m. carrying a sawed off shotgun and wearing a cowboy hat, sunglasses, vest and blue bandana covering his face.

Schrock was arrested less than half an hour later when a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper pulled him over on Salem Road near Highway 50 in Reno County.

Concealed carry permit holders in Kansas would be allowed to carry their weapons in more places under a bill heading to the Senate.

The measure would allow concealed carry permit holders to carry weapons in public buildings that lack adequate security, such as metal detectors and security guards. The House approved the changes Monday on a 70-54 vote.

The changes would apply to all public buildings. Allowing the weapons is also viewed as an economic issue because of the cost associated with providing metal detectors and guards at entrances to each public building across Kansas.

Hospitals, colleges and nursing homes would be able to exempt themselves for a specific period of years by sending notification to the attorney general’s office.

A Spanish company is building a plant in southwest Kansas where grass and other crop residue will be turned into fuel.

Madrid-based Abengoa Bioenergy is building its first commercial plant in Hugoton. The facility is expected to use about 1,300 tons of crop residue and grass a day to make ethanol.

Tom Robb, manager of the product division of Abengoa, says the site is expected to be producing ethanol by late 2013 or early 2014. The plant is projected to have 65 permanent jobs with an annual payroll of $5 million when it’s operating.

Abengoa has also received a $132 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the site, which is expected to cost more than $350 million.

Lawyers for a 38-year-old central Kansas man accused of killing a 14-year-old girl are trying again to get his trial moved.

Adam Longoria is scheduled for trial March 26 in Barton County District Court on charges of capital murder and attempted rape. He would face life in prison if convicted.

Longoria is accused of killing Alicia DeBolt, who disappeared in August 2010 after leaving her Great Bend home for a party. Her burned remains were later found at an asphalt plant where Longoria worked.

Judge Hannelore Kitts denied a motion in February for a change of venue from Barton County. But the Great Bend Tribune reports the defense renewed the request in a motion last week that cited subsequent news coverage, including reports on the denial of the first motion.

A Kansas State University’s student newspaper column that questioned why students from countries unfriendly with the United States are allowed to attend public universities has raised a flap.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that sophomore Sean Frye suggested in the Feb. 24 issue of The Collegian that legislation be passed to prevent the enrollment of students who “could, in the near future, become the enemy.”

Frye’s column targeted students from China, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey and incorrectly stated $7 million in state and federal funds is spent each year to educate international students at Kansas State. University officials say that international students pay about 2 ½ times more in tuition than in-state students.

On Feb. 29, The Collegian published an apology by Frye. The newspaper’s editor-in-chief apologized the next day.

A newly released study of Kansas community colleges shows the number of students receiving federal financial aid jumped dramatically as the nation struggled to recover from the recession.

The study, “Powered By Pell: A Grassroots Perspective,” focuses on the flow of federal student aid across 17 of the state’s 19 community colleges. It found that from fall 2008 to fall 2010, the number of Pell Grants awarded spiked by 75%.

Women outnumbered male Pell Grant recipients nearly two to one. But over the two years studied, men made up ground. Their use of Pell Grants jumped 85% to 7,513, while women’s use increased 70% to 13,206.

The study was a product of the University of Alabama’s Education Policy Center and Garden City Community College in southwest Kansas.

Comments from Republicans in Kansas who participated in Saturday’s presidential caucuses.

“If there’s anybody who’s really conservative, it’s him. He’s a strong evangelical believer, and that’s very important for me.” – Alan Locke, a 65-year-old retiree and Southern Baptist from Topeka who attended the caucus in his hometown and voted for Rick Santorum.

“We can relate to them. They have the same values we do.” – Josh Kelton, a 36-year-old Wichita engineer who supported Santorum after seeing both him and his wife at separate events.

“But it’s that thing – OK, who do I think probably stands the best chance against Obama? And I think it probably is Romney.” – Connie Kimble, a 67-year-old U.S. Veterans Administration worker from Topeka, who voted for Mitt Romney but acknowledged being torn between him and Santorum.

“I find the other candidates too radical religiously and they do not support the majority of women’s views. … It’s insane that people want religious freedom, but then they vote for someone so fanatically religious. Zealots are never good for government and that is what we have in the Republican Party now, except for Gingrich.” – Chris Nagy, 60, and education director from Wichita who supported Newt Gingrich.

“The American people right now, all we have to do is look on the TV, we see nothing but death, destruction. Ron Paul – not about any of that. … He wants to give people the right to choose whether they want to die in war.” – John Ellenbecker, a 27-year-old caregiver at the state hospital for the developmentally disabled in Topeka, who voted for Ron Paul, liking his position that the U.S. should scale back its military commitments.

“He’s conservative. He’s got conservative values. He’s honest. He’s real. He’s not old money.” – Roberta Currie, a 48-year-old hospital worker from Topeka, who voted for Santorum.

“Romney says what he thinks we want to hear. He’s like, ‘You want to hear this, so I’m going to tell you this.’ … Santorum seems to be on an even keel.” – Mamie Lindberg, 48, an unemployed administrative assistant from Alma, Currie’s friend, who also voted for Santorum and called Romney “wishy-washy.”

“He’s almost certainly going to get a share of them (national convention delegates) … I would call that a success for Romney.” – Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who endorsed Romney, after noting that Romney did not campaign in Kansas.

“He is an inside Washington man, because in the sense that is good – he knows how to get things done, reach across the aisle and he is very aggressive in his policies.” – Rebecca Wells, 55, a retired military wife from Wichita, who supports Gingrich.

“Everything he says is exactly what I think – pro-life, small government. I believe you should make policies that enable business to prosper as opposed to putting regulations in their way.” – Marcia Brungardt, a 56-year-old certified public accountant who voted for Santorum.

Compiled by John Hanna in Topeka and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita.

Senate Republican leaders are rolling out a proposal to create job growth in Kansas in manufacturing and bioscience industries.

The plan announced Friday includes targeted incentives for companies to build plants, produce goods and ship them out of Kansas. Companies would pay income taxes only on the portion of their sales that would occur inside Kansas.

The other portion would allow bioscience companies relocating to Kansas to be exempt from paying income taxes. It builds on the state’s efforts to create jobs through investments by the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

Seventeen GOP senators have signed on to the proposal, including Senate President Steve Morris of Hugoton, Vice President John Vratil of Leawood and Majority Leader Jay Emler of Lindsborg.

Hearings on the proposal are scheduled in the Senate tax committee.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is seeking a victory from caucuses in Kansas as he tries to dispel talk that the GOP nomination all but belongs to front-runner Mitt Romney.

The voting Saturday at 96 locations across the state determines how the state GOP allocates its 40 delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, had three rallies in Kansas in the three days leading up to its caucuses. They were in Topeka, Wichita and the Kansas City area, all rich in votes.

He told supporters in the state that winning in Kansas was important to his efforts to overcome the advantage in delegates held by Romney, a former Massachusetts governor.

But some Kansas Republicans see Romney’s nomination as inevitable.