Meterologists in the Topeka bureau of the National Weather Service say the tornado that hit Harveyville last week formed too quickly to have time to issue a warning.

The EF2 tornado killed one person, injured 11 others and damaged about 40% of the Wabaunsee County town last Tuesday.

Chad Omitt, meteorologist in charge of the Topeka branch, says the storm that had produced two tornadoes in Reno County appeared to be weakening. And radar did not show the rotation until the tornado was directly over Harveyville.

The Wichita Eagle reports that another problem was how quickly everything happened. The storm went from looking like a thunderstorm on one radar scan to showing a tornado in another scan four minutes later. On the next scan, the tornado was gone.

The 140-year-old cabin where the words to what became the Kansas state song were written has received a grant to help restoration efforts, but more money is needed.

Brewster Higley wrote the words to “Home on the Range” in a cabin along Beaver Creek in Smith County in north-central Kansas. It is badly in need of repairs.

The Kansas State Historical Society recently announced a $24,600 grant to help with the restoration. But supporters say it will take an additional $50,000 to fix the cabin.

The Wichita Eagle reports that two Kansas senators have sponsored a resolution that recognizes the historical significance of the cabin, and encourages Kansas students and others to help raise money for its restoration.

Gov. Sam Brownback is traveling to southwestern Kansas to sign two bills he initiated to prolong the life of the state’s water resources.

The Republican governor was scheduled to be in Garden City on Monday to sign two measures that change how water-rights holders use their water.

One bill would repeal a 1945 law that required use of a certain amount of water each year under a so-called use-it-or-lose-it doctrine.

The other bill gives rights holders more flexibility in how they use their water each year. Brownback says it will allow for more water usage in dry years, with an eye toward conservation in wet years.

Both measures were part of the agenda Brownback outlined in January for the 2012 legislative session.

Two people are found shot to death in a Kansas City, Kansas apartment, a day after two others were shot – one fatally – in the same city.

Police also found an injured 8-month old when they went to Rosedale Ridge Apartments around 2 a.m. Sunday and discovered the dead bodies of a man and a woman.

KCTV reports police say the infant was related to the deceased woman, but aren’t saying how. They say they have no suspects.

A man in his 40s was killed and a woman in her 30s was critically wounded in a separate Kansas City, Kansas shooting early Saturday. Police found them after responding to a home just after 1:30 a.m.

The identities of the victims have not been released.

By Fred Gough ~ Hutch Post

The Reno County Drug Enforcement Unit executed a search warrant at 429 East 7th Avenue in Hutchinson on Thursday leading to eleven arrests.

Once inside, officials reportedly discovered an active methamphetamine lab and three tanks that had previously contained ammonia.

• Arrested for possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia was 49-year-old Frankie L. Roberts, of that address.
• Arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia was 20-year-old Candyce D. Christopher, also of 429 East 7th, 20-year-old Ashley L. Anderson 1401 East 24th Apt 104, 35-year-old Graham R. Taylor of 429 East 7th and 24-year-old Jabari N. Lamar of 116 East 10th, Apt 5.
• Arrested for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia was 22-year-old Elisha L. Bozarth of 506 East 7th.
• Arrested for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia was 22-year-old Samantha J. Klinkerman of 116 East 10th Apt 5.
• Arrested for out of county warrants was 30-year-old Nathaniel Hulett of 515 North Baker.
• Arrested for fail to appear and parole violation was 24-year-old Jody Logsdon of 926 East 16th
• Arrested for probation violation 42-year-old David Wegele of 323 South Lucy, in McPherson, and Lacy D. Nelson of 108 North Town St.

Officials say the house was very active with individuals still arriving as officers were conducting the search.

So far, no one has been charged with the manufacture of methamphetamine, with the investigation into the case continuing.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol says a one man was killed and three others were injured in a head-on collision in western North Dakota.

The patrol says 21-year-old Dustin Buess of Great Bend, Kan., was killed in the crash Thursday night, north of Belfield.

Troopers say Buess was a passenger in a pickup driven by 29-year-old Jerry Newbold of Chickasha, Okla.

The patrol says Newbold was driving north on Highway 85 and lost control of the pickup on the snow-covered road. The vehicle collided with a pickup driven by 28-year-old Michael Maresh of Dickinson.

Troopers say 34-year-old Don McHugh of Chikaska was a passenger in Newbold’s vehicle and was injured.

By Steve Webster ~ Great Bend Post

A western Kansas woman is going to prison for the abuse death of her 3-month-old son.

28-year-old Marilyn Fay Hoffman of Scott City was sentenced Friday to nearly 15 years for second-degree intentional murder and one count of child abuse. Hoffman has been jailed since her arrest in July 2010 after the infant, Xavier Hoffman, died at a Wichita hospital where he was being treated for extensive injuries.

Hoffman was initially charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge last July in Scott County District Court.

General Wesley Clark will be the guest speaker at this year’s Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy Annual Meeting Thursday, March 22, 2012. He will meet privately with investors, employees and other guests of Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy.

Following the private meeting on March 22, the public is invited to hear General Wesley Clark speak at the Huck Boyd Center located at 860 Park Street in Phillipsburg at 7:00 p.m. He will be speaking about the importance of ethanol in reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

General Wesley Clark is a retired general of the United States Army. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Clark currently serves as the co-chairman of Growth Energy, an ethanol lobbying group, and on the board of directors of BNK Petroleum.

The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the convictions of a Wichita man who offered a friend cash and drugs to kill the pregnant 14-year-old girl who was carrying his child.

The court ruled Friday that Elgin Ray Robinson is not entitled to a new trial or sentencing in the death of Chelsea Brooks. She was nine months pregnant at the time. Brooks disappeared on June 9, 2006. Her body was found six days later.

Robinson was convicted of capital murder and other charges.

The Supreme Court rejected defense arguments that the trial court should have suppressed evidence of Robinson’s statements to police and of computer searches he conducted before the murder. Robinson also challenged the introduction of photographs of the girl’s body as it was uncovered from a shallow grave.

Gasoline prices are up for the 24th straight day as service stations continue to price in a 10-percent rise in oil this year.

The national average for gasoline hit $3.741 per gallon on Friday. That’s an increase of 46.5 cents per gallon since the start of 2012. Gasoline has never been this high at this time of year, and analysts say it could reach a record of $4.25 per gallon by late April.

Gasoline has surged as its primary ingredient, oil, gets more expensive. Oil prices have climbed since January on fears that world supplies could be reduced as the West confronts Iran over its nuclear program.

Benchmark crude fell by $1.66 to $107.18 per barrel Friday after Saudi Arabia denied an Iranian media report of a Saudi pipeline explosion.

A new assessment on the proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas concludes that changes in the lab’s design have sharply reduced the risk for accidental release of deadly diseases.

The assessment released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security updates a report issued in 2010. The new document puts the risk of an accidental release at one-tenth of 1%, down from the previous calculation of a 70% chance of release.

Supporters credit design changes made since the first report for the lower risk.

Homeland Security plans to build the lab in Manhattan near Kansas State University. The assessment calculated the risk to the human population living near the lab, as well as the large number of livestock in the region.