An eastern Kansas man is in custody after a standoff with police that included shots fired at responding officers.

Osawatomie police were told by family members around 9:30 p.m. Saturday that a 31-year-old was intoxicated, heavily armed and possibly suicidal inside his home.

Police say the man, who has not been identified, fired several shots inside the home before police arrived, then shot at officers who responded.

Police spokesman Robert Butters says the man came outside several times and fired additional rounds.

Miami County tactical officers were evacuating people in the neighborhood when the man surrendered after speaking with a police negotiator.

He was being held in jail pending further investigation.

A 78-year-old Smith Center man was killed in a single vehicle accident at around 5:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Smith County.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 78-year-old Vernus Norman Morgan was attempting to park in a carport at 109 North Washington in Smith Center when the vehicle accelerated, went through the back of the carport, through an empty lot and then crossed over an alley into a neighbor’s yard. His vehicle then struck a brick wall and rolled onto the passenger side.

Morgan was taken to Smith County Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A passenger in the vehicle, 77-year-old Kathryn S. Morgan, was transported to Smith County Memorial Hospital with possible injuries.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a public meeting to address a recent inspection report on Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the meeting is scheduled for March 6 in New Strawn to discuss the report that was done after the plant experienced an off-site power loss on Jan. 13.

The federal agency says the power loss resulted in the failure of a main generator electrical breaker and the loss of power to a startup transformer, temporarily cutting the plant’s connection to the electrical power grid.

The NRC says emergency diesel generators were automatically activated and powered all safety systems normally. The event lasted about three hours.

The Kansas Senate has given first-round approval to a measure allowing oil and gas drilling companies to spread some waste produced by fracking operations over fields in Kansas.

The move Thursday comes as southern Kansas is experiencing a surge in horizontal drilling involving the hydraulic fracturing technique known as fracking.

The material companies could spread on Kansas fields involve clays, which often have high concentrations of chloride. It’s viewed as a cheaper and more efficient way to get rid of waste created by fracking.

High levels of chloride can damage plants and can also affect the taste of drinking water and make it more corrosive to water pipes.

Senators will take a final vote on the bill, before sending it to a House committee.

Gov. Sam Brownback says he has no interest in keeping the University of Kansas’ rivalry with the University of Missouri alive when the Tigers leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference next year.

Brownback told reporters Friday on the eve of the last scheduled men’s basketball game between the Jayhawks and Tigers that Missouri is to blame for the storied series ending after 100-plus years.

He said Missouri nearly “cratered” the Big 12 by first talking three years ago about leaving for the Big Ten. Brownback said had the Big 12 dissolved, Kansas and Kansas State would have been in a tough position.

He quoted Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger, that keeping rivalry going would be like a man divorcing his wife, then asking if they can still date.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells military officers that any perceived weakness in U.S. power is a greater threat to the country than another nation or terrorist cell.

Rumsfeld said Friday during a speech at Fort Leavenworth that past cuts in defense and intelligence spending led to gaps in security. He cautions it could happen again under current tight federal budgets.

Rumsfeld served under Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush and was in charge of the Pentagon during the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He retired in 2006.

He spoke to more than 1,000 U.S. and international officers at the northeast Kansas post, then signed copies of his memoir, “Known and Unknown,” for the public. He has been touring the country promoting the book.

UPDATE 2:26 PM:A Salina nurse who was addicted to painkillers has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for stealing morphine from the nursing facility where she worked, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Melanie French Morrison, 25, Ft. Riley, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of consumer product tampering and one count of adulteration of a drug. In her plea, she admitted that in May 2009 she was fired from Wesley Medical Center for taking Percocet from the hospital’s drug supply without a physician’s order and without documenting that she administered it to a patient.

In August 2009, Morrison went to work as a charge nurse at Holiday Resort Nursing Facility in Salina. Because she was addicted to pain medications, she took syringes from the medical room, removed morphine from its vials and replaced it with sodium chloride solution to hide the theft. She would take the morphine-filled syringes home and inject the morphine.

In February 2010, a nursing director was preparing an injection for a patient and discovered that someone had tampered with multiple vials. The nursing director had Morrison submit to a urine drug test, which was positive for opiates.

 

ORIGINAL: A Salina nurse who diluted morphine solutions at a nursing home is due in court for sentencing.

Melanie Morrison was scheduled be sentenced Friday in federal court in Topeka for consumer product tampering and adulteration of a drug at the Holiday Resort Nursing Facility in Salina.

Morrison admitted putting sodium chloride into solutions of morphine sulfate, reducing the painkiller’s quality and strength. Sodium chloride is dangerous to some patients, particularly those with congestive heart failure or severe renal insufficiency.

Morrison struck a deal with prosecutors that could send her to prison for three years. She also agreed to surrender her nursing license and never work in health care again.

Prosecutors are recommending she be admitted to a drug addiction program, which could get her out of prison early.

The Kansas House has approved a bill that could reduce benefits to some unemployed Kansans while cutting unemployment rates paid by new employers.

Under the bill, unemployment benefits would be reduced for a person who receives a lump-sum separation or severance payment. The reduced benefits would continue for the number of weeks that the lump sum represents.

The bill also would reduce the unemployment insurance contribution rates.

The Lawrence Journal World reports supporters tout the bill as a way to create jobs in Kansas. Critics said employers’ contributions rates shouldn’t be cut at a time when the state already is struggling to pay unemployment benefits.

The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration.

House members have approved a bill that would amend Kansas laws regarding mandatory reporting of alleged child abuse.

Thursday’s 123-1 vote sends the measure to the Senate. Supporters say the changes were in response to the allegations of child sex abuse at Penn State University involving former football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

The bill expands the list of individuals of child abuse to authorities for investigation. It also strengthens the penalty for failure to report cases of suspected sexual abuse.

It also would remove the defense that a person believed someone else was going to file the report, unless a report had actually been made, or that a person did not make a report for fear of reprisal or any other consequences.