The Kansas Bioscience Authority spent about $122,000 in public funds on legal fees for two former executives.

The Wichita Eagle reports the KBA had said previously the legal fees cost about $64,000.

Attorney Tariq Abdullah said Monday several pages had been inadvertently excluded from an electronic copy of legal billing records sent to The Eagle last week.

The money was spent during a forensic audit that questioned some practices of former KBA chief executive officer Tom Thornton and Janice Katterhenry, former chief financial and operating officer.

A Senate Commerce Committee and the Johnson County District Attorney’s office also are investigating the KBA.

KBA spokeswoman Sherlyn Manson says bylaws for the organization require it to pay Thornton’s and Katterhenry’s legal bills.

An established winery in Saline County is up for sale.

The 20-year-old Smoky Hill Vineyards and Winery is located on 40 acres north of Salina. The Salina Journal reports that bids for the winery and its assets are being auctioned online through most of February.

Norm Jennings and his wife have run the winery since his father, co-founder Steve Jennings, died in 2005. The couple announced last March they planned to sell the operation and embark on a career in lay ministry.

The assets for sale include the intellectual property — the names of the wines and production methods. Jennings told the newspaper about a dozen people are interested in the name brand property.

Authorities in a northeast Kansas county are sorting out possible charges against 20 people arrested in a late-night brawl.

WIBW-TV reports the fight began late Sunday at the community center in Ogden and escalated in a field off Interstate 70 in the Geary County town of Grandview Plaza, just east of Junction City.

Officers arrested 17 adults and three juveniles on suspicion of starting a riot and disturbing the peace. Authorities say the suspects included three soldiers from Fort Riley, and also came from Manhattan, Ogden and Junction City.

Officials told WIBW the brawl grew out of a dispute over a girl.

Some of those fighting ran off before they could be arrested. The only weapon found at the scene was a pair of brass knuckles, and only minor injuries were reported.

At least eight people are now being treated in a northeastern Kansas county for symptoms of whooping cough, and health officials are urging residents to consider getting fresh vaccinations.

The Manhattan Mercury reports that five people in Riley County had symptoms of the illness as of Friday. That number was up to eight by the time county health director Susie Kufahl briefed the county commission Monday.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial disease easily transmitted through the air. It’s marked by weeks of a prolonged cough with a distinctive “whooping” sound, and is especially serious for infants.

Kufahl told commissioners that residents should consider being vaccinated against pertussis, even if they’ve been vaccinated in the past. That’s because a new vaccine was developed in 2005.

The state’s Sexual Predator Treatment Program is already overcrowded and state officials say they expect the problem to get worse.

The program was designed to treat sexual offenders so they can return to society. But data from the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services shows that those sent to Larned State Hospital for treatment are almost never released.

Since the program it started in 1994, only three people have been released.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 217 sex offenders are in the program. The SRS says current growth projections estimate that number will grow to more than 370 residents by 2020.

The state currently spends $13 million annually for the program. In September, SRS asked the Kansas Legislature for another $2 million for facility upgrades to accommodate the growth.

Facing pressure from large dairies and feedlots desperate for workers, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman is seeking a federal waiver that would allow companies to hire illegal immigrants.

Rodman has met several times with officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about launching a pilot program in Kansas. The idea is to place employers and undocumented immigrants in a special network organized by the state. It would give rise to a legal, straightforward manner of organizing existing immigrant labor.

So far Homeland Security has neither approved nor closed the door on the idea.

A coalition of business interests is preparing to tackle the issue in Topeka. Details are expected to emerge this week about a bill establishing the outline of a worker program.

 

Kansas Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer is promoting a measure that he says will encourage private companies to hire disabled Kansans.

The bill is before the House Appropriations Committee and deals with rules for companies seeking contracts with the state.

The bill allows qualified companies to be awarded state contracts for bids that are up to 10 percent higher than the most competitive bid offered.

A company would qualify if it primarily does business in Kansas and at least 20 percent of its full-time employees are disabled. Also, the company would have to pay at least 70 percent of the total health insurance costs for its workers.

Colyer says the proposal would provide an off-ramp from state medical services.

The Kansas Press Association says some dinners that Gov. Sam Brownback hosted this month with legislative leaders may have violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the KPA says the issue is whether a majority of legislative committee met and whether they were discussing business.

The dinners generally are restricted to Republicans. Two members of the House Appropriations Committee who attended a Cedar Crest dinner Tuesday said a majority of that committee was present, and topics of discussion included taxes and the state budget.

Brownback’s spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag says dinners are not an open meetings violation. She says the dinners are not an open meetings violation. She says the dinners give lawmakers a chance to get to know one another and that all legislators have been invited for dinner last year and this year.

Authorities are investigating a multiple-fatality wreck on Interstate 70 west of Topeka.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the crash happened around 3:15 p.m. Saturday, when an eastbound car crossed  the interstate’s grassy median and collided with a westbound minivan, killing the driver and two occupants.

Accordintoto the Kansas Highway Patrol, 37-year-old Laura Geske, 3-year-old Joy Geske, 8-year-old Joshua Geske, all of Salina, we’re killed in the accident. 41-year-old Jeffrey Geske and 3-year-old Jacob Geske were transported to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka with injuries. Their conditions were not released as of Saturday evening.

The driver of the car, 62-year-old Steven Moore of Topeka was also transported to Stormont Vail with injuries.

Westbound interstate lanes were shut down after the accident and the traffic rerouted.

 

 

The agency that oversees oil and gas drilling in Kansas says at current staffing levels it cannot adequately perform field inspections because of the recent upsurge of the gas drilling method called horizontal fracturing, or fracking.

The Kansas Corporation Commission says there has been a 300% increase in permits for horizontally fracked wells in Kansas since 2009. Fracking involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into the well to open cracks and help oil and gas flow to the surface.

The KCC says its 41 full-time inspectors aren’t enough to monitor the burgeoning number of rigs in the state. The agency has asked the state to fund six more inspectors.

Gov. Sam Brownback has proposed dedicating about $520,000 from the KCC’s conservation fee fund for frack site inspections.

Release from Congressman Huelskamp office.

(WASHINGTON) – Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp has introduced the “Military Religious Freedom Protection Act.” The legislation is intended to codify protections of religious liberty of chaplains and service members following repeal of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The legislation was introduced with 10 original cosponsors and other members have added their names to the legislation since its introduction.

The Military Religious Freedom Protection Act (H.R. 3828) will ensure:

– Protection of rights of conscience of military chaplains: A chaplain cannot be required to perform or participate in any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service or function that is contrary to their own conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs or those of their faith group.

– Protection of rights of conscience of military members: A service member cannot be denied promotion or other training opportunities for any sincerely held belief he has about the appropriate or inappropriate expression of human sexuality. In other words, a service member cannot be discriminated against if he says that his religious beliefs include an opposition to homosexuality.

– Military facilities or other property owned by the Department of Defense cannot be used to perform a marriage or marriage-like ceremony involving anything other than the union of one man with one woman.

“Fundamental to the core of this nation is the protection of religious liberty,” Congressman Huelskamp said. “The Military Religious Freedom Protection Act will ensure that none of our men and women in uniform – including our chaplain corps – are asked to compromise their religious and spiritual beliefs. It will also protect the freedom of those in the military to express vocally the tenets of their faiths. And, it will make certain that our military facilities are not used in contravention to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which states that marriage is between one man and one woman only. Military installations exist to carry out the national defense of our nation, not to facilitate a narrow social agenda.”

The legislation has been referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

A 64-year-old Lane County man was found guilty Friday of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated solicitation of a child, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

William Lance McGowan, of Dighton was convicted by a jury of the charges, which resulted from an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The crimes were alleged to have occurred between 2007 and 2009.

The jury found McGowan not guilty on two charges of aggravated criminal sodomy.

Judge Bruce T. Gatterman presided over the trial in Lane County District Court. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Assistant Attorney General Nicole Romine, Goodland, prosecuted the case.