A one-vehicle accident in Rooks County sent two Hays residents to the hospital Wednesday morning.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol around 10:30 Wednesday morning, Charles Farr, 49 was northbound on county road 10, about 2 miles north of Zurich on the Zurich black top,  when he hit an icy part of the road surface, causing him to skid into the east ditch and roll his SUV, which came to rest on its driver’s side, facing north.

Farr and his passenger, 47-year-old Bryant Hart, were transported to Rooks County Health Center in Plainville with unspecified injuries.

Both men were wearing their seat belts.

Gov. Sam Brownback says the Kansas State Fair would attract more visitors and more revenue if it started earlier each September to include the Labor Day weekend.

It’s an idea he’s promoted since he sat on the fair board while serving as Kansas agriculture secretary and he repeated it this week in an interview with The Hutchinson News.

The 10-day fair now starts every year on the second Friday of September. Brownback says moving it to include the three-day Labor Day weekend would make it what he calls “a bigger state celebration.”

Fair officials are responding cautiously. They point out that many vendors and the carnival work the Kansas fair into schedules that may include Labor Day commitments elsewhere. But the officials also say they’re open to studying the idea.

A man from Great Bend, Kan., has pleaded guilty to producing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

In his plea, Shawn Marshal Christiansen, 37, admitted that on Dec. 6, 2009, he recorded a live streaming video in which he positioned a boy who was four to six years old in front of a Web camera. He pulled the boy’s pants and underwear down to expose the boy’s genitals.

In the course of investigating another individual located in North Dakota, agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement found evidence that the man had received the video of the boy from Christiansen. ICE agents analyzed Christiansen’s computer, where they found chat logs in which Christiansen talked about the incident with the boy.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 21. Christiansen faces a penalty of not less than 15 years and not more than 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Grissom commended Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt plans to host receptions in Wichita and Topeka this month to honor and remember crime victims.

Schmidt said in a news release that the holiday season can be a difficult time for those who have lost loved ones. He says the receptions are a way to pay tribute to their memories

The Wichita reception is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Mount St. Mary’s Convent. A second reception is planned for Topeka on Dec. 14. The time and location for the Topeka meeting has not been released. The public is invited to attend.

Family and friends can bring an ornament for an “angel tree” in honor of their loved ones.

Voters in a southern Kansas community have rejected a proposal to require prescriptions for cold and allergy medicines containing a key ingredient in methamphetamine.

The Wellington Daily News reports Tuesday’s vote was 652-229 against the measure.

The proposal would have required consumers to get a prescription for cold and allergy remedies containing the decongestant pseudoephedrine. A Kansas law aimed at fighting meth production already requires consumers to show identification and sign a log to buy such medicines.

The Wellington City Council could still adopt an ordinance making pseudoephedrine a prescription drug. But the Daily News reports that such a step is unlikely, since the council sent the proposal to voters in the first place

Kansas State University at Salina plans to offer full-time helicopter training, starting in January.

The Salina Journal reports that the school will partner with a private helicopter flight school to train students to earn ratings and certifications for helicopters.

Kurt Barnhart, head of the university’s aviation department, says the school’s current helicopter training is offered only as part of its fixed-wing program.

Arizona-based Universal Helicopters is providing the university with three helicopters and flight instructors for the program.

Barnhart said he expects the helicopter training to have 30 to 40 students within a couple of years.

Universal has a similar program at Dodge City Community College.

A northeastern Kansas man faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting his role in a scheme to fraudulently collect nearly $360,000 in federal income tax refunds.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Melvin Artis pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Kansas City, Mo. The 36-year-old Overland Park resident was one of three people charged in the scheme. The other defendants — one from Missouri, the other from Kansas — are awaiting trial.

Artis admitted recruiting people to file income tax returns under their own names with phony W-2 earnings forms and other documents created by the co-conspirators. When those people received debit cards containing refunds, Artis went with them to collect cash from the refunds on the cards.

Prosecutors say the conspirators were responsible for filing 49 fraudulent returns.

Authorities in northeastern Kansas are investigating a burglary that resulted in thousands of dollars’ worth of damage at a county building.

Riley County police believe the break-in at the Riley County Health Department occurred Thursday or Friday. The building also houses the Konza Prairie Community Health Center and an office of a federal health program.

The Manhattan Mercury reports the offices were ransacked, apparently in a search for something to steal. Nothing was taken, but cabinets, windows and doors were damaged. The Community Health Center also reported $5,000 in damage to denture molds.

by Randy Picking ~ Salina Post

A 65-year-old Salina man had 4 handguns confiscated from him Monday, after he had announced via social media and e-mail, he planned to travel to Osawatomie Tuesday and arrest President Barack Obama while he spoke at the high school.

Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski, said Captain Brian Shea and Lt. Brent Melander went with the Secret Service to the home of J Neil Jednoralski late Monday afternoon to talk to Jednoralski about the statements that he had made on Facebook and e-mails regarding President Obama.

Sheriff Kochanowski said Jednoralski turned the guns over to a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper who is a neighbor, who then turned the guns over to the Sheriffs Office. The guns will be returned to Jednoralski when the President leaves the state of Kansas. The following is the e-mail that Jednoralski sent out to members of the media and others Monday evening:

The US Security Service was just here, because KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL DEREK SCHMIDT called them about my attempt to ARREST Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., tomorrow at the Osawatomie High School. So KS Attorney General is no friend of the Tea Party Movement, and will not prosecute Obama for not being qualified to be President of the United States!! PLUS he ignored his responsibility of the STATE’s RIGHTS of Kansas!!

I was told if I show up, I will be arrested for TRESPASS. Question: Trespass on PUBIC PROPERTY?

The Saline County Sheriff’s office has all my firearms and handcuffs, until 5;00 PM Tuesday. I turned them over to my neighbor KS State Trooper , and he then turned them over to the Saline County Sheriff’ office.

I know what their are doing, but do they have the right to take my firearms, by the Second Amendment? What do you say John Reynolds, NRA member, Attorney, and Saline County Commissioner?

I will not attend the event in Osawatomie, tomorrow, because of a FEDERAL THREAT of TRESPASS on PUBLIC PROPERTY!!

Neil J

Request by the media to take pictures of the handguns and handcuffs were denied by the Secret Service.

Gov. Sam Brownback is welcoming President Barack Obama to Kansas, but the Republican governor doesn’t plan to attend a speech by the Democratic president.

Obama will be in Osawatomie Tuesday for a speech on the economy. Some Republicans, both nationally and in Kansas, consider the visit part of Obama’s re-election campaign.

In a statement Monday, Brownback’s office said any visit by a president is an honor. But Brownback’s office also said the governor couldn’t make the event in Osawatomie.

Brownback’s office said the governor had a long-standing commitment to participate in a symposium at Wichita State University on the state’s future.

Kansas officials plan to announce that a major goal has been met in a program that matches mentors with convicts to teach the life skills they will need when they get out of prison.

The so-called Mentoring4Success initiative pairs mentors with inmates six to 12 months before their release to reduce the inmates’ risk of committing other crimes and returning to prison.

Gov. Sam Brownback and Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts will attend a news conference with representatives from the program on Tuesday.

The search for additional mentors continues because about 4,700 people are released from prison each year. About half of them need help with housing, employment, family and other issues.