Two people are being questioned in the suspicious death of a 69-year-old woman in southeastern Kansas.

KAKE-TV reports  the two suspects were arrested Monday night after leading officers on a 20-mile chase in the woman’s car.

Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet says officers making a welfare check found Loyce Cody dead in her home in Augusta around 10 a.m. Monday after she failed to show up for work. The cause of death has not been released, but the sheriff says it’s considered suspicious.

About seven hours later, deputies working another investigation spotted Cody’s car and followed it. The sheriff says the driver sped off at speeds of up to 100 mph. The driver and passenger were booked on traffic charges after the chase ended in Cowley County.

The University of Kansas is planning a new system for identifying struggling first-year students and finding them help.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the school is finalizing its contract with a software provider whose system will flag students over problems designated by professors, such as missing class, failing to turn in assignments or flunking tests.

Students who are flagged will hear from the university’s student advising office. From there, an adviser will try to determine any issues students are having. Students also will be directed to on-campus programs that provide such services as tutoring or writing help.

The program is part of an effort to boost retention and graduation rates.

University spokeswoman Jill Jess says she doesn’t know how much the program will cost.

(AP) – A Lyons man has pleaded guilty to 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.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 27. He faces a penalty of not less than 10 years and not more than life and a fine up to $250,000. Grissom commended the Kansas Highway Patrol, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch for their work on the case.

(AP) – A 16-year-old north-central Kansas high school football player who collapsed during a game has returned home after weeks at a rehabilitation facility.

Beloit High School sophomore Jadon Adams returned home Friday. Adams collapsed during a football game October 7. The Salina Journal reports that doctors have not determined what led to Adams’ injury.

Beloit nurse Steph Barrett said Adams attended a high school basketball game with his family Friday night. She said Adams has been undergoing therapy at a rehabilitation hospital in Lincoln, Neb., since Oct. 21. Before that he was hospitalized in Wichita.

Barrett said Adams’ therapy will continue at home, and a retired teacher will be tutoring him at home for a while.

Adams is a two-way starter and the leading rusher for Beloit.

(AP) – A western Kansas group has been selected to take part in a national effort to improve care for people living with mental illness and substance addiction.

The selection of the Area Mental Health Center includes a $100,000 award.

The center provides behavioral health services in 13 counties of western and southwestern Kansas. It’s one of 10 organizations nationwide and the only one in Kansas chosen for the initiative, called the Co-Occurring Disorder Learning Community.

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare says the initiative is aimed at streamlining the delivery of services to people being treated for both mental health and substance abuse problems. The federal government says as many as half of people with mental illness also have problems with substance abuse.

(AP) – Produce grown by inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth helped more than 21,000 people this year.

Brian Habjan, a spokesman for the program, says 198,778 pounds of produce was given away free of charge this year.

The program started in 2010. The inmates grow the produce and volunteers pick it up for distribution around the Leavenworth area.

Habjan says 21,823 people received the produce this year. He says an average of 334 families and 839 individuals received the fruits and vegetables each week.

The Leavenworth Times reports that some inmates in the program receive apprenticeship program credits through the Department of Labor that can be converted into college credits.

(AP) – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says a Missouri paving company can no longer do business in Kansas after violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

Cloud County District Judge Kim Cudney banned QualityRoad Construction from doing business in the state and ordered three individuals to refund $19,500 to residents who lost money in their operation.

The ruling came after an investigation by the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division.

Schmidt says the defendants allegedly defrauded at least three Kansas consumers by going door-to-door last summer offering to pave driveways.

The attorney general says the pavers did not disclose all of their charges at the time of the sale, and failed to advise the consumers of their rights under the Consumer Protection Act.

A suburban Kansas City couple is offering $1,500 for information about who killed their cat.

Leasa Carrington says her family usually let the cat run around outside at night, but on Wednesday the pet named Oreo didn’t come back to their Overland Park, Kan., home.

KSHB reports the family made flyers of their cat and received a call that said Oreo had been found dead. Skin had been cut from the cat’s stomach and several of its ribs were broken.

A veterinarian examined the cat and determined its injuries were not the result of an animal attack.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to contact the Overland Park Police Department.

(AP) – A couple hundred people lined up overnight in frigid temperatures to get a ticket to see President Barack Obama at Osawatomie High School in eastern Kansas.

The line began forming early Saturday evening to get tickets that are being handed out at noon Sunday on a first-come, first-serve basis.

President Obama says his speech at 1 p.m. Tuesday will focus on the economy and what the president sees as a “make or break moment” for the middle class.

Republican President Theodore Roosevelt spoke in Osawatomie in 1910, a year after he left the presidency, and called for a “new Nationalism.”

Democrats were surprised by President Obama’s choice for the speech, since he didn’t come close to carrying Kansas in 2008.

(AP) – A federal judge is considering whether to suppress evidence and dismiss charges against a Kansas veteran accused of illegally possessing incendiary bombs and grenades.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten set a Dec. 15 hearing date for Alfred Dutton, who is charged with possession of unregistered destructive devices.

His attorney has asked the judge to dismiss the charge involving eight grenades for failure to state a crime. Attorney John Henderson argued the inert grenades are not destructive devices, and his client was preparing to sell decorative and inoperable World War II vintage hand grenades on eBay.

The defense also is seeking to suppress search warrants that were obtained based on information provided by his ex-wife’s boyfriend.

Hays news post 417

(AP) – Kansas anticipates tripling the tax dollars it contributes over the next two decades to pensions for teachers and government workers.

Questions about whether taxpayers can afford such a commitment hang over the debate about the state retirement system’s future.

A commission created this year to consider changes for the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System is grappling with the knowledge that whatever it proposes, closing the system’s long-term funding gap is likely to squeeze the state budget for years. The commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday to decide what proposals to forward to legislators next year.

Commission members expect to consider proposing a 401(k)-style plan for new public employees.

The law creating the commission committed the state to increasing its contribution to KPERS.