(AP) – Lawrence police say they haven’t stopped looking for a serial rapist who is believed to have attacked more than a dozen women in Lawrence and Manhattan between 2000 and 2008.

Police Chief Tarik Khatib told the Lawrence Journal-World investigators still have leads about the attacks, the last of which happened three years ago.

Little has been said since police in 2008 linked a string of assaults on or near university campuses in the towns to a single person. Khatib says his office provides details when he thinks it could help catch the rapist, but otherwise there’s no reason to release information that could harm the investigation.

Khatib says he’s confident the man eventually will be nabbed.

(AP) – Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran have filed legislation seeking to restore the state’s oversight of natural gas storage.

The Wichita Eagle reported that the bill would allow the state to restart its program of safety inspections of interstate gas storage facilities. A federal court ruling has limited the state to regulating storage fields that do business only within the state. As a result, 11 Kansas storage sites capable of holding more than 270 billion cubic feet of gas haven’t been inspected for 19 months.

The natural gas is housed in depleted oil and gas fields in Kansas. Companies pump the gas into huge caverns for storage until it is needed by utility companies.

Safety is a concern following 2001 gas leaks in Hutchinson that left two people dead.

(AP) – The trucker who allegedly led deputies on a chase through three northeast Kansas counties has waived his preliminary hearing.

Robert Smith, of Salina, waived the hearing during an appearance Wednesday in Pottawatomie County Court. Prosecutors have filed 11 charges against him, including attempted second-degree murder and and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.

The chase in October stretched from Shawnee County to just north of Wamego. Four people were hospitilized.

Authorities say the chase began after the trucker rammed his 18-wheeler into a pickup on I-70 just west of Topeka. It ended hours later when the rig became stuck in a yard.

Smith will be arraigned Dec. 22.

PRATT — In 2010, Kansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry (KSHFH) helped collect 1,108 donated deer, plus other meat, providing nearly 225,000 meals to the needy.

A new study commissioned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation reveals that last year, 11 million meals were provided to the less fortunate through donations of venison by hunters throughout the U.S.

Nearly 2.8 million pounds of game meat made its way to shelters, food banks, and church kitchens and onto the plates of those in need. The venison is usually ground and used in pasta sauces, chili, tacos, meatloaf, burgers, and other dishes.

The study revealed that donations were largest in the Midwest and the South.

KSHFH invites anyone to donate legally-harvested deer or elk to participating meat processors. There is no cost to donate.   The game must be field dressed and legally tagged.

For more information and to find participating meat lockers, visit the KSHFH website, www.kshfh.org.

(AP) – An interim legislative committee is urging Gov. Sam Brownback to delay combining Kansas juvenile justice programs with the state’s social services agency.

Members of the House-Senate Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice voiced their concerns on Tuesday, recommending that the effort be delayed until it’s thoroughly studied.

Legislators were critical of the proposal during the committee meeting, saying that the current system for dealing with troubled youth and providing for public safety was working.

Legislators told Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Rob Siedlecki that the proposed changes weren’t well-thought out.

Brownback wants to place juvenile justice programs under SRS.

The change is part of Brownback’s reorganization of state agencies linked to sweeping changes in the state’s Medicaid programs.

(AP) – A federal audit has found more than 800 Kansas food stamp recipients who were dead, had invalid Social Security numbers or were double-dipping from the federal program between August 2009 and August 2010.

The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services says that number is only a fraction of the more than 7,000 beneficiaries an October examination found who may be improperly receiving assistance

The SRS administers the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, in Kansas. Director Rob Siedlecki says his agency has identified more than $22 million in possible benefits fraud since January.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it found 883 Kansas assistance recipients, including many who are dead, who were improperly receiving assistance during the audit period.

(AP) – Kansas revenue collections are up for November, with the state taking in $2.5 million more in taxes than anticipated.

Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan says Wednesday the state collected $2.4 million more in sales taxes than projected.

Overall, Kansas collected $405.8 million in November. A group of economists and researchers had predicted earlier this month that the state would collect $403.4 million.

The state has collected nearly $2.3 billion since the fiscal year began July 1. That’s $144.3 million, or 6.7%, more than through the same period last fiscal year.

Jordan says the revenue collections show steady growth in the Kansas economy. But he says the state must be careful not to disrupt what he sees as positive trends.

(AP) – Police say Kansas City television meteorologist Don Harman has died. He was 41.

A police report says Harman, who had been a meteorologist at WDAF since 1999, died Tuesday evening at his home in Kansas City. The report listed the cause of death as suicide and said he was found by his wife.

WDAF president and general manager Cheryl McDonald said in a statement Wednesday that Harman was a beloved meteorologist and personality at the station, and that “words cannot express how deeply he will be missed.”

The station’s website said Harman also worked at stations in Iowa and West Virginia before joining WDAF.

(AP) – The south-central Kansas town where the late anti-liquor crusader Carry Nation lived has eliminated 1 of its last remaining restrictions on alcohol sales.

Under a measure approved Tuesday, residents of the Barber County town of Medicine Lodge will be able to purchase alcohol on all Sundays except Easter. The Hutchinson News reported that the unofficial vote tally was 157-142. An election official says only five provision votes were cast. That’s not enough to change the outcome when the votes are canvassed and made official on Friday.

Liquor by the drink had been banned in Barber County bars and restaurants until last November when voters overwhelmingly voted to legalize such sales.

Nation began her anti-liquor crusade in Medicine Lodge in the late 1800s.

(AP) – An 18-year-old Kansas college student has been charged with trying to convince someone to rob a Concordia bank.

Landon B. Hedstrom of Belleville was arrested Nov. 17 and was released from jail on bond on Nov. 18. He’s pleaded not guilty to one count of solicitation to commit bank robbery and is scheduled for trial Jan. 24.

The Salina Journal reports that officials are not discussing what led authorities to take Hedstrom into custody. He attends Cloud County Community College in Concordia.

Chris Joseph, whose Topeka law firm is representing Hedtrom, said he expects the trial date to be continued to a later date.

(AP) – The Topeka City Council has rejected a proposal to establish a domestic partnership registry.

The registry would have allowed unmarried adult couples to register their relationships with the city to gain easier access to benefits such as health insurance and hospital visitation rights. But The Topeka Capital Journal reported that it failed to win passage Tuesday on a 5-4 vote.

Mayor Bill Bunten didn’t have a vote but spoke against the proposal. He said its passage wouldn’t have addressed discrimination and civil rights concerns. He said previously that he believes the registry would be another step toward legalizing gay marriage

Councilman Chad Manspeaker was dismayed. He said it reminded him of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s statement that “A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”