(AP) – The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City says Kansas banks have loaned less money for new buildings and business operations than at any time in the past five years.

In a report prepared this week for The Wichita Eagle, the Federal Reserve said Kansas banks made $9.5 billion in commercial real estate loans in the first half of 2011. That’s a drop of nearly $1 billion from the same period a year ago.

At the same time, commercial and industrial loans totaled $5.2 billion, down from $5.5 billion in the first half of 2010.

Bankers told the newspaper that the lower numbers do not mean they are tightening credit. They cited factors such as regulatory policies, fewer lenders, a lack of cash and retail properties, and lower customer demand.

Topeka – The Kansas Arts Commission voted Wednesday to move forward with its own plan to support the arts in Kansas through private funding, rather than to continue its pursuit of a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Commissioners remain united and focused on how to expand and support the arts in Kansas by maintaining and creating relationships with other arts agencies and developing an innovative funding plan,” KAC Chairman Linda Browning Weis said.

Browning Weis reported that commissioners decided to focus on a truly Kansas arts plan after the Commission learned of NEA’s notification that they would not accept KAC’s proposal to match federal funding with privately raised money.

As part of their funding plan, commissioners agreed to move forward on plans to promote and sell Kansas Arts Supporters license plates. Final details for the fundraising project will be presented at their December meeting.

Commissioners voted to explore partnering with the Kansas Humanities Council to expand the KAC’s Poet Laureate program.

They also agreed to continue the Governor’s Arts Awards program. Each year the KAC celebrates the best in Kansas arts by honoring Kansas artists, arts educators, arts advocates, arts communities, arts patrons and arts organizations who have made a positive impact on the arts in Kansas.

(AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s campaign has been fined $5,000 by the Governmental Ethic Commission for mistakes made in filing expense and contribution reports for the 2010 election.

The commission voted 7-2 on Wednesday to impose the maximum fine after questioning Kobach’s campaign treasurer state Rep. Tom Arpke of Salina. At issue was nearly $80,000 that was omitted from the reports.

This is the second time Kobach has been associated with problems in campaign finance reports in recent years.

In June, after a two-year review, the Federal Election Commission found that the Kansas Republican Party had committed three violations of federal campaign finance laws in 2007 and 2008, when Kobach was chairman.

The audit cited flawed record-keeping and reporting, but Kobach described the problems as technical.

(AP) – The 1981 abduction of a 5-year-old girl from her family’s Topeka home remains unsolved, but investigators may have something new to go on.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the city-county Crime Stoppers hotline recently received at least one call with a tip about the kidnapping of Jackie Hay. But police Detective Doug Searcy told the newspaper Wednesday that investigators need to talk to the tipster again.

Searcy asked that anyone who called recently about the little girl’s abduction call Crime Stoppers again and identify themselves with the unique number assigned by the hotline. The number is 785-234-0007.

Jackie Hay was taken from the front yard of her home in southeast Topeka on Sept. 12, 1981.

(AP) – A Leavenworth man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for beating his aunt and her friend with a golf club.

Thirty-8-year-old Wayne Sidney Jr. was sentenced Wednesday for the June 11 attack. He was also sentenced to 16 months for fleeing police, driving while suspended and other traffic violations.

The Leavenworth County prosecutor says Sidney beat the victims while he was awaiting sentence for the traffic violations, which occurred in March while Sidney was driving a stolen car.

During his sentencing Sidney said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and had been awake for 10 days when the beatings occurred.

(AP) – A Kansas judge has scheduled trial next March for a man accused of killing a 14-year-old Great Bend girl and burning her body.

Barton County District Judge Hannelore Kitts on Wednesday scheduled a 10-day jury trial beginning on March 26 for Adam Joseph Longoria.

The 37-year-old Great Bend man is charged with killing Alicia DeBolt, whose charred body was found in August 2010 at the asphalt plant where Longoria worked.

Longoria is charged with capital murder, but prosecutors have said they won’t seek the death penalty if he’s convicted.

(AP) – A commission in Kansas plans to narrow the options it will consider for a plan to address the long-term financial health of the state pension system for teachers and government workers.

The discussions Wednesday of a 13-member pensions study commission come with Gov. Sam Brownback still advocating that Kansas move toward a 401(k)-style plan for new workers.

The Kansas Public Employee Retirement System projects a gap of nearly $8.3 billion between anticipated revenues and the benefits it’s committed to paying through 2033.

Legislators took some steps earlier this year to help close that gap, including increasing the state’s contributions to the pension system. The current system guarantees a worker’s benefits based on salary and years of services, rather than having the system’s investment earnings determine them.

(AP) – Members of Occupy Lawrence are looking for a new site to camp after the city ordered them out of a downtown park.

Lawrence police told the group members Tuesday that they might be arrested and have their gear confiscated if they didn’t move out of South Park.

Police spokesman Sgt. Matt Sarna said police did not encounter any problems while the protesters moved out of the park.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that police cited a city ordinance that bars use of the park from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Tuesday evening several members of the group asked the city commission to help them find a city-owned place to camp. Mayor Aron Cromwell said he doubted the city would meet that request.

TOPEKA–A new federal grant will help the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services improve the policies and practices for educating children who are in the Kansas foster care network.

The $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will fund a 17-month collaborative initiative between SRS, the University of Kansas, and the Kansas State Department of Education. The purpose of this initiative is to develop a stable educational environment for youth in foster care. Its approach is to improve the sharing of information among the agencies involved in their lives, specifically SRS and the schools they attend. The goals are to reduce the number of times foster children have to change schools, and improve their graduation rates.

During the 2011 legislative session, lawmakers passed House Substitute for Senate Bill 23, which allows foster children to graduate from high school if they meet specific graduation requirements adopted by the State Board of Education. Often times, foster children in high school have trouble graduating on time because graduation requirements are different at each high school they have attended.

Foster children who leave state care at 18 are eligible for free tuition at state universities, community colleges and technical schools.

(AP) – Trego County authorities say a Scott City man who was found dead at Cedar Bluff Reservoir apparently drowned.

The county sheriff’s department says two fishermen found the body of William L. Dryer on Monday on the reservoir’s northeast shoreline. The body was floating in about 4 feet of water at an old parking lot area.

(AP) – The death toll in an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is still growing as federal health authorities report new deaths in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that there now are 28 deaths linked to the outbreak in a dozen states. The CDC said 133 people have been sickened in 26 states, including the deaths.

The tainted Colorado cantaloupes are off of store shelves by now but since the symptoms of listeria can take up to two months to appear, federal officials said they will monitor the outbreak until November at least.

Deaths also have been reported in Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., recalled the cantaloupes Sept. 14.