(AP) — A western Kansas police department has finished its investigation into the death of a 58-year-old Kansas City, Mo., woman two days after she was jailed for possessing marijuana.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1jToiXT) reports Goodland police have turned the case over to the Sherman County prosecutor’s office to determine what action should be taken.

Brenda Sewell and her sister were pulled over for speeding by the Kansas Highway Patrol in Goodland on Jan. 20. A trooper arrested them after finding marijuana, and they were taken to jail.

Sewell’s relatives say jailers didn’t give her medication and were slow to help when she became ill and began to foam at the mouth on Jan. 22. She was pronounced dead at Goodland Regional Medical Center.

(AP) – Gov. Jay Nixon has set an Aug. 5 special election to fill three vacant Missouri House seats.

Nixon announced the House election dates Friday, but he did not call for a vote to replace Sen. Ryan McKenna, who he appointed in December as the state labor director.

The 120th House District has been vacant since Republican Jason Smith, of Salem, resigned in June upon winning a special election to Congress.

The two other House seats opened up in December. Democratic Rep. Steve Webb, of Florissant, resigned while facing criminal charges. Republican Rep. Dennis Fowler, of Advance, resigned when Nixon appointed him to the state Board of Probation and Parole.

The special election announcements come as Nixon is facing a lawsuit seeking to compel him to call the elections.

(AP) – A new report from the U.S. State Department on the Keystone XL pipeline has drawn varying reactions in Kansas, where a separate section of the Keystone pipeline is operating.

The State Department on Friday raised no major environmental objections to the $7 billion pipeline from Canada, though the report stops short of recommending its approval. Keystone XL would travel through Montana and South Dakota before reaching Nebraska. An existing spur runs through Kansas and Oklahoma to Texas.

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican, says in a release the report should push the “job-creating, domestic energy-producing project forward.”

But Marion County Commissioner Dan Holub says the six counties in Kansas where the pipeline runs through “got no big jobs,” and he says he’s also concerned about the possibility of a spill.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill released the following statement after the Response Systems Panel-an expert group created in the 2013 annual defense bill to study how to curb sexual assaults in the military-announced interim findings that recommend against stripping military commanders of their ability to launch courts-martial:

“After an exhaustive and careful study of the issue, these independent and diverse experts have reached an unequivocal conclusion-stripping commanders of their ability to launch courts-martial in sexual assault cases would not result in more prosecutions of predators or more protections for victims. Just weeks ago, we passed into law an historic re-write of the military justice system to curb these heinous crimes, with reforms grounded in sound policy. And as we aggressively implement those reforms, this panel’s diligent work is providing us with crucial information that must inform any future debate about alternative proposals.”

The Response Systems Panel was set up as part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act to examine the military’s response to reports of sexual assault and to make recommendations to improve that response. Today’s interim findings by the “Role of the Commander Subcommittee”- which come just weeks after Congress passed historic reforms to the military justice system – were issued by a panel subcommittee which heard testimony from McCaskill last year. These findings reject an alternative legislative proposal by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that would strip commanders of their responsibilities in sexual assault cases-and specifically refutes several assertions by proponents of the Gillibrand alternative.

The findings (available online HERE) read, in part:

Based on all information considered to this point, a strong majority of Subcommittee members agrees the evidence does not support a conclusion that removing authority to convene courts-martial from senior commanders will reduce the incidence of sexual assault or increase reporting of sexual assaults in the Armed Forces. Nor does the evidence indicate it will improve the quality of investigations and prosecutions or increase the conviction rate in these cases. Further, the evidence does not support a conclusion that removing such authority will increase confidence among victims of sexual assault about the fairness of the military justice system or reduce their concerns about possible reprisal for making reports of sexual assault. As a result, the Subcommittee’s assessment at this time is that the authority vested in senior commanders to convene courts-martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for sexual assault offenses should not be changed.

The expert panel previously issued findings, based on detailed analysis of U.S. military allies that had removed military commanders from any role in prosecutions, which found that those countries saw no corresponding increase in reporting of military sexual assault. The panel also reported that the reason our allies chose to change their systems was often to strengthen the rights of the accused-not to increase reporting of military sexual assault.

McCaskill grilled military leaders last year in several Senate hearings and introduced legislation – which has since been passed into law-that curtailed the authority of military commanders to dismiss jury convictions against sex offenders. That proposal became law as part of last year’s annual defense bill, which ultimately included a host of historic reforms to curb sexual assaults in the military, including:

Stripping commanders of the ability to overturn jury convictions,
Requiring civilian review if a commander declines to prosecute a case,
Assigning victims their own independent legal counsel to protect their rights and fight for their interests,
Mandating dishonorable discharge for anyone convicted of sexual assault,
Criminalizing retaliation against victims who report a sexual assault,
And eliminating the statute of limitations in rape and sexual assault cases.
The Obama Administration recently released comments supporting of these historic reforms, and urging Congress to give these reforms the time they need to succeed.

(AP) — A Junction City man was sentenced to one year of probation for killing his girlfriend’s cat by stuffing cigarettes and cotton swabs down its throat.

KMAN reports (http://bit.ly/1klJ4gA ) William Lemieux Jr., who had pleaded no contest to animal cruelty in November, was sentenced Friday in Geary County District Court.

Lemieux also was ordered to pay costs and not to contact his girlfriend. He also is not allowed to have pets and must follow all recommendations from a domestic violence assessment and a drug and alcohol evaluation.

Lemieux’s girlfriend found her cat dead in a bag in a trash can near her home. Assistant County Attorney Michelle Brown said a veterinarian later found three cigarettes and a cotton swab jammed in the cat’s throat.