TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is trying to bolster his support among GOP and unaffiliated voters in Kansas with a recorded telephone message from former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Roberts’ campaign said the call with Romney’s endorsement was going to 400,000 voters across the state Wednesday.

Roberts is in a tougher-than-expected race for re-election against independent candidate Greg Orman.

Orman is running as a centrist, and his campaign says voters are tired of gridlock in Washington.

Romney was the 2012 Republican nominee against Democratic President Barack Obama.

In the message, Romney calls Roberts a trusted conservative. Romney says Roberts is needed in Washington to block the agenda of Obama and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Orman has said voters are interested in solving the nation’s problems, not partisanship.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A state commission has approved a plan to allow an extra $3.5 million for Westar Energy for upgrades to a coal plant.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1uJI3mZ ) the Kansas Corporation Commission approved a plan Tuesday for Westar Energy for improvements at the La Cygne power plant.

Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light own the plant together and need to make upgrades to comply with federal emissions rules.

Under the agreement, Westar Energy said it wouldn’t ask for a rate increase until March. It means new rates based on the costs of operating the plant won’t be effective until October 2015.

Kansas City Power & Light will file its rate case in January and work on the basis of estimated costs until then.

JOPLIN (AP) – Two men are charged with second-degree murder in the beating and strangling death of a 71-year-old Joplin man.
Joplin police say 21-year-old Anthony Carter and 26-year-old Kristopher Smith, both of the Joplin area, were arrested and charged Wednesday in the death of David McKibben, a treasurer at the First Baptist Church.

McKibben’s body was found in his apartment Saturday. The Joplin Globe reports police said in a news release that the suspects appeared to target McKibben and his death was not a random act of violence.

Some items were taken from McKibben’s home but police would not say if he was killed as part of a robbery or if the items were taken as an afterthought.
Online court records do not show that either suspect has an attorney.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A prominent Washington attorney is part of the effort to get the Democratic nominee off the ballot in the U.S. Senate race in Kansas against Republican Sen. Pat Roberts.

A Topeka attorney representing Democratic candidate Chad Taylor filed a request Wednesday with the Kansas Supreme Court, asking it to allow out-of-state attorney Marc Elias to practice before the court.

Elias is a partner in a Washington law firm, and his online biography says his clients include the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But a spokesman for the group said he is not representing it in this case.

Taylor petitioned the court Tuesday to force Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to remove him from the ballot after Taylor ended his campaign last week.

The move potentially boosted independent candidate Greg Orman.

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today released the following statement after President Obama’s televised address on combating the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS):

“I’m glad to hear President Obama is assembling a strong, international coalition against ISIS and the very real threat these extremists pose. ISIS is a barbaric, inhumane terrorist group with the ability to communicate and travel globally, and our partners and allies around the world must be united in in combating an organization with such reach. But it’s critical that we aim before we shoot, and so I was pleased tonight to hear the President’s strategy to confront the threat of ISIS today and in the future.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), who serves as a member of the defense authorizing and appropriations committees, released the following statement tonight in response to President Barack Obama’s speech on ISIL:

“As the nation prepares to mark the thirteenth anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11, we are reminded that the threat to our nation from terrorist groups like ISIL is still very real, and because of a new base in Syria and Iraq, that threat is potentially even more dangerous today.

“While I believe the president has the authority to respond to this threat under congressional action from 2001, I also believe he could have benefited from coming to Congress with a more specific plan and asking Congress to reaffirm that authority.

“Like the rest of the nation, I will be watching closely for what actions the president ultimately takes. If left unchecked, the danger posed by ISIL could easily produce a significant threat to the United States. This group is not a ‘manageable problem’ as the president described it last week. But instead, it matches his description today of a group that must be defeated. I hope the president’s plan and his resolve can meet the goal of defeating this enemy.”

DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri women seeking abortions will face one of the nation’s most stringent waiting periods, after state lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto to enact a 72-hour delay that has no exception for rape or incest.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A bid to allow alcohol sales for special events at the Missouri Capitol appears to have run dry.
Missouri House members had voted Wednesday to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the bill. But the Senate quit early Thursday without taking a vote on the measure.

The bill would have allowed sales of alcohol, food and souvenirs at Capitol events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the building or the 200th anniversary of Missouri’s statehood. The intent was to raise money for state celebrations.
Nixon said he vetoed the bill because it presents a poor image to visiting children and families.
Drinking alcohol already is permitted and common at the Capitol.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers have voted to ban public schools from electronically tracking students.
The House voted early Thursday to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the student-tracking legislation, getting the bare two-thirds majority required. The Senate approved the veto override Wednesday.

The new law will bar schools from using “radio frequency identification technology” to monitor or track the location of students.
Lawmakers who supported the measure said they weren’t aware of any Missouri schools using the technology but that schools elsewhere already have done so.
Nixon had said local officials are in the best position to make decisions on such devices. He said they could be used as a public safety tool to locate students during emergency situations or natural disasters.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state’s prisoner review board has denied parole for a man convicted of beating to death a Kansas elementary school teacher in 1990.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the Kansas Prisoner Review Board on Wednesday decided to deny parole until September 2017 for 42-year-old Peter Spencer.

Spencer pleaded no-contest to first-degree murder when he was 18 years old. He was convicted of killing 36-year-old Sherryl Crowder, who lived in Manhattan and taught in Wamego. An autopsy showed she was sexually assaulted and died of internal bleeding from a blow to the head.

A Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman says the board denied parole in part because of the serious nature of the crime.

Spencer is serving a life sentence at the Lansing Correctional Facility.