OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Same-sex couples are lining up for marriage applications in Johnson County after a judge cleared the way for what could be the first gay marriage in Kansas.

District court clerk Sandy McCurdy said 30 same-sex couples had applied for licenses by Thursday afternoon. McCurdy said the stream of applicants was “pretty steady” in the first full day after Johnson County Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty ordered the county to begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

McCurdy says the earliest a same-sex couple could pick up a marriage license is Friday. The state requires a three-day waiting period before marriage licenses can be issued. Although Moriarty issued his ruling Wednesday, the county accepted one application Tuesday from a same-sex couple. Two women applied Wednesday, and all the others applied Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Joplin attorney who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients is going to prison for two years.
The Joplin Globe reports 59-year-old Daniel Whitworth will also spend two years on home confinement after leaving prison, under the sentence he received Thursday in federal court.

Whitworth pleaded guilty in March to embezzling about $576,000 from 22 clients between 2004 and October 2013. Investigators said he took money from the clients claiming the funds would be used to resolve pending legal issues. Instead, he used the money for personal expenses.

Whitworth also admitted failing to report nearly $489,000 of embezzled money on his tax returns from 2009-2011.

The sentence requires Whitworth to pay about $405,000 in restitution to the clients and $73,000 to the government.
Whitworth has surrendered his law license.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones says lawmakers may take matters into their own hands in an attempt to defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Republican leaders in both the House and Senate have criticized Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster for announcing that he won’t appeal a recent decision by a Jackson County judge.

Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs ruled last week that Missouri must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. It was the first ruling to put a dent in Missouri’s constitutional prohibition on gay marriage.

Jones says lawmakers are reviewing their legal options in light of Koster’s decision not to appeal. He said one option could be for legislative leaders to try to intervene in the case and request an appeal.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dairy Queen says that its payment systems were breached by hackers who may have gained access to customer names, credit and debit card numbers and expiration dates.

The ice cream and fast food chain says 395 of its stores around the country were affected. The data breach happened between August and September.

Dairy Queen says it worked with law enforcement authorities and credit card companies to investigate the breach. It says there’s no evidence Social Security numbers, personal identification numbers or email addresses were accessed. The Edina, Minnesota-based company is offering customers free identity repair services.

A number of retailers, including Home Depot, Target and Michael’s have been the target of cyberattacks in the past year.

HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press
JOHN HANNA, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The wedding plans of gay couples across Kansas remain in limbo, with all but one of the state’s 105 counties refusing to issue marriage licenses.

Same-sex couples began heading to county marriage license offices around the state Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the way for its expansion.

Johnson County on Wednesday announced plans to issue licenses to gay couples, setting up a potential showdown with a conservative-led state government.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt and his spokeswoman didn’t immediately return phone calls or emails seeking comment Thursday. The general counsel for the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration is suggesting that county clerks accept applications and let judges decide whether to issue licenses.

Meanwhile, the ACLU is planning to file a lawsuit, but not until next week.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Education has extended Missouri’s waiver from some parts of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The 2001 law requires states to set benchmarks for achievement in math and English, with a goal of 100 percent of students demonstrating grade-level proficiency by 2014.

Assistant U.S. Education Secretary Deborah Delisle wrote that Missouri already has implemented education reforms that exceed the requirements of No Child Left Behind.

Among other things, the agency praised the state’s work to develop model curricula and assessments for Common Core standards now in place, although some lawmakers and parents are pushing to drop those national guidelines.

United State Attorney’s Office

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A former Farm Service Agency director in Sumner County was indicted Wednesday on a charge of making $306,000 in agriculture disaster payments to applicants who had been denied approval for the money, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Ellen A. Love, 51, Argonia, Kan., was charged with one count of unlawfully conveying federal funds. The indictment alleges the crime occurred while she worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as Executive Director of the Sumner County Farm Service Agency (FSA). The Sumner County FSA Service Center is located in Wellington, Kan.

The USDA provides assistance to farm producers who have suffered losses as a result of agricultural disasters. One program USDA administers is the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE). To be approved, applicants must have suffered significant crop losses in a disaster-designated county and they must have had crop insurance through the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

Applications for SURE are reviewed by the FSA County Office Committee. The indictment alleges that in June 2013 Love processed payments to four applicants even though they had been disapproved for failing to meet SURE crop insurance requirements.
She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.