FAIR GROVE (AP) – Southwestern Missouri school district officials and police are investigating reports that female band students were filmed while changing clothes at school.

Fair Grove Police Chief Adam Mallory tells the Springfield News-Leader that the complaint was filed Saturday and authorities met with school officials on Monday. Mallory says police have requested to search male students’ electronic devices and up to 10 girls might have been filmed.

It’s unclear how old the girls are and which school they attend.

Fair Grove Superintendent John Link says the district attorney recommended he contact police after students reported the filming. He says fewer than 10 male students could be involved.

Link says the district officials called the parents of all students believed to be involved.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A former executive officer of a Manhattan builders association has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing from the organization.

The Manhattan Mercury reports  45-year-old Tracy Roberts of Wamego was sentenced on Monday on 30 charges of felony theft.

Authorities say Roberts wrote business checks from the Flint Hills Area Builders Association for personal use between 2008 and 2013. It’s unclear how much money they believe she stole.

Roberts had asked the judge for probation.

The association president says he is pleased with the decision and the organization is seeking nearly $137,000 from Roberts in a civil lawsuit.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) called on Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Chuck Hagel to define the campaign and authorization of military force in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) as 500 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division headquarters – The Big Red One – of Fort Riley, Kan., prepare to deploy to Iraq.

Sen. Moran expressed concern about DoD’s plan to ensure the safety and security of Big Red One soldiers and other U.S. military forces when the roles, missions and objectives of the United States in Iraq are still being determined. In the absence of a defined operational campaign, U.S. military forces may not be appropriately recognized for their participation and service in these ongoing operations.

“When sending soldiers into harm’s way, a clear path and plan should be defined,” Sen. Moran said in the letter. “Their desire to serve should be matched by the Administration’s desire to define their roles and missions against a legal framework that authorizes their service in defense of our country.”

On Sept. 25, 2014, DoD announced that 500 Big Red One soldiers will deploy to Iraq in late October. According to the division, the soldiers will increase the United States’ capacity to target the Islamic State and coordinate activities of the U.S. military across Iraq as part of a one-year mission.

By Jim McLean
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — State officials are intensifying their efforts to help Kansans with disabilities get jobs.
But advocates in the disability community are skeptical that an initiative announced Monday will be enough to reverse a recent trend that has seen a steady decline in the number of Kansans with disabilities placed in jobs.

The initiative, dubbed “End-Dependence Kansas,” will provide $25 million in mostly federal funds over the next five years to organizations that operate programs that help people with disabilities find employment.

“Work is an essential component of self-sufficiency, greater self-esteem, a healthy lifestyle and being fully included in society,” said Phyllis Gilmore, secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

State officials say their goal is to help 2,000 Kansans with disabilities find “integrated employment,” meaning competitive jobs rather than so-called “sheltered employment.”

Rocky Nichols, a former Democratic legislator from Topeka who now heads the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, welcomed the initiative but said he’s concerned that it won’t be enough to reverse several years of underperformance by the state’s vocational rehabilitation program.

“On the one hand, I don’t want to be too critical because it’s providing enhanced funding. But, man, this is a big challenge, and I think it’s going to take something more than a hopefully well-intentioned news release a month before the election to turn this thing around,” Nichols said.
Michael Donnelly, director of rehabilitation services at DCF, agreed that finding meaningful employment for people with disabilities is challenging.

“The (U.S.) Department of Labor reports that only 18 percent of Kansans with disabilities are involved at all in the workforce,” Donnelly said. “So that’s 80 percent who are not. That’s a lot of people.”

Even so, Donnelly said he believes the new effort will pay dividends because it’s being coordinated among five state agencies.

“We believe that we can put Kansas on a path to have the highest employment rates of people with disabilities,” he said.

Annual reports issued by the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston show that Kansas has work to do in achieving that goal. The most recent report shows that the number of Kansans with disabilities placed in integrated employment declined from 79,141 in 2010 – the year Gov. Sam Brownback was elected – to 77,454 in 2012.

The numbers reveal other concerns. While the number of people with disabilities getting competitive, regular jobs has declined, the number having to settle for non-competitive, sheltered-workshop jobs has increased substantially. In addition, more working-age Kansans with disabilities are living in poverty – increasing from 12.3 percent in 2010 to 13.3 percent in 2012. The poverty rate among all Kansans with disabilities increased from 23.3 percent in 2010 to 28.5 percent in 2012.

“Those (numbers) are huge red flags and huge warning signs to our state that we’ve got to do a lot more,” Nichols said.

COLUMBIA (AP) – U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri is warning colleges and universities against hiring expensive consultants to revamp sexual discrimination policies.

The Democratic senator told reporters Tuesday that pricey contractors aren’t necessary. She spoke after a discussion at the University of Missouri on her bipartisan legislation addressing campus sexual assault and other safety issues.

The University of Missouri system has reportedly spent $495,000 on the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, a policymaking guidance and training consultant.

University system president Tim Wolfe said such contracts are intended to help improve policies on sexual discrimination and assault.

But McCaskill said material from the U.S. Justice Department and other sources should be enough for universities to implement new policies in her outlined in her Campus Accountability and Safety Act.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Three Kansas Republicans seeking re-election to statewide office are touting endorsements from other GOP elected officials.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts’ re-election campaign announced Tuesday that he has the backing of conservative Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn. Roberts’ campaign said earlier that Coburn would participate with Roberts in five events Thursday and Friday as part of a bus tour.

Roberts is in a tough re-election race with independent candidate and Olathe businessman Greg Orman.

Meanwhile, Gov. Sam Brownback had a news conference Tuesday outside the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe to tout endorsements from District Attorney Steve Howe and Sheriff Frank Denning.

Brownback’s race for re-election against Democrat Paul Davis is currently considered a toss-up.

State Treasurer Ron Estes announced an endorsement from eastern Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, a former state treasurer.