OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A proposed Islamic center in a Kansas City suburb that could serve as a centralized location for Muslims on both sides of the state line has gained approval from planning commissioners.

The Overland Park Planning Commission on Monday granted preliminary approval to the Islamic Center of Kansas for its plan to build a roughly 111,000-square-foot multi-use religious facility.

The move came after hundreds of residents petitioned for the proposal to be delayed or dismissed.

The center’s plans include a mosque, a K-8 school, a day care center and a banquet hall. The school would accommodate 270 students, while the day care could take in 110 children.

Neighbors are arguing that the size and scope of the Islamic center make it a bad fit for the area. Many expressed concerns about noise, traffic and the impact on wildlife and the area’s green space.

Residents have two weeks to file a protest petition.

Overland Park approved the site in 2007 for a proposed church, which was never built.

The Islamic Center’s attorney, John Petersen, said the project, in collaboration with the Muslim American Society-Kansas City, follows the code requirements previously approved for the church, including being subject to noise ordinances.

Attorney Doug Patterson, who spoke on behalf of about 50 residents Monday, questioned whether the proposed Islamic center is a “true place of worship” or a commercial endeavor. Patterson said that several residents wouldn’t have an issue if the space “was just a mosque.”

Residents said they’re worried about increased traffic diverting drivers to side streets or wearing out roadways, as well as noise on the weekends from the banquet hall.

“I wouldn’t mind the mosque,” said Wilderness resident Amy Korf. “I just believe as homeowners we deserve a good night’s sleep.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri elected officials and business leaders are teaming up to study the possibility of connecting Kansas City and St. Louis with an ultra-high-speed Hyperloop system.

Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr announced the formation of the panel Tuesday. He said he wants members to present findings by September.

Hyperloop technology involves a tubular track through which a train-like pod carries passengers at speeds up to 640 mph.

It’s not cheap. Some estimates have put the cost at $25 million to $27 million per mile, excluding land acquisition.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Three people died in an accident just after 8a.m. Tuesday in Montgomery County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Ford Expedition driven by Casey Andrews, 32, Tulsa, was northbound on U.S. 75 at U.S. 166.

The vehicle crossed the center line and struck a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Patricia Chalfant, 85, Neodesha

Chalfant and passengers in the Jeep Wilma Rowden, 82, Neodesha and Mary Compton, 85, Fredonia, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Andrews was transported to a hospital in Tulsa. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

By BRIAN GRIMMETT

It’s not exactly unusual for customers to complain about their electricity bills. But repeated rate hikes over the past decade have made Westar Energy’s customers particularly mad. And last year’s merger with Kansas City Power and Light only served to keep the company’s finances — and its profit margin — in public view.

Residential and industrial customers have now taken their angst to the Kansas Statehouse. The result: at least half a dozen proposals aimed at changing the way electric utilities can set rates and evaluating how they got so high in the first place.

This past September, Westar started assessing an additional demand charge on customers who generate some of their own electricity based on how much power they use between the hours of 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays.

“I wanted to take my energy usage into my own hands,” Amerin said. “Now I feel that I am being punished for that.”

The new demand charge has prompted many solar users to completely change their daily routines or deal with monthly bills as much as $90 higher than they’ve been used to.

Advocates with the Climate and Energy Project say it’s just an underhanded move by Westar to discourage individuals from finding ways to generate their own electricity.

Amerin recently testified before the Kansas Senate Utilities Committee in support of a bill that would eliminate the demand fee and prohibit utilities from charging customers more simply because they have a solar panel or a micro wind turbine at their house.

Rachel Krause told the committee she had to start nagging her family to watch their electricity usage in the afternoons. She’s worried what will happen when the demand charge goes up in the summer.

“Is my family not going to be able to use air conditioning between 2 and 7 on weekday afternoons?,” she asked. “Kids are home during the summer, how’s that supposed to work?”

For Westar executives, that’s kind of the point. They want people to use less electricity during peak hours.

They argue the demand fee also helps offset a de facto subsidy solar and wind users get because they pay less each month, but still require the same infrastructure as customers who rely exclusively on the grid.

Clean energy groups and environmentalists have banded together with industries, and business groups to push several pieces of legislation aimed at curbing rising electric utility costs.

The Kansas Industrial Consumers group is advocating for an independent evaluation of major utility companies’ rates. They want the state to study how rates in Kansas compare to other states, what capital investments utilities have made in the past decade, and whether those investments have paid off.

Chuck Caisley, chief customer officer of Evergy, the parent company of Westar Energy and Kansas City Power and Light, said the utility would have no problem with a task force investigation. But they already submitted their own report to the Legislature as part of the merger agreement approved last year.

“I think what is important is that we study the right things and that it is based on finding a set of solutions,” he said.

What Caisley does not want to see is legislators forcing the company to change the way they are allowed to recover costs, or dictating a certain return on investment. Instead, he’d like to get all of the interested parties together to plot a long-term path for what the future of Kansas electric utilities will look like.

“If you make big changes, some of which are being suggested this legislative session,” Caisley said, “people need to realize there will be profound and large impacts to a lot of different customers.”

Brian Grimmett reports on the environment, energy and natural resources for the Kansas News Service  Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man dubbed the AK-47 bandit and accused of holding up banks in several states has pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in Nebraska.

Richard Gathercole could face up to 35 years in prison after admitting Monday in federal court that he used an AK-47 to rob a Nebraska City bank in 2014. The 40-year-old Gathercole also pleaded guilty to a 2017 carjacking that led to his arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods says the plea deal stipulates that Gathercole won’t be prosecuted by other jurisdictions for other violent crimes, including the shooting of a Kansas state trooper in Sherman County in 2017 and bank robberies in California, Idaho, Iowa and Washington state.

Some of the crimes had passed the five-year federal statute of limitations.

Gathercole is scheduled for sentencing in June.