WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita, Kansas, man has been convicted of murder and child abuse in the 2015 death of her then-girlfriend’s 17-month-old daughter.

A Sedgwick County jury found 22-year-old Michael Ross guilty of second-degree intentional murder and the alternative first-degree murder charge.

The District Attorney’s office says in a statement that a judge now is required to sentence Ross on the first-degree murder conviction because it’s the most severe.

Grace Harris died at a hospital in November 2015. A coroner determined she died of blunt-force trauma to her head and neck. Police said hospital staff found bruises and bite marks on the girl’s body, swelling and bleeding of her brain and a fractured leg.

Ross has previously told police that the child sustained the injuries in a fall.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Officials say wildfires that have charred more than 1,100 square miles in Kansas are under control.

That prompted the state to withdraw response teams from the firefighting effort.

The Kansas Division of Emergency Management said Friday that crews in Clark County have a blaze there 70 percent contained. Containment levels in Kansas’ Comanche, Ellis, Reno and Rooks counties exceed 90 percent.

The blaze that encompassed Comanche and Clark counties along Kansas’ southern border with Oklahoma is the biggest wildfire on record in Kansas.

Since erupting last weekend, wildfires had been reported in 21 Kansas counties.

Although Kansas has no burn ban in effect, the state’s emergency management agency warns there’s still potential for grassfires because of dry conditions statewide.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A former pastor from New Jersey has been ordered to stand trial on charges that he tried to choke an infant girl he didn’t know at a Kansas City-area Wal-Mart.

A judge in Johnson County ordered 54-year-old Oleh Zhownirovych to be tried.

He is charged with aggravated battery, aggravated kidnapping and battery.

Monquisha Hill testified Thursday she was in the checkout line last October with her then-4-month-old daughter in a car seat in a cart when a man she didn’t know took the infant from her cart and began choking her. People in the store helped the woman and held the man until officers arrived.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is easing the state’s motor-carrier laws to help hasten deliveries of relief supplies to farmers and ranchers affected by massive wildfires.

The Republican on Thursday signed an executive order waiving certain transportation regulations to make it easier to immediately deliver large quantities of hay, feed, fencing materials and other relief items.

Since last weekend, wildfires in Kansas have charred more than 1,000 square miles of land and damaged or destroyed dozens of structures.

The firefight Thursday was focused on four counties, down from 21 on Monday.

One blaze, encompassing two counties along Kansas’ southern border with Oklahoma, is the biggest wildfire on record in Kansas.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say more than 220,000 poor or disabled Iowans could lose access to Mercy Health Network because of a contract dispute with a Medicaid management company.

The patients receive Medicaid through AmeriHealth Caritas, one of three companies the state hired last year to run the program. The Des Moines Register reports that AmeriHealth has told those patients in a recent letter that it’s been unable to negotiate new contract terms with Mercy. AmeriHealth says the Mercy system no longer would be an AmeriHealth network provider if a deal isn’t struck by July 1.

AmeriHealth says Mercy could continue serving those patients if it were to accept lower, out-of-network fees.

The Mercy Health Network includes Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, hospitals in 12 other cities, plus about 200 clinics.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A class-action lawsuit says the lack of funding and staff for Missouri’s public defender system has left overwhelmed public defenders unable to provide adequate defense for indigent clients.

The ACLU of Missouri and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at St. Louis filed the lawsuit Thursday against Gov. Eric Greitens and several other officials.

The lawsuit call’s Missouri’s indigent defense budget “shockingly inadequate,” paying an average of only $356 per case. It says Missouri ranks 49th out of 50 states in per capita indigent defense funding.

The plaintiffs argue clients waiting for public defenders often remain in jail for months or take pleas in cases they could win with an adequate defense.

A spokesman for Greitens did not immediately return a call seeking response to the lawsuit.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Two women are facing kidnapping charges following a crash along Interstate 70 that injured three children in Missouri.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that 31-year-old Demetres Washington and 22-year-old Nia Boldridge were each indicted on three kidnapping counts Wednesday. The felony is punishable of 10 years to life in prison.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says three children were in the Pontiac Grand Prix that Washington was driving when the car crashed into another vehicle Tuesday.

Heavily redacted court documents say Washington and Boldridge took off with the kidnapping victims in the car and were followed by another vehicle. Both women and the children were injured.

The report says the three children share the surname of Dianna Mays, the woman driving behind Washington and involved in the accident.

OGDEN, Iowa (AP) — An Ames woman accused of stealing nearly half a million dollars from her mother-in-law over the course of seven years has pleaded guilty to theft.

The Carroll Daily Times Herald reports that 66-year-old Myrna Hockemeier pleaded guilty to the charge.

In exchange, state prosecutors on Tuesday dropped a more serious charge of ongoing criminal conduct. Hockemeier faces up to 10 years in prison when she’s sentenced at a later date.

Her ex-husband tells the newspaper that Hockemeier obtained a debit card from his mother’s bank back in 2007 and spent the Ogden woman’s life savings of about $484,000 on gambling and clothes. He discovered the theft in 2014 and filed for divorce.

A public defender for Hockemeier did not immediately return a phone message Thursday seeking comment.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry E. Branstad has issued disaster proclamations for two southern and two eastern Iowa counties hit hard by storms earlier this week.

The governor’s office said Wednesday that he issued the proclamations for Appanoose, Muscatine, Scott and Wayne counties in response to severe weather Monday.

The action allows state resources to be used to aid in recovery efforts. It also activates the Individual Assistance Program for residents of the counties. The program provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The money can be used for such things as home and car repairs, temporary housing expenses or replacement of clothing or food.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved an agreement to increase Ameren Missouri’s annual electric operating revenues by about $92 million.

The commission said in a news release Wednesday the agreement will take effect on April 1. The commission staff estimated a typical residential customer’s monthly bill will increase by about $3.70.

Ameren Missouri filed a rate request in July 2016 seeking a revenue increase of about $206.4 million.

The utility has said it needed the increased revenue because of new capital investments, transmission and distribution projects, as well as higher transmission operator charges and reduced revenue demand on its system.

The agreement continues a clause that allows Ameren Missouri to adjust customer bills up to three times a year.

Ameren Missouri serves about 1.26 million customers in Missouri.