KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Kansas City woman who stole more than $400,000 from a Missouri Lottery winner has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Freya Pearson, of Conyers, Georgia, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Kansas City. She also was ordered to pay $441,830 to the victim, a 61-year-old former hospital housekeeper.

The victim won $2.4 million in the Missouri Lottery in 2008. Because of the fraud, she is now financially insolvent.

Prosecutors say Pearson convinced the woman to withdraw her lottery money from an annuity she had established and deposit it in three checking accounts Pearson established. Pearson spent much of the money on gambling, vehicles and travel.

Pearson also fraudulently obtained federal housing benefits and didn’t pay some taxes, causing a total loss of $640,667.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man has been charged with calling in a bomb threat to the Wichita City Hall last week.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 42-year-old Joseph Cavender made his first appearance Wednesday in Sedgwick County District Court on the felony criminal threat charge. He is jailed in Sedgwick County on $50,000 bond.

Cavender was arrested Saturday after a Wichita police officer realized the phone number Cavender gave him as a witness to an unrelated disturbance call was the same as the one used to make the threat Friday morning. The threat indicated that a bomb had been placed at the government building.

Public defender Mark Rudy said he hadn’t had a chance to review the case.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man suspected of fatally shooting one man and wounding two others at a crowded bar in suburban Kansas City.

Olathe Police Sgt. Logan Bonney says the shooting happened around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday as people watched the Kansas-TCU basketball game at Austins Bar and Grill in southern Olathe, Kansas. He said one of the victims died at a hospital, and the conditions of the surviving victims weren’t immediately known.

Bonney says the 51-year-old suspect was taken into custody around 12:40 a.m. Thursday about 80 miles away in Clinton, Missouri. Authorities identified the suspect as Adam Purinton, who was being held in the Henry Co. Jail for 1st-degree murder.

The names of the victims weren’t immediately released.

Purinton allegedly told a bartender in Clinton that he had killed two Middle Eastern men and was looking for a place hide. The Kansas City Star quotes Assistant Clinton Police Chief Sonny Lynch saying a bartender called police after the man talked about being involved in a shooting.

At least one witness reportedly heard the suspect yell “get out of my country” shortly before shooting men he thought were Middle Eastern. Both men, engineers at Garmin, appear to be originally from India.

After the shooting, a helicopter was used to search for the suspect, while police told residents in the area to shelter in place.

NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas sheriff says a suspect who gunned down three other men in a home before being fatally shot by a police officer apparently targeted his victims.

Harvey County Sheriff Chad Gay didn’t elaborate about the slayings he called “very much a targeted thing” early Thursday in Newton, about 25 miles north of Wichita.

The names of the dead, a possible motive and the relationship between the shooter and victims weren’t released.

Authorities said officers responding to reports of a shooting found three bodies in a home, and that three witnesses pointed officers in the direction the suspect ran. Sheriff’s officials say the suspect confronted the officers with a shotgun, and one of the officers shot him.

The suspect was pronounced dead at a hospital. No officers were injured.

Authorities are questioning a woman who may have been involved. Boese provided no details about the woman.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has lifted federal guidelines that said transgender students should be allowed to use public school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their chosen gender identity.

The Wednesday decision is a reversal of an Obama-era directive issued in May. It will now be up to states and school districts to interpret whether federal sex discrimination law applies to gender identity.

A letter sent to schools nationwide Wednesday by the Justice and Education departments says the earlier directive caused confusion and lawsuits over how it should be applied. The new letter says the guidance is lifted, but anti-bullying safeguards will not be affected.

Although the Obama guidance was not legally binding, transgender rights advocates say it was necessary to protect students from discrimination. Opponents argued it was federal overreach.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa is eliminating academic scholarships expected by more than 2,400 resident students for the 2017-18 school year.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that a letter being sent by university President Bruce Harreld blames the Legislature’s decreasing university funding by $8 million. University officials estimate that cutting the scholarships will save the university about $4.3 million.

The university already has reduced its Summer Hawk Tuition program, tightened residency requirements for out-of-state students and raised the minimum number of credit hours required for students to live in the dorms.

Harreld told state lawmakers Wednesday that the cutbacks were necessary because of the $8 million reduction in state funding that the university is required to handle over the next four months.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has given first-round approval to providing Medicaid to more low-income, non-elderly adults.

The proposal would expand coverage to those earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, about $16,000 for a single person. It also would apply to those under age 65.

The bill passed 83 to 40. Final action is set for Thursday.

Supporters say expansion would bring in federal funds and be budget neutral, pointing to budget savings in other expansion states.

But opponents, including a state agency that oversees KanCare, say it would be a huge cost to the state. A recent proposal by Congressional Republicans could also eliminate money for the currently largely federally-funded Medicaid expansion, which created some concern.

Previous Medicaid expansion bills have been unsuccessful and died in committees.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Senate has given initial approval for legislation establishing a prescription drug monitoring program.

Senators on Wednesday voted 20-13 to create a database that tracks when prescriptions for controlled substances are written and filed. The goal of such programs is to prevent people from going to multiple doctors to get prescriptions for drugs such as painkillers — sometimes known as “doctor shopping.”

Missouri is the only state that doesn’t have such a system.

The bill was proposed by longtime prescription monitoring critic Sen. Rob Schaaf, who has cited privacy concerns in the past. Schaaf’s proposal includes security protections such as encrypted data and a 180-day time limit for keeping prescription information.

FENTON, Mo. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is condemning a “vile act of vandalism” at a suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery where more than 150 headstones were damaged earlier this week. Pence says in a speech in Fenton, Missouri, that the vandalism along with recent threats to Jewish community centers is a “sad reminder” of the work that needs to be done to root out hate and prejudice.

The cemetery posted on Facebook that 154 headstones were vandalized in the damage discovered on Monday. Many were tipped over. Pence says the White House condemns the act of vandalism and those who perpetrated it “in the strongest possible terms.”

The cemetery is getting a show of support from volunteers, well-wishers and financial contributors from across many faiths. Muslim groups have launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery in University City, Missouri, with a goal of $20,000. By midmorning Wednesday, $66,000 had been raised.

Cleanup continued Wednesday. Investigators continue to review surveillance video in hopes of capturing those responsible.

A large crowd stood at the cemetery Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil. Gov. Eric Greitens, who is Jewish, organized a volunteer effort to help with the cleanup Wednesday afternoon.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have failed to override Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill that would have increased income taxes to help balance the state budget.

The state Senate voted 24-16 Wednesday to overturn the veto. But supporters were three votes short of the two-thirds majority of 27 votes needed in the 40-member chamber. Earlier the House voted 85-40 to override.

Gov Brownback fulfilled his promise to veto the bill during a Statehouse news conference. He had pledged to veto the measure during a Tuesday night banquet of the supportive Kansas Chamber of Commerce.

The bill would have raised more than $1 billion over two years starting in July. It would have increase income tax rates and ended an exemption for more than 330,000 farmers and business owners. Kansas has struggled to balance its budget since GOP lawmakers slashed income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging.