OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha pet store owner says his stolen snakes have been returned.

Don Everson told Omaha television station WOWT Thursday that the eight ball pythons all seemed to be in good health. They and several frozen rats were taken from his store last Friday. The loss was estimated at around $18,000.

Everson told police he thought he recognized the thief on security video. The man lives in Harlan, Iowa, and had visited the store several times over the past six months. Officers went to see the man, which led to the snakes’ return.

The man’s name hasn’t been released. It’s unclear whether he’s been charged.

SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died in a fire at a Sedalia home.

Sedalia Fire Department Chief Mike Ditzfeld says heavy smoke was coming from the home when crews arrived Thursday afternoon. The Sedalia Democrat reports that firefighters knocked down the fire quickly and carried the victim out of the home.

The man was rushed to a hospital, where he died.

The cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known. Ditzfeld says the damage to the residence was “significant.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been sentenced to 71 years in federal prison in connection with seven robberies in the summer of 2014.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that 26-year-old Emmanuel Chaplain was found guilty in March of seven counts of interference with commerce by means of robbery, three counts of using or possessing a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp sentenced Chaplain to 14 years for the robberies and another 57 years on the gun charges.

Chaplain used a firearm during three of the seven robberies. Forensic evidence showed a bandana in a car that Chaplain was riding in on June 23 matched his DNA. Police also found video game boxes at a store with Chaplain’s fingerprints on them.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spreadsheet from legislative researchers shows that nearly half of Kansas’ 286 school districts would see less state aid under a Republican education funding plan.

The plan outlined Thursday would decrease the aid 141 districts had been promised for the 2016-17 school year. The changes would allow Kansas to boost aid for poor districts by $38 million.

Legislators are meeting in a special session to address a state Supreme Court ruling last month that the education funding system remains unfair to poor districts.

The Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission districts in Johnson County together would lose more than $6.1 million for 2016-17.

The spreadsheet showed 145 districts gaining aid.

The largest district, Wichita, would gain nearly $8.3 million. Kansas City would gain $1.6 million.

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Transportation is set to test the feasibility of sidewalks and roadways embedded with solar panels.

Department officials hope the specially designed solar panels will provide enough electricity to meet the power needs of a rest area.

Tom Blair, assistant district engineer with the department’s St. Louis area district, says officials are working with Idaho-based Solar Roadways.

Roadways says its system of solar panels contain LED lights to create lines and signage without paint. Solar Roadways also says the panels can communicate with one another, a central control station and vehicles. According to the company, the panels have heat elements to prevent snow and ice accumulation.

Blair says the department will be a continuing part of federal testing on the company’s panels.

TONGANOXIE, Kan. (AP) — Wild mustangs rounded up from the open range in Western states are up for adoption in northeast Kansas.

The adoption event is planned from Friday to Saturday at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds in Tonganoxie. This year, the Bureau of Land Management will have 36 mustangs and burros at Tonganoxie available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a minimum $125 adoption fee.

The BLM started the adoption program in 1973 and has placed more than 230,000 horses and burros in its 43 years. BLM wild horse and burro specialist Crystal Cowan said the animals are rounded up to preserve healthy herds and to protect range-land resources.

Adoptees must be at least 18 years old, have no animal abuse record and adequate facilities.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Sedgwick County Commission has tabled a resolution that would ask the Legislature to bar immigrants living in the state illegally from receiving in-state tuition and from using a federal nutrition program.

The decision was made Wednesday after a two-hour discussion. About a dozen people, including elected officials, activists, immigrants and church members, asked commissioners to reject the resolution.

They contended that providing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants would be beneficial to the community rather than detrimental. Speakers also criticized the county commission for trying to limit access to the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides checks to low-income mothers for nutritious food and drink.

Commission Chairman Jim Howell said the resolution will be taken up at a later meeting.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee has approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to limit the power of the courts in education funding cases.

The measure passed Thursday by the Judiciary Committee would bar the courts from shutting down schools in school finance lawsuits. The Legislature also would be barred from closing schools in response to a court ruling.

The committee’s voice vote sets up a Senate debate Friday. Any proposed amendment would go on the ballot in November.

Legislators are having a special session to address a state Supreme Court ruling last month warning that schools might not be able to reopen after June 30 unless lawmakers change the education funding system.

Some Republicans are upset over the closure threat. But Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley called the proposed amendment “frivolous.”

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Saint Louis University will begin a human clinical trial this fall for a vaccine that seeks to prevent the Zika virus.

The university said Thursday that funding from the National Institutes of Health will fund the trial. Lead researcher Dr. Sarah George said the goal is to make sure the vaccine is safe and then measure the immune response to Zika.

The vaccine contains an inactivated version of the virus. After testing in St. Louis begins, the university plans a second study in Puerto Rico, which has been hit hard by the virus.

Zika is spread primarily through mosquito bites. More than 2,200 cases have been reported in the U.S. and its territories, including more than 400 pregnant women at risk of babies with major deformities like microcephaly.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Health system CoxHealth said it plans to hire about 100 nurses from overseas in the next year.

The Springfield-based nonprofit announced in a news release Thursday that most of the nurses will come from the Philippines, with the first hires expected to arrive in the fall. The hires are in response to “tremendous growth” in the health system.

CoxHealth said the international nurses will be carefully screened and will not replace the health system’s efforts to recruit local nurses.

Candidates must have a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a minimum of two years of nursing experience. They must pass the same tests and have the same certification as local nurses, as well as passing an English proficiency exam.