LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man was sentenced to more than 23 years in prison for fatally stabbing a man to death.
Thursday 34-year-old Joshua Back was sentenced for intentional second-degree murder and theft. He was convicted in April of killing 45-year-old Tracy Dean Lautenschlager outside a home in May 2015.
The victim was later found bleeding in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant.
During sentencing Thursday, Back’s attorney, Branden Smith, said he is planning an appeal.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is warning the public to be aware of a drug that has contributed to several accidental drug overdose deaths in the last month.
KBI spokesman Mark Malick says the drug, U-47700, is a synthetic opioid analgesic drug that is nearly eight times more potent than morphine. It causes sedation and respiratory depression, which can be harmful or fatal.
Malick said the drug can be obtained from several sources and is available in many forms.
The shipments usually come from overseas, particularly China. It is sold in vials or plastic baggies that are labeled “Not for Human Consumption” or “For Research Purposes Only.”
Malick said the KBI is working with the Kansas Board of Pharmacy and several jurisdictions to quickly make the drug illegal in Kansas.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback says his staff is looking at shuffling funds within state government to cover a projected short-term budget deficit.
But Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said Friday that budget-balancing measures won’t be finalized until officials have a better picture of revenues this month.
Tax collections fell $74.5 million short of expectations in May. That leaves Kansas with a projected deficit of about $45 million when the fiscal year ends June 30.
Hawley said the governor does not anticipate trimming spending to address the problem. But making cuts so late in a fiscal year is difficult anyway.
She said the governor’s budget staff is looking at diverting fees collected in dozens of special funds into the state’s main bank account, where the shortfall would occur.
LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — A federal workplace safety investigation is planned in the case of a man who fell to his death from scaffolding during an apartment renovation site in suburban Kansas City.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it will scrutinize the death Friday in Leawood, Kansas, of a Van Trust Real Estate LLC employee.
The man’s name, age and hometown have not been released.
As OSHA’s area director in Wichita, Kansas, Judy Freeman said the agency extends its sympathies to the victim’s family and friends. She said OSHA will thoroughly investigate whether any safety standards were violated.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s budget director says revenue is up 3.4 percent compared to the same time last year.
Director Dan Haug on Thursday announced that the state brought in about $8.1 billion in the current fiscal year through May. At the same time last year, the state had $7.8 billion.
Revenue in May was up 12 percent compared to May 2015.
Individual income tax collections increased more than 4 percent so far this year and more than 12 percent last month. The state’s collected roughly $6.6 billion.
Sales tax revenue also has increased more than 5 percent, from $1.8 billion last year to $1.9 billion this year.
Corporate income taxes have decreased 15 percent this year. The state collected $465 million last year but has brought in only $395 million this year.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Officials have announced plans to relocate a federal spy agency to a new site in St. Louis rather than across the Mississippi River in southern Illinois.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said in a statement on its website Thursday that its western headquarters will be moved to a north St. Louis in a neighborhood that was previously the site of a public housing complex. The defense mapping agency has been in St. Louis for more than 70 years.
The agency said in April that it preferred to stay in St. Louis rather than move to a site near Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois Thursday’s announcement followed efforts by Illinois officials to lure the project to the Illinois site, about 25 miles east of downtown St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis’ police chief says he’s confident the city prosecutor’s decision not to charge two officers in last year’s shooting death of a black 18-year-old was the result of a “comprehensive review.”
Police Chief Sam Dotson said his department plans its own review over possible tactical lessons that could be learned from Mansur Ball-Bey’s August 2015 death.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce concluded no evidence disproves police claims of self-defense in Ball-Bey’s death.
Joyce said the officers and a witness reported seeing an armed Ball-Bey run from a home during a raid, and the officers said they fired at him after he pointed his gun toward one of them.
An attorney for Ball-Bey’s family has questioned the police account that Ball-Bey was armed.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A group representing Missouri municipal utilities has signed up for space on a transmission line that would carry wind power from western Kansas across Missouri and further east.
The Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission said Thursday it signed an agreement for up to 200 megawatts of transmission space on the Grain Belt Express. The commission represents municipal utilities that pool their resources to buy power.
The Missouri Public Service Commission blocked the transmission line last summer after strong opposition from landowners along the line’s proposed route.
Texas-based Clean Line Energy, which is proposing the transmission line, said the agreement proves that there are customers for the line in Missouri.
Grain Belt Express has already won approval from Kansas, Indiana and Illinois regulators.
OVERLAND, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a 14-year-old is accused as a juvenile of carjacking a California woman’s rental car last month while she was getting gas in a St. Louis suburb.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the St. Louis teenager is charged with robbery, second-degree assault and resisting arrest. Overland police Lt. Steve Branham says a family court will decide if he should be tried as an adult.
Authorities say the alleged carjacking took place May 23, when a 20-year-old man at another gas pump saw the theft unfold and tried to intervene. Police say the man punched the carjacker and held onto the vehicle as it sped away, dragging him a short distance.
The 53-year-old woman from San Francisco was not injured.
The Kansas City Star reports 34-year-old Randy Michael Garrison was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder, child abandonment and arson in the deaths of 1-year-old Ashton Garrison and 3-year-old Roger Garrison. The boys died in December 2013 when their Orrick home caught fire.
Online court records don’t list a lawyer for Randy Garrison, who’s being held on $200,000 bond. He was charged earlier with child abandonment.
No court date has been set on the new charge.
Prosecutors say in the new charge that Garrison lied and gave inconsistent statements to investigators on what happened when the fire broke out and about his efforts to save his sons.
