WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Civil rights advocates are suing the Wilson County sheriff over his jail’s policy of allowing inmates to receive and send only postcards in the mail.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Social Justice Law Collective contend the policy violates the free speech and due process rights of prisoners and the people who write to them.

Their class-action lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court of Kansas, seeks a court order that puts an end to the practice.

Wilson County Sheriff Pete Figgins says the mail policy was put in place for security reasons to know what is being said in them.

ACLU lawyer Doug Bonney says these policies create a huge problem for inmates and their loved ones because they don’t allow enough space to correspond about anything meaningful.

HALLTOWN, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have charged a fifth person in the southwest Missouri killing of a drug cartel member.

Twenty-one-year-old Yovanny Aroldo Mendivil-Balderrama was charged Wednesday in Webster County with first-degree murder in Monday’s shooting death of 24-year-old Oscar Martinez. Bond is set at $1 million. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Mendivil-Balderrama was arrested Tuesday after dozens of officers spent a day searching for him. He and a female suspect were accused of fleeing from authorities Monday before ditching their vehicle on Interstate 44 in Lawrence County. The woman was arrested after the chase, and the other suspects were arrested in Christian County.

Court documents say the suspects set up Martinez to be ambushed and killed to buy one of the suspects time to pay a drug debt.

FULTON, Mo. (AP) — A Columbia man has been charged with fatally shooting his mother and brother-in-law in central Missouri.

Dale L. Horton was charged Wednesday in Callaway County with two counts of first-degree murder and other charges in the deaths Tuesday of Sherry Horton and Joshua Griffith. Dale L. Horton’s girlfriend, Jennifer A. Grayson, was charged with two counts of being an accessory to first-degree murder and one count of being an accessory to first-degree assault.

They are jailed in the Callaway County Jail on $5 million cash-only bonds. No attorneys are listed for them in online court records.

Court records say Dale L. Horton admitting to shooting the victims and said Grayson was with him. He also told authorities he stole jewelry and money and took a pickup truck.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that lightning caused a fire that destroyed a suburban Kansas City home.

The Overland Park Fire Department said in a news release that the lightning struck the electrical service on the outside of the house before crews arrived early Wednesday. Because the home was vacant, the fire wasn’t noticed immediately. The home was a total loss.

The fire didn’t spread to neighboring homes, although they were evacuated while crews fought the blaze. No injuries were reported.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A proposal to require Missouri voters to show photo ID at polling places is stalled in the state Senate.

Democrats filibustered the bill for about six hours Wednesday night. The Senate paused its business shortly after midnight for lawmakers to meet off the floor, and the chamber adjourned early Thursday around 2 a.m. without resuming debate.

The bill first came to the Senate floor in early April. Republican Sen. Will Kraus said the majority party is open to using a procedural move to cut off debate in order to pass it before the session ends May 13.

Invoking that move last year caused Senate Democrats to halt virtually all legislation during the last week of session.

Democrats say requiring a photo ID to vote would disenfranchise voters. Republicans say it would reduce fraud.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — About 29,000 students are participating in a prestigious robotics competition hosted in downtown St. Louis.

Students from 40 countries and all 50 states will begin the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology competition Thursday. The 3-day competition includes hundreds of matches and presentations for K-12 students.

Groups of students in grades seven through twelve will be given a problem to solve as well as a box of parts, motors, sensors and gears. They’ll design, build and program a robot to take on various tasks on a game table or court.

Another competition gives kindergarten through eighth-grade students a real-world problem to solve. This year’s theme is solid waste.

The competition is in its 26th year.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers must close shortfalls in the current and next state budgets totaling $290 million after returning from their annual spring break.

The Legislature was reconvening Wednesday morning. It was only a week after state officials and university economists issued new, more pessimistic forecast that slashed revenue projections through June 2017.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback plans to divert highway funds to general government programs and delay major road projects. He also expects to cut higher education spending.

He’s proposed selling off part of the state’s annual payments from a national legal settlement with tobacco companies to generate a one-time infusion of cash.

Lawmakers have been cold to the idea. As alternatives, he’s suggested delaying contributions to public employee pensions or making $139 million in spending cuts.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University fraternities are calling on the university to begin investigations of alleged sexual violence that occurs off campus.

The university’s Interfraternity Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday seeking the university’s involvement in off-campus incidents. The move comes less than a week after two students sued the university, alleging civil rights violations for not looking into two allegations of rape that occurred at off-campus events hosted by fraternities.

The resolution says the university hasn’t given victims assurance to continue their education free of sexual violence by assisting with finances or helping students change their residence, class schedule or campus job.

University spokesman Jeff Morris says the university will consider the resolution. He says the university is currently working on rewording the language in its policy on investigating sexual assault allegations.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A government review shows a Veterans Affairs regional office in Kansas listed erroneous medical conditions for three dozen patients who filed appeals after having their claims rejected.

In a report released Tuesday, the VA’s inspector general’s office says management instructed staff at the Wichita facility to enter the same “placeholder” diagnostic code for a specific bone infection on 36 appeal claims. None of the patients had the listed condition.

Investigators found that a backlog of mail may have contributed to the erroneous records. They found the claim assistants weren’t trained on how to enter accurate patient conditions into the computer system.

A veterans’ advocacy group says data manipulation has been a national problem recently amid greater scrutiny of the VA.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Airlines serving Kansas City International Airport want to replace the facility’s three existing terminals with a single terminal airport.

The airlines tried to convince local officials and residents Tuesday that both the timing and the cost is right for the project.

Southwest Airlines’ director of airport affairs Steve Sisneros told the City Council that the airlines have agreed to back the debt on a new terminal but they won’t do the same with any other option for modernizing the airport. He said the airlines don’t support renovations to the existing 43-year-old horseshoe terminals.

The City Council didn’t immediately act on the recommendation and seemed divided on how to proceed.

A new terminal is expected to cost about $964 million.