TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An effort to repeal national educational standards in math and reading is moving forward in the Kansas Legislature.

The House Education Committee approved a bill last month that would prohibit school districts from using Common Core standards. The Kansas Department of Education says the standards will better prepare students for college and life, but critics say they set a national curriculum instead of letting local leaders decide what’s best for students.

House Speaker Ray Merrick’s spokeswoman Rachel Whitten said the bill was sent back to committee to remove the most-opposed provisions. Common Core supporters say they worry that signals the bill could pass this year.

The standards call for a classroom focus on analytical skills instead of rote memorization.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A recent report has determined that women in Kansas who work full-time, year-round earn 79 cents for every dollar made by men.

The Topeka Capital Journal reports that the University of Kansas’ Center for Science and Technology & Economic Policy was commissioned by the Women’s Foundation to analyze factors such as economic well-being, health and civic engagement of women across the state.

The report, titled “Status of Women in Kansas,” found that the median earnings of women who work full-time, year-round is about $35,560 annually. Johnson County has the highest median earnings for women, while Gove County has the lowest.

Women account for more than 49 percent of the employed individuals in Kansas.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The police chief in Kansas City, Missouri is defending his officers’ use of pepper spray in handling protesters outside of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s rally Saturday night.

Chief Darryl Forte says in a series of tweets and on his blog that the protesters included a “heavy presence of known anarchists” outside The Midland in downtown Kansas City.

That’s where Trump staged a rally that was repeatedly interrupted by protesters inside.

Forte says the event attracted a bomb threat and “outside agitators,” and on his blog he says pepper spray was deployed only after a crowd ignored several minutes of orders to clear the street. Forte also said tensions had mounted, including one moment when two groups numbering about 200 people prepared to fight.

Forte says four people were arrested.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three of Missouri’s top four lawmakers are claiming they are exempt from having to release their emails and daily calendars under the Missouri Sunshine Law. The Associated Press submitted open-records requests seeking the information as part of a national Sunshine Week project conducted in all 50 states.

State capitols are often referred to as “the people’s house,” but legislatures frequently put up no-trespassing signs by exempting themselves from public-records laws.

That tendency was apparent when The Associated Press sought emails and daily schedules of legislative leaders in all 50 states. The request was met with more denials than approvals.

In Missouri, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, Senate Minority Leader Joe Keaveny and House Speaker Todd Richardson all denied the requests. House and Senate officials cited a legal interpretation that the records of individual lawmakers aren’t subject to the open-records law because they are not considered to be a “public governmental body.”

But House Minority Leader Jake Hummel said he believes lawmakers should comply with that law. The Democrat from St. Louis released copies of both his emails and calendar.

Some lawmakers claimed “legislative immunity” from the public-records laws that apply to most state and local officials. Others said secrecy was essential to the deliberative process of making laws.

And some feared that releasing the records could invade the privacy of citizens, creating a “chilling effect” on the right of people to petition their government.

Without access to such records, it’s harder for the public to know who is trying to influence their lawmakers on important policy decisions.

HOYT, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man and woman face criminal charges after sheriff’s deputies found a one-year-old baby and an improvised explosive device in a stolen van.

Jackson County authorities arrested 34-year-old Christopher Dollen of Valley Falls and 28-year-old Cassandra Reveles of Denison on Friday.

Sheriff Tim Morse says deputies made the arrests after responding to a report Friday night of a suspicious vehicle parked near a pasture.

Morse says authorities found the baby, the explosive device, methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia inside the van, which had been reported stolen in Shawnee County.

Dollen and Reveles are charged with various felonies including drug counts, child endangerment and trespassing. It’s unclear if they have attorneys.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — One of two former Black Panthers convicted in the 1970 bombing death of an Omaha police officer has died in prison. Nebraska Department of Correctional Services spokesman Andrew Nystrom says David Rice died around midnight Saturday at the state penitentiary in Lincoln.

The 68-year-old Rice, who is now known as Mondo we Langa, was convicted along with fellow Black Panther Edward Poindexter in the death of officer Larry Minard.

Authorities say they lured police to a house with a 911 call, then detonated a homemade bomb that killed Minard. The pair maintained their innocence and argued they were targeted by an FBI program that undermined radical political groups.

Rice’s death will be investigated. Nystrom says the cause hasn’t been determined, but he was being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas would stop observing daylight saving time after this year under a bill being pushed by a prominent Republican legislator.

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee heard testimony Thursday from Republican Senator Ty Masterson of Andover in favor of his bill.

Masterson said there’s little evidence that moving clocks forward an hour each spring saves energy or increases productivity, and it interrupts people’s sleep cycles and could cause health problems.

Lawmakers in other states also are considering proposals to move away from the twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks. Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday.

Masterson is chairman of the powerful budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Committee.

But he was the only person to testify in Thursday’s hearing, and the panel doesn’t yet plan to take up his bill.