TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering giving the governor more authority over who is appointed to the state Supreme Court.

A proposed constitutional amendment to change the selection system received first-round approval in the House on Wednesday. It advanced to a final vote that could occur Thursday.

 

The measure needs approval from two-thirds of the House’s members to advance to the Senate.

With major cases on school funding and abortion restrictions now pending before the high court, Republican Governor Sam Brownback and his allies are seeking to change its makeup.

Currently, a panel led by attorneys chooses three finalists for each Supreme Court vacancy. The governor makes the appointment, with no role for legislators.

The proposal before the House would allow the governor would nominate justices, subject to Senate confirmation.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow teachers and school administrators to be prosecuted for presented material perceived as harmful to minors.

The bill passed the Senate last year and was considered in a House committee Tuesday.  It stems from a 2014 controversy in the Shawnee Mission school district.

Controversy swirled around a poster in a sex education classroom that listed oral sex and other acts as ways people express their sexual feelings.

Currently, state law protects school officials against the misdemeanor charge of presenting harmful material to minors if it’s part of a lesson. The proposed legislation would remove that protection for teachers at public, private and parochial schools.

Teachers would face a fine or up to six months in jail if convicted.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers are debating whether to regulate fantasy sports like gambling.

Representative Scott Fitzpatrick told a House panel Wednesday he’s proposing to exempt fantasy sports from gambling regulations because players rely on skill, not chance.

He said a final version of his bill would include consumer protections, such as age restrictions.

Several fantasy sports companies said Fitzpatrick’s bill would clarify Missouri’s laws. Nobody spoke against it.

Fantasy sports players assemble rosters of athletes who earn points based on their performance in real games. Players win if their teams accrue more points than opposing teams.

Governor Jay Nixon has called for regulating fantasy sports like gambling.

A 2006 federal law regulating online gambling exempted fantasy sports, but several attorneys general have said daily fantasy sports violate their states’ gambling laws.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would lessen penalties for first and second-time marijuana possession.

The vote Wednesday was 38-1.

The measure would reduce the punishment for first-time misdemeanor possession to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, rather than the current year in jail and $2,500 fine. A second possession conviction would no longer be a felony, so an offender wouldn’t be sent to prison.

The measure goes next to the House, which passed a similar proposal last year.

The lone vote against the bill came from Democratic Senator David Haley of Kansas City.

He proposed imposing only a $50 fine for the first, second and third time a person is caught possessing small amounts of marijuana. The Senate voted 31-5 against Haley’s amendment.

FESTUS, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri man is accused of stealing three trucks and crashing all of them after taking 90 doses of an anti-anxiety drug.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that John Cullen of Cuba, Missouri, faces several charges following the thefts that began Sunday night, on his 39th birthday.

A Missouri trooper found a Chevrolet Silverado owned by the Missouri Department of Transportation crashed in Jefferson County. Hours later, the same trooper was sent to the site where a stolen truck crashed along Interstate 55 near Crystal City.

Authorities say Cullen tried unsuccessfully to steal another truck in Festus, then, around 5 a.m. Monday, stole and crashed a Dodge Ram into a car, injuring the other driver.

Police say Cullen was found hiding in a ditch after that accident.

TROY, Mo. (AP) — A 34-year-old eastern Missouri man is jailed for allegedly attacking three deputies.

Shaun White of Lincoln County is charged with three counts of assault on law enforcement, along with a drug count and other charges. He is jailed on $25,000 cash-only bond.

Authorities were called to a home at 1 a.m. Wednesday. The resident said White tried to kick in his door and attack him with a knife.

White was outside when deputies showed up and tried to arrest him. The sheriff’s department says White bit the hand of one deputy, kicked another in the chest, and head-butted another.

The sheriff’s department says a stun gun subdue White. They say a glass pipe used for methamphetamine was found in his pocket.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Governor Pete Ricketts has appointed an eastern Nebraska judge to serve on the state Supreme Court.

Judge Max J. Kelch was named Wednesday to represent the Fourth Judicial District, which includes portions of Douglas and Sarpy counties.

He currently serves as a district court judge.

Kelch has worked as a county judge, a county and deputy city attorney, and a special prosecutor. He also was a private practice attorney in two law firms.

Kelch earned an accounting degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his law degree from the university’s College of Law. He will replace Supreme Court Judge Michael McCormack, who is retiring.

Ricketts says Kelch brings a blend of real world experience from his private practice and public service. This is the governor’s second appointment to the court.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A university study projects the number of Kansans older than 65 will double in the next 50 years and outnumber children for the first time in state history.

The forecast released Wednesday by Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research also projects a 21.8 percent increase between 2014 and 2064 as the Kansas population reaches more than 3.5 million people. That is slower than the growth rate for the nation.

The biggest social and economic impact may come from projections that the state’s working age population is projected to increase only 10.3 percent.

Only 20 of the state’s 105 counties are projected grow in population. The remaining 85 counties will see declines.

More than 80 percent of Kansas residents will be living in metropolitan areas by 2064.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence woman accused of fleeing to Europe with her two daughters has pleaded guilty to forging her ex-husband’s signature on official documents when she fled.

Thirty-three-year-old Samantha Elmer pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors say Elmer forged her husband’s signature on a document to obtain passports for their 9- and 11-year-old daughters.

Authorities say Elmer took the girls in October and boarded a flight from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to Vienna, via Istanbul, ahead of a custody hearing and a trial on theft charges in Missouri.

The girls were reunited in December with their father, who lives in Smithville, Missouri.

A sentencing hearing for Elmer will be scheduled later. She faces a maximum of two years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 22-year-old Kansas woman has pleaded guilty to taking a 17-year-old to a hotel last year for the purpose of prostituting her.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says Tiara Jade Newman of Topeka pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

Newman admitted that she and her husband, 29-year-old Reginald Newman, rented two rooms last March at a Junction City hotel, where Tiara Newman and the girl had sex with a soldier for $250.

Prosecutors say Tiara Newman took the girl on another call five days later in Manhattan.

Reginald Newman admitted keeping the money from the commercial sex acts. He is to be sentenced in April.

Tiara Newman faces not less than 15 years and a fine up to $250,000 when she is sentenced in May.