TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — School districts suing Kansas over education funding argue that an increase approved by legislators this year is as much as $1.5 billion short of what’s needed for the next school year.

They’re also asking the state Supreme Court to order lawmakers to provide more money by Sept. 1.

The four local districts’ attorneys detailed their objections to a new school finance law in written arguments filed ahead of a Supreme Court hearing July 18.

The new law phases in a $293 million increase in aid to public schools over two years. It also creates a new per-pupil funding formula.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office contends the increase is sufficient for legislators to fulfill their duty under the state constitution to finance a suitable education for every child.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas law that allows concealed guns on state university and college campuses beginning Saturday has resulted in a flurry of new policies, fact sheets, online guides and videos about the handling of weapons.

Administrators say they can’t predict how many people will carry concealed weapons on campuses or how many complaints their police might receive about potential violations of the keep-weapons-hidden policies.

For example, administrators are telling students that if they keep a handgun in a backpack, the backpack has to stay with them if they’re called to the front of the class to answer a question.

The law allows people 21 or older to carry concealed weapons on campus and into buildings that don’t have adequate security such as metal detectors and armed guards.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansans will see the bite from an income tax increase with their first paychecks this month.

Business owners legally can avoid the bill until next year but the state is advising them to start paying up this fall.

Legislators enacted the tax increase over Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto. It is expected to raise $1.2 billion over two years to help balance the budget and provide additional money for public schools.

The law took effect Saturday but applies retroactively to the beginning of this year to raise revenue faster.

The new law largely rolls back past income tax cuts championed by Brownback. It increases rates and ends an exemption for more than 330,000 farmers and business owners.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Drivers in Kansas now have more reasons to buckle up.

Starting Saturday, the fine for driving without a seatbelt increased to $30 from $10.

State lawmakers approved legislation in May to increase the fines for anyone 18 and older.

The extra $20 will go to a fund for the Seat Belts Are For Everyone program. That’s an advocacy program working to persuade Kansas students to use seat belts.

HOLTON, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas man who faces several allegations of sexual assault has been found guilty of all charges in cases involving two women.

A Jackson County jury deliberated about four hours Friday before finding 22-year-old Jacob Ewing of Holton guilty of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy of the two women.

Ewing was acquitted in April of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl and faces trials involving allegations from three other women later this year.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Kathleen Ambrosio told jurors that testimony from women who said Ewing assaulted them was not backed up by other evidence.

Special prosecutor Jacqie Spradling said the case wasn’t about revenge or framing Ewing. She also noted several witnesses testified about why the women didn’t immediately report the alleged assaults.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is creating a taskforce to find ways to revamp Missouri’s prison system.

Greitens announced his executive order Friday. He’s directing the taskforce to find ways to ensure there’s enough room for the state’s most violent offenders without expanding prisons.

Greitens also wants the taskforce to find ways to reduce the number of convicts who reoffend.

The panel will be led by Corrections Department Director Anne Precythe or her designee.

Greitens wants the task force to report its findings by the end of the year. The executive order also seeks legislation for lawmakers to consider next session.

The Corrections Department is under increased scrutiny following reports of widespread sexual harassment of prison guards. That’s resulted in millions of dollars in legal payouts by the state.

KIRKWOOD, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood say no one was injured by a liquid bomb found in a home’s mailbox.

Kirkwood police Detective Bob Bruhy tells KTVI-TV that a woman retrieving her mail Thursday morning found the two-liter bottle filled with a liquid and aluminum foil — what’s typically called a “Drano bomb.”

Police say the woman didn’t touch the bottle and called police, who responded before calling in firefighters and a bomb and arson squad.

Bruhy says the device was removed and disposed of safely.

After the homeowner posted about the bomb on their neighborhood Facebook page, someone who lives a few streets away realized they had picked up a smiliar item from their yard and tossed it in a trash can.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man suspected in at least five killings in Missouri and Arkansas has pleaded guilty to two more of them, admitting he strangled two women in St. Louis after doing drugs with them.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 50-year-old Theodis Hill entered the pleas Thursday.

Hill admitted he killed 46-year-old Janice Mayhew in her apartment in 2008 and 22-year-old Sierra Sullivan at a St. Louis hotel in 2009.

It was only after Hill began writing letters to authorities while in prison for killing a woman in 2006 that investigators linked him to the additional homicides. Authorities say the letters contained details only the killer would have known.

In a March letter to a St. Louis judge, Hill blamed the killings on what he said was his mental illness.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Health insurer Centene says the 40 Missouri counties where it will offer coverage on Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges next year include 25 that would otherwise have been without an insurer.

Missouri-based Centene Corp.’s announcement Friday came 17 days after it said it would expand into Missouri even as others are either withdrawing from those markets or proposing steep price hikes to remain.

Centene’s Missouri offerings will fill an expected void after Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City leaves that individual insurance marketplace next year, leaving 25 Missouri counties with no insurance provider under the exchanges.

Centene covers 1.2 million customers through the exchanges and is among that market’s biggest providers of health insurance.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City, Missouri, woman is suing Uber, alleging that a driver who served prison time for attempted murder sexually assaulted her in January after dropping her off at home.

The Kansas City Star reports that the woman alleges the driver took her to various locations that evening and persuaded her to let him use her bathroom when he took her home. She says she was intoxicated and he sexually assaulted her there.

The lawsuit was filed this month and also names the driver as a defendant. It says police are investigating the attack, but The Associated Press couldn’t immediately confirm that with the department.

The Star reports that court documents show the driver was accused of beating a woman in St. Louis last Christmas and that he spent eight years in prison for attempted murder.

The driver no longer works for Uber, though the nature of his departure is unclear. An Uber spokeswoman told the Star that she couldn’t discuss the driver’s criminal record but that the lawsuit’s allegations are deeply troubling.

The driver doesn’t have a listed phone number and couldn’t be reached for comment by the AP.