TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Democrats are attacking a Republican tax relief bill approved Thursday by the state Senate as a give-away to large corporations and managed to peel away a couple of GOP votes Thursday by highlighting how it benefits big businesses.

The bill is designed to prevent Kansas residents and businesses from paying higher state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017. The Senate vote was 26-14 , leaving GOP leaders one vote short of the two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto by new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who has opposed the bill.

A key part of the bill would prevent thousands of individuals from losing itemized deductions on their state forms, but nearly three-quarters of the relief in the first year of the changes would go to businesses — and much of that to corporations with international operations.

“They’ve had tax breaks for years, and it’s time for them to start paying their fair share,” said Sen. John Skubal, a moderate Kansas City-area Republican who was one of two GOP senators to vote no.

Kelly and other Democrats want to boosting spending on public schools and expand state Medicaid health coverage for needy families. But Republicans — who have supermajorities in both chambers — are making tax relief a top priority, which would make Kelly’s spending goals more difficult.

The populist arguments from Democrats haven’t given GOP leaders pause because many Republicans argue that the state’s business climate and economy will suffer if it doesn’t provide corporate tax relief quickly.

“Our young people are going to have fewer job opportunities and have fewer companies looking at Kansas,” Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican and the bill’s architect, said during its debate. “We need to have an economic environment that encourages growth, encourages new jobs, encourages creativity.”

The Kansas Department of Revenue estimates that the bill would save taxpayers $187 million during the next budget year, which begins in July.

Corporations would save $137 million of that, or 73 percent of the total tax relief, and $81 million — or 43 percent of the total — comes from provisions designed to prevent the state from taxing foreign income that it hasn’t previously taxed.

“How many multi-national corporations are small?” House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, said Thursday. “You’re not talking mom-and-pops.”

The federal tax changes included provisions preventing corporations from sheltering income and assets outside the U.S. that could lead to Kansas and other states taxing foreign income.

The Kansas Department of Revenue said the state is among only a dozen taxing one part of companies’ foreign income. Other parts could be taxed by more than half with the federal changes, according to a report last month from the conservative Tax Foundation.

In Kansas, Kelly’s called on legislators to wait at least another year to consider tax changes. Her staff has called the tax bill irresponsible, and Kelly spokeswoman Ashley All said Thursday that the bill benefits “top income earners” and “does nothing for the people who need it the most.”

A conservative GOP senator predicted Wednesday that the bill is headed for “a big, fat veto.” Republicans have the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to override a veto, but the Senate vote Thursday showed how Kelly could prevail if just a few GOP moderates bolt.

All 11 Democrats and the Senate’s one independent member voted against the bill. Republicans hold 28 seats, but Skubal and Sen. Mary Jo Taylor, a moderate western Kansas Republican, voted no.

Taylor said lawmakers ought to settle budget issues, including school funding, before tackling tax relief. Skubal raised the same issue but said he might have been able to vote for the bill had its relief gone only to individuals.

GOP leaders contend Kansas is receiving an unanticipated “windfall” from the federal tax overhaul championed by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress. The state’s tax laws are tied to the federal tax code.

Federal individual and corporate income taxes were cut but the overhaul included provisions that are expected to raise revenues in some states while lowering it in others.

The federal tax changes limit itemized deductions, and Kansas estimates that 200,000 individual filers will stop itemizing on their federal returns this year. But only 26 percent of Kansas filers itemized on their 2017 federal returns, and a smaller group, 14 percent, itemized on their 2017 state returns.

A Senate committee’s hearings last week on the tax bill were dominated by the concerns of business groups and big corporations with a sizeable Kansas presence, such as aviation’s Spirit AeroSystems and agribusiness’ Seaboard Corp.

A trade association for multistate corporations told lawmakers their state taxes could rise 11 percent.

“We operate in competitive markets with small margins,” David Rankin, a senior Seaboard vice president, told senators in committee testimony. “It seems counter-productive to penalize U.S.-based companies for growing their international operations.”

But Democrats have not been moved by such arguments. Kelly, a former state senator, has said her top tax relief priority would be reducing the state’s 6.5 percent sales tax on groceries — a goal Democrats and many Republicans share.

“If we were to make changes to tax policies, those changes should benefit every Kansan, or at the very least those who need it the most,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat. “Giant multi-national corporations with record profits don’t fit in either category.”

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s fellow Democrats are attacking a Republican tax relief plan approved by the state Senate as a give-away to large corporations.

The vote on Thursday in the GOP-dominated Senate was 26-14. GOP leaders have acknowledged that big businesses would benefit but see that as helping the economy.

The bill goes next to the Republican-controlled House. It is designed to prevent Kansas residents and businesses from paying higher state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017. Most of the relief would go to businesses in the first year.

Many Republicans expect Kelly to veto it. GOP leaders fell one vote short of a two-thirds majority in the Senate necessary to override a veto when two moderate Republicans voted no.

SEATTLE (AP) — A jury has awarded about $123 million to the victims and families of a 2015 duck boat crash that killed five college students and injured more than 60 others in Seattle.

After a four-month civil trial, King County Superior Court jurors found that Ride The Ducks International bore 67 to 70 percent of the responsibility for the crash, The Seattle Times reported .

The company, based in Branson, Missouri, is the manufacturer of the Duck amphibious vehicle that crossed the centerline of the Aurora Bridge and rammed into a charter bus full of international college students in 2015.

The jury found that tour vehicle operator Ride The Ducks of Seattle was 30 to 33 percent at fault.

Two additional defendants, the city of Seattle and the state of Washington, were found not to be at fault.

The 2016 lawsuit, filed on behalf of 40 people who were injured or killed in the crash, claimed the former owner of Ride The Ducks International improvised flawed fixes for the World War II-era vehicles.

Ride The Ducks of Seattle failed to properly inspect and maintain the vehicle, the suit claimed. In particular, the plaintiffs argued, the company ignored a 2013 service bulletin from the manufacturer warning of a flaw in the axle and recommending a fix.

Attorney Jack Snyder of Ride The Ducks International claimed the company had identified the problem before the crash and issued an alert to other Duck-vehicle operators.

All other Ducks licensees and franchisees, except for Seattle, made the fix, he said.

Ride The Ducks of Seattle claimed that Ride The Ducks International peppered it with service bulletins and had a welding expert testify that the fix would not have prevented the axle failure that caused the crash.

The crash killed North Seattle College international students Claudia Derschmidt, 49, of Austria; Privando Putradanto, 18, of Indonesia; Runjie Song, 17, of China; Mami Sato, 36, of Japan; and HaRam Kim, 20, of South Korea.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board determined the collision occurred after the front axle broke off the ducks vehicle due to improper manufacturing by Ride The Ducks International and improper maintenance by Ride The Ducks Seattle.

After the incident, Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission suspended the local company from operating its 20 tourist vehicles. Ducks Seattle later acknowledged 159 critical safety violations and agreed to pay $222,000 in penalties to settle the state complaint before resuming operations.

The Missouri-based Ducks company agreed to pay up to $1 million in civil fines for violating federal safety regulations. Last year, both Ducks companies settled a suit for $8.25 million that was filed on behalf of four plaintiffs, including the family of one passenger who was killed.

In her closing argument, attorney Karen Koehler listed the names of her 40 clients, outlined their injuries and talked about what was taken from them. She asked jurors to award each victim $3 million or more.

Attorneys for the two Ducks companies emphasized in their closings the need for jurors to be reasonable and fair in awarding damages.

Most of the damages awarded Thursday, if not all, will be paid by the insurance companies that underwrite the companies. Awards to plaintiffs will vary.

Ride The Ducks said in a statement Thursday that officials have made a series of changes to their vehicles and have removed the Aurora Bridge from their route.

“Ride The Ducks of Seattle owners, management and team members have always wanted to do right by everyone affected by the accident, but have been limited by constraints in the legal process,” it said, adding that the jury’s verdict moved it one closer to that goal.

Named for their ability to travel on land and in water, duck boats have been involved in other serious accidents in the past.

Thirteen people died in 1999 when a boat sank near Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 2018, 17 people drowned when a duck boat was swamped in a sudden storm in Branson, Missouri.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 37-year-old Jefferson City man who was riding in a go-cart with a 5-year-old child when it overturned has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.

James Gordon pleaded guilty in late January in a deal that reduced the original felony charge and dropped a charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

Gordon was placed on two years of unsupervised probation, ordered to complete a treatment program and to serve two-day shock sentence in the Cole County jail.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Gordon and the child were riding in a homemade go-cart last August when it overturned. Both were treated for minor injuries.

Gordon told authorities the crash occurred when he hit a low area on the gravel shoulder of a highway.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Kansas, are investigating the killing of a man whose body was found near the key to stolen vehicle.

Police Chief Terry Zeigler says officers found the man dead of an apparent gunshot wound early Thursday after they were dispatched to the scene of a shooting. Investigators found a car key next to the victim that belonged to a vehicle that had been stolen from the Legends Honda dealership near the Kansas Speedway.

Officers found the vehicle in a nearby parking lot with multiple holes in it. The victim’s name wasn’t immediately released.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 23- year-old former volunteer volleyball coach at the University of Kansas is charged with several burglaries and thefts of items such as underwear and swimming suits.

Skyler Yee was charged Wednesday with 15 total counts, including four felony counts of burglary.

Douglas County District Court records show the break-ins occurred four times between December 2017 and January of this year at two addresses in Lawrence.

Yee was released on bond after a court appearance Wednesday. He was ordered to have no contact with the Kansas volleyball team and members of a Lawrence youth volleyball club.

Yee has served as a volunteer assistant volleyball coach for several years. He resigned in mid-January.

Defense attorney Casey Meek said Thursday Yee maintains his innocence.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Charging documents say a swastika and “family values” tattoo helped police identify a Missouri man accused of choking, raping and stabbing a woman.

26-year-old James Simpson, of Springfield, is jailed on six felony charges, including first-degree rape. No attorney is listed for him in online court records. He’s being held on $250,000 bond.

Charging documents allege Simpson attacked the woman last month after she invited him to her home. The documents say he choked her until she lost consciousness and stabbed her twice in the back, puncturing one of her lungs.

She escaped by crawling out of a window and running to a neighbor’s home for help.

The documents say Simpson was arrested Monday after struggling with officers.

ADAIR COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities have arrested two teens in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old in northern Missouri.

The suspects identified as 18-year-old Drake Zanoni and 17-year-old Andrew Head were booked into the Adair County Detention Center on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of Izaiha McFarland, according to a media release.

McFarland was shot late Wednesday. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities searched for several hours before taking the two suspects into custody.

CLAY CENTER, Kan. (AP) — Kansas authorities say a Nebraska man who was reported missing earlier this week was found dead in his car.

Clay County Sheriff Chuck Dunn says the body of 66-year-old Rick Kubes, of Auburn, Nebraska, was discovered Wednesday evening about 3 miles north of Clay Center on Kansas 15.
Dunn says an official cause of death hasn’t been determined but it appeared Kubes had a medical issue because his vehicle had drifted off the road.

The sheriff says Kubes left a home in Clay Center early Sunday to drive to a hospital in Auburn because he was suffering from back pain.

A statewide silver alert was issued on Monday when after he didn’t arrive at the hospital.

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CLAY COUNTY – The statewide silver alert issued for Rick Kubes has been canceled, according to a media release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. They reported he was located deceased, Wednesday evening.

The KBI released no additional details.

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CLAY COUNTY – The Clay County Sheriff’s Department requested the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing 66-year-old Nebraska man. Rick Kubes  was last seen Sunday morning in Clay Center, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

He was last seen wearing dark long sleeve shirt with a dark green windbreaker, blue jeans. a red/white ball cap, red in the front with mesh in the back and wearing glasses and large mustache.  He is 5-foot-10, and weighs 175 pounds. He has white hair and a white mustache.

He was heading to his home in Auburn, Nebraska from Clay Center.

Mr. Kubes travels from Clay Center north on K-15 to Highway 36 then East bound on 77 then North to Beatrice Nebraska and then east on 136 to Auburn.  His family states that he doesn’t travel outside this normal route.

He is driving a 2010 Ford Super Ranger pickup, silver in color. The back window has an “N” Nebraska sticker and a pass thru window.  The front has a black bug guard. There is also a cooler and red two wheel appliance cart in the back.

The tag that is on the vehicle is Nebraska KUMFISH.

Kubes was in pain when he left Clay Center and was headed to the hospital in Auburn. He does have a phone but is not answering it.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Law Enforcement Center of Clay Center Kansas at 785-632-5601 opt #5.