TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly worked Monday to rescue a key budget proposal that would reduce Kansas’ annual payments to its public pension system by trying to sell the plan to wary retired teachers and government workers.

Kelly’s plan faces widespread opposition among Republican lawmakers, who view it as her way of freeing up state funds for additional spending on public schools and government programs. Her plan would reduce planned payments to the still-underfunded pension system for 17 years, delaying the closing of a long-term funding gap by 15 years.

The GOP-dominated Legislature shorted annual pension payments in recent years to help close budget shortfalls but balked in 2017 when then-GOP Gov. Sam Brownback proposed giving the state an additional decade to close the pension system’s funding gap. Kelly, formerly a veteran state senator from Topeka, was a strong critic of Brownback’s policies.

But Kelly told about 80 retirees gathered for an annual Statehouse rally that her proposal would give the state manageable annual payments to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System and make it more stable. She insisted she isn’t trying to free up money for new spending and said retirees have heard “a lot of misinformation.”

“Whatever else you’re hearing is not true,” Kelly told the retirees. “I’ve just told you the truth.”

Legislators have wrestled with public pension costs for decades, and KPERS remains less than 70 percent funded, with its long-term funding gap projected at $8.9 billion. A 2012 law committed Kansas to aggressive increases in annual payments to close the gap by 2034 or 2035.

The governor’s office released projections Monday showing that the total annual payment is set to jump from $542 million to $681 million during the budget year beginning in July, then rise steadily to $923 million after 15 years.

Kelly’s office said her plan would cut the payment during the next fiscal year by $160 million to $521 million. For the 2035 budget year, it would be $654 million, or $269 million less than now planned. The governor said the lower payments are “much more sustainable.”

Asked whether she’s working an alternative in the face of GOP opposition, she told reporters, “I don’t need a Plan B on this.”

“The budget is balanced without any of this happening,” Kelly said.

Kelly’s proposed $18.4 billion budget for the state’s next fiscal year would leave cash reserves of $686 million, so there would be no shortfall if her pension plan failed. But she also argued that cash reserves are a hedge against a future economic downturn and made a point of not proposing to have annual spending outpace annual revenues.

Senate Vice President Jeff Longbine, a moderate Emporia Republican, said Kelly needs the pension proposal “to make her budget work.” Told that the governor disputed that assessment, Longbine replied, “OK, then why are we doing it?”

“It’s like refinancing your house in year 25 of a 30-year mortgage and taking the five years and spreading it out over 30,” Longbine said. “Nobody in their right mind would do that.”

Under Kelly’s plan, the state would not close the pension system’s long-term funding gap until 2049 or 2050. The pension system’s officials estimate that over that longer period, the total spending on pensions would be $7.4 billion higher.

Ernie Claudel, a retired Olathe teacher and school administrator who serves on the KPERS Board of Trustees, called Kelly’s plan a “terrible idea” last month. He is co-chairman of the retirees’ group that sponsored Monday’s rally and said he stands by those comments.

But Chris Huntsman, a retired Topeka teacher who attended the rally, said financially stressed families do refinance homes to lower mortgage payments and keep up with other bills.

“It’s not desired, but it keeps the family solvent,” Huntsman said.

HOWARD COUNTY— One person died in an accident just before 11p.m. Monday in Howard County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Pontiac Sunfire driven by Joshua W. Brice, 23, Fayette, was northbound on MO 5 one mile north of New Franklin. The driver attempted to pass another vehicle and traveled into the path of a 2005 Chevy Monte Carlo driven by Clay S. Walker, 24, New Franklin. The Pontiac struck the Chevy head-on.

Brice was pronounced dead at the scene. Walker was transported to University Hospital in Columbia. Brice was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Pittsburg police say a man is being held on $100,000 after he allegedly tried to start a homeless woman’s blankets on fire while she slept.

Police say in a news release that the woman, Chrystal Thompson, originally thought a hand warming device accidentally set her blankets on fire Thursday night while she slept in the alcove of a business.

The business owner told police Friday that surveillance video showed a man intentionally setting Thompson’s blankets of fire and walking away.

The blankets burned briefly before the fire went out.

The suspect, 60-year-old Richard Lee Dickerson, of Pittsburg, was arrested Saturday. He is facing potential charges of attempted murder, aggravated arson and criminal damage to property.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend whose body was found inside a burning home near Lawrence.

Jurors deliberated 1½ hours Friday and Monday before finding 39-year-old Tria Evans guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, arson and aggravated burglary in the November 2017 killing of 34-year-old Joel Wales.

Evans and Wales had a child together and a history of domestic disputes. Prosecutors say text messages show that she plotted his death with a friend for more than a month. One text between the women reads: “This needs done this week.”

A murder charge is pending against the friend, 38-year-old Christina Towell. She is accused of driving Evans to the scene.

Sentencing for Evans is set for March 19.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a Hutchinson man was arrested on suspicion of using counterfeit bills to purchase electronics because the fake Facebook profile he’s accused of using to arrange the transactions included a real picture.

The man identified as Joshua Downey was arrested last week and booked into jail on suspicion of counterfeiting, theft and drug charges. Police say that last month, he used a counterfeit $100 bill to purchase a computer and five fake $20 bills to buy an iPhone 6.

Minutes after posting the photo from the suspect’s fake Facebook profile online, a parole officer called to say the man was a client. Police say he had a powdery substance in his pocket that is believed to be methamphetamine when he was arrested. His bond is set at $9,500.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A man on trial for the fatal shooting of a St. Louis County police officer had talked on social media and in text messages about wanting to die in a “suicide by cop” encounter and told the fallen officer’s partner to shoot him, prosecutors said Monday in opening statements.

Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction, which would send Trenton Forster, 20, to prison for life without parole. They decided not to seek the death penalty for the October 2016 killing of Officer Blake Snyder.

Public defender Stephen Reynolds conceded, meanwhile, that Forster killed Snyder but argued that Forster did not deliberate first, as prosecutors say.

“You’re going to find Trenton Forster guilty of murder, but I’m asking you not to find him guilty of murder in the first degree,” Reynolds said, suggesting second-degree murder as the appropriate charge. That would allow for a life sentence, calculated in Missouri at 30 years, with the possibility of parole.

Snyder, 33, of Edwardsville, Illinois, was killed while responding to a disturbance call in the Green Park area. Police said Forster had a relationship with a girl who lived in a home on the block, and that Forster had been beating on the door.

When Snyder approached Forster, who by then was in a car parked outside the home, Forster opened fire on Snyder, police said. Snyder left behind a wife and 2-year-old son.

Assistant prosecutor Alan Key said that in the week before the shooting, Forster tried multiple times to buy firearms and ammunition at gun stores and pawn shops, but was turned away several times because he appeared to be high. Eventually, someone he smoked marijuana with put him in touch with a private seller, who sold him a pistol and a rifle. A few days later he bought 50 rounds of ammunition at Walmart, Key said.

Snyder approached Forster’s car, saying, “Hey bud, let me see your hands,” Key told the jury. Officer John Becker then saw Snyder fall and unloaded his gun at Forster, hitting him five times.

Key told jurors that Forster said to Becker, “Shoot me, I have a gun,” though Forster’s pistol had jammed.

The trial is expected to run through at least Friday.

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CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys will make opening statements Monday in the trial of a man charged with fatally shooting a St. Louis County police officer two years ago.

20-year-old Trenton Forster, of south St. Louis county, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 33-year-old officer Blake Snyder, of Edwardsville.

Police say Forster killed Snyder in October 2016 as the officer responded to report that Forster was beating on the door of a girl with whom he had a relationship. Snyder’s partner then shot Forster several times. Forster was 18 at the time.

Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty in the case. If convicted, Forster will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fifty-five Kansas lawmakers are co-sponsoring a bill that would ban discrimination in the private sector based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill introduced Monday would protect LGBTQ residents in employment, housing and services.

This morning, ⁦@SusanRuiz_KS23⁩ and I, along with 36 co-sponsors, introduced HB2130, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation to the Kansas Act Against Discrimination. Kansas is no place for discrimination. #ksleg #YesWeKansas pic.twitter.com/pVu2HwfdLD

— Brandon Woodard (@Woodard4Kansas) February 4, 2019

38 representatives and 17 senators are co-sponsoring the bill.

Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Democrat from Shawnee who is one of the state’s two openly gay legislators, said the legislation would help attract outside businesses to Kansas.

The bill would amend the Kansas Act Against Discrimination to add sexual orientation and gender identity to a list that includes race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin and ancestry.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said the law already exempts religious institutions, and concerns by people who support those institutions are unfounded.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors are researching an appeal after a Kansas judge called two teenage girls the “aggressor” in a sexual encounter with a 67-year-old man and eased his prison sentence.

Leavenworth County District Judge Michael Gibbens sentenced Raymond Soden in December to five years, 10 months in prison. Prosecutors sought more than 13 years behind bars because Soden had prior convictions.

Gibbens said at the sentencing that the girls were “more an aggressor than a participant,” citing as a reason that the girls had voluntarily gone to Soden’s house and taken money for sexual favors.

Harleigh Harrold with the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault tells the newspaper children don’t have the ability to understand the consequences of such an act.

Michelle Herman, president and CEO of the child advocacy center Sunflower House, says “sexual assault is never the victim’s fault.”

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LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors are researching an appeal after a Kansas judge found that a 13- and 14-year-old girl were partly to blame for a sexual encounter with a 67-year-old man and reduced his prison sentence.

Leavenworth County District Judge Michael Gibbens said that “the victims in this case, in particular, were more an aggressor than a participant in the criminal conduct” before sentencing Raymond Soden to five years and 10 months in prison. Prosecutors sought 13-plus years because Soden had prior convictions for battery and for sexual battery

In ordering a lighter prison term than what sentencing guidelines called for, the judge noted at the Dec. 4 hearing that the two girls had voluntarily gone to Soden’s house and had taken money for sexual favors.