OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A former Olathe teacher and Shawnee City Council member will go to trial after pleading not guilty to having a sexual encounter with a student.

Thirty-three-year-old Justin Adrian waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday in Johnson County District Court.

The alleged sexual encounter occurred in a classroom at Olathe East High School, where Adrian was a history teacher.

The student was 18, but Kansas law makes it illegal for a teacher to have sexual contact with a student at the same school.

Adrian was a member of the Shawnee City Council but resigned when the allegations surfaced.

He is free on bond while the case is pending. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 23.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – University of Missouri faculty members are raising concerns that the system’s move to offer buyouts to its senior professors could leave some academic departments gutted.

The Kansas City Star reports the university system recently notified full-time and tenured faculty members over 62 of an option to receive a payout of 1.5 times their annual salary, up to $200,000, beginning Sept. 1, 2019. Eligible faculty at the Kansas City, Columbia, Rolla and St. Louis campuses must have worked in the system at least five years.

University system spokesman Christian Basi says the buyout program will save money, allow for more raises and serve as a way to “thank senior faculty for their contributions to the university.”

But history professor Gary Ebersole says past buyout programs led to the entire math and statistics department taking an early retirement.

By ANDREA TUDHOPE

President Donald Trump visited Kansas City Friday to speak at a national conference for Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Justice Department initiative that aims to partner local and federal officials in order to reduce violent crime.

This afternoon, President Trump delivered remarks at the 2018 Project Safe Neighborhoods National Conference where he reinforced his commitment to making our communities safer for all Americans. pic.twitter.com/8I1j0F0B30

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 8, 2018

At the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center, a crowd of hundreds of law enforcement officials and prosecutors from around the country greeted the president with warm applause, dozens of cell phones popping up in the air to capture his entrance.

“You keep America safe, and you maybe don’t hear it enough or sometimes don’t feel it enough,” Trump said to the crowd. “You do an incredible job. The people in this country know it and they love you. Just remember that, so true. On behalf of a grateful nation, I just want to say that we thank you. We salute you and we stand with you 100 percent.”

Trump said it is through Project Safe Neighborhoods that his administration has shown its dedication to supporting and protecting law enforcement officials. He said his administration has provided access to more than $600 million dollars worth of surplus military equipment and that there are more than 200 new violent crime prosecutors nationwide.

Western Missouri and Kansas have each received around a quarter million dollars in the past fiscal year from the federal program.

Trump said the core of the Project Safe Neighborhoods strategy “is restoring respect for law enforcement.”

“For too long, many politicians and radical activists have been smearing and slandering our police, making life easier for criminals and harder for law-abiding Americans. We will not tolerate attacks on the heroes who protect our streets and defend our communities. We will not allow it to happen,” he said as the room broke into a long stretch of applause.

Unlike most of his appearances, this one was missing that notorious campaign rally spirit, which could be attributed to the fact that it was a closed event.

But he did touch on many of his typical hot-button issues, like illegal immigration, the border wall and fake news, which he dropped in just three minutes into his speech, while congratulating Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley for his election to the U.S. Senate.

“So I just want to congratulate you, and you know, I keep listening to the fake news that they won the House, House, House. Nobody ever talks about the Senate,” Trump said.

Trump campaigned heavily for Hawley during the midterm race. He failed to mention that, as of Thursday, Hawley is under investigation for possibly using “public funds” in his bid for U.S. Senate.

On the whole, Trump did not have much to say about Kansas City — in fact, at one point, he mistakenly referred to it as St. Louis.

He was thanking officers, attorneys and advocates by name for their work, when he came to James Clark, vice president of community outreach for Better Family Life in St. Louis. He praised Clark for ending “more than 50 escalating gun battles between rival gangs right here in St. Louis.”

Though the fact that this conference was held here, in Kansas City, does hold significance. The city has seen rising levels of violence in recent years, and with just a few weeks left of 2018, homicides are only slightly off pace from 2017, which saw the highest number at in 25 years, with 150 people killed.

In his roughly 30 minute speech Friday, Trump spent a significant portion of the time talking about illegal immigration and his border wall. But U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Missouri Tim Garrison said that’s relevant for Kansas and Missouri.

“He understands that a lot of the problems that we face here in this district may not be obvious as border protection issues, most of the controlled substances that we find here in the heartland make their way to us over the border. So that’s important,” Garrison said.

In closing Friday, Trump told everyone in the room they were the “reason Americans sleep soundly in their beds at night.” As he did after his victory speech in 2016, Trump exited the stage Friday to the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Andrea Tudhope is a reporter in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. Follow her on Twitter @andreatudhope.

GREENE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities have identified the man who died in an accident just before 4p.m. Saturday in Greene County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a Burlington Northern locomotive was westbound on Route OO just south of Springfield and hit a pedestrian identified as Jeff L. Dade, 57, Stafford, who was walking eastbound on the tracks.

There is no rail signal device at that location, according to the MSHP. Dade was pronounced dead at the scene.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City motorcyclist has been charged in a wreck that killed the woman who was riding behind him.

42-year-old Fredrick Wilson Kane, of Mission, was booked into jail Friday. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence in the death of 35-year-old Sierra Crooks. She was killed on June 25 when he crashed in Shawnee.

His bond is set at $250,000. His attorney, Keith Drill, didn’t immediately return a phone message.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas is launching a new lobbying firm even before her term in the U.S. House officially ends.

Jenkins chose not to seek re-election this year and her term will end the first week of January. Her new business, LJ Strategies, has already registered with the state.

Ethics watchdogs suggested Jenkins’ decision reinforces public distrust of politicians

Jenkins’ office said in a statement she consulted with the House Ethics Committee before forming the business. Her spokeswoman, Lee Modesitt, says the business won’t actively seek clients until Jenkins leaves office.

Jenkins, but not her firm, can’t lobby at the federal level for a year after her term ends. She will be able to lobby in Kansas immediately.

Jenkins business was registered with the state on Nov. 20,