ROELAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Officers in suburban Kansas City have made a gift of the work boots that a teen was attempting to steal.

On Thursday afternoon, police responded to a Walmart in Roeland Park, Kansas, where the teen was caught shoplifting.

Chief John Morris says the responding officers Suffield and Snepp learned the teen was a displaced juvenile and wanted the boots so he could get work. Instead of punishment, the officers headed to the cash register.

After some words of encouragement to find a job, finish school and stay out of trouble, the teen was gifted the same pair of boots he had attempted to steal.

Morris says the teen had tears in his eyes after he was given the boots. He says the story “almost made me cry, too.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A 28-year-old Missouri man has pleaded not guilty in a series of burglaries that he says he was too drunk to remember.

Authorities say Weston Reinke of Springfield is suspected of burglarizing several businesses in east Springfield, using either a tire iron or crowbar to gain entrance. Guns, crystals, computers and a $1,000 gold coin were among the items taken.

Reinke lives in the neighborhood near where the burglaries occurred. He has been charged with four counts of felony burglary but police suspect him of several other break-ins this year.

Court documents show Reinke told police he couldn’t remember the burglaries because he often would drink until he blacked out.

Reinke is being held on a $12,500 bond. Online court records do not list an attorney for Reinke.

JACKSON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 3:30p.m. Thursday in Jackson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Toyota Corolla driven by Garrett N. Klahr, 16, Wetmore, was westbound on 286th Road and failed to stop at the stop sign at U.S. 75.

A southbound Kenworth semi driven by David J. Christianson, 54, Canby, MN., struck the Toyota in the passenger side. The vehicle spun around and traveled into the southwest ditch.

Klahr was transported to the hospital in Topeka where he died. Christianson was not injured. The KHP did not have details on seat belt usage of both drivers.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will boost its annual spending on foster care by $35 million under state Department for Families and Children grants that have been awarded to five contractors.

DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel had a news conference Thursday to introduce the contractors and discuss how she believes the grants will improve services for abused and neglected children. The department announced them Nov. 1 , six months after requesting proposals from interested parties.

The grants run four years, starting July 1. The state expects to spend $245 million on foster care during the fiscal year beginning on that date. That’s a 17 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

Departing Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer’s administration announced the grants five days before Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly was elected governor. She takes office Jan. 14.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — More sex crime charges have been filed in Kansas against a former charter school teacher.

42-year-old Randall Carter II, of Overland Park, Kansas, was free on bond when he was arrested again Friday.

He had been teaching at Lee A. Tolbert Academy in Kansas City, Missouri, when he was charged in May in Johnson County, Kansas, with multiple sex crimes involving two children. Charter officials said the children weren’t students at the school.

The new charges of rape, aggravated indecent liberties and sodomy involve a third child and date back to 2012.

Bond for Carter is set at $500,000. During a hearing Thursday, a judge denied his request to lower it.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri’s secretary of state is investigating fellow Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley over allegations that he used public funds to bolster his successful U.S. Senate bid.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s deputy general counsel confirmed the investigation in a Thursday letter . The investigation is in response to a complaint filed by a liberal organization.

The American Democracy Legal Fund says it was a misuse of taxpayer-funded resources for out-of-state political consultants to direct attorney general staff to do work that would help Hawley’s campaign.

Attorney general spokeswoman Mary Compton in a statement said the office is happy to cooperate with the investigation and “put these ridiculous allegations to bed once and for all.”

She called the allegations “totally meritless” and said no taxpayer resources were ever used for the campaign.

FULTON, Mo. (AP) – A judge has approved the settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of a developmentally disabled Missouri man whose body was found encased in concrete.

Financial details of the settlement between Carolyn Summers, the mother of Carl DeBrodie, his estate, and several defendants were not disclosed.

DeBrodie’s body was found in concrete inside a storage unit in April 2017, about a week after he was reported missing from Second Chance Homes in Fulton. Investigators believe his disappearance was not reported for months.

Defendants included Second Chance Homes; its owner and two employees; a nurse and the Callaway County Public Administrator’s Office and Callaway County Special Services.

The settlement includes structured annuities paid to the Carolyn Summers Family Trust.