JEFFESON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The wife of a former mid-Missouri police officer who was convicted in his 2011 shooting death has died behind bars.

44-year-old Sandra Plunkett died Sept. 21 at the Chillicothe Correction Center, a women’s prison. No cause of death was listed in her obituary and the funeral home handling arrangements could not comment.

She claimed during her trial that she shot her husband in self-defense after suffering years of abuse.

Prosecutors argued that Plunkett shot her husband to collect a life insurance policy to support her heroin addiction.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A University of Kansas student has been killed in a crash as he returned to the campus after spending homecoming weekend at his alma mater in St. Louis.

Charlie Gillis, 20, St. Louis, was injured Monday in Leavenworth County after a tractor-trailer pulled out in front of his sport utility vehicle. The Kansas Highway Patrol says Gillis struck the middle axle of the truck, spun out and hit the front of another vehicle. He died Tuesday at a hospital. The crash remains under investigation.

The Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School said in a statement that Gillis had just spent homecoming weekend there and was returning to the university. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy assigned to the jail is charged with having sexual relations with a female inmate.

A complaint filed in Douglas County District Court says Mario Godinez says he had sexual relations with a woman at the jail on Jan. 12.

Douglas County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Kristen Channel says Godinez was a deputy at the time. She says he resigned in April after being placed on administrative leave with the incident was investigated.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the allegations and turned its investigation over to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charge.

Godinez, who is not in custody, made his first appearance Wednesday. The judge ordered Godinez to be jailed before the end of this week.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The leader of a Muslim advocacy group is decrying an attack ad against Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill as “Islamophobic.”

At issue is a Stars & Stripes Forever PAC ad that says McCaskill and other Democrats support teaching about Islam in school. McCaskill is up for re-election against Republican Josh Hawley.

Council on American-Islamic Relations Missouri chapter Executive Director Faizan Syed says the ad is “blatantly Islamophobic.” He says he hopes Hawley will condemn it. McCaskill campaign spokeswoman Meira Bernstein also called on Hawley to condemn the ad.

Hawley says he hasn’t heard the ad but is against “any kind of discrimination on the basis of religion or any other factor.”

A request for comment to the PAC wasn’t immediately returned.

Public schools are allowed to teach about religion provided the instruction is neutral.

TOPEKA —President Donald Trump is bringing his MAGA Rally to Kansas.

According to the DonaldJTrump.com website, Trump will make a campaign stop in Topeka on Saturday October 6 at the Kansas ExpCenter.

Join #TeamKobach for a rally with @realDonaldTrump on Saturday, October 6th in Topeka! Get tickets online here! #ksleg #ksgov #MAGA #RemainRed https://t.co/KBvHA56A4q

— Kris W. Kobach (@KrisKobach1787) September 27, 2018

The rally is a month before the November election. The President will stump for gubernatorial candidate Sec. of State Kris Kobach, 2nd district congressional nominee Steve Watkins and other GOP candidates.  Tickets for Trump’s MAGA Rally are available here.

WASHINGTON — With high drama in the making, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will defend his reputation Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee — 11 Republicans, all men, and 10 Democrats — was to hear from just two witnesses on Thursday: Kavanaugh, the federal appeals court judge who has long been eyed for the Supreme Court, and Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor who accuses him of attempting to rape her when they were teens.

Watch a replay of the hearing.

Chairman @ChuckGrassley today received Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s prepared written testimony ahead of tomorrow’s continuation of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to consider his nomination to serve on the United States Supreme Court. #SCOTUS https://t.co/7gpCSHJY9g pic.twitter.com/r8KyrGK9Uy

— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) September 26, 2018

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 23-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison without parole for his role in a kidnapping conspiracy.

Justin Watson was sentenced Thursday for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime.

Watson admitted that he and his co-conspirators kidnapped a victim identified as “N.J.” in March 2017. They drove to Colorado and used the victim’s credit card in stops across Kansas.

During the drive west, the conspirators discussed killing the victim. Instead, they stopped near Russell.

They left the victim, bound and gagged, and then drove away, leaving the victim in the field. The victims removed his bindings and went to the Russell police department.

Watson was arrested in March in Kansas City.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas plans to cut $20 million from its budget by leaving many vacant faculty positions unfilled and implementing a buyout program for older faculty members.

KU Interim Provost Carl Lejuez presented budget cuts at a town hall meeting Wednesday.

He says a new voluntary retirement program that was adopted in August would work in tandem with the university’s decision not to fill many vacant positions. Lejuez says 45 faculty members have applied for the program, which offers a buyout option to tenured and tenure-track faculty who are 62 or older.

He anticipates that 50 more faculty members will sign up by the program’s Oct. 5 deadline.

Lejeuz says the program gives the university flexibility to either refill or eliminate the positions.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A second man has been charged in a shooting that killed a woman and wounded a man in an Independence apartment.

20-year-old Michael Lora, of Blue Springs, was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder, assault and armed criminal action in the death of Mary Schmitz. Bond is set at $500,000. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.