KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has hired a law firm to review allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct against priests in the diocese.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann wrote in a column published Friday in the archdiocese’s newspaper, The Leaven, that the firm was hired to ensure church officials have an accurate historical knowledge of how the archdiocese has responded to allegations of misconduct. He did not name the firm, which he said will review priest personnel files going back to 1950.

Attorney Rebecca Randles, who has represented several people alleging abuse by priests, said Naumann’s action wasn’t enough. She says it doesn’t meet her recent call for investigation and transparency because the law firm ultimately represents the archdiocese’s interest.

RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on theft and drug charges after a high-speed chase.

Just before 10:30a.m. Thursday, a Reno County deputy checking the tag and registration of a vehicle on Kansas-61 Highway discovered that the tag had been reported stolen earlier in the week by a Reno County resident, according to a media release.

The deputy attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver fled at a high rate of speed. The chase continued down several dirt and black-top county roads. At one point, the vehicle stopped for a brief moment and let out a female passenger.

The chase lasted just under one hour, spanned over 70 miles and ended approximately five miles north of Sylvia when the vehicle stopped and the driver identified as James Monroe Smith, 30, Salem, Arkansas, fled on foot. Deputies chased and made an arrest.

Potential charges against Smith include drug possession, possession of stolen property, criminal use of a weapon and several traffic violations to include an attempt to flee and elude. He has a bond in Reno County of $13,250, according to the release.

Smith is also being held on charges out of Fulton County, Arkansas including an attempt to flee and elude and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer. His bond on those charges is $100,000. He also has a parole hold from the Arkansas Department of Corrections, which has no bond on it.

The pickup he was driving was reported stolen from the city of West Plains, Missouri. Additional holds or charges could be coming.

WILLARD, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit says staff at a southwest Missouri school district failed to report that two students had sexually assaulted a middle school classmate on a school bus.

The lawsuit names Willard Public Schools and five employees. It alleges that the district failed to properly supervise students at a December 2016 school event, didn’t comply with mandated reporter laws and didn’t safeguard the boy when he came forward. The suit says he was bullied and harassed.

The family’s attorney, Jay Kirksey, says a hotline call wasn’t made to the state’s Children’s Division until Willard’s longtime superintendent retired and a new one was hired to lead the district in mid-2017. But Kirksey said that by then it was “too late” and that the “harm was done.”

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The co-founder and administrator of a Christian school in suburban Kansas City has been charged with child sex abuse.

Forty-eight-year-old Dennis Creason, of Bonner Springs, Kansas, was charged Thursday with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The crimes are alleged to have occurred from January 2015 to August 2018.

Creason founded the Oaklawn Christian School in Shawnee, Kansas, with his wife. The school serves pre-K through sixth grade students, with a focus on art, music, and nature-based programs.

Bond for Creason is set at $1 million. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Thursday that he is calling state lawmakers into special session next month to consider bills he vetoed on science education and expanding drug treatment courts.

Parson said in a news release that the session would run during the week of Sept. 10, which is the same week that a veto session is set to begin Sept. 12. He stressed in the release that the special session is designed to fix problematic language in the two bills and is not intended to create division.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a fire that broke out in a suburban Kansas City house after two people who lived there were arrested in a spree of car thefts and burglaries.

29-year-old Rita Lee Long was charged Tuesday with felony theft. Thirty-five-year-old Jason Emerson is charged with seven felonies, including burglary and theft.

Police arrested Long on Sunday afternoon in Lenexa, saying she was driving a stolen vehicle.

A male passenger who fled from her vehicle is accused of entering two occupied homes, stealing a car from the first. Police say Emerson was arrested at the second home around 2 a.m. Monday after an hours-long standoff.

Several hours later, firefighters extinguished a small fire in the basement of Long and Emerson’s home.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City’s effort to provide medication-based abortions is moving forward.

Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams in a Wednesday statement said the agency “anticipates that the facility’s license will be forthcoming” now there’s a doctor in place at the clinic.

The clinic stopped offering abortions in March after its previous provider left.

Planned Parenthood General Counsel Emily Wales on Wednesday said the department accepted the clinic’s plan to correct deficiencies cited in a recent inspection. Wales says the health department also approved the clinic’s complication plan, which includes a backup provider in case of complications from medication abortions.

She says the department now wants to do another inspection and wants to meet with the new abortion provider.