TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top education official says Kansas would have to phase in another $364 million increase in public school funding over five years to comply with a recent Kansas Supreme Court order.

Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis presented his calculations Tuesday to the State Board of Education.

The Supreme Court ruled last month that a new law phasing in a $548 million increase in school funding over five years isn’t adequate under the state constitution but gave legislators until next spring to fix it.

Under Dennis’ calculation, the total increase would exceed $900 million.

The court said the new law should have provided additional funds to cover inflation and noted that the average rate was 1.44 percent from the 2010-11 school year through 2016-17. Dennis used that average in his calculations.

PLEASANT HOPE, Mo. (AP) – A 28-year-old woman who was seriously burned in an explosion at a southwest Missouri pyrotechnics company has died.

Polk County Coroner Melissa Briton said Tuesday that Samantha Dean died from injuries suffered in last week’s explosion at AM Pyrotechnics in Polk County, which supplies big fireworks shows.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Dean was injured during the July 3 explosion at the wholesale fireworks plant in Pleasant Hope.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the cause of the explosion.

Officials believe Dean was the only person in the building at the time of the explosion.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Four rides remain closed more than a month after at a Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated opened for the season.

Permits for four rides at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, expired July 1 and it’s unclear when they will reopen. The four rides — Soaring Eagle, Boogie Bahn, Whirlpool and Wolfpack — were among 11 rides that state regulators decided in May were not complying with state law. The other seven rides are now operating.

Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in a statement the company is waiting for a follow-up inspection of the closed rides.

The audit occurred after 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was decapitated in August 2016 while riding the 17-story Verruckt waterslide.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

With less than a month until the 2018 primaries, the question of whether Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is in compliance with a federal court order to fix its voter registration practices is still up for debate.

Kansas can no longer ask would-be voters to dig up documents like passports or birth certificates after a court ruled that unconstitutional and in violation of federal election law last month.

Judge Julie Robinson ordered Kobach’s office to make sure that tens of thousands of previously blocked voters are now on the active voter rolls.

Any outdated notices about Kansans needing to supply citizenship papers also had to come down from official websites to prevent public confusion.

Some of the steps were supposed to be completed in 2016. The fact that they weren’t came out during a heated hearing in March and landed Kobach in contempt of court.

Here’s where things stand now…

The voter rolls

As of Monday, lawyers for the plaintiffs were scouring a copy of Kansas voter records to see if all those once-blocked applicants appear to be good to go.

That check should have been finished by now, but the American Civil Liberties Union says it was delayed last week when its lawyers discovered Kobach’s office had sent incomplete records. The secretary of state’s office says that was an error and has since sent more records.

In a progress report filed Friday, lawyers for the office assured Judge Robinson that Kansas is in full compliance with her ruling and that the voters who have been unblocked will receive the same information and mailed notices — for example, regarding their polling locations — that all other voters receive.

Are you registered to vote? CLICK HERE to check online. The deadline is July 17 if you want to vote in the Aug. 7 primaries.

Online instructions

Kobach’s office has been scrubbing references to citizenship documentation from voter registration instructions online.

The ACLU is mostly satisfied with the updates to state websites but will likely continue to push back on county election websites. The Kansas News Service found outdated 2016 and 2017 notices on at least one county’s website on Monday. The ACLU says notices like those were supposed to be pulled already to avoid confusion.

The wording that McPherson County still had online as of Monday stems from a preliminary court order issued in 2016 that forced Kobach to stop demanding citizenship papers from people who register to vote at local motor vehicle offices. At that point, voters no longer needed those documents to register at the DMV. The newest court order goes far beyond that, which is why the ACLU wants those old explanations deleted. Today Kansans don’t need to show citizenship documents regardless of where they register to vote.

Recording citizenship documents

After Kobach lost his case last month, his office told county election officials to keep accepting citizenship papers if people offer them. That upset the ACLU, which thinks that, too, could cause confusion if people leave the office with the impression those documents were required for registration, and then tell their friends or family.

Kobach’s office says the election officials aren’t demanding the documents, just recording them when they are provided voluntarily. The office argues the documents could be helpful to its search for voter fraud. The office also notes it is appealing Robinson’s ruling striking down Kansas’ voter registration requirement.

Disagreement over statistics

Another key sticking point as of Friday’s court filing involved statistics on the secretary of state’s website. Kobach’s office wanted to keep tallies online of the number of people who didn’t provide citizenship papers with their voter registrations. The ACLU argues that perpetuates confusion since those documents are no longer needed. Kobach’s office argues the statistics are a public record that they would have to turn over if a member of the public asked for them.

As of Monday the statistics had disappeared from the website, but the ACLU expects they may soon be reposted.

Poll books and manuals

Kobach’s office told Judge Robinson on Friday that registered voters in Kansas will be able to use standard ballots instead of provisional ones — regardless of whether they showed the office any citizenship papers. Their names will appear in the standard manner in poll books.

County officials, meanwhile, are receiving updated instructions — including revisions to the state’s election handbook — making clear that citizenship documents aren’t required anymore.  As with many of the other items that Kobach was ordered to fix, the ACLU seems tentatively satisfied but has reserved the right to let the judge know if anything of concern turns up.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – An Ohio man has admitted defrauding NFL players out of money meant for charities.

Thirty-nine-year-old Camario Richardson, of Maple Heights, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday to mail fraud in federal court in Kansas City.

Prosecutors say Richardson told the players he could deliver Nike-branded merchandise to charitable events. The five players involved weren’t identified in the indictment.

Richardson pleaded guilty to one charge involving a Kansas City Chiefs player who paid Richardson $6,000 to provide 300 Nike-branded backpacks for a charitable event for the 2016 school year. The backpacks were never delivered. He admitted to similar schemes involving players from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. He also didn’t deliver athletic shoes he promised for a San Diego Chargers player’s charity.

Richardson was ordered to pay $24,780 in restitution.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is holding off on taking a public stance on President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

McCaskill in a late Monday statement said she looks forward to “thoroughly examining” conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record. She’s asking supporters of her re-election campaign to fill out a survey outlining their thoughts on Trump’s nominee.

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement has presented McCaskill with a choice that could make or break her chances of being re-elected to a third term.

She risks alienating Trump supporters she hopes to win over by voting against Kavanaugh. But she could upset her Democratic base if she supports him.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a 3-year-old boy has died two days after he wandered away from home and was found in the Lake of the Ozarks.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Jared Jones, of East Lynne, was pronounced dead Monday afternoon at a Columbia hospital. The patrol says the boy was located Saturday in the water near the lake’s Pearson Branch. The patrol says he wasn’t wearing a life jacket.

No other information was immediately released.

TOPEKA – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have a suspect in custody.

Just after 6 p.m. Monday, officers responded to a residence in the 900 block of NE Madison in Topeka after report of a shooting, according to Police Lt. Jerry Monasmith.

A male victim identified as 35-year-old David William Payne of Topeka was transported to a local hospital with life threating injuries, where he died.

Police arrested Tony Lee Foster, 32, Topeka, and booked him on requested charges of second-degree murder, according to Lt. Jennifer Cross.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Topeka Police.

BELTON, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a woman has been killed while helping to trim trees at a mobile home park south of Kansas City.

The Kansas City Star reports that investigators believe the woman was working with a wood chipper Monday afternoon in Belton when she was injured by either the machinery or a work truck. The exact cause is under investigation.

The woman was rushed to an area hospital, where she died from her injuries. Her name wasn’t immediately release.