TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman has been convicted of participating in the grisly deaths of two men and a woman in Topeka.

Kora Liles, 32, Topeka was found guilty Wednesday of 11 counts, including three counts of first-degree murder.

She was one of five people charged in the March 2017 deaths of 19-year-old Matthew Leavitt; 38-year-old Nicole Fisher; and 20-year-old Luke Davis. The victims were strangled or smothered to death with trash bags in a Topeka basement. Police say the violence stemmed from an unproven rape allegation against Leavitt.

Prosecutors said Liles orchestrated the killings, while defense attorneys argued the victims were killed by other defendants.

Liles will be sentenced Sept. 5.

Joseph Krahn, who prosecutors say killed the three victims, is serving three consecutive life terms. The other three defendants are awaiting trial.

PIERRE, SD- Two teenage kayakers escaped serious injury when strong currents swept them through a culvert under the causeway separating the Missouri River from Lake Sharpe in Pierre.

According to a media release, the Pierre Fire Department Rescue Squad was dispatched Sunday to the causeway to rescue a kayaker who was in the water and had not resurfaced.

According to Pierre Fire Chief Ian Paul, two kayakers were in close proximity to the inlets by the causeway. Both kayakers were dumped from their kayaks and pulled through the inlets by the strong river current.  They passed through the culverts that run under the causeway and ended on the Lake Sharpe side.

One kayaker surfaced immediately; the other shortly after. The kayakers, who were both traveling with a youth group from Missouri, escaped serious injury.

“Luckily, there were other members of their group on the Lake Sharpe side who were able to help immediately retrieve the two kayakers,” said Chief Paul. “This situation could have easily ended in tragedy.”

Because of strong currents, the area near the causeway is marked with “Danger” signs. Swimmers, kayakers and boaters should avoid the area.

“This serves as a reminder that although the river is a beautiful area and great place for recreation, you must still be mindful and respect the hazards that come along with it,” said Chief Paul. “We’re fortunate the weekend incident had a positive ending.”

AMR, Pierre Police and the South Dakota Highway Patrol assisted Pierre Rescue with the emergency response.

By BRIAN GRIMMETT

A blossoming trade war between the United States and China could have a big impact on Kansas farmers and businesses.

President Donald Trump has made good on his threat to slap an additional 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. In turn, Chinese officials have committed to retaliatory tariffs in the same amount. But while U.S. tariffs are focused on tech products, Chinese tariffs will likely focus on agricultural goods.

That big of a tariff will likely diminish any profit a farmer makes by selling to China, keeping them from being able to sell in that market.

“And if they’re selling globally right now and then they can no longer do so, in turn they’re going to have to downsize or just take some losses,” said Holli Schletzbaun of Kansas Global Trade Services.

Kansas exported more than $100 million worth of agricultural products to China last year; it’s one of the state’s largest export markets overall.

Schletzbaun says a decrease in sales to China could also result in an excess of product left in America, adding futher downward pressure to prices.

The Trump administration says the tariffs are meant to punish China for what it calls unfair trade practices that have hurt U.S. companies.

Brian Grimmett reports on the environment and energy the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett. 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City police are releasing more details about two officer-involved shootings last week that left three people dead.

Officers fatally shot a woman who was involved in a standoff Thursday after she was seen walking with a sword in a northern Kansas City neighborhood.

About an hour later, police shot and killed two men who were fighting in downtown Kansas City.

Police say Timothy Mosley of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Robert White, a homeless man, had several confrontations on Barney Allis Plaza before officers arrived. The two men were again fighting when police say Mosley pointed a gun at officers, prompting the officers to shoot and hit both men.

In the second shooting, police say they shot 28-year-old Ashley Simonetti after she ran at officers with a 27-inch steel sword after the standoff.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing to pressure from anxious allies, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the U.S. border illegally.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the Pentagon will “respond if requested” to house migrants detained after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

When a reporter noted that federal agencies have assessed four military bases for potential use as temporary housing for detained migrants, including unaccompanied children, Mattis said the Pentagon will “support whatever” the Department of Homeland Security says it needs. In the meantime, he said, this is not a matter for the Pentagon to comment on.

The executive order was a dramatic turnaround for Trump, who has been insisting, wrongly, that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision.

The news in recent days has been dominated by searing images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents — images that have sparked fury, question of morality and concern from Republicans about a negative impact on their races in November’s midterm elections.

Until Wednesday, the president, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other officials had repeatedly argued the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation, while Democrats said he could do it with his signature alone. That’s what he did on Wednesday.

“We’re going to have strong, very strong borders, but we’re going to keep the families together,” said Trump who said he didn’t like the “sight” or “feeling” of children separated from their parents.

He said his order would not end the “zero-tolerance” policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. The order aims to keep families together while they are in custody, expedite their cases, and ask the Department of Defense to help house families.

Justice Department lawyers had been working to find a legal workaround for a previous class-action settlement that set policies for the treatment and release of unaccompanied children who are caught at the border.

Still, Trump’s order is likely to create a new set of problems involving length of detention of families, and may spark a fresh court fight.

Also playing a role in his turnaround: First lady Melania Trump. One White House official said Mrs. Trump had been making her opinion known to the president for some time that she felt he needed to do all he could to help families stay together, whether by working with Congress or acting on his own.

Nielsen traveled to Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon to brief lawmakers. And members on the fence over pending immigration legislation headed to the White House to meet with Trump.

Trump had tweeted earlier Wednesday, “It’s the Democrats fault, they won’t give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something – it never ends!”

The administration recently put into place a “zero tolerance” policy in which all unlawful border crossings are referred for prosecution — a process that moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation.

The policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, with more than 2,300 minors were separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Two people close to Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen said early Wednesday that she was the driving force behind the plan to keep families together after they are detained crossing the border illegally.

One of the people said Nielsen, who had become the face of the administration’s policy, had little faith that Congress would act to fix the separation issue and felt compelled to act. Nielsen was heckled at a restaurant Tuesday evening and has faced protesters at her home.

But others pushed back on the idea that Homeland Security had led the rollback. One official said it was the Justice Department that generated the legal strategy that is codified in the working executive order, and disputed the notion that Homeland Security was involved in drawing up the document.

Planning at the Justice Department had been underway over the past several days to provide the president with options on the growing crisis, said the official, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the effort before its official announcement.

The person said Trump called the Justice Department Wednesday morning asking for the draft order. The official did not know what prompted Trump to change course.

The Flores settlement, named for a teenage girl who brought the case in the 1980s, requires the government to release children from custody and to their parents, adult relatives or other caretakers, in order of preference. If those options are exhausted, authorities must find the “least restrictive” setting for the child who arrived without parents.

In 2015, a federal judge in Los Angeles expanded the terms of the settlement, ruling that it applies to children who are caught with their parents as well as to those who come to the U.S. alone. Other recent rulings, upheld on appeal, affirm the children’s rights to a bond hearing and require better conditions at the Border Patrol’s short-term holding facilities.

In 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that child migrants who came to the border with parents and were held in custody must be released. The decision did not state parents must be released. Neither, though, did it require parents to be kept in detention, apart from their children.

SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — More than 20 people are homeless after a massive fire at a Kansas apartment complex.

The blaze broke out around 2 a.m. Wednesday at Hampton Woods Apartment Homes in Shawnee, a Kansas City suburb. Flames were seen shooting from the roof and smoke filled the sky. Firefighters went door-to-door to alert residents.

Sixteen adults and six children were forced from the apartments.

Fire officials say the blaze started in the attic, but the cause remains under investigation. No one was hurt.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Texts between staffers to former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens appear to show that they used a message-deleting app to communicate about state policy.

Screenshots of the texts obtained by the Kansas City Star show former deputy legislative directors Brad Green and Jeff Earl discussing talking points on a prescription drug monitoring policy.

The screenshots show Green texted Earl that he “can’t see your edits very well on Confide.”

Attorney Mark Pedroli is suing Greitens and his staff for alleged Sunshine-Law violations. He says the texts prove governor’s office employees used the Confide app to discuss state business. The app automatically deletes messages after they are read and prevents recipients from taking screenshots.

Attorneys representing the former governor and his staffers didn’t immediately respond to Associated Press requests for comment Wednesday.

————–

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri lawyer suing over the use of a message-deleting app by former Gov. Eric Greitens and his staff is facing roadblocks in gathering evidence.

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem during a Tuesday hearing said the former governor and staffers don’t have to produce records made before Greitens’ inauguration. That was one of several requests by the plaintiff for more information that Beetem denied.

Attorney Ben Sansone last year brought the lawsuit over Confide, arguing its use violated Sunshine and records laws. The app automatically deletes messages after they are read and prevents recipients from saving or taking screenshots of messages.

Attorneys for the former governor argue the Sunshine Law wasn’t violated because the records were not kept.

Greitens resigned this month in the face of multiple scandals.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A judge has turned down a Ferguson lawmaker’s attempt to run for a seat in the state Senate.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green’s ruling on Tuesday dismissed Rep. Courtney Curtis’ bid to run in the 14th Senate district’s Democratic primary election in August.

Curtis’ attorney says he will appeal, but time is running short. The deadline to get on the ballot is Tuesday.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal is barred from seeking another term due to term limits. The Missouri Democratic Party barred Curtis from the race to replace her because he had not paid more than $114,000 in fines for violating numerous state campaign finance laws.