TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say the state’s worst measles outbreak in almost 30 years is officially over.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Wednesday a measles outbreak that began at a Johnson County daycare in March has ended. It eventually spread to Miami and Linn counties. In total, 22 people in the three counties were infected.

It was the most measles cases in one year in Kansas since 1990.

A measles outbreak is considered over when no new cases have been identified and two separate 21-day incubation periods pass.

FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Kansas teen accused of raping a fellow student in a Waldorf University dorm in northern Iowa has taken a plea deal.

Court records say 18-year-old Sean Perkins, of Olathe, Kansas, signed the deal filed Tuesday in Winnebago County District Court.

The agreement includes a one-year deferred prosecution on the charge of serious misdemeanor assault, which had been lowered from felony sexual abuse. The agreement says that if Perkins were to violate the agreement, the guilty plea would be used against him. But the charge would be dropped if he were to meet the agreement’s terms.

County Attorney Kelsey Beenken says there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute Perkins for rape. Beenken says the woman involved believes the agreement, which includes a no-contact order, will help her start the healing process.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Two men from Kansas City, Kan., were indicted today on charges of possession with intent to distribute more than two pounds of heroin, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Hugo Miguel Lopez-Erazo, 30, Kansas City, Kan., and Cesar Donai Bautista, 38, Kansas City, Kan., are charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin. In addition, Lopez-Erazo is charged with two counts of distributing methamphetamine and one count of distributing heroin. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in July and August 2017, and January and May 2018 in Wyandotte County, Kan.

According to court documents, in May 2018 investigators working undercover arranged to buy two pounds of heroin from the defendants. Investigators met the defendants in a parking lot on South 18th Street in Kansas City, Kan., where they seized the heroin and arrested Lopez-Erazo and Bautista.

Upon conviction, the alleged crimes carry the following penalties:
Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute heroin: Not less than 10 years and a fine up to $10 million on each count.
Distribution of heroin: Up to 20 years and a fine up to $1 million.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ward is prosecuting.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a former Columbia Public Schools teacher has been charged with having sexual contact with a student.

Court records show the felony was filed Tuesday against Sean Diestel. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

The Columbia Missourian reports that the probable cause statement says he is a former laser technology and vocational technology instructor at the Columbia Area Career Center, and is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student who was enrolled in his class last year.

Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said in an email that Diestel no longer works for the district. He was hired in 2015.

BY JIM MCLEAN

A group of Kansans hoping to establish a new centrist political party in time to field candidates for the upcoming general election failed to get enough signatures to make that happen.

Even so, they say, they got enough support to convince them that they could be on the 2020 ballot.

A lifelong moderate Republican, Morgan left the party after losing a 2014 primary challenge to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach is a conservative who, along with former Gov. Sam Brownback, pushed the party to right in recent years.

Morgan is attempting to form the Party of the Center. He said that party is more about process and good government than ideology.

Political scientists are skeptical, noting that the handful of third parties have had any success formed around either a powerful cause or a charismatic leader.

Still, after spending months circulating petitions and talking politics with Kansans, Morgan said he’s more convinced than ever that it’s possible.

“That unserved, untapped market of people who are lost without a party is just massive,” he said.

Morgan blamed poor planning for the failure to gather the requisite signatures before a June 1 deadline. He specifically noted his group’s decision to start in winter, when the type of large outdoor gatherings that lend themselves to petition drives are scarce.

Organizers hope to get the rest of the signatures needed to formally register the party by later this summer, Morgan said, and then focus on recruiting candidates for 2020.

“We can take a good year getting together (a slate) of Senate and House candidates,” he said.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says he’s keeping his predecessor Eric Greitens’ ban on lobbyist gifts to executive staffers.

That means Parson also is now banned from accepting meals and other gifts.

Parson previously served as lieutenant governor but was elevated to the state’s top executive office when Greitens resigned amid personal and political scandal Friday.

The latest online records show Parson received about $813 in gifts so far this year and about $3,900 in 2017.

Commemorative coins paid for by various lobbyists that Parson’s office then awarded to others made up a sizeable chunk of gifts, along with catering for a senior service award event.

Other gifts given to Parson include Kansas City Chiefs football tickets, free camping and admission to the Missouri State Fair and several sub sandwiches.

KANSAS CITY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect who allegedly set fires inside Kauffman Stadium early Wednesday.

Just before 5a.m. Wednesday, officers were dispatched to Kauffman Stadium at 1 Royal Way in regard to an EMS call, according to Darin Snapp with KCPD.

A stadium security officer told police that just after 4:30 a.m. he made contact with a woman later identified as 31-year-old Bridget L. Depriest who had unlawfully entered the stadium.

The security officer noticed her on the field with a flashlight and made contact with her.

Depriest told security she had been in the park since approximately 8 a.m. Tuesday and had entered through a gate on the southeast side of the stadium.

She stated she had been there all day and had walked the field and stadium.

The security officer stated there was what appeared to be trash and a bag out on the field. He told the woman to collect it and leave. After collecting the items and putting them in a bag she left them by the south side dugout.

The security officer showed police where debris had been left on the field. When checking the field it was discovered that Depriest had set three small fires on the field causing small burn marks in the grass.

During an area canvass, authorities located Depriest outside the stadium on the south east side near a vehicle gate. She was taken into custody and transported to East Patrol for booking. She was issued a summons for trespassing and openly burning resulting in property damage, according to Snapp.

Officials will review security footage to determine how long Depriest had been in the stadium.

The Royals played in Anaheim, California Tuesday. They lost to the Angels 1-0.

INDEPENDENCE, MO (AP) – Authorities have identified the fourth person killed in a Kansas City area police chase.

Police say 24-year-old Anthony Belton Jr. was killed Friday while in the back seat of a car that was hit by a stolen Jeep Patriot.

The suspected driver of the Patriot, 24-year-old Victoria Brown, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and one count of resisting a lawful stop. Police say the pursuit began in suburban Independence after she ran a stop sign and continued into Kansas City. No attorney is listed for Brown in online court records.

Police previously said two others in the car were killed – 30-year-old Shawn Johnson Jr. and 29-year-old AaRon Daniel. The other victim, 27-year-old Amanda Perry, was in the front seat of the Patriot.