LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a suburban Kansas City officer has shot and wounded a suspect who is accused of hitting several occupied patrol cars while fleeing in a stolen vehicle.

Police said in a news release that the shooting happened Tuesday night in Lenexa, Kansas, after officers stopped the stolen vehicle in a parking lot. The release says that after being ordered to exit the vehicle, the suspect fled and struck the patrol cars. Police say the officer then shot and wounded the suspect, who then led officers on a 3 ½ mile pursuit before surrendering.

Officers treated the suspect’s wounds before paramedics arrived. The release didn’t list the suspect’s condition. Police say officers also were evaluated for minor injuries.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The man who delivered the first of two $50,000 payments to the attorney for the ex-husband of the woman involved in an affair with Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is a political newspaper publisher who’s been a critic of Greitens.

In court Monday in Greitens’ felony invasion of privacy case, Greitens’ attorney Jim Martin said it was well-connected conservative Scott Faughn who delivered the payment in January to Al Watkins. Martin said Watkins disclosed Faughn’s name during a deposition.

The ex-husband is a pivotal player because it was his secretly recorded conversation in which the woman with whom Greitens had an affair said Greitens blindfolded her and took a partially-nude photo without her permission in March 2015.

That allegation led a grand jury to indict Greitens.

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of robberies and have made an arrest.

On February 20, two males, one slender black male with earrings, and one chubby white male, used this car (likely a grey Nissan), and wore this purge mask to rob 2 apartments. If you have any info about these crimes, please let us know. pic.twitter.com/5mU7iL8uC8

— Lawrence Police (@LawrenceKS_PD) March 7, 2018

On April 27^th police arrested 20-year-old True Shipley of Georgia in connection with a string of robberies that occurred on February 20 in Lawrence, according to Sgt. Amy Rhoads.

Shipley is being held for two aggravated robberies, one in the 2000 block of W. 6^th Street, and one in the 3100 block of Ousdahl.

These two incidents had previously been shared with the public involving two masked men entering the apartments and displaying firearms. During the course of the investigation, it was also discovered that this individual was allegedly involved in three other attempted aggravated robberies that had not been previously reported to police.

A connection between these robberies and other crimes in the Lawrence area has not been ruled out.

Anyone who may have additional information is asked to contact the Lawrence Police Department.

KANSAS CITY – A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Theodis Dewan Johnson, 42, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 20 years in federal prison without parole.

On Jan. 4, 2018, Johnson pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute more than 2.2 kilograms of methamphetamine as well as heroin from Oct. 21, 2015, until his arrest on Sept. 28, 2016. Co-defendants Erin R. Markley, 36, and Evelyn Leona Cooper, 46, both of Kansas City, Mo., also have pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Markley was sentenced to six years in federal prison without parole and Cooper is scheduled to be sentenced on May 22, 2018.

A confidential informant purchased methamphetamine from Johnson and Cooper, the leader of the conspiracy, on several occasions. When law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at their residence, they found multiple handguns, approximately 76.5 grams of methamphetamine and approximately 17 grams of heroin.

Johnson acted as a narcotics runner, money collector and as protection for Cooper’s narcotics operation. Johnson was directly responsible for the distribution of 705.64 grams of methamphetamine. Johnson was in possession of a loaded Taurus .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol at the time of his arrest.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A bank that held roughly $32 million in debt by the Schlitterbahn Riverpark & Resort in Texas’ North Padre Island has taken ownership of the park at a foreclosure auction.

San Antonio lawyer Jon Lowe, who conducted the auction, told the San Antonio Express-News that IBC Bank made a $20 million “credit bid” as the lone bidder for the park. IBC CEO Dennis Nixon says the Laredo, Texas-based bank hopes to find a new owner quickly.

The sale comes a year after a bankruptcy filing by the park’s owners, Schlitterbahn principals Gary and Jeffrey Henry and North Padre Island landowner Paul Schexnaider.

A grand jury indicted Jeffrey Henry in March on second-degree murder and other charges in the 2016 death of a 10-year-old boy on a slide at Schlitterbahn’s Kansas City, Kansas, water park.

OZARK, Mo. (AP) – A pharmacy chain based in southern Missouri is filing for bankruptcy.

Family Pharmacy, owned by state Rep. Lynn Morris, plans to continue operating its 20 retail pharmacies, two long-term care pharmacies and a specialty pharmacy while it works to sell most of its assets to Smith Drug Company.

A news release sent Monday says Family Pharmacy secured a $2 million loan from Smith so it could continue operating its businesses.

The Springfield News-Leader report s the company owes at least $30.4 million to three major creditors.

Morris said in a statement that the filing would ultimately be best for Family Pharmacy’s customers and employees.

Family Pharmacy’s has its corporate headquarters, a warehouse and a leased billing office in Ozark. The company opened in 1977.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a traffic stop.

On Monday, a Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office deputy with the Criminal Interdiction Unit conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle travelling eastbound on I-70 near Wanamaker Road for a lane change violation, according to Deputy Shayna Anderson.

Through the investigation deputies found approximately 29 pounds of marijuana and a loaded handgun in the vehicle. They also found approximately $3700 in cash in the vehicle and on the driver, according to Anderson.

Deputies booked the driver  Jeremy E. Sprague, 39, of Oregon into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on the felony charge of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Legislators in the state that made saloon-smasher Carrie Nation famous have approved a bill to allow self-serve beer taps and longer hours for bars and taverns.

The Kansas House approved the measure Tuesday on a 94-28vote. The Senate approved it Monday on a 34-4 vote, so it goes next to Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer.

Kansas is among a few states that do not allow self-serve beer taps in restaurants and bars. The move to legalize them was spurred by the prospects of a new restaurant in downtown Topeka, blocks from the Statehouse.

Bars, taverns and restaurants licensed to sell alcohol can’t open until 9 a.m., but the bill would allow them to start serving at 6 a.m. Critics saw that provision as a public safety threat.

BY JIM MCLEAN

Kansas lawmakers gave the go-ahead Monday to expand telemedicine services after reaching agreement on abortion language that had threatened to scuttle the move.

The bill cleared the state Senate and House by large margins, but only after eleventh-hour brinksmanship that gave anti-abortion forces the assurances they demanded.

Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion organization, fought for weeks to maintain a clause in the legislation designed to discourage a court challenge over its ban on drug-induced abortions.

The “non-severability” clause is essentially a self-destruct mechanism that would automatically wipe the entire telemedicine law off the books if sometime in the future the abortion ban is struck down.

Some lawmakers opposed to the “non-severability” language said it was redundant, that Kansas law already requires women who undergo drug-induced abortions to do so in the physical presence of a prescribing physician.

But Sen. Ty Masterson, a conservative Republican from Andover, said anti-abortion lawmakers wanted it to be abundantly clear that health care providers “couldn’t do chemical abortions via telemedicine.”

“That’s all that was,” he said.

It was more than that, said supporters of the bill.  The fight it prompted threatened a year of work on a bill needed to expand the reach of telemedicine.

“The underlying bill is so important, I hate to see us hold it hostage for something that’s already covered in law,” said Rep. Eileen Horn, a Lawrence Democrat serving her first term.

The bill would require insurance companies to pay for telemedicine services if they are the same as those covered in clinics, hospitals and doctor’s offices. Expanded access to long-distance services is particularly important in rural areas.

Sen. Vicki Schmidt, a Topeka Republican and chair of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, reluctantly agreed to reinstate the non-severability clause after the House rejected a version of the bill that didn’t include it.

“This bill is just too important,” Schmidt said, to risk losing over a fight about abortion language.

With the non-severability language restored, the bill easily passed both the House and Senate Monday. The Senate passed it 31-8. Less than an hour later, the House voted 107-13 to send it on to Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer.

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