I am resigning as Governor effective 3:00pm CST on January 31. It has been a great honor to serve and represent Kansans for most of my adult life. Thank you for this opportunity to serve, and may God Bless our great state and nation. #ksleg pic.twitter.com/JpG0DSTK9L

— Sam Brownback (@govsambrownback) January 25, 2018

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TOPEKA  —Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer will be elevated to governor in Kansas when Sam Brownback submits his official resignation to begin work full time in the Trump Administration. That could come as early as next week.

The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday narrowly approved Sam Brownback’s bid to be U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom, setting the stage for him to resign the governorship in Kansas after seven contentious years in office.

With two Republican senators absent, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Capitol Hill to cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Brownback, a favorite of Christian conservatives for his views on same-sex marriage and abortion. The vote was along party lines, 50-49, underscoring the narrow margin Republicans hold. Pence’s vote also was needed earlier in the day to get Brownback’s nomination over a procedural hurdle.

 

Thank you to @POTUS, @VP, and all the Senators who supported my nomination. I’m looking forward to starting my new position as Ambassador and working hard for the American people and religious freedom around the world. #ksleg

— Sam Brownback (@govsambrownback) January 24, 2018

“I’m glad to have the vice president in my corner,” Brownback told reporters after a meeting with Kansas legislative leaders at the statehouse in Topeka. He added later, “I’m happy. It’s a critical job. I’m excited about being able to do it.”

Brownback served in the U.S. Senate before becoming governor in January 2011. He made Kansas an economic laboratory for the nation by aggressively cutting taxes, arguing that they would provide “a shot of adrenaline to the heart” of the state’s economy.

But persistent budget problems followed, along with court mandates to boost spending on public schools. Kansas became an example even for conservatives of how not to do trickle-down economics. Voters turned on his legislative allies in 2016, and bipartisan majorities rolled back most of the cuts last year over Brownback’s veto.

President Donald Trump’s selection of Brownback for the State Department post had come under fire from Senate Democrats and LGBT rights groups. During his confirmation hearing last year, Brownback declined to unequivocally declare there is no situation that would allow a country to cite religious freedom as the basis for criminally prosecuting LGBT people.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Wednesday that he was concerned Brownback would focus solely on protecting Christian minorities.

“I firmly believe that anyone seeking to represent the United States of America must actively champion the right of all people to worship freely and without fear,” Menendez said.

The advocacy group GLAAD said in a statement that Brownback’s “distortion of ‘religious freedom’ threatens LGBTQ people both at home and abroad.”

Kansas’ senators, both Republicans, applauded the confirmation, saying Brownback is ideally suited for the job.

“Sam Brownback has always been called to fight for those of all faiths,” said Sen. Pat Roberts.

Trump announced he’d picked Brownback for the religious freedom post in July, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held his confirmation hearing in early October. But the Senate left town for the year without acting on his nomination. The White House resubmitted the nomination earlier this month.

Brownback also would leave a Kansas legacy of far tougher restrictions on abortion and fewer limits on gun owners than when he won the first of his two terms in 2010.

He also rejected expanding the Medicaid health program for the poor in line with former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law even as several other Republican governors went ahead.

Brownback was an early advocate of U.S. action to stop genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region, and visited Congo and Rwanda to decry humanitarian crises and call for better coordination in foreign aid programs.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a 10-year-old boy called 911 after his mother was fatally shot inside her Kansas City home.

Police rushed to the home Wednesday night and found the slain woman inside. Police spokesman Darin Snapp says it appeared the woman was opening the door for someone when she was shot. Police say there were no signs of forced entry at the home.

Police say the woman was in her 30s but her name wasn’t immediately released. Police believe the boy was inside the home at the time of the shooting. Police don’t yet have any information about a suspect to release.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The former president of a nonprofit Lawrence arts organization has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor after stealing from the group.

Thirty-six-year-old Amanda Monaghan was scheduled to go to trial Monday for felony theft after more than $1,000 was stolen from the Lawrence Art Guild in April 2014.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Monaghan instead entered a no contest plea to misdemeanor theft. She will be sentenced Monday.

Judge Kay Huff said she plans to order Monaghan to repay $1,125 to the guild.

Prosecutors say Monaghan used the organization’s bank account for personal expenses, including a payment for her daughter’s preschool tuition at the Lawrence Arts Center.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is moving forward with plans to have the nation’s largest private-prison operator build a new state prison after departing Republican Gov. Sam Brownback cut a political deal to win over wary GOP legislative leaders Wednesday.

The Legislature’s eight top leaders approved a plan to have Tennessee-based CoreCivic Inc. build a 2,432-bed prison near Kansas City to replace the state’s oldest and largest correctional facility there. The state would buy the new prison in Lansing over 20 years through a lease with the company, paying a total of $362 million.

The top lawmakers’ approval was required by a state law authorizing the project last year. The vote among the leaders was 5-3, the exact tally Brownback needed for the project to go forward. The final vote was delayed nearly three weeks because several Republican leaders wavered amid skepticism about whether the lease-purchase deal was the most cost-effective option.

Two of the Senate’s top three Republicans didn’t come aboard until Brownback’s office announced an hour before the meeting that it was dropping plans for an overhaul this year of the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the poor and disabled. GOP leaders had worried about the potential cost and said problems with the existing Medicaid program must be worked out first.

Brownback won the go-ahead for the prison project just before the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Stopping the Medicaid overhaul saved him from a stinging political defeat on the prison project just before he steps down and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer is elevated to governor.

“That was a major, major decision point for me,” said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican.

Lawmakers in both parties agreed that the Lansing prison has major problems. Parts of it date to the 1860s and feature long rows of tiered cells with bad sight lines, but even newer parts built in the 1980s were poorly designed.

“It just needs work,” Brownback said. “The place is crumbling down.”

The department has estimated that a new prison could be staffed with 46 percent fewer employees — saving the state enough money to cover annual lease payments. While CoreCivic would be responsible for maintenance, the state would oversee staffing and day-to-day operations.

Democratic leaders were skeptical of the projected staffing and cost savings, and questioned whether the project would be cheaper over time if the state issued bonds to finance it.

“We will rue the day, I believe,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat.

CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger said construction could begin in a few weeks. The company has had similar projects in California and Oklahoma and is pursuing one in Colorado. He said the Kansas project could be a model for others in states with badly aging prisons.

“There are other states, we know, around the country that are looking at Kansas and thinking about how we could duplicate this kind of solution,” Hininger said.

ROLLA, Mo. (AP) – A south-central Missouri woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for abusing a child so severely that she was left blind and unable to walk or speak.

Christa Mueller of Phelps County was sentenced Monday. She was convicted in September. The sentence was announced Wednesday by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, whose office handled the prosecution.

Mueller and her boyfriend, Calvin Alford, were charged with first-degree assault after Mueller’s 17-month-old child was treated for severe injuries in 2006. The child had bleeding on the brain, a skull fracture, collapsed lungs, three fractures on her right arm, and other injuries.

Hawley says the couple sought medical help only at the insistence of a neighbor.

Alford’s trial is scheduled to begin March 26.

TOPEKA – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged arson.

Just after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, fire crews responded to an apartment fire at 3100 SW 29^th Terrace in Topeka, according to Fire Chief Craig Duke.

Upon arrival, fire crews found the two-story wooden ballooned frame apartment structure with nothing showing. Firefighters encountered smoke when they entered the building. Firefighters located the fire and quickly extinguished it. There were no occupants.

Investigators determined  the fire was intentionally set. Police arrested 25-year-old Blake A. Barrow and he was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections for Aggravated Arson, according to Duke.

The estimated dollar loss is $1,100. Police released no additional details.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Lyon County authorities say a person has died in a house fire near Emporia.

County sheriff’s deputy Jacob Welsh says the fire was reported Wednesday morning about 4 miles southwest of Emporia. When firefighters arrived, the home was completely engulfed in flames.

The person’s name has not been released.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

WASHINGTON – The United States Senate voted Wednesday afternoon to end debate on the nomination of Sam Brownback for International Religious Freedom Ambassador.

The vote down party lines was tied at 49 in favor and 49 against. Two senators John McCain and Bob Corker were absent. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in time to break the deadlock and the motion to end debate was approved.

A final vote for Brownback’s confirmation is expected before Senators leave town on Friday.

Brownback would resign if he is confirmed. Fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer would be elevated to governor.

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WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Wednesday afternoon to invoke cloture and end the debate on the nomination of Governor Sam Brownback to become Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, according to the Senate Executive Calendar.

A final vote for Brownback’s confirmation is expected before the week ends.

Trump first nominated Brownback for the ambassador’s post in July, but his appointment has faced opposition from Democrats.

Brownback would resign if he is confirmed. Fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer would be elevated to governor.