DOUGLAS COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect following standoff at a home.

Just after 4:30 p.m. Monday, officers were dispatched to 1014 E. 27^th Street in Lawrence in reference to a sound of gunshots call, according to a media release.

While en route to the call, officers learned the person calling in the report was reporting he was the one firing rounds.

The caller made threats to harm responding officers as well as residents in the area. Officers worked to quickly establish a perimeter on the residence and to evacuate area residents, primarily using the rescue vehicle.

After more than 7 hours, at approximately 12:40 a.m., the suspect exited the residence armed with a firearm. Tactical officers deployed multiple different less-lethal weapons to gain compliance from the suspect, who was taken into custody at 12:46 a.m.

The suspect was transported to a local hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries sustained during the arrest and to receive a mental health evaluation. Possible charges are not known at this time. No other injuries were reported during the incident.

Police did not release the name of the suspect.

By ELLE MOXLEY

Missouri schools continue to dole out harsher punishments to black students – and in particular, black students with disabilities – for disciplinary infractions than their white peers receive, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union on what’s been dubbed the school-to-prison pipeline.

The findings aren’t new, but they are troubling, says ACLU of Missouri Legislative and Policy Director Sara Baker.

“The fact that this is a consistent problem is something that’s worth noting,” Baker says. “This is not going away in the state of Missouri, and that’s why it keeps making the news. Every time we get new numbers for this, we recognize Missouri is not doing that well when it comes to school discipline and disparities.”

Missouri allows out-of-school suspensions of up to 180 days, the equivalent of an entire school year.

“That’s an incredibly long suspension,” Baker says. “Most states have a ‘suspension cap’ that’s closer to 10 to 12 days.”

These policies affect all black students but have a disproportionate impact on students of color with special needs, the ACLU found. Black students receiving additional services under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act make up 16 percent of the overall special needs population but received 52 percent of out-of-school suspensions lasting longer than 90 days and 41 percent of suspensions lasting 11 to 89 days.

“These are students who should have additional protections afforded to them by federal law, yet we still see them not being protected under those standards,” Baker says.

These long suspensions have documented economic ramifications. Students who are put out of school for a full academic year are more likely to drop out, less likely to complete high school and far less likely go on to college. Many end up in the juvenile justice system as a result of a school referral. If they’re expelled from one school, they often can’t find another school willing to take them.

“You should not have the schoolhouse door locked behind you and be unable to get an education in the state of Missouri just because you have been suspended,” Baker says.

KCUR has reported that many districts are moving toward in-school suspension for all but the most serious of infractions. Baker says that’s a step in the right direction – with a caveat.

“It really depends on the quality of what in-school suspension means. If that in-school suspension means that a kid is just being sat in a room with no teacher and no resources, then it’s not that much preferable to an out-of-school suspension,” she adds.

Some schools, cognizant of high suspension rates, have asked teachers to try to address more minor problems in their classrooms. This can be an effective strategy in preventing discipline referrals, but Baker acknowledges it’s hard to teach the rest of the class when one kid is having a meltdown.

“That said, it’s one thing to say, ‘OK, the student is misbehaving, I need them to be apart from the class for a few minutes or an hour,’” Baker says. “It’s an entirely different thing to say, ‘I’m going to use the official discipline of the school to remove this kid from the classroom for days and weeks and sometimes months going forward.”

Baker says the ACLU can advocate for legislative solutions, such as fixing language in statute that allows for overly broad interpretations of “disruptive behavior” and “disorderly conduct.” But she says teachers and school administrators have to recognize that their own biases may be causing them to discipline students of color more harshly.

There’s also room for individuals and community organizations to improve the lives of young people who act out in school because they’re experience trauma at home.

“When we talk about the school-to-prison pipeline, it is a pipeline. It’s very long. There’s space to get involved,” Baker says.

Elle Moxley covers Missouri schools for KCUR a partner in the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @ellemoxley.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say deputies have shot and wounded a man after he pointed a gun at them in a southwest Missouri home.

KYTV reports that the shooting happened Monday night after a Greene County sheriff’s deputy responded to a call from a woman with bullet holes in her house. Greene County Sheriff’s Maj. Phil Corcoran says a deputy was inspecting the damage when he saw more gunshot holes in a neighboring house and a woman peering out a window.

Backup was called, and two deputies went to the neighboring home. Corcoran says that after the woman opened the door, a man walked down a hallway and reappeared with a weapon. Corcoran says shots were fired when the man pointed the weapon.

The man’s condition wasn’t immediately known. Neither deputy was hurt.

WEEPING WATER, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man faces an assisted suicide charge after he helped his girlfriend kill herself in the woods, authorities said.

Cass County sheriff’s deputies charged Matthew J. Stubbendieck, 41, of Weeping Water last week in the death of 38-year-old Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan of Orange City, Florida.

Authorities said Stubbendieck reported that Wilemon-Sullivan had killed herself and led them to her body Aug. 5 in a wooded area near Weeping Water, about 25 miles southwest of Omaha. They said the couple arranged for Wilemon-Sullivan to fly to Nebraska from her home near Orlando to kill herself on Aug. 1.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The federal government has given Kansas permission to operate its private Medicaid system for another year.

State officials announced Monday afternoon that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has given the state until Dec. 31, 2018 to operate the KanCare system. The program was set to expire at the end of 2017 had the federal oversight agency not approved an extension.

The state’s original request for an extension was denied because the federal agency said Kansas was not meeting federal standards and risked the health of the low-income patients served. The state is now working to gain permission to extend the program beyond 2018.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is headed to the United Kingdom and Switzerland on his second trade mission.

Greitens left Monday on a trip that will include meetings with government officials, business executives and workforce development leaders. In a news release, Greitens’ office said he chose the nations because he sees an opportunity to increase trade, investment and educational and cultural ties. Spokesman Parker Briden said Department of Economic Development acting director Rob Dixon and other staff members will accompany the governor.

The trip is being funded by the Hawthorn Foundation, a nonprofit that has paid for similar trade missions for former governors.

In September, Greitens visited China and South Korea. His office said he met with representatives from the manufacturing, financial services, agriculture and internet retail sectors

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka is investigating an unusually high number of homicides.

There have been more than 25 so far this year. That’s a marked increase from 2014 when there were seven.

Topeka police deputy chief Darin Scott says violent crime is a “community issue” and that police “cannot tackle this problem alone.”

Staff has been added to the police department’s organized crime and gang unit and the behavioral health unit. Authorities also have identified areas with high levels of violent crime and focused officers on those neighborhoods.

Of the 25 homicides, one suspect was identified, but died. Two others were found to be justified. Four were a result of murder-suicides. Eleven led to arrests, and six others remain unsolved. A police shooting in September remains under investigation.