GLASGOW, Mo. (AP) — A former Dairy Queen manager in central Missouri who was accused of relentlessly bullying a worker before he committed suicide is no longer charged with involuntary manslaughter in his death.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports a prosecutor on Wednesday dropped that charge against Harley Branham of Fayette in the death of 17-year-old Kenneth Sutter, who shot himself at his home in December 2016.

Branham was charged in February 2017 after jurors at an inquest in Howard County determined that Suttner killed himself because of bullying at work and school. Jurors determined Branham’s was the principal reason Suttner killed himself.

Branham is charged with aggravated stalking, two counts of third-degree assault and two counts of harassment.

She waived Wednesday’s scheduled preliminary hearing. Her arraignment is scheduled for March 7.

DOUGLAS COUNTY— A Kansas woman died in an accident just before 2:30p.m Monday in Douglas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire driven by Kristina Lisa Robinson, 37, Junction City, was eastbound on U.S. 40 just east of Bob Billings Parkway.

The driver failed to negotiate the curve and lost control of the vehicle. It slid sideways, crossing into the westbound traffic. An eastbound 2013 Chevy Malibu driven by Elijah Joseph Garcia, 20, Lawrence, struck the Sunfire in the passenger side right front quarter panel.

Robinson was pronounced dead at the scene. Garcia was transported to KU Medical Center.

A passenger in the Malibu Phillip Kwabena Amfoh Afful, 18, Lawrence, was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

Robinson was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a man and woman were found dead inside a Kansas townhome after a standoff that lasted nearly 16 hours.

Police say a man barricaded himself inside the home in Topeka and fired at first responders throughout the standoff, which began about 10 p.m. Thursday. The standoff ended around 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

Police spokeswoman Coleen Stuart says officers found the bodies when they entered the home after chemicals were sent into the apartment.

Another woman in the home was able to escape. She was treated for injuries from the chemicals. The names of the women and the two people found dead haven’t been released.

Stuart says the man sporadically shot at first responders through the night and Friday morning. No officers were injured during the incident.

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SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are on the scene of a standoff that continued early Friday.

On Thursday night, police responded to a report of a possible gunshot heard at a townhome in the 3500 Block SE 7th Street in Topeka, according to Lt. Colleen Stuart.

The Caller reported hearing what was possibly a gunshot and then a female yelling.

Officers arrived and were able to observe an individual down inside but were unable to gain entry or to determine the extent of the individuals injuries due gunshots being fired from inside the residence toward responding officers.

TPD, Shawnee Sheriff, Shawnee County Park Police, Lawrence Police and Kansas Highway Patrol and other Law Enforcement Agencies came into the area and set a perimeter. TPD Crisis Negotiators and Response Team were called in to stabilize the incident.

Neighboring affected residences have been evacuated and the Red Cross has been called to assist residents and first responders.

Negotiators attempted to make contact and briefly spoke with the subject inside who threatened to fire at any first responders.

The individual continues to shoot out towards first responders sporadically through this incident timeframe.

Identification on the individual armed inside the residence is yet to be determined, according to Stuart.

The area of Rice Road between 6th and 8th in Topeka has been closed for an undetermined amount of time. The situation is still active, and very dangerous. Police advise residents to avoid the area.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man is barricaded in a Topeka apartment after wounding another person and firing shots at officers.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the standoff started after someone was shot about 9:50 p.m. Thursday. Police Lt. Steve Roth says the wounded person’s condition isn’t known because officers haven’t been able to reach the person.

It’s not clear what triggered the shooting. A SWAT unit and mobile command center were on the scene Friday morning as the standoff continued.

BY JIM MCLEAN

His landmark nationwide panel to root out illegal voting abandoned by the White House, Kansas Secretary of Kris Kobach spent Thursday rooting out alleged voter fraud in his home state.

Armed with powers not usually assigned to a secretary of state, Kobach filed a pair of criminal complaints against two people he said voted when, and more, than they had the right to.

In 2016, Kobach contends, Que J. Fulmer voted in both Hamilton County, Kansas, and in Colorado. He charged Bailey Ann McCaughey of voting twice in the same election, in Finney County, Kansas, and Colorado. Both Hamilton and Finney counties sit in western Kansas.

“These prosecutions will help deter voter fraud in the future,” Kobach said.

Kobach, a likely frontrunner among Republicans running for governor, has marked much of his career battling voter fraud. He insists it’s far more common than most experts believe. Legislators gave Kobach’s office the power to file criminal charges in election fraud cases in 2015. He’s the country’s only top election official with that authority.

While he warns of illegal voting by non-citizens — immigration control is another signature issue for him — all of the dozen-plus people he’s charged with election fraud in Kansas are U.S. citizens.

Twelve of the 14 voter fraud cases that he’s filed have been for double voting, which Kobach contends is a serious crime.

“The consequences of double voting are the same as the consequences of voting by a non-citizen,” he said. “You still have an illegal vote cast and that illegal vote might tip the election.”

The day before the charges, Kobach saw a federal judge rule on a pending case on his efforts to demand more reliable proof of citizenship for voter registration. That lawsuit goes to trial in March.

The court ruling excluded some testimony for Kobach’s cause because the judge said it lacked the necessary expertise to back it up.

Republicans typically argue it’s too easy to register to vote, that officials should insist on birth certificates and other documents to screen out non-citizens and that states need to compare their lists with each other to stop people from voting in two places.

Democrats commonly respond that voter fraud is rare and tougher I.D. demands make it unreasonably hard for the poor or the elderly to cast ballots. They also think that programs such as Crosscheck designed to identify people registered in multiple states could exclude citizens who simply have the same name as another voter.

Kobach has an ally for his cause in President Donald Trump, who installed the Kansas Republican as the key player on a national commission created to document how much voter cheating takes place.

That panel quickly ran into trouble when many of Kobach’s fellow secretaries of state across the country refused to turn over voter records, often state citing laws that barred them from sharing the information.

So when Trump scrapped the voting commission, Kobach’s rivals in Kansas leapt to declare it a failure of the man they need to beat in the governor’s race.

“We see that the only thing Kris Kobach accomplished was wasting taxpayer money,” said Ed O’Malley, a former state representative and another candidate in the GOP field. “If voter fraud is a major problem and Kris Kobach spearheaded this effort, he failed to bring the commission together to produce meaningful and measurable outcomes, which means the problem will continue.”

Kobach said the work scuttled by opposition from left-leaning organizations will now be done by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he will continue to play a role.

“Absolutely I’ll be involved,” he said. “Now that we are doing the investigation through the Department of Homeland Security things will happen a lot faster.”

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

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -A Missouri lawmaker who called for the vandal of a Confederate monument to be hanged is going unpunished after fellow Republicans voted against continuing an investigation against him.

House Ethics Committee members on Thursday had voted to recommend Republican Rep. Warren Love be reprimanded for an August Facebook post expressing hope that whoever vandalized the monument in Springfield, Missouri, would be “hung from a tall tree with a long rope.”

But because of a procedural quirk, Love derailed those efforts simply by saying he disagreed. Republicans on the committee then voted down continuing the investigation.

House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty was among those who filed complaints against Love for his post. She’s now calling on Republican Speaker Todd Richardson to take action

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri lawmaker who called for the vandal of a Confederate monument to be hanged is set to go before an ethics panel.

House Ethics Committee members on Thursday will consider how to respond to scathing complaints against Republican Rep. Warren Love.

He came under fire for an August Facebook post expressing hope that whoever vandalized the monument in Springfield, Missouri, would be “hung from a tall tree with a long rope.”

Love has said he was using old cowboy jargon. But Democrats have said his words evoke images of lynchings of black people.

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) – A Missouri man has been sentenced to life in prison in the 1996 rape and strangulation of a 15-year-old Maryland girl.

The Frederick County, Maryland, State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement that 54-year-old Lloyd Harris of Kansas City was sentenced Wednesday in the death of Stacy Lynn Hoffmaster.

Harris was convicted of first-degree murder in November in Hoffmaster’s death.

Hoffmaster’s body was found in December 1996 under a blanket in a wooded area of Frederick where police say Harris had been living. She’d been missing nearly three months.

Harris was arrested in 2016 in Missouri and charged with Hoffmaster’s slaying.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration threw the burgeoning movement to legalize marijuana into uncertainty Thursday as it lifted an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will now leave it up to federal prosecutors to decide what to do when state rules collide with federal drug law.

Sessions’ action, just three days after a legalization law went into effect in California, threatened the future of the young industry, created confusion in states where the drug is legal and outraged both marijuana advocates and some members of Congress, including Sessions’ fellow Republicans. Many conservatives are wary of what they see as federal intrusion in areas they believe must be left to the states.

Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, who represents Colorado, one of eight states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, said the change contradicts a pledge Sessions made to him before being confirmed as attorney general. Gardner promised to push legislation to protect marijuana sales, saying he was prepared “to take all steps necessary” to fight the change, including holding up the confirmation of Justice Department nominees. Another Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, called the announcement “disruptive” and “regrettable.”

Colorado’s U.S. attorney, Bob Troyer, said his office won’t change its approach to prosecution, despite Sessions’ guidance. Prosecutors there have always focused on marijuana crimes that “create the greatest safety threats” and will continue to be guided by that, Troyer said.

The largely hands-off approach to marijuana enforcement set forth by Barack Obama’s Justice Department allowed the pot business to flourish into a sophisticated, multimillion-dollar industry that helps fund some state government programs. What happens now is in doubt.

“In deciding which marijuana activities to prosecute under these laws with the Department’s finite resources, prosecutors should follow the well-established principles that govern all federal prosecutions,” considering the seriousness of a crime and its impact on the community, Sessions told prosecutors in a one-page memo.

While Sessions, a longtime marijuana foe, has been carrying out a Justice Department agenda that follows Trump’s top priorities on such issues as immigration and opioids, this change reflects his own concerns. He railed against marijuana as an Alabama senator and has assailed it as comparable to heroin.

Trump, as a candidate, said pot should be left up to the states, but his personal views on marijuana remain largely unknown.

It is not clear how the change might affect states where marijuana is legal for medical purposes. A congressional amendment blocks the Justice Department from interfering with medical marijuana programs in states where it is allowed. Justice officials said they would follow the law, but would not preclude the possibility of medical-marijuana related prosecutions.

Officials wouldn’t say whether federal prosecutors would target marijuana shops and legal growers, nor would they speculate on whether pot prosecutions would increase.

They denied the timing was connected to the opening of California sales, which are projected to bring in $1 billion annually in tax revenue within several years. And, the officials said, Thursday’s action might not be the only step toward greater marijuana enforcement. The department has the authority to sue states on the grounds that state laws regulating pot are unconstitutional, pre-empted by federal law.

Asked about the change, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said only that Trump’s top priority is enforcing federal law “and that is regardless of what the topic is, whether it’s marijuana or whether it’s immigration.”

The Obama administration in 2013 announced it would not stand in the way of states that legalize marijuana, so long as officials acted to keep it from migrating to places where it remained outlawed and keep it out of the hands of criminal gangs and children. That memo, written by then-Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, had cleared up some of the uncertainty about how the federal government would respond as states began allowing sales for recreational and medical purposes.

But the Sessions Justice Department believed the Cole memo created a “safe harbor” for marijuana by allowing states to flout federal law, Justice Department officials said. Sessions, in his memo, called the Obama guidance “unnecessary.”

He and some law enforcement officials in states such as Colorado blame legalization for a number of problems, including drug traffickers who have taken advantage to illegally grow and ship the drug across state lines, where it can sell for much more.

Marijuana advocates argue those concerns are overblown and contend legalizing the drug reduces crime by eliminating the need for a black market. They quickly condemned Sessions’ move as a return to outdated drug-war policies that unduly affected minorities.

Sessions “wants to maintain a system that has led to tremendous injustice … and that has wasted federal resources on a huge scale,” said Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “If Sessions thinks that makes sense in terms of prosecutorial priorities, he is in a very bizarre ideological state, or a deeply problematic one.”

But the decision was a win for marijuana opponents who had been urging Sessions to take action.

“There is no more safe haven with regard to the federal government and marijuana, but it’s also the beginning of the story and not the end,” said Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, who was among several anti-marijuana advocates who met with Sessions last month. “This is a victory. It’s going to dry up a lot of the institutional investment that has gone toward marijuana in the last five years.”

Yet confusion remains.

Jane Stinson, part-owner of the retail marijuana shop Enlighten Alaska in Anchorage, called Thursday’s action confusing and worried that it could harm her business. The change, she said, “can have so many ripple effects we just don’t know.”

The change reflects yet another way in which Sessions, who served as a federal prosecutor at the height of the drug war in Mobile, Alabama, has reversed more lenient Obama-era criminal justice policies. While his Democratic predecessor Eric Holder told federal prosecutors to avoid seeking long mandatory minimum sentences when charging certain lower-level drug offenders, for example, Sessions issued an order demanding the opposite, telling them to pursue the most serious charges possible against most suspects.

A task force Sessions convened to study pot policy made no recommendations for upending the legal industry but instead encouraged Justice officials to keep reviewing the Obama administration’s more hands-off approach, something Sessions promised to do.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is going after legalized marijuana. Sessions is rescinding a policy that had let legalized marijuana flourish without federal intervention across the country.

That’s according to two people with direct knowledge of the decision. They were not allowed to publicly discuss it before an announcement expected Thursday and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move will leave it to U.S. attorneys where pot is legal to decide whether to aggressively enforce federal marijuana law. The move likely will add to confusion about whether it’s OK to grow, buy or use marijuana in states where it’s legal, since long-standing federal law prohibits it.

The decision comes days after California began selling recreational marijuana.

Sessions compares marijuana to heroin and blames it for spikes in violence.