TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State officials in Kansas are insisting that eliminated and delayed payments to a pension fund for teachers and other government workers won’t affect retirees.

Officials with the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System assured retirees’ financial safety to a legislative oversight committee on Monday. The message is part of the retirement system’s annual report to the Legislature about the actuarial value of the pension fund and the estimated difference between its current assets and long-term obligations.

KPERS is a pension system that manages retirement accounts of more than 300,000 members, including state employees. The state eliminated a nearly $100 million payment to the pension fund last year. Lawmakers also delayed a $64 million payment this year.

MT. VERNON, Mo. (AP) – A judge has found sufficient evidence for a southwest Missouri man to stand trial in the death of a man whose beaten body was found in the back of a van in a park.

The Joplin Globe reports that Michael Jones was bound over for trial Monday on charges of first-degree murder and abandonment of corpse. Jones initially was charged with second-degree murder in the September 2016 death of his roommate, 49-year-old Timothy Goodman. But the charge was upgraded after Jones declined to enter a guilty plea.

During the preliminary hearing, a Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant testified that Jones admitted driving Goodman to the park but claimed Goodman asked to be driven there after being beaten on a walk. Investigators believe Goodman was killed in the men’s shared residence.

LACLEDE COUNTY —  A Missouri man died in an accident just after 5p.m. Monday in Laclede County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Suzuki motorcycle driven by Randall D. Robertson, 56, Conway, was traveling on Highway J five miles east of Conway.

The motorcycle hit a deer, overturned, skidded off the side of the road, hit a road sign and traveled down an embankment.

Robertson was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Shadles Funeral Home. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — An investigative news report has found that more than 180 people have filed sexual misconduct complaints against Massage Envy spas, franchises’ employees and the national company.

The report by BuzzFeed News found that those who complained filed sexual assault lawsuits, police reports and other complaints.

The website reports many of those who complained believed their claims were mishandled or ignored by employees, owners of individual Massage Envy spas and by the national company.

Massage Envy issued a statement late Monday afternoon saying that the complaints documented by BuzzFeed News spanned a period of more than 15 years. It called each account heartbreaking.

Massage Envy general counsel Melanie Hansen told BuzzFeed News that the company holds franchise owners accountable and has created rigorous policies for hiring, screening and training therapists.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A federal court has dismissed two lawsuits filed by former rowers who alleged the University of Kansas didn’t respond properly to their reports of being sexually assaulted on campus.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports lawsuits filed in 2016 by Daisy Tackett and Sarah McClure were dismissed last week at the request of the two women and the university.

Tackett reported a Kansas football player raped her in 2014 and McClure alleged she was assaulted by the same man a year later. The women claimed the school violated Title IX because officials should have anticipated a heightened risk of sexual assaults at the apartments where football players live.

In February, U.S. District Judge Thomas Marten dismissed the portion of the lawsuits that claimed university officials were officially liable for the sexual assaults.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a Nebraska law that bars protests around funerals.

Nebraska enacted the law in 2006. It prohibits protests near a cemetery, mortuary or church from one hour before the beginning of a funeral to two hours after.

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church challenged the law but have lost in lower courts. Members of the church routinely conduct anti-gay protests outside military funerals. The protests have been a way of drawing attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would not take up the church’s challenge to Nebraska’s law.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Olathe fire officials say a contractor died when a pipe ruptured at the site of a Garmin expansion plant in Olathe.

Olathe Fire Capt. Mike Hall said the person who died was working on a high-pressure valve Monday afternoon when it ruptured. He said the rupture occurred near a loading dock area of a warehouse.

No other injuries were reported.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Olathe police are investigating the incident.