SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — A 55-year-old man has pleaded guilty to killing a Shawnee woman in her apartment last year.

The Kansas City Star reports Gregory Paul Wright II pleaded guilty Thursday to premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Monica Lee.

The victim was found dead in May 2016 inside her apartment.

Wright stole Lee’s car and fled. He was arrested in Virginia about a month after the murder.

Wright will be sentenced Jan. 10.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Kansas City businessman has been found guilty of criminal charges related to a $220 million predatory payday lending operation.

The Kansas City Star reports that Richard Moseley Sr. was convicted Wednesday in New York of wire fraud, racketeering, aggravated identity theft and other charges stemming from a payday lending business that charged consumers interest rates as high as 700 percent.

Moseley ran a group of payday lending businesses known as the Hydra Lenders from 2004 to 2014. He was accused of establishing nominal businesses in New Zealand and in the Caribbean island of Nevis in order to sidestep state usury laws and regulatory investigations.

Moseley is the third Kansas City man to recently be convicted of running a usurious payday lending business.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – An Osage Beach woman was sentenced to three years in federal prison without parole for using stolen mail and stolen identities to cash fraudulent checks.

Federal prosecutors say 27-year-old Chrystal Lynn Bernstein was sentenced Thursday for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. She was ordered to pay $13,101 in restitution to her victims.

In a plea hearing in May, Bernstein admitted she obtained stolen mail and used stolen identities to cash and deposit checks at several banks in Boone and Camden Counties.

She also admitted she altered the payee on some of the stolen checks to cash them in the names of a mother and daughter in California whose identities she had stolen. And she deposited a stolen check into a fraudulent bank account opened under another person’s name.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri transportation officials say this year’s spike in Amtrak ridership continued to rise from July through October.

The Jefferson City News Tribune reports the state Department of Transportation found a 5 percent growth in the number of Amtrak riders on the twice-daily trains at the Jefferson City station. The department counted nearly 13,950 riders this year, compared to about 13,330 riders last year.

Officials believe the new trend may be a result of increased gas prices and successful summer promotions attracting new riders.

Past years showed a decline in ridership. Officials attributed the drop to low gas prices and delays during the construction of a high-speed rail service to Chicago.

We love taking you to the people and places that matter most. #TeamAmtrak pic.twitter.com/FnGiHQKMjI

— Amtrak (@Amtrak) October 15, 2017

Railroad administrators say the $2 billion high-speed rail project is nearly complete. They expect good news to continue about increased ridership and satisfaction.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on House consideration of the tax overhaul (all times local):

1:50 p.m.

The House has passed a sweeping Republican tax bill cutting taxes for corporations and many people. It puts GOP leaders closer to delivering to President Donald Trump a crucial legislative achievement after nearly a year of failures.

The House including all 4 members from Kansas voted 227-205 to approve the bill, which would bring the biggest revamp of the U.S. tax system in three decades.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act gets two thumbs up! pic.twitter.com/fWazQvXrue

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) November 16, 2017

 

Most of the House bill’s reductions would go to business. Both the Senate and House would slash the 35 percent corporate tax rate to 20 percent and reduce levies on millions of partnerships and certain corporations, including many small businesses.

Personal income tax rates for many would be reduced through some deductions, and credits would be reduced or eliminated. But projected federal deficits would grow by $1.5 trillion over the coming decade.

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12:15 p.m.

Democrats are using new projections by Congress’ nonpartisan tax analysts to call the Senate Republican tax bill a boon to the wealthy that boosts middle-income families’ taxes.

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that starting in 2021, many families earning less than $30,000 would have tax increases under the bill. By 2027, families earning up to $75,000 would face higher levies, while those earning more would get tax cuts.

Republicans say the new calculations reflect two provisions in the bill.

The Senate measure ends personal income tax cuts beginning in 2026 because Republicans needed to reduce the bill’s costs to obey the chamber’s budget rules.

It also abolishes the requirement under former President Barack Obama’s health care law that people buy insurance. That means fewer people getting federally subsidized coverage — which analysts consider a tax boost.

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11:35 a.m.

President Donald Trump has arrived at the Capitol to encourage House Republicans who are about to push a $1.5 trillion tax package through their chamber.

The closed-door meeting comes as GOP leaders hope that by Christmas, they will give Trump and themselves their first legislative triumph this year.

 

 

Listening to @POTUS @realDonaldTrump ahead of today’s tax reform vote. He’s all in! Knocking it out of the park. @WhiteHouse @HouseGOP pic.twitter.com/jcL2QW8VFT

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) November 16, 2017

House approval was expected later Thursday of the plan to slash corporate tax rates and reduce personal income tax rates while eliminating some deductions and credits.

The Senate Finance Committee is aiming to pass its separate version by week’s end. But some GOP senators want changes.

Republicans say the final measure will bestow lower levies on millions of Americans and spur economic growth by reducing business taxes. Democrats say the measure is disproportionately tilted toward corporations and the wealthy.

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By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

The top education official in Kansas on Tuesday proposed allowing more schools to hire educators who don’t qualify for teaching licenses under the state’s current system — and signaled he would support changes to state regulations if needed.

The proposal could meet with resistance from the state’s main teachers union and educators who opposed similar changes to licensure requirements in recent years that they viewed as lowering professional standards. But it could also find support among school administrators seeking more flexibility to recruit for tough-to-fill teaching positions.

Education Commissioner Randy Watson outlined the proposal during a meeting of the Kansas State Board of Education in Topeka.

“I’m not trying to lower the standards,” Watson said. “I think what I’m saying is, there are certain pockets of people that don’t fit to get a license.”

The proposal is in its early stages, with no details yet on what type of applicants would be approved. But Watson said the goal is to offer an option that allows “freedom and adaptability,” letting schools and applicants make a case for would-be teachers who are shut out by Kansas’ existing credentialing system.

The state’s system includes traditional routes to earning a teaching license — involving college studies in education and other requirements — and a number of tailored alternatives, such as exceptions for science professionals with industry experience.

Framework for change

Watson suggested allowing a limited number of aspiring teachers who don’t qualify for licenses to make their cases to a board based at the Kansas State Department of Education, such as the Professional Standards Board.

“If there are regulations or laws that need to be changed, we can do it,” he told board members, when asked whether there are legal barriers to executing his idea.

Watson described his proposal as a framework, and suggested the state board could craft it further in collaboration with the Professional Standards Board — which includes teachers, administrators and representatives from Kansas universities — and a similar committee focused on Kansas’ teacher shortage.

Watson made his proposal during a presentation on the shortage. Kansas schools are facing a dearth of applicants that is predominantly affecting parts of southwest Kansas and the high-poverty, urban Kansas City Kansas and Wichita school districts.

His inspiration for the idea, he said, came from the Coalition of Innovative School Districts, a handful of school districts that already enjoy similar flexibility under a 2013 law. Two members of that group — the Kansas City Kansas and Marysville districts — have hired 37 teachers over the past few years under that law, which freed them to hire non-licensed job candidates with permission from the State Board of Education.

‘Devil’s in the details’

The coalition, which Watson helped spearhead, faced opposition from the Kansas National Education Association and teachers who argue against hiring non-licensed applicants.

Marcus Baltzell, spokesman for the KNEA, said Tuesday he applauds Watson and the state board for exploring options to deal with Kansas’ teacher shortage.

But he and Kansas State University dean of education Debbie Mercer, in separate interviews, both expressed some reservations about this latest proposal using the same phrase: “The devil’s in the details.”

“What happens when you have, say, a student that is mainstreamed with special needs in your classroom?” Baltzell asked. “We have standards for a reason. We have people go through teacher prep courses for a reason.”

Mercer, a member of the Professional Standards Board, said she understands that state education officials want to address the difficult situation principals are in when they don’t have enough applicants to fill their teaching jobs.

“Conceptually, it makes sense,” she said of his proposal. “How do we address the desperation?”

But she said the idea would appear to require subjective decisions about applicant suitability by the Professional Standards Board, and the challenge would be determining the principles for those decisions.

That flexibility, however, is exactly what appealed to at least one member of the state board Tuesday.

“I like the idea,” Hutchinson Republican Ken Willard said, expressing hope that the process would “be more subjective, where they actually hear the case for a person.”

The Kansas Association of School Boards also signaled interest.

“That’s something I believe we would be open to,” KASB lobbyist Mark Tallman said.

Tallman said the topic is not without controversy within his organization, but “historically we have been supportive of more flexibility.”

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.