DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate’s top Republican is telling states to ignore a central part of President Barack Obama’s plans to curb the pollution blamed for global warming.

In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says states should hold off on submitting plans to cut carbon dioxide from power plants, as the rule would require.

McConnell says “refusing to go along” will give the courts time to figure out if it’s legal, and would give Congress more time to fight back.

The rule is expected to be final this summer. McConnell has long vowed to try to block the rules because of their toll on the coal industry.

Meanwhile, the EPA has requested $3.5 million in its budget to hire more lawyers to defend them.

MANHATTAN- Law enforcement authorities in Manhattan arrested two suspects on Tuesday night on various drug charges.

The Riley County Police Department reported officers arrested Jeremy Michael Spaur, 30, in the 700 Block of Riley Lane following a brief chase.

He is being held in the Riley County Jail on charges including sale and distribution of stimulants, possession of paraphernalia to grow less than 5 plants, use and possession of drug paraphernalia, reckless driving, criminal use of weapons, fleeing and attempting to elude, as well as eight counts of theft, seven counts of burglary of a vehicle or dwelling, and three counts of criminal damage to property.

Nicole Ann Holt was arrested at the same time and place for the sale and distribution of stimulants, possession of opiates, trafficking contraband into a correctional facility, unlawful possession of hallucinogens, possession of paraphernalia to grow less than 5 plants, use and possession of paraphernalia, criminal use of weapons, two counts of theft, and three counts of burglary.
She is confined on a $30,000 bond in the Riley County Jail.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director says he’s not planning to back off cuts in funding for public schools and state universities even though tax collections were better than expected last month.

Budget Director Shawn Sullivan said Wednesday that the state’s revenue picture is still too uncertain.

The state collected $22 million more in taxes than expected in February after revenues fell short of expectations in December and January.

Brownback announced in late January that he’d cut aid to public schools in the current budget by $28 million and funding for state universities by $16 million. The reductions are scheduled to take effect Saturday.

The governor acted to avoid a budget deficit on June 30.

The state’s budget problems followed aggressive income tax cuts in 2012 and 2013.

LACYGNE – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 7 a.m. on Wednesday in Linn County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Ford Focus driven by Mitchell J. Herl, 59, Stillwell, was southbound on U.S. 69 exiting to Kansas 152 three miles east of LaCygne.

Due to the slick road conditions, the vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign and slid into a 2008 Chevy Silverado that was eastbound on Kansas152.

Herl was transported to Miami County Hospital.

The driver of the Chevy Fred Edward Meisel, 65, LaCygne, was not injured.

The KHP reported Herl was not wearing a seat belt.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Wyandotte County officials say an off-duty deputy was shot and critically wounded when he walked into a convenience store early Wednesday during an armed robbery.

Sheriff’s Lt. Kelli Bailiff says the deputy had just left work and still had his uniform on when he stopped at a 7-Eleven in Kansas City, Kansas, when the suspects ran into the store, apparently to rob it. They shot the deputy several times.

Bailiff says at least three suspects are being sought. Two men were arrested Wednesday morning but Bailiff says it is not confirmed that they are suspects in the shooting and robberies.

She says investigators are trying to determine if three other robberies at gas stations and convenience stores in the Kansas City region were committed by the same suspects.

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — A former Pittsburg State University professor has admitted defrauding a Nigerian graduate student exchange program he led at the university out of more than $140,000.

The Joplin Globe reports 61-year-old Michael Muoghalu pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Wichita to wire fraud and money laundering.

In exchange for the plea agreement, the prosecutor agreed to recommend a lower sentence. He will also be required to repay the university $148,430.

Prosecutors allege that beginning in 2006 Muoghalu worked with an unknown accomplice in Nigeria to persuade 15 Nigerian students to give him part of the refunds they received after they deposited money with the university for tuition and fees.

Muoghalu, who taught finance at the school for 23 years, resigned last September.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are returning to the Statehouse for the second part of their annual session.

Lawmakers reconvened Wednesday, the 47th day of their 90-day session, after a five-day weekend tied to their “turnaround” deadline. That’s when many bills must clear their chamber of origin to be considered further this year.

Going forward, the biggest task for the Republican-dominated Legislature and GOP Gov. Sam Brownback is erasing a budget shortfall projected at nearly $600 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Final decisions aren’t likely until the end of the session.

Lawmakers also have topics such as rules for social services programs on their agenda.

A House committee hearing was set for Wednesday on a bill requiring able-bodied applicants for state cash assistance to be working or pursuing employment.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A former U.S. poet laureate has shared with an audience at the University of Kansas her experience of having parents of different races and being raised in the South.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Natasha Tretheway spoke Tuesday in Woodruff Auditorium, focusing on race and gender issues.

Tretheway was born to a white father and a black mother. She described memories of her childhood, recalling strangers mistaking her mother for her maid whenever they walked together.

She also read from her past works and spoke about drawing inspiration from paintings.

The poet’s appearance at the university is the latest in the school’s Humanities Lecture Series. She also is set to participate in a less formal discussion Wednesday morning in the Hall Center Conference Hall.