WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Trump campaign official who has been linked to the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller has withdrawn his nomination for an Agriculture post.

Sam Clovis says in a letter to President Donald Trump dated Thursday that he does “not want to be a distraction or a negative influence.” Clovis cites what he calls “relentless assaults on you and your team” that “seem to be a blood sport.”

This week, it was revealed that Clovis had communications with George Papadopoulos, who’s admitted to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries.

Questions have been raised about Clovis’ qualifications to serve as the Agriculture Department’s chief scientist. He is a self-described skeptic of climate change.

RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue their investigation of racist graffiti in Manhattan.

Just before 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Riley County Police Department received a report of a vehicle  defaced with graffiti in the 2200 block of Claflin Road in Manhattan, just a few blocks south of the Kansas State University campus.

Officers have since filed a report for criminal threat. Officers listed Dauntarius Williams, 21, of Manhattan as the victim. The case is being investigated as a hate crime.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now the lead agency on the case. The Riley County Police Department will continue to assist the FBI in the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact RCPD, the FBI or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers. Using the Crime Stoppers service can allow you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.

By Jim McLean

A security lapse at the El Dorado Correctional Facility led to a June 24 disturbance during which inmates used makeshift weapons to threaten guards, according to new information provided Wednesday to Kansas lawmakers.

The report, compiled by the prison’s Serious Incident Review Board, said the failure of guards to secure “multiple” doors allowed between 50 and 70 inmates to leave their cells and enter the prison yard where inmates from another cellblock had gathered for their scheduled “evening recreation.”

The inmates entering the yard refused orders to return to their cells. Fights broke out among prisoners affiliated with rival gangs, triggering a series of events as guards struggled to maintain control of the facility.

Rep. Russ Jennings, the Lakin Republican who chairs the Legislature’s corrections oversight committee, said the report heightens his concerns about security at El Dorado and other state prisons.

“It’s an absolute failure of security,” Jennings said. “The most fundamental thing that you have in prisons is locked doors. If you prop a locked door open or don’t properly close it, you’re failing at the most fundamental level.”

Jennings said he believes the security lapse was a byproduct of the high staff vacancy rate at the prison that has depleted the ranks of veteran guards.

The turnover rate at El Dorado in the last budget year was 46 percent, said Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood in a briefing to the committee. It averaged 33 percent across the system.

To stabilize staffing, Gov. Sam Brownback in August approved pay raises for corrections officers — 10 percent at El Dorado and 5 percent at the state’s other prisons.

Responding Wednesday to questions from legislators, Norwood acknowledged that the differential pay rate was negatively affecting morale among officers who work at facilities other than El Dorado.

“It has, to be honest with you,” Norwood said. “There is no other way to put that.”

The El Dorado incident and a riot in September at the Norton Correctional Facilityhave focused the attention of lawmakers on prison staffing issues ahead of the 2018 session, Jennings said.

“I don’t think that it’s a system in crisis, but there are significant challenges,” he said. “The Legislature is going to have to step up and support solutions for this.”

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

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Jurors are deliberating in the case of a former middle school football coach accused of kidnapping a 10-year-old girl from a Missouri neighborhood in front of horrified witnesses before raping and killing the child.

The attorney for 49-year-old Craig Wood argued during closing arguments Thursday that the 2014 death of Hailey Owens was unplanned. Prosecutors scoffed at the argument, noting the girl was bound and shot in the back of her head.

During the trial, a witness testified that he was raking leaves when he saw Wood pull Hailey into a pickup truck. The man ran after the truck but was unable to get to the girl. His wife called 911 and reported the truck’s license plate.

Hailey’s body was found in Wood’s basement.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday in the trial of a man accused of abducting, raping and killing a 10-year-old Missouri girl.

The prosecution and defense rested Wednesday in the first-degree murder trial of Craig Wood, who is facing a possible death sentence in the 2014 death of Haley Owens.

The defense rested without calling any witnesses. Wood did not testify on his own behalf.

Testimony for the prosecution on Wednesday included evidence about the girl’s body being found in the basement of Wood’s home in February 2014, and an autopsy that found she had been shot and had injuries consistent with sexual abuse.

Wood’s attorney has conceded that his client kidnapped and killed Haley, but said he acted impulsively when he grabbed the girl in broad daylight.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A judge has upheld a $501 settlement that a transgender woman reached with a southwest Missouri sheriff and three jailers over a strip search.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the settlement was disputed until September when a judge upheld the deal that was reached months earlier. The unidentified inmate had undergone sex reassignment surgery and was assigned to the jail’s female section after an initial strip search, which is standard booking procedure.

The lawsuit alleges the arresting officer questioned the next day why the inmate was being held in the female wing of the jail, and another strip search was conducted, observed by a male and female jailer.

Once identified as transgender, the inmate says she was placed in protective custody. The settlement also included attorney’s fees and costs.

 

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

11:25 a.m.

House Republicans have released their tax cut plan — and it would slash the corporate tax rate, lowers taxes for most people and limit a cherished deduction for homeowners.

President Donald Trump and the GOP are trying to deliver on the first tax revamp in three decades.

The proposal would add $1.5 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next decade.

Middle-income families would pay less thanks to doubling of the standard deduction and an increase in the child tax credit.

The wealthy would benefit from the repeal of the alternative minimum tax and a phase out of the estate tax.

Some two-income, upper middle class families would pay more after being bumped into a higher tax bracket and losing a valuable deduction on state income taxes.

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10:30 a.m.

The House GOP tax plan would require some upper-income taxpayers to pay a higher top rate under a new rate structure.

The result would be to increase the tax burden on those subject to a lower rate under the current system.

Families earning more than $260,000 now have a top rate of 33 percent. They’d get kicked up to the 35 percent bracket. At present, the 35 percent rate starts at $416,700 for married couples.

High-bracket earners, especially in high-tax states, would lose the benefit of deducting state income taxes.

But middle-class earners would benefit. That’s because the bill would nearly double the standard deduction to $24,000 for couples and an increase in the per-child tax credit from $1,000 to $1,600.

And the child credit would be available to households earning up to $230,000, more than double the current income limit. A $300 credit would apply to each parent and nonchild dependent.

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9:45 a.m.

House Republicans are proposing to place new limits on the tax deduction for mortgage interest in their soon-to-be-released overhaul.

A summary of the plan says it would reduce the cap on the popular deduction to interest on mortgages of $500,000 for newly purchased homes. The current mortgage cap is $1 million.

The idea is sure to generate opposition from the real estate lobby, but it’s being used to help pay for tax cuts elsewhere in the plan.

The plan also limits the deductibility of local property taxes to $10,000 while eliminating the deduction for state income taxes.

The child tax credit would rise from $1,000 to $1,600, though the $4,050 per child exemption would be repealed.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are set to unveil their far-reaching tax overhaul Thursday. They are making major changes while looking to preserve current tax rules for retirement accounts popular with middle-class Americans and retain a top income-tax rate for million-dollar earners.

GOP negotiators scrambled this week to finalize details of the first major revamp of the tax system in three decades. Though working furiously, they missed a self-imposed Wednesday deadline as top Republicans batted down rumors that the public rollout could be delayed until next week.

The legislation is a longstanding goal for Capitol Hill Republicans who see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to clean up an inefficient, loophole-cluttered tax code.

GEARY COUNTY —  Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects in connection with sexual assault.

.Just before 3a.m. October 22, deputies responded to K-57 Highway just west of U.S. 77 Highway, according to the Captain of Investigations for the Geary County Sheriff’s Department, Brian Hornaday.

On Wednesday, following an extensive investigation, sheriff’s detectives with assistance from the Fort Riley Criminal Investigations Division located two suspects and the suspect vehicle on Fort Riley.

Further investigation led to the arrest of Wayne Harry Harris, 20, and Corey Lee Horman, 20, both of Fort Riley.

Deputies booked both suspects into the Geary County Detention Center where they were held without bond pending a first court appearance on suspicion of Rape, Kidnapping and Conspiracy to Commit Rape.

WASHINGTON  — After years of public controversy and debate, work is finally beginning on a massive memorial to President Dwight Eisenhower.

Watch a replay of the  groundbreaking ceremony here 

The ceremony marks the start of the project, plagued for years by a bitter fight over the memorial’s design and aesthetics.

Famed architect Frank Gehry was commissioned to design the memorial, but Gehry’s original plan was strongly opposed by three of Eisenhower’s grandchildren. Eventually, after Gehry made changes to his proposal, the Eisenhower family announced their support last year, enabling the project to go forward.

Gehry’s vision would transform a four-acre space on Independence Avenue in front of the Lyndon B. Johnson Department of Education Building.

Organizers still hope to have the Eisenhower memorial ready by June 2019, the month that includes the 75th anniversary of D-Day.