LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A former Kansas attorney accused of covering up his role in a friend’s death has been ordered to pay her family nearly $300,000.

On Wednesday, a Clay County judge approved the resolution of the suit against former Overland Park, Kansas, lawyer Robert Mintz. The Kansas City Star reports that Mintz was accused of leaving Jennifer Arnett alone and heavily intoxicated in her Kansas City apartment in January 2012. The suit says that after she fell and broke her neck, Mintz found her body but didn’t immediately alert authorities. He also was accused of trying to cover up that they had been drinking together.

Although Mintz did not face criminal charges, state supreme courts in Missouri and Kansas suspended Mintz’s law license. Mintz has called his actions “a personal failure.”

TOPEKA- Two Kansas teenagers were injured in an accident just before 2 p.m. in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis driven by Patrick Francis Perez, 17, Topeka, was northbound on Western Street making a right turn onto 17th Street in Topeka.

The driver dropped beverage. The vehicle left the roadway to the right and struck a light pole.

Perez and a passenger Arianna Nicole Stallons, 17, Topeka, were transported to Stormont Vail.

Another teen in the vehicle Xavier A. Vega, 15, was not injured.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court announced today that it will begin deliberating at 8 a.m. Monday, November 17, the original mandamus action filed with the court on the topic of same-sex marriage licenses.

The court will release its decision as soon as it is able to following deliberations.

On October 10, Attorney General Derek Schmidt filed a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus against a Johnson County District Court judge who issued an administrative order directing the court clerk in the 10th judicial district to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Schmidt’s petition asked the court to stop Johnson County District Court from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

The matter was scheduled for hearing on November 6. On November 5, the Supreme Court cancelled the November 6 hearing and issued an Order to Show Cause. The order continued an earlier stay of the Johnson County District Court judge’s administrative order and instructed the parties to show cause by 5 p.m. November 14 why the stay should – or should not – remain in effect pending resolution of a separate case filed in federal district court that challenged Kansas’ laws prohibiting same-sex marriage.

The parties were also ordered to show cause why the Kansas Supreme Court’s consideration of the mandamus action should – or should not – be stayed pending final resolution of the federal case.

All documents related to this case are available on Kansas Judicial Branch website at www.kscourts.org under the listing State v. Moriarty in the What’s New section of the home page.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka’s plan to buy a racing facility won’t go to a public vote.

On Wednesday, a Shawnee County judge invalidated a petition seeking to force a vote on the Heartland Park purchase. The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports that petition backers wanted to overturn the city governing body’s vote to buy the financially troubled racing facility and expand its redevelopment district. They contend it’s not a financially good deal for the city.

But the judge found that an initiative petition seeking to overturn an administrative ordinance is something not allowed within Kansas law.

City officials have said buying Heartland Park would help address the need to cover bond debt on the property.

WICHITA -A Topeka store clerk was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of aiding and abetting an armed robbery and carjacking at the store where he worked, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a news release.

Ahmad Salim Salti, 20, Topeka, Kan., was charged with one count of aiding and abetting armed robbery, one count of aiding and abetting carjacking and one count of aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during the robbery.

The indictment alleged that Salti aided and abetted a Sept. 16, 2014, armed robbery and carjacking at the Low Cost Plus convenience store at 3101 S.E. 6th Avenue in Topeka.

In September, Pattrick J. Towner, 24, Topeka, Kan., was indicted on one count of armed robbery and one count of carjacking. According to court documents, on Sept. 16, 2014, Towner held at gunpoint a technician who was working on the ATM in the Low Cost Plus convenience store. Towner forced the technician to give him the keys to a Ford Freestar van containing cash used for restocking ATMs. Then Towner fled with the van.

If convicted, Salti faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the robbery charge, a maximum penalty of 15 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the carjacking charge, and a penalty of not less than seven years and a fine up to $250,000 on the charge of brandishing a firearm. The Topeka Police Department and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag is prosecuting.

CHANUTE-The Kansas Highway Patrol is asking for assistance with solving a weekend hit and run accident.

In a media release, the KHP and Neosho County Sheriff’s office reported a 3-vehicle hit and run injury accident that occurred just after 9:10 p.m. on Saturday, November 8.

The suspect’s pickup was westbound on 150th. It failed to yield at a stop sign and was struck in the passenger side rear tire area by a vehicle that was southbound on U.S. 59.

The pickup spun and hit a 2005 Chevy Silverado. The driver of the pickup then drove away from the scene. The pickup is described as a dark, older, ¾ or 1-ton extended cab pickup with single rear wheels. The vehicle should have extensive damage.

The driver is described as a male in his 50s, with salt and pepper hair, tall with a slender to medium build and believed to have a mustache.

Anyone with information is asked to contact KHP Master Trooper John Burns (620) 431-2100 or the Neosho County Sheriff’s detective Roberta Knight (620) 244-3888

NEW YORK (AP) — One more time, Facebook is trying to simplify its lengthy privacy policy and explain how it targets advertisements to its 1.35 billion users.

The world’s largest online social network uses the information people share on its site, along with the apps they use and the outside websites they visit, to show them advertisements deemed relevant to them.

But over the years it has faced concerns from users and from government regulators and privacy advocates that its policies are too complicated.

On Thursday, Facebook introduced a tool called “Privacy Basics,” a set of animated, interactive guides designed to show users how to control what they share on the site. It also proposed changes to its terms and privacy policy, which it calls its data policy. The new policy is much shorter.

MANHATTAN — Gov. Sam Brownback this week told more than 650 attendees with diverse water interests that now is the time to act to meet current and future water supply needs for Kansas.

The governor shared his long-term vision for water resources at the Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water held Wednesday in Manhattan. Conference attendees heard the guiding principles for implementing the water vision and establish the regional goals. Regional planning areas will be established to address the priorities shared by Kansans.

“I appreciate the thoughtful and extensive input received throughout this past year from Kansans,” Brownback said. “That input now serves as the content of the vision. We need Kansans to act now on a shared commitment to preserve the water resources necessary to support our social, economic and natural resource needs for not only our current generation but most importantly our children and grandchildren.”

Brownback identified the first two priority action items designed to improve coordination on water related issues with the state’s primary water related agencies by:

• Creating the Governor’s Water Resources Sub-Cabinet at the executive level with additional regular agency collaboration to implement joint activities.

• Establishing a Blue-Ribbon Task Force to develop a balanced, affordable and sustainable method to provide financing for water resource management and protection; including alternatives that utilize public and private partnerships.

“The attendance at this year’s conference is indicative of the interest and concern Kansans have regarding our water resources,” said Tracy Streeter, Kansas Water Office director. “I’m enthused with the feedback we’ve received and look forward to implementing many of the action items contained in the proposed Long Term Vision.”

“Leadership at the local level is the most critical for the success of this Vision,” Secretary of Agriculture Jackie McClaskey said. “Local decision makers must listen to their constituents while at the same time balancing the future needs of their communities.”

Featured speakers on the first day of the conference included Paul Wenger, President of the California Farm Bureau Federation; Rhett Evans, CEO of Golf Course Superintendents Association of America; Brigadier General Duke DeLuca; and Darron Leiker, city manager of Wichita Falls, Texas.

Thursday’s agenda focuses on building water policy and vision discussions from the previous day with technical presentation posters and talks. Graduate and undergraduate students will present their research. Jerry DeNoyelles, Deputy Director of the Kansas Biology Survey, will present Reservoir Sedimentation: Challenges in Kansas.

For a complete list of the conference’s speakers and topics and to view the second draft of the Vision, visit www.kwo.org.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A health care attendant has been charged in a September homicide of a man he cared for in Lawrence.

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged 48-year-old Ronald Eugene Heskett, of Eudora, with first-degree murder in the death of 65-year-old Vance Moulton. He was found dead at his apartment on Sept. 12.

Prosecutors say Heskett was a health care attendant for Moulton, who had cerebral palsy. The Lawrence Journal-World reports investigators initially were unsure whether Moulton’s death was a homicide or suicide.

Heskett’s bail was set at $500,000 and his next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate the suspicious death of a woman whose body was found in her home Sunday. Police say evidence indicates a violent incident occurred. The victim’s identity has not been released.