TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A state district court panel has ruled that Kansas isn’t spending enough money on its public schools to provide a suitable education for every child.
The three judges on Tuesday did not set a specific figure but said evidence indicates the state needs to spend at least $548 million more a year.

An attempt by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and the GOP-dominated Legislature to comply would complicate efforts to close state budget shortfalls. It also would jeopardize aggressive personal income tax cuts enacted at Brownback’s urging to boost the economy.

The state is expected to appeal the Shawnee County District Court panel’s decision to the Kansas Supreme Court.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the parents of more than 30 students and four school districts.

CLAYCOMO (AP) – Ford Motor Co. officials say a person has died in an accident at a company plant in suburban Kansas City.

The company released a statement Tuesday confirming the death at the Claycomo Assembly Plant but few other details were released.

Emergency responders were called to the plant north of Kansas City about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The company said in its statement that the worker died in an “occupational incident.” Ford promised a full investigation.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City man was sentenced to five years in federal prison without parole for leading a burglary ring that sold stolen items on eBay.

Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Nathaniel Dixon of Lee’s Summit was also ordered Tuesday to pay $104,657 in restitution and forfeit $125,921 to the government.

Prosecutors say the group stole items from vehicles of at least 144 victims in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Items from inside the vehicles, as well as tires and wheels. The items were sold on Dixon’s eBay account.

The theft ring caused a loss of about $476,000 to the victims.

In a separate case, 36-year-old Nickalass King was sentenced to three years and three months without parole for his role in the conspiracy and for violating his supervised release.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is studying proposed guidelines for judges grappling with people who file repetitive, malicious or frivolous pleadings.

The proposed guidelines by the judicial branch’s Access to Justice Committee are meant to act as a resource for judges when considering filing restrictions in court cases. The 18-member panel made up of lawyers and judges has written a report that outlines court precedent and advice for judges when confronted with difficult litigants.

The guidelines say a judge should provide litigants a chance to present their objections to proposed restrictions. After considering the litigant’s response, the judge should weigh whether he or she should impose filing restrictions.

A committee member tells the Topeka Capital-Journal that the guidelines seek to balance management of court dockets while respecting a person’s constitutional rights.

KANSAS CITY- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Toyota Corolla driven by Kendra C. Lear, 30, Lenexa, was southbound on Interstate 435 just south of Shawnee Mission Parkway. The driver was attempting to move from lane 4 to 3 and was cut off by an unknown vehicle.
The Toyota swerved to avoid a collision.

The driver lost control and struck a 2007 Cadillac STS driven by Marion D. Mays, 64, Topeka.

Mays was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Lear and a child in the Toyota were not injured.
The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is planning to install air monitors near two power plants that officials say are the largest sources of sulfur dioxide emissions in the state.

DNR is working on an agreement with Ameren Missouri to add sulfur dioxide monitors near two of the utility’s plants. They are the Labadie plant in Franklin County and the Rush Island plant in Jefferson County.

But an environmental group that’s long advocated for more monitoring data is concerned the plan could delay action to limit the pollutant, which can cause respiratory ailments like asthma.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the Sierra Club worries that state officials may use the monitors to start a long, time-consuming process to collect and analyze data.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Tyson Foods has added a $3 million line at its plant in Emporia, creating about 16 new jobs.

The company says the additional line was needed to make a product for a national foodservice customer.

The Emporia Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/13GQN58 ) Tyson built a new room to house the line, modified existing refrigeration and installed new equipment.

The state provided tax credits for capital investments and training credits to Tyson to support the expansion.

About 950 people currently work at the plant.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (AP) — A Missouri lawmaker is proposing tax credits for pet owners who adopt.

State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal of University City recently filed a bill for a $300 tax credit for pet adoptions.

Cats and dogs would need to be adopted from a licensed animal shelter, contract kennel or pound for the owner to receive the credit.

Owners who return their pet to the shelter within a year wouldn’t be eligible for the tax credit, and the credit could only be claimed the year of the adoption.

The tax credit also would only be issued if lawmakers appropriate enough money to fund it.

Last summer, the democratic state senator who represents part of Ferguson called Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon a “coward” for his response to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown and the protests that followed.

JOHN HANNA, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An attorney is strongly disputing new legal claims from a firm managing part of the Medicaid program in Kansas and its parent company that a former executive tried to extort money from them after being fired.

Attorney Lewis Galloway on Monday called the allegations against former executive Jacqueline Leary “paper thin.” Galloway represents her.

Sunflower State Health Plan Inc. and its parent, Centene Corp., made the claims in responding to a federal lawsuit filed in late October by Leary.

She alleges that she was wrongfully fired in January as a vice president for Sunflower after protesting potentially improper cost-cutting measures for Medicaid in Kansas.

The companies said in court documents that she sought $3 million from them in February. Galloway said the demand was an attempt at a legal settlement.