LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A couple plans to donate a 120-acre ranch and $2 million to the University of Kansas and the KU Endowment.

The university said in a news release Monday that the couple wants to remain anonymous.

The property in northeast Kansas includes native wildflowers and grasses, walnut trees and cottonwoods, and pioneer trails. The $2 million is intended to maintain and improve the land.

Ed Martinko, director the Kansas Biological Survey, said the gift will be used to preserve native plants and for research and education.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Baptist preacher who has been ticketed repeatedly for disturbing the peace in downtown Springfield has reached an agreement with city leaders that could lead to the charges being dropped.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Aaron Brummitt of Lighthouse Anabaptist Church agreed to a deferred prosecution deal on Monday. The majority of his eight charges will be deferred if he limits his street sermons.

The attorney says the agreement defers prosecution for one year, after which the tickets will be dismissed. Brummitt has agreed to time and place restrictions for his speeches.

GAINESVILLE (AP) – A southwest Missouri man is facing several charges after a traffic accident killed one girl and injured another.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 12-year-old Alejandria Chambers died Monday afternoon in the accident in Gainesville. Another 12-year-old girl was hospitalized with serious injuries.

The patrol says the car the girls were in ran off a road, flipped several times and hit some trees.

The 22-year-old driver is facing charges of felony involuntary manslaughter, felony assault and driving while intoxicated. He was hospitalized with moderate injuries.

By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service

WICHITA — Later this month, breastfeeding advocates from across Kansas will gather here for a daylong summit on how best to encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies for at least six months.

“According to the CDC, only 15 percent of Kansas infants are breastfeeding exclusively at 6 months,” said Katie Ross, program officer with the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund (UMHMF). “That’s pretty low compared to a lot of other states.”

The Kansas Health Summit on Breastfeeding, a project of the UMHMF and the Kansas Health Foundation, is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the foundation’s conference center, 325 E. Douglas.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Robert Moser will open the forum with a statistical presentation, “Breastfeeding in Kansas – Barriers and Opportunities for Change,” that’s expected to highlight the public health benefits of breastfeeding.

He’ll be followed by Dr. Todd Wolynn, a pediatrician and chief executive of the National Breastfeeding Center in Pittsburgh, who will discuss local and state strategies to improve breastfeeding rates. Dozens of studies have shown that breastfed babies grow up healthier than those reared on formula or cow’s milk.

“Nationally, breastfeeding is becoming more and more of a public health issue rather than just a breastfeeding issue,” Ross said. “But there are barriers to breastfeeding, so what we’re wanting to do is identify those barriers and come up with strategies for eliminating them.”

Attendees will spend much of afternoon in small-group sessions focused on hospital policies and practices, quality initiatives, support programs, workplace supports and ways to use social media to promote breastfeeding.

Afterward, participants will put together three “key strategies” to increase the state’s breastfeeding rates over the next one to three years.

Wesley Medical Center will host a reception and panel discussion, “Moving Toward Baby-Friendly Maternity Care,” a reference to the Wichita hospital’s ongoing efforts to earn official designation from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund. The discussion will begin around 5:15 p.m.

Ross said she expects about 200 people – a mix of doctors, nurses, program directors and health advocates – to attend the free sessions.

Registration information is available on the UMHMF website.

“There’s still time to register,” Ross said. “But we’re filling up fast.”

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Historic preservationists are hoping that a wine-tasting event in the Missouri House chamber can help determine what it would take to refurbish artwork in the Capitol.

Organizers were hoping to make $35,000 to $40,000 from the Monday evening fundraiser hosted by the Missouri State Capitol Commission. Tickets cost $500 a piece.

The desks where lawmakers normally cast votes were transformed into wine-tasting stations for the fundraiser. The House speaker’s office also was being used.

Dana Rademan Miller is chairwoman of the Capitol Commission and also the assistant chief clerk for the House. She said the fundraiser will help pay for an art expert to inspect the murals and paintings in the Capitol and come up with an estimate of how much it would cost to restore them.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas growers have begun seeding their fields for next year’s winter wheat crop.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that winter wheat planting is at 2 percent. That is about the same as last year at this time and the average for early September.

Topsoil moisture statewide is running about 66 percent adequate to surplus as wheat planting gets underway.

Kansas farmers also continued harvesting corn between thunderstorms that brought rain to much of the state last week. The agency reports 12 percent of the Kansas crop has been cut, about 3 points ahead of last year’s pace.

About 9 percent of the sorghum crop has now matured, and 11 percent of soybeans have begun dropping leaves.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governors from five Midwest states joined Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday in meetings with Japanese governors, officials, and company executives for the annual gathering of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association.

The group, founded in 1967, meets yearly to discuss the growth and progress of economic relations of the American Midwest and Japan.

Governors from Nebraska, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin planned to give speeches. The Japanese ambassador and the consulate general from Chicago attended the meeting.

The speakers also included Kikkoman Corp. Honorary CEO Yuzaburo Mogi, who is credited with introducing soy sauce to the United States in 1959. He is the Japanese conference chairman.

“The theme this year is building a robust and sustainable future,” he said. “We hope this meeting will help identify and develop business opportunities for all of us.”

Mogi joined executives from Nippon Airways, Toshiba and Toyota at the conference to discuss continued trade, government and business relationships between the two countries.

It is the 46th year the organization has met. Former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson, the U.S. conference chairman, said this year’s goal is to find new synergies between the states highlighting growth in environmental industries and in the health and wellness sectors as the population of Japan and the U.S. states age.

JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is speaking out against domestic violence in the wake of Ray Rice’s termination by the Baltimore Ravens.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says he spoke Monday evening with Obama about Rice. The running back was let go by his team and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video emerged showing him knocking his then-fiancee unconscious.

Earnest says that Obama, as an American and the father of two daughters, believes domestic violence is “contemptible and unacceptable.” He says real men don’t hit women, regardless of whether it’s in public or private.

Earnest says stopping domestic violence is bigger than football and all Americans have a responsibility to stop it.

The White House this week is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Investigators believe careless disposal of smoking materials caused a condo fire that killed one man in northeast Kansas.

The Overland Park Fire Department identified the victim as 74-year-old James Arthur Stoker.

A neighbor in the eight-unit building called 911 around 4 a.m. Monday after waking up to the smell of smoke. Firefighters found Stoker dead in his condo.

No other injuries were reported.

Friends told KMBC-TV that Stoker had heart problems and used oxygen while continuing to smoke. Overland Park officials said the death fit one of the city’s most common profiles for fire fatalities — an older adult smoker who lives independently and uses an oxygen tank.

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Investigators are trying to determine the cause of a fire that killed a man at an Overland Park apartment building.

The fire department said in a news release that the fire early Monday at the Deveraux Apartments led to the death of an adult male who lived in the apartment where the fire started. He was found dead when firefighters searched the apartment.

No other injuries were reported in the eight-unit apartment complex. The fire department said the blaze was contained to one apartment, although adjacent units suffered some smoke and water damage.

The victim’s name has not been released.