TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic challenger Paul Davis has pulled his first television ad of the Kansas governor’s race after the state Republican Party questioned the background of an actor in the spot.

The ad featured Davis responding to criticism from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s campaign and other groups. Topeka actor Jeff Montague (mon-TAYG) was in it.

City of Topeka spokeswoman Suzie Gilbert confirmed that Montague was arrested in October 2007 for soliciting sodomy and entered into a diversion agreement but could provide no further details. Such agreements allow people to avoid prosecution.

Kansas GOP Executive Director Clay Barker questioned Davis’ judgment for using Montague.

Davis said he pulled the ad immediately and apologized for what he called a mistake.

Montague did not immediately return a telephone message Wednesday evening seeking comment.

SPRINGFIELD, (AP) – The sentencing for a former Springfield police officer who shot an unarmed panhandler will be delayed until a new judge can be appointed.

Jason Shuck was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday but asked for a new judge. The Springfield News-Leader reports Judge Ronald Carrier approved the request. A new sentencing date has not been set.

Shuck pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault. He told investigators that he meant to use his Taser on Eric David Butts but accidentally grabbed his pistol and shot the man in the back on May 9. Butts suffered severe internal injuries.

At a hearing last week, attorneys proposed a deal that would allow Shuck to avoid jail and have no criminal record if he completes two years of unsupervised probation.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University officials say personal information from applicants for its graduate program in agronomy might have been exposed on the Internet.

The university said Wednesday that it notified 19 people who applied for the program between 2010 and 2013 about the possible problem, which did not involve outside hackers. Information from 56 other applicants was exposed but the school said that information wasn’t likely to result in credit fraud.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports spokesman Jeff Morris says the error happened when student information was being moved into a central management system. Morris says a small number of the tens of thousands of pages that were moved were not property protected.

The school says the files were removed when the problem was discovered Aug. 22.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), who serves as a member of the defense authorizing and appropriations committees, released the following statement today in response to President Barack Obama’s assertion that “if we are joined by the international community, we can continue to shrink ISIL’s sphere of influence, its effectiveness, its military capability to the point where it is a manageable problem.”

“As we were reminded this week, ISIS is clearly prepared to perpetrate contemptible boundaries that are unacceptable to Americans – and hopefully all civilized worlds. Terrorists who behead Americans are not ‘manageable.’ They must be stopped, and we need President Obama to communicate a clear strategy and goals on how he plans to eliminate this threat.”

JOSEPH PISANI, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of workers from McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and other fast-food chains are expected to walk off their jobs Thursday, according to labor organizers of the latest national protest to push the companies to pay their employees at least $15 an hour.

DEXTER, Mo. (AP) — A warrant has been issued for a pastor who is accused of stealing more than $112,000 from his former church in southeast Missouri.

The Dexter Daily Statesman  reports that 35-year-old Marcus Credale Geuin is charged with felony stealing and forgery. He does not have an attorney.

Church members told police last year that when Geuin left the church, the bank accounts were empty and bills were unpaid. Geuin resigned as pastor in May 2013.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Fewer than one-quarter of Missouri’s 520 public school districts are using a new staff evaluation model developed by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The department says half of the districts are using their own evaluation systems that align with the seven key evaluation principles developed by the agency. It says 28 percent are using an evaluation model developed by the University of Missouri and 22 percent are using the state’s model.

One of the state’s new guidelines calls for student performance measures to be used when evaluating staff.

A proposal on Missouri’s November ballot would require student performance data to be the majority factor in staff evaluations that are used in determining which teachers to retain and how much to pay them.

LONGTON, Kan.- A Kansas man died in an accident just before 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Elk County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 GMC Sierra driven by James Robert Williams, 56, Moline, was westbound on U.S. 160 four miles east of Longton.

For unknown reason, the truck drifted to the right, and the passenger side tires dropped off the roadway.

The driver over corrected, entered the south ditch and rolled, ejecting the driver.

Williams was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s open to proposals for phasing out a renewable energy requirement for Kansas utilities because policies aimed at nurturing the wind industry shouldn’t remain in place forever.

The Republican governor said Wednesday that he’s not developing a proposal of his own and wants wind energy companies, critics of the requirement and other interested parties to negotiate a new policy.

But Brownback said he has supported the policy because it helped develop the wind industry in Kansas but said the industry is now strong.

A 2009 state law requires utilities to have wind and other renewable sources account for 15 percent of their peak capacity for generating electricity by 2016 and 20 percent by 2020.

Brownback said such policies shouldn’t remain forever.