JOPLIN (AP) – A federal judge has ruled a convicted sex offender from Joplin must serve 15 years in prison in a child pornography case.

The Joplin Globe reports 44-year-old Donnie Ray Sumner pleaded guilty last year to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet. Sumner had a prior conviction for possession of child pornography.

Authorities arrested Sumner in January 2013, after executing a search warrant at his residence and finding child pornography images on his desktop and laptop computers.

HAVANA (AP) — The minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and a delegation of fellow Democrats have met with Cuban Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the man currently expected to take power after President Raul Castro leaves office in 2018.

Cuban state media say Rep. Nancy Pelosi and eight colleagues, including Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, on Thursday discussed Cuban economic reforms, U.S-Cuba relations and congressional efforts to lift the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. A spokesman for Pelosi says her office has no immediate comment on the meeting.

U.S. officials say Pelosi’s delegation is the first to meet with Diaz-Canel. Some previous delegations have met with Castro.

The meeting ended a two-day trip to Cuba by the delegation that included meetings with Cuban diplomatic, agriculture and trade officials, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Cuba and private businesspeople.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has given first-round approval to a bill to ban a procedure used in 8 percent of the abortion in the state.

The measure that advanced on a voice vote Thursday after a bitter and personal debate would outlaw the dilation and evacuation procedure and redefine it in state law as “dismemberment abortion.”

Senators plan to take a final vote Friday to determine whether the bill goes to the House.

Kansas City Democrat and abortion rights supporter David Haley criticized the measure’s supporters. He suggested that abortion opponents were ignoring good science and the state would face an expensive court battle if the measure becomes law.

Several senators who oppose abortion said Haley’s remarks were insulting and castigated him. They said the bill bans a gruesome procedure.

——————

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill to ban a procedure used in 8 percent of the abortions in Kansas is up for debate in the state Senate.

The measure on the Senate’s calendar Thursday afternoon would outlaw the dilation and evacuation procedure and redefine it in state law as “dismemberment abortion.”

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce says he expects senators to take a final vote on the bill Friday morning. Passage would send the measure to the House.

Kansas already bans most abortions at the 22nd week of pregnancy, but the bill could prohibit some earlier abortions. Some abortion rights advocates say it could bar some first-trimester procedures.

The bill would prohibit using clamps, forceps or other similar instruments on a fetus so it can be removed from the womb in pieces.

JIM SALTER, Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ferguson leaders say they haven’t heard from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding two federal investigations, one into the shooting death of Michael Brown in August and the other into the city police department’s practices.

Earlier this week, Attorney General Eric Holder said he expects the Justice Department to announce the results of those investigations before he leaves office. His successor will likely be confirmed within weeks.

Ferguson City Attorney Stephanie Karr and Mayor James Knowles III said Thursday they haven’t been contacted by the Department of Justice about any findings, nor given a timeline for completion of the investigations.

The shooting raised concerns about the racial makeup of the mostly white police department and its relationship with the suburban St. Louis community, which is about two-thirds black.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors in central Missouri’s Boone County have reduced the charges against an 88-year-old man accused of stabbing his wife to death.

KMIZ-TV reports that Donald Rowland of Columbia had been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death last Oct. 31 of 86-year-old Betty Rowland. But prosecutors on Thursday amended that charge to involuntary manslaughter.

Authorities have said an adult daughter called police after going to the couple’s home and finding her parents together in bed, both with stab wounds. Betty Rowland died at the scene.

Police say Rowland told officers he killed his wife and tried to take his own life because he didn’t want them to be a burden on their family.

A message left Thursday with Rowland’s attorney, James Hobbs, was not immediately returned.

TOM RAUM, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiators for the U.S. Postal Service and a major postal union are opening talks on a new contract.

The Postal Service’s current contract with the American Postal Workers Union expires on May 20.

Among the issues on the table is whether Saturday deliveries should be pared down in some areas. Congress has refused to allow the Postal Service to eliminate Saturday deliveries.

The union has proposed that the Postal Service be allowed to offer some banking services. Under the proposal, customers would be able to set up accounts where they could get checks cashed and pay bills.

The agency faces deep financial problems because it is required to pre-fund retiree health care benefits.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he shot a police officer in the head last month in Springfield.

KOLR-TV reports 32-year-old Joshua Hagood entered the plea Thursday in Greene County to charges of first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a weapon in Aaron Pearson’s shooting.

Hagood on Tuesday waived his right to a preliminary hearing, and his next court appearance has been scheduled for May 6.

Police have said Pearson was investigating suspicious activity when he was shot and wounded.

KOLR reports that Pearson, originally from the Kansas City, Missouri, suburb of Blue Springs, is recovering at a rehabilitation site in Atlanta.

The city of Springfield is paying Pearson’s salary and medical bills.

Hagood is jailed without bond.

By JIM MCLEAN

Obamacare enrollment grew by nearly 70 percent in both Kansas and Missouri during the most recent sign-up period, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The number of Kansans enrolled in plans offered through the Affordable Care Act marketplace increased to 96,226 from 57,013. Missouri enrollment jumped to 253,969 from 152,335.

The new totals include those who purchased coverage for the first time as well as those who switched plans or re-enrolled in the coverage they chose during the first sign-up period.

The initial enrollment period ran from Oct. 1, 2014, through March 31, 2015. The second enrollment period started on Nov. 15 and ended Sunday, Feb. 15.

Nationally, enrollment grew from 8.6 million to 11.4 million.

Kevin Counihan, the HHS official who oversees healthcare.gov , the federal website used by consumers in Kansas, Missouri and 35 other states, said enrollment exceeded expectations by about 10 percent.

“We think people vote with their feet,” Counihan said in a telephone call with reporters. “When you see this kind of momentum, it tends to validate a sense that we’re providing some products and services that people value.”

Sheldon Weisgrau, director of the Topeka-based Health Reform Resource Project, said the Kansas enrollment number was impressive given “the continuing opposition (to the ACA) from many of our state and national political leaders.”

“The robust enrollment is a testament to the need in the state — and across the nation — for affordable health insurance,” Weisgrau said.

The resource project is supported by several Kansas foundations, including the Kansas Health Foundation.

Ryan Barker, vice president for health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, said the hope among ACA advocates going into the recent sign-up period was to push that state’s enrollment past the 200,000 threshold. They surpassed that goal by more than 50,000.

“So, we’re ecstatic today,” Barker said.

Because Missouri law prohibits public agencies from being involved with outreach and enrollment efforts, the foundation created the Cover Missouri Coalition, a group of more than 700 private, mostly nonprofit organizations, to coordinate ACA outreach in the state.

The number of Kansans with ACA coverage equals about 40 percent of the 244,000 potential enrollees in the state, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The picture is similar in Missouri, where Kaiser estimates there are 632,000 potential enrollees.

Barker said he expected another big enrollment jump in 2016 but that it would get increasingly difficult to reach all those included in the Kaiser estimates.

“There are still a lot of consumers who have no idea of what the marketplace is,” Barker said.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Louie the Clown, who went missing from a closed Wichita amusement park more than a decade ago, has been found at the home of a sex offender who used to work at the park.

The return of the mascot of the Joyland amusement park was such big news that it was re-introduced during a media briefing Thursday.

Wichita police say officers found the clown Tuesday at a home of 39-year-old Damian Mayes, who is serving a prison sentence for a 2010 conviction for aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy. Mayes used to build and repair organs at the park.

Louie disappeared from the Joyland property in 2005 or 2006 but wasn’t reported stolen until 2010.

Police say that the nearly 50-year-old clown is worth $10,000.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Federal officials say four American Indian tribes in northeast Kansas will split $1.7 million in funds for affordable housing.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday the money for Kansas tribes is part of a $651 million allocation of Indian Housing Block Grants to 636 Native American tribes in the U.S.

The Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas will receive $846,597, The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska will get $426,141, Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation gets $249,430 and the Sac and Fox Nation will receive $212,772.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the department says the funds can be used for housing development, assistance to existing housing, housing management and crime prevention and safety.