TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach are heading to court again in their battle over Kobach’s attempts to enforce a proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters.

The ACLU hoped a Shawnee County judge would use Friday’s hearing to review its request for a temporary injunction to keep Kobach from imposing a new policy for the state’s Aug. 5 primary elections.

Kobach has said that Kansas residents who register with a national form will be allowed to complete full ballots, but only their votes in congressional races will be counted.

The national registration form does not require voters to submit documentation of their U.S. citizenship. The state’s registration form does.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas teenager accused of killing his father is scheduled to go to trial in November on a first-degree murder charge.

The Kansas City Star reports the 15-year-old Shawnee boy is being tried in juvenile court for the shooting death of his father last July.

A Johnson County District Court judge on Thursday denied a prosecution request to try the teen as an adult and scheduled the trial for Nov. 3 in the juvenile division.

The boy was 14 when he was accused of emptying a magazine of 16 bullets at his father. He testified at a hearing last month that his father physically and sexually abused him.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes unless they are tried in adult court.

 

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Students living in campus housing at Missouri’s public universities will be required to get vaccinated against bacterial meningitis beginning next year.

Legislation signed by Gov. Jay Nixon requires students to be vaccinated unless they have a signed statement for a medical or religious exemption.

Meningococcal disease can cause an inflammation of the the brain lining known as meningitis. It can spread among people in crowded places such as dormitories and can strike quickly with sometimes deadly results. Some symptoms can appear similar to the flu, including fever, headaches, and neck stiffness.

The vaccine requirement takes effect July 1, 2015, and was included in several bills signed Thursday by Nixon.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, the most Senior Marine in the Congress, today sent a letter to President Obama urging him to do everything in his power to facilitate the release of Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi who has been imprisoned in a Mexican jail since he mistakenly crossed the border into Mexico on March 31st. (For Audio Click Here)

“As a Marine, I took an oath to never leave a man behind, and I continue to honor that duty today,” Senator Roberts said. “Marine Sergeant Tahmooressi has been imprisoned for over one hundred days. Enough is enough. Sergeant Tahmooressi has served his nation honorably as a United States Marine, and it is time for his nation to honor his service. It’s time to bring him home.”

The following is the text of the letter, sent Thursday, July 10, 2014:

Dear Mr. President:

As the senior Marine in Congress, I write to you today regarding the unjust and erroneous incarceration of Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi in Mexico. Sergeant Tahmooressi must be returned home safely. I took an oath when I joined the Corps to never leave a man behind and I continue to honor that duty today.

As you know, Sergeant Tahmooressi was arrested when he mistakenly crossed the border into Mexico on March 31, 2014. Since that time, Sergeant Tahmooressi has been a model prisoner and has complied with Mexican authorities as he patiently awaited his first hearing before a Mexican court. Unfortunately, yesterday’s closed hearing failed to provide those of us with a deep interest in this case the opportunity to hear what Mexican authorities provided as evidence. I am dismayed that Judge Victor Octavio Luna Escobedo felt the evidence was enough to keep Sergeant Tahmooressi behind bars.

Today marks Sergeant Tahmooressi’s 102nd day in a jail. Enough is enough. Sergeant Tahmooressi has served his nation honorably as a United States Marine, and it is time for his nation to honor his service to us. As your administration stated in defense of the handling of Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl’s release, it is the military ethos to never leave a man behind. I urge you to do everything in your power to force Mexican authorities to discharge these minor, erroneous charges and return Sergeant Tahmooressi to the United States immediately.

While I very much appreciate the efforts of the United States Consulate in Tijuana, which has provided Sergeant Tahmooressi with legal counsel and assisted his family in gaining access to Andrew, clearly much more must be done. I remain confident of Sergeant Tahmooressi’s innocence.

Thank you for your attention to this vital matter. I look forward to your reply and more importantly, to your quick action on Sergeant Tahmooressi’s behalf.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — State health officials say two cases of measles in the Wichita area are linked to a recent outbreak in the bistate Kansas City metropolitan area.

The Sedgwick County cases reported Thursday involve an unvaccinated adult and an infant who is too young to be vaccinated. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says the state has now had five cases of measles this year.

Officials did not disclose the relationship between the Wichita-area cases and those in Johnson County, Kansas, and nearby Clay County, Missouri.

Four Clay County residents were diagnosed with measles in mid-May, including an unvaccinated infant who had traveled abroad with family members.

In early June, an adult and an unvaccinated child in Johnson County contracted measles after having contact with some of the Missouri patients.

 

TOPEKA — Fourteen Kansas attorneys and judges applied by a noon deadline Thursday to fill a vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court created by the July 28 departure of Justice Nancy Moritz to serve on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Click the image at right to see the applicants.

Applicants will be interviewed by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission Aug. 4 and 5 in the Fatzer Courtroom in the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka. The interview schedule will be posted on the Kansas judicial branch website at www.kscourts.org later in July.

Interviews will be open to the public and interested parties are encouraged to attend.

After interviewing applicants, the Supreme Court Nominating Commission will submit names of three qualified individuals to the governor. The governor will then choose from that list who to appoint to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.

The Supreme Court Nominating Commission is an independent body created by the Kansas Constitution. Its members are: Anne E. Burke, Chair, Overland Park; David J. Rebein, Dodge City; Linda B. Weis, Manhattan; Natalie G. Haag, Topeka; Felita R. Kahrs, Topeka; Matthew D. Keenan, Leawood; Robert Hayworth, Shawnee Mission; Jay F. Fowler, Wichita; and Gary T. Mason, Maize.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas environmental leader is calling Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan for a program to breed lesser prairie chickens in captivity “far-fetched.”

Audubon of Kansas executive director Ron Klataske said Thursday he doubts the federal government would approve the plan.

The breeding program would be aimed at increasing the population of lesser prairie chickens after their decline led the federal government in March to list the bird as a threatened species. The listing also affects Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Klataske said wildlife agencies abandoned such an approach decades ago because prairie chickens and other game birds bred in captivity don’t have the skills to survive in the wild.

Brownback announced Thursday that he’s directing the state’s agriculture and wildlife departments to develop a program.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency insists efforts to clarify her agency’s jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act won’t result in tighter farm regulations.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told the Kansas City Agribusiness Council on Thursday that misinformation coming out of Washington has caused confusion about the initiative.

Agriculture groups and farm-state politicians, including Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, have claimed the EPA’s efforts represent a power grab by a government seeking to assert more control over private property.

McCarthy says clarification of the Clean Water Act is necessary because of questions by the U.S. Supreme Court and agricultural stakeholders about what constitutes “waters of the United States.”

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says he’s glad McCarthy is listening to farmers, but he questions whether she’s taking their concerns seriously.

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Police in northeast Kansas are seeking tips from the public about a shooting that left two people dead and a third wounded.

A man called Lenexa police shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday to say he’d been shot. Officers tracked his cellphone to a home where they found him on the front lawn and two people dead inside.

Police identified the two victims Thursday afternoon as adult males whose names will be released after their families are notified. The wounded man remained hospitalized.

Investigators said they have not determined the relationship among the three men or the circumstances of the shooting. They asked anyone with information to call the Lenexa Police Department.

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LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Police are investigating a shooting that left two people dead and one injured in a Kansas City suburb.

The shooting at a home in Lenexa was reported about 10 p.m. Wednesday. Police say a man called to say he had been shot but he was not sure where he was.

KSHB-TV reports police were able to use GPS technology to track the man to the home. When they arrived, they found the man outside the home and the two bodies inside.

Police spokesman Dan Friesen says investigators have not determined the relationship of the people involved in the shooting, or the circumstances of the shooting. No other information was released early Thursday.