TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill that would toughen punishments for hate crimes.

Democratic Sen. David Haley spoke in favor of the bill, which would double sentences for offenses determined to be hate crimes. Haley said the bill would help protect potential victims from crimes motivated by prejudice.

But Republican Sen. Forrest Knox expressed skepticism of the bill’s effectiveness in the hearing. He said it was unclear whether tougher sentences would deter potential criminals. Knox also said it would be difficult to prove that those accused were motivated by prejudice.

Currently there is no Kansas statute that requires stiffer punishment for hate crimes. However, Kansas courts may transfer cases of alleged hate crimes to federal courts, where penalties are increased.

NEW YORK (AP) — Family Dollar shareholders have voted to approve a takeover bid from rival Dollar Tree.

The deal still needs to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission, but Family Dollar expects it to close by March.

Dollar Tree first offered to buy Matthews, North Carolina-based Family Dollar in July for about $8.5 billion.

A rival bidder, Dollar General Corp., offered several higher bids that were rejected. Dollar General’s pursuit of Family Dollar is likely over. In a statement, Dollar General says the vote was a loss for Family Dollar shareholders and consumers.

A combination of Family Dollar and Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree will create the largest dollar store company in the nation, with more than 13,000 stores. Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, has more than 11,000 stores.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has promised to sign legislation to ban a procedure used to terminate hundreds of pregnancies in Kansas every year.
Brownback made his pledge Thursday during a Statehouse rally with hundreds of abortion opponents. The event was sponsored by Kansans for Life and marked the 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion across the nation.

The Republican governor has signed several anti-abortion bills since taking office in January 2011.
The latest proposal targets a method in which a doctor uses a forceps, tongs or other medical instruments to dismember a living fetus in the womb. The procedure is used in about 8 percent of abortions in Kansas.

Planned Parenthood issued a statement saying state lawmakers should stop interfering in women’s health care decisions.

INDEPENDENCE (AP) – The reward for information in the July 2013 stabbing death of an Independence man has grown to $8,500.

Kansas City Crime Stoppers announced Thursday that the mother of 22-year-old Corey Laykovich has added another $500 to the reward. A sibling found him in his bedroom suffering from stab wounds. He died later at a hospital.

Police ask anyone with information regarding Laykovich’s death to call 816-474-TIPS (474-8477).

A Corey Daniel Laykovich Burial and Memorial Fund has been established at Hawthorne Bank for additional donations.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The execution scheduled for next week for a Missouri inmate has been called off by the Missouri Supreme Court.

The court on Thursday withdrew the execution warrant for 46-year-old Marcellus Williams, who had been set for execution at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. A court spokeswoman declined to discuss the reason.

After a state record 10 executions in 2014, the execution was the first scheduled in Missouri this year.

Williams was convicted of fatally stabbing Lisha Gayle at her suburban St. Louis home in 1998. Gayle was a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who left the paper in 1992.

Williams’ attorneys had asked the courts to stop the execution, citing a lack of evidence. They also sought additional DNA testing they said could prove Williams was innocent.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri’s chief justice said the state needs to make sure its municipal court system is driven by fairness rather than economics.

Chief Justice Mary Russell said in her State of the Judiciary address Thursday the local municipal courts are often Missourians’ first encounter with the justice system.

Legal defense advocates have identified the maze of municipal court fines faced by residents as one cause of anger in the St. Louis area following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

Russell said if municipal courts operate as revenue generators for a city, public perception of judicial impartiality is eroded.

The Supreme Court earlier this month issued a rule to require more time for people who are unable to pay big municipal court fines.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A Missouri lawmaker is pushing a measure that would require identification each time a person uses a mobile payment system on their phone or tablet.

Rep. Joshua Peters, D-St. Louis, said the bill he introduced Wednesday would require customers to show a state driver’s license or other identification when they use a mobile wallet app or other electronic payment system.

He says it will prevent fraud if the mobile device is lost or stolen.

Merchants would have to record the license or identification number or could be responsible for the illegal purchases made if a device is reported stolen.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — President Barack Obama is pitching a plan for universal child care at a liberal stronghold deep in Republican territory, promoting his Democratic party agenda while calling for less partisanship in Washington.

He says that with two working parents in many U.S. households, high-quality child care programs “are not just nice-to-haves, these are must-haves.”

Obama told a crowd at the University of Kansas: “I don’t want anybody being daycare poor.”

To view the President’s speech click HERE  and fast forward to 35:00

He acknowledged losing Kansas twice during his presidential campaigns, though he added cheerily that he probably won some sectors of the university town of Lawrence.

Obama was on the second day of a two-day trip to conservative states where he was making the case for initiatives that he outlined in his State of the Union speech Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced Wednesday in a media release that a Noel, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing what is described in court documents as a massive library of child pornography.

Edward S. Hetherington, 55, of Noel, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to eight years and one month in federal prison without parole.

On Aug. 12, 2014, Hetherington pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. Hetherington admitted that on March 12, 2013, there were images and videos of child pornography on his computers.

According to court documents, Hetherington’s criminal conduct occurred over a time span of 25 years, during which he amassed more than 100,000 images of sexual violence against children.

At the time of his arrest, Hetherington was in possession of a massive amount of child pornography. Law enforcement officers discovered eight external storage hard drives connected to his computer, which were full of images and videos of child pornography. Hetherington’s library of child pornography, which dates back as far as 1989, was organized into various categories that described the various acts of violence perpetrated against the children. Based on the evidence obtained, Hetherington possessed one of the largest and most extensive libraries of child pornography ever uncovered by agents with the Southwest Cyber Crimes Task Force.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI, the Southwest Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Cassville, Mo., Police Department and the McDonald County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”