By ROXANA HEGEMAN

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Congressional investigations over voter irregularities expanded Thursday with Democratic lawmakers requesting information from state officials in Kansas and Texas.

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform sent letters seeking communications related to the decision by Ford County, Kansas, to move the only Dodge City polling site outside of city limits for the 2018 midterm elections. It also is seeking communications about efforts in January by the Texas secretary of state’s office to purge voter rolls amid disputed claims that registered voters may not be U.S. citizens.

The four letters were signed by Rep. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Oversight Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

The spokeswoman for Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab said in an email they have acknowledged receipt of the request and “will respond accordingly.”

Jeff Mateer, first assistant attorney general in Texas, said in an emailed statement that they are reviewing the letter and “look forward to providing the committee with information that demonstrates our compliance with the law while ensuring free and fair elections.”

Spokespeople for Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox in Kansas and Secretary of State David Whitley in Texas did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday.

For about two decades, the only polling site for Dodge City’s 13,000 registered voters was the Civic Center in a mostly white part of town. Cox decided to move the site to the county Expo Center located outside of town and more than a mile from the nearest bus stop the month before the midterms. County officials have said the move was prompted by a planned construction project at the Civic Center, although work had not started by the time of the November election.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas sued Cox, arguing that moving the only polling site in Dodge City outside the city limits will make it more difficult for the city’s majority Hispanic population to vote because they tend to have less access to transportation and flexible work schedules. A federal judge refused to order the county to open a new polling location just days before the election, finding it was not in the public’s interest because it would likely create more voter confusion.

The letter to Cox from Democratic lawmakers acknowledges that Ford County recently settled a lawsuitand agreed to open additional polling sites in the city for future elections. However, it said they remained concerned that the decision to move the polling site last year may have impacted the voting ability of Dodge City residents. Their letter to Schwab seeks to determine the role of the Kansas secretary of state’s office in moving the polling site.

Texas’ bungled search for illegal voters began in January when state election officials released a deeply flawed list of 98,000 registered voters flagged as potential noncitizens. But it became almost immediately clear that the list wasn’t vetted and that the U.S. citizenship of tens of thousands of Texas voters had been wrongly questioned.

A federal judge in February called Texas’ scouring of voter rolls for noncitizens “a solution looking for a problem” and prohibited the state from removing any voters following lawsuits by civil rights groups.

Paxton had originally amplified the January announcement as a “VOTER FRAUD ALERT” in campaign fundraising emails before problems with the list emerged. President Donald Trump had also used the reports to renew his unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud.

The fallout has put Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s hand-picked elections chief in jeopardy. Whitley was appointed in December but still needs confirmation in the Texas Senate, where Democrats signaled they have enough votes to reject him.

The letters from lawmakers ask that the requested communications be produced by April 11.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — After this spring’s massive flooding along the Missouri River, many want to blame the agency that manages the river’s dams for making the disaster worse, but it may not be that simple.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says much of the water that created the flooding came from rain and melting snow that flowed into the river downstream of all the dams, and at the same time, massive amounts of water filled the reservoirs and some had to be released.

For instance, the National Weather Service estimates that enough water poured into the reservoir behind Gavin’s Point Dam on the South Dakota-Nebraska border during nine days in mid-March to totally fill the reservoir from empty more than twice.

But many people who live near the Missouri River believe the Corps isn’t doing enough to prevent floods or is placing too much emphasis on other priorities, such as protecting endangered species and preserving barge traffic.

Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said Corps officials told him this week that they treat all eight priorities for the river equally.

“I was told point-blank, ‘Flood control is not our top priority. It is not. Period.’ They were very firm on that point,” Hawley said. “I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.'”

Corps officials say they work to balance all the priorities Congress approved when operating the dams, but no single priority outweighs all the others. Their operating model tries to maximize the benefit to several priorities when possible.

Hawley said Congress should consider “serious reform,” such as deciding if the Corps should be taken out of the Department of Defense and placed under direction of another agency, such as the Department of Transportation or the Department of the Interior.

The Corps manages the Missouri River’s system of dams and locks and decides when and how much water is released from reservoirs into the river. The severe flooding this month in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri has renewed criticism of the Corps’ management of the river.

Officials estimate that the flooding caused more than $1 billion of damage to farms in Nebraska and Iowa, destroying stored crops and killing livestock. And the damage total will grow as floodwaters recede and other states assess conditions.

Nearly 400 farmers, landowners and business operators sued the Corps after the historic 2011 floods — and won. U.S. District Judge Nancy B. Firestone’s ruling last year determined that severe Missouri River flooding “was caused by and was the foreseeable result” of the agency’s management practices.

R. Dan Boulware, the St. Joseph, Missouri-based attorney for the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, said those management practices are still in place, contributing to the flooding this month. He said the Corps stores more water in six upper-Missouri River basins than it needs to, and has also modified structures like dikes.

“The river itself is changed,” Boulware said. “It spreads out and it doesn’t flow like it used to flow. It’s like a sluggish drain — it backs up.”

Corps officials declined to discuss the lawsuit because it is still ongoing, but they defended the way they handled this spring’s flooding. John Remus oversees the dams, including Gavin’s Point Dam, for the Corps.

“There was far more water coming into Gavin’s Point than we could hold,” Remus said.

And the National Weather Service’s Kevin Low said significantly more water poured into the Missouri River from rivers in Nebraska and Iowa with no dams, so officials couldn’t regulate the flow from those. Low said the Platte River peaked at over 170,000 cubic feet per second of water on March 17.

Most other rivers that feed into the lower Missouri crested around the same time after heavy rains helped melt lingering snowpack that flowed right into rivers because the ground was still mostly frozen.

Emergency management directors in two northwestern Missouri counties that took the brunt of this year’s flood damage have differing views on the Corps’ responsibility.

Buchanan County Emergency Management Director Bill Brinton said a dam failure to the north sent a surge of additional water into the river, worsening an already bad situation.

“That dam failed and you had billions of gallons of water,” Brinton said. “I don’t see how you can blame the Corps. But I seem to be in the minority.”

In Holt County, Missouri, 460 homes were damaged when the flood reached a foot above the 2011 record, and most are still underwater, Emergency Management Director Tom Bullock said.

Bullock’s home is among the flooded ones. He’s taken a motorboat out to it a few times but won’t know the extent of the damage until he gets inside the home.

“They told us after the flood of ’11 if you build up and elevate above this certain level it’ll never happen again, so I did that,” Bullock said. “It still wasn’t high enough. So I don’t know what the answer is. It gets pretty expensive.”

Much of the concern about the Corps’ management dates to 2004, when it initiated a management change partly to protect endangered species, including the pallid sturgeon, a seldom-seen, bottom-feeding fish.

Bullock agreed 2004 was the turning point when the Corps “started managing the river for recreation and wildlife.”

“Used to be at the top of the list was flood control first place, and navigation second place. Those two things have moved to the bottom of the list,” Bullock said.

“Ever since that happened, we’ve been flooded out regularly down here in the bottom,” he added.

He’s worried his and his neighbors’ homes will be hit again this spring.

“We don’t see an end in sight yet,” Bullock said. “All of our levees are just destroyed. We have no protection from the high river now, or spring rains. We’re sitting there exposed.”

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A former Douglas County sheriff’s deputy has pleaded no contest to aggravated battery as part of a plea deal that dropped a charge of engaging in sexual activity with a female inmate.

47-year-old Mario Godinez entered a no contest plea to the felony charge on Wednesday. A judge ordered Godinez to immediately register as a sex offender because the crime was “sexually motivated.”

Godinez was charged in September with engaging in consensual sexual activity with a female inmate at the Douglas County Jail. An affidavit last year says Godinez admitted to having sex with the prisoner in his office at the jail and in his personal car.

Godinez was in charge of an inmate work release program at the jail. He resigned last April.

Godinez will be sentenced May 10.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Kansas City man who threatened President Donald Trump and sped to the White House with a gun had driven 13 hours without stopping before he was pulled over along a West Virginia highway Wednesday, a trooper said.

Eric Leonardo Charron of Kansas City was arraigned in Preston County Magistrate Court on Thursday in Kingwood on charges of reckless driving and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

State police said Charron was going 130 mph — nearly twice the speed limit — on Interstate 68 when he was pulled over near Bruceton Mills. The incident prompted the interstate to be closed for nearly four hours.

Trooper D.W. Satterfield said in a criminal complaint that Charron, 42, indicated he was traveling to the White House and that he was running late to a dinner he was invited to by Trump. The suspect also said he had to travel to the Pentagon “to meet with the leader of the Army to return a phone,” according to the complaint.

Charron later said he had “special hearing” that “would tell him to do bad things once he arrived at the White House or The Pentagon,” Satterfield said, adding the “special hearing” also told Charron to remove Satterfield’s gun from its holster while being transported from the traffic stop.

Satterfield said a vehicle search turned up a handgun, 300 rounds of ammunition and gunpowder. In addition, manuscripts written by Charron contained “subjects ranging from time travel, levitating watercraft, and mythical creatures such as the ‘Chupacubra.’”

The trooper said Charron admitted using methamphetamine recently and his pupils were dilated despite bright conditions outside. Charron had driven through the night from his hometown, authorities said. The trooper didn’t notice any luggage in the vehicle.

Satterfield asked Charron why the vehicle’s remote key would not open the trunk, and Charron stated he had tampered with the fuses in an effort to “keep the CIA from listening to him through the radio.”

According to the court, Charron was ordered held either on $10,000 cash bond or upon Trump’s signature. Charron was remanded to the Tygart Valley Regional Jail.

It wasn’t immediately known whether Charron has an attorney who could comment on the charges.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two top leaders of the Kansas Highway Patrol are leaving the agency.

Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday in a news release that Col. Mark Bruce, the patrol’s superintendent, and Lt. Col. Randy Moon, an assistant superintendent, have resigned.

Kelly said Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones will take over the agency on Wednesday. Maj. Jason De Vore will be acting superintendent until Wednesday.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the governor’s spokeswoman, Ashley All, said she couldn’t comment on the departures because they were personnel matters.

Kelly said in December that she would retain Bruce because he was an effective leader and a strong advocate for law enforcement officers.

Jones led the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Department since 2012 and was a highway patrol employee for more than 20 years.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City school district has agreed to apologize to three students who alleged their free speech rights were violated during a national classroom walkout for gun control.

The apologies are part of a settlement that the Shawnee Mission School District reached earlier this month with the American Civil Liberties Union. Training also is part of the settlement, whose terms became public Tuesday.

Issue arose last April when students across the country gathered to protest on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting in Colorado.

In the Shawnee Mission district, administrators confiscated a high school journalist’s camera. The lawsuit said they also forced an eighth-grader from a speaking platform and sent her home after she said that “The real issue is gun violence.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has passed a more than $29 billion state spending plan for the fiscal year beginning in July.

The Republican-led House on Thursday sent a budget package to the Senate that includes about $61 million more in core K-12 public school funding and roughly flat funding for higher education.

The House plan also includes $100 million in un-earmarked general revenue for roads and bridges.

Republicans touted the additional funding for education included in the proposal. Democrats argued that schools still need more money and laid blame on Republican-backed tax cuts.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz on Thursday said he wants to compromise with the House on a way to pay for transportation maintenance. But he says he still prefers borrowing money through bonding to fund bridge repairs.

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) — A 43-year-old Texas man is dead after a fight with an employee of a Missouri fast-food restaurant.

Gregory Stanley of Vidor, Texas, died Wednesday, three days after he was injured in a fight at a Hardee’s restaurant in the northeast Missouri town of Hannibal.

Police were called to the restaurant Sunday afternoon. Witnesses told officers that Stanley was verbally abusive to employees and patrons of the business, leading to a fight between Stanley and employees.

Police say surveillance video showed 33-year-old Damien Fugate striking Stanley, including twice after Stanley fell to the floor.

Fugate is charged with second-degree assault and it isn’t immediately clear if prosecutors will upgrade the charge now that Stanley has died. Fugate does not have a listed attorney.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators have passed legislation to make it harder to impeach top officials less than a year after the former governor resigned while facing potential impeachment.

Senators passed the proposed constitutional amendment 25-8 Friday.

The measure would abolish the grounds for which House members had been weighing whether to impeach former Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.

It would limit criteria to “corruption and crime in office.” Had that been in place last year, House members could not have pursued impeachment for allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations that occurred before Greitens took office in January 2017. Greitens resigned before a House investigatory committee could vote on impeachment.

By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have blown several informal deadlines for boosting funding for public schools to satisfy a court mandate because Republicans who control the Legislature are at odds over how to allocate the new dollars and what policy strings should be attached.

The state’s attorneys must file a written report with the Kansas Supreme Court by April 15, telling the justices how legislators responded to the high court’s ruling last yearthat spending on public schools is insufficient. The Legislature is set to start its annual spring break April 6 and not return to the Statehouse until May 1.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly urged legislators to pass her plan for an education funding increase of roughly $90 million a year by the end of February. Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, told lawmakers they should finish their work by March 15.

The Senate approved Kelly’s plan March 14. Top House Republicans back a plan to target new dollars to programs for at-risk students but wouldn’t bring it up for a debate this week because it did not have enough votes to pass. The House and Senate plan to begin negotiations next week on the final version of a school funding bill anyway — without a clear sense of their path forward.

“We’ve got to have an answer to the court by the time we go home next week,” Senate Vice President Jeff Longbine, a moderate Emporia Republican, said Wednesday. “Time is of the essence.”

Four local school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010, and the Supreme Court has issued six rulings directing legislators to increase education funding, now more than $4 billion a year. The high court said a 2018 law promising to phase in a $548 million increase by the 2022-23 school year wasn’t sufficient because it did not account for inflation in recent years.

Educators have argued that legislators should just increase the state’s total aid to its 286 school districts, and Kelly’s plan does that.

Top Republicans in the House have argued that new funds should target helping struggling students, including children with behavioral and mental health problems. Their proposal actually would spend $14 million more than Kelly proposes during the budget year that begins in July — but it includes grants for school safety upgrades and other specific programs.

“Why wouldn’t we target it?” said House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a conservative Wichita Republican. “What’s the purpose of doing this? It’s to move the needle. It’s to make education better.”

Many Republicans, particularly conservatives, also want to tie the money to education policy changes. The strategy worked well for them in 2014, when they successfully repealed a state law guaranteeing tenure to teachers who’d been in the classroom at least three years.

House conservatives initially pushed an education bill that included a proposal to give parents of children in public schools state-funded scholarships so that their children could move to other schools, including private ones. But they backed off that proposal and others, and the House passed a narrower policy bill this week on a 63-61 vote.

Democrats and many moderate Republicans contend that a straightforward funding bill is the best approach and that lawmakers ought to leave decisions about how new dollars are spent to local school boards.

“I think the best way to do it is to stick with what I proposed initially and what the Senate passed, with a clean, simple deal-with-inflation factor and move on,” Kelly told reporters Wednesday.