SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a wanted suspect on charges following a weekend shooting.

Just after 8:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to a disturbance in the 2300 block of SE Bellview in Topeka, according to Lt. John Trimble.

Gunshots were reported fired by one of the involved parties.

During the investigation, it was determined that after a family dispute, 24-year-old, Gleand Lee Brock III, fired shots at several people. No one was hit by any of the shots.

Police located Brock a short distance away from the scene and arrested him without incident.

The gun used was also recovered. Brock is a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Police booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Aggravated Assault X2, Felony Warrant (Arkansas), Criminal Damage, Theft and Interference

This is the 17th case in 2019 with a charge involving a felon in possession of a firearm reported by the Topeka Police Department.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether the 2020 census can include a question about citizenship that could affect the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal money.

The justices have agreed to a speedy review of a lower court ruling that has so far blocked the Trump administration from adding the citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950.

Both the administration and opponents of the question agreed the court should settle the matter quickly because census forms need to be printed soon.

Arguments will take place in late April. A decision should come by late June.

The case pits the administration against immigrant advocacy organizations and Democratic-led states, cities and counties that argue the citizenship question is intended to discourage the participation of minorities, primarily Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats from filling out census forms.

The challengers say they would get less federal money and fewer seats in Congress if the census asks about citizenship because people with noncitizens in their households would be less likely to fill out their census forms.

The Constitution requires a census count every 10 years. A question about citizenship had once been common, but it has not been asked of every household since 1950. At the moment, the question is part of a detailed annual sample of a small chunk of the population, the American Community Survey.

The case stems from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ decision in 2018 to add a citizenship question to the next census, over the advice of career officials at the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce Department. At the time, Ross said he was responding to a Justice Department request to ask about citizenship in order to improve enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in New York ruled in January that the question could not be included, saying that fewer people would respond to the census and that the process Ross used was faulty.

Pressed for time, the administration bypassed the federal appeals court in New York and appealed directly to the justices. The challengers defended the lower court ruling, but acknowledged the need for a quick answer to the legal issue.

It’s rare for the high court to weigh in without the benefit of appellate rulings. Such interventions usually are reserved for national political crises, including the Pentagon Papers case.

The administration has defended the addition of the citizenship question by arguing that courts have no business second-guessing the commerce secretary in performing a basic function of his job.

But Furman largely agreed with the local and state governments and rights groups that sued over the issue. He pointed out that Ross had ignored his own experts’ views that a census with a citizenship question would produce less accurate results and add to the costs.

Documents and testimony produced as part of the trial in New York showed that Ross had begun pressing for a citizenship question soon after he became secretary in 2017, and that he had consulted Steve Bannon, who had been President Donald Trump’s top political adviser, and then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Emails showed that Ross himself had invited the Justice Department request to add the citizenship question.

The judge’s ruling held that Ross’ decision about what to ask on the census was “arbitrary and capricious” under the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

There are at least four other ongoing lawsuits over the question, including a trial in San Francisco that was wrapping up Friday. The Supreme Court, though, is expected to settle the matter with the case it has agreed to hear.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri saw an uptick in reports of discrimination and harassment in the 2017-2018 school year from the previous year, according to new data.

The university’s Office for Civil Rights and Title IX received 750 reported violations of its anti-discriminatory policy last year, up from 693 reports the previous year, the Columbia Missourian reported . The office also saw an increase in the number of reports made against faculty members during that period, from 62 to 106.

“The main goal of the office is to foster a campus climate where individuals can work and go to school free of sexual harassment and any form of discrimination,” said Andy Hayes, the office’s assistant vice chancellor.

Through investigations, conflict resolution and referrals, the office resolved 182 of the incidents reported last year. Forty-six of the cases required the office to conduct formal investigations, which resulted in 11 individuals being sanctioned.

“There are a lot of things that we can quickly resolve,” Hayes said. “It is on those more serious matters where we may have to do the full investigation.”

Hayes noted the university conducts investigations for reports of sexual assault.

But the remaining 568 cases are unresolved, which university officials credit to a handful of reasons, such as the alleged victim not responding to the office’s outreach or choosing not to pursue formal action. Some reports didn’t include identifying information, while other cases were unresolved because the office determined it didn’t hold jurisdiction.

The office also found that reports of sex and gender discrimination, which includes sexual harassment and assault, accounted for nearly 60 percent of all reported incidents last year. Reports of racial and disability-based discrimination declined last year, while reports of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination increased.

LABETTE COUNTY  —  Authorities with a Kansas non-profit animal shelter were busy over the weekend.

On Friday night a rescue team with Unleashed Pet Rescue and Adoption returned safely to their shelter with  43 dogs from the hoarding situation in Chetopa, Kansas, according to the organization’s social media page.

“No longer will these dogs have to live in their own feces without drinkable water, medical attention or shelter in below freezing temperatures. A lot of these dogs are now in the warmth of foster homes but some of these pups are still in need of foster placement.”

The organization also needs help covering the cost of the vaccinations and spay/neuter surgeries they dogs will need, and medical treatment as some of the dogs have tested positive for heartworms.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for a fatal shooting in 2015.

Fernando Diaz was sentenced Friday for involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Christopher Galvan.

Topeka police responding to a call of a vehicle crash in east Topeka found Galvan inside a car suffering from a gunshot wound. He died three days later.

Diaz fled to Mexico, where he was arrested in September 2018. He originally was charged with second-degree murder.

Diaz was sentenced to about 10½ years. That will be served consecutively with a 2014 case in which Diaz pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and interference with a law enforcement officer.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Agriculture is accepting applications from farmers who want to be part of the state’s industrial hemp research program, which state lawmakers created last April.

One of the farmers eager to get on board is PJ Sneed, who is building infrastructure, clearing land and establishing a cover crop on his land in western Reno County.

“I’m very excited; for me, it’s been a long time coming,” Sneed said. “It has for a lot of people, especially the grassroots movement. We’ve all been waiting for this moment.”

Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer signed legislation last April to allow industrial hemp production only for research purposes, with a goal of encouraging the resurgence of hemp as a production crop and to promote economic development. The 2018 federal farm bill also legalized hemp farming.

The agriculture department has spent the last year gathering public input and establishing regulations for the program. Applications are due to the department by March 1.

Before the federal farm bill was approved, Kansas could only establish a research program for hemp growing but the state is now open to establishing commercial growing if the legislature approves.

“So nothing is changing yet. The law that passed last spring and the regulations that go with it are what’s on the books,” agriculture department spokeswoman Heather Lansdowne said.

Lansdowne said the earliest the state could have additional laws to allow industrial hemp would likely be 2020.

Sneed agreed and predicted a large increase in hemp growers in the new future.

“I think in year two you’ll see a huge boom after people see what it is and how it’s grown,” he said. “In 2020 I think you’ll start to see more banks open up for commercial loans and things like that.”

The application process will include background checks and more.

The Hemp Biz Conference and the Planted Association of Kansas, of which Sneed is a member, will host a symposium on hemp growing in Hutchinson on Feb. 23. He said it’s designed to help farmers network and find markets but the focus this year will be on rules and regulations and the application process.

By STEPHAN BISAHA

Simplistic crisis plans and missing mandatory training by some Kansas schools led the Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday to reinforce its suicide prevention requirements.

Suicide rates in the United States have been going up for years, but the rates have risen faster in Kansas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Kansas suicide rate increased by 45 percent from 1999 to 2016.

The youth suicide rate in Kansas more than doubled from 2005 to 2015. That led to the creation of the Youth Suicide Prevention Task Force and its recommendation of a state coordinator focusing on the issue.

“More needs to be done because the problem is right in our face,” said Scott Rothschild, a spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

Then-Gov. Sam Brownback signed the Jason Flatt Act in 2016. The law required mandatory suicide prevention training for all school employees and detailed crisis plans.

Wichita Public Schools officials said they have noticed an uptick in reporting from their staff regarding suicide concerns since the law passed. Advocates say the law has helped bring more awareness to the issue.

“Before 2016, you would not have seen mental health fairs in the schools,” said Steve Arkins, founder of the suicide prevention foundation Speak Up, located in the Kansas City area. “You would not have seen student councils and clubs develop to try to promote mental wellness in their schools.”

But the act has received some pushback in Kansas. A failed bill in the Kansas Statehouse last year would have removed the need to provide the one-hour annual training to all employees. Some districts have said it’s a waste of resources to train workers who have little-to-no contact with students, such as janitors and plumbers.

Wichita Public Schools trains all its employees in suicide prevention, but district officials question the need to provide training to all workers.

“It’s a great thing to provide that training, but we do question the need to train, for example, seasonal employees,” said Terri Moses, the director of safety services at Wichita Public Schools. “It is a drain on resources and logistically it’s a difficult thing to do.”

A Kansas State Department of Education survey of school districts found more than a third of districts were not providing suicide prevention training to their mental health workers.

The state board adopted the council’s recommendations Tuesday to determine how to better monitor the mandatory training.

The board also approved more flexibility in implementing the training. Schools will now be able to provide specialized training for different personnel, though the one-hour of training for all staff is still required. That would require a change to state law.

KSDE officials say the new law will prevent the annual training from becoming just another hour in a long list of mandated training that employees doze through.

“You get these critical truly life-and-death type discussions that we need to have and they get regulated to a checklist,” said Myron Melton, an education program consultant with KSDE.

The mental health advisory council also took issue with the crisis plans at schools. The state board requires that the plans include guidelines for identifying students with thoughts of suicide, intervention and dealing with the aftermath of suicide.

But most districts had little more in their plans than who workers should contact in the school for all matters related to suicide. KSDE will provide crisis templates to schools and assist in updating their current plans.

“We just want to make sure they have suicide protocols so that it’s clear what they are to do if something happens,” said Kathy Busch, the chair of the Kansas State Board of Education.

Stephan Bisaha reports on education for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on @SteveBisaha.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri mother who did nothing to protect her infant from fatal abuse at the hands of her boyfriend has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

22-year-old Megan Hendricks, of Wentzville, was sentenced Friday. She had pleaded guilty in August to a felony count of child abuse resulting in death in the killing of her 9-week-old son.

The boyfriend, 22-year-old Robert Burnette, was sentenced last week to 26 years in prison for beating the infant to death. Authorities say Burnette stuck his fingers down the infant’s throat to get him to stop crying, threw him onto a bed and violently shook him.

The infant died in November 2016 after weeks in the hospital for treatment of brain bleeding, liver contusions and broken bones.

Police say Hendricks saw the abuse but didn’t call for help, then later lied to doctors and police, saying she didn’t know how the baby was injured.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri has re-established its Graduate School as an academic and administrative unit.

The Columbia Missourian reports former Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin closed the Graduate School in 2014 and created the Office of Graduate Students to replace it. That decision left several graduate and interdisciplinary programs without an academic home.

Shortly after he arrived in August 2017, Chancellor Alexander Cartwright said he would reconsider the Graduate School’s status.

On Thursday, Provost Latha Ramchand announced the new Graduate School will continue the work of the Office of Graduate Students. It also will be the academic home for several interdisciplinary and graduate programs.

The Graduate School will provide resources that the office, which was solely an administrative unit, couldn’t. It also will advocate for graduate programs and student needs.