TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A much-criticized national database that checks if voters are registered in multiple states wasn’t used last year in Kansas, the state that administers it, the official overseeing the state’s elections told lawmakers.

Kansas Elections Director Bryan Caskey said his office under former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach also chose not to make $20,000 in security upgrades to the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. It didn’t use the program during last year’s election cycle and likely won’t again this year after a Homeland Security audit discovered vulnerabilities.

Twenty-eight states exchanged 98 million registration records when Crosscheck was last used in 2017.

Kobach, a longtime champion of strict voter registration laws, was vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded commission on election fraud. Kansas voters elected Scott Schwab, also a Republican, to replace him after Kobach ran for governor and lost to Democrat Laura Kelly.

Caskey told the House Elections Committee that Schwab has ordered a review of Crosscheck to determine whether to entirely abandon the program.

Crosscheck compares voter registration lists among participating states to look for duplicates. The program is aimed at cleaning voter records and preventing voter fraud, but it has drawn criticism for a high error rate and lax security.

Crosscheck compares registration lists and analyzes voters’ first and last names and date of birth to determine whether a person is registered in multiple states, but critics say most of the hits are false matches.

The program identified 141,250 possible duplicate voter registrations in Kansas in 2017, but it is unclear how many were purged because the system doesn’t track that data, Caskey said.

“I acknowledge that, yes, there are some false positives,” he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that “reckless maintenance” of the program has exposed sensitive voter information. Kobach has called that lawsuit “baseless,” citing the U.S. Supreme Court last year in an Ohio case dealing with maintenance of voter rolls.

A federal judge earlier this month rejected the state’s argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed because voters have no right to privacy for the information in their registration record.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled he was rejecting that argument “because its basic premise is wrong.”

Caskey told lawmakers that Kansas could use some of the $2 million in federal funds untouched by Kobach to instead access the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC as it is better known. The initial cost to use ERIC would be $25,000. It uses encrypted voter information along with Social Security Administration death records, driver license information and U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data.

Twenty-six states now use the ERIC system, according to its website. ERIC, based in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit corporation governed by a board of directors made up of member states.

Voting rights activist Davis Hammet said it should be a no-brainer to switch from Crosscheck to ERIC, which was developed by the Pew Charitable Trust with data scientists.

“If we are going to try to do this to clean our rolls, everyone seems to be in agreement that this is the way to do it,” Hammet said.

___

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man accused of kidnapping his girlfriend and their 10-year-old daughter then killing a man during an attempted carjacking was shot to death following a police chase through Missouri and Illinois, authorities said Wednesday.

The chase began Tuesday evening in Jefferson City, Missouri, and ended about three hours later in Greenville, Illinois, after sheriff’s deputies used stop sticks to deflate the tires on Leslie Austin’s SUV, allowing the girlfriend and child to escape. Authorities said Austin, 39, fired multiple shots during and after the chase, but do not yet know if he shot himself or was shot and killed by law enforcement.

Austin’s 33-year-old girlfriend, Danielle Smith, was shot and wounded several times, and has been hospitalized in critical condition, Illinois State Police said in a news release. The daughter wasn’t hurt.

Jefferson City police Lt. David Williams said the girlfriend had a restraining order against Austin.

Little information has been released about the circumstances of the abduction. Officers responding to reports of gunfire in a Jefferson City parking lot around 7:40 p.m. found spent shell casings and broken glass, Williams said. Witnesses who called 911 said they saw the SUV speeding away after the shots were fired.

Not knowing of the abduction, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper in Union, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) away, attempted to stop Austin for a registration violation around 9 p.m., Patrol Cpl. Justin Wheatley said. Austin took off and blew through several stop lights. The patrol called off the pursuit, Wheatley said.

A Franklin County sheriff’s deputy reinitiated the pursuit after learning the vehicle was wanted, Wheatley said.

Patrol troopers caught up with Austin again about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away on Interstate 44 in the western St. Louis suburb of Eureka. They pursued him until he drove across a bridge into Illinois, where Illinois State Police Troopers took up the chase, Wheatley said.

At around 10:30 p.m., Bond County sheriff’s deputies deployed the stop sticks on Illinois 140 near Greenville, and the girlfriend and child were able to escape the slowing SUV, Illinois State Police said in a news release.

Austin then tried to carjack a vehicle from Gregory Price, shooting and killing the 67-year-old man from Florissant, Missouri. Austin apparently decided against taking Price’s car and failed in an attempt to carjack a second vehicle, choosing instead to continue on in his damaged SUV, state police said.

He eventually stopped the vehicle and was shot and killed in a shootout, although police said it was unclear if he was shot by an officer or the gunshot was self-inflicted.

Austin had convictions in Missouri for misdemeanor theft, domestic assault, tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

 

————-

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on two dead after kidnapping, police chase in Missouri, Illinois (all times local):

1:20 p.m.

Authorities say a 33-year-old woman is in critical condition after she and her 10-year-old daughter were abducted in Missouri and driven to Illinois before they managed to escape.

Police in Illinois said in a news release that 39-year-old Leslie Austin kidnapped the woman and their child Tuesday night in Jefferson City, Missouri. The woman was shot multiple times during the abduction. Law enforcement pursued Austin into Illinois, when the woman and girl were able to escape after the vehicle was slowed by tire-deflating “stop sticks.”

The release says the woman was taken to a hospital, but the girl wasn’t hurt.

Austin fatally shot another man while attempting to carjack his vehicle. He died after exchanging gunfire with police. It wasn’t immediately known if Austin shot himself or was shot by officers.

——————–

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say two people are dead following a kidnapping, attempted carjacking and lengthy police chase that started in Missouri and ended in southern Illinois.

Police allege 39-year-old Leslie Austin kidnapped his girlfriend and their child Tuesday night in Jefferson City, Missouri. The woman was shot during the abduction but survived.

She was able to escape with her child after Austin drove into Illinois, where Austin then fatally shot a 67-year-old man during an attempted carjacking.

Austin died after exchanging gunfire with police who stopped his vehicle by using “stop sticks” along a roadway in Greenville, Illinois, about 175 miles  from Jefferson City. It wasn’t immediately known if Austin shot himself or was shot by officers.

Police say the woman was being treated at a hospital Wednesday. Her condition hasn’t been released.

BROWN COUNTY — Authorities have identified the officer found unresponsive in his patrol vehicle Wednesday morning as 43-year-old Kirby Robidoux of Falls City, Nebraska, according to Brown Sheriff John Merchant.

“The cause of death is unknown and an autopsy will be performed. There was no foul play suspected. Kirby was a very dedicated officer for the Sac and Fox Police department who always had a kind word for everyone he met.”

————-

BROWN COUNTY– The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating the death of a law enforcement officer who was discovered in northern Brown County, early Wednesday morning.

According to a KBI media release, just before 6 a.m., a member of the Iowa Tribal Police Department discovered a patrol officer from the Sac and Fox Police Department deceased in his patrol vehicle. At this time, foul play is not suspected, but a full investigation is being conducted.

The officer will be identified once all next of kin are notified. The investigation is ongoing. No further information will be released at this time.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

Thousands of Kansas children and teens go without vaccines that could save their lives.

A series of policy changes, though, could protect more Kansans against everything from cervical cancer to swift-acting meningococcal disease.

The changes

(1) The meningococcal vaccine may soon join the list of immunizations required to attend school in Kansas. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is going through regulatory steps for that potential change, which could take effect as early as the 2019-20 school year.

Outbreaks of meningococcal disease are rare but aggressive and scary where they occur. Nearly a third of patients suffer serious effects, such as brain damage, loss of limbs or even death.

Kansas would require the vaccine that protects against four types of the disease. A separate vaccine against another type seen in recent college campus outbreaks would not be required.

(2) Starting in July 2020, vaccination reports will all feed into a statewide database that clues physicians to patient needs. Today, not all providers use it. Eventually, if a parent takes her teen son to a new doctor within state lines, that doctor will have a reliable record. Maybe the teen got his first HPV shot, for example, but still needs one or two more.

The same change will help health officials better spot patterns and troubleshoot.

Take the question of access: It’s not even across the state. Not all doctors carry all recommended vaccines. Some may refer patients to county agencies many miles away. Others might vaccinate a privately insured patient but turn away one on Medicaid. Still others may do the exact opposite. Such scenarios hinge on nitty-gritty details like cost, batch size and vaccine stock.

“Like most things in public health, everything is local,” said Phil Griffin, who directs immunization efforts at the state health department. “There’s multiple layers of complications.”

(3) Kansas pharmacists can give children the flu shot as early as age six. As of 2017, however, they can also administer other recommended vaccines to kids as young as 12.

Since kids at that age generally don’t visit their doctors as often as when they are very young, public health experts hope families may at least drop by a local pharmacy to get vaccines and that that will gradually boost the state’s teen immunization rates.

Kansas vaccine rates

Federal data on the subject are far from perfect. But compared to other states, Kansas seems to have particularly low vaccine rates against meningococcal disease and against cancers caused by the nearly ubiquitous Human Papilloma Virus.

As for seven vaccines recommended for toddlers, including measles, Kansas hovers around the national average.

“Average” still means 30 percent of Kansas toddlers don’t complete those seven.

“It is dismal,” said Barbara Pahud, a Children’s Mercy pediatrician. “And it is sad.”

Low vaccination rates erode the herd immunity that protects people who can’t be inoculated because they are too young or have weakened immune systems.

Opposition to vaccines — either philosophical or based on debunked claims that the shots cause autism — have fueled the ongoing measles outbreak in the Pacific northwest.

In Kansas, hundreds of children catch vaccine-preventable diseases each year. (Or thousands, if you count the flu.)

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kanas girl has died just days after going home following a 457-day hospital stay.

Zei Uwadia’s mother says her daughter died Tuesday, less than two weeks after returning to Wichita . She left Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City on Jan. 31 — a day before her 17th birthday.

Uwadia was hospitalized after her lungs failed without explanation. During the hospital stay, she became the first patient to walk on an invasive form of life support at the hospital. Hundreds of thousands of people watched her walking on videos posted online. Hospital staff lined her path, applauding and wiping away tears.

The hospital said in a statement that everyone there was heartbroken by Uwadia’s death but inspired by her “fighting spirit.”

___

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling nearly 1.5 million pickup trucks in North America because the transmissions can suddenly downshift into first gear.

The recall covers F-150 trucks from the 2011 through 2013 model years with six-speed automatic transmissions.

The company says a glitch in sending a signal from the transmission speed sensor is the cause. Ford has five reports of accidents including one that caused a whiplash injury from a sudden downshift.

Owners will be notified by letter starting March 4. Dealers will update the powertrain control software to fix the problem.

Ford’s F-Series pickup is the top-selling vehicle in the United States.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — The organization that investigates accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse in sports in the U.S. has halted its probe into figure skater John Coughlin, the two-time national pairs champion who died by suicide last month.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport said Tuesday there was no reason to continue its probe into allegations sexual misconduct against Coughlin because its purpose is to “protect the sport community and other covered persons from the risks associated with sexual misconduct and abuse.”

Coughlin had received an interim suspension from SafeSport and U.S. Figure Skating for unspecified conduct last month, and was barred from any activities sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Coughlin died at his father’s home in Kansas City.