MARYSVILLE – A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to more than 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder and related charges, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Jeffery Scott Guenther, 48, Washington, Kansas, pleaded guilty in February to one count of attempted first degree murder, two counts of attempted second degree murder, one count of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated arson, one count of aggravated escape from custody, one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated escape from custody, two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling, one count of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied building, one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, one count of criminal damage to property and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

District Judge James A. Patton sentenced Guenther to a total of 327 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The crimes occurred in October 2017 in connection with an escape from the Marshall County jail when Guenther and Matson Zane Hatfield, 31, Marysville,  lit a fire in a cell, causing smoke to fill the jail, according to the KBI. The two inmates then forced their way through the jail, obtained two shotguns and  exited the jail into the Sheriff’s Office parking lot.

While the two inmates were fleeing, a civilian county employee’s tan 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck was stolen at gunpoint, and shots were fired at a Marysville Fire Department truck. A responding Marysville Police Officer fired at Guenther in the fleeing truck. Meanwhile, Hatfield reportedly fled on foot to a residence nearby the Jail, and fired shots toward a male subject standing in front of the residence. Hatfield was acquainted with the residents of the home. A short time later, Hatfield surrendered to an officer from the Marysville Police Department.

Guenther fled the area in the stolen pickup truck and headed north on Highway 77, across the state line into Nebraska. He was pursued by Marysville Police until he rolled the truck and was apprehended in rural Gage County, Neb., not far from the Kansas/Nebraska state border.

Hatfield was sentenced to more than 47 years in prison on related charges in November of 2018.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Students living in the country illegally no longer would be required to pay international tuition rates to Missouri colleges and universities under a proposal approved by a key legislative committee as part of negotiations over a proposed state budget plan for next year.

Immigrant students now are charged the tuition rate for international students but that requirement would end under the deal.

Other deals hammered out by House and Senate budgeters include a slight increase in funding for higher education institutions and a deal on how to pay for repairs to bridges across the state. The budget still needs approval from the full House and Senate, and lawmakers face a Friday deadline.

If enacted, changes to the higher education budget will mean Missouri colleges and universities no longer risk losing funding if they charge students with an “unlawful immigration status” anything less than the tuition rate charged to international students.

Immigrant advocates lauded the move.

“It’s vital that DACA eligible immigrants have access to education, which ultimately benefits our state,” Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates Executive Director Andrew Fitzgerald said in an email. “While Missouri has long way to go before it is a state that truly welcomes immigrants, this was a welcome and appreciated move by legislators in Jeff City.”

Missouri is one of six states that currently block in-state tuition for students living in the country illegally, according the National Conference of State Legislatures . Actions by lawmakers in 16 states allow in-state tuition, and another five states provide for that through state university systems.

Missouri implemented its policy in 2015.

“We are not saying that they cannot provide in-state tuition to those with unlawful status,” Republican House Budget Chairman Cody Smith told colleagues as he argued in favor of the policy. “We’re just saying they cannot use state dollars to do so.”

But critics of the current practice said it pushes longtime Missouri residents to attend college in other states without such policies. Rep. Ingrid Burnett called the policy “regressive.”

“It takes tuition dollars out of our state at a time when our higher ed institutions need the enrollment,” the Kansas City Democrat said. “There isn’t a good reason for this, other than something based in fear.”

The proposed budget for next fiscal year, which begins in July, still includes a ban on colleges providing scholarships to students living in the country illegally.

Legislative budgeters also agreed to give colleges and universities at least another $1 million each in funding next fiscal year compared to this year.

House and Senate negotiators also reached a consensus over how to pay to fix 250 bridges across the state, as called for by Republican Gov. Mike Parson.

Lawmakers ditched Parson’s original plan to borrow roughly $350 million to fund the repairs, citing concerns about the estimated $100 million in interest costs.

Instead, legislators have tentatively agreed to spend $50 million in un-earmarked general revenue on bridge repairs next fiscal year, plus another $50 million for a local cost-share program.

If the state gets a federal infrastructure grant to help pay to fix an Interstate 70 bridge in the mid-Missouri city of Rocheport, that would kick in another roughly $300 million in bonding under another pending proposal.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Nearly 190 faculty members from the University of Missouri System have accepted buyouts and will retire by Sept. 1.

Faculty meeting certain criteria — including being tenured and at last 62 — had until Friday to make their decision final. Faculty who took the buyout will receive a payment equal to 1.5 times their benefits-eligible salary.

The system president’s office said 94 of 226 eligible University of Missouri-Columbia faculty members —42 percent — accepted the buyouts.

At Missouri-Kansas City, 47 percent — or 50 of 106 — eligible faculty accepted. Another 34 percent — 24 of 71 — of eligible University of Missouri-St. Louis faculty accepted, and 35 percent — 19 of 55 — of eligible faculty at Missouri University of Science and Technology faculty accepted.

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A track and assistant high school football coach in Springfield is facing 10 charges involving alleged sexual contact with a student.

The charges filed Tuesday against 29-year-old Mikael Cooper-Falls include second-degree statutory rape and sexual contact with a student.

The Springfield school district said Cooper-Fall was fired after his arrest Monday. Besides coaching at Hillcrest High School, he was a teacher’s aide.

Cooper-Falls was a former star running back for Hillcrest’s football team and played for Missouri State’s football team from 2009 to 2013.

Online court records do not name an attorney for Cooper-Fall.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — An assistant high school football coach in Springfield has been arrested on suspicion of having sexual contact with a student.

29-year-old Mikael Cooper-Falls was booked into the Greene County Jail shortly before 1 p.m. Monday. No charges were immediately filed.

The Springfield school district says Cooper-Falls is no longer a district employee. Besides coaching at Hillcrest High School, he also was a teacher’s aide. The district says in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation.

Cooper-Falls also is a former starting running back for Hillcrest’s football team. He majored in criminology at Missouri State and played on the university’s football team for four seasons from 2009 through 2013.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified a driver who died following a three-vehicle chase and shooting in Council Bluffs.

Police say 18-year-old Ethan Edgar, of Hutchinson, Kansas, was killed.

Police say the incident began when a man and several of his friends went looking for the man’s stolen car Monday afternoon. When the group spotted the car at a gas station, they used the two cars they were in to box in the stolen car. Police say Edgar, who was driving the stolen car, rammed the other cars in an attempt to flee.

That’s when a passenger in one of the rammed cars began shooting at Edgar, and a chase ensued before Edgar crashed. Edgar was taken to a hospital in neighboring Omaha, Nebraska, where he died. Police say his injuries included two gunshot wounds.

Police questioned but didn’t arrest the Omaha shooter or other men. The Pottawattamie County Attorney is expected to present evidence to a grand jury to determine if criminal charges will be filed.

WILSON COUNTY — Authorities are investigating a Monday train derailment in Wilson County.

The train derailment near 39 Highway and Ness Road involved 19 rail cars, according to Wilson County Emergency Management Director Gordon Deno.

No hazardous materials were involved. There were no injuries, according to Amanda Treiber with Union Pacific.

Ness Road remains closed from 39 Highway to Buffalo due to equipment in road.

This is the second train derailment in Kansas in recent weeks. A microburst was blamed cause for a train derailment near Matfield Green in Chase County April 29.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated isn’t hiring lifeguards, advertising or selling tickets with less than a month left before its typical Memorial Day weekend opening date, underlining speculation that it could be put up for sale.

Schlitterbahn remains mum on its plans, but has largely removed reference from its website about the park in Kansas City, Kansas, where Caleb Schwab was killed in 2016 when the raft he was riding on the 17-story Verruckt slide went airborne and hit a metal pole. Verruckt — German for “crazy” — never reopened and was torn down last year. Season tickets have been on sale for months for Schlitterbahn’s four Texas locations, but not the Kansas park.

“Schlitterbahn has not informed us of their plans, but we are assuming they are not opening this summer,” said Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, spokesman Mike Taylor. “We are hopeful that Schlitterbahn will come under new ownership and branding, and will open next summer.”

Speculation about a potential sale was fueled by mortgage lender, EPR Properties, announcing last week that Schlitterbahn is expected to pay off its approximately $190 million loan on the property soon. EPR chief executive Gary Silvers told analysts on a conference call about its first-quarter earnings that Schlitterbahn is working with an undisclosed third-party lender on the deal.

Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio declined to comment on the Kansas park’s future, including whether it would open.

“Schlitterbahn is a privately held company and does not comment on financials,” she said in an email. “Our Texas parks are off to a strong start for the 2019 season, but we have no news to share about our KC property at this time.”

EPR said in a previous filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it agreed to advance Schlitterbahn additional amounts under the mortgage. The filing noted an offseason shortfall and the cost of legal issues stemming from Caleb’s death during a special day for elected officials and their families. Caleb’s father, Scott Schwab, then a state lawmaker, was elected Kansas secretary of state last year. With his urging, lawmakers voted to strengthen the state’s relatively lax oversight of amusement park rides.

Caleb’s family received nearly $20 million in settlements, and two women who were seriously injured while riding with him settled for an undisclosed amount.

Prosecutors also filed criminal charges against Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, the designer of Verruckt, the park’s operations manager and two maintenance workers, alleging that shoddy planning and maintenance led to Caleb’s death. But the maintenance workers were acquitted in October, and a judge dismissedcharges against the other three in January citing improper evidence.

One issue was that grand jurors were shown clips from a Travel Channel television show documenting construction of the Verruckt, in which Henry and others emphasized the risks to riders on a raft dropping 17 stories before climbing a second, 50-foot  hump. Defense attorneys argued the video didn’t show how the ride actually worked and that prosecutors didn’t properly explain to the jury that it was a dramatization. The video showed boats flying up in a similar manner to how Caleb died.

Charges of drug possession and hiring someone for sex also are pending against Henry in a neighboring Kansas county.

Taylor, the Wyandotte County official, said the big issue is having an abandoned water park in a bustling tourist area that includes the Kansas Speedway race track, the Sporting Kansas City soccer stadium and a busy shopping area.

“From the Unified Government’s perspective we would love to see the park open in the future and be a viable tourist attraction.”

ST. JOHN, Mo. (AP) — Missouri woman has been charged in the death of her 4-month-old son who was left alone for five hours with two other young children.

Twenty-one-year-old Blessing Barlee was arraigned Monday on three felonies, including child endangerment resulting in the death of Micah Lee Stringfellow. Barlee is accused of leaving Micah and a 1- and 4-year-old alone from last Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

St. John Police Capt. Bob Connell says it’s unclear where she was during that time. He says a tow truck driver who dropped Barlee off at her home called 911 when she ran outside with the baby in her arms. Connell says there was no obvious sign of trauma to the infant, whose cause of death hasn’t been determined.