TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers who support expanding Medicaid blocked passage of the next state budget Friday in a high-stakes standoff designed to force the Legislature’s conservative Republican leaders to allow an expansion plan backed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

Kelly’s election last year raised hopes that Kansas would join 36 other states that have expanded Medicaid or seen voters pass ballot initiatives. But, like North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, two other Democrats pushing to expand Medicaid, she faces a GOP-controlled Legislature.

The Kansas House voted 63-61 against an $18.4 billion spending blueprint for the budget year that begins in July. House and Senate negotiators hashed out details Thursday night that were favorable for Kelly, fellow Democrats and moderate Republicans, with extra money for higher education, the prison system and state employee pay raises.

Democrats and moderate Republicans praised the proposed budget but saw the vote as their chance to pressure the Senate’s GOP leaders into relenting on plans to delay an expansion vote until next year.

“There’s a lot in there that’s really good, but we’ve got a major issue facing the state,” said House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. “We’ve got 130,000 to 150,000 Kansans who’ve been waiting, who’ve been waiting for years, for health care.”

GOP leaders were determined to keep trying to pass a budget, and lawmakers remained in session Friday night. Budget negotiators worked on a new, less generous spending blueprint while top Republicans tried to peel GOP moderates away from Democrats. With the talks open again, extra funds for higher education and other spending were in doubt.

The Senate has yet to debate a Medicaid expansion bill approved by the House in March, and top Republicans argue that lawmakers need more time to get the details right. Kelly has called it a “stall tactic” and is pushing lawmakers to go ahead now, so that expanded Medicaid health coverage can start in January.

The move thwarted top Republicans’ plans to wrap up lawmakers’ business for the year Friday, well ahead of the traditional 90-day mark on May 17.

GOP leaders wanted to pass a bill providing relief to individuals and businesses paying higher state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017, a smaller plan than one Kelly vetoed in March. The Senate approved it Thursday night, and supporters needed only a favorable House vote to send it to Kelly.

But lawmakers aren’t finished until they pass a budget because state government can’t operate past June or distribute $4 billion to its public schools without one. That created an opportunity for expansion supporters if they can hold up the spending blueprint.

“I ask that you not play games with this budget,” said House health committee Chairwoman Brenda Landwehr, a conservative Wichita Republican and expansion opponent.

Expansion advocates have been frustrated by their inability to get a bill out of committee in the Senate. The measure has bipartisan support in both chambers, but GOP conservatives who oppose it hold key leadership jobs. Top Republicans argue that an expansion plan is likely to prove more costly to the state than Kelly’s administration projects and want to consider alternatives, including work requirements.

About 15 expansion supporters dropped several thousand leaflets in the Statehouse rotunda Friday morning, each depicting a past-due hospital bill spattered with blood. The leaflets said hundreds of Kansas residents will die needlessly each year without expansion and each had the picture of a GOP senator on one side.

“When there’s extreme behavior coming out of the Senate leadership, that requires us to try to force their hand,” said Logan Stenseng, a 20-year-old University of Kansas public administration student who participated in the brief protest.

The protest didn’t move prominent Medicaid expansion opponents. Senate health committee Chairman Gene Suellentrop, a conservative Wichita Republican, noted that a leaflet with his photo contained another senator’s quote on the other side and he said the mismatch suggest the protesters “probably know very little about Medicaid expansion.”

“They need to go back to college,” Suellentrop said.

Advocates have pushed for Medicaid expansion in Kansas since 2012 and passed a bill in 2017, only to see it vetoed by then-Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Democrats in North Carolina are hoping to include expansion in their state’s budget, but they face resistance from GOP legislative majorities and are suggesting that a veto by Cooper is ahead, with potentially protracted negotiations to follow.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers who support expanding Medicaid promised Friday to try to block passage of the next state budget in a high-stakes standoff designed to force the Republican-controlled Legislature’s conservative leaders to allow an expansion plan backed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

The House planned to vote Friday on an $18 billion-plus spending blueprint for the budget year that begins in July. House and Senate negotiators hashed out details Thursday night that were favorable for Kelly, fellow Democrats and moderate Republicans, with extra money for higher education, the prison system and state employee pay raises.

The Senate has yet to debate a Medicaid expansion billapproved by the House in March, and top Republicans want to postpone a vote until next year, arguing that they need more time to get the details right. Kelly has called it a “stall tactic” and is pushing lawmakers to go ahead and expand Medicaid health coverage to as many as 150,000 more people this year.

Top Republicans wanted lawmakers to wrap up business for the year Friday after passing a bill providing relief to individuals and businesses paying higher state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017, a smaller plan than one Kelly vetoed in March. The Senate approved it Thursday night, and supporters needed only a favorable House vote to send it to Kelly.

But lawmakers aren’t finished until they pass a budget because state government can’t operate past June without one. That created an opportunity for expansion supporters if they can hold up the spending blueprint.

“That’s the plan right now,” said House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. “Right now, it looks like it’s holding pretty firm.”

Expansion advocates have been frustrated by their inability to get a bill out of committee in the Senate. The measure has bipartisan support in both chambers, but GOP conservatives who oppose it hold key leadership jobs. Top Republicans argue that an expansion plan is likely to prove more costly to the state than Kelly’s administration projects and want to consider alternatives, including work requirements.

About 15 expansion supporters dropped several thousand leaflets in the Statehouse rotunda Friday morning, each depicting a past-due hospital bill spattered with blood. The leaflets said hundreds of Kansas residents will die needlessly each year without expansion and each had the picture of a GOP senator on one side.

“When there’s extreme behavior coming out of the Senate leadership, that requires us to try to force their hand,” said Logan Stenseng, a 20-year-old University of Kansas public administration student who participated in the brief protest.

The protest didn’t move prominent Medicaid expansion opponents. Senate health committee Chairman Gene Suellentrop, a conservative Wichita Republican, noted that a leaflet with his photo contained another senator’s quote on the other side and he said the mismatch suggest the protesters “probably know very little about Medicaid expansion.”

“They need to go back to college,” Suellentrop said.

Blocking the budget held risks for Democrats and moderate Republicans. If the spending plan failed, budget negotiators could reopen talks and rethink an extra $35 million for the prison system, $33 million for higher education or 2.5 percent pay raise for state employees included in it.

“I would say they don’t get a better budget than this,” said Rep. Kyle Hoffman, a conservative Coldwater Republican. “If we go back, things start getting stripped out.”

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):

5p.m.

The body of a kayaker missing since Wednesday has been found in a swollen southwest Missouri creek, the fourth person to die in the latest round of spring flooding.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. John Lueckenhoff says troopers found the body of 35-year-old Scott M. Puckett of Forsyth, Missouri, Friday afternoon in Bull Creek. The body of his friend, 23-year-old Alex Ekern, was found Thursday.

Puckett and Ekern were among three men who began paddling Wednesday afternoon in the creek near the small town of Walnut Shade. The patrol says they were swept over a low-water bridge and caught in what is called a hydraulic, which creates a washing-machine effect that is hard to escape.

One of the men was able to escape and climbed a steep bank seeking help.

Flooding also claimed the life of a camper found Wednesday after he was caught in waters from an overflowed creek near the town of Ava, also in southwest Missouri. And in northern Indiana, a 2-year-old was killed when his mother drove onto a flooded road.

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The latest round of Midwestern flooding has claimed at least three lives, closed hundreds of roads and forced residents of threatened towns to shore up threatened levees with sandbags as waters rise to historic levels in some communities.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings Friday along a large swath of the Mississippi River, as well as flash flood watches for parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas after recent rounds of heavy rain.

In southwest Missouri, authorities are searching for a paddler whose kayak overturned in a flooded creek, one day after finding the body of his friend, 23-year-old Alex Ekern. They were among three men who began paddling Wednesday afternoon on Bull Creek near the small town of Walnut Shade when they were swept over a low-water bridge.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says one of the kayakers was eventually swept downstream, climbed a steep bank and sought help.

Flooding also claimed the life of a camper who was found Wednesday after he was caught in waters from an overflowed creek near the town of Ava, also in southwest Missouri. And in northern Indiana, a 2-year-old was killed when his mother drove onto a flooded road.

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7 a.m.

Swollen Missouri waterways are inundating farmland, closing roads and straining levees.

The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for Friday for parts of southern Missouri and stretches of the state along the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi is expected to crest Friday afternoon in Hannibal at the third-highest level on records. The Hannibal Courier-Post reports that the height of the city’s flood gates and levee will be raised as a precaution. Hannibal Board of Public Works general manager Heath Hall says that community is “preparing for the worst” but was hopeful that “reality is better.”

The surging Mississippi also was causing problems in West Alton, where the town’s 500 or so residents were under a voluntary evacuation.

Along the Osage River, high waters are inundating campsites at the Mari-Osa Campground.

BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have arrested two people in Kansas after a woman’s body was found in a Missouri lake.

Thirty-three-year-old Samantha McCoy and 43-year-old Monte McCoy were charged Thursday with first-degree assault.

They aren’t charged in the death of 69-year-old Cindy McCoy, whose body was found Thursday afternoon in a vehicle in the eastern Missouri town of Butler.

But the arrest warrant for Monte McCoy says he and Samantha McCoy acted together and “knowingly attempted to kill or cause serious physical injury to” Cindy McCoy by striking her with a vehicle.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation also had sought Samantha McCoy as a person of interest.

The two suspects are jailed in Linn County, Kansas. Their relationship wasn’t released. No attorneys are listed for them in online court records.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri lobbyist strategizing how to advance a measure to help college students like his son who have been disciplined for sex-discrimination complaints suggested pushing the idea that the real problem on campuses is not rape but women regretting casual sex, emails obtained by The Associated Press show.

The documents offer a glimpse into how the connected Capitol insider worked to craft legislation and lobbied lawmakers to change how colleges and universities across the state handle claims of sexual harassment and rape after his own son’s expulsion. The proposals, which appear unlikely to pass this year, have been slammed by one critic as “revenge legislation.”

The emails, obtained through an open-records request, show that lobbyist Richard McIntosh sent detailed edits last year to legislative staffers writing the House version of the Title IX overhaul. One edit that appears to be from McIntosh recommends adding “specific language allowing decisions prior to this legislation to be reviewed.” That would enable McIntosh’s son to appeal his expulsion to a state panel on which his mother sits .

The federal Title IX law bars sex-based discrimination in education, including sexual harassment and assault.

In one November email, McIntosh asked staffers to add a provision to make the changes take effect immediately if signed into law.

“Do you think that passes the smell test in the House to garner the number of votes for an emergency clause?” McIntosh wrote.

Emails also give insight into McIntosh’s strategy to persuade lawmakers to enact the proposals.

He suggested that taking a “couple of shots at the rape equals regret wouldn’t hurt” in a February email to Republican Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, which he also forwarded to other supporters shortly before a Senate Education Committee hearing on the legislation. The email includes a link to a blog on the men’s rights website avoiceformen.com in which the author argues that “women, more than men, regret casual sex, and it is these unsatisfying sexual unions caused by regret — not rape — that is the real sex problem on campus.”

Sexual assaults are among the most underreported types of crime, according to researchers, and false reports are rare. FBI statistics show that only 2% to 8% of sexual assault reports turn out to be false.

A column from conservative news website Daily Wire that McIntosh shared with House bill sponsor Rep. Dean Dohrman and legislative staffers argues that the #MeToo movement is an example of “mass hysteria” and compared it to the Salem witch trials. In that metaphor, the modern “witches” are people accused of rape.

Pending Missouri bills pushed by McIntosh would allow accused students to hire attorneys and cross-examine witnesses, including their accusers. Cases could be appealed to a panel known as the Administrative Hearing Commission, which currently includes McIntosh’s wife and the mother of his son.

Proponents of changing Title IX proceedings say the current process does not give accused students a fair shot at defending themselves.

Colleges and universities, victims’ rights advocates and the Missouri NAACP president all oppose the effort, citing concern about the potential chilling effect on victims.

Dohrman has said McIntosh asked him to carry the legislation and said McIntosh told him that his son was expelled following a Title IX complaint at Washington University, a private school in St. Louis. The specific allegations are not public.

McIntosh has previously declined to comment when asked by AP about his son’s expulsion and did not return requests for comment Wednesday. His wife, Audrey Hanson McIntosh, also did not return AP requests for comment.

It’s not uncommon for lobbyists to work directly with legislative staffers to draft bills, according to Mike Reid, the lobbyist for the lobbying group Missouri Society of Governmental Consultants. He defended the practice, saying that “many lobbyists are the experts in certain areas.”

McIntosh’s emails also indicate that his wife played a role in the legislative effort.

He suggested in November that House staff add the “AHC language that I sent you from Audrey yesterday.” He listed both his and his wife’s personal contact information in an October email to the House bill sponsor and staffers.

The efforts have been aided by wealthy St. Louis businessman and Washington University trustee David Steward, who co-founded World Wide Technology. McIntosh has lobbied for World Wide Technology since 2000.

The recently formed Missouri Campus Due Process Coalition is bankrolled by Kingdom Principles, a nonprofit that is at least partly funded by Steward. McIntosh is listed as the registered agent for Kingdom Principles and was among 29 lobbyists the group hired for the 2019 session.

After the Kansas City Star first reported on the link between the legislation and McIntosh’s son last week, Republican Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden said it’s doubtful the bill would come up for debate again this session. The deadline to pass bills is May 17.

“It’s unfortunate that something of this magnitude that maybe should require attention was brought about in this way,” Rowden told reporters. “Hopefully it doesn’t greatly diminish the more robust policy conversation that can and should happen around Title IX.”

Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr on Thursday said he does not plan to bring the bill up for debate in the House this session.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A former college softball player fatally shot while driving in eastern Iowa will be memorialized Friday at a funeral Mass in her Kansas hometown.

Micalla Alexis Rettinger was shot early Sunday morning as she drove over a wooded area along the Cedar River in Waterloo. The 25-year-old former University of Northern Iowa softball player pulled over along U.S. Highway 218 and died. The bullet also struck one of her passengers: her 32-year-old boyfriend, Adam Kimball. He was hospitalized and the bullet was recovered.

pic.twitter.com/1XkqnIGKk8

— CVCrimestoppers (@CVCrimeStopper) May 2, 2019

At least $58,000 has been offered as a reward for information leading to an arrest.

The Mass is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa, Kansas. She had been living in Waterloo since graduating in 2016 from the university.

By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas revived tax relief legislation Thursday night without assurances that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would accept a new, smaller plan for helping individuals and businesses who are paying more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws.

The Senate approved, on a 27-13vote, a measurethat is less than half the size of a tax relief bill that Kelly vetoedin March after describing it as fiscally irresponsible. Drafted by GOP negotiators for the House and Senate, it would save taxpayers roughly $90 million during the budget year beginning in July and about $240 million over three years. The House could vote on it as early as Friday to determine whether the bill goes to Kelly.

Kelly has urged legislators to wait until at least next year to pursue tax legislation, arguing that Kansas must be sure first that its finances are stable. However, Republican leaders made tax relief a top priority and contend the state is receiving a “windfall” that it doesn’t deserve because of the federal tax changes at the end of 2017.

The Senate’s vote came a day after the Kansas Department of Revenue reported that the state collected $81 million more in taxes than anticipated during April.

“How dare we realize in one month the money it takes to pay for this bill, knowing that it’s going to increase for many months to come, and not pass the savings on to Kansas businesses and Kansas individuals?” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican.

Kelly framed the first, larger tax relief billas an irresponsible return to a tax-cutting experiment under former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback that made Kansas nationally notorious because of the persistent budget woes that followed. Bipartisan legislative majorities repealed mostof the Brownback tax cuts in 2017, and Kelly ran successfully againstBrownback’s political legacy last year.

“Folks, we’re playing the same game,” said Sen. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City Democrat.

The governor said Thursday that the state has in recent years made “impulsive, poorly reviewed” tax changes and instead should do a comprehensive study of its tax system.

“Above all, I believe this discussion should be guided by a thoughtful, data-driven, big-picture vision for Kansas — not by a hasty attempt to achieve an immediate political victory,” Kelly said in a statement.

Wagle said supporters of the first tax bill, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, cut back on the potential cost of the state with the second bill to make it more palatable to Kelly.

But Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, predicted, “This bill is destined for a veto.”

Like other states, Kansas faced revising its income tax code because it is tied to the federal tax code. The federal tax changeschampioned by President Donald Trump lowered rates but also included provisions that raised money for Kansas, in part by discouraging individual filers from claiming itemized deductions.

“This is clearly a tax increase if we don’t fix this,” said Sen. Rick Billinger, a Goodland Republican.

Like the earlier bill Kelly vetoed, the new measure would allow individuals to itemize on their state tax returns even if they do not itemize on their federal returns. The bill also provides relief to corporations, particularly large firms with operations outside the U.S., but it is less weighted toward those business taxpayers than the previous measure.

Unlike the earlier measure, the new plan does not attempt to apply the changes retroactively so that filers could receive refunds on what they paid this spring for 2018.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — General Motors officials met behind closed doors with Gov. Mike Parson and other state and local leaders Thursday to discuss a possible $1 billion expansion of the company’s truck and van plant in Wentzville.

Missouri will compete with other states for the expansion project, and it remains unclear what incentives the company is seeking or the potential cost to taxpayers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported .

The project would include an unspecified number of new jobs, but few other details were released.

“I’m excited that Missouri has a seat at the table to compete for a tremendous opportunity that will provide a boost to our state and to our regional economy,” Parson told reporters.

The incentive package likely will be a combination of infrastructure spending, tax incentives and subsidies, Parson said.

Any proposal would have to be approved by the Legislature, which is approaching the final two weeks of this year’s session. Parson and others said they believe a package could be done quickly and would not require a special session.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, said lawmakers and the governor’s office would work over the weekend on an incentive package and he expects to know the potential cost by next week.

Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, said state and company officials discussed a $22 million Fast Track scholarship program that could help land the project.

Eigel and other members of a Conservative Caucus have blocked passage of the program in a dispute over school choice tax breaks. Eigel said after Thursday’s meeting it was too early to say whether the caucus would continue blocking the scholarships but he called the GM deal and “unprecedented opportunity.”

The Wentzville plant currently employs about 3,500 workers, who build the mid-size Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks and GM’s full-size vans.

FINNEY COUNTY — Authorities in southwest Kansas are alerting residents of a new phone scam.

On Thursday, the Finney County Health Department in Garden City reported in a media release their phone number has been used in prank, recorded phone calls about false STD notifications.

The Health Department reminded the public they would never discuss private health information in a recording, always ask permission to discuss sensitive health information over the phone and will always identify as employees of the Finney County Health Department. The staff will also never discuss any health information in a voice mail.

If you’ve visited the health department for an STD, the health department will ask for your password or code to discuss any health-related issue over the phone.

When screening for STDs, the health department reminded they will never reveal the identity of the person that named them as a sexual partner.

If you receive a phone call that may seem suspicious, call the health department and staff will verify if we have attempted to contact you.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Pro-Life supporters are waiting until next year to try to overturn a Kansas Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights.

Their plans signal that they may not have enough support yet to push the necessary state constitutional amendment through the Republican-controlled Legislature.

GOP legislative leaders were outraged by last week’s ruling but said they plan to take their time in responding to the ruling, despite the threat of state courts overturning existing abortion restrictions. Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group, says it needs time to organize the push to get a proposition on the ballot.

Abortion opponents also fell just short this week of overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of an anti-abortion bill. They would need the same two-thirds majorities to pass a constitutional change.

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