PAOLA, Kan. (AP) — The National Weather Service says a tornado near the eastern Kansas town of Paola was a small one, but it was still enough to cause damage.

The twister with winds estimated at 80 mph to 85 mph was reported at 4:10 a.m. Monday just south of Paola. Jason Leighton of the National Weather Service says it was an EF-0, 15 yards wide, and lasted three minutes.

The tornado damaged the roof of Trinity Lutheran Church and toppled headstones in a nearby cemetery. It also bent a flag pole. No injuries were reported.

 

The twister was the first one of the year reported in the weather service’s Kansas City region. Paola is a town of 5,600 residents 45 miles southwest of Kansas City.

TOPEKA— The Kansas Department of Corrections is investigating whether illegal drugs played a role in four recent inmate deaths at three state correctional facilities.

Since Friday, April 26, two Hutchinson Correctional Facility inmates, one Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility inmate and one El Dorado Correctional Facility inmate have died. The cause of death in each case is pending autopsy results, according to a media release.

Ethen Thornton died Friday morning at an area hospital. He had been housed at Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

On Monday, Jeremy Waller died at Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

Quinn Martin died Friday afternoon at an area hospital. He had been housed at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility.

Kendrick Gracey died Saturday night at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the investigation.

STONE COUNTY — Two people died in an accident just before 8p.m. Monday in Stone County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1996 Ford Bronco driven by Mario M. Aberle, 49, Lampe, was eastbound on Rosemary Lane just south of Lampe.

The vehicle ran off the road on a curve, traveled down a steep embankment, struck a tree and overturned.

Aberle and a passenger Eden Aberle, 14, Lampe, were pronounced dead at the scene.

A second passenger Lars D. Aberle, 23, Lampe, was airlifted to Mercy Hospital. Eden Aberle was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Washburn University football players who were shot outside of an off-campus house party hours after one of them was drafted by the New York Giants were “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” authorities said Monday.

The shooting early Sunday killed defensive back Dwane Simmons and injured cornerback Corey Ballentine, whom the Giants drafted in the sixth round on Saturday.

Authorities haven’t disclosed the exact nature of Balletine’s injuries, but they weren’t considered life-threatening and the school said he’s expected to make a full recovery. It wasn’t clear if he was still hospitalized Monday.Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran said a preliminary investigation showed that Simmons and Ballentine were among roughly 50 people at the party, which was not specifically to celebrate Ballentine being drafted, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

After a disturbance inside the home, the two 23-year-old players and some other partygoers went outside, he said. A car containing two to four people — who were strangers to the men — pulled up and exchanged words with people in the street.”We have no indication that any of the conversation was confrontational,” Cochran said.Someone from the car apparently shot Simmons and Ballentine, but it was unclear Monday if the shots came from inside or outside the car, Cochran said.

The altercation inside the home and the shooting don’t appear to be linked, he said, and the people inside the car apparently didn’t attend the party.

Police were questioning more than 20 potential witnesses Monday. They also questioned Ballentine but hoped to do a longer interview later, Cochran said.

Police haven’t said how many times Simmons and Ballentine were shot. And no information on possible suspects or the vehicle has been released.

A candlelight vigil for Simmons will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the Washburn campus.

On Sunday, Simmons’ father said his son’s death had “shattered a lot of people.”

“This was a senseless murder,” Navarro Simmons said at a gathering of family and friends in Kansas City.

Craig Schurig, the Division II program’s head coach, said Simmons’ death is heartbreaking. He said Simmons, a junior from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, maintained a great attitude, even while battling through two knee injuries. The team gathered Sunday to mourn his death.

Simmons told The Topeka Capital-Journal last fall how his injuries had affected his outlook.

“It’s more than a game to me now,” Simmons said. “I came in as a walk-on and had to earn a scholarship, then tore an ACL, redshirted and tore another one. It really puts everything in perspective that this game can be taken away from you in a blink of an eye. So I take this game to heart. I get emotional about this stuff and I take this game very, very seriously, and I’m having a great time.”

The Giants issued a statement saying the team was aware of the shooting and was gathering information about it.

“We have spoken to Corey, and he is recovering in the hospital. Our thoughts are with Dwane Simmons’ family, friends and teammates and the rest of the Washburn community,” the team said.

Ballentine played in 46 games for the Ichabods, finishing with 186 tackles, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and five interceptions. He blocked four kicks and averaged 24.81 yards on kickoff returns.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers on Monday advanced a bill to make it harder for courts to fine defendants as punishment for hurting people.

The pending measure would raise the standard for what are called punitive damages, which courts use in civil lawsuits to discipline and deter repeat misconduct.

Republican Rep. Bruce DeGroot’s bill would require proof that defendants intentionally caused harm in order for courts to award punitive damages. He called the proposal a “pro-business” and “pro-worker” bill.

“It’s a pro-Missouri economy bill,” he said. “It helps us compete with businesses in other states.”

Business groups including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and companies including Enterprise, Monsanto and General Motors backed the bill during a March hearing.

But Democratic Rep. Gina Mitten said companies don’t cut corners with the intent to do harm. She cited opioid manufacturers as an example, telling colleagues that pharmaceutical companies didn’t intend to kill people but “sure as heck intended to make money.”

Mitten said the possibility of punitive damages push companies to make better, safer products.

“When money becomes more important than the actual death of people, I don’t even know why we come to work anymore,” Mitten said.

The bill also shields businesses from paying punitive damages for employee misconduct unless company leadership endorsed the behavior in advance or “expressly ratified” it afterward.

“I don’t know any bosses that are going to say, ‘Well, that looks like a good employee. That’s a good sexual harasser, I think I’m going to hire that guy,’” Mitten told DeGroot during debate on the House floor.

Mitten said the bill would leave women facing sexual harassment at work with few legal options after lawmakers in 2017 passed legislation that required employees to sue their company and not individual co-workers for wrongdoing.

The measure needs another House vote to move to the Senate. Lawmakers face a May 17 deadline to pass legislation.

Mississippi County, Mo. (AP) — The former sheriff of a rural Missouri county accused of crimes ranging from fraud to assault was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison.

Former Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson was originally charged with 28 federal counts but pleaded guilty in November to just two of them, wire fraud and identity theft. Hutcheson resigned after the guilty plea.

Hutcheson apologized during Monday’s hearing. Federal guidelines would have allowed up to 16 months in prison. He will serve four months of home confinement and three years of supervised release after the prison sentence.

Investigators painted a picture of a law enforcement officer out of control. In addition to the criminal case, Hutcheson was named in a lawsuit over the 2017 death of an inmate at the county jail.

PHOENIX (AP) — It’s not just Democratic-leaning states at risk of losing federal money and clout in Congress if the Supreme Court says the upcoming census can include a citizenship question.

Fast-growing Arizona, Florida and Texas all have large groups of immigrants, especially Hispanics, who might choose to sit out the census, but are led by Republicans who seem unconcerned about the potential for an undercount and the resulting loss of representation in Congress.

The divide between blue and red states with large immigrant populations is stark as both prepare for a census that could ask about citizenship for the first time in 70 years.

Republican lawmakers in several states with large immigrant populations praised the Trump administration for fighting to include the question and wondered whether immigrants should even be included in the count.

Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters, who also is chairman of the state Republican Party, said he wasn’t worried about the potential consequences of an undercount.

“I don’t care,” he said. “It’s the right decision, and I fully support the president and what he’s trying to do.”

He expects Florida will still pick up at least one seat because of rapid growth.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon whether to uphold the Trump administration’s plan to ask about citizenship on census forms. There appeared to be a clear divide between the court’s liberal and conservative justices in arguments in the case this past week, with conservatives holding a 5-4 majority.

Federal law requires people to complete the census accurately and fully. But Ceridwen Cherry, a lawyer on the American Civil Liberties Union’s voting rights project, said including a citizenship question could contaminate the form for many people and result in an undercount.

“If a citizenship question is added, immigrants and those who live in households that contain noncitizens are going to be more likely to not respond to the census at all,” she said, “or respond and leave off noncitizens from the form.”

The concern among certain immigrant groups — particularly Hispanics and Muslims — is driven by the Trump administration’s oftentimes harsh rhetoric about immigration and fears that it will share the census data with immigration authorities. When an advisory committee asked the U.S. Census Bureau about that worry last year, officials responded by saying that breaking census confidentiality is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

Opponents of the citizenship question point to a study by George Washington University political scientist Chris Warshaw, who found that two or three states are likely to end up with fewer congressional seats than they otherwise would have because of a citizenship question. The most likely in that category are Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas.

On the other side, he said a citizenship question would make it more likely for Idaho or Montana to gain a seat and Minnesota or Ohio to avoid losing one. Nine states would have lost population since the last census if not for international immigration, according to an Associated Press analysis of a Census Bureau population estimate.

In Michigan, a political swing state, the concern is that it could discourage participation among the large Arab American community.

Hassan Jaber, a former census advisory board member, is critical of the administration’s citizenship question and of a decision against adding a Middle East-North Africa classification to the 2020 census.

He said including the citizenship question could affect federal funding for programs and services related to food, health and education. But he’s more troubled by the message it sends to Arab Americans and others.

“The Trump administration’s effort to suppress this recognition of this community sends signals of being unwelcome and to politicize the census … and turn it against minority groups,” said Jaber, CEO of ACCESS, a Detroit-area social services organization. “It’s really something that becomes much bigger than just the data on Arab Americans.”

Matt Barreto, a UCLA professor who submitted testimony in court cases about the citizenship question, did polling that showed 7.1% to 9.7% of the population might skip the census if it’s added. He also found that nearly half of Californians don’t trust the Trump administration to keep the citizenship information out of the hands of other government agencies.

“The administration wanted a citizenship question to hurt California. In the end, they’re going to end up hurting conservative states and counties,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

Conservatives generally support adding the citizenship question, even if it might suppress the total population count in their state.

“If we would be entitled to another congressional seat, the question is, should we be entitled to it because we have more non-citizens living here that are not voters, or shouldn’t be voters?” said Arizona Senate President Karen Fann.

Arizona Republican lawmaker John Fillmore said he’s not concerned about the fallout. He said he believes the state’s explosive growth will ensure it doesn’t lose clout.

“I do not believe Arizona’s going to lose a House seat in any way shape or form,” he said.

In Texas, Republican state Rep. Phil King said there is bipartisan agreement that everyone should be counted. He said the state is likely to pick up seats in Congress because of its rapid population growth, but it will be a close call to determine how many.

“What we’ve got to do as a state is just make sure that we have programs in place that strongly encourage everybody to respond to the census and to know that it’s safe and OK to do that,” said King, who is chairman of the House redistricting committee.

Texas Civil Rights Project spokesman Zenen Jaimes Perez said the organization has not had any coordination with the state on making sure Hispanic communities are counted. Perez said the group has worked with city officials in Austin, Houston and San Antonio to host community forums about the census and the importance of filling it out.

Census data is used to divide the 435 U.S. House seats between 50 states and determine their clout in the Electoral College. It’s also used to draw state legislative district maps and divvy up federal funding to states, cities and counties.

About half the states have created “complete count” commissions to coordinate grassroots efforts designed to convince people to complete their census forms, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, who supports the citizenship question on the census, this month created a complete count committee to work on outreach.

He said the state stands to lose an estimated $887 in federal funding each year for every person who skips the count.

Ducey said the group will include people with expertise in reaching out to rural areas, tribes, universities, apartment dwellers, faith organizations, veterans and community organizations. Lawmakers are considering spending $5 million on the effort, a proposal that cleared the Senate nearly unanimously.

Ducey told Capitol Media Services earlier this month that asking about citizenship is “a fair question” to “get a handle of who’s here, who’s a citizen and who’s not.”

His spokesman, Patrick Ptak, declined to comment on the prospect of not gaining a House seat but said the census is a priority for the governor’s office.

Persuading people to respond to the Census requires explaining how it’s linked to funding for schools, hospitals and other services — and making them know it would be illegal for the census to share individual information, said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

“An army of lawyers will be ready in the worst-case scenario that there is some kind of nefarious action taken around census confidentiality,” Gupta said.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged sex crime after a toddler tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease.

Kanas City Kansas police chief Terry Ziegler reported on social media over the weekend that the 2-year-old girl and other siblings were left at the home of a family friend. The following morning, the mother discovered injuries to the child.

Children’s Mercy Hospital confirmed evidence of rape. The child also tested positive for the STD. Police released no additional details Monday.