LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – A Lawrence Municipal Court judge says part of a city ordinance that makes it illegal to obstruct traffic on sidewalks is unconstitutional.

Judge Randy McGrath ruled Wednesday in the case of 54-year-old Robert Gilmore, who faced three misdemeanor counts after being accused of blocking downtown sidewalks last year.

Gilmore is often seen in downtown Lawrence wearing a robe or bed sheet. The Lawrence Journal-World reports his mother says Gilmore is mentally ill.

McGrath ruled that parts of the ordinance making it illegal to “continue to obstruct traffic” and forcing people to walk around someone are vague and unconstitutional. He ruled sections on leaving objects in a right of way and intentionally obstructing traffic are constitutional.

The city has until Feb. 22 to decide whether to appeal the decision.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas House committee has rejected a request from public broadcasters to restore $800,000 in state funding.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget proposal included $600,000 for public broadcasting, a cut from the current $2 million state appropriation.

A House budget subcommittee restored $800,000. But Thursday, the full House Appropriations Committee removed that $800,000 and returned the state appropriation to $600,000 for the next fiscal year.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports State Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican, said government needs to get out of public radio. Others said the state’s financial problems required them to make difficult funding cuts.

But several western Kansas legislators said their constituents depend on public radio and public television. Others said public television’s emphasis on early learning and children’s programming was a service to the state.

FRANKFORT, Kan. (AP) – Marshall County authorities are asking to public for help finding a Frankfort man who has been missing for a week.

Seventy-eight-year-old Francis H. Kramer was last seen last Friday on his way to the Sac & Fox Casino.

Authorities said Kramer was driving a 1991 blue, four-door Chevrolet Lumina with Kansas tag UZR569.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) – University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little gives the military high marks for its efforts to eliminate racial barriers.

Gray-Little, the university’s first woman and black chancellor, made the remarks Thursday during an address at Fort Leavenworth. She was speaking in commemoration of Black History Month.

She said efforts to promote racial equality made it possible for Gen. Colin Powell to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Barack Obama to become commander in chief.

Gray-Little said black soldiers have played an important role in the nation’s defense, noting the accomplishments of Buffalo Soldiers to protect the frontier and the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A federal judge has found a Kansas man competent to stand trial on charges of threatening the president of the United States.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten made the ruling following a competency hearing Thursday for Michael Scott Ramsey.

Ramsey is charged in a two-count indictment with making threats in 2009 and 2011 against Barack Obama.

The hearing comes after Ramsey underwent a psychological examination and evaluation at a federal medical center. Officials determined he had the ability to understand the proceedings against him and assist in his own defense.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Shawnee County has agreed to pay $75,000 to settle a lawsuit over a jail policy that bans inmates from receiving books and publications in the mail.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that county commissioners Ted Ensley, Shelly Buhler and Mary Thomas unanimously approved the settlement during their meeting Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented Vermont-based Prison Legal News in a lawsuit filed last year against the Shawnee County Commission and the director of the county’s corrections department. The suit contended that the ban violates the inmates’ constitutional rights to free speech and other civil rights.

With the settlement, the jail now will permit Prison Legal News and items such as subscription renewal letters and catalogs into the facility.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – AARP Kansas says it is opposed to a proposed settlement before regulators that would allow the state’s largest electric company to increase its rates by $50 million.

Topeka-based Westar Energy reached an agreement with the staff of the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, and other parties. Westar initially sought a $91 million rate increase, arguing it needed higher revenues to cover rising costs.

The agreement for the smaller increase still must be approved by the commission, and it plans to start hearings on the proposal Monday.

AARP Kansas Director Maren Turner said the agreement would allow Westar stockholders to earn excessive profits from rates paid by struggling families. The agreement would set the monopoly service provider’s allowable profit at 10 percent.