DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) – One of two Dodge City women accused of attacking a pregnant woman in an effort to kill the unborn child reached a plea deal in the case.

Eighteen-year-old Kaila Vargas pleaded no contest Tuesday to intentional aggravated battery and criminal threat. In exchange for the plea, an attempted murder charge was dropped.

Assistant Ford County Attorney Scott James says Vargas and Mary Gobin attacked the woman, who was seven to eight months pregnant, at her home last June. They allegedly threw her to the ground and punched her stomach several times.

The Dodge City Daily Globe reports the attack apparently happened because the victim’s boyfriend had talked to police about a separate case.

Gobin pleaded no contest to aggravated battery and criminal threat on Feb. 10.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A federal judge has granted a sentencing delay for a Kansas researcher who admitted falsifying data in a 2010 clinical trial of an allergy pill on human subjects.

Lisa Sharp, a nurse from Olathe, had been scheduled for sentencing March 5, but a judge on Wednesday moved the proceeding to March 23. Sharp’s co-defendant, Topeka physician Wayne Spencer, will still be sentenced March 5.

Both defendants worked for Lee Research Institute, which was paid by Schering-Plough to conduct the clinical trial on the allergy medication. Spencer was the principal investigator and Sharp was the lead research coordinator.

They pleaded to conspiracy to defraud and failing to maintain records in a clinical trial as required by the Food and Drug Administration.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas House members will consider a series of bills recommended by the Office of the Repealer that identify laws, rules or regulations that are deemed no longer necessary.

The bills on Thursday’s debate calendar were advocated by secretary of administration Dennis Taylor, who was designated by Gov. Sam Brownback as the state’s official repealer.

Brownback asked Taylor last year to gather suggestions throughout Kansas of laws and regulations that are burdensome to government, businesses or residents.

Many of the statutes relate to special funds for fees that are no longer collected. Others spell out duties of county officials that were adopted in the early 1900s.

In all, more than 50 items were identified for repeal and are in various stages of the legislative process.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A bill that would let Kansas residents contribute to arts programs when they pay their income taxes is facing a final vote in the state House.

The measure creates a new income tax check-off for the Kansas Arts Commission. Thursday’s vote will determine whether the bill moves to the Senate.

The proposal, sponsored by 40 Republicans, is in line with GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s push to have arts programs rely more heavily on private funds.

Last year, Brownback vetoed the Arts Commission’s entire $689,000 budget, making Kansas the first state in the nation to eliminate its arts funding. This year, he’s proposing $200,000 for a new Creative Industries Commission.

Supporters don’t know how much a new check-off would generate. Critics say it wouldn’t provide adequate funding.

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) – Garden City commissioners approved resolutions offering symbolic and financial support to an Amtrak route through southwest Kansas.

The commission on Tuesday approved a resolution asking Amtrak to maintain the Southwest Chief’s route between Chicago and Los Angeles that goes through Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City. It also approved spending up to $20,000 to help pay for federal lobbying efforts to keep the current route.

The Garden City Telegram reports Amtrak is considering an alternative route that would run south of Newton through the Texas Panhandle to New Mexico. It cites the poor condition of rail track owned by BNSF Railway, which Amtrak uses for its service.

The $20,000 is for a coalition of Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City officials to lobby for the current route.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Art created by Kansas students will be among those wrapped around a 365-foot replica of the Saturn V rocket at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

A visiting assistant professor at Washburn University helped elementary students from Rossville and St. Mary create 550 pieces of artwork for the Dream Rocket Project.

A news release from the Topeka university says the Saturn V rocket will be wrapped with more than 8,000 pieces of art in 2014.

Beforehand, all submissions are being displayed in venues such as libraries, schools and museums. A show is planned at the Wamego Public Library in April.

The young artists submitting their work come from hundreds of cities across the United States and other countries.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas House members don’t think much of giving a state official the power to double the fee for registering a boat to use at state parks.

The House voted 82-29 on Tuesday against giving first-round approval to a bill allow the secretary of wildlife, parks and tourism the authority to increase the boating fee to $60 from $30.

Boat owners pay the fee once every three years. Supporters of the bill said that even if the fee is doubled, it will still be competitive with the fees charged in other states. They said the Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism can use more budget flexibility.

But critics worried about increasing fees or giving too much power to an administrative agency.