VATICAN CITY (AP) — A whodunit is making the rounds at the Vatican.

The publisher of a book on traditional Catholic marriage is crying foul, saying someone apparently swiped as many as 100 copies of the book from the Vatican mailboxes of bishops who attended a controversial meeting on family issues last October.

The publisher sent the books to attendees to counter progressive proposals by Pope Francis’ favorite theologian to let divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.

The book, penned by five high-ranking, conservative cardinals, explains that the suggestion is simply contrary to Christ’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

The Vatican spokesman insists the books were delivered without impediment.

But the mystery remains: What happened to the books?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Highway Patrol says seven people have been killed in overnight shootings in southeastern Missouri and that the gunman is also dead.

Sergeant Jeff Kinder says the 36-year-old suspect was found dead in Shannon County early Friday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Investigators say the attacks took place in multiple locations in and around the town of Tyrone, in Texas County, about 40 miles north of the Arkansas border.

Authorities have not named the victims or the gunman. The victims were found at four different homes.

One injured person was taken to a hospital.

An investigation is ongoing. A motive for the killings and possible connections between the shooter and victims were not immediately clear.

By Austin Fisher
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — House lawmakers agreed unanimously Thursday on a bill to crack down on newly emerging strains of synthetic marijuana and other psychedelic drugs.

House Bill 2275 adds three recently-created classes of “designer drugs” to the list of Schedule I controlled substances. Designer drugs are synthetic drugs that are chemically modified to achieve the same psychoactive or stimulant effects of controlled substances but avoid the attention of drug law enforcement.

Drugs listed as Schedule I are considered to have a high potential for abuse, no medical use, and no safe use even under medical supervision. Some designer drugs already on the Schedule I list include variants of peyote, ecstasy, and bath salts.

The bill targets certain hallucinogenic methanones that mimic tetrahydrocannabinol, a cannabinoid commonly known as THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana.

It also expands an already-controlled class of other synthetic cannabinoids called tetramethylcyclopropanoylindoles to include a version called “FUB-144.”

It also clamps down on a new variant of the 2C class of psychedelic phenethylamines that can be consumed in the form of a pill.

Rep. Ramon Gonzalez (R-Perry) said there is an ongoing battle between drug law enforcement and chemists who are constantly creating new substances that end up on the streets.

“We’ll pass a law every year outlawing these drugs, and the chemists will say, ‘What can we do to change this?’” Gonzalez said. “They figure out what the current illegal drug is, and they’ll move one of the molecules over. Sometimes the new drug is better, sometimes it’s worse. We usually don’t know about the new drugs out there that are causing injuries or deaths until people start showing up at hospitals.”

The Kansas Sentencing Commission said the bill could affect prison admissions but couldn’t provide precise numbers.

Should the bill become law, it will take effect when it appears in the Kansas Register before going into the statute book.

Austin Fisher is a University of Kansas senior from Lawrence majoring in journalism.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 22-year-old man is charged in a shooting near the University of Kansas campus that injured three people.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports court records show Caleb Chrisman of Grain Valley, Missouri was charged Wednesday with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and three counts of aggravated kidnapping.

The three men injured in the Feb. 8 shooting have all been released from the hospital.

Investigators have said at least two people fled from the scene after the shooting. Lawrence police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley says the investigation into other possible suspects is continuing.

Chrisman is being held in the Douglas County Jail on a $500,000 bond. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney to discuss the charges.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A sheriff’s office in Kansas is seeking the public’s help in the investigation of an Oklahoma man’s death.

Capt. Greg Pollock of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office tells the Wichita Eagle  that sheriff’s investigators are working with law enforcement agencies from both states to find those responsible for the death of 56-year-old Dale Childress of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Pollock says authorities are asking for information leading to the whereabouts of a dark-colored, four-door Buick LeSabre with a model year between 2001 and 2005.

Childress was named in a search warrant in connection with the shooting deaths of 37-year-old Jennifer Sudar and 26-year-old Amanda Douglas outside a Tulsa apartment complex.

Childress’ body was found last week in the Wichita area with a gunshot wound.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators appear to be embracing a compromise proposal for rewriting the rules for collective bargaining between teachers’ unions and local school boards.

The House and Senate pass separate bills Thursday that have the support of teachers’ unions and school board and administrator associations. They reflect a compromise among the groups in January.

The House voted 109-14 to pass its bill, while the Senate voted 40-0 for its measure.

State law currently compels the two sides to bargain on 31 issues each negotiations cycle.

The House bill would require them to discuss only salary and work hours, but would allow each side to make five other issues mandatory topics.

The Senate bill would allow three mandatory topics in addition to salary and hours.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A government report shows that two varieties of winter wheat developed by Kansas State University are the leading varieties planted in the state.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that Everest is the top hard red winter wheat variety of all wheat seeded in Kansas.

Everest accounts for 15.8 percent of planted acres for the 2015 crop, and it’s the favorite in the eastern two-thirds of the state.

It is followed in popularity by the TAM 111 variety with 9.1 percent of the acreage. Coming in third is T158, with 5.1 percent of the acreage.

Among hard white wheat varieties, Danby was the Kansas favorite, accounting for just under half of the state’s white wheat. Most of the state’s white wheat is planted in southwestern Kansas.

By JIM MCLEAN
The odds that the Kansas Legislature will pass a Medicaid expansion bill this session remain long.

But they improved Thursday, however slightly, when conservative Republican leaders agreed to allow a hearing on expansion to avoid an immediate vote on the House floor.

Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, was attempting to amend his Medicaid expansion proposal into an unrelated bill. Uncertain how a vote might turn out, House leaders dropped their opposition to a hearing in exchange for Ward withdrawing his amendment.

Rep. John Wilson, a Lawrence Democrat, said the tactical maneuver “disrupted the plan” that GOP leaders had to block any consideration of Medicaid expansion.

“We now have a new opportunity in front of us to talk about expansion and to talk about the Kansas Hospital Association’s plan,” Wilson said.

The hospital association has been working behind the scenes with Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators to craft an expansion plan similar to those being proposed by other Republican governors. These so-called red state expansion plans use federal Medicaid funds to help low-income adults purchase private coverage. They also require recipients to share in their health care costs in ways that traditional Medicaid doesn’t.

A bill drafted by the House Vision 2020 Committee contains elements of a possible Kansas plan. It includes a mechanism for covering the state’s share of expansion costs, something that may prove essential given the state’s budget problems.

Just last week, Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican and chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, said he had no plans to schedule hearings on expansion.

Ward’s agreement with GOP leaders changes that. At some point during the second half of the session the House will have a hearing on the expansion bill introduced at the request of the hospital association, which seeks to repeal a 2013 proviso that prohibits Gov. Sam Brownback from crafting an expansion plan and negotiating its approval with federal officials.

Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program, KanCare, covers about 425,000 children and low-income, disabled and elderly adults. But that number includes relatively few non-disabled adults.

Adults with dependent children can participate in KanCare, but only if they have incomes below 33 percent of the federal poverty level, $7,770 annually for a family of four. Adults without children aren’t eligible for coverage no matter how poor they are.

Expansion would make all Kansans with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty eligible for KanCare. The eligibility cap would be set at an annual income of $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.

Rep. Don Hill, an Emporia Republican who has been working with the hospital association, said if a Medicaid expansion bill reaches the House floor, it might pass.

“It very well might be a close vote,” Hill said. “But I think there is a lot of bipartisan support for Medicaid expansion in the Legislature and in the House in particular.”

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.