LENEXA – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 9 a.m. on Friday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Kenworth Cement Truck driven by James Walter Westerfield III, 32, Kansas City, was southbound on Interstate 35 just north of U.S. 69 in Lenexa.

The vehicle made an evasive action to avoid hitting vehicles that had stopped due to traffic.

The truck went off the roadway and rolled down the hill.
Westerfield III was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

NEW YORK (AP) — Pepperidge Farm is recalling about 46,000 packages of bagels because they may contain peanuts or almonds that could set off a serious allergic reaction.

The company said Friday that no illnesses have been reported. It was alerted to the problem by a bakery that makes the bagels.

The recall includes plain, everything and cinnamon raisin bagels. Mini bagels, sold in whole wheat, cinnamon raisin and brown sugar with cinnamon flavors, are also being recalled. The affected bagels have sell by dates ranging from Feb. 7 to Feb. 12.

The bagels were sent to stores in 23 states. Customers can return the bagels to the store for a full refund.

Pepperidge Farm is owned by the Campbell Soup Co., based in Camden, New Jersey.

SALINA – Law enforcement authorities are investigating an accident Friday morning in Saline County

Saline County Sheriff’s department reported a deputy found a 1999 Toyota Camry in a ditch in the 3100 Block of Gerard Road.

The vehicle had flipped and landed in the west ditch. There was blood at the scene but no driver.

Authorities believed Jonathan Albarado of Lawrence was the driver.

Papers found in the vehicle show that Albarado had contacts in both Salina and Bennington.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — J.M. Smucker Co. says it plans to add some animal food products made at plants in Topeka and Lawrence.

The Smucker Co. announced Tuesday that it had purchased Big Heart Pet Brands, which has had operations in eastern Kansas for many years.

The Kansas City Star reports the Lawrence processing plant’s 144 employees produce seven varieties of the dog food including Kibbles & Bits. The Topeka factory and distribution center have a combined employment of 326 workers. It produces several brands of animal foods including Meow Mix, 9Lives, Milk-Bone, Gravy Train and Nature’s Recipe.

Smucker, which is based in Orville, Ohio, paid $5.8 billion for Big Heart, which was previously known as Del Monte Corp. The company says it doesn’t plan to close any pet food operations.

OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ruled that prosecutors may seek the death penalty against a man accused in the deaths of four people at a Kansas farm, including an 18-month-old girl, in 2013.

Franklin County District Judge Eric Godderz ruled during a hearing Friday the death penalty will be allowed in the case against 29-year-old Kyle Flack of Ottawa. He is charged with murder and rape after two men, a woman and her daughter were found dead near Ottawa. Flack has pleaded not guilty.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Flack’s attorney argued the death penalty should be banned because of “evolving standards of decency,” noting that 120 countries have rejected the punishment.

Godderz said his court is bound to follow precedent in Kansas and the U.S., which allow the death penalty.

BEIRUT (AP) — A purported statement by the Islamic State group claims that an American female hostage has been killed in Jordanian airstrikes on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the group’s main stronghold.

It identified the woman as Kayla Jean Mueller and said she was killed Friday during Muslim prayers in airstrikes that targeted “the same location for more than an hour.”

It published photos allegedly of the bombed site, showing a damaged three-story building.

American officials said they were looking into the report. The White House said it did not have immediate comment.

The statement could not be independently verified. It appeared on a militant website commonly used by IS.

Mueller is an aid worker whose identity was never disclosed out of concerns for her safety.

DAVID PITT, Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Farmers and farm businesses in 20 states have filed more than 360 lawsuits against agricultural chemicals-maker Syngenta, and hundreds more may be coming as a federal judge in Kansas City coordinates the cases so they can proceed.

The dispute centers around Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera, a corn seed genetically modified to contain a protein that kills corn-eating bugs. China hadn’t approved it for import, and boycotted U.S. corn once Viptera was detected in its grain shipments in 2013.

Farmers who did not plant the seed, grain handlers and exporters claim the boycott cost them money.

Syngenta says it plans to seek dismissal because there’s no legal authority barring the introduction of a U.S. government-approved product simply because it wasn’t approved for sale in a foreign country.

China approved Viptera in December.