TOPEKA -Kansas Game Wardens are seeking the public’s help.

An adult Bald Eagle was shot and killed below Marion Reservoir’s dam sometime Wednesday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to call Operation Game Thief at 877-426-3843.

Operation Game Thief provides a toll-free line available 24/7, 365 days of the year, for citizens to report wildlife-related violations.

All calls received through the OGT line are quickly relayed to the natural resource officer nearest the violation, and callers can remain anonymous.

NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is condemning those who seek to “highjack religion for their own murderous ends.”

Watch Thursday’s replay of the National Prayer Breakfast here

Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering of politicians, faith leaders and dignitaries in Washington. The president called on people of faith to push back on those who seek to distort religion.

Among those attending the breakfast is the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Obama says the Dalai Lama serves as a “powerful example of what it means to practice compassion.”

The president’s meetings with the Dalai Lama have consistently been criticized by China. Beijing sees the Dalai Lama as an anti-Chinese separatist because of his quest for greater Tibetan autonomy.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Kansas man involved in a fatal ATV accident that killed a North Dakota man is charged with two felonies.

Nathan Clark, 31, Anthony, was charged in Reno County District Court on Thursday with involuntary manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol and failing to stop at a fatality accident.

Officials say Clark’s alcohol level was at or above the legal limit of .08.

The Reno County Sheriff’s office reported an ATV driven by Allen Hammeren, 48, Williston, ND., was traveling on South Sylvia Road on October 18, 2014.

The ATV was hit from behind by an SUV driven by Nathan Clark.

Hammeren was pinned under the ATV and pronounced dead at the scene.

Clark left the scene but later contacted authorities about his involvement in the accident.

He is jailed on a bond of $51,500.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has fully adopted the recommendations of a panel of petroleum engineering experts on what Omaha-based Northern Natural Gas should pay for condemning nearly 9,200 acres in southern Kansas.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot ruled Wednesday that the report from the court-appointed panel is fundamentally sound. He called it a fair resolution supported by the evidence and consistent with constitutional requirements of just compensation.

The panel had mostly sided with the gas company over what it should pay gas producers and owners of land surrounding the company’s underground storage facility. It affects property owners in Pratt, Kingman and Reno counties.

The panel had recommended the company pay $7.3 million for storage rights and for gas underlying the land, far below the more than $100 million property owners wanted.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republicans in the Kansas Senate say they’re rushing a stop-gap budget-balancing plan to passage because they want to ensure that the state keeps paying its bills on time.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ty Masterson of Andover said during a Thursday morning meeting of fellow GOP senators that the bill tackles a projected $344 million shortfall in the state’s current budget by shuffling money around.

The GOP-controlled chamber was expected to pass the plan later Thursday and send it to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. The House approved it Wednesday on an 88-34 vote.

The measure mostly diverts money from highway projects and special funds to general government programs.

But tax collections fell short of expectations through January, and a deficit of $800,000 would remain on June 30.

———

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans who control the Kansas Senate expect their chamber to approve a stop-gap plan for closing Kansas’ current budget deficit so that it goes to GOP Gov. Sam Brownback.

GOP senators planned to discuss the bill Thursday morning, with a vote on it by the full chamber scheduled later in the day.

The House approved the measure Wednesday on an 88-34 vote.

Republican leaders believe lawmakers need to pass the bill by Feb. 13 to ensure that the state keeps paying bills on time.

The measure attacks a projected $344 million shortfall in the current budget, mostly by diverting money from highway projects and special funds to general government programs.

But tax collections fell short of expectations through January, and a deficit of $800,000 would remain on June 30.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) Wednesday questioned the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget.

In light of Secretary Burwell’s refusal to answer questions about the future of Obamacare in the shadow of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the latest challenge to the law, King v Burwell, on March 4, 2015, Senator Roberts focused his questions on the potential for rationing in the President’s healthcare law.

Senator Roberts specifically noted the contradiction in Secretary Burwell’s testimony on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) in her confirmation hearing and the request made to increase IPAB’s targeted savings for Medicare in the President’s FY 2016 Budget.

Created in Obamacare, IPAB is responsible for cost cutting decisions in Medicare and Medicaid should the rate of Medicare spending growth reach a certain target. Roberts remains concerned IPAB will amount to rationing of care for our seniors by unelected bureaucrats.

“During your confirmation hearing we talked a lot about the Affordable Care Act’s Independent Payment Advisory Board – the IPAB,” Senator Roberts said. “You said, and I’ll paraphrase here, that you were hopeful that IPAB never needs to be used…You were hopeful that we can make sure that IPAB never gets triggered, and we all agreed.”

“But, here we are again with a budget request where you’re asking to expand this authority to find savings. How can you explain to me how you went from hoping it never had to be used to now doubling down on IPAB and expanding the savings it must find?” Roberts asked.

During the debate on Obamacare, Senator Roberts offered amendments to prohibit the use of comparative effectiveness research and to eliminate IPAB. He voted against Obamacare in both Committees and on the Senate floor.

Senator Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance and is a member of its Subcommittee on Health Care. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and is co-chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The owner of a troubled Kansas racing facility has released a tentative 2015 schedule that includes hosting a National Hot Rod Association drag racing event in May.

Heartland Park Topeka owner Raymond Irwin says it would be irresponsible for him to not have a schedule in place for the new track operator, drivers and fans.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports a Kansas Court of Appeals panel is to hear oral arguments on Feb. 26 from Irwin’s company, Jayhawk Racing, the city of Topeka and petitioner Chris Imming.

The city wants to issue $5 million in STAR bonds to buy Heartland Park, but Imming initiated a petition drive seeking to put the purchase to a vote. The city challenged the legality of the petition, which a Shawnee County judge ruled invalid.