WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, bringing a contentious 14-month partisan battle to a close after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

The vote was 54-45 on Friday. The victory gives President Donald Trump’s 49-year-old nominee a lifetime spot on the court and his party a much-needed political win after failing to pass legislation on health care and other issues.

The final confirmation vote came after Senate Republicans rewrote the chamber’s rules, voting to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold on Supreme Court nominees. The change allowed the Senate to proceed to the final vote with a simple majority.

Democrats opposed Gorsuch in part because Senate Republicans blocked former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, last year.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities are searching for a suspect in the kidnapping of a Kansas City man who was last seen Monday.

Jackson County prosecutors charged 21-year-old Maro Sosa-Perea, of Kansas City, Kansas, on Thursday with kidnapping and armed criminal action in the disappearance of Cristian Escutia.

The 19-year-old was last seen being shot at and forced into a sport utility vehicle in Kansas City, Missouri.

Court records say a witness told police that Sosa-Perea had said he was driving the vehicle when the victim was kidnapped. The witness said Escutia was forced out of the vehicle in Kansas City, Kansas, and that at least two shots were fired at him.

Prosecutors want Sosa-Perea held on a cash-only bond of $150,000 when he is arrested.

On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on the Shayrat air base, southeast of Homs, over a chemical weapons attack he blamed on Syria’s government.

Kansas First-District Congressman Roger Marshall supported the attack

In a media release Marshall said, “I applaud the President’s decisive action in the face of the horrific chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian government on innocent civilians. I welcome this show of American strength and values. This sends a clear message to Syrian and Russian officials that we will not stand idly by in the face of these horrific atrocities.”

The U.S. used the “deconfliction line” to warn Russia ahead of time that the strike was coming.

In the aftermath of the attack, which Syria said killed at least seven people, Russia announced it would suspend its cooperation in the information-sharing campaign. Russia still has several dozen warplanes and batteries of air defense missiles at its base near Latakia, Syria.

DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai and Kia are recalling nearly 1.2 million cars and SUVs because the engines can fail and stall, increasing the risk of a crash.

The recall covers the Korean automakers’ most popular models including 2013 and 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport SUVs and Sonata midsize cars. Also covered are Kia Optima midsize cars from 2011 through 2014, Kia Sportage SUVs from 2011 through 2013 and Kia Sorento SUVs from 2012 through 2014.

The companies say that debris left from manufacturing can restrict oil flow to connecting rod bearings. That can increase temperatures and cause the bearings to wear and fail.

Hyundai and Kia will notify owners and dealers will inspect the engines. They’ll replace the block if needed at no cost. The recall is scheduled to start on May 19.

WICHITA – A Clearwater woman was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison on a drug trafficking charge, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Kraysalias Lynn Bernhardt, 21, Clearwater Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of using a telephone in furtherance of drug trafficking.

In her plea, she admitted that on Jan. 16, 2016, she talked by phone with co-defendant Samuel Below, who was being held in the Sedgwick County Jail.

Below told her to sell methamphetamine that he was storing at her residence. Following his direction, she sold a pound of meth.

Below was sentenced in December to 10 years in federal prison.

SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Salina are investigating an alleged threat Thursday at Central High School and made an arrest.

Sammi K. Nichols, 15, faces criminal threat charges after a School Resource Officer was notified that he threatened to “Shoot up the school,” according to a Salina Police Department press release.

The threat was said to have occurred at approximately 8:36 a.m. Thursday through Facebook Messenger.
Police put the school on heightened security as authorities searched for Nichols. Officers arrested him just after 4 p.m. this afternoon at a rural, according to Police Capt. Mike Sweeney.

He is being held in the Juvenile Detention Center.

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SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Salina are investigating an alleged threat Thursday at Central High School.

A known suspect made an indirect threat, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney. Authorities notified all schools in USD 305.

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He would not release any additional details.
Central High School remains on heightened security as classes continue as usual.

HUTCHINSON– Family members found a four-year-old boy not breathing and with no pulse in a pool at a home in the 1100 block of Bramble Bush Drive in Hutchinson Thursday afternoon.
The child was taken to a Wichita hospital in critical condition according to Hutchinson Police Lt. Josh Radloff.
Just after 4p.m., first responders were dispatched to the residence and were able to get the child breathing before EMS arrived, but then at the hospital the child stopped breathing again. However, they continued to work on the child and were able to get the boy breathing again.
The child apparently lived a few houses down, with his mother going into her home to check on another child and when she came back found the four-year-old missing.
The home owner with the pool had put a hose in her pool to fill it up and was inside when she noticed the hose was out of the pool and a gate to that pool was open.
She went to check on the hose and saw pants by the pool. That’s when she saw the child.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed a Kansas sheriff fired a detective for refusing to end an investigation into a man who faces sex crime charges from five women and a teenage girl.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that U.S. District Senior Judge Sam Crow took the action Friday. Former senior detective Al Dunn alleged in the suit that Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse tried to suppress an investigation into Jacob Ewing of Holton.

Dunn’s lawsuit claimed Morse faced complaints from family and friends of Ewing who believed they could influence Morse’s bid for re-election. Court filings claimed Morse pressured Dunn to back off of the investigation.

Dunn sought about $150,000 for lost salary and mental and emotional distress. But Crow found “no viable constitutional” violations.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has voted to give grocery stores the right to sell full-strength beer, overcoming the state’s history of strict liquor laws.

The bill passed 80 to 45 Thursday. Most of the opposition came from lawmakers who were concerned that competition with large grocery chains would put small liquor stores out of business.

Under the bill, grocery stores could sell beer that has up to 6 percent alcohol by volume. Now they can only sell cereal malt beverage with just 3.2 percent alcohol by volume.

The bill still needs a Senate vote.

The House vote contrasts with the state’s intense temperance movement, led in part by Carrie Nation in the early 1900s. Kansas’ prohibition began in 1881 and didn’t end until 1948. National prohibition lasted just 14 years.

SALINE COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating an alleged kidnapping and asking for help to locate suspect.

Just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday police responded to a home in south Salina after report of a possible kidnapping, according to a media release.

Officers determined Matthew Collier, 30, allegedly kidnapped two acquaintances at gunpoint.

Several hours after the initial report, the victims returned to the residence safe and unharmed, according to police.

Police issued a Saline County arrest warrant for Collier on requested charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault. Collier is described as a white male, 5 foot 10 inches tall, approximately 210 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes.

He is considered armed and dangerous.   Anyone with knowledge of Collier’s whereabouts, should immediately call 911.