JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A renewable energy company is again facing opposition as it seeks one of the final pieces of regulatory approval needed to carry wind power from the nation’s heartland to the east.

Missouri utility regulators began hearing testimony Monday on a request from Clean Line Energy to build a high-voltage transmission line from western Kansas across Missouri and Illinois to an Indiana power grid that connects with eastern states.

The Houston-based company already has won approval from other states, but the Missouri Public Service Commission rejected it in 2015.

Clean Line Energy is trying again — this time by showing it has Missouri municipal power companies lined up as customers.

Several landowner and farmer groups are questioning the true need for the project and the discounted rates provided to those cities.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating an attempted burglary.

Just after 1:30 a.m. on Monday, a man and his wife told police they noticed lights turn on outside of their home, in the 2500 block of Aberdeen Lane in Salina, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

Two suspects then entered the home and began going upstairs.

The husband then attempted to chase down the suspects; one climbed out of a garage window and the other jumped off of the second story balcony.

Law enforcement arrived but could not locate the suspects. They believe one of them was armed with a handgun, according to Forrester.
The intruders did not take anything but some items were broken during the husband’s brief pursuit. The couple’s 20-year-old daughter was also home during the break-in.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The court-appointed attorneys for a Kansas man accused of plotting to bomb to an apartment complex filled with Somali immigrants have asked a court to let them withdraw from the case.

The filing Monday by attorneys for Patrick Stein comes in the wake of an arraignment last week on a superseding indictment. Stein told the magistrate judge he was unwilling to be represented by attorneys Edward Robinson and Kristen Wheeler.

Stein told the court they were providing “ineffective assistance of counsel,” and he wanted to hire his own attorney.

Monday’s written filing exposes rifts between Stein and his attorneys over how to defend the case.

Stein wants to challenge the validity of a search warrant for his home and insists on bringing the case to trial as soon as possible.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects and looking for a third in connection with a weekend shoplifting spree.
On Saturday, police responded to Walmart, 2900 South Ninth in Salina, for report of shoplifting in progress.

Walmart employees directed police across the street to the Olive Garden parking lot, where they found Kristen Reed, 37, and Latrina Green, 35, both of Wichita, with a car full of stolen items, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

The two women along with a third suspect had been traveling from town-to-town, shoplifting items.
Walmart employees told police that the suspects distracted the greeter while sneaking out two 40-inch TVs and two desktop computers.

The suspects then attempted to flee to their vehicle, leaving one television in the parking lot.

They drove to the Olive Garden parking lot to wait for the third suspect.

Reed and Green were taken into custody. The third suspect was never found, according to Forrester.

The Salina Walmart estimated their total loss at over $1,500.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three-year-old twins are dead after apparently wandering into a pond just north of Kansas City.

The Kansas City Star reports the twins’ father woke up Monday morning and realized the children were missing from their home in Platte County.

Platte County Undersheriff Maj. Erik Holland reports both toddlers were found in the pond, the girl was found first and was rushed to a local hospital where she later died. Responders did not immediately see the boy until a dive team was called in.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Holland says they are investigating but don’t have anything that indicates anything other than an accident.

The private pond sits behind a few houses, including the one were the children lived.

The newspaper reports that father called 911 twice. Neighbors also called.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are advancing a proposal to give most state employees a 2 percent pay raise even as lawmakers wrestle with serious budget problems that could force a big tax increase.

The state Senate Ways and Means Committee voted Monday to include the raise in its proposed spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning in July.

The committee opted for the broad pay increase instead of larger raises for judges and other workers in the court system. Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss urged lawmakers to boost their pay in his State of the Judiciary address last week.

Most state government workers have not seen a pay increase for almost a decade.

But the state also faces projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019.

FINNEY COUNTY  -Law enforcement authorities in Finney County are investigating after a child was left in a hot car on Sunday.

Just before 4 p.m. police responded to St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City for a reported Child in Need of Care, according to a media release.

The investigation revealed a two-year-old child was left unattended in a vehicle for approximately two hours and was suffering from extreme heat exposure.

Further investigation revealed that on this date the family went to church at about 1:00 p.m. in Garden City.

During the ride to church the child had fallen asleep in the car. When the family arrived at church the mother exited the car with three of their four children and went into the church.

The father lagged behind to gather things needed for the children in the car. The mother and the father both believed that the other had taken the child from the vehicle. The two-year-old was believed to be in Sunday school with the other children, while the parents went to church services.

After the services ended the two-year-old child never came out of Sunday school with the other children.

The parents began searching for their son. The child was located in the car unresponsive. He was transported to St. Catherine Hospital by the parents. The child was stabilized and transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita Kansas.

The National Weather service reported the temperatures at that time Sunday as 92 degrees with 7% humidity.

SEDGWICK COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating a fatal shooting.

Just after 9p.m. on Sunday police responded to a shooting in the 2400 Block of North Minnesota in Wichita, according to the police on line media briefing.

Upon arrival, officers encountered a 17-year-old in an alley just west of Minnesota Street.

He had a single gunshot wound to his torso. A friend of the victim directed officers to the victim’s house and informed police the victim’s father was a possible suspect in the shooting.

Officers located and arrested the father 41-year-old Glen Farrow. 

The victim was transported to Wesley Medical Center where he died.

During the investigation, police determined the father and son argued in the front yard of the residence. When the son ran, the father pulled a handgun and shot him, according to police.

The father is being held on 2nd-degree murder charges. Two other teens who live at the residence were not home at the time of the shooting.

By Mac Moore
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA— With Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget plan set to use $500 million of Kansas Department of Transportation funds to fill budget shortfalls in each of the next two fiscal years, the Senate Assessment and Taxation committee heard a motor fuel tax bill last week that would replace $84.5 million of those transferred funds.

Senate Bill 224 would increase the motor fuel tax rate to 29 cents per gallon. The 5-cent increase would make Kansas higher than each border state. Nebraska is currently the highest with a 28-cent rate for gas. Missouri and Oklahoma have 17-cent rate while Colorado is 22.

Jerry Younger, managing director of Kansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association and former KDOT official, said the tax was necessary to start addressing the neglect toward Kansas road infrastructure. Younger said the investments last year and this year are far short of the necessary $380 million required just to maintain the Kansas Highway system and the state’s budget transfers indefinitely delayed $500 million worth of KDOT projects.

“If four consecutive years of not fully funding the basic preservation needs occur, two things will most certainly happen,” Younger said. “Highways and bridges will be in worse condition than they are today and it will cost significantly more to address the roads and bridges that fall out of good condition.”

According to a 2016 U.S. Department of Transportation report, 62 percent of Kansas roads are considered to be in poor or mediocre conditions, ranked 38th in the nation. Thirty-one percent of Missouri’s roads are in poor condidtion.

Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association of Kansas, said the bill puts Kansas convenience store owners at a disadvantage compared to neighboring states. Palace said nearly 38 percent of the Kansas population lives in the first county off the border. He said current tax levels on gas, as well as tobacco, incentivize customers to cross the border to make convenience store purchases.

“Consumers won’t change what they buy,” Palace said. “They will change where they buy. They will simply find a cheaper way to purchase their goods.”

Tom Whitaker, executive director of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association, said the trucking industry cannot afford this tax increase. Whitaker said the industry already bears a high burden of road maintenance costs, including a $100 per year increase on vehicle registration fees for trucks larger than a pickup truck. He said the transfers to the general fund should be fixed before discussing an increase to motor fuel taxes.

“We ask you to stop depending on the Bank of KDOT,” Whitaker said. “The Governor and the legislature do not have a State Highway Fund problem, you have a State General Fund problem.”

Under the bill, the State Highway Fund is estimated to receive $56.1 million in FY 2018 and $61.3 million in FY 2019.

All additional funds would be allocated to the Special City County Highway Fund. The SCCHF is estimated to increase by $28.4 million in FY 2018.

Kansas is currently projected to take in $439 million in motor fuel taxes in Fiscal Year 2017.

The Senate committee took no action on the bill.

Mac Moore is a University of Kansas senior journalism major from Lawrence.

TREGO COUNTY– A Kansas man was convicted Friday of 10 child sex crime-related charges, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

A Trego County jury found David Wayne Tidball, 54, WaKeeney, guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, three counts of child abuse, one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness, one count of lewd and lascivious behavior, and two counts of promoting obscenity to a minor. Three of the charges fall under Jessica’s Law, because the victim was under 14 years of age. Judge Glenn R. Braun presided over the trial. Sentencing has not yet been set.

The crimes were committed between July 2013 and July 2015. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the WaKeeney Police Department. The Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center conducted forensic interviews of the victims. Assistant Attorney General Lee J. Davidson of Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case.