JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts is working with fellow Republicans on legislation to overhaul health care even as fellow Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran grabs national headlines for helping to stall the effort.

Roberts acknowledged during an Associated Press interview that he’s not happy with parts of the latest version of the bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

His staff said he’s been working with the plan’s drafters on provisions protecting financially stressed hospitals and a home health program for rural states.

Roberts said Congress needs to move quickly because delay allows conditions in the health insurance market to worsen.

Moran jumped into the spotlight by tweeting early this week that he couldn’t support the latest version of the GOP plan, denying it a vote that it needed to pass.

BASHOR, Kan. (AP) — A Basehor man has been sentenced to a year in jail and probation for a crash that killed two relatives who were to be groomsmen at a wedding the day they died.

Leavenworth County Attorney officials say 22-year-old William Wilson was sentenced Friday for involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol.

The charge stemmed from a June 2015 crash near the Kansas River that killed 29-year-old Jesse Aldrich and 34-year-old Justin Wilson.

The Leavenworth Times reports prosecutors say William Wilson had a blood-alcohol level of .09 after the accident. He was 20 at the time and the legal limit for a driver under 21 is .02.

William Wilson and the two victims were to serve as groomsmen at Wilson’s brother’s wedding in Basehor the day they died.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — One of four men charged in the shooting death of a Kansas gun store owner will have to serve at least 33 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

Londro Patterson III was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the January 2015 fatal shooting of Jon Bieker at the She’s a Pistol gun store in Shawnee.

Bieker and his wife, Becky Bieker, owned the store. He was shot when he exchanged gunfire with suspects during an attempted robbery.

The Kansas City Star reports prosecutors say another man fired the shot that killed Bieker but the four men were all charged with murder because they allegedly participated in a robbery that led to the killing.

Another defendant is awaiting sentencing, while the other two are awaiting trial.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Leavenworth woman has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison for beating her mother to death.

Sixty-year-old Victoria Smith was sentenced Friday for intentional second-degree murder in the July 2016 death of Anna Maria Higgins.

The Leavenworth Times reports prosecutors say Smith hit Higgins several times with a flashlight and a three-pound mallet at a home where Smith lived.

Friday’s hearing began with District Judge Gunnar Sundby denying a defense motion to allow Smith to withdraw her no contest plea.

Family members said before sentencing that Smith had a history of abusing Higgins.

Smith told the court she intended only to scare her mother and then “snapped” but she believed she should be sentenced for manslaughter, rather than second-degree murder.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The NAACP announced on Saturday it would embark on a nationwide listening tour to talk to its local members and help figure out what the future of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization should be.

The announcement came at the beginning of its 108th national convention in Baltimore, the location of its national headquarters.

Leon Russell, the NAACP’s national board chairman, said the organization needs to figure out how best to support civil rights workers on the ground in communities who are working on issues like police brutality, the upcoming census, redistricting and voter suppression.

Talking with local members will help them figure out how to “address the issues and challenges that face African-Americans and our communities,” Russell said.

The first stop on the listening tour will be in Detroit on Aug. 24, followed by San Antonio, Texas in September, officials said.

The tour should “expand our reach, touch our people, engage more diverse audiences and reinforce our focus on civil rights in this age of great political and social uncertainty,” said Derrick Johnson, chair of the convention and vice chair of the NAACP Board of Directors.

The NAACP has in recent years been overshadowed at street-level advocacy by groups like Black Lives Matter as nationwide concern increased over the deaths of black men, women and children at the hands of the police.

Russell said the NAACP has coexisted during the civil rights movement with younger groups like the Congress of Racial Equality, while Johnson pointed out that all of the organizations today are working toward the same goal of equality and fairness.

“In fact, many of the young people who are in the ranks of those organizations come out of the ranks of the NAACP. It’s not a competition,” Johnson said.

The NAACP parted ways with its president and CEO Cornell William Brooks in May. Russell said they hoped to have a new president in place by the end of the year but the board is not rushing the process.

“We’re going to sit down and really be intentional on how we do this, where we look and how we look,” Russell said.

President Donald Trump declined an invitation to speak at the annual convention. Trump also did not speak to the NAACP convention last year, citing scheduling conflicts with the Republican National Convention.

The NAACP convention will wrap up on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (AP) — Funeral services have been set for an Illinois man killed along with a passenger when his World War II-era aircraft crashed in Kansas last weekend.

Visitation for Vlado Lenoch of Burr Ridge will be held Sunday in the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook. His funeral will be held Monday at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church in Western Springs.

The 64-year-old Lenoch and 34-year-old Bethany Root were killed Sunday when their P-51 Mustang fighter crashed in a field about 10 miles from an airport in Atchison, Kansas.

The crash occurred one day after the fighter flew in a festival that celebrates famed aviator Amelia Earhart in her Kansas hometown.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the plane crash.

By ELLE MOXLEY

There are fewer high school age students enrolled in public schools in Kansas City than there are in the elementary grades.

But while charter operators say there aren’t enough high school options, Kansas City Public Schools officials argue there are too many.

Supt. Mark Bedell can’t even keep them all straight. “We have 14 different middle school options – or is it 13?” he asks the district spokeswoman. “Twenty-three. There are 23 different middle school options.” That includes charters. Bedell shakes his head.

Kansas City families don’t make just one school choice. Again and again, year after year, they decide whether to stay or go.

Turns out, a lot of them are going.

Education leaders just aren’t sure where.

Charter perspective

I first met Tymar Friendly back in February, on a school tour for moms with kids about to start kindergarten. His East Side charter school, KIPP Endeavor Academy, was our first stop. We knocked on the door of his language arts classroom.

“Oh my God, that’s a large group,” says a wide-eyed Tymar. He quickly regains composure and introduces himself. He wants to know if we had any questions.

“Do you know where you’re going to high school next year?” Haley Bowman, KIPP’s director of development, asks

“Oh yeah,” he says. “Today, I just got from my teacher, he said I just got accepted to Lincoln.”

“Nice job!” Bowman exclaims. Tymar beams. The moms congratulate him. One of them even went to Lincoln.

“I went to shadow day last Wednesday,” Tymar tells us. “It was amazing.”

I decided it was finally time for me to do a story on how Kansas City families choose high schools. So in May, I went back to KIPP and asked Tymar what he remembered about the day he got into Lincoln.

“When Mr. Swartzlander told me, it actually made me jump two feet into the air,” Tymar recalls.

Tymar’s mom really wanted him to go to Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, an elite district school. After visiting, Tymar really wanted to go there, too. But when I asked Tymar if any of his classmates were headed to Lincoln, he wasn’t sure. That’s because KIPP places eighth graders at so many high schools.

“Sion, at Lincoln, at Cristo Rey,” says Josh Swartzlander, KIPP’s director of high school placement, ticking off each school on his fingers.

Swartzlander is thrilled anytime a kid like Tymar gets an acceptance letter. But the work’s not over. KIPP counselors support students all the way through high school and into college.

“We are literally going into all the buildings across the city to meet with our students,” Swartzlander tells me. “Obviously that’s a logistical challenge that you don’t face when you’re in the same building.”

KIPP opened as a middle school in 2007. Last year it expanded down, to kindergarten. School leaders want to open a high school, but Bowman says the timeline for that is uncertain.

“Our students and families are asking for a high school. We just see a huge need in Kansas City for more free, public schools that are a high academic rigor and quality,” she says.

District pushback

Bedell and other district officials aren’t so sure the answer is more high school seats. When he took the job last year, Bedell promised to work with the charters that compete with KCPS for students. But as more charter school operators have announced their intention to expand, the district has gotten more aggressive about recruitment.

“While there were good intentions with charters, and good intentions with the things we’re doing in our school system, the oversaturation is actually working against all of us because enrollment is down,” Bedell says.

Bedell thinks families are still leaving city schools for big suburban districts like Shawnee Mission and Blue Springs, they’re just putting off the move until their kids are older.

I’ve had families tell me there just aren’t that many options for kids who can’t get into a top school like Lincoln. So I ask the mayor’s education advisor, Julie Holland.

She’s very diplomatic.
“That is a great question, and I think when you’re talking specifically around that topic, you might be talking about families that are on the west side of Troost,” Holland says.

A city divided

Holland says Kansas City is having two conversations about education – one on the economically disadvantaged East Side, and one in more affluent, majority white neighborhoods.

Bottom line, a lot of white families that will send their kids to well-regarded K-8 charters don’t want to enroll them in majority black high schools, which most KCPS neighborhood schools are.

That’s a problem when the research shows socioeconomically diverse schools close the achievement gap fastest, Holland says.

“How do we create schools like that where all kids can benefit, but it’s not something that’s very exclusive, where you’re having to test in, or live in a certain area or affluent neighborhood to have access to it?” she wonders.

Holland says more information is needed about why families leave public schools, whether for private high schools or suburban districts.

“We need to verify with actual interviews, finding these families, asking the question, ‘So why did you leave? Why did you move out at this juncture?’” says Holland.

Her team is trying to do that now.

Meanwhile two charters popular with Brookside families are adding high school seats west of Troost. Academie Lafayette is in talks to buy the old Derrick Thomas Academy, and Crossroads Academy will open its doors to ninth graders this fall.

Elle Moxley covers schools and politics for KCUR a partner in the Kansas News Service.  You can reach her on Twitter @ellemoxley.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one of three men convicted in the killing of a Kansas woman initially left to die in a car’s trunk has been resentenced.

The Kansas City Star reports that 29-year-old Joseph Mattox won’t be eligible for parole for 50 years under the life sentence imposed Wednesday after he waived his right to a jury trial. The Kansas Supreme Court tossed his original Hard 50 sentence because a judge, not a jury, imposed it. His attorney argues he should be eligible for parole after 25 years.

Prosecutors say 18-year-old Keighley Alyea of Overland Park, was attacked and thrown into a car’s trunk in 2009 before being beaten and stabbed to death when she regained consciousness and began screaming. Her body was found in Missouri’s Cass County.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have upgraded charges against a suspect in a Topeka home invasion after the victim died from his injuries.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 31-year-old Howard Burchfiel, of Topeka, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated burglary in the death of 66-year-old Allen Wichman. His attorney, Matthew Works, didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

Topeka police apprehended Burchfiel last month after a standoff. He initially was charged with aggravated battery. The home invasion left Wichman with life-threatening injuries, and he died July 14.

Kansas Department of Corrections records show Burchfiel was released under supervision in March from Lansing Correctional Facility after being convicted in 2009 of aggravated assault, attempted first-degree murder and a third or subsequent conviction of driving under the influence.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A union representing Kansas state employees says some officers at the state’s maximum-security prison outside El Dorado are being required to work 16-hour shifts.

The Kansas Organization of State Employees disclosed Friday that it filed a grievance earlier this month with Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood.

KOSE Executive Director Robert Choromanski said the practice is dangerous.

He also said it violates a bargaining agreement between the department and prison employees that keeps officers from being required to work more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period.

Choromanski said eight officers have complained to the union and the practice began in early July. An hours-long disturbance occurred at the El Dorado prison June 29.

Department of Corrections spokesman Todd Fertig declined to comment and called the grievance a personnel matter.