TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed a man’s conviction in the 2014 beating death of a Wichita radio station employee.

The court on Friday rejected arguments from Antwon Banks that prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence that did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt during his trial for first-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Daniel Flores. The justices ruled the state presented sufficient evidence to convict Banks.

Flores was found beaten to death in the basement of a Steckline Communication office in February 2014. Prosecutors said Banks bludgeoned Flores with a fire extinguisher after Flores found Banks scrawling hateful messages about Banks’ former girlfriend on a wall. The girlfriend was a Steckline office manager.

Prosecutors said Banks was upset over a recent breakup with the woman.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Animal experts say a coyote’s snatching of a small dog near Lincoln is a reminder to keep a close eye on pets in areas where coyotes may be wandering.

Steve Anderson saw his Yorkie, Jasper, snatched by a coyote last week on his acreage west of Lincoln. Anderson says he tried to chase after the coyote, but the animal disappeared into a cornfield with Jasper.

Earlier this month a family in the south-central Nebraska city of Hastings reported a coyote bit and tried to drag away a 1-year-old child.

Hastings Police Sgt. Brian Hessler says the attack happened around 10:30 p.m. while the family was watching July Fourth fireworks. The incident follows weeks of reported sightings of coyotes in the city.

A police report says the coyote left marks on the boy’s back but quickly ran off. Officers searched but did not find a coyote in the area.

Animal Control manager Steve Beal says there have been about 35 reports of coyote sightings in Lincoln since May. He says the group hadn’t received any reports of attacks on pets before this recent incident.

Beal recommends people keep a close watch on their pets and to not let them outside unattended. He also says pet owners can carry a whistle to scare off coyotes.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

Hackers who breached a Kansas Department of Commerce data system used by multiple states gained access to more than 5.5 million Social Security Numbers and put the agency on the hook to pay for credit monitoring services for all victims.

The number of SSNs exposed across the 10 states whose data was accessed has not been previously reported. The Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio, obtained the information through an open records request.

More than half a million of the SSNs were from Kansas, according to the Department of Commerce.

The data is from websites that help connect people to jobs, such as Kansasworks.com, where members of the public seeking employment can post their resumes and search job openings. Kansas was managing data for 16 states at the time of the hack, but not all were affected.

In addition to the 5.5 million personal user accounts that included SSNs, about 805,000 more accounts that did not contain SSNs were also exposed.

America’s Job Link Alliance-TS, the Kansas Department of Commerce division that operates the system, discovered suspicious activity on March 12, isolated it on March 14 and contacted the FBI the next day, according to testimony provided by agency officials to Kansas lawmakers this spring.

AJLA-TS officials also sought help from a third-party IT company specializing in forensic analysis. That analysis helped them verify that the coding error the hackers exploited had been fixed and to identify precisely which user accounts had been breached.

The Kansas News Service filed its open records request on May 24 seeking details about the extent of the breach and contracts related to the state’s response. The Department of Commerce fulfilled the request on July 19.

The documents show that the agency and AJLA-TS contracted with three private companies in the aftermath of the breach:

Epiq, of Kansas City, Kan., to provide a call center for victims seeking information about the incident and Equifax credit monitoring services.
Shook, Hardy and Bacon, a Kansas City, Mo. law firm, for “professional investigative, legal and compliance services.”

SHI, a New Jersey-based IT company, for “rapid deployment” incident response.
The state is paying the law firm $175,000 for services that run through Dec. 31, 2017. The IT contract cost approximately $60,000.

The cost of the Epiq contract isn’t known because the agency redacted pricing information from the documents it released. David Soffer, a spokesperson for the department, said Epiq considers the cost information proprietary.

Testimony to lawmakers indicates AJLA-TS contracted with a fourth company in April, Texas-based Denim Group, to review code and provide feedback for improvements, which has since been implemented. The agency didn’t provide documents related to this contract in fulfilling the open records request.

Kansas will pay for up to a year of credit monitoring services for victims in nine of the 10 affected states. Victims residing in Delaware are eligible for three years of services because of contractual obligations to that state, Soffer said.

Agency officials have not yet responded to questions about whether insurance will cover some of the state’s costs.

The call center for victims, which can be reached at (844) 469-3939, will remain open through the end of this month, Soffer said.

The Department of Commerce said in May that this is the first known breach of AJLA-TS’ databases. AJLA-TS’ response to the hack – providing credit-monitoring services – exceeds what is required by Kansas state law, a department spokeswoman said at the time.

The head of a California-based advocacy group, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, told The Topeka Capital-Journal in May that one year of credit monitoring is not sufficient protection for victims of the hack, which also exposed names and birth dates, among other personal information.

The Capital-Journal also reported that hundreds of thousands of the Kansas victims may not be aware their accounts were breached.

The Department of Commerce said in May it had sent about 260,000 emails to victims, but added that it did not have email addresses for all users. Kansas law does not require notification to the victims via post or telephone, the department said.

When a recent theft from a Washington State University unit that handles data for state agencies on a contract basis exposed the personal information of 1 million people, the university notified victims by post.

That breach also included SSNs. Like Kansas, Washington State offered victims one year of free credit monitoring.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a Kansas City, Kansas, woman with the first name of Darlene may have been the person whose remains were found 32 years ago in a western Missouri field.

Clay County Sheriff’s Department Det. Jesse Stoker says the name is being released in the hope of generating more clues to identify the woman who was shot in the head three times.

The Kansas City Star reports that a tipster reported the name to a hotline after investigators released a new composite in October. The tipster also said the woman might have had two children. The caller said the two occasionally rode back and forth to work.

Authorities initially thought the woman was white but not believe she was black and between the ages of 17 and 23.

SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects involved in a shooting.

Just before 9 p.m. Thursday, police were dispatched to the 1700 Block of NW Lower Silver Lake Road in Topeka after report of a shooting, according to a media release.

Upon arrival officers found 36-year-old Travis Cook with a gunshot to the leg. They also found 32-year-old Stacey Michael in the residence. She had a broken jaw.

Police reported the two had an altercation and she shot Cook in the leg. Both were transported to a local hospital.

Following treatment, police booked Cook on requested charges of aggravated domestic battery. Police booked Michael on unrelated charges.

HARPER COUNTY – A third earthquake this week shook portions of Kansas Thursday. The quake measured a magnitude 2.5 and was centered seven miles southeast of Anthony according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It follows a 2.5 magnitude quake in the same area and at about the same time Wednesday and another on Tuesday morning in Harper County.

The agency has recorded five quakes in Kansas this month, 18 Kansas earthquakes in June, 9 in May, a dozen in April, 7 in March and 6 in February.

There are no reports of damage or injury from Thursday’s quake, according to the Harper County Sheriff’s Department.

FINNEY COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug and stolen vehicle charges

Just after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Police took a report of a stolen Silver 2004 Nissan Titan truck from Signature Autoplex, 512 East Fulton in Garden City, according to a media release.

Just after 8 a.m. Wednesday, officers observed the stolen Nissan traveling eastbound in the 1500 block of East Spruce Street in Garden City.

Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, and the vehicle fled from police. Officers pursued the vehicle to the area of Highway 50 and Towns Road where the driver identified as Larry Briscoe Jr., 37, Garden City, lost control of the vehicle and collided with a telephone pole.

Police arrested Briscoe Jr. without incident or injury. He is being held in the Finney County Jail on possible charges of: Possession of Methamphetamine,  Fleeing and Eluding, Theft (Possession of Stolen Property), Driving while License Suspended and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The vehicle is valued at $10,500.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Democratic Party’s new executive director is a lawyer who has worked on voting rights litigation.

The party announced in a news release Thursday that Ethan Corson, a former U.S. Department of Commerce official, will take the party’s top job beginning August 1.

He previously worked on voter protection litigation for former President Barack Obama’s second campaign in Wisconsin in 2012 and for the Kansas Democratic Party in 2014.

Party Chairman John Gibson says Corson’s previous work is especially important at a time when Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is working to tighten the state’s and the country’s voting laws. Kobach also is running for the GOP nomination for Kansas governor.

CLOUD COUNTY – Two people were injured in an accident just before 11a.m. Thursday in Cloud County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Lincoln passenger vehicle driven by Tegan M. Kemmerer, 27, Jewell, was eastbound on Highway 9 just east of 150th Road.
The vehicle left the roadway, struck the guardrail and the concrete bridge rail and overturned.

Kemmerer and a 6-year-old passenger Kash Kemmerer were transported to the Cloud County Hospital. The driver was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

WICHITA — A man has caught an unusually large flathead catfish in a lake northeast of Wichita and locals think it’s the largest fish of any kind reeled in during the lake’s 50-year history.

Charlie Henning had caught an 80-pound (36 kilograms) catfish at Marion Reservoir last week that was more than 50 inches (1.3 meters) long.

All of Henning’s gear used to catch the fish, dubbed Moby Catfish, had cost less than some fishing lures. Henning says his equipment may be cheap but it is reliable. He told the Post he used cut up shad for bait and “it was just our time, I guess. The biggest I ever caught before this weighed 12-pounds.

Marion resident Warren Kreutziger says the biggest confirmed flathead he knew of was 65 pounds (29 kilograms) prior to Henning’s catfish.

Kansas’ record of the heaviest flathead is 123 pounds (56 kilograms), caught at Elk City Reservoir in 1998.

-The AP contributed to this report