Brownback Signs "Hard 50" Law
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Governor Sam Brownback has signed legislation revising the Kansas law allowing convicted murderers to be sentenced to at least 50 years in prison. Lawmakers approved the measure this week during a two-day special session. Brownback signed it yesterday (FRI) and delivered it to the secretary of state's office. The law will take effect September 12th when it is printed in the Kansas register.
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Man Charged in Shooting Deputy
EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — A man captured after a four-day search across southern Kansas has been charged with attempted capital murder in the shooting of a Butler County sheriff's deputy. Forty-one-year-old Jan Tracy Kilbourne made a first appearance yesterday afternoon (FRI) in Butler County District Court. The Wichita Eagle reports his court-appointed lawyer did not object when the state requested he be held on $1 million bond.
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Kansas Lawmaker Dies
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The House speaker's office says southeast Kansas Rep. Ed Bideau has died at his home in Chanute. Rachel Whitten, spokeswoman for House Speaker Ray Merrick, says the 62-year-old Bideau died Thursday and is believed to have suffered a heart attack. She says an official cause of death hasn't been determined. Information about funeral services was not available yesterday (FRI).
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Wheat Crop Better than 2012
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Newly released sampling data from 51 Kansas counties show slightly more of this year's wheat graded as top quality. The National Agricultural Statistics Service said yesterday (FRI) in its annual wheat quality report that 85 percent of the samples graded as Number One wheat, compared with 83 percent last year.