WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Airbus Americas plans to relocate its engineering center now in downtown Wichita to Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus.

The move announced Tuesday comes as the university augments its basic research role with one geared to applied research and development that has a more immediate impact.

Airbus will bring its 400 Wichita employees to a new building on campus that is slated for completion in January 2017.

Airbus Americas President Barry Eccleston says relocating to the Wichita State University campus gives the company access to the next generation of engineers. He says innovation is the culture and mantra of his company.

Wichita State University President John Bardo says the partnership with Airbus increases the quality of education for students and increases the impact of the university.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A House committee authorized issuing up to $60 million in bonds to renovate Kansas State University’s College of Architecture.

The project approved Tuesday is the only capital improvement project sought by six state universities to be funded in the House budget proposal.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports (https://bit.ly/1H1gQFD ) the university is running its College of Architecture, Planning and Design in dilapidated buildings, parts of which were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Rep. Mark Hutton of Wichita says he made the motion to include the project in the budget because Kansas State waited for years while major projects were funded at other universities.

The bonds would be issued in fiscal year 2016, with the first $3.7 million payment in 2017 coming from the state Educational Building Fund.

Geary County Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges confirms rural firefighters have had three fire calls dating back to late Monday afternoon.

He said the first about 4:30 p.m. Monday involved a rekindle of a grass fire on Kansas Wildlife Parks Tourism ground on the west side of Milford Lake.

The second fire involved bundles of used newspapers that had been set on fire in campfire sites. “As the bundles burned it sprayed the embers, and the burned paper all over the place.” Berges estimated 10-12 acres burned.

Early Tuesday morning approximately three acres burned near Walla Walla Road. Berges said it appeared somebody discarded smoking materials next to the roadway.

No injuries or major property damage were reported in any of the fires.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A northeastern Kansas man is charged in Missouri in the beating death of a man whose body was found below a cliff.

St. Joseph News-Press reports that 50-year-old Timothy Osborne of Atchison, Kansas, was charged Monday with voluntary manslaughter in the April 2014 death of William Howard Paige Jr.

Paige was 57 and from St. Joseph, Missouri, where Buchanan County prosecutors have charged Osborne.

St. Joseph police say the investigation shows that Paige was killed during a dispute.

Court records say an autopsy found that Paige died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Online court records do not show whether Osborne has an attorney to publicly discuss the charges against him.

HUTCHINSON — A Missouri man convicted for 19 local burglaries in Hutchinson was sentenced Friday afternoon to a total of five years and eight months in prison.

Joseph Paul Jones Jr. was found guilty on all counts involving the crimes that occurred in the late night hours of May 13 and the early morning hours of May 14, 2014.

He was convicted for breaking into the local businesses by prying open doors or breaking the glass windows with a crow bar. The state says Jones cut the telephone lines at several businesses before making entry.

Jones, Jr. is responsible for restitution. The pre-sentence investigation had suggested the amount of about $11,215.00, but the state believes it may be more, so a hearing over restitution will be held on March 12.

He also faces charges in Sedgwick and Lyon Counties.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss. today introduced key legislation to enact a permanent, government-wide prohibition of taxpayer funding for abortion. Currently, similar policies, such as the Hyde Amendment, require annual passage and do not apply to Obamacare.

The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” S. 582, also includes a provision championed by Senator Roberts requiring all health insurance plans offered by Obamacare exchanges to disclose coverage of elective abortion procedures and the abortion surcharge embedded into abortion-covering plans.

“Millions of Americans oppose the use of their hard-earned money to cover abortion services. This is true both of their tax dollars and of the premiums they pay to their health insurance providers. However, Obamacare makes it difficult for consumers to know if a plan they are purchasing covers abortion. We need transparency. Consumers have a right to know what their fees are paying for, so that they can choose an insurance plan that meets their needs and is in line with their beliefs and values,” Senator Roberts said. “Our bill protects this right. We ban all taxpayer funding for abortion, and we clearly inform consumers in health care exchanges which plans cover abortive services.”

“During the debate on Obamacare in 2009, President Obama promised the American people that under his plan, ‘No federal dollars will be used to fund abortions,’” Senator Wicker said. “We know now that is simply not true. Passing this bill would establish a comprehensive policy prohibiting the use of any public funding for abortion. Eliminating loopholes is critical to ensuring that no federal program, including those under Obamacare, is exempt from the prohibition.”

The legislation is the Senate companion to H.R. 7, authored by Representative Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Dan Lipinski, D-Ill. That bill passed the House by a vote of 242-179 on January 22, 2015.

Existing laws that would also be made permanent under S. 582 include the Smith FEHBP amendment (which prohibits funding for elective abortion coverage for federal employees) and the Dornan amendment (which prohibits use of congressionally appropriated funds for abortion in the District of Columbia).

Last year, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office issued a report showing that taxpayer dollars paid for more than 1,000 health insurance plans that included elective abortion.

LOUISBURG- One adult and three children were injured in an accident just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday in Miami County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Toyota Matrix driven by Crane, Jill Beth Crane, 44, La Cygne, was eastbound on Kansas 68 just west of the state line. The vehicle came to a stop to make a left hand turn. A semi rear-ended the Toyota.

Crane and two children from La Cygne were transported to St. Luke’s Hospital. Another child from Louisburg was transported to Children’s Mercy.

The semi driver Paul Clayton Scott, 35, Ottawa, was not injured.
The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

HUMBOLT – Three adults and two children were injured in an accident just after 3 p.m. on Monday in Allen County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Ford minivan driven by Carl R. Taylor, 55, Humbolt, was northbound on 1200th street two miles south of Humbolt.

The van hit a 2003 Chevy Monte Carlo driven by Gary D. Ludlum, in the rear at highway speeds. Both vehicles rolled and came to rest in the east ditch

Taylor, Ludlum, and passengers in the Chevy Alexandria R. Ludlum, 24, and two children of Scranton were transported to Allen County Hospital

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Despite past opposition, some Kansas residents want the channel catfish to become a state symbol.

Supporters of the fish say it has a long history in Kansas and remains one of the most popular species in the state’s waters.

Bills to designate it as a state symbol have been introduced in Senate and House Committees. It was nominated by Robin Jennison, secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.

The Hutchinson News reports that earlier efforts to honor the fish failed. Opponents suggested a rarer species like the Topeka shiner, or considered the catfish a “second-class” species.

The Kansas Agriculture Department says the fish helps the state’s economy, as a favorite of anglers and as a major part of the state’s aquaculture industry.