KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Republican candidate in a Kansas congressional race is making impeachment an issue against one of her GOP primary opponents.

Sara Hart Weir has accused GOP rival Amanda Adkins of remaining “eerily silent” on opposing the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

They are seeking the 3rd District seat in the Kansas City area held by freshman Rep. Sharice Davids. Republicans have criticized Davids for supporting the inquiry even though her 2018 victory was seen as a repudiation of Trump by suburban voters.

Weir opposes the impeachment inquiry and suggested Thursday that Adkins is “waiting to see where the wind blows.”

Adkins called the criticism “irrational.” She issued a statement praising Trump and criticizing the “DC circus since Trump’s election” without specifically mentioning impeachment.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A man who caused panic at a Missouri Walmart when he walked inside wearing body armor and carrying loaded weapons in what he described as an effort to test his Second Amendment rights has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

20-year-old Dmitriy Andreychenko pleaded guilty Friday to an amended charge of making a false report. He will likely face two years of probation. He initially was charged with making a terrorist threat.

Police arrested Andreychenko on Aug. 8 after he filmed himself walking through the store with the weapons, prompting shoppers and employees to leave. The incident came just days after 22 people were killed during an attack at another Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

An off-duty firefighter held Andreychenko at gunpoint until officers arrived.

HARVEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man for alleged sex crimes.

Ted Mueller, 84, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his North Newton home on Aug. 1, 2018, according to Police Chief Randy Jordan.

She contacted the North Newton Police Department in January about the incident. Police investigated, submitting their information to the Harvey County Attorney’s Office in February.

“I understand how difficult and traumatizing these incidents are for the individual, but I urge any victim of abuse, please reach out to law enforcement. There are organizations and advocacy groups right here in Harvey County dedicated to helping you. You do not have to do this alone,” said  Jordan.

The Harvey County Attorney’s Office charged Mueller with two counts of sexual battery and one count of lewd and lascivious conduct. Mueller has no previous criminal record. Following his arrest, Mueller bonded out of jail, according to online jail records.

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — No one was injured when the pastor of a Colorado church crashed the small plane he was flying in Kansas.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says emergency crews were called around 10 a.m. Thursday to Freeman Field Airport in Junction City. Investigators determined the accident happened when landing gear malfunctioned on the 1968 Beechcraft 95-B55 that was flown by 55-year-old John Burgess, of Colorado Springs. The report says Burgess and his passenger suffered no apparent injury.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s N-number registry shows the fixed-wing, multi-engine plane is owned by Heritage Pentecostal Church in Colorado Springs. Burgess is the pastor of the church.

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GEARY COUNTY —A small plane was involved in an accident just after 10a.m. Thursday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported the landing gear malfunctioned on a 1968 Beach 95-B55 piloted by John E. Burgess, 55, Colorado Springs, CO., at the Freeman Field Airport in Junction City.

Burgess and a passenger Matthew D. Watson, 30, Port Aurthur, Texas, were not injured. The accident remains under investigation.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a Kansas City area woman accused of beating another woman to death with a baseball bat because of a technical issue.

Courtney Hackney, 35, Independence, Missouri was released from jail this week.

Jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict during her second-degree murder trial in the May 2017 killing of 57-year-old Holly Barnett. Several issues then arose scheduling a retrial. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges, with the intention to refile them later, because a key witness wasn’t available.

The issue was that Hackney, who had already been subjected to trial, did not affirmatively consent to the refiling. Prosecutors determined that made the case subject to a legal doctrine that protects defendants from being tried twice for the same charge.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Every dog has his day, just not at the White House.

President Donald Trump tweets that the military working dog injured in the raid last weekend that killed the Islamic State leader will leave the Middle East for the White House sometime next week.

And the president appears to have declassified the dog’s name: Conan. That had remained a military secret because of the classified nature of the mission in which Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died.

In announcing the impending visit, Trump again posted an altered image of him presenting a medal to the dog. The Daily Wire had created the image by taking an Associated Press photo of an actual medal presentation by Trump and replacing the human recipient with the canine hero.

“Thank you Daily Wire,” Trump tweeted after midnight Wednesday. “Very cute recreation, but the ‘live’ version of Conan will be leaving the Middle East for the White House sometime next week!”

Conan was hurt after being exposed to live electrical cables but has returned to active duty, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, who leads U.S. Central Command, told reporters the dog was injured when it came in contact with the cables as it pursued al-Baghdadi in a tunnel underneath a compound in northwestern Syria.

McKenzie said the dog has worked with special operations forces for four years and taken part in about 50 missions. He said such working dogs are “critical members of our forces.”

When Trump first posted the altered image on Twitter of him presenting a medal to the dog, it came with an all-caps tweet of “AMERICAN HERO.”

The image was derived from a photo taken at a 2017 East Room ceremony to present retired Army medic James McCloughan with the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of 10 men during the Vietnam War. The Medal of Honor is the most prestigious military decoration awarded to U.S. service members.

FINNEY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities investigating an alleged sexual assault and asking the public for help to locate a suspect.

Just after 9:30p.m. Wednesday, police were called to St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City for a reported rape, according to Sgt. Lana Urteaga.  The woman told police that she was at her vehicle parked near Garden City Community College and was approached from behind by an unknown male suspect who forced her into the vehicle and sexually assaulted her, according to Urteaga.

The suspect at the time of the attack was described as wearing black sweat pants, a grey hooded sweat shirt, a black t-shirt and a dark baseball cap. He was approximately 6-feet tall with an athletic build with black, messy, curly hair, according to Urteaga.

Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to contact police.

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese in Kansas City says three people who accuse a former Wyoming bishop of sexual abuse are credible.

The three have raised allegations against Bishop Joseph Hart over the past year.

Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, spokesman Jack Smith says two allege abuse in Wyoming but a review board considered only alleged abuse in Missouri.

Hart was a priest in Kansas City, Missouri, before moving to Wyoming in 1976 and eventually becoming bishop. Several people allege Hart sexually abused them as children.

Hart has denied the allegations and his attorney, Tom Jubin, did not return a message Wednesday seeking comment.

The Missouri diocese has reached legal settlements with at least 10 alleged victims. The Wyoming diocese says it has substantiated six allegations.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is renting permanent office space for two of its research agencies in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, despite the union concerns that relocation from the nation’s capital has left the agencies critically understaffed and lacking vital expertise.

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a news release Thursday that the agencies had been “hard at work” at a temporary site in the city for the past month and that the signing of a permanent lease was “an important next step to facilitate their long-term efficiency, effectiveness, and service to our customers.”

The USDA announced plans in June to move roughly 550 employees of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture by the end of September to the Kansas City area. Congressional delegations and the governors of Kansas and Missouri heralded the high-paying jobs and economic boost the relocation would bring to the region, as well as the benefits to the nearby producers the agencies serve.

“The region is not only a hub for agriculture in America’s heartland, but it is also proving to be a diverse talent pool in proximity to many land-grant and research universities,” Perdue said.

The USDA will also be partnering with the University of Missouri and Kansas State University to host a joint career expo at Kansas State Olathe on Nov. 6.

“It is a great way to introduce our agencies to the communities there,” USDA spokeswoman Tara Weaver-Missick said.

But critics complain that the relocation has hollowed out years of specialized experience and that the pace of hiring at the Kansas City site has been too slow.

Laura Dodson, an agricultural economist and union representative at the Economic Research Service, said USDA fired three-quarters of its highly trained research staff who refused to relocate. The department’s hiring efforts in Kansas City can’t fill that expertise gap in a few months or even in five years, she said.

“These are jobs that always required a national job search, even when we were in D.C.,” Dodson said. “There are a handful of experts in each of these fields in the country and convincing somebody to take these jobs when you are still in the crosshairs of this administration is not an easy task. I don’t think we will get restaffed to full levels in any reasonable time span.”

USDA data suggests hiring has been slow so far. As of the pay period ending Oct. 12, the Economic Research Service had only 30 employees onsite in Kansas City — including 17 new hires — with 69 employees permanently remaining in Washington, D.C. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture had 62 employees, including nine new hires, in Kansas City with 18 employees remaining in the capital.

The department said it is the process of recruiting more than 100 new staffers for both agencies in Missouri. It has extended relocation dates for some existing workers and brought in retirees, short-term contractors and employees from other federal agencies to help with the transition.

“The workload right now is unsustainable — we have people that are doing four or five times as much work as they were doing previously,” said Tom Bewick, a union representative at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and national program leader for horticulture.

Among those who were pleased with the selection is U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas who praised it as a positive development for the regional economy and said he was committed to working with his colleagues in a bipartisan way to secure the resources necessary for USDA to complete the move.

“Bringing these two important ag research agencies closer to the people they serve and the leading research institutions that support their mission is the right move,” said U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly called it a victory for the Kansas City region and both states, saying “we are pleased to welcome the economic impact of these high-paying jobs in our communities and state.”

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said, “USDA’s investment will benefit both Missouri and Kansas for years to come.”