DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is recalling nearly 1.8 million Ram trucks because they can be shifted out of park without the driver’s foot on the brake.

The recall is mainly in North America and covers trucks with steering-column shifters. It includes certain 2010 through 2017 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups and 2011 through 2017 Ram 3500, 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs. Also covered are 2016 and 2017 Ram 3500 chassis cabs under 10,000 pounds. Some 2009 through 2017 Ram 1500 pickups also are included.

Fiat Chrysler says the brake-transmission shift interlock can fail due to long-term heat exposure. That can let the shifter move from park even without a key in the ignition, increasing the risk the trucks rolling away.

FCA reported seven injuries. Owners will be notified when to schedule service.

RILEY COUNTY—  A Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper was injured during a chase Thursday evening in Manhattan.

Just before 8:30 p.m., a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper stopped to check on an abandoned vehicle near 3^rd and Poyntz in Manhattan, according to Lt. Adam Winters of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

A woman approached the trooper and he returned to his vehicle to check her identification. The trooper was unable to get the information he needed and returned to the woman who was now in the vehicle. She drove away with the trooper hanging onto the front of the vehicle, according to Winters.  The trooper eventually was able to return to his vehicle and started a chase that continued down Kansas 177 to Interstate 70. The chase ended at Wabaunsee Road.

The Trooper arrested Micheale Ketra Bennett, 36, Raytown, Mo., for alleged aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer; Fleeing and Attempt to Elude Law enforcement in commission of a felony. She is being held on a $20,000 bond, according to the Riley County Police arrest report.

The trooper was transported to a Topeka hospital for treatment of an injury to his arm, according to Winters. He was released a short time later.

Bennett has a previous conviction for receiving stolen property, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

She has a conviction in Johnson County Kansas for theft in 2007, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

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RILEY COUNTY-Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on felony charges.

Just before 8:30p.m. Thursday police arrested Micheale Ketra Bennett, 36, Raytown, MO., near Humboldt and 4th Street in Manhattan for alleged aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer; Fleeing and Attempt to Elude Law enforcement in commission of a felony. She is being held on a $20,000 bond, according to the Riley County Police arrest report.  The Kansas Highway Patrol made the arrest.

Bennett has a previous conviction for receiving stolen property, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

She has a conviction in Johnson County Kansas for theft in 2007, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Authorities did not release additional details on her arrest early Friday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A prostitute has been charged with fatally stabbing a man last year during a fight over money.

Thirty-two-year-old Amber Cunningham, of Kansas City, was arraigned Friday on second-degree murder and armed criminal action charges in Luis Molina’s death. No attorney is listed for her in online court records. Bond is set at $250,000.

Court documents say Cunningham’s fingerprints were found inside Molina’s vehicle and the home where he was found dead. A witness said a woman was in the car when Molina gave him a ride before his death and that Molina described her as a prostitute.

Cunningham told police she agreed to have sex with Molina for $50. She said he wouldn’t pay or let her leave and that she stabbed him after getting a knife away from him.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Airplane passengers in Salina will soon have a few more flights with larger planes for trips to Denver and Chicago.

Salina Airport Authority Tim Rogers says SkyWest Airlines will provide flights from Salina to and from Denver and Chicago beginning in April.

Rogers said Friday flight schedules and prices will be announced next month.

SkyWest will fly one nonstop route to Chicago and two flights to Denver, with a stop in Hays.

SkyWest replaces Great Lakes Airlines, which currently offers two daily flights to Denver.

Rogers says SkyWest will use 50-seat regional jets. Great Lakes used 30-seat aircraft.

The Department of Transportations selected SkyWest to replace Great Lakes as the Essential Air Service provider for Salina. SkyWest has a two-year contract starting next April.

COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the cause of a fatal workplace accident.

Just before 2p.m. Thursday, Fire-EMS were dispatched to the Public Works Department central shop, located at 1407 W. Madison Avenue in Arkansas City for a report of an employee who had been struck by a street sweeper, according to a city media release.

Paramedics stabilized the employee, who initially was not breathing, at the scene for transport by ambulance to South Central Kansas Medical Center in critical condition.

The employee was subsequently transferred by ambulance to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita and died about an hour later, according to the media release.

It was determined that the accident occurred within the shop premises and involved the operator of the street sweeper. No one else was injured. Authorities have not released the name of the employee.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokesman for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s nomination for an ambassador’s post is set to return to the White House.

McConnell communications director David Popp said in an email Friday that Brownback’s nomination is not on a list of those to be carried into next year.

The Senate finished its business for the year Thursday night without voting on Brownback’s nomination by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Brownback was nominated in July.

Under the Senate’s rules, an appointee whose has not received a confirmation vote by the end of the year must be nominated again unless senators agree unanimously to carry the nomination into the following year. Brownback appears not to have received such unanimous consent.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) Friday released the following statement regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to suspend plans to conduct chemical and biological tests in Oklahoma:

“I am pleased that the Department of Homeland Security listened to the concerns of Kansans and made the decision to suspend its plans to conduct chemical and biological tests near the Kansas border. Prior to any sort of chemical testing – hazardous or not – the federal government must make certain local residents understand its intended objective when it conducts any testing of this nature. While the chemicals DHS planned to use in these tests do not pose any bodily harm, Kansans deserve a thorough explanation when an event of this magnitude is occurring so close to where they live and raise their families.”

Items to Note:
· In October, the Department of Homeland Security announced its intent to perform a “collaborative scientific study with OSU-University Multispectral Laboratories, LLC (UML) that will include low level outdoor release of inert chemicals and biological simulant materials at the Chilocco (former) Indian School Campus outside of Newkirk, OK, during winter 2018 and again in summer 2018,” according to the Draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Outdoor Testing at Chilocco.

· In November, Sen. Moran called on DHS to halt its plans to conduct these chemical tests until it sent department representatives to Kansas to explain the department’s proposed course of action.

· The 30-day comment period regarding this proposal opened Nov. 8 and closed Dec. 8.

WASHINGTON (AP) — States are scrambling to decide how to spend the dwindling federal dollars used for a popular program that provides health insurance for nearly 9 million low-income children.

Members of Congress left Washington for the holiday break without providing long-term funds for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. A short-term patch approved Thursday is designed to maintain funding through March, although some officials say the money could run out in early February.

There’s little argument among Republicans and Democrats that the insurance program known as CHIP should be renewed for five years. The sticking point is how to pay for it.

A survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 14 states have been planning to end or phase out coverage for children, including five by the end of January.

BARTON COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for armed robbery.

On Wednesday, Barton County Sheriff’s detectives were searching for Eric Duerksen, 23 of Great Bend.

He was wanted for several warrants issued by Community Corrections and Kansas State Parole. Dirksen was also being sought for questioning in an armed robbery that had occurred December 20, 2017 at Stone Lake in Great Bend that involved merchandise advertised for sale online.

Duerksen was considered to be armed and dangerous.

The Sheriff’s Office partnered with agents from the Kansas State Parole Office and the United States Marshals Service in the search.

After several hours of surveillance and other law enforcement techniques, Duerksen was believed to be in a residence located at 1024 Odell St. in the City of Great Bend.

Officers surrounded the residence and closed the 1000 block of Odell Street for about an hour Wednesday evening. At about 7 PM telephone contact was made with Duerksen inside the residence by detectives. Duerksen consented to exit the residence and was taken into custody without incident.

He was transported to the Barton County Jail where he was booked on the parole violation warrants and is being held without bond on the State warrants. Duerksen was also booked on the Aggravated Robbery charge in Great Bend. The bond on the robbery charge is set at $100000.00

Duerksen has previous convictions for theft, burglary, criminal damage to property and transporting an open container of liquor, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a $13.4 million fine on TV-station owner Sinclair Broadcast for not identifying paid programming as advertising.

Sinclair owns nearly 200 stations across the country including KSAS in Wichita and five stations in Missouri.

The company pays networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox for the news, shows, and sports it airs on those stations.

The FCC says Sinclair produced and broadcast news story-like programming during local news broadcasts and 30-minute TV programs for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation and didn’t label them as ads. The FCC says the offending ads aired more than 1,700 times.

Sinclair has 30 days to contest the proposed fine or pay it.