Kan. mulling new soda tax, raising other levies

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas would impose a new tax on soda -- a penny for every teaspoon of sugar -- under a proposal that a key legislator outlined Tuesday while lawmakers considered raising taxes to erase a projected budget shortfall.

The soda tax advanced by Sen. John Vratil, a Leawood Republican, would increase the cost of a 12-ounce can of soda by a dime and raise an estimated $90 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Some Republican senators already are considering proposals to increase sales, tobacco and alcohol excise tax rates and eliminate sales tax exemptions. The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee began hearings Tuesday on a bill increasing sales and tobacco taxes.

But GOP senators who want to raise new revenues need support from Democrats, because conservative Republicans oppose increasing taxes. And Democrats want the Senate to discuss raising income taxes or repealing past business tax breaks.

Legislators are under increasing pressure from educators and others to raise taxes to sustain state programs. Advocates for the disabled staged several small, quiet protests Tuesday at the Statehouse.

The gap between anticipated revenues and what's necessary to keep programs at current levels is projected at $467 million for the next fiscal year. Vratil, the Senate's vice president, is working with Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, on a plan to increase taxes by $300 million.

------ Kan. House nixes school consolidation in measure

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas House members rejected portions of a bill Tuesday that would have reduced state aid for some small school districts.

The bill would have pushed six districts with enrollments of fewer than 200 students and fewer than 200 square miles to consolidate. The districts are Argonia, Attica, Altoona-Midway, Baileyville, Chase and Elk Valley.

But the bill was amended on a 75-39 vote to remove those provisions. Supporters of the amendment said districts didn't deserve to be punished financially and were likely to consider consolidating on their own terms.

"We have sent the message to the small schools. I think it's an effective message," said Rep. Steve Lukert, a Sabetha Democrat. "To hit them with the stick again isn't a good message."

Under the bill, those smaller districts would have had state aid reduced to the same level as those with 200 students.

But Rep. Bill Light, a Rolla Republican, said consolidation should be a local decision by school boards, not mandated by legislators. Kansas last forced hundreds of districts to consolidate in the 1960s, a process that still stirs resentment statewide.

------ Obama signs Kansas disaster declaration

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has signed a major disaster declaration for parts of Kansas especially hard hit by winter storms over the holiday period.

The declaration signed Tuesday makes federal aid available to offset the costs to the state and local governments of emergency response and repairs.

Some private, nonprofit organizations will also qualify for the federal aid.

The declaration covers 45 counties around the state that were hit by severe winter storms from Dec. 22 to Jan. 8.

The counties are: Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Brown, Butler, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Clay, Cowley, Crawford, Decatur, Doniphan, Elk, Franklin, Gove, Graham, Greenwood, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Labette, Linn, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, Miami, Morris, Nemaha, Neosho, Norton, Osage, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Rawlins, Republic, Riley, Shawnee, Sheridan, Wabaunsee, Wallace, Washington, Wilson, Woodson and Wyandotte.

------ Kan. woman pleads guilty to identity theft

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A northeast Kansas woman has pleaded guilty to an identity theft scheme carried out with stolen checks and driver's licenses.

The U.S. attorney's office says 46-year-old Marcella Diane Machado of Olathe admitted defrauding several banks over a six-week period starting in early December 2008.

Machado pleaded guilty Monday to one count each of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and possessing a stolen check. Sentencing is scheduled for June 1.

Prosecutors said Machado tried to cash a $670 check using a driver's license stolen from a woman in Spring Hill and a checkbook stolen from a Lenexa man. She also admitted taking part in a scheme involving a check stolen from a mailbox in Oskaloosa.

------ KU puts assistant AD for Williams Fund on leave

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Rodney Jones, one of the top fundraisers for the University of Kansas athletic department, has been placed on administrative leave.

Associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said the action was taken again Jones, the assistant athletic director for the Williams Fund, by athletic director Lew Perkins. He declined to say why, or if Jones was on paid or unpaid leave.

The Williams Fund, the money-raising arm of the Kansas athletic department, collected about $15 million last year in donations from fans and alumni. The money is used to underwrite expenses for Kansas athletics, everything from scholarships to equipment.

Before becoming assistant athletic director for the Williams Fund about five years ago, Jones was in charge of the Kansas ticket office. He was also one of the Kansas officials who put together the points system used to buy access to football and basketball tickets.

Calls to two phone numbers listed for R. Jones in Lawrence were not answered Tuesday.

------ Kan. man gets 17 years for trying to rob ATF agent

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A Topeka man who was shot while trying to rob a federal agent last year has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Prosecutors say 29-year-old Antoine Cardin Williams pleaded guilty to distributing crack cocaine, aggravated robbery of a federal agent, aggravated assault on a federal agent and two firearms charges.

Williams admitted that on March 26, 2009, he and an accomplice went to a Topeka motel, where they planned to sell cocaine and a handgun. The person they sold to was an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Officials say Williams held the agent at gunpoint while his accomplice, Phillip Tyrone Williams, searched the agent and took his gun. Williams was shot when federal agents stormed the room to help the other agent.