Heights senior Perry Ellis was named a McDonald’s All-American on Thursday and will be one of 24 seniors playing in the annual all-star game March 28 at Chicago’s United Center.

“This was one of my goals coming in, to show that hard work really pays off,” Ellis said. “I’m just really blessed to be selected. I just thank God for giving me the ability to do all this. I’ve been working real hard, too. Hard work really pushed me through this.”

Ellis, who averages 26.1 points and 9.7 rebounds, set the City League scoring record this season, breaking the record set by Kapaun Mount Carmel’s Greg Dreiling in 1981. Ellis is a three-time All-State selection, a three-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and a three-time Class 6A champion.

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Kansans are expected to receive about $50 million as the state’s share of a $25 billion deal with the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses after the housing bubble burst.

Four thousand Kansas homeowners who lost their homes, and an unknown number of others struggling to keep theirs, may be eligible for relief under the national settlement, State Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a statement.

“This settlement will not help every homeowner who suffered foreclosure during the Great Recession, nor does it resolve every claim of misconduct against lenders or mortgage servicers,” Schmidt said. “But it’s a dramatic step forward that will help many Kansans and will hold major financial institutions that played fast and loose with people’s lives accountable for their actions.”

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MENTOR -- Kansas State University soil fertility specialists Dave Mengel and Dorivar Ruiz-Diaz are featured at this season's first Coffee Shop Agronomy meeting from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Mentor fire station. The educational gatheri ...

Journal seeks Beechcraft memories At one time, Hawker Beechcraft employed more than 800 workers in Salina, but on Feb. 29, the Wichita airplane maker will cease operations in Salina. Much has been written and said about the planned exit, and now ...

By GARY DEMUTH Salina Journal For their next concert, Joe's Pet Project is getting intimate. The band, which originated in Salina, is taking its "musical puddlejumper" sound of pop, funk, classic rock, Motown and rockabilly and to ...

Man shoots toe while cleaning gun A Salina man shot himself in the toe Thursday morning while cleaning his gun in his home, a police department spokesman said. Levi Riley, 30, told Salina police officers he was attempting to make sure the semi-a ...

Four injured in crash on icy road in Salina A Salina woman was injured about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday when she lost control of her sport utility vehicle on ice and collided with an oncoming pickup truck. Tiffany Heath, 27, of Salina, was taken to Salin ...

By MICHAEL STRAND Salina Journal The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce plans to adopt Toyota's "lean" approach in the coming year, said incoming chairman Dan Mendicina, plant director at Philips Lighting, which has used the process for ...

Police blotter BURGLARY -- An Xbox 360, three remotes, two video games and a 4GB iPod belonging to Janet White were stolen from a home in the 400 block of South Phillips Street between 8 a.m. Tuesday and 2:30 p.m. Wednesday; $600 loss. THEFT -- ...

Two boys accused of recent vandalism Two boys were arrested Wednesday in connection with 12 cases of vandalism, including damage done to churches, an elementary school and several homes. Joshua Jacobia, 14, 1204 Quincy, and a 13-year-old boy, w ...

Layton Bulcao, 83, received his mail-in ballot Thursday for the special election on whether developers of the planned Ambassador Hotel should get to tap into the city’s bed tax to help build the $22.5 million project in downtown Wichita.

But the question was written with so much legalese that Bulcao said he didn’t know what he was voting on or what a “yes” or “no” vote would mean.

“It takes a Philadelphia lawyer to understand this,” he said.

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A bill being considered by a Kansas House committee would make several changes in the state's abortion laws, including requiring doctors to tell women that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer and eliminating tax credits for post-secondary medical institutions that perform abortions.

The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" also would alter tax credits now offered for employer-based medical insurance and require medical providers to try to locate a fetal heartbeat and allow the woman to listen to it before she receives an abortion. And it prohibits public schools from contracting with abortion service providers for any services, including sex education materials.

Testimony on the bill began Wednesday and was expected to continue through Friday before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.

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TOPEKA – As historic buildings age, they sometimes need a little love and a hefty state subsidy to avoid becoming useless eyesores, advocates of the state’s historic preservation tax credits said Thursday.

But that government aid would go away under Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax plan, which cuts income tax rates and replaces some of the lost revenue by slashing several popular tax deductions and credits.

That small part of Brownback’s plan drew opposition from the city of Wichita and two historic preservation advocates during a House Taxation Committee hearing Thursday.

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Intrust Bank Arena is reviving its Wichita Ribfest, an outdoor barbecue festival originally scheduled for last August.

The event, which will feature six national rib vendors, live music, a beer garden and kids’ activities, now is scheduled for May 17-19 in Lot D, a city-managed parking lot east of the arena at 777 E. Waterman.

A.J. Boleski, the arena’s general manager, announced the rescheduling at an event Thursday that included a free barbecue lunch for the first 400 people who showed up. Members of the crowd, which included nearby office workers and Sedgwick County commissioners, dined on ribs, potato salad and homemade potato chips at tables set up in the arena’s concourse.

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A bill that will give Junction City more time to pay down debt related to growth at Fort Riley was overwhelmingly approved by Kansas House members Thursday.

The measure, which passed 98-25 on final action, now heads to the Senate. It is a piece of Junction City’s multi-step plan to restore its financial health, said City Manager Gerry Vernon.

The measure gives the city an additional three years to reduce the ratio of outstanding debt to its total property valuation. The limit would remain at 37 percent under the bill through June 30, 2016.

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A Topeka man has been charged with poaching a deer that could have broken a state record that's stood for more than 35 years, according to Mike Miller, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism information chief.

David Kent was charged in Osage County court with about eight crimes in the Nov. 11 shooting of a large, 14-point whitetail buck. Charges include hunting with an artificial light, hunting during a closed season, illegal hunting from a vehicle and the use of an illegal caliber for deer hunting.

The buck has been unofficially scored at 198 7/8-inches of antler on the Boone & Crockett system. The deer was measured by an official scorer, but hadn't met the requirement for a waiting period of at least 60 days after the time of the kill to make the score official.

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A judge has set a trial date in the government's lawsuit against an abortion opponent accused of sending a threatening letter to a Wichita doctor training to offer abortions.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Gale scheduled the trial against anti-abortion activist Angel Dillard for Feb. 5, 2013. His order on Thursday also sets a timeline for the parties to try to settle the case.

The Valley Center woman told Dr. Mila Means in January that she would have to check under her car every day because someone might place an explosive under it.

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Power in the Kansas House is likely to shift next year from rural parts of the state to the Kansas City area after members overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday for redrawing their districts.

The House’s 109-14 vote means the new district lines specified by the bill are likely to become law, starting with this year’s elections. The bill, HB 2606, goes next to the Senate, but its approval is considered a formality because, by tradition, neither chamber alters the other’s plan for redrawing members’ districts.

The bill had the support of House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, and Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat. The GOP could have used its 92-33 majority to push through a more partisan measure, but both O’Neal and Davis said they had wanted to avoid the acrimony, though they acknowledged they couldn’t avoid hard feelings completely.

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WICHITA — You might call Roger Scholfield a ladies' man, though perhaps not in the traditional sense.

His Scholfield Honda has been recognized a couple of times recently for offering great customer service to women.

On Wednesday, Forbes wrote about a survey that WomenCertified conducted last fall for Dealer Magazine, which Scholfield calls one of the two biggest industry magazines for automobile dealers. Of about 175 dealerships that responded, Scholfield Honda was one of 33 that WomenCertified chose to feature.

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Rep. Mike Pompeo said Thursday he’s still waiting to get a definitive response from the Air Force on why it excluded Hawker Beechcraft’s bid for a light air support contract worth up to nearly $1 billion.

During a teleconference that touched on a wide range of topics, Pompeo said he has sent several letters to secretaries of the Air Force and defense departments asking for an explanation. And he has received a letter back from Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley.

“It was nearly non-responsive,” the Republican congressman from Wichita said. “There was literally no substantive response contained in the letter whatsoever.”

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