Noninjury accident blocks intersection for an hour

A Ford Explorer overturned in the middle of an intersection Thursday afternoon after its driver ran a stop sign and struck a smaller, four-door Toyota, police said.

Lawrence Police Officer Jim Miller inspects the flipped SUV.

The wreck happened about 1 p.m. at 13th and Kentucky Streets. No one was injured, but police blocked traffic at the intersection for roughly an hour, said Sgt. Dan Ward, a Lawrence Police spokesman.

Ward said police had no reason to suspect alcohol was a factor.

Crime

Stabbing charges dropped as police arrest another

The day after prosecutors charged a Lawrence man in a stabbing outside a bar, they dropped charges against him and charged someone else.

Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney’s office on Thursday dropped an aggravated battery charge against Vidal Martinez, 22. He had been arrested early Wednesday and charged with stabbing an acquaintance with a pocketknife outside Bubba’s, 2228 Iowa.

They charged another Lawrence man, Omar Lopez Montiel, 19, with the stabbing. Police arrested him early Thursday, said Sgt. Dan Ward, a Lawrence Police Spokesman.

Court records showed charges were dropped against Martinez pending further investigation.

Liberal

Father charged for fire that killed two sons

Liberal — The father of two Hooker, Okla., boys who died in a fire in Liberal has been charged in the boys’ deaths.

Rowdy Fox, 4, and Chance Fox, 6, died March 27 when the camper-style trailer they were staying in while visiting their father, Bob Fox, burned.

Bob Fox, 53, was found outside the camper and was treated for burns at a Liberal hospital.

Investigators initially called the fire an accident, but now Fox is jailed in Colorado Springs, Colo., on a Kansas murder charge, according to officials at the El Paso County, Colo., Jail.

Liberal Police Capt. Al Sill confirmed an arrest in the case was made in Colorado Springs.

Politics

Group praises Kline’s criticism of tuition bill

Topeka — The group challenging Kansas law on immigrant tuition on Thursday praised state Atty. Gen. Phill Kline for his statement that criticized the law.

Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Kline’s statement was a “vindication” of the lawsuit and represented “basic fairness and common sense over special interest politics.”

The law — passed by the Legislature earlier this year and signed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius — enables some undocumented immigrants to pay the less expensive resident tuition rates at Kansas public universities.

On Monday, FAIR filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law. On Wednesday, Kline said he opposed the law but that his office would defend the state against FAIR’s legal challenge.

Gasoline Prices

Pump Patrol seeks deals

The Journal-World has found gasoline prices as low as $1.79 a gallon at Presto Phillips 66, 602 W. Ninth St., and Citgo, 2005 W. Ninth St.

If you find a lower price, please call the Pump Patrol at 832-7154.