Wichita

Wet weather slowing fall harvest

Cool, wet weather has kept farmers out of fields and slowed the last of the fall harvest, Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday.

The corn harvest is 97 percent finished, but progress on other fall crops lags

The sorghum harvest is at the 83 percent mark, while 88 percent of the soybeans have now been cut. The sunflower harvest is 79 percent complete. The cotton harvest is just 13 percent finished.

Meanwhile, about 94 percent of the winter wheat crop has now emerged. Leaf rust is reported in the central part of the state.

Topeka

Suspects denied bond in servitude case

A federal judge blocked an order Monday that would have allowed a Newton couple charged with involuntary servitude to leave jail.

U.S. District Court Judge Sam Crow blocked an order issued Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Bostwick, who set bond at $200,000 for Arlan Kaufman and $150,000 for Linda Kaufman. The two also were ordered to have no contact with the alleged victims, who are now in the state’s care.

Crow set a hearing for 3 p.m. today in federal court in Topeka.

Federal authorities arrested the couple last month after raiding Kaufman House, a group home they operated in Newton for adults with mental disabilities. The charge against them stems from an allegation that residents of the home were forced to work in the nude at a Potwin farm in 1999.