Kansas in Brief

Judge denies request to vacate sentence

LEAVENWORTH — A judge has denied a request to vacate a prison sentence for a 1990 murder in Leavenworth County.

The decision came Thursday in Leavenworth County District Court at the conclusion of a hearing for Sherrill G. Brinkley.

Brinkley, 74, is serving a life sentence with the Kansas Department of Corrections for first-degree murder.

The murder charge stemmed from the May 1990 shooting death of Everett “Skeet” Bishop. The shooting reportedly took place in the rural Linwood area.

After Bishop was killed, Brinkley and another man reportedly placed the body in a 55-gallon steel barrel and welded it shut. Holes were cut into the barrel, and it was placed in the Missouri River. The body has never been recovered, according to court records.

Brinkley was convicted of Bishop’s murder in 1993.

BCC to offer Volvo curriculum

EL DORADO — Butler is expanding its curriculum to include luxury cars.

Volvo and Butler Community College officially collaborated in August in an effort to strengthen the auto mechanic workforce and develop a pipeline for the car company. The agreement was made possible in part by Eddy’s Volvo Cars of Wichita, serving as the sponsoring dealership, and Volvo’s Car University Program designed to embed Volvo system technology into top accredited auto tech programs in the country, according to a BCC news release.

The collaboration makes Butler Community College one of the first collegiate Volvo Training programs in the country. Butler’s faculty will be trained in the latest Volvo technologies, and Butler’s auto tech students will have hands-on access to training. The Volvo curriculum, to be launched this fall and embedded into the existing curriculum, will become standard for all auto tech students at Butler.