The Kansas City Royals selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Tommy Hottovy from Triple-A Omaha today and optioned right-handed pitcher Jeremy Jeffress to Omaha. With the selection of Hottovy, who is expected to be in uniform tonight (#46) in Cleveland, the Royals 40-man roster stands at 40. In addition, the club returned outfielder Lorenzo Cain from his rehab assignment with Northwest Arkansas (AA). Cain remains on the 15-day D.L.

A Kansas House committee is preparing to step into a contentious dispute among state senators over political redistricting in hopes of breaking their stalemate. The House Redistricting Committee was scheduled to meet today to review proposals for redrawing the 40 state Senate districts.

Lawmakers must redraw the district boundaries of elective offices to account for changes in population over the past decade. A decades-old Kansas tradition dictates that one chamber doesn’t get involved in adjusting the other chamber’s districts.

Kansas prison officials have removed all inmates housed at a county jail after four escaped, including a convicted murderer who remains at large. Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said the 18 inmates who were being held at the Ottawa County Jail because of state prison overcrowding have been returned to a state facility in Ellsworth.

Barclay said the temporary decision was made after four inmates escaped Wednesday morning from the jail in Minneapolis, a town about 120 miles west of Topeka.

Four inmates escaped early Wednesday from a north-central Kansas jail where they were transferred because of overcrowding at the state prison, and three of the men, including a convicted murderer, remained on the loose by midday.

The Ottawa County Jail in Minneapolis, a small town about 120 miles west of Topeka, passed an inspection before it was allowed to house prison inmates, Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said.

Most members of the Royals’ 25-man roster had reason to be in Kansas City during the offseason, but for Jason Bourgeois and Jonathan Sanchez, Thursday’s workout at Kauffman Stadium will be their first appearance in the city in four years.

Bourgeois was in Kansas City as a member of the Chicago White Sox in September 2008. Sanchez pitched for the San Francisco Giants in an Interleague contest there the same year.

A Kansas teenager who pleaded guilty in the death of his 9-year-old stepbrother has been referred to a psychiatric hospital.

Ryan Velez of Assaria pleaded guilty in September to unintentional but reckless second-degree murder in the shooting death of his stepbrother, Kaden Harper. Velez had been certified to stand trial as an adult. The Salina Journal reported that Velez was referred to Larned State Hospital on Wednesday. His lawyer, Mitch Christians, said Larned is better equipped to deal with Velez’s mental health needs than prison.