Kansas.com: News

Immigration issue may stay stalled

JEANNINE KORANDA — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:38 CDT

It's a topic for feds, many legislative candidates say

Kansas legislators talked tough about immigration reforms before the last session started. But in the end, they couldn't agree on any. Changes in state law may be unlikely in the next session, too, if the views of south-central Kansas legislative candidates are any indication.

Roughly half of candidates who responded to an Eagle questionnaire said immigration is a federal issue.

"Per our U.S. Constitution, this jurisdiction is at the federal level," wrote Rep. Delia Garcia, D-Wichita. "I do not think we should put a Band-Aid on a huge problem that requires major surgery."

The thought exists on both sides of the aisle.

Man pleads guilty to KC teen's murder

DIANE CARROLL, LAURA BAUER AND JOE LAMBE — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

Edwin R. Hall was near the jewelry counter in Target when he spotted Kelsey Smith.

She was there buying a present for her boyfriend. He was there looking for a victim.

"Nice legs," Hall thought when he noticed the girl who graduated from high school 10 days before.

When she turned and he saw her face, he thought she looked liked a 12-year-old. It was early in the evening of June 2, 2007. He narrowed in.

On Wednesday, a packed Johnson County courtroom heard vivid details of what happened to the 18-year-old Overland Park girl, as Hall unexpectedly pleaded guilty to kidnapping her, raping and sodomizing her and then strangling her with her own belt.

Home shows tune in to Greensburg

JOE STUMPE — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

One month after the first TV series starting running about efforts to rebuild tornado-ravaged Greensburg, a second is wrapping up production.

Tentatively titled "Families of Greensburg," it's a six-part series scheduled to premier Aug. 23 on TLC. Each episode follows a different family as it prepares to move into a new home with help from two experts from another TLC show, "Trading Spaces."

"I'm nervous to watch it on TV, but it was a fun experience," said Haley Kern, whose family is one of those that will be featured.

The way things are going, Greensburg residents may need their own agents.

In June, the Discovery Channel's Planet Green started airing the 13-part "Greensburg," which follows the town's attempts to rebuild along ecologically sound lines. CBS's "Morning Show" has twice broadcast live from the Kiowa County town.

Gordon Parks Academy is in final preparations

LORI YOUNT — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:38 CDT

With a hard hat perched on her head, Gordon Parks Academy principal Stephanie Stovall coaxed a tour of Wichita school officials Wednesday to imagine the space in front of them -- tiled floor, blank cinder block walls, cardboard boxes -- not as the makeshift storage room it seemed to be, but as the cafeteria filled with inquisitive children that she hopes it will be in three weeks.

"We are ready for our kids," Stovall said.

But don't bring them before Aug. 13 -- the school doesn't have its occupancy permit yet.

Enrollment, which runs Monday to Aug. 1, will be nearby at Strangers Rest Baptist Church, 2521 N. Grove.

Although 90 days of wet weather delayed construction on the $9.4 million K-8 magnet school, district officials said both floors should be ready for students at the start of school on Aug. 14.

Credit cards in Congress' crosshairs

DAVID GOLDSTEIN — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

Credit card companies, beware: Congress is watching.

A flurry of bills is in the works in the House of Representatives and the Senate that would rein in how those companies do business. One proposed change that has triggered interest among lawmakers, particularly as the economy sours, would make it harder for college students to qualify for credit cards.

"It really is just too easy," said Christine Lindstrom, the director of the Higher Education Project at the nonpartisan Public Interest Research Group. "They will do anything to be the first card in college students' wallets. They don't do credit checks. They don't even know if students have income."

Companies often set up booths on college campuses and entice students with freebies such as T-shirts, sports caps, coupons for food and more, all in exchange for filling out an application.

Brett Thurman, a student government president at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told a congressional hearing last month that he walked into a restaurant near campus last fall and saw four laptop computers set up to process credit card applications.

Robinson trial to stay in Wichita

RON SYLVESTER — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:38 CDT

Judge Ben Burgess denied a request Wednesday by Elgin Ray Robinson Jr. to move his trial from Wichita.

Burgess said Robinson's attorneys provided no evidence to show it would be impossible to get an impartial jury in Sedgwick County District Court.

Val Wachtel, who is defending Robinson in the murder of 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks, said he had received no money to fund a community opinion survey that might support his argument.

"Is it your view that I should order the Board of Indigent Defense Services to provide the funds for that to be done?" Burgess asked Wachtel.

"No, indeed your honor," Wachtel said. He added that he didn't think the order was necessary.

Sedgwick County weighs idea: Kansas Coliseum for sale?

DEB GRUVER — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:07 CDT

Sedgwick County may shop the Kansas Coliseum site, except for the pavilions, where livestock shows take place.

With Intrust Bank Arena taking shape downtown, the county has been considering what to do with the Coliseum, popular in the past for sporting events, concerts, children's events and RV and outdoor shows.

Commissioners say they would like to get the most money they can for the property off I-135 but aren't sure whether they should send out requests for proposals -- similar to how the state asked gambling houses to pitch their ideas for casinos -- or get a broker to sell the 235 acres.

"We're just talking about the possibility of selling it" at this time, assistant county manager Charlene Stevens said Tuesday at a county staff meeting.

The Coliseum and pavilions, about 280 acres altogether, are valued at just more than $22 million, according to county appraiser Mike Borchard. If sold, the pavilions likely would not be part of the sale.

Hail, wind rip I-135, tip semis

HURST LAVIANA — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:41 CDT

A thunderstorm packing hail and 65 mph winds knocked four semis over on I-135 north of Park City on Tuesday evening, damaged dozens of cars and left parts of northern Sedgwick County covered with hailstones.

Emergency dispatchers said no serious injuries were reported but at least two people suffered minor injuries when they were struck by flying glass.

The southbound lanes of I-135 were closed between 125th Street and 85th Street North for several hours after a Fed-Ex tractor with two trailers overturned and blocked both lanes of traffic. The highway was expected to reopen late Tuesday.

One other southbound truck was toppled by the winds, as were two trucks traveling north.

Charles England of Burney, Calif., was in one of the northbound trucks with his pet Yorkie, Suelee.

18-month sales tax proposed for Sedgwick County

DEB GRUVER — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:07 CDT

A 1 percent countywide sales tax for 18 months could help Sedgwick County retire millions in bonds for projects such as the jail and the technical training center at Jabara Airport, a county commissioner says.

Kelly Parks told colleagues and county staff Tuesday that he would like to see the county seek permission from the Kansas Legislature to ask voters to approve such a tax. Cities have the authority to put a sales tax on the ballot, but the county would need state approval.

A 1 percent sales tax would help pay off about $18 million in capital building projects, Parks said. Those included the last two jail expansions and Jabara and the county's new public safety building, which houses emergency dispatch.

Other commissioners seemed interested in pursuing the idea.

"The concept of it is appealing for a lot of reasons," including giving property owners tax relief, Commissioner Dave Unruh said.

Wichita State works to find where to cut budget

ROY WENZL — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:07 CDT

Facing a state-mandated 7 percent cut in his budget over the next two years, Wichita State University president Don Beggs says two categories of spending will not be cut:

WSU won't cut utilities. "You can't cut the lights or stop heating classrooms," Beggs said.

And WSU won't cut total classroom instruction dollars, "though some dollars might be redistributed," he said.

Spending for administration, support services and many things outside the classroom might get cut.

State university officials said it's going to hurt.

Brewer and Skelton snipe over methane from landfill

BRENT D. WISTROM — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:41 CDT

Discussion about migrating methane gas in south Wichita set off an unusual spat Tuesday between Mayor Carl Brewer and City Council member Jim Skelton.

The vote was supposed to be simple -- a move to shift $500,000 to pay for emergency monitoring of methane migrating underground from Chapin Landfill toward the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park. The problem displaced several residents for a weekend last month.

Residents' concern about whether the underground gas poses a threat to public safety or future development of Chapin Park led Skelton to pointedly question why city public works, environmental services and parks officials don't have more information about the risk.

Chapin Park, 3800 S. Hydraulic, covers about 190 acres above the landfill, which has been closed since 1987.

It's used by the Wichita Radio Control Club to fly model airplanes. The city has set aside $700,000 to pave a road into the park, add fenced dog parks and pave the area where the model airplane club sets up.

Wichita investors bet big on Dodge City

FRED MANN — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:12 CDT

Wichita attorney Steve Joseph says he has never put a quarter in a slot machine.

But he and a large group of Wichita investors are betting heavily on a state-owned casino in Dodge City.

And they face a showdown in Dodge next week.

Joseph's company, Dodge City Resort and Gaming -- which plans to invest about $112 million in a resort casino -- will wage a duel of proposals with competitor Butler National Service Corp. of Olathe at a public hearing before the state's casino review board July 31.

The board is scheduled to pick the winner in September.

Temperatures to hover near 100

STAN FINGER — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:11 CDT

The sizzle has set in.

Wichita marked its hottest day of the year Monday, with the mercury reaching 98.

The rest of the week promises more of the same -- even if a rain shower settles the dust in the metropolitan area this morning.

"Mother Nature's finally catching up to the calendar," said Chris Bowman, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wichita.

A dome of high pressure has settled over the Great Plains, which can deflect cool fronts away from the region and allow temperatures to soar.

School board plans no tax increase for coming year

LORI YOUNT — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:41 CDT

Wichita school officials said Monday that they do not plan to raise property taxes to pay for the coming school year.

Residents may still face increased property taxes for schools, however, if voters later this year approve a $350 million bond issue.

School district leaders presented the $604.5 million budget to school board members Monday, and the public will have a chance to comment at the Aug. 11 board meeting. The board plans to approve a budget by the end of August.

The proposed budget will include a 2.9 percent increase in teacher salaries, which was negotiated in a contract this month, and more than $3 million in increased fuel and utility costs.

State money accounts for about 64 percent of the district's budget, and this year an additional $19.3 million in state dollars came mostly from a rise in per-student funding and more money for at-risk students. The rest of the district's revenue is made up of about 10 percent in federal funding and grants, and 26 percent in additional local property taxes.

Truck, bus drivers' health a road risk

HOPE YEN AND FRANK BASS — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:41 CDT

Semitrailer and bus drivers in the United States have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells behind the wheel that led to deadly crashes on highways. Hundreds of thousands of drivers carry commercial licenses even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments, according to a new U.S. safety study.

The problems threatening highway travelers persist despite years of government warnings and hundreds of deaths and injuries blamed on commercial truck and bus drivers who blacked out, collapsed or suffered major health problems behind the wheels of vehicles that can weigh 40 tons or more.

The U.S. agency responsible for cracking down on unfit truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, acknowledges it hasn't completed any of eight recommendations that U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001. One would set minimum standards for officials who determine whether truckers are medically safe to drive. Another would prevent truckers from "doctor shopping" to find a physician who might overlook a risky health condition. It's unclear whether any of the eight recommendations will be done before President Bush leaves office.

Truckers violating federal medical rules have been caught in every state, according to an Associated Press review of 7.3 million commercial driver violations compiled by the Transportation Department in 2006, the latest data available. Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio were states where drivers were sanctioned most frequently for breaking medical rules, such as failing to carry a valid medical certificate. Those 12 states accounted for half of all such violations in the U.S.

Some truckers said the government should enforce existing rules, not make new ones.

FDA finds salmonella strain in jalapeno pepper

LAURAN NEERGAARD — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:42 CDT

Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria strain on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled in Texas - and issued a stronger warning for consumers to avoid fresh jalapenos.

But Monday's discovery, the equivalent of a fingerprint, doesn't solve the mystery: Authorities still don't know where the pepper became tainted - on the farm, or in the McAllen, Texas, plant, or at some stop in between, such as a packing house.

Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect.

Still, "this genetic match is a very important break in the case," said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief.

For now, the government is strengthening its earlier precaution against hot peppers to a full-blown warning that no one should eat fresh jalapenos - or products such as fresh salsa made from them - until it can better pinpoint where tainted ones may have sold.

Hidden treasures stashed in parks

MICHAEL PEARCE — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:57 CDT

EL DORADO STATE PARK -- As a boy, any search Shawn Devlin made for treasure usually failed. On Saturday, Devlin, his sons Collin and Connor, and friend Jacob Warren quickly found hidden treasures on the prairie with the help of his global positioning system receiver.

Included in the goodies was information that could lead to a free weekend in a lakeside cabin or a year's worth of free state park camping -- each worth about $150.

Jerry Hover, Kansas' state parks director, said such treasure troves are waiting at all 25 state parks and four wildlife areas. The plan is to attract treasure hunters -- geocachers -- with their GPS units to public lands.

"So far the program's been awesome," said Casey Smithson, Pomona State Park manager. "It's bringing people into our park."

Geocaching is a fast-growing outdoor hobby.

Petition urges no cuts in fire station staffing

BRENT D. WISTROM — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

As the city prepares to open three new fire stations, several hundred Wichitans are trying to prevent the city from shifting trucks and firefighters from existing stations.

Robert Schreck, a district advisory board member and neighborhood association leader, said he has collected more than 400 signatures demanding that the city keep at least five firefighters and two vehicles on active duty at all stations at all times.

He's doing that because, under current plans, Station 13 near his neighborhood in northwest Wichita will lose a squad vehicle and a smaller truck.

This year, the Fire Department's deployment plan shows at least two vehicles at each station.

Under the proposed plan for 2009, stations 13, 18, 20 and 21 would each have one pumper engine staffed with four firefighters around the clock, Chief Ron Blackwell said.

Methane leak repair will cost $500,000

BRENT D. WISTROM — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

The city will likely have to pay $500,000 for the emergency repairs that were required after methane migrated from a closed landfill, forcing the evacuation of five homes at the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park near MacArthur and South Hydraulic.

City council members will vote Tuesday on whether to shift the money from the city's landfill closure fund to pay for repairs at Chapin Landfill, which has been closed since 1987.

Kansas Gas Service workers detected the highly flammable gas during routine line checks late last month.

Rotting garbage in the landfill likely produced the methane. City officials say heavy rains may have caused the gas to migrate toward the mobile home park.

City officials said the gas had not reached explosive levels under the homes that were evacuated.

New habits may stick even when prices fall

ANNE D'INNOCENZIO — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

Adrienne Radtke plans to keep riding her bike to work even if gas prices drop. Steve Pizzini got rid of his Cadillac Escalade in favor of a 16-year-old Acura and doesn't expect to have another gas-guzzler.

"I had a paradigm shift," said Pizzini, a financial analyst. "I spent the money on a nice car. But to me, it's not worth it. I don't think I will go that route again."

Every economic downturn changes shoppers in some way. But this time, experts say the new behavior -- fueled by higher gas and food prices, tightening credit and a slumping housing market -- are the most dramatic and widespread that they have seen since the mid-1970s.

So retailers, marketers and investors are trying to figure out which habits shoppers will keep and which will they drop when the economy recovers. Will the people who switched to store-brand ice cream go back to Breyers or Edy's? Will shoppers return to department stores or keep looking for labels at T.J. Maxx?

"We are looking at stuff that reminds me of the 1970s," said Patricia Edwards of investment manager Wentworth Hauser and Violich. "Americans have seen a huge amount of their balance sheet evaporate. The effects will be more lingering."