Kansas.com: News

House health care bill has nowhere to go in Senate

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:06 CST

The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."

The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

As they weigh ethics policy, commissioners list gifts they've received

DEB GRUVER — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:02 CST

A constituent once bought Gwen Welshimer a plant decorated with little plastic deer as a thank-you gift for helping get a deer crossing sign.

Dave Unruh has received T-shirts and paperweights and has attended four free concerts at Britt Brown Arena in seven years as a Sedgwick County commissioner.

Tim Norton sometimes gets candy or nuts from groups that do business with Sedgwick County. He said he places them in the lounge for others to enjoy.

Traditional dance added to Trail of Tears memorial

HURST LAVIANA — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:31 CST

Had it been another pow-wow, Jillian Conine probably wouldn't have bothered to stop by at Wichita's Mid-America All Indian Center on Saturday.

But because it was a Stomp Dance , she wasn't going to miss it.

"I'm not a pow-wow person," she said. "I don't like pow-wows, really. I like the smaller and more personal kind of dancing. This is basically smaller and more personal."

Wichita Veterans Day parade honors current, former service members

KAREN SHIDELER — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:00 CST

As the first color guard came into view this morning, James Brown stood, took off his ball cap and put it over his heart.

He can't walk far without his oxygen, and he can't stand for long periods, but he wanted to be at Wichita's Veterans Day Parade to honor his fellow veterans.

"When I went in, there was eight of us went into the squad," he said. "At the end, there was two of us left."

Crime in area up slightly since Lord's Diner opened

BRENT D. WISTROM and Hurst Laviana — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:57 CST

Since the Lord's Diner opened in downtown Wichita in 2002, the surrounding area has seen a slight increase in crime as the crime rate citywide has dropped.

The diner's proposed satellite location in a vacant building at 21st Street and Grove has less crime than the downtown site, but an analysis of 911 calls shows that both sites are in areas of high police activity.

The crime data and interviews with Wichita police officials offer no evidence that opening a satellite diner at 21st and Grove would result in a crime wave in the area.

Death penalty cases take time and scrutiny

RON SYLVESTER — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:48 CST

Larry Williams expected to wait 10 years to see the death sentence carried out for his daughter's killer. Now, 13 years later, Williams said he may have to wait another decade before Gary Kleypas exhausts his appeals.

Lawyers understand the need for such scrutiny in death penalty cases, but others like Williams wonder whether the execution chamber in Lansing will ever be used.

"Oh, it's been frustrating for me in more ways than one, obviously losing your daughter but then the long court case," Williams said.

Area schools find music helps kids hustle to class

SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:11 CST

When kids at Truesdell Middle School hustle to class in the morning, they do it to "The Hustle."

North High students speed up when they hear the "William Tell Overture."

And the Pioneers at West High get rollin'-rollin'-rollin' to the theme from "Rawhide."

House passes health care bill

David Lightman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:42 CST

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Saturday passed, by a 220-215 vote, historic health care overhaul legislation that would require virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance and create a government-run health insurance plan to help them do so.

If passed by the Senate, the bill would bring about the most sweeping changes in the American health care system since Medicare was created 44 years ago.

Supporters of the measure burst into cheers and applause on the House floor as it became clear the measure had won, but the vote was excruciatingly close, just two more than the minimum needed. One Republican, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, voted for the bill; 39 Democrats voted against.

More details of shooting rampage at Fort Hood emerge

ALLEN G. BREED and JEFF CARLTON — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:01 CST

FORT HOOD, Texas — Pfc. Marquest Smith, on his way to Afghanistan in January, was completing routine paperwork about a bee-sting allergy when the sounds erupted.

A loud, popping noise. Moans. The sudden, urgent shout of "Gun!"

Smith poked his head over the cubicle's partition and saw an extraordinary sight: An Army officer with two guns, firing into the crowded room.

Shortfall may close state courts for weeks

FRED MANN — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:58 CST

State courts in Kansas will have to close their doors for one week each month beginning in February if the Legislature doesn't restore $8 million to the judiciary budget, Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis said Friday.

The courts would close and place staff on involuntary unpaid leave the weeks of Feb. 15, March 15, April 5, May 10 and 24, and June 7, Davis said in a letter to court employees.

Judges would still be paid and perform duties with mandated deadlines, such as criminal cases with speedy trial concerns, search warrants, first appearances in criminal cases and certain hearings, said Ron Keefover, court spokesman.

Officer who stopped shooter praised

Michael S. Rosenwald and Dan Eggen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

KILLEEN, Texas — Kimberly Munley was a worried mother who fretted over swine flu, praying that the H1N1 virus would skip her young daughter. She was a polite neighbor, waving to fellow residents in a development of tidy lawns here on the outskirts of town.

But on Friday, Munley was hailed as a hero for helping end the rampage that left 13 dead at Fort Hood, the sprawling Army post where she works as a civilian police officer.

Officials identified her as the officer who confronted the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, and was wounded in an exchange of gunfire.

Speed limit 35 on new Kellogg section

SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:06 CST

If you thought this week's debut of the Kellogg freeway at Rock Road meant finally getting to whiz through that stretch at highway speed, police offer a warning:

Not so fast.

The speed limit through much of the area — particularly eastbound — will remain 35 mph through the end of the year as crews finish work.

TV program on capture of BTK to air Nov. 15

STAN FINGER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:06 CST

A Discovery Channel program will focus on the arrest of Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer, in an episode later this month.

Rader was arrested near his Park City home in February 2005, nearly a year after BTK resurfaced by sending a letter to The Wichita Eagle.

The BTK episode of "Anatomy of a Takedown" will air at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

'A way to say thank you' to veterans

Courtney looney — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:32 CST

Joel Condray said he is always looking for ways to teach his students "outside of the textbook." Six years ago, he came up with the idea of devoting part of their school time to helping soldiers overseas. His students participate in the AdoptaPlatoon program, sending care packages to a group of soldiers assigned to them.

"I use the project to reinforce kindness and patriotism,'' said Condray, who teaches sixth grade at Challenger Intermediate School in Goddard.

AdoptaPlatoon (www.adoptaplatoon.org) is a nationwide nonprofit organization that makes sure soldiers feel loved while overseas.

Group seeks inquiry of elephant's treatment

MURRAY EVANS — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

OKLAHOMA CITY — An animal rights group on Friday asked a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency to look into an owner's treatment of a circus elephant that escaped and was hit by a sport- utility vehicle on a northwestern Oklahoma highway.

The 29-year-old female elephant was treated by veterinarians at Oklahoma State University and released to its owner, said university spokesman Gary Shutt. Shutt would only say that the animal's injuries were not major.

The group In Defense of Animals wants the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service "to confiscate two suffering elephants" from Douglas K. Terranova of Kaufman, Texas, the group said in a letter to Robert Gibbens, a regional director for the agency.

City to use stimulus money to help homeless

BRENT D. WISTROM — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

A new program that offers financial help to people who are homeless or are about to become homeless will start Monday.

The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program will pay rent and utilities for up to 18 months for those who qualify.

The program, funded through the city of Wichita, is part of the federal stimulus bill.

KDHE: Flu decreasing in Kansas

KAREN SHIDELER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Influenza activity appears to be decreasing across Kansas, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday in its weekly H1N1 report.

It said visits to doctors for flu symptoms and the number of schools reporting high absenteeism rates were down. The percentage of deaths linked to pneumonia or influenza was down, too.

But KDHE also said Friday that a 53-year-old woman from south-central Kansas has died from infection with the H1N1 virus. She is the 17th Kansan whose death has been linked to H1N1.

One Army school gets pledge for $6 million

JOHN MILBURN — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

FORT LEAVENWORTH — Texas billionaire Ross Perot has pledged $6.1 million to a private foundation to pay for programs at Fort Leavenworth's Command and General Staff College.

Army majors spend 10 months at the school to prepare for unit command or staff positions. The college also has educated more than 7,100 international officers who have gone on to lead their militaries and, in some cases, nations.

Perot's pledge will help the Army expand ethics training for officers and bolster communication and cooperation between the military and government agencies, such as the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and State Department. Several agency employees are enrolled in the 10-month course of instruction.

Suspect was on eve of first deployment

Mary Pat Flaherty, William Wan and Christian Davenport — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:01 CST

WASHINGTON — He prayed every day at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., a devout Muslim who, despite asking to be discharged from the U.S. Army, according to his aunt, was on the eve of his first deployment to war.

Thursday, authorities said Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, a 39-year-old Arlington, Va.-born psychiatrist, shot and killed at least 12 people at Fort Hood, Texas.

In an interview, his aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.

IRS wants to return money to Kansans

JEANNINE KORANDA — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:54 CST

The taxman is looking for 708 Kansans — to return more than half a million dollars.

The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday released its list of taxpayers whose refund checks have been returned by the postal service. The average amount owed to Kansans is $837, a department release said.

Most often, the checks are returned because the person has moved — for example, a college student or someone who got married or divorced, said Michael Devine, IRS spokesman for Kansas and Missouri.