Kansas.com: State

Teens' artificial trees will store CO2

MARA ROSE WILLIAMS — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

When is a tree that acts like a tree not a tree at all?

When it's a metal tower that absorbs, transforms and stores carbon dioxide and is made by two teenage math and science whizzes as a research project on climate change.

Tyler Clark, 17, of St. John, and Ben Davis, 16, of Wichita, both high school juniors attending the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science at Fort Hays State University, expect to build the "artificial tree towers."

Stimulus keeps college tuition down

LORI YOUNT — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

With all state universities raising tuition this year, Kansas college students might have suffered sticker shock.

Increases in credit-hour costs could have doubled if not for federal stimulus money.

"They saved our lives," said Jill Docking, chairwoman of the Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees higher education institutions. "We would've had layoffs at our universities."

Teen's husband by contract is charged with rape

CHRISTINE VENDEL — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Vincent Mosby signed a marriage contract and paid a dowry in a religious ceremony in August, police said.

Mosby, 23, of Kansas City, didn't legally marry his 14-year-old bride, however, because Missouri law won't allow it without a judge's order. Police said she was pressured into the union because her mother and stepfather thought she was going to be sexually active with a boy her age.

Although the bride's stepfather arranged the "marriage," according to court records, other relatives frowned upon the union and told police in late August. The relatives also took the girl to protect her from further sexual abuse, according to court records.

Schools save programs but hurt chance for federal aid

LORI YOUNT — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Despite an infusion of $159 million into Kansas schools this quarter, education leaders said it has helped them only to maintain the status quo.

Kansas schools have so far spent federal stimulus dollars to maintain staff and programs that were threatened by state budget cuts — a move education officials said could put them out of the running for $4 billion in competitive federal grants in the coming months.

In the Wichita school district, about 400 jobs — mostly teachers and teacher trainers — were kept off the chopping block, said chief financial officer Linda Jones.

KDOT, partners plan short-line rail upgrade

Associated Press — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

SUBLETTE — In the heart of Kansas' agricultural region, farmers and grain merchants have relied on the Cimarron Valley Railroad, a short-line railroad that helps get their crops to market, for the past 13 years.

Now, with the help of a partnership between the Kansas Department of Transportation, the Port Authority of the Southwest and the railroad, much-needed upgrades will be made to the track.

"It's a major rehabilitation project," said John Maddox, with the freight and rail unit of the Kansas Department of Transportation. New cross ties will be installed and new ballast, as well as other track components, including some rail replacement.

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.

Willie Aames embarks on career as financial adviser

AARON BARNHART — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:53 CST

OLATHE — In our last episode of "Willie Aames Confidential," the onetime star of TV's "Eight Is Enough" and "Charles in Charge" was holding a yard sale in front of his foreclosed home in Olathe.

Eight months have passed since then, and the 49-year-old Aames has since begun an extreme makeover — not of his house, but of his life.

He's training to be a financial adviser.

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.

Eudora High student helps classmate particpate in marching band

JANET REID — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:50 CST

LAWRENCE — Kyle Snow marches out onto Laws Field in Eudora on a recent Friday night.

He's not wearing a band uniform.

He carries no instrument.

KU scientists examine dredging KU's Potter Lake

CHRISTINE METZ — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas scientists who travel all over the state gathering data on lakes stayed home one day this week to conduct research in their backyard.

What they found was enough silt in Potter Lake to fill roughly 600 dump trucks with mud.

A group from the Kansas Biological Survey took soil samples at Potter Lake to determine how much it would cost to dredge the aging pond.

A different Iraq for Big Red One

JOHN MILBURN — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

FORT RILEY — In the coming months, the 1st Infantry Division will roll up its "Big Red One" flag and plant it in Iraq for a year, the scene of a fight that's slowly becoming America's other war.

It's far from the war that many officers and soldiers of the division fought just a few years back. But none of them have a problem with that new reality.

As the 1st Infantry Division's commanding general and his staff prepare for their upcoming turn in Iraq, the nation's focus has shifted to what was once considered "the other war" being fought in Afghanistan.

Former governor William Avery dies

JOHN MILBURN — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

TOPEKA — William Avery, a one-term Republican governor in the 1960s and former U.S. House member, has died, the governor's office said Thursday. He was 98.

Gov. Mark Parkinson's office said Mr. Avery died Wednesday and ordered flags across the state lowered until Nov. 14.

"Governor Avery led our state during a time of tragic loss and national attention. Kansas honors his long life and service to our state. Our thoughts and prayers are with his children and family," Parkinson said in a statement.

Pratt snowfall sets state's 24-hour record

Associated Press — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

PRATT — A blizzard that dropped 30 inches of snow on Pratt County in March will set a record for the most snow in a 24-hour period in the state's history, state climatologist Mary Knapp said.

Knapp said the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., has to finish its verification process, but she is sure the storm will set a record.

"We have a few hoops to go through but when all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed it will be a new state record," Knapp said.

Feds charge two in poisoned-salsa case

BRAD COOPER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Federal prosecutors have charged a Shawnee husband and wife with poisoning the salsa at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa.

Arnoldo Bazan, 30, and Yini De La Torre, 19, are accused of mixing a pesticide into the salsa that sickened a dozen customers on Aug. 11 and 36 more customers on Aug. 30.

Bazan and De La Torre are charged with one count of conspiring to recklessly endanger other people by conspiring to tamper with a consumer product. They also are charged with two counts of tampering with a consumer product.

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.

KC Zoo to receive polar bear

MATT CAMPBELL — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —It was a gamble — building a polar bear exhibit before they had any of the coveted animals — but it paid off for the Kansas City Zoo.

The zoo has learned it will receive a polar bear in time for the opening of a new exhibit next spring.

That's a relief to general curator Liz Harmon, who had remained optimistic.

Prosecutors seek 3rd trial for Wittig, Lake

DAVID TWIDDY — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:03 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Four years after two former utility company executives were last tried, federal prosecutors are trying to get their case back on track.

They've asked U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to set a third trial for David Wittig, former CEO of Topeka-based Westar Energy Inc., and his chief lieutenant, Douglas Lake, between Dec. 8 and March 29. Robinson will hold a hearing Monday to consider the request.

Wittig and Lake, who were forced out of the Westar in late 2002, are charged with conspiracy and circumvention of internal controls.

Man accused of practicing law maintains his right

Associated Press — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:05 CST

TOPEKA — A man who has spent three months in jail on charges of practicing law without a license maintains that he is being held hostage by a government that wants him to sign away his right to help others.

David Martin Price, 48, of Topeka, has been in the Shawnee County jail since Aug. 6 despite his repeated efforts to get the federal courts to take up his case. Price, who is not an attorney, was jailed by the Kansas Supreme Court, which cited him for contempt for giving legal advice to others.

The justices want him to sign an agreement saying he won't give any more advice before they will free him.

Gov. criticized over KC Wizards incentives

JOHN HANNA — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:47 CST

TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson is suggesting that critics who think his administration isn't trying hard enough to lure thousands of jobs away from Missouri are pushing him to be fiscally irresponsible.

The Democratic governor is drawing fire from some key Republicans for saying publicly that Kansas won't offer more than $230 million in state and local incentives to lure a corporate office complex and major league soccer stadium to Kansas City, Kan.

The state hadn't heard Monday whether its offer was acceptable to owners of the Kansas City Wizards and Missouri-based medical software maker Cerner Corp.

College-savings program wants more participants

BECCY TANNER — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:00 CST

A program to help low-income families save for college is looking for more participants.

The Kansas Investments in Developing Scholars, or KIDS, matches the first $600 that participants contribute to a Learning Quest 529 education savings account.

A 529 is an education savings plan intended to help families set aside money for college. Contributions are tax-deductible, up to a certain amount. Savings can be applied to a four-year university, community college or technical education.