Kansas.com: Top Stories

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.

Wichita State defeats Newman 81-69 in exhibition opener

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:10 CST

Lawyer: Fla. office shooting suspect mentally ill

MIKE SCHNEIDER and ANTONIO GONZALEZ — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:16 CST

The engineer accused of fatally shooting one employee and wounding five others at the firm where he once worked is "very mentally ill" and crumbled under the stress of his divorce, bankruptcy and unemployment, his attorney said Saturday.

Jason Rodriguez, 40, was ordered held without bail at the Orange County Jail, where he is under suicide watch after Friday's shooting. His mother, Ana Rodriguez, also apologized Saturday, telling reporters she is "so sorry for everything that has happened."

"Sorry for the families involved. I'm really very sorry, it is very hurtful," she said.

Olathe South grad wounded in Fort Hood shooting rampage

DON BRADLEY — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:01 CST

Army Reserve Spc. Keara Bono’s family was working up to the idea of her going to Iraq.

“I didn’t know I had to worry about her getting shot down in Texas,” her mother, Peggy McCarty, said Thursday night.

Bono, 21, a 2006 graduate of Olathe South High School, was one of 31 people wounded Thursday at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Twelve people were killed, including the shooter.

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.

DUI patrol set for this weekend

STAN FINGER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:35 CST

The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office will conduct a DUI saturation patrol this weekend.

The patrol will be between 11 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday as authorities attempt to reduce the number of intoxicated drivers on the road.

The sheriff's office has worked 765 DUI-related cases so far this year.

Two-mile walk will honor those who died on Trail of Tears

BECCY TANNER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

The ninth annual Trail of Tears Memorial Walk begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Mid-America All-Indian Center, 650 N. Seneca.

The two-mile walk honors the American Indians who suffered and died in 1831 during their forced relocation by the U.S. government to Indian Territory, which is present-day Oklahoma.

The walking route extends from the Wichita Indian United Methodist Church, 1111 N. Meridian, to the Indian Center. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., a shuttle will be available to take walkers from the Indian Center to their starting point at the church.

2 Haysville men die in fiery crash

STAN FINGER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:13 CST

Two Haysville men were killed early Thursday morning when their car crashed into a semi at Broadway and 63rd South in Sedgwick County, authorities said.

Colton Emerson, 19, was driving west on a closed portion of 63rd Street South at "a significantly higher speed" than the posted limit of 45 mph in a red Camaro Z28, Sedgwick County sheriff's Lt. Mark Pierce said.

Emerson ran a red light at the intersection with Broadway and struck the side of a truck hauling 45,000 pounds of soybeans at 12:49 a.m. Thursday, Pierce said.

Westbound Kellogg opens at Rock Road

STAN FINGER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:31 CST

Another phase of the opening of the Kellogg and Rock Road interchange arrives after the morning rush hour today as westbound lanes open to traffic.

Eastbound lanes opened Wednesday from Cypress past Armour.

All north-south through lanes and all turns for Rock Road traffic will open next week.

Sunny and almost hot in November for Wichita

STAN FINGER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:22 CST

The first Friday of November is going to offer a rather convincing display of spring-like weather, with gusty southerly winds and temperatures soaring into the upper 70s.

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.

WaterWalk focus shifts to retail and office space

BILL WILSON — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:53 CST

WaterWalk's new management is shifting focus from its predecessors, retaining a major Wichita commercial broker to attract office and retail tenants in a move to draw traffic to the struggling 7-year-old development.

Owner Jack DeBoer will target office and retail customers first with his move to retain NAI John T. Arnold Associates, marking a shift from the original emphasis on creating an entertainment district filled with bars and restaurants.

DeBoer will use the commercial broker to generate the business traffic needed to support entertainment development down the line, Doug Rupe, a spokesman for DeBoer's Consolidated Holdings, said Thursday.

Indian summer in Wichita

STAN FINGER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:45 CST

Indian summer is in full flower around the Wichita area — and forecasts suggest it plans to stick around a while. While there is no formal definition of what qualifies as an Indian summer, it's generally considered to be any period of temperatures in the 70s — or at least well above average — after the first freeze of autumn.

Wichita spent the first half of the week in the 60s and topped 70 on Thursday. Still more 70s are anticipated through the weekend.

A cool front will bring a chance of showers and cooler temperatures early next week, said Dick Elder, meteorologist-in-charge of the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service.

Shortfall in budget nears half a billion

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

TOPEKA — The state will have to cut at least $258.8 million to balance the current budget by the end of the fiscal year, revenue estimators said Thursday.

The state is expected to bring in about 4.2 percent less in 2010 than forecast in April — or $235.2 million less, the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group said.

The projected minimum budget cut doesn't include an estimated $155 million that public schools are likely to need to cover increased student populations, special education and a jump in students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches. That number swells the cuts needed to balance the 2010 budget, which ends June 30, to $459 million.

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.

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.

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.