(AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a southwest Kansas man in the August 2009 stabbing death of his mother.

In a unanimous decision Friday, the court rejected arguments that Michael Maestas Jr., of Hugoton, received an unfair trial because of the prosecutor’s comments in closing arguments in Stevens County District Court.

The high court concluded the prosecutor did mischaracterize testimony from Maestas’ sister but said the incorrect statement was not intentional. Justice Dan Biles also wrote that the evidence against Maestas was overwhelming.

Maestas was arrested after calling 911 to report he had stabbed his mother, Lorenza, in their Hugoton home.

The Supreme Court also rejected arguments that Maestas should have been confined to a state mental hospital rather than sentenced to prison.

(AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has announced changes to a mental health clinic in Kansas City, Kan., and the Osawatomie State Hospital.

The governor said Thursday that 111 positions previously located at the Rainbow Mental Health Facility in Kansas City, Kan., are being permanently moved to the Osawatomie hospital.

Rainbow Mental Health will become a 24/7 crisis stabilization center to help keep people with mental illnesses or substance abuse out of jails or hospitals. Rainbow has been a six-bed crisis care center since 2011, when 30 of its beds were moved to Osawatomie.

After some renovations, the center will open in April as a six-bed crisis observation unit for stays of less than a day and a 10-bed crisis stabilization unit for patients staying up to 10 days.

(AP) — After 20 years, the nutrition facts label on the back of food packages is getting a makeover.

Knowledge about nutrition has evolved since the early 1990s, and the Food and Drug Administration says the labels need to reflect that.

Nutritionists and other health experts have their own wish list for label changes.

The number of calories should be more prominent, they say, and the amount of added sugar and percentage of whole wheat in the food should be included. They also want more clarity on serving sizes.

Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest says there is concern the labels haven’t been as effective as they could be.

 

(AP) — The family of a Kansas City woman who died in a western Kansas county jail allege the jail staff did not react quickly enough when she became ill in jail.

Fifty-eight-year-old Brenda Sewell died Wednesday in Goodland, Kan.

Sewell and her sister were stopped for speeding Monday and arrested when a trooper found a small amount of marijuana. Her family says Sewell had several medical problems.

She became ill at the Sherman County jail on Tuesday and was hospitalized, then returned to jail on Wednesday. The family says jail personnel didn’t give Sewell her medications because they couldn’t identify the pills. She was stricken Wednesday and died later at a Goodland hospital.

Investigators said they would not comment until the investigation is complete.

 

(AP) — Security has been increased at Lawrence City Hall after some city commission members received threatening emails.

Commissioner Bob Schumm says the emails arrived about three weeks ago from a resident upset with a proposed rental licensing and inspection program. He says the threats included going to commission members’ homes with a gun.

Two uniformed police officers now attend commission meetings, which used to have only one officer attending. It’s unclear if the changes are permanent but Mayor Mike Dever says he expects the changes to be temporary.

The commission is scheduled to take a key vote on the rental licensing and inspection program at its Feb. 4 meeting.

Police have contacted the person who sent the email. No charges have been filed.

(AP) – A judge sentenced a Columbia man to more than six years in prison for setting fires at two college campuses.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says 28-year-old Christopher Curtis Kelley also was ordered Thursday to pay $591,114 in restitution.

A jury found Kelley guilty of two counts of arson last year for setting fires in 2011 at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Stephens College.

Federal prosecutors accused Kelley of starting fires at ten locations at the university’s Ellis Library. That disrupted library services for a couple of days. Water damage also forced the temporary closing of the Missouri State Historical Society, which is located at the library

One has to have thick skin to work as a statistician at USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service. Regardless of the numbers one calculates and develops as a crop estimate, there will be instant criticism, challenges to your sanity, and possibly even questions about your parentage. Although the NASS staff is politically neutered and prohibited from engaging in any commodity market speculation, they are accused from all quarters of nearly everything including high crimes and misdemeanors. Poor devils, they cannot get a break.
Until now.
IL ag economists were hired by USDA’s Chief Economist Joe Glauberto evaluate the accuracy of NASS crop and WASDE supply-demand reports. While they had some recommendations for improvement, they generally reported that the market had more trouble anticipating the numbers in the reports, instead of the crop reports being incorrect.
The researchers reporte, “With a few exceptions, WAOB (World Agricultural Outlook Board) corn and soybean forecast errors since 2006 generally are within the historical range of errors. While there are instances of large forecast errors, these are readily explained by an unusual weather condition or insect problem that occurred after the forecasts were released.”
The economists also found, “NASS yield forecasts for corn reveal no evidence of bias in any month over 1990-2012 and forecast errors since 2006 are well within the historical range of errors. There is some evidence of improvement in the accuracy of NASS corn yield forecasts over time. Soybean forecast errors since 2006 are also within the historical range, except for Sept. & Oct. 2012…there is also a general tendency for soybean forecasts to be conservative.”
Consequently, they report, “The statistical evidence indicates there has been a sharp decline in market analysts’ ability to anticipate actual quarterly corn usage as implied by NASS Grain Stocks reports since the start of the 2006 marketing year. The standard deviation of market surprises for implied corn usage in 2006-2012, 6.2%, was twice the standard deviation over 1990-2005, 3.1%. In contrast, there was no compelling evidence of deterioration in market analysts’ ability to anticipate actual quarterly soybean usage as implied by NASS Grain Stocks reports over 1990-2012.”
Why is there so much difference in USDA projects and market analysts’ estimates? The economists said, “The explanation with the most merit is that unresolved errors in production estimates for corn led to the large surprises. NASS stocks estimates undoubtedly encompass sampling errors for both production and stocks estimates and it is likely that unresolved sampling errors for corn production estimates are large enough to explain the surprises.”
So what can be done to disseminate better information with increased credibility? The researchers came up with 10 recommendations which they believe will provide for better USDA reports, and help the market better understand the process of developing crop estimates:
1) Provide monthly information about the exact process used to determine yield forecasts.
2) Review soybean yield forecasting procedures to eliminate the source of any bias.
3) Provide more openness about the formulas used for estimating crop yields.
4) Initiate a study about incorporating yield monitor data into crop estimation procedures.
5) For stocks reports, a specified weight per bushel should be used for on & off farm storage.
6) Review corn stocks estimation procedures to determine any methodological problems.
7) Add a question about on-farm grain stocks to the 5-year agricultural census.
8) NASS and the market need to better understand each other about stocks estimates.
9) USDA should evaluate the cost and benefit of adding a survey about ethanol use of corn.
10) USDA should evaluate the cost and benefit of adding a survey about corn feed use. (The economists said this is the single most important change that USDA should consider.)
Summary:
After many years of criticism about the accuracy of USDA crop reports, recommendations have been made to not only improve the reports, but enhance the market’s understanding of the estimation process. Researchers found little to criticise USDA about, however, believe that some changes could be made for the better, among them a better way of calculating feed use of corn and the volume of corn used for ethanol production.