KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton has mentioned Kansas as a competitive race while talking about Democratic efforts to hold onto Congress.
Clinton’s comments Friday on the PBS NewsHour have caught the attention of Kansas Senator Pat Roberts. The Republican is in a tight race with independent candidate Greg Orman after Democrat Chad Taylor stopped campaigning.
Orman is projecting himself as fresh and authentic while acknowledging that he’s been both a Republican and a Democrat.
But Roberts’ campaign has attacked Orman as a liberal pretending to be a conservative. Roberts’ campaign manager, Cory Bliss, said in a news release that Orman will “say and do anything to get elected, even if it means pretending he’s not a Democrat.”
Orman’s spokesman says Robert’s campaign will “say and do anything to get him reelected.”
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A new Missouri law banning schools from electronically tracking students is part of a recent national push among states to increase privacy protections. The Missouri Legislature overrode Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the bill this past week.
Schools will be prohibited from requiring students to carry “radio frequency identification technology” in order to track their location.
The Legislature also in May referred a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot aimed at protecting electronic communications from unreasonable searches and seizures. Voters passed it overwhelmingly in August.
Experts on electronic privacy issues say the efforts by Missouri lawmakers are part of a larger push by states to protect personal data. Missouri efforts follow reports of massive government surveillance efforts that brought national attention to privacy concerns.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A man who was acquitted in a fatal Kentucky dormitory fire has agreed to surrender his Missouri teaching and administrator licenses after he was accused of lying about his past.
The Missouri Board of Education is set to consider the agreement with Jerry Walker Jr. next week. The Jefferson City school district offered Walker an assistant principal job, contingent upon him passing a background check, but rescinded the offer in April when the check revealed problems. One issue was Walker’s failure to disclose that he had been fired by a Kentucky school.
Walker was twice tried for a 1998 fire at Murray State University that killed a student. After a second trial ended in acquittal, Walker pleaded guilty in 2012 to tampering with evidence charges. Walker didn’t return a phone message.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas high school football player is in critical condition after collapsing during a football game.
The Kansas City Star reports that Olathe East High School senior James McGinnis was rushed into surgery Friday night at Overland Park Regional Medical Center with bleeding around his brain.
His father, Patrick McGinnis, said doctors were removing a piece of his son’s skull to relieve pressure. A hospital spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Saturday that James McGinnis remains in critical condition.
Olathe East assistant coach Mike Thomas says the 165-pound linebacker and slotback had made a tackle a few plays before collapsing. Olathe East head coach Jeff Meyers also said that James McGinnis had suffered one concussion during his sophomore season, but had not had any other related medical issues.
Got something you want to buy? Something to sell? The Trading Post on 680 KFEQ is the place for you! Tune in and give us a call each Saturday morning starting at 10:05. Our call in numbers are 364-6868 and 1-800-258-6868.
Miss something from the last show? Couldn’t get the number down in time? We do our best to get it all here, but for more information, call the lister. Here’s what we have:
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A few miles from the street where Michael Brown died last month in Ferguson, Missouri, lies the grave of Dred Scott.
Scott is the slave who went to the Supreme Court and tried, unsuccessfully, to be recognized as a free American citizen — 157 years ago.
Michael Brown is the unarmed black 18-year-old who was shot to death by a white police officer last month.
Brown’s death is raising fresh questions about the extent to which blacks in suburban towns are regarded as full partners by the officials and law enforcers elected largely by and responsive to small segments of the population.
Political participation is increasing on the national level for blacks and Hispanics. On the local level, voting continues to be struggle, as it is in Ferguson.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is distinguishing the military campaign against Islamic State militants from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He says the new fight must avoid what he calls mistakes of the past.
Obama says more nations are joining a coalition against the extremists.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says, “This can’t be America’s fight alone.”
In the Republican address, a candidate for a House seat from Arizona, Andy Tobin, says he’s running for Congress because his state is under attack from the federal government. He cites regulations and havoc from Washington and says it’s a problem everywhere.
Talk to farmers, stockmen and ranchers – most will tell you how much they love their cows. Problem is this humble and in most cases easy-going beast rarely receives the praise associated with the noble show horse or one of the so-called smartest creatures, the squealing pig.
No one extols the virtues of this contented creature that spends her days quietly grazing and eating grass. We’ve all watched movies about horses (Trigger) and pigs (Babe), but most of the time, cows are considered boring and ignored by Hollywood, the media and the general public.
John Schlageck writes for the Kansas Farm Bureau.
Still, cows are not whiners and they take their obscurity in stride and rarely complain about their circumstances. They spend days and nights under the stars without a tent or blanket and only their coat to keep them warm. They have to hoof it across the pasture just to get a drink of cold water.
But hey, I’m not here to say I feel sorry for the cow community. Confident and quiet, it is not their way to ask for preferential treatment.
Spend time with a herd of cows and you’ll soon discover they are indeed spiritual beings. They live their entire lives in service to mankind.
Behind that seemingly blank stare rests a knowing glint that suggests, “Go ahead. Make fun. I spend all day eating and sleeping. You’re the one with high blood pressure and cash-flow problems.”
Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, domesticated since the Stone Age. Some are raised for meat (beef cattle), dairy products (cows) or hides (both).
They are also used as draft animals and in certain sports. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle rustling, one of the earliest forms of theft.
Dairy cows are referred to as the foster mothers of the human race because they produce most of the milk that people drink. They provide 90 percent of the world’s milk supply.
The best cows may give approximately 25 gallons of milk each day. That’s 400 glasses of milk. Cows in this country give an average of 2,000 gallons of milk per year. That’s more than 30,000 glasses of milk.
Beef cattle supply more than 30 different cuts of meat including the heart, tongue and what we grew up calling mountain oysters – a male private part. You gotta’ admit, that’s meaningful giving.
Another gift from the bovine community is leather that comes from their hides. We use it for boots, belts, baseballs, suitcases, purses, wallets, easy chairs and jackets. Yes, cattle or cows make the ultimate sacrifice for human comfort.
Another place cows shine is in the rodeo arena or as spokesmammals in advertising. Who hasn’t seen the skydiving cows on their television screen?
Another cow celebrity that’s been around for eons is Borden’s Elsie the Cow.
Snorting bulls symbolize a healthy stock market and a Hereford cow pioneered space travel. Every kid knows about the cow who jumped over the moon.
Milk, ice cream, cheeseburgers or that fine leather purse – think about it. Where would we be without our cows?
On any given day a cow often does more for us than our friends, neighbors, in-laws or even our elected officials. Cows deserve a roaring round of applause and recognition for a job well done.
Anyway, I’d much rather thank a cow and wear a pair of leather boots than sport a mink coat and thank a varmint. I know I’d rather drink milk from a cow than milk from a mink.
Enough said.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Caleb Stegall is scheduled to be sworn in as the Kansas Supreme Court’s newest justice on Dec. 5.
The Supreme Court announced the swearing in-ceremony Friday.
Stegall currently serves on the Kansas Court of Appeals. Gov. Sam Brownback appointed him to the state’s highest court last month.
It was Brownback’s first appointment to the seven-member Supreme Court. Stegall will replace former Justice Nancy Moritz, who was appointed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Stegall is 42 and was serving as Brownback’s chief counsel when the governor appointed him to the Court of Appeals last year. He served as Jefferson County’s elected prosecutor for two years before joining Brownback’s staff in January 2011.
Inside the Biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials at the Nebraska Medical Center where an American aid worker infected with Ebola is being treated say the patient is getting his appetite back.
Dr. Rick Sacra was flown to the Omaha, Nebraska, hospital on Sept. 5 for treatment in the hospital’s specialized 10-bed isolation unit.
Sacra’s doctors and his wife, Debbie, have said the 51-year-old doctor’s condition has steadily improved since he arrived.
On Friday, the hospital released a statement saying Sacra’s appetite is finally starting to come back. The hospital says Sacra sated a craving for ice cream with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Debbie Sacra says the ice cream helped her husband exceed doctors’ orders for him to start eating at least 1,000 calories a day.
