DALLAS (AP) — A Texas company is stopping shipments of a common highway-guardrail system and conducting more crash tests after it lost a $175 million jury verdict.
Trinity Industries Inc. says that it would stop selling the ET-Plus system until testing is complete.
Earlier this week, a jury in federal district court in Marshall, Texas, decided Trinity should pay at least $175 million for misleading regulators. A whistle-blower charged that the company changed the design of caps that go on the ends of the guardrails but didn’t tell regulators until several years later. Trinity criticized the decision and hinted that it would appeal.
Critics say that when vehicles strike the guardrail ends, the guardrails don’t crumple as they should, but instead become spears that impale cars and their occupants.
CLAYTON, MO. (AP) —Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich says he’s excited about a big success that’s been years in the making.
He’s not talking about his likely re-election on Nov. 4.
Schweich is hyped up about his recent purchase of a rare autograph and photograph of old-time Hollywood actress Greta Garbo. The hard-to-find items are the latest additions to Schweich’s extensive collections, which including old movie memorabilia, coins and historical documents.
Schweich says he pursues collecting as a getaway from the intensity of politics and public service.
But this year, Schweich’s campaign is not quite as tense. The Republican incumbent faces no Democratic challenger. His only opponents are Libertarian Sean O’Toole and Constitution Party candidate Rodney Farthing, who have not been spending money against him.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Several dozen leaders in Johnson County are supporting U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts’ re-election and are talking him up as a likely Agriculture Committee chairman if Republicans recapture a Senate majority.
The Roberts campaign released a letter Friday from legislators, mayors and other prominent county residents. Johnson County is the state’s most populous county and home to affluent Kansas City suburbs.
The letter praising the three-term Republican incumbent included endorsements from 29 GOP state legislators and four mayors.
They wrote that a potential Agriculture Committee chairmanship would be vital to Kansas. Roberts serves on the committee.
Roberts is in a tight race with independent candidate and Olathe businessman Greg Orman.
Orman’s campaign Friday cited news reports showing the senator has missed 65 percent of his Agriculture Committee meetings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. must be guided by science — not fear — as it responds to Ebola.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says he was proud to give Texas nurse Nina Pham a hug in the Oval Office after she was cured of Ebola. He says the other nurse who contracted Ebola is also improving.
Obama is praising New York’s quick reaction to its first Ebola case. He says he’s promised local officials any federal help they need.
Obama is reminding Americans they can’t contract Ebola unless they come into direct contact with a patient’s bodily fluids.
The president says the U.S. can beat the disease if it remains vigilant. He says the best way to stop it is at its source in West Africa
KINGSTON- Two women were injured in an accident just after 1 a.m. on Saturday in Caldwell County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Polaris Ranger UTV driven by Sharon D. Weaver, 48, Kingston, was eastbound on Northwest Browning Drive, a gravel road 3 miles west of Kingston.
The vehicle traveled down hill into a curve and began sliding sideways, overturned two times and ejected all five occupants.
The vehicle came to rest on Amy L. Heldenbrand, 42, Cameron, and the other passengers lifted the vehicle off her
Heldenbrand and Weaver were transported to Cameron Regional Medical Center.
During the early days of our country, settlers hunted out of necessity. While farming and trading provided them with a great deal of food, it wasn’t enough for sustenance. In order to survive, they hunted, fished and trapped wildlife where they lived and worked.
Today, hunting in America offers two major benefits to society: wildlife management and an economic boost.
Protecting wildlife makes sense from an environmental standpoint in today’s society. This allows for future hunting seasons. Wildlife management also ensures overcrowding will be less likely.
Today, most wildlife populations continue to thrive under conservation programs put into place in the early 1900s. For example, the white-tailed deer population was a meager half a million 100 years ago. With careful conservation efforts, plentiful crops, well planned hunting seasons and reasonable limits for hunters, the population has grown to approximately 32,000,000.
Almost every other wildlife species has flourished as well. Most of these animals number in the millions today. This wasn’t the case before the efforts of hunters and wildlife enthusiasts became commonplace.
Just as impressive are the numbers on the economic impact of hunting. With approximately 6 percent of the U.S. population hunting today, business is booming.
For countless small businesses in rural communities in Kansas and across this nation, hunter spending plays a major role in economic success.
Local shops, outfitters, hotels, convenience stores, restaurants and landowners all benefit. In 2011, nearly 13.7 million hunters spent $38.3 billion, according to a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey.
In addition to the 680,000 jobs supported by hunters, hunting generated $11.8 billion in tax revenues for federal, state and local coffers. Wildlife agency positions are also supported by sportsmen through the purchase of hunting licenses and funds collected as excise taxes through the long-running Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration
These sportsmen contribute on average $8 million per day, much of which goes toward conservation efforts. Billions of dollars have been used to protect the habitats of fish and wildlife throughout the country.
Through conservation efforts, money generated and jobs created, hunting remains a positive engine in this country’s economic industry. What many fail to understand about this sacred tradition is that it isn’t just about the act itself.
Hunting provides the opportunity to experience nature. Some sportsmen will tell you the best part about hunting isn’t shooting; it is the peacefulness and serenity of being outdoors.
Some may even feel a connection with their ancestry while hunting. It’s also an opportunity to pass such traditions to their children and friends.
For generations, families have shared these experiences and it has strengthened their relationships. It is a visceral feeling that can strengthen family bonds. Hunting remains a way of sharing in nature’s beauty and the dynamic between human and animal have few comparisons in society today.
Hunting prevails as a part of our American identity. Millions of people take pride in hunting. Their experiences are much bigger than themselves and create this community called hunting.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Obama administration official says the “safety culture” of the federal agency that oversees auto recalls is being reviewed.
The agency has been criticized for not acting aggressively enough regarding recalls of millions of vehicles with defective air bags or faulty ignition switches.
The official says a team is examining risk management and the safety posture in general at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The official also says that further action is possible involving air bag inflators made by Takata Corp. The inflators can rupture, ejecting shrapnel in a crash. Recalls have been limited to vehicles registered in regions with high humidity, but millions more could be affected if recalls are extended nationwide.
The official requested not to be named as a condition of briefing reporters.
Kylee Bliss, 18, has formed a nonprofit foundation to raise awareness about and spur research into post-concussion syndrome after sustaining life-altering concussions herself.-photo by Mike Sherry
By Mike Sherry
Hale Center for Journalism
LAWRENCE — A talented athlete, Kylee Bliss could have been a scholarship basketball player at a small college.
As a sophomore point guard at Blue Valley High School in Stilwell, she practiced hard and had a real feel for the game. That changed after she sustained two concussions on the court in the span of eight weeks nearly three years ago.
Since then, Bliss has been publicizing her symptoms, intent on informing other high school athletes of the seriousness of traumatic brain injuries.
That’s not where the story ends, however. Bliss still deals with the chronic headaches, dizziness and concentration lapses that are common after-effects of concussions.
Her depth perception also is askew. “I can’t tell you how many times I have run into doors because it looks a lot farther,” she says.
Now a freshman at the University of Kansas, Bliss, 18, is still involved in sports, but from the sidelines. Working part-time in the KU football office, she hopes to specialize in pediatric medicine one day.
She’s also taken another step to raise awareness about and spur research into post-concussion syndrome (PCS) by forming the nonprofit HeadsUp Foundation for PCS.
Just three months after its establishment in August 2013, the foundation raised about $12,000 through its initial HeadsUp 10K trail run and 5K walk/run at Shawnee Mission Park. The second annual event is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Oct. 25 at Shelter No. 2.
Bliss recently answered some questions about her condition and the events that inform her efforts today.
Please start by taking me through the events that led to your concussions.
My first concussion was my first night of basketball tryouts my sophomore year, so 2011, and it wasn’t a big enough deal to stop practice. I just collided with another girl. … And so after practice in the locker room, I was just walking around. I had no clue who I was, where I was, when my birthday was, address, any of those things. And so the trainer, she called my Dad to come pick me up, and then I went to the doctor the next day, and it was confirmed I had a concussion. He said I should get brain rest — no talking on the phone, no texting, no watching TV. And that was Tuesday when I went to see him, and then Wednesday morning I went to school.
Was that the wrong or right thing to do?
No, that was wrong. But I begged my parents to let me go, and I told them that I was fine and that I didn’t really have a headache and all my other symptoms were gone. They weren’t, and I lasted, I think, a few hours, and then they sent me home.
What was happening? How come you only lasted a few hours?
My headache was really bad. I was dizzy. I asked my teacher to go fill up my water bottle, and I was gone for like 30 minutes, and nobody knew where I was. Eventually, they sent someone to come find me and I was sitting down, I was like, “I don’t know where I came from; I don’t know where I’m supposed to be.”
Not many people would be eager to go back to school.
When I was diagnosed with a concussion, I had to be out until all my symptoms were completely gone, and then after that I had to have a week of working into playing. So I knew it was going to be at least a week, if my symptoms were completely gone, so I was trying to speed that process up as quickly as possible.
The trainer would not let me practice until I was cleared by a doctor, and I knew that the doctor who had seen me before still wouldn’t clear me, so I had my Mom take me to a different doctor — just my family doctor, and I lied to him. I was just like, “No, I don’t have any headaches.” And for him, it was not fair at all to him. I put everyone in a bad situation. I wanted to play, and I didn’t want to let my team down, and so I did that, and he cleared me, and then I just had to wait a week, and then I went back.
So when did the second concussion occur?
It was my third game back. Somewhere, I think around the fourth quarter, it was a really close game and my team hadn’t won a game yet, so that was another reason for me to get back. So I dove for a loose ball like I normally would, not thinking, “Oh my head still hurts. I probably shouldn’t do that,” and I collided with a girl and then I hit my head on the floor. And then after that, I came out for a few minutes. I was like “please put me back in the game,” and so (the coach) did. I got fouled right after I went back in, and I went to shoot the free throw to put us ahead. I got up there and I couldn’t see the basket. I was just disoriented and I shot. I got close; I didn’t make it. That was the last time I ever played basketball.
What happened after the second concussion?
I went to speech therapy, vestibular therapy, and then I can’t even remember the other (therapists). There were a lot because the symptoms were still so bad every day. The first (concussion) happened right around winter break. So over that time, I wasn’t able to concentrate; I wasn’t able to remember. But once I went back, I took my finals. I failed every single one. On one, I got about a 12 percent because I just could not focus; I could not remember any of it. So that was kind of like when everyone said, “OK, there is something really wrong here.” Because I have always gotten straight A’s. OK there was like one B, but we don’t like to talk about that.
How long did it take before you started feeling decent again after the second one?
They started me on all these different types of medicines. Some of it helped, some of it didn’t. So until I really started to feel better a little bit, it would’ve been more than a month, probably three, because I had to do the therapies and do all that stuff. It was more just learning how to manage the symptoms as opposed to them getting better because they are still all here.
You specifically wanted to make the 10K more difficult during the fundraiser. Why is that?
Running on a paved surface, for most people, is a challenge. But to run on a mountain bike trail is just an added challenge. It takes more concentration and more effort. It is just kind of symbolic of how things that I used to be able to do very easily now just take extra time, and more work and more effort.
How are you working through the rigors of college classes?
I use pretty much all the time that I am not sleeping to study or work on other things. When I read, I have to take notes over every chapter, which takes longer. But if I don’t, I can read something and I can read it 400 times and not tell you a word of what it says.
Mornings are really hard just because my head, when I wake up, always hurts in the morning. So pushing yourself to get out of bed is rough. It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be; being able to go to a class for 50 minutes and go home and take a nap and then study and go back to class has been a lot easier than going to school for seven or eight hours a day.
I just have to find my places where I can go study, like the Natural History Museum (on the University of Kansas campus). People don’t go there during the day, so it’s very quiet. I have to find things that work for me — and just knowing Thursday nights, it’s going to be loud; Saturday nights, it’s going to be loud. So I just have to do other things to counteract what everybody else does.
Do you think your symptoms will ever go away?
No, just because of the fact that I have lived with them every day for practically three years. But at the same time, that is OK. I have learned how to deal with them. You know, there are people who go through a lot worse. Obviously, I hope they will go away.
How do you feel about having established a foundation by the age of 18?
I am pretty proud of it, but more than anything, I just want to be able to hopefully prevent other people from going through the same things. All my friends go out and have a good time, and go to football games and go to basketball games and go to concerts and stuff. I can’t do those things without feeling bad for a week after. So I’ve had to grow up a lot quicker, and I’ve had to make those choices that, “Hey, I’m not going to go this concert because I have to do what is best for my health.”
Mike Sherry is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
BARNARD- A Missouri man was injured in an accident just after 11:30 p.m. on Friday in Nodaway County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the crash occurred as a 2004 Mazda RX8 driven by Treston A. Morgan, 25, Savannah, was northbound on Keystone Road two miles south of Barnard.
The driver failed to negotiate a T intersection, travelled off the north side of the intersection and struck a ditch.
Morgan was transported to St. Francis Hospital. The MSHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
DALLAS (AP) — A Texas company is stopping shipments of a common highway-guardrail system and conducting more crash tests after it lost a $175 million jury verdict.
