WASHINGTON (AP) — A nonpartisan congressional study has found that stiffer state voter ID laws have damped election turnout, disproportionately affecting blacks and younger people.
The Government Accountability Office found that election turnout in Kansas and Tennessee — which tightened voter ID requirements — dropped more steeply than it did in four states that didn’t change their identification requirements.
The report found that in those two states, voter turnout was more sharply reduced among young people than among the middle-aged and among blacks than whites and others.
Young people and blacks generally tend to support Democratic candidates.
Republicans have said such laws are designed to reduce fraud.
The report was released less than four weeks from Election Day.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Transportation says teenagers will be coming to the Statehouse to participate in a quick-click buckling-up challenge as part of a traffic safety event.
Friday afternoon’s event on the south side of the Capitol is part of KDOT’s Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day.
The challenge involves teams of teenagers racing to unbuckle their seatbelts in cars, trade places and buckle up again.
Deputy KDOT Secretary Jerry Younger plans to serve as master of ceremonies.
The event emphasizes the importance of traffic safety.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is insisting that his stronger-than-expected independent opponent is a liberal Democrat in disguise.
But Greg Orman has donated to both Democrats, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Republicans, such as former Sen. Scott Brown.
Orman pitched domestic policy ideas during the debate that both parties have championed, and again refused to say which party he would usually vote with if elected.
However, Orman says he contributed to Brown’s 2010 Senate campaign to halt the advance of the health care law, which he says he opposed.
The race in typically GOP Kansas has become suddenly competitive in the past month as Democrat Chad Taylor has stepped aside and Orman, a wealthy businessman, has pulled ahead of Roberts in recent polls of Kansas voters.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Campus police at the University of Kansas say two men have been arrested on suspicion of raping two women in a residence hall during homecoming weekend.
6NewsLawrence reports the 21-year-old suspects are jailed in Douglas County without bond. They’re expected to have their first court appearances Thursday.
One suspect is from Lawrence and the other from Olathe. Police said one of the men is a KU student.
Public safety officials said the incidents were reported to have occurred between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Sept. 28 at Hashinger Hall. They were unrelated to allegations of sexual assault the same weekend at a fraternity.
Heart to Heart CEO Jim Mitchum says the Lenexa-based aid organization is committed to running an Ebola treatment unit in Africa for the next six months.- photo by Elle Moxley/KCUR
LENEXA — An international aid organization based in Lenexa on Tuesday announced plans to operate a medical facility in Liberia to treat Ebola victims.
Heart to Heart International CEO Jim Mitchum said running the 70-bed Ebola treatment unit will be the largest and most challenging humanitarian effort the organization has undertaken. It will cost approximately $6 million to operate the facility, which should open in November, for six months.
Mitchum said Heart to Heart will recruit doctors and nurses for six-week deployments, when they’ll work with approximately 200 Liberians to staff the treatment center.
“They will spend the first week attending training to assure all the necessary protocols are well-understood and that they are able to keep themselves and their co-workers safe,” he said.
The announcement comes on the heels of the first reported case contracted outside the United States, by a nurse in Spain who cared for evacuated Ebola victims.
Lee Norman, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Hospital, said, “We at KU Hospital have systems in place to assure you that should Heart to Heart volunteers and staff – and their worried families – need our care, we are here to help you.”
Ebola can only be contracted through contact with bodily fluids. Contrary to internet rumors, there have been no confirmed cases in Kansas City.
There have been just under 4,000 reported cases of Ebola in Liberia, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say those numbers could balloon to 1.4 million there and in neighboring Sierra Leone. The Ebola treatment unit Heart to Heart will operate is one of 27 the CDC says Liberia needs to contain the epidemic.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Two women who are seeking the first same-sex marriage license in the most populous county in Kansas say they already feel married because they’ve been together nine years.
Angela and Jennifer Schaefer, of Gardner, went to the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe (oh-LAY’-thuh) on Wednesday to sign up for a marriage license.
They did so shortly after Johnson County Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty ordered court clerks to issue licenses to same-sex couples. They were the only couple to do so.
The couple has a 9-month-old son. Angela Schaefer is 31 and Jennifer Schaefer is 28 and took Angela’s last name in 2012.
Angela Schaefer said she believes getting married will ensure that she has full parental rights to their son.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic challenger Paul Davis is proposing to reverse a piece of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s overhaul of the Kansas Medicaid program opposed by some advocates for the mentally disabled.
The plan Davis outlined Wednesday during a Statehouse news conference would end three private health insurance companies’ management of in-home support services for the mentally disabled.
Brownback’s administration turned over management of Medicaid to the private insurers in 2013. But it delayed the inclusion of support services for about 8,500 mentally disabled Kansans in the overhaul until February following vocal protests by advocates.
The $3 billion-a-year Medicaid program covers medical services for the poor and disabled and services designed to allow the disabled to continue living in their homes.
Officials in Brownback’s administration rejected Davis’ criticism that the overhaul has been harmful.
ATCHISON- A teenager was injured in an accident just before 3 p.m. on Wednesday in Atchison County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Ford F150 driven by Dalton Armstrong, 15, Atchison, was eastbound on River Road three miles northeast of Atchison following a 1985 Dodge truck driven by Nathan Jones, 14, Atchison.
The Dodge slowed due to dust. The Ford rear-ended the Dodge.
A private vehicle transported Jones to the hospital in Atchison. Armstrong was not injured.
The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
KANSAS CITY- The first same sex marriage licenses in Kansas are being released in northeast Kansas.
Equality Kansas reported that Kevin Moriarty, the chief judge of the 10th Judicial District in Johnson County, issued an order giving the go-ahead for same sex marriage. A court document released Wednesday afternoon says:
In the interest of justice and to avoid the uncertainty that has arisen in light of recent federal court rulings about the constitutionality of state constitutional and/or statutory prohibitions against marriage by same-sex individuals, the clerk of the district court is hereby directed to issue marriage licenses to all individuals, including same-sex individuals.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans on gay marriage. One of them was Utah, which is in the same federal appeals court circuit as Kansas.
The Kansas Constitution has banned gay marriage since 2005.
Students ask questions from area employees at 2014 My Success Event
More than 2700 high school students from Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas will make their way through the 2014 My Success Event to learn about career and education options for their future.
“This is the largest group that we’ve had,” said Mary Brown, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Programs Coordinator. “I think unfortunately this is the last year we’re going to be able to take on any new schools just because logistically we can’t handle anymore.”
The two day event kicked off Wednesday morning at Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph.
“I’m just looking around to get some ideas about career opportunities,” said Natalie Eaton, Cameron High School Sophomore. “I think I want to work with animals but i’m not 100% sure yet.”
Students were able to stop by more than 70 booths set up by area businesses to learn about career options in St. Joseph and Northwest Missouri. Students asked booth attendees many questions from the types of careers available with the company to job duties and educational requirements.
There were also booths from 14 area colleges and tech schools in attendance.
“Even though I’m only a Sophomore I want to get a head start,” said Shelby Palmer, Albany High School Sophomore. “I’m between two art schools.”
Albany High School Sophomore, Mickayla Woody said she thinks she knows what she wants to do but the event was still helpful.
Hundreds of area students get a chance to ask area businesses questions about future career options
“There’s agriculture and there’s animal science,” said Woody. “I want to be a Marine Biologist. I really love the water and I really love animals and so I think that’s the perfect thing for me.”
Students were encouraged to talk with area employers and ask questions by receiving raffle tickets from booth workers which they submit to qualify to win prizes at the end of the day.
“The raffle tickets are two-fold to get them engaged with the businesses” said Brown. “The student doesn’t realize they’re learning in the process. They are more interested in the raffle ticket because they want to earn the prizes but they’re learning about the businesses that are here in the area at the same time.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — A nonpartisan congressional study has found that stiffer state voter ID laws have damped election turnout, disproportionately affecting blacks and younger people.
