EUDORA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two 16-year-old boys who were struck by a train in northeast Kansas had been hanging out on a railroad bridge.

The Lawrence Journal-World  reports that the boys were flown Saturday to different Kansas City-area hospitals with serious injuries. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Steve Lewis said the teens heard the train coming but weren’t able to get out of the way.

All train traffic was stopped while emergency vehicles parked on the tracks near Eudora to attend to the teens. One of the boys was from Lawrence, while the other was from Eudora. Their names weren’t immediately released.

 

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida couple is on their way to Kansas to mourn their son, a pilot killed in a small plane crash at a flight training facility.

Mark Goldstein died Thursday when his twin-engine plane crashed just after takeoff at the Flight Safety International Learning Center at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Three people inside a flight simulator when the plane crashed also died.

Ingrid and Don Goldstein of Ocala were driving to Kansas this weekend. Ingrid Goldstein told the Ocala Star-Banner that her 53-year-old son was a gifted and decorated pilot and air traffic controller.

She said her son was, “the kindest, nicest man.”

The National Transportation Safety Board says Mark Goldstein worked as an air traffic controller for 24 years at the Wichita control tower before retiring this year.

JETMORE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials say hunters contributed more than $600 million to the state’s economy last year, and they’re hoping to increase that figure with a campaign aimed at hunters from other states.

The Pratt Tribune reports the value of outdoor recreation was in the spotlight recently as the Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism held its annual Kansas Hunting Showcase.

The event took place in southwest Kansas at HorseThief Reservoir near Jetmore, one of the state’s newest venues for hunting and fishing.

Assistant Wildlife and Parks Secretary Linda Craighead says out-of-state hunters and fishermen account for 60 percent of the money going to the state from those activities. The agency plans to use national print, television and digital media to promote Kansas as a primary spot for hunting and fishing.

CHICAGO (AP) — The tightrope is waiting for Nik Wallenda in Chicago.

The 35-year-old high-wire artist plans to perform two nail-biting walks that will be televised around the world Sunday.

The Discovery Channel will use a 10-second delay for the broadcast, allowing producers to cut away if Wallenda falls. He plans to perform the walks without a net or harness.

First, Wallenda will walk uphill at a 15-degree angle from the west Marina City tower to the top of a skyscraper on the other side of the Chicago River. Next, he’ll walk between the two Marina City towers wearing a blindfold.

Steven Dahlman lives in the east Marina City tower. He says his neighbors are a little worried, but excited to be “in the middle of a world event.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say the bodies of all four victims have been removed from a Wichita flight training facility that was hit by a small plane this week.

The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/1uirRxr) reports that Fire Marshal Brad Crisp said the body of the pilot was removed Saturday from the roof of the building at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

The bodies of the other three victims who were inside a flight simulator when the twin-engine plane hit Thursday were pulled from the rubble a day earlier.

Crisp says the removal of the pilot’s body was made more difficult because of the crumbling structure, which caught on fire after the crash.

National Transportation Safety Board officials say the cockpit voice recorder has been recovered but it’s unclear whether a flight data recorder survived.

By Andy Marso
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — Political action committees run by the state’s dentists, chiropractors and optometrists donated a total of $4,000 in the last few months to support the campaign of Ken Selzer, the Republican candidate for Kansas insurance commissioner.

Ten other medically related PACs stayed out of that race, while the Kansas Independent Pharmacy PAC gave to both Selzer and his Democratic opponent, Dennis Anderson.

Selzer is an accountant with Aon Benfield, a reinsurance company. Anderson is a co-founder of A.D. Banker & Company, which provides continuing education to insurance agents. Neither has served in state government.

The insurance commissioner’s race is the only one of the six statewide elected offices that does not feature an incumbent this year, as Republican Sandy Praeger is not seeking re-election.
Kevin Robertson, executive director of the Kansas Dental Association, said it was a little more difficult to vet Selzer and Anderson than candidates in other races because they don’t have a voting record or history in office. But the dental PAC officials decided to donate $1,000 to Selzer’s campaign because they anticipate he will tend to support health care providers rather than insurance companies.

“As far as taking our side on insurance issues,” Robertson said, “I don’t think it’s any shock that providers and insurance companies kind of have a love-hate relationship.”

Robertson noted that the dental PAC did not give a maximum donation to either candidate and said he would not be worried if Anderson prevails.

“I’m sure he’ll be just fine if he were to win,” Robertson said. “We don’t really have a lot of concerns either way.”

The Kansas Optometric PAC gave $2,000 and the Kansas Chiropractors Association PAC gave $1,000 to Selzer’s campaign. The Kansas Independent Pharmacy PAC gave $500 each to Anderson and Selzer.

Gary Robbins, executive director of the Kansas Optometric Association, said both Anderson and Selzer are “nice guys,” but some of the optometric PAC board members had met Selzer and were impressed by him.

“Our people were a little more comfortable with Ken,” Robbins said. “They thought he had a little more experience.”

In total, the state’s medical PACs spent about $233,000 in the run-up to Tuesday’s general election, which was almost double their primary spending. The bulk of the money went to donations for the state’s 125 House races, and most of it went to support incumbents or those running unopposed.

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

BY REBECCA FRENCH SMITH

It’s interesting how as you get older your wish for winter weather changes. Every winter my sons’ fervent wish is that the skies will open up and dump several inches of cold, wet snow so they can stay home from school. Once upon a time, that was my wish, too, but now, my biggest wish is, if it happens, it happens on a Friday night so the roads will be clear by the time I need to go to work again. If it must snow, at least it should be convenient; unfortunately, we don’t always get what we wish for, either of us.

So, this year, for fun, we’ve embarked on a little experiment: how to gauge what the winter will bring. Apparently, predicting how harsh or mild winter will be is somewhat of a hobby for some. Folklore cues are taken from acorn shells to squirrels and foggy mornings in August to rodents and bird migrations.

Through the years, scientists have done studies on some of these tales to gauge their validity. Most have some sort of elusive truth to them. In a modern world, we’re fortunate to have science and technology guiding us, but even then forecasters fall back on the uncertainty clause, because, really, until it’s over, it’s anyone’s guess. What we do know is it will be colder, and if precipitation falls, it will likely be a frozen variety.

Since I missed counting the foggy mornings in August, I’m relying on persimmons and woolly bears for the experiment. The persimmon tree in my yard produced ample fruit to dissect. The saying goes, if you cut open a persimmon seed you will see one of three things: a spoon, a fork or a knife. Those utensils are indicators of the types of precipitation that will come. Let’s just say, my boys were elated — spoons. Spoons mean wet snow, i.e. you’ll need a shovel. Forks mean powdery light snow and knives mean icy winds. We cracked about a dozen seeds and had about 90 percent spoons.

As for woolly bears, the caterpillar of the Isabella tiger moth, they’re pointing to a milder winter. Their rust-colored bands are pretty wide in our neck of the woods, though I’m not sure what their definition of “mild” is. A narrow band would indicate a harsh winter.

The weather forecasters are saying that the polar vortex won’t likely be visiting us again this year, thank goodness. But, we’ll see. It depends on what your definition of “polar vortex” is and for that matter what your definitions of “mild” and “harsh” are. Winter is in the eye of the beholder, so you just might get what you wish for.

As for my experiment, we’ll have to wait until next spring to find out, but truth be told, I’m wishing for snow, too.

Rebecca French Smith, of Columbia, Mo., is a multimedia specialist for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.
– See more at: http://www.mofb.org/NewsMedia/CuttotheChase.aspx#sthash.bTUBucrv.dpuf

NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press
JENNIFER AGIESTA, Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — A new Associated Press-GfK Poll shows that candidates will have a hard time rallying voters around social issues on Election Day.

The poll found that likely voters’ top issues are the economy, health care, Ebola and the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Those issues largely favor Republicans. Democrats have tried to rally their base of single women by focusing on abortion rights and other social issues.

But last month’s poll found only 43 percent of likely voters found abortion an important issue. Democrats have the advantage on that subject and same-sex marriage, but those issues are not priorities for voters.