McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — The botched April execution of an Oklahoma inmate and other troubling ones in Ohio and Arizona this year gave capital punishment opponents a flicker of hope that the most pro-death penalty parts of the country might have a change of heart. They didn’t.
Although Oklahoma temporarily halted executions amid an investigation, prison officials held what amounted to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its overhauled death chamber only months later and are scheduled to resume killing inmates in mid-January.
Rather than causing states to reconsider capital punishment, the prolonged executions and problems securing lethal injection drugs have led states to explore new, old and more efficient ways of killing.
Oklahoma lawmakers are considering gassing inmates, while Tennessee is reviving the electric chair. Utah is considering firing squad.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A group of Missouri organ musicians and enthusiasts are traveling the area to enjoy the instrument’s history.
The Joplin Globe reports that members of the Joplin Area Organist’s Association are going on “organ crawls.”
Close to home, members can play and learn about the 1929 Hinners pipe organ at the Byers Avenue United Methodist Church in Joplin.
Group member Gary Jordan says it’s the second-oldest organ in Jasper County next to one at the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
Another organ at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Galena, Kansas, was made before the Civil War. It was shipped from New York and up the Mississippi River.
Jordan says association members hope to expose the instrument’s history in the area, which he says is fading because organs are expensive to maintain and difficult to play.
A sobriety checkpoint operated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol earlier this month resulted in one DWI arrest, two citations, and 19 warnings.
Captain James E. McDonald, commanding officer of Troop H, announced the results of the checkpoint in Clinton County December 20.
The checkpoint was held from 10 p.m. on December 20, 2014, to 2 a.m. on December 21, 2014. As a result of this operation officers checked the drivers of 82 vehicles that passed through the checkpoint.
“There is no room for intoxicated drivers on Missouri roadways. If you choose to drink and drive, you will lose,” states Captain McDonald. “If your plans include consuming alcohol, have a designated driver.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Farmers and ranchers across Kansas are wrapping a growing season marked by rapidly changing fortunes buffeted by weather and markets.
The 2014 farming year in Kansas brought a meager winter wheat harvest before late spring rains eased drought conditions just in time to green up pastures and sustain bountiful fall crops of corn, soybeans and sorghum.
Cattle producers enjoyed unprecedented high livestock prices coupled with plunging feed costs.
The weather outlook for January through March of 2015 has given farmers hope, as forecasts call for wetter than normal conditions. But drought has been four years in the making in parts of Kansas and it is premature to say it is over.
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — The Independence Center mall has seen a disturbance that led stores to be locked down before closing.
The Kansas City Star reported that the stores locked down before closing Friday night after fights broke out.
Ashley Jones of Independence says she was leaving the mall, located about 10 miles east of Kansas City, when an officer in the parking lot told her a melee had broken out. She said they heard “screaming and yelling, and we took off running.”
The newspaper said at one point, police reported that some large groups of youths had moved to parking lots at stores across from the mall.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is expected to miss about six weeks after the team discovered he has a lacerated spleen. That leaves the offense in the hands of career backup Chase Daniel for Sunday’s important game against San Diego. The Chiefs need to beat the Chargers and hope that Baltimore loses to Cleveland and Houston falls to Jacksonville to reach the postseason for the second straight year.
More from the Chiefs on Daniels running the offense Sunday.
Andy Reid
“[Alex and Chase] have a great relationship. They’re always challenging each other in a positive way. They have a lot of trust in each other, so they talk continuously throughout games and meetings and practice. They always check their ego and they feed off of each other which is a very positive thing in their relationship and in that room.”
Alex Smith
“I talked to Chase (Daniel) last night. I really felt like I ate up two practice days of his. They would have been important had we known this earlier but tough. Really kind of on me I feel like but, any way I can help us now. Whatever it is. Helping him prepare, passing on anything that I had been thinking this whole week and getting ready for. Doing anything I can to help us get ready to go win a game.”
Jason Avant
“You take reps with everybody in practice, and that’s what you practice everything for because you never know throughout a season what may happen. It’s definitely an unfortunate situation for Alex, but as far as the whole team’s perspective, I know Alex is wishing Chase well and lets him hear about all the looks that he’s seen so far. Everybody is working as hard as they can to get him ready for game time. We know that he’ll be ready and we just expect him to go out and execute his assignments at quarterback. He doesn’t have to be Alex, he doesn’t have to be anybody else, he just has to be an efficient player on Sunday and he’ll do that.”
Rodney Hudson
“Chase is going to step in, we’re confident that he’ll do a good job. Everybody just has to work together, work as an offense and offensive line. Just work together and we’ll be fine.”
Travis Kelce
“You have to do what you have to do. You can’t harp or mope around saying ‘Aw, man, we lost one of our leaders’ or something like that. Obviously we wish we had him out there, but at the same time, we have to roll with who we have and everyone’s confident that Chase is going to do what he has to do and we’re going to go ahead and rally around him.”
Aaron Murray
“Obviously I’m hoping Chase does his things, goes out there and balls out and we win and those other teams lose and we’re in the playoffs. So that’s our goal this week and we’ve been working hard. Chase has been working hard. He is one of the hardest working guys on the team, one of those guys that is first in, first out. So I know he is excited to go out there and ball out and lead this team to victory.”
WASHINGTON – Nearly two years to the day after Congress passed into law Senator Claire McCaskill’s sweeping overhaul of wartime contracting practices, military action against the so-called “Islamic State,” or ISIS, is triggering those reforms to ensure accountability and oversight of the effort.
McCaskill’s wartime contracting reforms, the most substantial overhaul of how the federal government contracts during wartime since World War II, gained final approval in December 2012 after a sustained six-year effort. That effort made good on a campaign pledge McCaskill issued in 2006.
One provision of the Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act requires the designation of a lead Inspector General to guard against waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars in overseas military contingencies—and requires that Inspector General to make regular reports to Congress.
The Defense Department announced this week that Jon T. Rymer, the Pentagon’s Inspector General, will serve as the lead inspector general for Operation Inherent Resolve, and that Rymer will submit biannual reports to Congress, with the first to be delivered in April.
“This is exactly the kind of accountability and oversight that’s needed to protect taxpayer dollars when America takes military action—especially after the stunning waste we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said McCaskill, a former prosecutor and Missouri State Auditor. “As the critical mission against ISIS is executed, these reforms should help strengthen Americans’ confidence that our resources are being used effectively and efficiently.”
McCaskill’s legislation has improved contracting practices and accountability across the federal government by:
Elevating oversight responsibility, improving management structures, expanding planning requirements, and reforming contracting practices during overseas contingency operations;
Requiring departments and agencies to assess contracting risk in overseas contingency operations and reduce unnecessary reliance in areas including private security contracting;
Establishing responsibilities for Inspectors General to oversee all aspects of overseas contingency operations;
Improving the contracting process through greater transparency, competition, and professional education; and
Instituting additional provisions for accountability by contractors and the federal government, including limits that require proof that development projects are sustainable, prior to providing funding for such projects in overseas contingencies.
McCaskill’s wartime contracting provisions build upon recommendations issued in 2011 by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, created through legislation passed in 2007 by McCaskill and former Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, and modeled after President Harry Truman’s crusade to combat the wasteful war profiteering that occurred during World War II. In its final report to Congress, issued after three years of investigation, the Commission found that the U.S. had squandered up to $60 billion through waste and fraud on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Farmers and ranchers have always adhered to sound principles of animal husbandry while providing the best care for their livestock. Society’s views on animal welfare, on the other hand, continue to evolve.
Today, people are becoming more concerned for the animal’s quality of life.
While there are extreme fringe groups, “activists” if you will, many people today have honest questions and concerns about the quality of life for animals while they are in the production environment.
Who are these people?
These people are average individuals. Some are like you. Others may be like me. Many are one, two, three or more generations removed from the farm and no longer understand what goes into the care and feeding of farm animals.
Most of these people are not opposed to eating meat. They believe it is OK for people to eat animals for food. They just want to know while that sow is going through the production cycle she has a reasonable quality of life.
Raising livestock on the farm or ranch is a dynamic, specialized profession that has proven one of the most successful in the world. Only in the United States can less than 2 percent of the population feed 100 percent of our population – and other people around the world – as efficiently as we do.
Today’s animal husbandry is no accident. Because our livestock are the best cared for, we can provide such efficiency.
Farmers and ranchers work hard, long hours to care for and nurture their livestock. Farmers and ranchers are neither cruel nor naive. A farmer would compromise his or her own welfare if animals were mistreated.
“We love our animals,” says Dana Pieper. “We want to produce healthy animals that will one day feed others. We produce beef animals that are destined to be food for all of us.”
Dana and David Pieper operate Pieper Land & Cattle Co. near Palco in northwestern Kansas. The land where they run cattle and farm has been in Dana’s family for more than 130 years. Her grandpa’s great-uncles settled this land on a timber claim from the Union Pacific Railroad.
Pieper is the 5th generation to farm and ranch in Rooks County. More than anything, she wants to carry on her family livestock operation and provide an opportunity for her children to continue this legacy.
“I’ve always known this is where I would one day end up,” Dana says. “I hope one day our children, Cody and Cady, will raise and care for cattle here.”
Dana is a hands-on producer and their family herd consists of approximately 40 fall calving cows, 150 registered Hereford spring calving cows and 150 commercial black and black baldie spring calving cows.
“Our cattle eat, sleep, drink, walk and reproduce,” Pieper says. “They’re living creatures. Caring for them gives us a chance to be in charge of each and every animal’s welfare.”
Many consumers are unaware of a farmer’s relationship with their animals. They don’t know how meat, milk, eggs and other food products wind up on their dinner table. Few know all that goes into caring, feeding and nurturing of livestock on farms and ranches across Kansas.
Kansas farmers and ranchers are committed to continuing the enhancement of animal well-being throughout the life cycle of their food-producing animals. Today’s producers remain dedicated to using all the scientific measures available to develop long-term management options and short-term production practices based on scientific research findings about animal well-being.
That said, today’s consumers will continue to regard the profession of farming and ranching highly, and embrace a quality, abundant food source they value second to none.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
TOPEKA — Consumers in Kansas and Missouri are among those who could be most affected if the U.S. Supreme Court eliminates federal subsidies in states that didn’t set up their own health insurance marketplaces.
The court announced on Monday that it will hear arguments in the case — King v. Burwell — on March 4, 2015.
At issue is whether the Affordable Care Act authorizes federal subsidies only in state-operated marketplaces and not in the federal marketplace being used by consumers in Kansas, Missouri and up to 35 other states.
Opponents of the law point to language that suggests Congress intended to restrict subsidies to only those states that set up their own marketplaces. The law’s supporters maintain the restrictive language is a drafting mistake and that other parts of the law make it clear that Congress intended for all eligible consumers to have access to subsidies.
Nationally, more than 13 million Americans could lose their coverage if the court eliminates subsidies in federal marketplace states. In Kansas, nearly 80 percent of the 57,013 who purchased coverage in the first ACA enrollment period would lose their subsidies as would 85 percent of the 152,335 Missouri consumers who used them to help purchase coverage.
Sheldon Weisgrau, director of a foundation-funded effort to educate Kansas consumers and policymakers about the ACA, said a court decision to allow subsidies in only the states that run their own marketplaces could be “devastating for tens of thousands of residents of Kansas and Missouri” who need financial assistance to purchase health coverage.
“Most will no longer be able to afford health insurance and will once again face the health and financial consequences of being uninsured,” Weisgrau said.
In addition, he said, “The insurance market could be destabilized, endangering the financial health of insurance companies and coverage of those who don’t rely on the federal exchange.”
Kansas Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt sides with ACA opponents who contend the law restricts subsidies to the 18 states that established their own marketplaces, also known as exchanges. He and other state attorneys general intervened in the King case and in another challenge to Internal Revenue Service rules that allowed subsidies in federal marketplace states.
“Congress might not have expected so many states to decline to establish an exchange under the Affordable Care Act, but that misjudgment cannot justify allowing the IRS to effectively rewrite the statute to satisfy policy and political objectives, ” Schmidt said in a July media release.
Jim McLean is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
JOAN LOWY, Associated Press
JENNIFER AGIESTA, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans say they are skeptical that the benefits of the heralded drone revolution will outweigh the risks to privacy and safety, although a majority approve of using small, unmanned aircraft for dangerous jobs or in remote areas.
An Associated Press-GfK poll finds that by a 2-1 margin those who had an opinion opposed using drones for commercial purposes. Only 21 percent favor commercial use.
The government prohibits most commercial use of drones but is about to propose regulations to broaden the use of small ones.
It may be two or three years before the rules take effect, but once they do thousands are expected to buzz U.S. skies.
A trade group estimates drones will create 100,000 jobs and $82 billion in economic impact in the first 10 years they’re allowed.
SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press
