WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court is refusing to toss out a lawsuit filed by two female students alleging Kansas State University refused to investigate their rapes and other sex assaults at off-campus fraternity houses.
photo KSU
The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the women had sufficiently alleged that Kansas State’s deliberate indifference made them vulnerable to sexual harassment by allowing the students who they say attacked them to continue attending the university. The university purportedly did not investigate the rape allegations.
The two women contend in their civil rights lawsuit that this caused them to withdraw from participating in educational opportunities at the university.
While the appellate panel affirmed a lower court’s refusal to dismiss the students’ claims, its narrow ruling does not address the merits of the case.
The European Union currently has a quota in place that allows up to 45,000 tons of hormone-free beef imports. Thanks to a new agreement between Washington and Brussels, 35,000 of those tons will come from U.S. beef producers. Politico says it’s important to remember the deal still needs approval from EU nations and the United States.
As part of the new agreement, Brussels wants Washington to declare a final settlement in the original 2009 World Trade Organization dispute over the EU’s hormone-treated beef ban. The guaranteed share of the quota for American producers would be phased in over a five-year period. Australia, Uruguay, and other major U.S. competitors could still file a WTO lawsuit against the European Union, claiming they’re being discriminated against in favor of U.S. exports.
While the EU is still against including agriculture in a potential deal with the U.S., Politico says the EU is trying to ease tensions with President Donald Trump through “one-off” moves like the beef deal, buying more soybeans, and approving oilseeds for use in European biofuel production.
Cooper Nuclear Station/Nebraska Public Power District photo
Worries that the Cooper Nuclear Power Plant near Brownville, Nebraska would have to shut down have lessened as the projected crest of the Missouri River has dropped.
Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker says the plant remains up and running at full capacity.
“Cooper nuclear station in Brownville is operating today at 100% as it has over the entire weekend,” according to Becker. “The levels for any kind of possible shutdown were never reached over the weekend. As a matter of fact, the water levels on the Missouri River have dropped.”
The National Weather Service reports the Missouri River is just below 26 feet at St. Joseph with an expected crest of 27.4 feet late Thursday.
Simply put, though the rising Missouri River threatened operations of the plant, it never rose high enough to shut down the plant.
“That’s primarily due to some levees that have collapsed on the Iowa side of the river and, of course, at Cooper, our levee on the Nebraska side is higher than what’s on the Missouri side, so water is flowing over the levee on the Missouri side onto the floodplain,” Becker says.
Cooper declared an “unusual event” when the Missouri River rose to 899 feet at the plant. The river level never reached 900 feet at the plant. The nuclear plant has to shut down when the level reaches 901.5 feet.
Essential staff remained at the plant this weekend. Non-essential staff are not required to come to the plant. Floodwaters overflowed Highway 136, cutting off access to Brownville from the Missouri side.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Federal authorities say 1 million pounds of pork products allegedly smuggled from China have been seized at a New Jersey port.
Troy Miller, field operations director for the Customs and Border Protection in New York and New Jersey, says it’s the largest agricultural seizure ever made in the United States.
.@CBP NYFO Director Troy Miller, Acting Port Director Port of New York/Newark Stephen Maloney and Chief CBP Agriculture Specialist Basil Liakakos host media event discussing recent seized shipments of food products from China that may be contaminated with African Swine Fever pic.twitter.com/aZdEBoxtbf
Officials feared the meat could be contaminated with African swine fever virus, which has killed more than a million pigs in China. It’s not dangerous to humans, but officials say an outbreak in America could cause $10 billion in damage to the pork industry in just one year.
Officials say the pork was smuggled over several weeks in containers where it was hidden by packages of noodles and laundry detergent. They say the meat was “primarily cured,” and the cargo containers were not refrigerated.
An Eagle Communications bucket truck loaded down with bottled water for stricken communities in Nebraska
Flooding has reached record levels at 17 locations in Nebraska. Hundreds of homes have been damaged and hundreds of people are staying in shelters. Nearly 300 people have been rescued from high water across the state. In one county alone, Sarpy County, up to 500 homes have been damaged.
You can get information on how you can send donations to help here.
At that link you will find a way to text donations or send donations to Nebraska Flood Relief.
From the Fremont area this morning on the Platte. Each of those little islands has dozens of cattle on it, stranded with no place to go.
Our thoughts are with our agriculture industry as they will certainly feel the effects of this flooding. pic.twitter.com/PK8gpu2NMb
Please don’t come to closed areas to sight see. You put yourselves at risk and the first responders as well. Barricades are placed and roads are closed for safety.
Expect rain to move into the area as early as Monday night across far eastern Kansas and western Missouri. Rain will spread eastward into Tuesday morning, and should last most of the day Tuesday, with around 1/2″ of rain expected. While the rainfall isn’t anticipated to make the ongoing moderate to major river flooding much worse, it certainly will not be helpful in getting the already swollen streams down to more manageable levels soon. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 51. North northeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm.
Tonight: Scattered showers after 1 a.m. Increasing clouds, with a low around 36. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tuesday: Rain and snow showers likely before 8 a.m., then periods of rain showers. High near 47. Light and variable wind becoming east southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Tuesday Night: Showers, mainly before 1 a.m. Low around 35. East northeast wind around 7 mph becoming north northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 52. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 57.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 35.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.
Friday Night: A chance of showers after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Saturday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Saturday Night: A chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 48. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Sunday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Missouri State Emergency Management Agency photo of northwest Missouri flooding.
Emergency management officials continue to closely watch the Missouri River, even as the level of the Missouri dipped a little over the weekend.
The National Weather Service reports the Missouri River at St. Joseph stood at 25.64 feet at 6:30 Sunday evening. The Missouri River level dropped a bit this weekend and now is heading toward major flood stage with NWS expecting the Missouri to crest late Wednesday at 28.1 feet, a full foot lower than earlier projections and below the record crest of 32.1 feet reached in 1993. The Missouri River rose to just under 30 feet at St. Joseph in 2011.
Gov. Mike Parson, who took a helicopter tour of flooding in northwest Missouri Friday, is hesitant to compare this year with 2011.
“I don’t know that we’re comparing it there, but we’re all concerned about is it going to be like 2011 or not? I don’t think any of us know this yet,” Parson tells reporters.
Still, Parson says officials are using the hard-earned experience of 2011 to make sure they can respond to whatever happens this year.
“We’ve been preparing for this,” Parson says. “Everybody’s trying to make sure we dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s and make sure we’re ready for this as best we can be.”
The state closed Interstate 29 at Rock Port Friday as floodwaters covered the interstate across the state line in Iowa. Missouri Department of Transportation officials have been directing traffic to Interstate 35, north to I-80, back across to I-29. High water has closed a number of area roads. Highway 136, which carries traffic from northwest Missouri to Brownville, Nebraska, has been closed.
Atchison County Emergency Management Director Rhonda Wiley says she observed many stressed levees during a helicopter tour of flooding with Gov. Parson.
“I believe that we saw some areas that were probably true breaches in Holt County,” Wiley says. “Then we saw some toppage up in Atchison County as well. And, so, I believe there are some areas that have already breached.”
Wiley says fewer than 100 homes had been flooded in Atchison County with all by two families seeking shelter with relatives or friends.
The threat of flooding at Rosecrans Memorial Airport has prompted the 139th Airlift Wing to take precautions. Vice Commander of the 139th, John Clark, says the C-130s at Rosecrans have been moved to higher ground.
“Mainly, right now, what we want to say is that we are still fully mission capable and engaged for you sir and for the nation as a whole and we’ll continue to remain at that level of readiness,” Clarks tells Gov. Parson.
A move by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had taken pressure off the Missouri River. The Corps reports it has reduced releases from the Gavins Point Dam, upstream at Yankton, South Dakota. The Corps had increased water releases from Gavins Point from 50,000 cubic feet per second to 90,000 to relieve widespread flooding in Nebraska. It announce over the weekend, it is reducing releases to 73,000 cfs with the intention of lowering releases to 20,000.
JOHNSON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 3:30p.m. Sunday in Johnson County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Dodge 3500 driven by Nicholas D. Failer, 35, Windsor, was eastbound in the 900 Block of SE 900 Road. As the vehicle was pulling forward, 3-year-old passenger Isabelle J. Failer, fell from the pickup.
The pickup’s trailer ran over the child.
She was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Sweeney, Phillips and Holdren Funeral Home. Authorities released no additional details late Sunday.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Hundreds of homes have flooded in northwest Missouri after the Missouri River overtopped and breached several farm levees.
Holt County emergency management director Tom Bullock says there is 6 to 7 feet of water in many homes. He says one couple was rescued in a helicopter, and some businesses also have flooded.
Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Water Patrol Officers launching a boat to assist a family in Corning, Missouri, who couldn’t get to safety due to flood water surrounding the town. pic.twitter.com/ARCTttntnV
The Missouri Department of Transportation also reported about 100 flood-related road closures in the state, including a stretch of Interstate 29.
The Missouri River already has crested upstream of Omaha, Nebraska. The National Weather Service says it will crest Thursday in St. Joseph at 10.4 feet above flood stage, which would be the third highest on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from the Rosecrans Air National Guard base in preparation.
TOPEKA — An employee with the Kansas Department of Transportation is no longer employed with the agency after using KDOT’s twitter account to respond to a tweet from President Trump critical of two Fox News television anchors.
Were @FoxNews weekend anchors, @ArthelNeville and @LelandVittert, trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse? In any event, that’s where they should be working, along with their lowest rated anchor, Shepard Smith!
The KDOT Twitter account called the president a president a “delusional communist” and added “You know it’s communist countries that try to control media, right?”
Julie Lorenz, acting KDOT Secretary, also used twitter to confirm the employee was no longer working for KDOT.
Today an employee sent a tweet from @SCKansasKDOT. The tweet has been deleted as it does not reflect the views of KDOT or the Administration and was an unacceptable use of state communication tools. The person who sent the tweet is no longer an employee of KDOT.
The European Union currently has a quota in place that allows up to 45,000 tons of hormone-free beef imports. Thanks to a new agreement between Washington and Brussels, 35,000 of those tons will come from U.S. beef producers. Politico says it’s important to remember the deal still needs approval from EU nations and the United States.
