WASHINGTON (AP) — Three former secretaries of state have joined the advisory committee of the Eisenhower Memorial.

The Eisenhower Memorial Commission announced Wednesday that Henry A. Kissinger, Madeline K. Albright and Condoleezza Rice have joined the committee.

The advisory committee is working to have a memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower built in Washington.

The memorial project has won design approvals from key agencies. But some in Congress have called for halting the project over the design.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The family of a woman who died after heart surgery is challenging Missouri law capping how much her family can receive in damages.

A lawyer for Shannon Dodson’s family argued Wednesday to the state Supreme Court that such limits are unconstitutional.

The 34-year-old died in 2011 after a St. Louis-area doctor performed a heart test that led to complications and required emergency surgery. A jury awarded the family $9 million in noneconomic damages.

A trial court reduced the noneconomic damages to $350,000 based on state law.

Dodson attorney Patrick Hagerty says that infringes on the right to a jury trial and cited a 2012 Supreme Court decision that struck down limits for noneconomic damages.

The doctor’s attorney, Paul Venker, says the ruling doesn’t apply in wrongful death cases.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A middle school science teacher in Omaha is a winner of the Milken Educator Award for excellence in education, which comes with a $25,000 prize.

Courtney Matulka is one of 40 winners who will be named across the country over the next six months.

Matulka was surprised with the award Wednesday during a school assembly at Beadle Middle School in the Millard Public Schools system.

Governor Pete Ricketts, state Education Deputy Commissioner Deborah Frison and a Milken Educator Awards representative presented the national educator award to her.

Matulka has been teaching since 2009 and graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2008 with an education degree. She earned her master’s degree in secondary education at UNO in 2010.

 

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say someone deposited 22 dead rabbits on individual driveways in a neighborhood on the city’s east side, but they don’t know much else about the incident.  Police spokesman Lieutenant James Espinoza told The Wichita Eagle it looked like the rabbits were thrown onto the driveways, rather than strategically positioned.

He said the rabbits looked like they had been shot with more than a pellet gun.

Officers think the incident happened early Wednesday morning, and that the rabbits were wild. Espinoza says he hasn’t seen any cases like it.

He says Wichita Animal Control is in charge of investigating the incident, but the lieutenant who oversees animal control was out of the office Wednesday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A January sentencing hearing has been scheduled for a former bank manager who admits embezzling more than $323,000 from a branch in Wahoo.

Federal court records say Margaret Cherovsky pleaded guilty after making a deal with prosecutors, who are recommending she serve five years of probation. Her sentencing is set for January 11th. The records say Cherovsky already has paid back the money.

A document filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha says FirstBank of Nebraska officials learned in April last year that the money was missing. The document says Cherovsky had been depositing varying amounts over the past 20 years into her accounts. She faked bank records to show that the money was mutilated or otherwise damaged and could no longer circulate.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis-area man already imprisoned for two murder convictions is now under investigation for other killings of women, due in large part to letters he penned while behind bars.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that police now believe that 49-year-old Theodis Hill of Jennings killed at least five women — three in St. Louis and two in a small Arkansas town, Forrest City, where he went apparently went to help relatives fix up a home.

Police say Hill has written letters to St. Louis detectives and a prosecutor in Arkansas, admitting to killings in both states. Police believe some of the victims were killed after doing drugs with the killer.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A candidate for Missouri lieutenant governor says he’s launching a campaign to legalize medical marijuana in the state.

The Kansas City Star reports Brad Bradshaw, a Democrat, said Tuesday that he’s submitted a medical marijuana initiative petition to the state Secretary of State’s office for review. If the petition is approved and garners enough signatures, Missouri voters would decide next year whether the state constitution should be amended to allow the sale of marijuana for medical reasons.

Bradshaw says he opposes allowing recreational marijuana use, but medical marijuana is “inevitable.”

His plan would heavily tax the sale of medical marijuana, with the money going to construction and operation of a medical research facility.

Bradshaw’s effort would coincide with several proposals to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says he won’t run for president in 2016.

His decision finalizes the Democratic Party’s field of White House candidates and sets Biden on a glide path toward the end of his decades-long political career.

Biden spent months deliberating with his family and political advisers about a potential late entry to the Democratic primary.

But he also said he might not be emotionally ready to run after his 46-year-old son Beau died of brain cancer in May.

Biden’s decision bolsters Hillary Rodham Clinton’s standing in the Democratic primary by sparing her a challenge from the popular vice president.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A jury has begun deliberations in a federal trial of two aides to Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign who are accused of secretly paying a state lawmaker to endorse their boss.  Twelve jurors began deliberating Tuesday in Des Moines, Iowa, in the trial of Jesse Benton and Dimitri Kesari.

Benton, a former campaign chairman, faces one count of making false statements. Kesari, an ex-deputy campaign manager, faces five charges including conspiracy and obstruction. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say the men concealed payments to former Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson after he jumped from the Michele Bachmann campaign to the Paul campaign. Defense attorneys have questioned the authenticity of presented evidence and the credibility of Sorenson, who testified in court.

Attorneys for both sides finished closing arguments Tuesday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has announced a new effort to clamp down on human trafficking, stop traffickers and help their victims.

Peterson announced Tuesday that his office and the Salvation Army have received a $1.5 million federal grant for a new state task force to address the problem.

The group will work to spread awareness of human trafficking in Nebraska.

It also will help train people how to recognize and respond to cases of human trafficking. The effort will include state, federal and local law enforcement, the court system, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Native American tribes and private groups.

Stephen O’Meara, the attorney general’s human trafficking coordinator, says the task force is part of an effort to be more proactive in stopping exploitation.