TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s latest appointee to the Court of Appeals lectured and studied at the conservative law group Alliance Defending Freedom.
Kathryn Gardner faces her first confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and has submitted hundreds of documents on her past experience and writings.
Gardner has served as the law clerk for U.S. District Judge Sam Crow since 2000 after working for 12 years as a practicing lawyer in Wichita and two years as an assistant state attorney general. She said in the application that her experience as clerk was most applicable to the job of an appellate judge.
However, in a presentation to the Alliance Defending Freedom, she called the position servant-like.
Brownback said in a statement that Gardner brings tremendous qualities to the position.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas wheat crops and livestock are in generally positive shape so far this winter.
A report released Monday by the National Agricultural Statistics Service shows 44 percent of the state’s winter wheat crop is in good to excellent condition. Another 44 percent is rated in fair condition. Just 12 percent is reported in poor or very poor shape.
The agency also generally gave high marks to the condition of livestock in Kansas. It reported that 67 percent of the state’s cattle and calves were in good or excellent condition. About 31 percent were reported as fair, and 2 percent rated in poor condition.
About 70 percent of the state’s sheep and lambs were reported to be in good to excellent shape. The rest were reported in fair condition.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Millions of people may have been left vulnerable to hackers while surfing the web on Apple and Google devices, thanks to a newly discovered security flaw known as “FREAK attack.”
There’s no evidence any hackers have exploited the weakness, which companies are working to repair. Researchers who reported the problem this week blamed an old government policy, abandoned several years ago, which required U.S. software-makers to use weaker security in encryption programs sold overseas.
Many popular websites and some Internet browsers can still be tricked into accepting the weaker software. That could make it easier for hackers to break encryption that’s supposed to prevent digital eavesdropping when a visitor types sensitive information into a website. Apple and Google say they’re distributing software updates to fix the flaw.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is exploring how it fits in the new world of drones as residents express their desire to use the technology.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that options including agriculture, emergency management and law enforcement are being considered as areas where drones can be used. Meetings throughout the state have been scheduled by state agencies to discuss the ideas, as well as concerns about privacy.
Billy Brown, and agribusiness developer coordinator for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, said in a news release that people have been calling the department with questions about drones, and obstacles that have stopped them from using the technology.
The Federal Aviation Administration is currently writing regulation rules for the use of drones. Most commercial uses of drones are illegal.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — School districts suing Kansas over education funding are telling the state Supreme Court that they want a lower court to still handle their lawsuit.
Four districts on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to reject the state’s request that the high court handle the lawsuit instead of a three-judge Shawnee County District Court panel.
The districts sued the state in 2010. The lower-court panel ruled in December that the state isn’t adequately funding schools.
The state asked the panel in January to reconsider. The districts filed their own request to block legislators from tampering with additional aid to poor districts approved last year.
The panel has a hearing scheduled for Thursday.
But the state also appealed the panel’s ruling to the Supreme Court and now wants it to handle the case.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A tiny boy born on his parents’ way to a Nebraska hospital is struggling for life as they mourn his twin sister.
Kaleb and Savannah Clark arrived early on Feb. 5 as their parents, 39-year-old Kevin and 36-year-old Laura Clark, headed to Lincoln from their home in Barnes, Kansas.
Kevin Clark had to stop alongside U.S. Highway 77 on the south side of Lincoln because one baby already had arrived.
Laura Clark’s cousin Mary Crevier told the Lincoln Journal Star that two days after the twins were born, Savannah died after blood vessels burst in her head and lungs.
Crevier says Kaleb weighed about 2 pounds at birth. He’s since gained about 10 ounces and been taken off a breathing tube.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. plans $2 billion in cost cuts over the next two years through corporate restructuring and other improvements.
The goal: to make the Minneapolis-based discounter more agile to compete in an increasingly competitive landscape.
The moves unveiled Tuesday are being spearheaded by CEO Brian Cornell, who took over last August and who is charged with reclaiming the retailer’s image as a purveyor of cheap chic fashions.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma would become the first state to allow the execution of inmates using nitrogen gas under a bill that overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives.
The House voted 85-10 on Tuesday for the bill by Oklahoma City Republican Rep. Mike Christian, who described the method as humane, painless and easy to administer. There was no debate against the bill, which now heads to the Senate.
Christian says the nitrogen would be administered to the inmate either by a “tent or some kind of secure mask.”
Christian began studying alternative methods after a botched lethal injection last spring that has led to the U.S. Supreme Court considering whether Oklahoma’s current method is constitutional.
He says prison officials in several other states are interested in his proposal.
Netanyahu speaks to a join session of Congress on Tuesday
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today released the following statement after attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a Joint Session of Congress:
“Right now, the Administration is engaging in additional discussions with Iran regarding its nuclear program.
“I firmly believe this does nothing to assuage the Iranians from their nuclear ambitions, but does everything to hurt the U.S.-Israel relationship.
“The Prime Minister is correct: a nuclear Iran is a direct threat to Israel’s security. Together, we must do all that we can to stop it.
“I am concerned with the reports that we are getting from the nuclear negotiations with Iran.
“Any deal that would allow Iran to retain vast portions of its nuclear infrastructure and enrichment capability is a bad deal.
“Any deal that would eventually allow Iran to become a nuclear state is a bad deal.
“Any deal that holds out a promise of economic relief to Tehran in exchange for flimsy promises is a bad deal.
“Given Iran’s nuclear determination, I believe the Congress should move ahead with legislation that would provide an insurance policy.
“I am proud to cosponsor legislation introduced by Senator Mark Kirk and Senator Bob Menendez that would escalate sanctions on Iran in the event that no deal is reached or if Iran breaches the deal.
“And should the Administration reach a deal – which they seem so determined to do – Congress should not be shut out of the progress.
“To that end, I strongly support Senator Corker’s bill that would give Congress the power to veto any bad deal that would threaten Israeli and U.S. national security.
“It is important to remember that international sanctions are what brought Iran to the negotiation table. Given the stakes, sanctions should play a role in the aftermath of these negotiations.”
The recent bump in gasoline prices in St Joseph reflects a national trend in what amounts to the longest stretch of rising pump prices in more than two years.
Prices in St Joe on Monday jumped another dime to $2.29 per gallon.
“Paying $2 for gas will seem like a distant memory for most drivers in the coming weeks,” said Avery Ash, AAA spokesman.
“Gasoline remains much cheaper than in recent years, but drivers may not appreciate that fact given the steep increase in price over the past month.”
Meanwhile, some workers are crossing picket lines in the lingering U.S. refinery strike, with companies pushing laborers to return to work by saying they could lose their bonuses. A month into the biggest U.S. refinery walkout in 35 years, money is tight as strike pay from the United Steelworkers union is a fraction of normal wages. Reuters reports about 6,550 workers are on strike at 15 plants, including 12 refineries with a fifth of U.S. capacity. Companies are relying on temporary replacements to keep plants open.
According to the San Antonio Business Journal, a text message alert from the United Steelworkers bargaining group reports that contract negotiations are expected to resume this Wednesday.
There’s no mention of the refinery strike in Triple A’s analysis of increasing gas prices. The auto club says U.S. average gas prices have increased 35 days in a row for a total of 39 cents per gallon, making this the longest consecutive streak of rising prices since February 2013. Triple A says prices are up primarily due to a combination of rising crude oil costs, refinery maintenance and unplanned production problems. Analysts say the national average price of gas could rise by 20 cents per gallon or more in March as refinery maintenance season continues.
