TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Data and equipment developed by University of Kansas researchers helped scientists create the first comprehensive map of the Greenland ice sheet.
Prasad Gogineni, the director of a Kansas-based foundation, says the map is important because Greenland’s ice sheet has been losing mass in the last two decades and the losses are expected to continue.
Gogineni is a Kansas engineering professor and director of the National Science Foundation Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets. He says the data and ultra-sensitive radar equipment developed by the center documented deep and ancient channels of ice for the map.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports an accurate history can help determine how fast the sea level will rise so coastlines and cities can anticipate higher water.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas voters who re-elected a Republican governor known for aggressive tax cutting are learning that the state won’t solve its budget problems without putting its cherished highway system in the crosshairs.
Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature this past week worked out plans for closing a $344 million budget deficit by cutting education spending and siphoning money away from highway projects, along with other measures.
Brownback argued throughout his successful re-election campaign that Kansas could have the income cuts he’s championed without sacrificing essential services, including good highways.
Even a few of the Legislature’s most austerity minded members were taken aback by plans to delay some yet-unidentified road and bridge projects.
MANHATTAN – A Kansas man died in an accident on Friday evening in Manhattan.
The Riley County police reported in a media release that just before 7 p.m. on Friday they received an emergency call for service requesting a rescue.
A man was entrapped in dirt and mud near the intersection of Scenic Drive and Fossilridge in Manhattan following a trench collapse.
The victim William Albert Wiske, 30, Wamego, was a City of Manhattan employee who had been repairing a water main when the trench collapsed upon him. Effort to free him was immediate.
Upon arrival, the first rescue unit found that the victim was buried up to his waist in dirt and mud. Fire crews were able to free the victim in approximately 20 minutes and transferred care to Riley County EMS.
Wiske was transported to Mercy Regional where he died.
“We are deeply saddened about the loss of William Wiske, an employee of our Water Services Division”, said City Manager Ron Fehr.
“Our thoughts and prayers are extended to William’s family during this very difficult time.”
The Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University is conducting a statewide survey for the Reformation Project, a non-profit organization in Wichita, to measure Kansans’ opinions and policy preferences regarding the rights of people with alternative sexual orientations.
Docking Senior Policy Fellow Dr. Chapman Rackaway, professor of political science at FHSU, is the principal investigator on the study, which will survey opinion on the legal rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Kansans.
The study is currently ongoing and the results are expected to be released later in February.
The Reformation Project, an organization that petitions for the rights of LGBT people, will present the results to the governor, the Kansas Legislature and the public.
TOPEKA — In a procedural flurry on Thursday, the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice committee passed two bills and heard a third. The committee unanimously passed Senate Bills 12 and 13 and heard testimony on Senate Bill 90.
When a convict is released from confinement by the Department of Corrections, Senate Bill 13 would allow the department to notify the victim of the release.
“Say there was a domestic violence case where a husband assaulted and battered his wife, and maybe he’s being released or he gets to go on a work release program or something like that, this bill allows them to release that information to the wife,” said committee chair Sen. Greg Smith (R-Overland Park).
Also on Thursday, after four amendments the committee passed Senate Bill 12, which would increase sentences for battery and aggravated battery against judges, attorneys, and court services officers.
Topeka defense lawyer David McDonald critiqued the bill by saying it’s language didn’t include defense attorneys. McDonald was punched in the face by a client during a trial in December.
The bill’s amended language includes public defenders, their assistants, and attorneys contracted with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and the Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Service. It does not explicitly mention private attorneys.
The two bills that passed through the committee do not yet have a set date to be heard on the Senate floor.
The committee also heard testimony on Senate Bill 90, which would allow the Attorney General to issue Fugitive Apprehension Licenses to independent bounty hunters, officially called bail enforcement agents.
Bondsmen and their bail agents currently go through background checks to get licenses in order to post bail bonds and track down fugitives but they sometimes work with freelance bounty hunters who currently don’t need licenses. Under the new bill freelancers would need to get a background check for a license in order to apprehend fugitives.
Shane Rolf, a bail bondsman from Olathe and executive vice president of the Kansas Bail Agents Association, supported the bill and said it would ensure that freelance bounty hunters are not convicted felons.
“While we do not believe that there is a huge problem with convicted felons acting as independent bounty hunters, there is no agency that checks the status of these independent agents who are not also authorized to post bail,” Rolf said.
Spencer Duncan, a private investigator from Topeka representing the Kansas Association of Licensed Investigators, supported the bill saying the bail enforcement industry needs to be regulated.
“Licensing allows those in an industry who are not following the proper procedures to be weeded out of the system, which is good for the industry and the general public,” Duncan said.
The committee will work the bill Tuesday.
Austin Fisher is a senior studying journalism at the University of Kansas from Lawrence, Kansas.
DENVER (AP) — As vaccine skeptics fight laws that would force more parents to inoculate their kids, they are finding unexpected allies in conservative Republicans.
The stereotype of a vaccine skeptic is a coastal, back-to-the-land type, but it’s generally been Democratic-controlled states that have tightened vaccination laws.
This week, Democrats in California and Washington state proposed eliminating laws that allow parents to opt out of vaccination for personal reasons after a measles outbreak was traced to Disneyland.
Republicans objected to a similar effort in Maine. In Colorado, it was largely Republicans who squashed a 2014 effort to force parents to get a physician’s approval if they chose not to inoculate their kids.
There are exceptions. Some Democrats have fought vaccine requirements, and some members of the GOP have sought to increase the shots.
PRATT–If you’re looking to make some memories this spring turkey season but are unsure where to go for a quality hunt, explore the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism’s Special Hunts Program. Special Hunts provide access to public and private lands that are not open to unrestricted public access. One hundred special hunts for spring turkey will be offered this year and applications are being accepted now through 9 a.m. on Feb. 23. To obtain detailed information on all available hunts, and to download an application, visit: ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Special-Hunts-Information.
Out of the 100 hunts available, 33 are open hunts (open to all), 39 are mentor hunts (both beginner and mentor may hunt), and 28 are youth hunts (youth hunt only). These hunts will occur on a variety of private lands, wildlife areas, city and county properties, and one national wildlife refuge. There is no fee to participate and application is open to residents and non-residents.
Successful applicants will be notified shortly after the random drawing has occurred. Hunters must still purchase all licenses and permits required by law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators are calling on federal regulators to investigate Verizon Wireless, the country’s biggest mobile provider, for secretly inserting unique tracking codes into the Web traffic of its estimated 100 million customers.
Data privacy experts have accused Verizon of violating consumer privacy by using these “supercookies,” an identifying string of letters and numbers that become attached to each site visited on a person’s mobile device. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, said he wants to know whether the company violated any laws and whether legislation is needed.
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Debra Lewis said the company takes customer privacy seriously and will respond to Nelson’s letter. The company had announced last week it would allow customers to opt out of the tracking program.
Obama town hall at Ivy Tech Community College on Friday
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — President Barack Obama says he dropped a plan to scale back tax benefits for college savings accounts because it wasn’t worth it.
He says he looked at reducing the tax savings because the accounts tended to be used by “folks a little more on the high end.” He says lower-income taxpayers struggled to save enough to participate.
A grandmother attending an Obama town hall at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis asked him if the accounts would change.
Obama says he has 529 accounts for his own daughters, Malia and Sasha.
He says after opposition arose, he concluded the change wouldn’t save enough money to keep pursuing.
The White House says the proposal would have raised about $1 billion over 10 years.
TOPEKA — Abandoned houses are causing problems for their communities, some city officials and legislators say. A Senate committee is working on a bill that would redefine what counts as abandoned and would make it easier for these properties to be re-homed.
Kansas law states that “abandoned property” is any residential real estate that has had delinquent taxes for two years and has been continuously unoccupied by its owners for 90 days. Senate Bill 84 would change this definition to residential real estate being unoccupied for 180 days and that has a “blighting influence on surrounding properties.”
According to proponents who testified for the bill on Thursday before the Senate Commerce Committee, abandoned properties are more than just an eyesore; they cause problems for law enforcement, neighbors and the cities by becoming potential fire hazards, targets for criminal activity, places for squatters to stay, as well as bringing down the value of surrounding homes.
Sen. Mitch Holmes (R-St.John) outlined these problems by saying when a property becomes abandoned, the city is responsible for up keep of the lawn to stay within city code. Law enforcement can’t arrest the trespassers because “no trespassing” signs haven’t been put up by the legal owners, and neighbors might feel unsafe if squatters take over the property.
Whitney Damron, an attorney representing the City of Topeka, added to Holmes’ testimony by making similar points on how a property becomes abandoned and the problems it creates.
“The tools are not in existence to deal with those kinds of situations,” Damron said.
Damron said that proponents are asking legislators to give the cities or non-profit organizations the “tools” to clean up these abandoned properties and re-home them so that they don’t sit there and go to waste. He said it is difficult to deal with these situations because the owners may be deceased, heirs are unresponsive and live far away, or the property might be under the control of the bank and can’t be foreclosed.
“So often we get no response. No response from the bank, no response from the in-state or out-of-state property owners,” Damron said.
Sen. Jeff Longbine (R-Emporia) expressed concern over the problem of abandoned property in his hometown of Emporia and said that the committee needs to take some time going over this bill.
“This is an important issue and has been an important issue for a long time,” Longbine said. “Hopefully we can find a way to do something to relieve the cities and the counties and problems that they’ve got.”
The committee will leave the bill open and continue the hearing on Monday.
Kelsie Jennings is a University of Kansas senior from Olathe, Kan., studying journalism.
