NEW YORK (AP) — Even as same-sex marriage edges closer to becoming legal nationwide, gay rights advocates face other challenges in 2015 that may not bring quick victories.
In Congress, liberal Democrats plan to introduce comprehensive civil rights bills in the House and Senate that would outlaw a broad range of discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. However, Republicans will control both chambers, and there’s no sign yet that GOP leaders will help the bills advance.
Absent such a federal law, gay rights activists will seek to pass more nondiscrimination laws at the state and local levels, but some efforts are meeting resistance. A conservative-led coalition in Houston is trying to overturn a gay rights ordinance approved by the city council. A similar ordinance in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was repealed by voters on Dec. 10.
LYNDON, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man is scheduled to be sentenced March 30 for the 2011 beheading of another man with a guitar string.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the date was set after 30-year-old James Paul Harris pleaded no contest last month in Osage County District Court to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 49-year-old James Gerety. Harris had been scheduled to go on trial Monday on a charge of first-degree murder.
A former girlfriend testified Harris told her he shot the victim in the stomach, tortured him for two days and then cut off his head. Prosecutors allege Harris kept Gerety’s head for months for some type of religious practice. Part of the skull was found in March 2012 in rural Osage County on land where Harris’ father lived.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Phil Forte scored 20 points — seven of those during a decisive seven-minute stretch in the second half — and Oklahoma State kicked off the Big 12 Conference schedule with a 61-47 victory over Kansas State on Saturday.
Le’Bryan Nash scored 11 points and had six rebounds for the Cowboys (11-2, 1-0 Big 12).
Thomas Gipson scored 14 points to lead Kansas State (7-7, 0-1), which lost its third straight contest.
Trailing 29-27 at halftime, Oklahoma State made a strong push early in the second half, going on a game-changing 25-4 run that included 15-straight points. The Cowboys built up a 54-37 lead after Jeff Newberry connected on a 3 from the left baseline with 11:16 to go.
The game hadn’t seen more than a six-point lead before that OSU run.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light will both ask for rate increases in 2015 to recover some of the costs of environmental upgrades at the LaCygne power plant.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the companies, which co-own the plant in Linn County, spent $1.2 billion on the upgrades and have recovered about half the costs through previous rate cases.
KCP&L filed Friday for a 12.5 percent rate increase for its Kansas customers, saying it wanted an annual revenue increase of $67.3 million.
The Kansas City Star reported that besides the La Cygne environmental upgrades, the utility also attributed the request to infrastructure upgrades at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant. Westar will submit its rate request in March.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Festivities leading up to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s swearing-in for a second term should have a familiar feel to them.
The Republican governor’s inaugural committee is sticking with the template from his first inauguration four years ago.
Community service events next week will lead up to a Saturday night dinner and ball in Topeka, followed by a Sunday prayer service in Wichita and the swearing-in ceremony Jan. 12 at the Statehouse.
The inaugural committee expects costs to be in line with the $396,000 from Brownback’s first inaugural, and it also anticipates raising enough money from private contributions and ticket sales to make significant donations to charities. Four years ago, Brownback’s committee donated more than $150,000.
Spokesman John Milburn said a modest inauguration is appropriate for Kansas.
COLLYER- Two people were injured in an accident just before 12:30 a.m. on Saturday in Trego County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Jeep pickup driven by Samuel R. Christian, Kansas City, Mo., was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of Collyer and struck a deer in the roadway.
Christian and a passenger Naomi D. Coffee, 35, Kansas City, were transported to Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital.
The KHP reported both were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
Current CDC flu map ending Dec. 20 click to enlarge
By ALEX SMITH, Heartland Health Monitor
The phrase “flu epidemic” might raise alarm bells for some, but don’t let headlines about this season’s outbreak scare you too much.
“The ‘epidemic’ designation is basically just a way we characterizes whether flu season has started or not,” says Erin Burns, a health communications specialist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s influenza division.
In fact, a flu epidemic occurs every year.
Burns says the CDC declares an epidemic when health providers have reported high numbers of flu-like symptoms, hospitalizations and deaths.
The specific numbers required to reach the epidemic threshold vary from year to year.
The first indicator of a flu epidemic, the appearance of an influenza-like illness, was recognized in the United States by the CDC about five weeks ago.
The outbreak drew media attention this week following a CDC report that 15 children in the U.S. have died from the flu this season.
The outbreak may turn out to be severe. But it’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary, health experts say.
“We are in the parameters of a normal flu season,” Burns says.
While regional hospitals have reported an influx of emergency room visits by patients with flu symptoms, health officials say the epidemic has not required extraordinary measures.
“Right now we’re not at a level that’s going to indicate that we need to do other measures than we already do every single day,” says Bill Snook, spokesman for the Kansas City Health Department.
Dan Manley, health care system program manager for the Mid America Regional Council, says that emergency rooms at capacity have diverted ambulances carrying flu patients but typically only for brief periods.
“They’ll continue to treat everybody that’s at the facility,” he says. “If a facility goes on diversion to ambulances, then typically, you’ll see that occur for a few hours at a time until they have an opportunity to treat some of the existing patients they have within the facility.”
On Tuesday, the chief medical officer of the University of Kansas Hospital, Dr. Lee Norman, said that that 36 people were in the hospital with confirmed cases of the flu or with flu-like symptoms. He said he could not remember a time when inpatient cases at the hospital exceeded 10.
But Snook says the most recent doctor-provided data actually show a dip in the number of patients presenting with flu-like symptoms. The data is from last week, however, and may simply reflect large numbers of doctors’ offices closed for the holidays rather than a decrease in the flu.
What sets the current epidemic apart from outbreaks in other seasons is the mismatch between the flu vaccine and the strains of virus circulating.
The CDC announced in early December that about half of the flu viruses discovered in patients were not anticipated by scientists and manufacturers responsible for this season’s flu shot.
“It’s possible that the vaccine could work less well than usual, but we don’t know that for certain at this point,” Burns says, referring to the current outbreak.
Even a well-matched vaccine is only about 60 to 90 percent effective, health experts say.
The CDC still urges those who have not gotten this year’s shot to do so as quickly as possible.
“There is data to suggest that even if you have a drifted virus that’s circulating, which is what we’re seeing now, that the vaccine can cross-protect,” Burns says.
The CDC also urges those who have contracted influenza to take antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza) to reduce the length and severity of the illness.
Alex Smith is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is on the verge of proposing long-awaited rules for commercial drone operations in U.S. skies, but key decisions on how much access to grant drones are likely to come from Congress.
Federal Aviation Administration officials have said they want to release proposed rules before the end of this month, but other government and industry officials say they are likely to be delayed until January.
Meanwhile, a ban on commercial drone flights remains in place except for a small number of companies that have received FAA exemptions. Even after rules are proposed, it is likely to be two or three years before regulations become final.
Drone industry officials say that’s too long to wait, and they want Congress to step in.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A collapse in oil prices won’t derail the railroads’ profit engine even if it does slow the tremendous growth in crude shipments seen in recent years.
Railroads went from hauling 9,500 carloads of crude oil in 2008 to 435,560 last year as production boomed. Investors have naturally become jittery as crude prices have been more than halved since the summer.
But even with that surge, crude oil shipments still make up less than 2 percent of all carloads that major U.S. railroads deliver.
Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk says the importance of oil shipments for railroads is overrated.
What’s more, cheaper oil means lower fuel costs for railroads and it provides a boost to the economy, which means more shipments of other freight.
PRATT–The New Year may be ringing in, but there’s still time for hunters to use any unfilled permits from the 2014 deer season. Beginning Jan. 1, 2015, hunters were allowed to take antlerless white-tailed deer using any legal equipment. Deer Management Unit (DMU) restrictions listed on the permits are still in effect, and season length varies, depending on the DMU. While hunters must have a permit that allows the harvest of an antlered deer before purchasing antlerless-only permits during the regular seasons, whitetail antlerless permits can be purchased over the counter by anyone during the extended season.
Hunters may purchase up to five whitetail antlerless-only permits; however, unit and public land restrictions may apply. See your2014 Kansas Hunting and Furharvesting Regulations Summary, or visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Hunting/Big Game Information/Deer”, for details.
2015 Extended Firearm Season dates, by DMU, are as follows:
Units 6, 9, 10, 17: Jan 1-4
Units 1-5, 7, 8, 11-14, and 16: Jan. 1-11
Units 10A, 15, and 19: Jan. 1-18
There is also an Extended Whitetail Antlerless-only Archery Season in DMU 19 Jan. 19-31, 2015.
DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
