SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high.
A comprehensive state-by-state report by the National Center on Family Homelessness says one child in every 30 is homeless. It blames the problem on the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence.
The new report calculates that nearly 2.5 million children in America were homeless at some point last year.
The number is based on the Department of Education’s latest count of 1.3 million homeless children in public schools, supplemented by estimates of homeless pre-school children not counted by the DOE.
The problem is especially severe in California, which has one-eighth of the U.S. population, but accounts for more than one-fifth of the homeless children — that’s nearly 527,000 homeless kids.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — An avowed white supremacist charged with killing three people outside two suburban Kansas City Jewish facilities says he was surprised none of the victims were Jewish.
Seventy-three-year-old F. Glenn Miller Jr., of Aurora, Missouri, talked to The Kansas City Star in a series of phone calls last week.
Miller is jailed in Johnson County on a charge of capital murder in the attacks outside a Jewish community center and a nearby retirement home on April 13, the eve of Passover. A preliminary hearing that was scheduled for last week was delayed so Frazier could undergo a mental evaluation.
Miller has emphysema and said he decided to carry out the attacks because it was something he wanted to do before he died and his health was failing.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The fight over a voter proof-of-citizenship law that prevented about 22,000 Kansas residents from casting ballots on Election Day has shifted back to state courts and lawmakers.
The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned a judge’s order adding citizenship documentation requirements on national voter registration forms used by Kansas and Arizona voters.
Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach has championed the state law as a way to limit fraud, opponents planned to argue that it wrongfully disenfranchise voters.
Democratic State Rep. Jim Ward says any law that denies the right to vote to over 20,000 Kansas citizens is a bad law.
Kobach has vowed to defend it, saying his re-election proved it was the will of the people. He also plans to challenge the appeals court ruling.
(Update) On Sunday evening a deputy located Ms Cox at a business in Chillicothe. Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox said everyone was safe and expressed gratitude for all the calls, tips, and concern.
Tracy M. Cox, 20, was last seen in the 1300 block of Monroe Street in Chillicothe on Friday, November 14, 2014 around 11:00 p.m.
Officials say Tracy is mentally disabled and may have left the home with unknown person(s).
She was last seen wearing a winter coat and jeans and was last known to be on the front porch of her residence listening to music.
Tracy is described as 20 year old white female being 5’3” tall and weighs 185 pounds she is also required to have daily medications.
If you have any information or have seen Tracy Cox, please call your nearest law enforcement agency or 660-646-2121.
Within hours of a cluster of earthquakes in southern Kansas, including the strongest in that state in recent memory, Governor Sam Brownback announced procurement and funding for a new portable seismic monitoring network.
The seismic monitoring devices were recommended by the Governor’s Task Force on Induced Seismicity in its final report last month (click here). The state currently has no facility for monitoring earthquakes. The report also included a seismic response plan.
According to the authors, “a key component of the plan is a formula for evaluating seismic events that will guide an appropriate response by the Kansas Geological Survey, Kansas Corporation Commission, and Kansas Department of Health and Environment.”
The Kansas Seismic Action Plan addresses the issue of earthquakes resulting from human activity, and especially the oil and gas industry.
The report stressed the distinction between hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) and the injection of wastewater from oil and gas wells into separate deep disposal wells. The amount of brine injected into such wells in Kansas topped one billion barrels (42 billion gallons) for the first time in 2012, and then again in 2013.
The plan provides background information citing national studies linking seismic activity to fluid injection; however, the task force had no conclusive evidence linking fluid injection to specific seismic events in Kansas, according to the report.
In a 2012 report, the United States Geological Survey stated there is “no evidence to suggest hydraulic fracturing itself is the cause of the increased rate of earthquakes in the midcontinent.”
A 4.8 magnitude temblor cracked walls, damaged some homes and rattled others Wednesday afternoon. It was felt far and wide. The quake, near Conway Springs, Kansas, was one of at least seven recorded Wednesday in Kansas and Oklahoma. There have been eleven more since then, according to the US Geological Survey.
The Kansas Geological Survey anticipates the monitoring stations will cost about $85,000 and will be operational in early 2015.
Rex Buchanan is the interim director of the KGS, and was a member of the Governor’s task force. We asked him about the new tools at his disposal, and the future of seismic monitoring in Kansas.
The Google Map in the graphic and video shows the approximate locations of Wednesday’s earthquakes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fabian Barrera found a way to make fast cash in the Texas National Guard, earning $181,000 for claiming to have steered 119 potential recruits to the military.
But the bonuses were ill-gotten because the former captain never actually referred anyone.
The case is an example of what prosecutors describe as a recurring pattern of corruption covering a cross section of the military.
The U.S. has spent freely to support wars on multiple fronts, and prosecutors say they’ve found plentiful targets: people who bill for services they do not provide, who steer lucrative contracts to select business partners and who use bribes to game a vast military enterprise.
Despite numerous cases that have produced prison sentences, the problems have continued abroad and at home with a frequency that officials consider troubling.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government investigator says that over the past seven years, a small group of Social Security judges approved disability claims for nearly 25,000 people who didn’t qualify.
The cost to taxpayers: $2 billion.
Social Security’s office of inspector general is scheduled to release a report on the judges Monday. The Associated Press obtained a copy Friday.
Investigators examined cases decided by 44 judges who had been approving disability claims at unusually high rates. The judges represent about 4 percent of the administrative law judges who decide disability claims for Social Security.
The Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — U.S. farmers produced the lowest number of turkeys in nearly three decades this year and wholesale prices are at an all-time high, but Thanksgiving cooks aren’t likely to see a difference in what they pay for their frozen birds.
The federal National Agricultural Statistics Service says this year’s anticipated turkey stock is 235 million birds, the fewest since farmers raised 207 million birds in 1986.
Farmers say high corn prices after the 2012 drought forced them to scale back their turkey numbers to remain afloat, and that the impact of this year’s record corn harvest likely won’t be seen until next year.
The good news for consumers is that grocery stores typically take a loss on turkeys to woo shoppers, who will purchase other items for their holiday feasts there.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A person familiar with the situation says the Kansas City Chiefs have signed defensive end Allen Bailey to a four-year, $25 million contract extension.
Bailey is guaranteed $15 million and will receive a $10 million signing bonus, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Chiefs had not announced the deal.
Pro Football Talk was the first to report the extension.
The 25-year-old Bailey has had a breakout season for the Chiefs, starting all nine games and establishing a career-high four sacks. He’s helped the Chiefs deal with season-ending injuries to two starters and still become one of the NFL’s best defenses.
Bailey, a former third-round pick, was due to become a free agent after this season.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — People have been flooding insurance agencies with calls about adding earthquake coverage after a 4.8 magnitude temblor rocked part of Kansas on Wednesday.
The Wichita Eagle reported that because Kansas doesn’t have a history of earthquake losses, the price and deductibles are low compared to more quake-prone places like California.
Traditionally, earthquakes have been relatively infrequent in Kansas. But after dozens of them rocked the state this year, more equipment is being brought in to explore what is happening.
Studies have shown earthquakes can be caused when fluid, which is byproduct of various methods of oil and gas production, is injected into disposal wells. But a panel commissioned by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has found there isn’t enough evidence to link the Kansas quakes to oil and gas exploration.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high.
