KANSAS CITY- Three people were injured in three accidents early Sunday morning in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported that just after 5:30 a.m. a 2005 Chevy Silverado driven by Jose Manuel Morales-Olguin, 42, Shawnee, was northbound on Interstate 35 just south of 7th Street. The driver lost control and hit the barrier wall.

Just after 6 a.m. a 2004 Chevy Silverado driven by Wanda C. Allred, 50, Shawnee, was northbound on Interstate 35 between 19th and Southwest Blvd. The driver lost control and hit the barrier wall.

Just before 6:10 a.m. a 2009 Buick driven by Charles E. Chesher, 66, Overland Park was northbound on Interstate 35 at Roe. The vehicle slid on the ice and hit a parked 2004 Chevy pickup.

Morales-Olguin, Allred and Chesher were transported to KU Medical Center.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accidents.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – More than twice the number of Republican women will serve in Missouri’s House next session than a decade ago.

Data from the National Conference of State Legislatures show a slight increase in the number of female lawmakers driven partly by more GOP women in the lower chamber.

The total number of female lawmakers in the General Assembly also increased slightly to 48 from 44 in 2000.

House majority leader John Diehl says it’s in part due to party efforts to recruit more women, although only slightly more female candidates ran this year than a decade ago.

A leader of the Missouri Women’s Political Caucus says the about 25 percent of women in the legislature still underrepresents the 51 percent of women in Missouri. She says there’s still work to do.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Autopsies are being conducted on the victims of a triple homicide at a pay-by-the week Springfield motel as the investigation continues.

Lt. Culley Wilson said no arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon, more than a day after officers were summoned to the Economy Inn. Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, and a fourth person was hospitalized Sunday in critical but stable condition.

Wilson says all the victims were adults, but police won’t release their names or how they knew one another until their families are notified. There is no evidence that children were staying in the hotel room.

Wilson says authorities suspect that the victims were killed with a handgun, but the weapon hadn’t been uncovered. Police are urging anyone with information to come forward.

Kansas Department of Commerce

Learn how to join the global market place and expand Kansas exports when you attend the Northwest Regional Export Promotion meeting on Wednesday, December 10.

The meeting, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Ball Conference Center, 1350W.153rd St.,Olathe  is one of six export promotion meetings offered by Kansas Global Trade Services in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce.

The meetings are part of the ExportNow Kansas Program aimed at local companies with export potential. The program will raise export awareness by connecting communities and companies to export assistance.

Kansas has experienced enjoyed some export modest success in the past few years, increasing exports by 26 percent between 2010 and 2013, according to statistics provided by Steve Kelly, Deputy Secretary of Business Development for the Kansas Department of Commerce.

“But experts say that 83 percent of global GDP growth will occur outside the U.S. by 2018, and Kansas needs to claim a greater share,” Kelly said in a news release.

“Who would benefit from these meetings? Businesses who produce goods and services suitable for export, local elected and appointed officials, and economic development officials are all encouraged to attend the free event,” said Karyn Page, CEO and President of Kansas Global Trade Services Inc.

There is no charge for this event, but RSVPs are required. Email Ella at Reusser@kansasglobal.org or call (316) 264-5982.

 

JUNCTION CITY- Four people were injured in an accident just before 1 a.m. on Sunday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 HHR driven by Randy M. Irvin, 33, Kansas City, was involved in a collision on Interstate 70 two miles west of Kansas 18 with a 2010 Subaru Impreza driven by Tristan Alexander, 25, Colorado Springs

Alexander, a passenger in the Subaru Alyssa Alexander, 24, Junction City, Irvin and a passenger in the Chevy Damon Irvin, 49, Kansas City were transported to Geary County Hospital.

Another passenger in the Chevy Angela Marie Ortega, 39, Topeka, was not injured.

KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

BY GLEN COPE

Farmers are good at fixing things. Often on the farm, the pressures to complete tasks in a timely manner prompt farmers to come up with ingenious ways to accomplish something. Farmers pride themselves in being self-sufficient, self-reliant and able to tackle challenges that pop up more frequently than they’d like.

When farmers find something that works, they stick with it; they live by the mantra: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

This mindset is why farmers and ranchers are confused by and concerned with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator’s decision to change the rules used to implement the federal Clean Water Act. Passed in 1972, the Clean Water Act was intended to regulate only waters that are “navigable” throughout the United States.

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy has characterized the proposed changes as mere clarifications, but that’s hardly the case. Essentially, EPA is attempting to grant itself the authority to regulate all waters in the United States and features that are much more like land than water.

The EPA is designed to be guided by acts of Congress. In this case, though, Congress hasn’t expanded the Clean Water Act nor given the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) greater authority. Yet EPA is pushing to oversee any water that flows, sits or falls from the sky.

Earlier this year Administrator McCarthy came to Missouri and addressed a group of farmers about agricultural concerns over the new proposed regulation. She listened to farmers’ statements about the implications of the new rule affecting the Clean Water Act. Farmers understood they would be required to consult with and get permits from EPA and the Corps for the day-to-day operations of their farms. She called farmer concerns “ridiculous” and later implied landowners and farmers had nothing to fear from the proposed changes.

This led many in the agriculture community to wonder why the change was needed at all? If EPA’s intentions were not to regulate all water on the property of farmers and landowners, then why change it?

With the comment period closed now, we wait. We wait to see what the EPA does with the thousands of comments received from citizens (more than 7,000 from Missouri Farm Bureau alone). We wait to see if they’ll listen to Congressional leaders who have weighed in and told them “no.” We’ll wait to see if they’ll attempt to fix something that isn’t broken.

The fact of the matter is farmers have made great strides in improving the environment and ensuring water remains clean on their property. With the increased use of precision agriculture, farmers are applying just the right amount of nutrients to the ground based on soil tests. New technologies have ushered in steep declines in pesticide use. No-till planting continues to be a mainstay in how farmers get seed in the ground to reduce and in some cases eliminate soil erosion.

Are farmers and ranchers perfect? Of course not. They are, however, striving for perfection by embracing new and innovative technologies that improve production techniques and animal care while improving soil and water quality — an attitude that is not broken and that definitely does not need fixing.

Glen Cope, a fourth generation beef producer in southwest Missouri, is past chair of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee.

RAF CASERT, Associated Press
MIKE CORDER, Associated Press

SINT-NIKLAAS, Belgium (AP) — In this town named after Saint Nicholas, Yuletide cheer is being clouded by controversy over the good saint’s helpers.

Across Belgium and the Netherlands, celebrations in which Saint Nicholas rolls into town surrounded by a host of “Black Petes” have come under increasing pressure year by year from complaints about racism. Pete is usually played by a white person who paints his face pitch black, dons a frizzy wig and gives himself bright red lips — stereotypes that disappeared from most countries decades ago.

On Saturday, police detained several anti-Black Pete protesters as Saint Nicholas arrived in the historic Dutch city of Gouda in a nationally televised event. Thousands of children and their parents lined the streets and gathered at a central market square to catch a glimpse of the saint known in the Netherlands as Sinterklaas.

Police spokeswoman Yvette Verboon said the protesters were detained because they were in the center of Gouda and not at two locations that had been set aside for protesters well away from the festivities.

The Belgian town of Sint-Niklaas with a church and statue honoring the saint has long been one of the focal points of the celebrations. A grand entrance this Sunday is expected to bring tens of thousands of children flocking to the “home of the saint.” Yet even in this bastion of saintly tradition, questions are starting to be asked about Black Pete.

Wouter Van Bellingen remembers how, as a black child growing up in mostly white Sint-Niklaas, he used to be taunted with chants of: “Look, there goes Black Pete.”

“Kids can be hard when it comes to that,” said the former Sint-Niklaas alderman and current director of the region’s Minorities Forum. “I retorted with, ‘There goes White Pete.’ I always had my answer.”

Around this time of year, Saint Nicholas visits hundreds of villages in Belgium and Holland, arriving by steamer or on his white horse to the delight of shrieking children across the two countries. The Black Petes do everything from carrying presents to throwing sweets at the children and generally prancing about until Saint Nicholas day on Dec. 6.

The Dutch cheese capital of Gouda came up with a strategy for reconciliation as Saint Nicholas arrived Saturday. Black Petes walked side-by-side with yellow-colored “Cheese Petes,” a nod to the city’s most famous products but also a concession to critics of Black Pete. In another sign of changing times, the daily Dutch children’s television report on Saint Nicholas’ travels also featured White Petes on Thursday night.

Black Pete has evolved over the years. A quarter century ago, Black Pete was a scary character, carrying a big bag to hold naughty children and a whip to punish the disobedient. Promoting him in recent years as a happy-go-lucky sidekick full of quirky madness has helped him to compete in popularity with Saint Nicholas himself.

“The last few years, Pete is at least as popular. Kids cling to him, ask him questions, hold his hand,” said Raf Rumes, the secretary of the Flanders Saint Nicholas Guild.

In another new touch, almost half of the Petes greeting children in this town’s Saint Nicholas “mansion” — a yearly holiday attraction — are played by women. At the fun house, which reopened this week for a monthlong run, children squealed as female Petes showed them Saint Nicholas’ dining room and sleeping quarters for all of the Petes.

But efforts at softening Pete’s image have failed to subdue bad blood between the pro- and anti-Black Pete camps in the Netherlands, where resentments over immigration have simmered for years. Liberals want to abolish the tradition, while the right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders and his anti-immigration Freedom Party have proposed legislation that would keep Pete black — by law.

“There is a war underway against Black Pete,” said Martin Bosma, the party’s culture spokesman. “Ministers and mayors are working to give this loyal helper another color. That must not happen. Our culture should not be damaged from on high. This law must protect Black Pete.”

Last year, more than 2 million people endorsed a Facebook petition to keep Black Petes’ image unchanged. That’s nearly one-eighth of the entire Dutch population, indicating the depth of emotion over the issue.

But Van Bellingen insists democracy is not about numbers alone.

“It is about the will of the majority and the rights of the minority,” he said. “As a majority you have to be sensitive and show empathy for things that are hurtful to a minority.”

He says it’s time to get rid of Black Pete.

By LeAnn Bell, Pharm.D.
Health Policy

TOPEKA — The second open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplace in Kansas opened Saturday. Last year, slightly more than 57,000 Kansans signed up for health insurance coverage through healthcare.gov, created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Kansas Health Institute (KHI) has produced an issue brief describing changes in the marketplace, and several online maps showing the plans and premiums offered in the seven premium rating areas across the state.

See monthly premiums here

The most important features of the 2015 marketplace include:

The 2015 Kansas marketplace has 82 plans available – 64 for individuals and families (down from 65 in 2014), and 18 for small businesses (up from seven in 2014).
All of the current insurers are again offering coverage, and one additional insurer has joined the Kansas marketplace in 2015, bringing the total number of insurers to five.
The average premium for all plans offered in the marketplace changed very little – an increase of just 0.1 percent from 2014 to 2015.
However, individual Kansans could see a wide range of price changes for specific plans. For example, premiums for some silver plans are anywhere from 11.6 percent more to 13.0 percent less in 2015 compared to 2014.
Kansans seeking coverage through the marketplace, especially those considering renewing their current plans, are encouraged to evaluate their options carefully. Insurers may have adjusted their rates substantially and similar coverage may be available at a lower cost.
KHI’s online maps provide the monthly premium cost, available monthly tax credits to help pay for premiums, and the net monthly cost to representative consumers purchasing coverage through the Kansas marketplace. The maps and additional information on the Kansas marketplace are available at www.khi.org.

“Kansans are encouraged to visit healthcare.gov to learn about the plans and premiums available in their area,” said LeAnn Bell, Pharm.D., author of the new brief and a senior analyst at KHI. “It is important for shoppers to look at the options carefully to ensure they are getting the best coverage and value for themselves and their families whether they are renewing their coverage, or getting coverage for the first time,” she added.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – A 37-year-old man has been charged with fatally shooting another man at an Independence gas station.

Shawn M. Hughes of Independence was charged Friday in Jackson County with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in Wednesday night’s killing of 26-year-old Bobby Mullins of Versailles. No attorney is listed for Hughes in online court records.

The probable cause statement says police found Mullins’ body on the ground beside a pickup truck at a Shell Gas Station. A witness told police that he was pumping gas when he saw a man walk over to the victim’s vehicle and say, “Maybe this will teach you to shoot someone next time.”

Court records say the man then shot the victim and fled on foot. Video captured the shooting.