WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report shows more Kansas farms put more acres under irrigation last year than in 2008, when the last survey was taken.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Friday that its survey showed 5,243 Kansas farms were irrigating 2.85 million acres of crops last year. That compares with the 2008 survey when 4,508 farms were irrigating 2.57 million acres.
The agency says Kansas farmers spent an average of $56.73 per acre last year to irrigate crops from wells. The average depth of wells in the state was 103 feet.
Most acres were also irrigated with sprinkler systems in Kansas.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Sam Graves, House Small Business Committee Chairman, made the following statement after voting in favor of legislation to build the Keystone XL Pipeline.
“I am proud to have once again voted in favor of building the Keystone XL Pipeline,” said Rep. Graves. “The Keystone XL Pipeline will create good-paying American jobs and lower energy prices,” he continued.
“The Keystone project has been sitting on the shelf and ready for approval for nearly six years. The American people have spoken and it’s time that the Senate and President Obama listen. I hope that they will follow the House’s lead and allow for construction to begin, so that hard working men and women in north Missouri and across the country can have some much needed relief.”
DARTEZ, SAMUEL LEE Approx Picture Date 2010-06-16 – Photo Courtesy KBI
MANHATTAN- Samuel Lee Dartez, 30, Manhattan, appeared in Riley County Court via webcam from the Riley County Jail on Friday afternoon.
Police have charged him with attempted murder after a woman was stabbed and he then was involved in a standoff with police.
The woman was found injured at the Manhattan Public Library, several blocks from where police reported she was stabbed.
Dartez was arrested after a four-hour standoff with police on Thursday in Morris County. The 27-year-old victim was taken to an area hospital. Her relationship to Dartez is unclear.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The Columbia/Boone County Board of Health has endorsed proposals to ban selling tobacco products to people younger than 21.
The Columbia Tribune reports the board also approved on Thursday a proposal to add e-cigarettes to Columbia’s restrictions on smoking inside public places.
The Columbia City Council last month sent the two proposals to the city’s Substance Abuse Advisory Commission and health board before it would take a final vote on the measures. The commission OK’d both proposals on Wednesday.
The executive director of the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association spoke against both proposals at the health board meeting. He argued the bills would conflict with state regulations. He recommended more enforcement of existing laws, such as requiring everyone selling cigarettes to check a person’s ID.
HAZELWOOD, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis school district says schools will get early notice once the Ferguson grand jury reaches a decision.
A letter on the Hazelwood School District’s site from Superintendent Grayling Tobias says the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office will alert districts 24 hours before the media if the decision is on a weekend.
If it’s a weekday, Tobias says districts will learn three hours before media, so students can be sent home before potential protests. District spokesman Jack Wang says districts won’t be told what the decision is.
The grand jury is expected to decide this month whether to charge white Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old who was black and unarmed.
A prosecutor’s office spokesman didn’t return messages seeking comment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Same-sex couples seeking the right to marry are asking the Supreme Court to settle the issue of gay marriage nationwide.
Appeals being filed Friday urge the justices to review last week’s lower court ruling that upheld anti-gay marriage laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
The ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the first appellate ruling to side with states seeking to preserve gay marriage bans since the Supreme Court struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law last year.
Last month, the justices rejected appeals from five states of rulings favoring same-sex couples, but that was before the recent ruling created a division among lower courts.
Same-sex couples can marry in 32 states, parts of Kansas and Missouri, and the District of Columbia.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The leader of the Roman Catholic church’s new commission to fight child sex abuse says the Vatican needs to address the position of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.
Finn leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. He was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2012 for failing to report abuse suspicions. The charge stemmed from a case in which church officials knew about lewd photos of girls on a priest’s computer but didn’t tell police for six months.
Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley leads the pope’s global commission on the abuse problem. He tells CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview airing Sunday that policies adopted in his archdiocese would bar Finn from teaching Sunday school. He says it’s a question the “Holy See needs to address urgently.”
BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis County town that neighbors Ferguson, Missouri, is warning residents to prepare for potential unrest that may follow the grand jury announcement in the Michael Brown case.
Berkeley officials passed out flyers this week urging its 9,000 residents to be prepared just as they would in the event of a major storm, with plenty of food, water and medicine on hand in case they’re unable to leave home for several days
The flyer says Lambert Airport will be protected by the National Guard, but airport spokesman Jeff Lea says that’s wrong. Lea says the airport will continue to be protected by its own security force.
Brown was killed Aug. 9 by Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury is expected to decide this month whether to charge Wilson.
K-TRACS Executive Director Marty Singleton-Photo by Phil Cauthon
By Andy Marso
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — The man who shepherded Kansas’ prescription drug tracking program through a software upgrade is resigning after a little more than a year on the job.
Marty Singleton, director of the Kansas Tracking and Reporting of Controlled Substances system, or K-TRACS, said Wednesday in a phone interview that he is stepping down due to “personal health issues.”
“I met with my doctor,” Singleton said. “Been down this road before, and it’s better just to nip it in the bud.”
Singleton, who did not elaborate, announced his resignation to friends and Kansas Board of Pharmacy members in an email sent 8 a.m. Monday.
Debra Billingsley, executive director of the Kansas Board of Pharmacy, did not return a message seeking comment. An attorney for the board said via email he had advised against commenting on Singleton’s resignation because it is a personnel matter.
Singleton took over K-TRACS in October 2013, replacing Christina Morris, who left for a job with Cerner.
Singleton previously was a regional director based in Manhattan for the Kansas Department for Children and Families. An electrical engineering graduate, he was hired in part to aid the pharmacy tracking agency through a first-of-its-kind software switch. Kansas was a test case for the new tracking program, provided free by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
Pete Stern, CEO of the Kansas Independent Pharmacy Service Corporation, said there were “a few hiccups” in the initial rollout of the new program. But he said they were quickly fixed, and it’s serving its purpose of allowing physicians and pharmacists to track prescriptions and discover patterns that suggest possible abuse.
“If you compare our program to others across the nation, I think we’re moving forward very well,” Stern said.
Singleton said Stern’s assessment was fair and that Appriss, the software’s developer, had “done a good job of getting up to speed” on problems.
The result, Singleton said, is a program the state can be proud of and that physicians and pharmacists have told him is easy to use.
“That’s really what you’re looking for,” he said. “You want more people to use it, you want them to be satisfied with it. The ultimate goal is to improve patient care.”
Singleton said he and his team had accomplished the goals he set when hired a little more than a year ago.
David Schoech, a member of the Kansas Board of Pharmacy, said Singleton will be difficult to replace. The board has not yet set a timeline for doing so.
“He picked up a difficult situation and did real well with it,” Schoech said. “I really hate to see him go.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A food safety manager said dirty conditions and poor food handling endangered customers at Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums in Kansas City. A city health inspection prompted by the allegations found dozens of critical health code violations at the stadiums.
ESPN first reported the allegations from Jon Costa, the food safety manager for Aramark, which runs concessions at the two stadiums and at sports venues across the country.
Costa said he found such things as cockroaches and mouse feces in food-service areas and foods kept at unsafe temperatures. The city health inspection on Nov. 3 found mold in ice machines and dirty equipment.
Aramark spokesman Tod MacKenzie said the claims come from a disgruntled employee, even though he was responsible for managing food safety at the stadiums.
