PARKVILLE (AP) – A FedEx worker has died after being pinned by his delivery vehicle outside Kansas City.

The Kansas City Star reports that the accident happened Friday just outside of Parkville. The name of the FedEx worker who died wasn’t immediately released.

Preliminary reports indicate that the worker was outside of his delivery vehicle at a residence when the vehicle rolled and struck him. Authorities arrived and found the worker pinned between the vehicle and a house. No other details were immediately available.

FedEx said in a written statement that its “heartfelt thoughts and condolences” were with the friends and family of the driver. The company said it was cooperating with authorities.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed and three injured in a single-vehicle crash on the Kansas Turnpike west of Topeka.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that a sport utility vehicle driving from Omaha, Nebraska, rolled Saturday night near a highway exit. Turnpike officials said the vehicle was turning too fast while exiting the highway.

The victims were identified as 22-year-old Janetta-Marie Niesha Godbolt and 20-year-old Arthur L Godbolt Jr. Three other occupants of the vehicle were taken to a hospital, but their conditions weren’t immediately available.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s position as chief Kansas elections officer is allowing him to play a marquee role in the political drama surrounding Democrat Chad Taylor’s attempt to get off the ballot in the U.S. Senate race.

Taylor ended his campaign last week. He was nudged out of the race against three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts by Democrats who viewed independent candidate Greg Orman as the stronger rival and wanted to consolidate most of the anti-Roberts vote behind Orman.

The GOP secretary of state has faced a torrent of criticism for refusing to remove Taylor’s name from the ballot. Taylor turned to the Kansas Supreme Court for relief.

But Kobach’s official duties made him an administrative gatekeeper for any nominee seeking to get off the ballot.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — The researchers at the University of Kansas who monitor the seemingly everyday activities of babies are seeking to unlock the key to childhood language development.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the KU Baby Lab at the university’s Edwards Campus is studying how infants pay attention in social settings.

The first phase of the study is for two years and about halfway finished. The second phase will be a three-year longitudinal study of children with signs of developmental delays. The research could eventually reveal early warning signs of autism and lead to advancements in the way all infants are taught language.

The university also has baby labs in Lawrence and at the KU Medical Center.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A recount of a Missouri farming rights amendment appears to have confirmed its passage.
Opponents of the measure had asked for a recount after the official tally from the August election showed the proposed constitutional amendment passing by a margin of 2,490 votes out of nearly 1 million cast.

According to figures submitted by local election authorities to Secretary of State Jason Kander, the recount has reduced that margin of passage to 2,376 votes.
The secretary of state’s office is expected to officially certify the results of the recount Monday.
The amendment creates a constitutional right to engage in farming and ranching. Missouri is just the second state behind North Dakota to place farming rights in its constitution.

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The next open enrollment season for President Barack Obama’s health care law is only two months away.

Don’t expect a repeat of last year’s website meltdown, but other potential complications await consumers.

This year could expose underlying problems with the law itself that are less easily fixed than a computer system.

The way the law combines insurance and taxes — already two of the most complicated areas for consumers — looks like a sure-fire formula for confusion.

Even supporters of the law are concerned.

The Obama administration is promising a better consumer experience when open enrollment starts Nov. 15, but even its officials say things won’t be perfect.

BY CYNDIE SIREKIS

More and more women are taking on leading roles in the agriculture industry.

Some might find it surprising, but over the past 10 years the presence of women in agriculture has increased significantly, with a 21 percent rise in the number of female principal farm operators. Today, 30 percent of all farm operators are women, according to the latest Census of Agriculture.

Terry Gilbert, chair of the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee and a Kentucky farmer, says many women gravitate toward specialty-type and value-added farming, such as vegetable and fruit production for local markets.

“Everybody wants to know their farmer, know their food and know where their food comes from, and I think a lot of women are getting into farming to answer that need,” Gilbert says.

Although more doors are open to them than ever before in history, women in agriculture still face obstacles.

There still seems to be a little bit of a prejudice or negativity against women, a sentiment that “she can’t do what a man can do,” Gilbert says. Despite the nay-sayers, “Women are extremely capable of being leaders in agriculture and in farm organizations,” Gilbert says.

She’s not interested in starting a gender war, believing that men and women bring unique strengths to agriculture. She would like to see more women become involved in agricultural leadership through Farm Bureau women’s programs.

Training women to be effective spokespersons and to be comfortable speaking in front of a group – talking about what they do on the farm or ranch and why – is an important focus of the Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Program, with its “Growing Strong” theme for 2014-2015. The program highlights grassroots initiatives such as the year-long Our Food Link program that advocates the importance of agriculture with consumers of all ages. Other initiatives include enhancing women’s business planning skills, strengthening social media strategies and engaging in balanced community conversations about food.

Learn more online at www.facebook.com/FBWomen or read the Our Food Link Blog.

Cyndie Sirekis is director of internal communications at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

By Bryan Thompson
Kansas Public Radio

TOPEKA — A Washington, D.C., group that advocates for families and children is urging Kansans to speak up for renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

CHIP was created in 1997 to provide coverage for kids whose families are not poor enough for Medicaid but can’t afford private insurance. Congress must reauthorize the program for it to continue after the next fiscal year. More than 56,000 children in Kansas are enrolled in CHIP.
The advocacy group First Focus recently released a report showing that publicly funded insurance, including CHIP and Medicaid, is more important to rural children than to their urban counterparts. According to First Focus spokesman Ed Walz, that’s absolutely true in Kansas.

“Rural kids are 23 percent more likely to get their health care through CHIP or Medicaid than kids in Kansas urban communities,” he said.

Kansas is positioned to play a key role in getting the program renewed, Walz said. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has scheduled a hearing on the reauthorization Tuesday. In the House, Kansas Reps. Tim Huelskamp and Mike Pompeo, both Republicans, serve on the Congressional Rural Caucus.

The Senate bill would reauthorize CHIP through 2019. Walz said the price tag for the extension would depend on the final structure of the bill.

“There’s some really encouraging news there,” he said, because the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of extending CHIP funding for four years and found it would be less than the alternative.

“As children became uninsured and the federal government had to pick up some of those costs, as children moved into Obamacare exchange plans and as they moved into Medicaid – that combination of costs would actually be higher for the government than extending CHIP coverage,” Walz said.

First Focus conducted a poll earlier this year that showed strong bipartisan support for CHIP in Kansas, including two-thirds of Republicans and two-thirds of voters who identify with the Tea Party.