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No. 20 Missouri tops Central Florida

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Maty Mauk threw four touchdown passes, two each to Jimmie Hunt and Bud Sasser, and passed for 144 yards to lead No. 20 Missouri past Central Florida 38-10 on Saturday.

The Tigers (3-0) led 14-10 at halftime before pulling away from the Knights (0-2), who had won their past two games against ranked teams.

Quarterback Justin Holman threw for 209 yards and one touchdown in his first career start for Central Florida, which only had 134 yards in the second half. Missouri had five sacks and forced four turnovers in the final 30 minutes.

Mauk entered the day tied for first nationally with eight passing touchdowns, and said this week that he likes to think aggressively on the field, even though sometimes it can be to the Tigers’ detriment.

9 other candidates used declaration clause

Koback and Taylor
Koback and Taylor

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — State records show that a Democratic U.S. Senate nominee seeking to get his name off the ballot is the only candidate since 2010 to fail to use wording that the secretary of state’s office says is required.

The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/1qSKS4t ) reports that nine other candidates have withdrawn after winning their party’s nomination in the past four years. Records The Eagle obtained shows all of them declared they were incapable to serve.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach has kept Democrat Chad Taylor on the ballot against his will. Kobach says Taylor did not declare himself incapable to serve if elected in his letter withdrawing from the race.

Taylor sought to withdraw to clear the way for independent candidate Greg Orman to directly oppose Republican Pat Roberts.

Former union president pleads to embezzling from VA employees

CourtUnited States Attorney’s Office

TOPEKA- The former president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local Union 906 pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling more than $51,000 from union members in Topeka and Waco, Texas, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Timothy Sanchez, 40, Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement. In his plea, he admitted the crimes occurred while he was president of the labor union, which represents approximately 200 active members who are employed at the Veterans Administration Health Resource Center in Topeka and Waco.

While Sanchez served as president, he embezzled funds from the union by making unauthorized debit card charges for expense reimbursements, writing unauthorized checks for his own benefit, and filing false meeting minutes and annual financial reports with the Department of Labor to conceal his embezzlement.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 25. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rich Hathaway is prosecuting.

Topeka bids emotional farewell to slain officer

courtesy photo
courtesy photo

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Hundreds of mourners have turned out to remember a Topeka police corporal killed in the line of duty.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that officers from more than 70 law enforcement agencies were on hand when Cpl. Jason Harwood was buried Saturday.

The observance featured the reading of a letter to Harwood from his surviving identical twin brother, Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremy Harwood. Also, the German shepherd who was Harwood’s K-9 partner before his promotion to corporal two years ago lay down in front of the casket.

Harwood was a decorated 15-year police veteran who was shot after he pulled over a car last weekend. Prosecutors have announced plans to seek the death penalty against the man charged in the killing.

 

Roberts jumps on Clinton’s mention of Kansas race

Roberts and Orman
Roberts and Orman

HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton has mentioned Kansas as a competitive race while talking about Democratic efforts to hold onto Congress.

Clinton’s comments Friday on the PBS NewsHour have caught the attention of Kansas Senator Pat Roberts. The Republican is in a tight race with independent candidate Greg Orman after Democrat Chad Taylor stopped campaigning.

Orman is projecting himself as fresh and authentic while acknowledging that he’s been both a Republican and a Democrat.

But Roberts’ campaign has attacked Orman as a liberal pretending to be a conservative. Roberts’ campaign manager, Cory Bliss, said in a news release that Orman will “say and do anything to get elected, even if it means pretending he’s not a Democrat.”

Orman’s spokesman says Robert’s campaign will “say and do anything to get him reelected.”

Mo. lawmakers push electronic privacy, again

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A new Missouri law banning schools from electronically tracking students is part of a recent national push among states to increase privacy protections. The Missouri Legislature overrode Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the bill this past week.

Schools will be prohibited from requiring students to carry “radio frequency identification technology” in order to track their location.

The Legislature also in May referred a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot aimed at protecting electronic communications from unreasonable searches and seizures. Voters passed it overwhelmingly in August.

Experts on electronic privacy issues say the efforts by Missouri lawmakers are part of a larger push by states to protect personal data.
Missouri efforts follow reports of massive government surveillance efforts that brought national attention to privacy concerns.

Man acquitted in fire to lose Mo. teaching credentials

KANSAS CITY (AP) – A man who was acquitted in a fatal Kentucky dormitory fire has agreed to surrender his Missouri teaching and administrator licenses after he was accused of lying about his past.

The Missouri Board of Education is set to consider the agreement with Jerry Walker Jr. next week. The Jefferson City school district offered Walker an assistant principal job, contingent upon him passing a background check, but rescinded the offer in April when the check revealed problems. One issue was Walker’s failure to disclose that he had been fired by a Kentucky school.

Walker was twice tried for a 1998 fire at Murray State University that killed a student. After a second trial ended in acquittal, Walker pleaded guilty in 2012 to tampering with evidence charges. Walker didn’t return a phone message.

New focus on minority voting after Brown’s death

JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A few miles from the street where Michael Brown died last month in Ferguson, Missouri, lies the grave of Dred Scott.

Scott is the slave who went to the Supreme Court and tried, unsuccessfully, to be recognized as a free American citizen — 157 years ago.

Michael Brown is the unarmed black 18-year-old who was shot to death by a white police officer last month.

Brown’s death is raising fresh questions about the extent to which blacks in suburban towns are regarded as full partners by the officials and law enforcers elected largely by and responsive to small segments of the population.

Political participation is increasing on the national level for blacks and Hispanics. On the local level, voting continues to be struggle, as it is in Ferguson.

Obama: Combating Islamic State not US fight alone (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is distinguishing the military campaign against Islamic State militants from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He says the new fight must avoid what he calls mistakes of the past.

Obama says more nations are joining a coalition against the extremists.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says, “This can’t be America’s fight alone.”

In the Republican address, a candidate for a House seat from Arizona, Andy Tobin, says he’s running for Congress because his state is under attack from the federal government. He cites regulations and havoc from Washington and says it’s a problem everywhere.

Praising Bossie — the underrated star of the farm

Talk to farmers, stockmen and ranchers – most will tell you how much they love their cows. Problem is this humble and in most cases easy-going beast rarely receives the praise associated with the noble show horse or one of the so-called smartest creatures, the squealing pig.

No one extols the virtues of this contented creature that spends her days quietly grazing and eating grass. We’ve all watched movies about horses (Trigger) and pigs (Babe), but most of the time, cows are considered boring and ignored by Hollywood, the media and the general public.

John Schlageck writes for the Kansas Farm Bureau.
John Schlageck writes for the Kansas Farm Bureau.

Still, cows are not whiners and they take their obscurity in stride and rarely complain about their circumstances. They spend days and nights under the stars without a tent or blanket and only their coat to keep them warm. They have to hoof it across the pasture just to get a drink of cold water.

But hey, I’m not here to say I feel sorry for the cow community. Confident and quiet, it is not their way to ask for preferential treatment.

Spend time with a herd of cows and you’ll soon discover they are indeed spiritual beings. They live their entire lives in service to mankind.

Behind that seemingly blank stare rests a knowing glint that suggests, “Go ahead. Make fun. I spend all day eating and sleeping. You’re the one with high blood pressure and cash-flow problems.”

Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, domesticated since the Stone Age. Some are raised for meat (beef cattle), dairy products (cows) or hides (both).

They are also used as draft animals and in certain sports. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle rustling, one of the earliest forms of theft.

Dairy cows are referred to as the foster mothers of the human race because they produce most of the milk that people drink. They provide 90 percent of the world’s milk supply.

The best cows may give approximately 25 gallons of milk each day. That’s 400 glasses of milk. Cows in this country give an average of 2,000 gallons of milk per year. That’s more than 30,000 glasses of milk.

Beef cattle supply more than 30 different cuts of meat including the heart, tongue and what we grew up calling mountain oysters – a male private part. You gotta’ admit, that’s meaningful giving.

Another gift from the bovine community is leather that comes from their hides. We use it for boots, belts, baseballs, suitcases, purses, wallets, easy chairs and jackets. Yes, cattle or cows make the ultimate sacrifice for human comfort.

Another place cows shine is in the rodeo arena or as spokesmammals in advertising. Who hasn’t seen the skydiving cows on their television screen?

Another cow celebrity that’s been around for eons is Borden’s Elsie the Cow.

Snorting bulls symbolize a healthy stock market and a Hereford cow pioneered space travel. Every kid knows about the cow who jumped over the moon.

Milk, ice cream, cheeseburgers or that fine leather purse – think about it. Where would we be without our cows?

On any given day a cow often does more for us than our friends, neighbors, in-laws or even our elected officials. Cows deserve a roaring round of applause and recognition for a job well done.

Anyway, I’d much rather thank a cow and wear a pair of leather boots than sport a mink coat and thank a varmint. I know I’d rather drink milk from a cow than milk from a mink.

Enough said.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

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