TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback is promising to finish work on a 50-year water conservation plan for Kansas if he’s re-elected this fall.
The Republican governor also said Democratic challenger Paul Davis has no credibility on water issues because he showed no interest in the subject as a legislator.
Brownback held a news conference Wednesday on a boat ramp on the Kansas River to discuss water policy and protecting the state’s natural resources. It’s the last piece of his re-election campaign platform. His administration is already working on a 50-year water plan and expects to roll out pieces of it next year.
The governor says his administration already plans to issue $20 million in bonds for reservoir dredging.
Davis campaign spokesman Chris Pumpelly did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
OZARK (AP) – Although a majority of its members supported the proposal, the Ozark Fire Board will not extend same-sex benefits to a female captain and the woman she married.
The board decided Tuesday that it did not have the authority to change the department’s policy after the board’s attorney, Todd Johnson, said the Missouri Constitution doesn’t allow the action because it defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The Springfield News-Leader reports about a dozen people testified about the proposal Tuesday, equally split between opponents and supporters.
The female captain, Andi Mooneyham, had sought the benefits after marrying her partner in another state.
Three of the five board members supported her request but said state law did not allow them to vote on the issue.
INMAN, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Sampler Foundation is planning a new crowd funding site to support projects that help rural communities.
A pilot website, called Kanstarter, is scheduled to be up and running later this month.
The foundation’s director, Marci Penner, says projects allowed on the website will have to be good for the community and supported by several generations. She says the projects cannot cover salaries or promote religious or political views.
The Hutchinson News reports 24 proposals were submitted for the pilot project and a committee narrowed the initial list to four.
Those projects are an update to the Burdett Mini Golf Course; purchasing land in Plains for a grocery store; constructing an amphitheater to replace the Wilson Opera House and construction of a recreation trail in Yates Center.
CARBONDALE, Kan.- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 6 a.m. on Wednesday in Shawnee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Honda Civic driven by Jo Ann Call, 60, Overbrook, was northbound on U.S. 75 in Carbondale in the right lane. The driver lost control of the vehicle due to heavy rain.
The vehicle hydroplaned striking the inside bridge rail, then slid further north entering the center median and striking a metal guardrail.
Call was transported to a local hospital. The KHP report did not indicate if she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — The Pittsburg Police Department says it is looking for vandals who damaged several fiberglass footballs that were part of a public art project called SEK Art Fest.
Police say they have video showing people who might have vandalized one of the painted footballs on Sunday. The footballs have been on display in downtown Pittsburg since June.
The Joplin Globe reports continued vandalism prompted art festival organizers to move 20 of the 24 large painted footballs out of downtown Monday and into the Meadowbrook Mall in south Pittsburg. Four of the footballs have been damaged by vandals since July.
The footballs were to remain on display downtown until Oct. 12, and then were to be auctioned off to raise funds for future art exhibits.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police are working to determine if a man arrested in the assault of three people at a motel is connected to a triple homicide in another part of the city.
Police say the man was arrested shortly before midnight as he walked along an interstate in north Kansas City. His arrest occurred about two miles from a motel where three people had been assaulted Tuesday afternoon. The victims of the assault were not seriously injured.
Investigators have not positively linked the man to a shooting in a south Kansas City neighborhood earlier Tuesday that left three dead and two wounded. They say in a news release that a vehicle taken from that homicide scene was found within blocks of the motel where the assaults occurred.
INDEPENDENCE- A Missouri man was seriously injured in an accident just before midnight in Cass County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Hummer driven by Byron N. Ohare, 40, Kingsville, was eastbound on MO 58 just east of Beattie Road. The vehicle ran off the right side of the road, struck a culvert, became airborne and overturned.
Ohare was transported to Centerpoint Hospital.
The MSHP reported Ohare was not wearing a seat belt.
Rebecca Evans, director of the Northwest Missouri State University’sSmall Business Technology and Development Center (SBTDC), has been named Outstanding Innovator for 2014 by the University of Missouri Extension Business Development Program.
Evans won the award at the program’s annual conference for creating a SBTDC Boot Camp for new counselors.
“Rebecca recognized a challenge and responded superbly,” said Steven L. Devlin, Business Development Program director. “In this case, the challenge was internal: How to best orient new staff and get them up to speed to become fully participating members of the BDP team, creating new businesses, jobs and prosperity. Through her own initiative, she created a curriculum and then delivered it to new counselors. We’ll be using this curriculum from here on in, thanks to Rebecca.”
This isn’t the first time Evans has been publicly recognized by the Business Development Program. In 2012, she was named the organization’s State Star, or top state counselor, for her contributions to local business growth.
Evans joined the Northwest SBTDC in 2007, serving in St. Joseph. She was named Northwest associate regional director in 2013 and assumed the regional director role earlier this year. She has advised or coached up to 200 businesses each year, creating sales increases of nearly $30 million for these businesses, investment increases of $10.5 million and 218 new jobs.
“One of the signs of a high-functioning organization is that when great work is done, those doing it make it look easy,” Devlin said. “Rebecca has a knack for solving complex problems in elegant ways. She is a tremendous asset to the BDP and northwest Missouri.”
Evans is a certified business coach, a Six Sigma Green Belt in process improvement and a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional. She also served on the board of examiners for the 2013 Missouri Quality Awards at the Excellence in Missouri Foundation. She holds a master’s degree from Missouri State University and a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana Tech University.
The Northwest SBTDC is sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and covers 17 counties spanning from Atchison County, south to Platte County and east to Livingston County. It consists of three offices with a regional office at the Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the Northwest campus in Maryville and additional offices in Chillicothe and St. Joseph. For more information about the Northwest SBTDC, call 660.562.1701 or visit www.nwmissouri.edu/services/sbtdc/.
The Business Development Program works with Missouri companies to address management, marketing and financing issues. For more information on how the program may assist with finance, management and other small business management issues, visit www.missouribusiness.net.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri businesses could see a decline in their workers’ compensation insurance premiums next year.
The state insurance department says a new report by the National Council on Compensation Insurance indicates that insurers are likely to see a 3.7 percent drop in their “loss costs” for claims in 2015. Those loss projections typically are used by insurers when setting rates.
Insurance Department Director John Huff says the potential decline in workers’ compensation premiums is due largely to a decrease in the overall costs of medical claims.
At this time last year, the national council was projecting an 11.6 percent increase in “loss costs” for Missouri’s workers’ compensation insurers. That was due partly to a new law that shifted some injury claims to the workers’ compensation system from the state’s Second Injury Fund.
Governor Brownback meets students on the campaign trail
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is preparing to outline the final part of his re-election campaign platform, focusing on protecting the state’s natural resources.
Brownback scheduled a news conference Wednesday morning at a Kansas River boat ramp inside Kaw River State Park in Topeka. He also planned a Wednesday afternoon event at Cheney Reservoir, west of Wichita.
The governor has been announcing the goals he’ll pursue if he wins a second, four-year term. Previous announcements have covered the economy, education and resisting federal regulations.
Brownback calls his platform “Road Map 2.0,” casting it as a follow-up to the “Road Map for Kansas” platform he outlined in 2010.
Brownback faces Democrat Paul Davis and Libertarian Keen Umbehr in the Nov. 4 election.
