LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas county will pay for copies of birth certificates for some voters needing to document their U.S. citizenship to register if they cannot afford to obtain the records.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew announced the policy Wednesday. Shew said he’s addressing what he called an unfairness created by a state law requiring new voters to prove their citizenship.
The law says people born in Kansas are eligible for free copies of their birth certificates. Voters born outside the state must pay between $10 and $60.
Shew said his office will cover the cost for such voters if they can’t afford it. He said his office’s current budget can cover the cost. So far, it’s identified about five people who’d be helped by the policy.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Women’s rights activists in Kansas are praising a romantic comedy about abortion.
Julie Burkhart, founder of Trust Women and the South Wind Women’s Center, says the groups asked that the movie “Obvious Child” be shown in Wichita so the community could see it. She says it is time Hollywood portrayed abortion in a more authentic way since it is a common experience.
The Guttmacher Institute says half of all U.S. pregnancies are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion.
“Obvious Child” ranked 20th in the latest weekly box office top-20 list compiled by Rentrak. The film has grossed $1.9 million since it was released five weeks ago. It is showing in 202 locations.
The movie will be shown July 11-13 at the Warren Theatre in Wichita.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has signed legislation authorizing additional bonding for state buildings. But Nixon’s budget director says there are no plans to actually issue those bonds.
The legislation authorizes the State Board of Public Buildings to issue $400 million of revenue bonds to repair and renovate state buildings, and build a new mental health facility at the Fulton State Hospital.
Budget Director Linda Luebbering says the board won’t need to issue bonds for the Fulton hospital, because it’s being financed through bonds issued by a different state entity.
The legislation also authorizes $200 million of bonds for repairs and renovations at college campuses.
Nixon froze funding earlier this summer for projects that would be financed by the bonds, citing concerns about state revenues.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A former western Missouri court administrator has been sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling nearly $80,000 and funneling more than $64,000 to her boyfriend for consulting work that was never done.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says 59-year-old Teresa York, of Blue Springs, must also pay more than $139,000 in restitution under the sentence she received Wednesday in federal court. She pleaded guilty last November to mail fraud.
York served as the Jackson County Circuit Court administrator from 2003 until she resigned in 2012 after the embezzlement was discovered.
Prosecutors said she used court funds on such items as $46,000 worth of Apple computer products, $35,000 worth of gift cards and $6,400 worth of clothing and makeup.
She also admitted paying her boyfriend more than $64,000 for a fraudulent consulting contract.
DALLAS (AP) — President Barack Obama says Congress has the ability to act immediately to address the wave of unaccompanied minors coming over the border from Mexico into the U.S.
Obama spoke in Dallas after meeting Wednesday with Gov. Rick Perry and other officials about the unaccompanied minors entering the country by the thousands.
Obama says Perry raised four areas of concern and made suggestions. Obama says he doesn’t have a philosophical objection to anything Perry suggested. He says if Congress passes his emergency funding request, the government will have to resources to take some of the steps Perry recommended.
Obama says the problem is fixable if lawmakers are interested in solving it. He says if the preference is for politics, it won’t be solved.
Dr. Jeffrey Burns uses a PET scan to screen patients for an international drug trial.-photo by Stefani Fontana/KCUR
By Stefani Fontana, KCUR-FM
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It’s a form of dementia that afflicts as many as 5.2 million people in the United States. It has no cure.
And as the population ages, the number of people afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to quadruple over the next 35 years, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
That means that by 2050, 1 in 85 people will be living with the disease.
Now doctors at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center are hopeful a new drug called Solanezumab, made by Eli Lilly & Co., can delay or even prevent Alzheimer’s.
A report published in the New England Journal of Medicine early this year on the drug’s Phase 3 trial – when it’s given to large groups of people to test its effectiveness and safety – showed it was effective in slowing progression in mild cases of Alzheimer’s, although not in moderate or advanced cases.
“I’m massively hopeful,” said Michelle Niedens, director of education for the Kansas City chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. “The general Phase 3 trial proved to be insignificant … but the exciting part was they differentiated based on stage. So those individuals who were in the early part of the disease, early stage, seemed to benefit heavily.”
Delaying onset
Although current treatments can slow cognitive decline in patients already diagnosed with the disease, there are no drugs that can delay or prevent its onset.
“They don’t stop the disease, but they help the symptoms, meaning the memory loss and changes in memory,” said Dr. Jeffrey Burns, a neurologist and co-director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the medical center.
The symptoms of Alzheimer’s – problems with memory, thinking and behavior that affect the ability to perform daily tasks – get worse as the disease progresses.
The average time from mild to severe disease is six years, but the progression can vary widely.
Caregivers are familiar with the progression, and many are at risk of developing the disease themselves, because it often runs in families.
“My mother died 25 years ago with Alzheimer’s disease, and I was a caregiver,” said Joann Bell, who is undergoing screening to participate in the Solanezumab study.
Bell said she didn’t know about her mother’s disease until a neighbor mentioned some odd behavior.
“(The neighbor) wasn’t sure if she knew how to make breakfast,” Bell said. And after Bell’s son visited and found that his grandmother had forgotten to buy food, Bell realized her mother could no longer live on her own.
KU is recruiting patients between the ages of 65 and 85, when Alzheimer’s is usually diagnosed, to be part of its drug trial.
“It’s a clinical trial that’s basically the cutting-edge approach to preventing Alzheimer’s disease,” Burns said.
The study is being funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and Eli Lilly and involves more than 50 locations throughout the United States, Canada and Australia.
Clearing out amyloid
To participate, applicants will undergo cognitive screening to make sure they don’t have any early symptoms of Alzheimer’s, such as memory loss.
After that they’ll get a PET scan to see if they have “amyloid plaques” in their brain, a risk factor for the disease. Amyloid is a type of protein, and deposits in the brain have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
“We all have amyloid in our body,” Burns said. “It’s a normal part of us, but when it goes up in the brain, that’s not something you see with everyone. You see it in people with Alzheimer’s disease.”
The ideal candidate would have no signs of early Alzheimer’s disease but would have amyloid plaques.
Whether amyloid causes Alzheimer’s or is a byproduct of the disease is a hotly debated topic among scientists.
“A key point is if somebody has amyloid in their brain, not everybody develops Alzheimer’s,” Burns said “They’re at higher risk for the disease over the next five to 10 years, but not everybody will get Alzheimer’s. … So it’s a risk factor.”
Solanezumab, the drug under study, works by attaching itself to amyloid proteins and making them visible to the immune system. Once the immune system detects amyloid, the body’s natural immune defenses react as they would to bacteria or any other foreign body and clears the amyloid out of the body’s system.
Cause or effect?
The premise of the KU trial is that amyloid does cause Alzheimer’s, and if it’s cleared out of the system before it causes any damage, then the disease will be prevented.
“Will it definitively answer the question of whether amyloid causes Alzheimer’s? Probably not definitively, but it’s definitely a test of that hypothesis,” Burns said. “What’s the role of amyloid in Alzheimer’s? It’s not clear. … Is it the smoke or is it the fire? This study will really help us take a big step forward in understanding what is the role and relevance of amyloid.”
As Alzheimer’s disease progresses to “severe,” patients lose the ability to carry on conversation, perform daily tasks such as feed or bathe themselves and respond to their environment. Such patients require full-time care.
“It’s difficult for people to watch this devastating illness that takes your memory, your dignity,” Bell said.
The experience with her mother inspired Bell and her husband to go through screening for the three-year KU study.
“My husband and I feel this is a crisis,” Bell said. “To me, information is power. And I’m already exercising and eating right, and if I then would proceed – if I have the amyloid – I know it takes awhile for it to develop. And maybe I’ll be one of those to get the drug. Just to be part of the research is so exciting.”
For more information on the international trial, visit the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s trial website. To participate in the Kansas City trial, visit the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center website or call (913) 588-8055
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) spoke on the U.S. Senate floor today about the Environmental Protection (EPA) Agency’s proposed Clean Water Act (CWA) rule, which represents a massive land grab by the Obama Administration.
Blunt’s remarks come as EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy’s visits Missouri this week to reportedly build a broader campaign to reassure the agriculture community about the rule and “set the record straight. According to the Springfield News-Leader, McCarthy called some assertions about the rule “silly” and “ludicrous” during a conference call with reporters yesterday.
Last month, Blunt joined U.S. Senator John Barrasso (Wyo.) and 28 colleagues to introduce the “Protecting Water and Property Rights Act of 2014,” legislation to stop the EPA from taking over all private and state water in the United States.
DETROIT (AP) — Harley-Davidson is recalling 66,421 Touring and CVO Touring motorcycles from the 2014 model year because their front wheels can lock up without warning.
Motorcycles with anti-lock brakes built between July 1, 2013, and May 7, 2014, are included in the recall.
Harley-Davidson Inc. says the front brake line can get pinched between the fuel tank and the frame. That could cause front brake fluid pressure to increase, increasing the risk that the front wheel could lock up while riding.
The company knows of five crashes and two minor injuries related to the defect, which it discovered last fall through warranty claims.
Harley-Davidson will notify owners later this month. Dealers will replace the brake lines for free and attach straps to hold them in place.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A federal judge says the Lyft ride-sharing service will be allowed to operate in Kansas City at least until September, when a trial is scheduled to consider city officials’ complaints about the service.
Lyft pairs passengers who use a smart phone app with drivers in their own vehicles.
District Judge Brian Wimes on Wednesday denied the city’s request for a temporary restraining order against the San Francisco-based company.
The Kansas City Star reports that the city maintains Lyft should follow the same regulations as taxicabs and limousine services. At least 16 Lyft drivers have been ticketed since the service began in the city.
A trial on the city’s objections is scheduled to begin Sept. 17.
MANHATTAN — Kansas Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus looks forward to hearing from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy tomorrow at the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City luncheon.
It’s disappointing, however, to hear our reservations about the agency’s “Waters of the United States” and “Interpretive Rule” proposals dismissed as “ludicrous” by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, especially when the public comment period is still open.
In a democratic society, citizens have the right – and the responsibility – to speak up when government decisions impact their way of life. In turn, a government that derives its power from the governed must be willing to listen to its citizens and truthfully answer questions.
Kansas Farm Bureau stands ready to participate in a constructive conversation about a proposal that will affect not only agriculture but also a multitude of small businesses and land use management across our state.
We hope Ms. McCarthy will listen to our rational and valid concerns during her visit to the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas county will pay for copies of birth certificates for some voters needing to document their U.S. citizenship to register if they cannot afford to obtain the records.
