MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Faith-affiliated charities, colleges and hospitals are leading the next legal dispute over religion, birth control and the health law that’s likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
The issue in more than four dozen lawsuits from religious nonprofit groups that oppose some or all contraception as immoral is how far the Obama administration must go to accommodate them.
Just this past week, the justices relieved businesses with religious objections of their obligation to pay for women’s contraceptives among a range of preventive services the law calls for in their health plans.
The nonprofits already could opt out of covering the contraceptives. But they say the administration’s accommodation is not enough because they remain complicit in the provision of government-approved contraceptives to women covered by their plans.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
What is the Next Big Thing? Maybe it is the World’s Largest Thing. Today, in the third and final part of our series on grassroots art, we will meet an artist who has developed a specialty in the World’s Largest Things. When she’s not on the road, this artist can be found in rural Kansas.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
Erika Nelson is a visionary artist, national researcher and speaker on the topic of roadside attractions such as the World’s Largest Things. As an expert in grassroots art, it is fitting that she makes her home in Lucas, the Grassroots Art Center of Kansas.
Erika grew up in Missouri. As a child, she lived near a town which had painted its water tower to look like a giant billiard ball. In fact, it was called the World’s Largest 8 Ball. Her grandparents lived up north near the supposed home of Paul Bunyan and the Babe the big blue ox. Perhaps those experiences shaped an early appreciation of unusual, oversized artifacts.
Erika got her bachelor of fine arts degree from Central Missouri State University and an MFA from the University of Kansas. She enjoyed the creative and unusual. Her first public art endeavor was a Spam carving workshop. “I always had a soft spot in my heart for these odd, offbeat things (such as I had seen as a child),” Erika said. She started traveling to visit those attractions which might be termed the World’s Largest Things.
“I was mapping and recording these as I traveled,” Erika said. “Then I wanted souvenirs and reminders of them, so I started making small replicas.” Using her artistic talents, she started making small models of these distinctive landmarks.
In Kansas, she came to the community of Lucas which had become a center of grassroots art. “The town was so open and welcoming,” Erika said. She volunteered at the Grassroots Art Center and then found a house next door to Lucas’ Garden of Eden. It was such a good value that she bought the house and stayed.
Erika continues to travel extensively. She is a part of the Kansas Humanities Council speakers bureau and the Kansas Arts Commission Arts on Tour roster. As a working artist, she is involved in various public art projects such as community murals. She has created exhibits as far away as Philadelphia and at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida.
In 2007, she created a non-profit organization relating to history, preservation, production and promotion of the distinctive roadside attractions known as the World’s Largest Things. These are those unusual artifacts such as the World’s Largest Ball of Twine as found in the rural community of Cawker City, Kansas, population 510 people. Now, that’s rural.
Erika’s travels have literally taken her coast to coast in her quest to study these attractions. For example, the World’s Largest Box of Raisins is found in Kingsburg, California, the World’s Largest Ketchup Bottle is found at Heinz Park in Pennsylvania, and the World’s Largest Beach Ball is in Pensacola, Florida. Erika has catalogued more than 500 of these remarkable, quirky attractions around the U.S. She has even appeared on the TV show Conan.
One might expect to find more of the World’s Largest Things in Texas, but that state ranks third behind California and Minnesota. (Kansas has a very respectable 17.)
As mentioned, Erika has created small replicas of these landmarks. That has now become – are you ready for this? – the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. Erika has created a traveling road show which displays this remarkable collection. She also consults with community members who want to create their own version of the World’s Largest something. “For many communities, these things can be a point of pride or hope,” Erika said.
For more information, and the entire list of biggies, go to www.worldslargestthings.com.
What is the Next Big Thing? Maybe it is the World’s Largest Thing. We commend Erika Nelson for supporting grassroots art and helping communities grow their identity through the World’s Largest Things. Such larger-than-life symbols can make a big difference.
Blue Bird is recalling more than 2,500 All American school buses and some transit buses to fix a problem that could make steering more difficult.
The company also is recalling a smaller number of school buses that may be prone to a propane fuel leak.
It says it has received no injury or accident reports tied to any of these recalls.
Blue Bird Corp. says the steering problem can develop on some buses made between 2011 and last May if a steering shaft clamp comes into contact with a rubber close out boot on the floor. It also is recalling more than 400 transit buses to fix the same problem.
The company also is recalling 388 Vision school buses made in 2012 or 2013 to address the possible fuel leak.
GRANT CITY- A teen driver was injured in a Saturday morning accident in Worth County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Chevy 1500 driven by Shadow S. Briner, 17, Grant City, was southbound on South Briggs Road in Grant City just before 4 a.m.
The vehicle attempted a right turn into a private drive, struck and embankment and rolled. The driver was trapped inside the vehicle.
Briner was transported to Albany Regional Hospital and later transferred to Cameron and eventually to a hospital in Kansas City.
The MSHP reported it was unknown if Briner was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
EMINENCE (AP) – A Missouri man awaiting trial for his wife’s death is on the loose after escaping custody while watching a fireworks display.
KYTV-TV reports 32-year-old Jason McClurg was with nine other inmates outside the Shannon County jail on Friday night when he broke free.
A woman who answered the phone at the sheriff’s office late Saturday afternoon said McClurg had not been taken into custody.
The Winona man was charged in May with first-degree murder for the death of his wife, Stephanie McClurg.
Police say McClurg tried to kill his wife by mixing a prescription medicine with Kool-Aid, but it didn’t work, so he tried again the next day and succeeded.
McClurg is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 7 for a preliminary hearing on the murder charge.
KANSAS CITY- A teenager was injured in an accident just before 11:30 on Saturday in Johnson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria driven by Arturo Molina, 19, Kansas City was westbound on Interstate 435 just west of Quivira in Olathe. The driver was in the right lane, drifted off the roadway, overcorrected, went across all lanes of traffic and struck the left barrier wall.
Molina was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Nearly two dozen residents of an Emporia assisted living facility are looking for new homes after the building was destroyed by fire.
KVOE-AM reports all 21 residents of Sterling House made it out safely after the fire started late Friday night.
Emporia Fire Department Battalion Chief Rich Gould says firefighters were called to the facility just before midnight and found flames already coming through the roof.
Gould says Sterling House residents were taken to Newman Regional Health to spend the night.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Investigators were focusing on the kitchen as the possible origination point.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three people drowned in separate incidents around Missouri on Independence Day.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 18-year-old Joshua Washington of Republic was trying to help others at Table Rock Lake when he went underwater at 10:20 a.m. Friday and didn’t come back up. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At 4:25 p.m., 30-year-old Justin Byrd of Englewood, Colorado, fell off a boat anchored in Anderson Hollow Cove at the Lake of the Ozarks. The water patrol says he was submerged for 5 minutes before others realized he was missing.
At 6:15 p.m., 81-year-old Gary Gilbert of Cape Girardeau was wading across the Castor River in southeast Missouri when he lost his balance and fell. The patrol says his body was found later in a root wad.
FRONTENAC, Kan. (AP) — Supporters of a bid to bring a casino to southeast Kansas say the long-shuttered Camptown Greyhound Park could be converted quickly into a gambling facility if state regulators approve.
The Joplin Globe reports the park has applied to the Kansas Lottery Commission for the lone remaining casino slot. That slot has gone unfilled since the state legalized casino gambling in 2007.
Legislation that went into effect on Tuesday lowers the investment required for a prospective casino developer from $225 million to $50 million. It also drops the fee the state charges to developers from $25 million to $5.5 million.
Camptown, just north of Pittsburg, opened in 1995 but ran live dog races for less than six months before its owners filed for bankruptcy in early 1996.
KANSAS CITY- Officials in Kansas City are investigating a fireworks accident. A man lost a hand in the blast on Friday.
Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forte reported the incident on his twitter account, “Victim lost a hand after a half stick of dynamite blew up in his hand last night in the 3600 block of Bales. Life threatening injury”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Faith-affiliated charities, colleges and hospitals are leading the next legal dispute over religion, birth control and the health law that’s likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
