TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran says he’s received complaints from veterans that they’re not being given appointments at US Veterans Affairs facilities.

Moran said Friday after a short tour of the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka that his office received about a dozen complaints over the past six months from veterans who have called for medical appointments in Kansas and have been told to call back in six months.

Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins said her office has received multiple complaints from veterans of having appointments changed a few days before they were scheduled.

Jenkins also was on the tour.

Their visit comes amid scrutiny of VA facilities across the nation. A local VA spokesman says he’s not heard of veterans being denied appointments and being told to call back months later.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran and congresswoman Lynn Jenkins plan to tour the Veterans Affairs medical center in Topeka and meet patients.

The Friday visit to the Colmery-O’Neil Medical Center comes days after the VA released an audit showing that more than 57,000 veterans nationwide have had to wait at least three months for initial appointments.

Also, the VA medical center in Wichita acknowledged having an unauthorized list of 385 patients who were waiting to get into a program that provides services to veterans in their homes. But the center’s director said none of them were harmed by being placed on the list.

The Topeka VA medical center is in Jenkins’ congressional district. Moran serves on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri highway officials are proposing to widen Interstate 70 to three lanes in each direction between suburban St. Louis and Kansas City if voters approve a transportation sales tax.

The I-70 project between Wentzville and Independence was one of hundreds of items on a proposed project list released Friday by the Missouri Department of Transportation.
The agency plans to take public comments through July 3, and the state Highways and Transportation Commission will vote on a final list July 9.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 7 on the August ballot will ask voters whether to impose a three-quarters cent sales tax for transportation that would last for 10 years. The measure says it would raise $534 million annually for state and local governments.

WHITNEY, Texas (AP) — Fire crews are burning a luxury house that’s teetering atop a crumbling 75-foot cliff over a Central Texas lake.

Authorities say destroying the 4,000-square-foot house by fire is better than waiting for it to topple into Lake Whitney. The cost of removing mounds of debris from the lake could prove prohibitive.

The homeowners have consented to Friday’s demolition about 60 miles south of Fort Worth.

The house has been condemned and the owners evacuated the property about two weeks ago. Chunks of the cliff — and the $700,000 home — have been tumbling into the water.

Tom Hemrick, Hill County’s emergency management coordinator, says the owners will have the charred debris moved to stable land and crews will remove the slab.

The residence was built in 2007.

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WHITNEY, Texas (AP) — The owner of a vacant luxury house teetering atop a crumbling 75-foot cliff over a Central Texas lake has decided to burn the home.

The 4,000-square-foot house to be demolished Friday overlooks Lake Whitney, about 60 miles south of Fort Worth.

The house has been condemned and the owners evacuated the property about two weeks ago. Chunks of the cliff — and the $700,000 home — have been tumbling into the water.

Tom Hemrick, Hill County’s emergency management coordinator, says the owner decided to burn the house to its slab foundation after consulting with demolition experts and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hemrick says the owner will have the charred debris moved to stable land and crews will remove the slab.

The residence was built in 2007.

JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Iraq’s government must make a sincere effort to address sectarian differences, or else U.S. military help won’t succeed in curbing the insurgency there.

He says, quote, “We can’t do it for them.”

Obama says the U.S. won’t send troops back into Iraq. But he says he’s asked his national security team to prepare a range of other options. He says he’ll review those options in the coming days.

Obama says the risk posed by terrorists in Iraq could eventually pose a threat to U.S. interests, too.

A fast-moving insurgency in Iraq has taken over key cities, raising fears Iraq is slipping back into sectarian chaos following the U.S. withdrawal in 2011.

Obama spoke just before departing the White House en route to North Dakota.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Although Springfield public schools have banned the use of keeping students out of recess as a form of punishment, officials say the age-old practice continues in some schools.

The district established the ban on ‘no recess’ as part of its wellness program a few years ago because recess keeps children active. Associate Superintendent Ben Hackenwerth, who oversees elementary schools where the ‘no recess’ practice has long been prevalent, stressed the need to end the punishment during a school official study session Tuesday.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Hackenwerth and Jean Grabeel, manager of health services, said they have told principals about the ban on withholding recess as punishment but change is taking time because the practice has been around so long.

KOSE Media Release

The Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE) Thursday expressed extreme concern for the safety of state correctional officers in the wake of erupting violence at a state run prison where, over the past several days, ten officers have been injured in inmate attacks.

Between June 5^th and 9^th, no less than five separate incidents of inmate to officer violence occurred at Lansing Correctional Facility, resulting in officers being severely injured.  Officers reported to KOSE they expected some sort of facility-wide response, such as a lockdown or a yard closure, but none has occurred.  To date, KOSE officials are unaware of any facility-wide action taken by administrators to demonstrate zero tolerance for inmate to officer violence.

The lack of response is troubling, as Lansing Correctional Officers have observed inmates celebrating the attacks and encouraging the offenders to “keep up the good work.”

Lansing Correctional Facility, like many State facilities, is operating short-staffed, due in part to the shrinking state budget.  KOSE Executive Director Rebecca Proctor said, “According to the officers at Lansing, Lansing Correctional Facility is understaffed by approximately fifty-five (55) officers.  One of the June 5^th attacks happened on a shift that was operating nine (9) officers short of full staffing.  Inmates recognize the staffing situation and are increasingly testing the boundaries and response capabilities.  Sadly, they are becoming more successful and emboldened.”  Proctor continued “When our governor and the legislature refuse to appropriately fund public services, including corrections, they send a clear message to the bad guys: it’s open season on the good guys.”

KOSE obtained all information about the attacks directly from officers.  KOSE requested official information about the attacks and any planned response from the Department of Corrections (KDOC).  KDOC replied that it is not obligated to share any information.

NEW YORK (AP) — American teens are smoking less, drinking less and fighting less. But they’re texting behind the wheel and spending a lot of time on video games and computers, according to the government’s latest study of worrisome behavior on the part of young people.

Generally speaking, the news is good. Most forms of drug use, weapons use and risky sex have been going down since the government started doing the survey every two years in 1991. Teens are wearing bicycle helmets and seat belts more, too.

The results come from a study of 13,000 U.S. high school students last spring. Participation was voluntary and required parental permission, but responses were anonymous.

Dr. Stephanie Zaza, who oversaw the study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that “overall, young people have more healthy behaviors than they did 20 years ago.”

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is lowering its fuel economy estimates for six models, including the Fiesta subcompact and hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the Fusion sedan.

The mileage on most labels will fall between one and five miles per gallon. The biggest change is for the Lincoln MKZ hybrid, whose combined city and highway fuel economy has been reduced by 7 mpg to 38 mpg.

Also affected is the C-Max hybrid and C-Max Energi. Ford restated the C-Max’s mileage once before, in the fall. But the company says this is a separate issue.

Ford will compensate 215,000 buyers with payments of between $125 and $1,050. Most of those customers are in the U.S.; around 15,000 are from Canada and elsewhere.

Ford says it found the errors as part of an internal audit.