KANSAS CITY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 3 p.m. on Sunday in Wyandotte County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Kawasaki Ninja driven by Russell Pruitt, 56, Leavenworth, was northbound on Interstate 435 just north of Donahoo Road in the right lane.
The driver failed to negotiate the curve of the roadway. The vehicle left the roadway, entered the right ditch, and overturned.
Pruitt was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
The KHP reported he was wearing a helmet and eye protection.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Authorities are investigating the collapse of part of a downtown Jefferson City store wall.
The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports that part of the facade over a brick wall gave way Saturday afternoon, causing a section covering about 1½ stories to fall to the concrete sidewalk. A woman cut her hand, but no serious injuries were reported.
The accident happened where the now-closed Leeds Shoes store once operated.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Divorce is expected to be the focus of two days of informational Legislative committee hearings on marriage.
Rep. Jan Pauls says one of the key questions to be addressed is whether Kansas has made it too easy for couples to get divorced, especially in cases that don’t involve domestic violence. The Hutchinson Republican serves on the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.
Paul told the Lawrence Journal-World (http://bit.ly/1xQt9ez) that some people have suggested it would be helpful to have counseling requirements, or extended or longer waiting periods to end non-abusive marriages.
Kansas is what’s considered a “no fault” divorce state, which means that either party in a marriage can petition for divorce. The person seeking the divorce doesn’t have to prove that there are legal grounds for it beyond “incompatibility.”
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A new fight over right-to-work may take place this year as Republicans enjoy a larger majority.
A Missouri House committee approved right-to-work bills this week, setting the stage for a potential vote on an issue that drew national attention last year when the measure failed to get the constitutional majority needed in the House.
Freshmen Republicans elected in competitive districts, some with a strong union presence, may hold the key to whether right-to-work moves this year.
Missouri AFL-CIO president Mike Louis says he’s been pleasantly surprised at the number of newly elected Republicans who are willing to discuss the issue.
He says even if the measure gets to the governor’s desk, Democrat Jay Nixon will veto it. He says the number of pro-labor Republicans will likely stop an override effort.
TRENTON – A Missouri teen was injured in an accident just before 12:30 p.m. on Sunday in Grundy County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Chevy driven by Kelby L. Orndorff, 17, Trenton, was southbound on Route W four miles west of Trenton.
The vehicle went off the west side of the road. The driver overcorrected and the vehicle went into a broad skid off the west side of the road and struck a tree.
Orndorff was transported to Wright Memorial Hospital. The MSHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri transportation officials are testing an anti-skid surface treatment in Kansas City.
The Kansas City Star reports that highway officials are trying to determine whether it reduces the number of crashes, especially the number of vehicles that run off the road. The Missouri Department of Transportation hopes to have the treatment installed this summer on the ramp from southbound Interstate 29 to southbound Interstate 635 in the northern part of the city.
Laurel McKean, a district traffic engineer with MoDOT, says the surface will “feel a little bit rougher.”
MoDOT had positive results when it tested the treatment on U.S. 54 in Jefferson City two years ago. The I-29 project is among nine throughout the state funded through a nearly $1 million federal grant.
Abbot Notker Wolf, OSB, Ph.D., will present a lecture at Benedictine College as part of the Kremmeter Lecture Series on Tuesday, February 10, at 7:30 p.m. in O’Malley-McAllister Auditorium.
Abbot Notker is the Abbot Primate, or head abbot, of the Benedictine Confederation of Congregations, the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict. He is a proficient flautist and his presentation, “The Rule of St. Benedict in a Globalized World,” will include a performance of J. S. Bach’s Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude, accompanied on piano by Dr. Ruth Krusemark, Mother Evangelista Kremmeter Professor of Benedictine Traditions and Values and chair of the Music Department. The abbot’s presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the lobby of the St. John Paul II Student Center.
“I had the privilege on two different occasions to accompany him on the piano for his flute recitals at the Abbey,” Krusemark said. “I found him to be highly engaging, entertaining and inspirational. He has a wonderful sense of humor and enjoys talking about his experiences in rock music (he also plays the electric guitar).”
Dr. Krusemark was named to the endowed Kremmeter professorship at the 2013 Benedictine College Scholarship Ball and she will hold the position until she retires from full-time teaching. The professorship came with a special fund to allow for campus programming, which she used to establish the Kremmeter Lecture Series.
“I believe our community is in for a treat,” she said of the Abbot Primate. “He’s a delight to talk with and is held in very high regard with Benedictines across the world. I’m thrilled that he will be with us to share his wisdom and experiences.”
Abbot Notker was born in 1940 in Grönenbach, Bavaria, Germany. He entered the Archabbey of St. Ottilien in 1961, studied philosophy at the Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, and did further studies in theology and natural sciences (zoology, inorganic chemistry, history of astronomy) at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich. In 1968 he was ordained priest and in 1971 appointed as lecturer in philosophy of nature and science at the Benedictine University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome.
In 1977 he was elected Archabbot of St. Ottilien, responsible for mission houses all over the world as abbot president of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien. In 2000 he was elected the ninth Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation, and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. He has written at least 19 books, his latest concerning the issue of living an environmentally sustainable life for both a good future for the earth as well as for the individual in a spiritual/holistic fashion. His hobbies include flute, electric guitar and languages and he has performed both traditional Benedictine music and Christian rock since 1981.
Abbot Notker is also interested in interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders. As an ambassador of Catholicism and the Benedictines around the world, his visits to Benedictine communities in many countries have allowed him to experience different cultures. He has made many appearances, including several in the People’s Republic of China and North Korea.
Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is proud to have been named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report as well as one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging. It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.
HCA Midwest Health said it plans to open a comprehensive cancer center near Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, Mo., pictured above. Credit HCA Midwest Health
by Mike Sherry
HCA Midwest Health, the region’s largest health system, announced Wednesday that it plans to open a comprehensive cancer center near Centerpoint Medical Center, the company’s hospital in Independence, Mo.
HCA will house the center in a 17,000-square-foot building near Centerpoint, according to a system spokeswoman. HCA purchased the building, a former furniture store, in 2012.
HCA expects the project to cost about $20 million, including the acquisition of the building. The spokeswoman said renovations should begin this spring, with a projected opening in the summer of 2016.
HCA said the center will have 18 private and semi-private infusion bays.
Officially called the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center at Centerpoint Medical Center, the name reflects a relationship fostered by Hospital Corporation of America, HCA Midwest’s parent company, which is based in Nashville, Tenn.
According to its website, Sarah Cannon is one of the largest providers of radiation oncology services in the United States, with a history dating back to initial clinical trials in 1993.
In its news release, HCA Midwest called Sarah Cannon the cancer service line of its parent company.
The release said the service line launched in 2011 and has experience with more than 145 first-in-man clinical trials – those in which a medical procedure is tested on human subjects for the first time – and with the provision of more than 850 stem cell transplants annually through the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network.
Wednesday’s announcement continues a string of cancer-related news in the region over the last several days.
On Monday, Saint Luke’s and Liberty hospitals announced they were joining forces to expand cancer care services through the Regional Cancer Center at Liberty Hospital.
And just last week, Olathe Medical Center announced that a 25,000-square-foot cancer center would be part of a $100 million-plus expansion of the hospital.
In the release, Centerpoint CEO David Williams called the new HCA cancer center “an important milestone in our strategic initiative to not only invest in the community’s well-being, but to ensure leading-edge cancer care is available to residents of Jackson County and beyond.”
LIBERAL – Two people were injured in an accident just before 3 p.m. on Saturday in Seward County
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Ford pickup pulling a 5th wheel and driven by Eric Dean Davis, 65, Grain Valley, Mo., was westbound on U.S. 54 one mile east of Liberal
The truck went left of center and entered the south ditch. It traveled through a chain link fence and over a dirt embankment.
Davis and a passenger Julie Davis, 63, Grain Valley, Mo., were transported to Southwest Medical Center.
The Rock Island Line runs through eight Missouri counties, across 1,000 different properties. This section is in Osage County. MFB photo
BY LESLIE HOLLOWAY
Imagine if someone proposed a public recreational trail across you
property — across your backyard and a thousand neighboring properties. You would probably expect, at the very least, to be notified and have an opportunity to discuss the idea with those who proposed it. Not so under the National Trails Act.
In Missouri, roughly 1,000 landowners in eight counties have been left out of the process while the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Ameren work out details for turning 145 miles of the unused Rock Island rail line into a recreational trail. Trail advocates based in Washington, D.C. have been in on the deal for months, while property owners are only now being brought into the conversation.
The federal law allows the railroad owner and any public or private entity willing to commit resources to preempt property owners’ rights specified in deeded easements protected by state law for the purpose of converting the railway to trail use — without notice to or input from property owners.
At an informational meeting organized by local Farm Bureau leaders recently, one concerned property owner summed it up this way, “Those who propose the trail have nothing to lose. Those along the trail have everything to lose.” Put another way, those with no skin in the game hold all the cards.
While proponents point to the KATY Trail to make the case for bicycle tourism and increased economic activity in communities along the rail, the DNR predicts the proposed trail would attract only a fraction of the visitors the KATY Trail does. At the same time, the proposed trail would cost landowners not only by restricting their access to and use of their property, but by increasing property and biosecurity risks due to pedestrian and bicycle traffic where it formerly did not exist.
The property owners can go to court seeking compensation under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires the federal government to provide just compensation for taking private property. If they succeed, some may be satisfied. Others would rather keep the privacy and security they now enjoy as property owners. Compensation to property owners in this case would pale in comparison to the cost taxpayers would shoulder in building and maintaining the trail.
Either way, those who propose the trail don’t have to worry. It’s no skin off their backs.
Leslie Holloway, of Jefferson City, Mo., is director of regulatory affairs affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.
KANSAS CITY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 3 p.m. on Sunday in Wyandotte County.
