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Category: brief

Brief: Tariffs Hit, Drought Update, Lawrence Scientist Heads to Immigration Court

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Johnson County is set to release its vote tally at 4pm Tuesday, which follows this post. We wait for updated totals in the Kansas Governor’s race, where Kris Kobach and Jeff Colyer have been within 200 votes of each other since election day.

 

From the trade war:

China Monday accepted the 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, as a vessel waiting to dock for five weeks reached port and began unloading. The move marks the first shipment of U.S. soybeans to be accepted with a 25 percent tariff stemming from the U.S.-China trade war.

 

From the border crisis:

“This is certainly a wonderful day for Mr. Jamal, his wife and their three children,” Sharma-Crawford said in the news release posted on her firm’s website Tuesday. “Since the Board of Immigration Appeals remanded the case for a full hearing, Mr. Jamal and his family will now have the opportunity to ask an Immigration Judge to review multiple forms of relief allowed under the law; it is also a good day for the rule of law.”

 

Kansas City’s Mayor looks to make the most of his last year in office.

City Councilman Scott Wagner:

“If 13 people loved it, or 13 people hated it, it wouldn’t matter (because) we know we’re obligated to put it on the ballot. It’s really a question of what kind of conversation do we want to have now?” There is popular support for publicly-funded preschool, as kindergarten readiness is one of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s top priorities. But there’s been some concern with how the mayor wants to pay for pre-K, as sales taxes are considered regressive.

 

Drought update:

 

States have looked to new chemicals for executions. Pharmaceutical companies blocked their drugs from use in executions. Fentanyl is a drug similar to heroin, and has contributed in many heroin overdoses.

…a combination of four drugs: the sedative diazepam, commonly known as Valium, to render him unconscious; fentanyl citrate, a powerful synthetic opioid; cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and halt his breathing; and potassium chloride to stop his heart.

 

More school safety stuff:

 

Fun at the fire department:

 

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: McCaskill and Hawley on Medical Pot, Tensions High in KS Gov Vote Count, A Positive Stat for the Struggling Royals

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The vote in Kansas must be finalized by August 31, and it might take that long to get it.

Kobach assistant Eric Rucker and Colyer’s chief counsel, Brant Laue, offered competing views of Kansas law governing provisional ballots completed by unaffiliated voters. The issue is whether votes should count if a volunteer poll worker made a mistake.

Colyer’s campaign has expressed concerns since last week about unaffiliated voters who were incorrectly instructed to vote provisionally instead of declaring a party and casting a normal ballot.

Poll workers to blame?

“We had one (polling) location where that happened…These are citizens. We train them. We train them hard. There were a number of problems at that location.”

The unaffiliated voters were part of a larger group of 264 voters in Johnson County who were incorrectly told by poll workers to cast provisional ballots. All of those votes will count, Metsker said.

 

In general election news, national Democrats have their eyes, and money, on Kansans in Congress.

Kansas Democratic congressional candidate Sharice Davids is getting help.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Friday named Davids to its “red-to-blue” list of top-tier candidates, which makes her eligible for organizational and fundraising help, staff resources and candidate training.

The committee on Thursday began airing a television ad in the Kansas City market supporting Davids.

McCaskill:

“I do think medical marijuana should be passed.”

“I think it is time that we make additional investments in our infrastructure,” she said. “And I join our Republican governor and our Republican lieutenant governor in supporting the gas tax.

“I certainly think an increase in minimum wage is appropriate,” McCaskill said, “and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about CLEAN Missouri.”

Hawley was noncomittal.

“I’m glad they’re on the ballot,” Hawley said when asked about medical marijuana, the gasoline tax and the minimum wage increase. “I think the people should have their say on all of them. I think it’s up to the voters.

“I’m still studying the language on each one of those,” he said, when pressed on his positions. The campaign did not respond to a follow-up question about Hawley’s position on CLEAN Missouri.

 

Speaking of change in leadership:

“Just because you’re in your last year doesn’t mean your job is over,” he said on a recent morning behind his desk on the 29th floor of City Hall.

“If that’s the case, go ahead and pay me my salary for the next 12 months ($129,000) and I’ll go sit on the beach or something.”

 

The ground is thirsty. Help incoming?

 

Back to school safety time!

 

A centuries-old tree is no more.

 

The Kansas City Royals are 35-82, and might be headed for a historic loss number this season. Here’s a bright spot:

 

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: KS Gov Vote Count Heats Up, Skies Clear Out for Meteor Shower

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At last check, Kris Kobach leads Jeff Colyer in votes for KS Governor.

Kobach speaks out on Colyer:

The back and forth between Kobach and Colyer resembles primary-election-type talk.

Brinkley, who everyone called Doc, is now infamous for a scheme in which he implanted impotent men with goat glands. Men would travel from around the country to his hospital in Milford (about ten miles north of Junction City) for the procedure. They could pick out their own goat from Brinkley’s herd. (The procedure didn’t work.)

 

For the second straight day, rain stays south of dry St. Joe.

Clear skies in the forecast for meteor shower.

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: KS Gov: Vote Narrows, Teen Spoilers, Recount Questions

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Did teen candidates change the outcome in the Kansas Governor race?

Tyler Ruzich, of Prairie Village, and Joseph Tutera Jr., of Overland Park, received a combined 3,758 votes after running under a quirky Kansas law that set no minimum age to run for the office.

Kobach: “It is certainly possible that the result of the race could change… But, that said, it is imperative that the Republican Party not stand still for a week. We must begin running the race that is before us.”

Colyer: “We were planning on soliciting today for the general election, and we’re continuing our plans.”

Update: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s lead over Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Republican primary narrowed to 91 votes after election officials discovered a mistake in the listing for one county’s results in the state’s tally of votes.

The governor also would also have to file a bond with Kobach’s office to cover the cost of a recount, at a price set by Kobach. If a candidate wins following a recount, no action would be taken on the bond.

…

“Secretary Kobach should not decide that. That is a conflict, in my opinion. To that extent, the secretary is directly involved in the recount process. … He could set the bond so high that no one could afford that,” said Johnson, who was a member of the team that defeated Kobach in federal court earlier this year in a case that overturned a Kansas voting restriction.

Kobach told reporters that county officials would do the actual work and forward the results to his office.

“The secretary of state’s office merely serves as a coordinating entity, overseeing it all, but not actually counting the votes.”

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: KS GOP Gov Dead Heat, Prop A Fails, Trouble at the Polls

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By a two-to-one ratio, Missouri voters reject Proposition A, a right-to-work law that banned mandatory union fees. 67.5 percent of voters “no” on the measure Tuesday.

 

The Kansas GOP nominee for Governor is Kris Kobach or Jeff Colyer.

Some tweets to round it up:

Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate for Kansas Governor looks to the general election.

“It’s hard to say exactly why Greg Orman is running for governor, but Kansans are right to be skeptical,” Kelly said Tuesday night. “He has not shown that he has the public’s best interests at heart.”

Orman is an Independent candidate. Some consider him a spoiler in the race.

 

New voting machines cause issues in Kansas.

The snafus last night once again left the county, the state’s most populous, the last to tally its totals. That left the outcomes of the Republican primary for governor and the Democratic primary for the 3rd District congressional race up in the air until Wednesday morning.

 

The below Tweet posted after yesterday’s brief. It shares rainfall from Monday night.

And going forward:

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: Greitens Can’t Vote in Primary, KC Shooting Spree, How to Drive in the Rain

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Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is ineligible to vote today.

Voting records indicate Greitens is still registered to vote in Jefferson City. No voting records indicate he has switched his registration to Warren County, where he and his family own a home in Innsbrook.

The Secretary of State’s office says that means Greitens can’t vote Tuesday. State law requires voters who move to another county to re-register to vote. The deadline for changing registrations was July 11.

 

Shootings in Kansas City increase at a new, frightening pace.

“Each one of these seems to be individual scenes at this point in time. There’s really nothing pointing towards any group that’s responsible for multiple scenes,” KCPD spokesman Sgt. Jake Becchina said at a news conference Monday morning.

…

“What they want is to live in peace in their neighborhood. They want to live without fear of crime and they want to do what it takes in order to make that happen.”

 

School safety tips incoming…

 

Do you know how to drive in the rain?

 

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: Lasers in the Cockpit, Trump Endorses Kobach, What You Need to Vote

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President Donald Trump endorses a candidate for Governor of Kansas.

Two White House officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said last month that Trump was inclined to endorse Kobach.

The officials said aides had encouraged him to hold off, warning his hawkish immigration views may make him the weaker candidate in this fall’s general election.

In other Kansas Governor news:

Political observers disagree about whether he will turn the governor’s race into a three-way contest or whether he will be a spoiler who takes votes away from the Democratic nominee.

 

A reminder of what you’ll need to vote in Missouri:

A reminder of what you’ll need to vote in Kansas:

 

Lasers cause danger in the sky.

A laser can cause temporary blindness for the pilot.

 

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: Elections, Tariffs Hit Consumers, Fire Tornado

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The primaries are Tuesday, and election season is dominating the news.

Missouri’s other Senator already met the nominee.

As of Thursday: 56,067 advance ballots. That’s more than in 2010 and 2014, the previous midterm primaries.

 

Tariffs hit consumers:

 

Dangerous heat, and fire danger in the forecast.

Speaking of fire weather:

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: Prop A, Medical Weed in MO, Kansas Gov Race Gets Hotter, Droughts, Floods

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Kansas and Missouri primaries are next week.

Looking ahead to the general election in Missouri:

In Kansas election news: State Senator Laura Kelly is the leading Democratic candidate for Kansas governor, and is under attack for her past backing of tough voter identification policies as her party prepares for the possibility that the champion of those measures, conservative Kris Kobach, will win the Republican nomination. Democrats have regularly criticized Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, over policies they believe suppress voter turnout. A lot of developments for Kobach in the last 24 hours:

  On the Kansas healthcare front:

  Missouri and Kansas drought news:

The Division of Conservation at the Kansas Department of Agriculture announced drought assistance for Kansas landowners. The Livestock Water Supply Financial Assistance Initiative will provide financial assistance for livestock water supply wells, pipeline and tanks installed after June 1, 2018, and before the announcement of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Drought Initiative by NRCS on July 24, 2018.

How about flood levels?

Some striking images for today:

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brief: Dark Money to Replace Schaaf, Independent vs McCaskill and Hawley, Infant Opioid Addiction

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Dark money in the race to replace St. Joe’s Rob Schaaf…

On one side of the primary is Tony Luetkemeyer, a lawyer from Parkville and first-time candidate for public office.

On the other is Harry Roberts, an insurance salesman from St. Joseph who is Buchanan County’s presiding commissioner.

The two are facing off for the GOP nomination in a district represented for the last eight years by Republican Sen. Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, who will be forced from office in January because of term limits.

An independent candidate could change the direction of the U.S. Senate race in Missouri.

Independent candidate Craig O’Dear’s campaign says it has submitted more than enough signatures to get on the November ballot in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Missouri.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, is trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 19 points. It remains to be seen what effect of the addition of an independent candidate will have in that close contest.

 

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports two cases of neuroinvasive West Nile virus disease in individuals who reside in Johnson County. Four regions of the state remain under a high-risk warning for WNV, including north central, south central, northwest, and southwest Kansas. Northeast and southeast regions are at moderate risk for WNV infections.

WNV can be spread to people through mosquito bites, but it is not spread from person to person. About one in five people who are infected develop a fever and other symptoms. Roughly one out of 150 infected people develop the more severe version of the disease, neuroinvasive disease, which includes swelling of the brain or brain tissue and, in some cases, death.

In other medical news…

“When you are in withdrawal, you feel your baby that’s in withdrawal too,” Worden says. “You feel your baby uncomfortable inside of you, and you know that. And then you use and then the baby’s not, and that’s a really awful, vulgar thought, but it’s true. That’s how it is. It’s terrible.”

 

Universities continue reforms to Greek life:

“I don’t think I’m embellishing if I said to you that there are more changes being proposed in this report than probably have happened in 50 years or more for fraternity and sorority life on this campus,” Jeffrey Zeilenga, Mizzou’s dean of students, told The Star.

Meanwhile, at the University of Kansas…

Speaking of drinking, the Westport entertainment district remains a destination, but is it in trouble?

This year’s list contains at-risk closed schools, historic churches, and apartment buildings as well as sites such as baseball legend Buck O’Neil’s home, the Epperson House on the UMKC campus, and the Aladdin Theater in the historic Northeast.

 

Back to school tax holiday weekend starts Friday. Teachers are already back-to-schooling themselves.

 

The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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