PARIS (AP) — A massive fire engulfed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of the French capital Monday, toppling its spire and sending thick plumes of smoke high into the blue sky as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below.
A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too.
“Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,” Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions.
The cause of the catastrophic blaze was not known, but French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire is “potentially linked” to a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project on the church’s spire and its 250 tons of lead. Paris police said there were no reported deaths.
Flames shot out of the roof behind the nave of the cathedral, among the most visited landmarks in the world. Sights of the flames stopped passers-by in their tracks along the Seine River that passes beneath the cathedral.
French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a televised speech to the nation because of the stunning blaze and was going to the cathedral himself.
French historian Camille Pascal told BFM broadcast channel the fire was destroying “invaluable heritage.”
“It’s been 800 years that the Cathedral watches over Paris”, Pascal said. “Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame.”
He recalled that Notre Dame bells sounded the death knell following the 2015 Paris attacks.
“We can be only horrified by what we see”, Pascal said.
Associated Press reporters at the scene saw massive plumes of yellow brown smoke filling the air above the Cathedral and ash falling on the island that houses Notre Dame and marks the center of Paris.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is in despair at the “terrible fire.” Hidalgo said in a Twitter message that Paris firefighters are still trying to limit the fire and urged Paris citizens to respect the security perimeter that has been set around the cathedral.
Hidalgo said Paris authorities are in touch with Paris diocese.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Child welfare advocates in Kansas who spent more than a year examining the state’s troubled foster care system are frustrated with what they see as the Legislature’s lack of action on their recommendations for fixing the problems.
Gov. Laura Kelly, left, and Department for Children and Families Secretary Laura Howard during a February press conference in Topeka photo by Jim McLean Kansas News Service.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly says she understands their frustrations but argues that her administration and lawmakers are making progress. She also says it will take time to fix the years of problems left by her Republican predecessors.
More than a dozen members of a child welfare task force and its subcommittees have signed a letter urging lawmakers to do more to address problems in the system that provides foster care for abused and neglected children.
The GOP-controlled Legislature might not have much time left this year. Lawmakers reconvene May 1 after their annual spring break and are scheduled to wrap up their business for the year by May 17.
“It seems like a waste,” social worker Sarah Coats, who signed the letter, told The Kansas City Star. “We have all of this information, all of the research done, people are committed to work and know what needs to be done and no one is doing anything. It’s like screaming at a brick wall.”
In recent years, the state faced questions about several high-profile deaths of abused children after the Department for Children and Families was alerted to problems. Until September, some children in state custody slept overnight in foster care contractors’ offices, including a 13-year-old girl who was raped in an office.
Lawmakers are close to funding dozens of new child welfare workers over the next two years. They also have passed a bill that would allow Kansas for the first time to use federal funds to pay for prevention services to help keep children out of foster care.
And DCF Secretary Laura Howard told The Star that Kelly and legislators have pursued the task force’s top recommendations, including improving the child welfare system’s workforce, bettering DCF’s information technology and drawing down federal funds for prevention services.
Kelly told reporters that like the advocates, she would like the state to be moving faster on the task force’s recommendations, but said it can’t happen.
“I share their frustrations, but I also have to deal with reality,” she said. “You know, there are so many things wrong within our child welfare system that you have to sort of prioritize and attack them in a systematic way.”
The task force made nearly two dozen recommendations,including improving information sharing among parties involved in the child welfare system, investing more in foster care recruiting and creating a new task force to examine the cost of better services and how to fund them.
Task force members said in their letter that they have “deep concern” that lawmakers have only made minimal progress and have made no progress on most recommendations.
“I certainly hope it doesn’t take further child tragedy to inspire the actions of the Legislature,” Lori Ross, a longtime child advocate in Missouri and Kansas, told The Star.
Both Kelly and Howard suggested the issue may be that DCF needs to do a better job of communicating how it’s attempting to address problems.
“They’ve been so focused on doing the work that they haven’t been publicizing what they’re doing,” Kelly said. “Obviously, people are anxious to get these done.”
JOHNSON COUNTY — A 14-year-old Kansas girl injured after she was hit by a vehicle while walking home from school Friday near 123rd and Switzer in Overland Park has died.
Alexandra “Alex” Rumple was walking home when a vehicle traveling northbound on Switzer left the road and hit her on the sidewalk, according to a media release from Overland Park Police. She was transported to a local hospital and died on Sunday, according to the release.
Hundreds gathered Sunday at a vigil to remember Alex as an athletic, art-loving, straight-A student. Students talked about how she wanted everyone to feel included. Her principal encouraged her classmates to wear flannel Monday because it was Alex’s favorite material.
The Blue Valley School District will have counselors available for students this week.
The Overland Park Police Department Traffic Safety Unit continues their investigation of the crash and asks that anyone with information on the incident contact police.
Police haven’t released the driver’s name. It isn’t yet known what caused the car to leave the road.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new Missouri state rule aimed at protecting wildlife from lead poisoning means that hunters will no longer be allowed to use lead shot in additional conservation areas across the state.
Unlike bullets, shotgun shells are filled with small pellets that are often made of lead. St. Louis Public Radio reports that the Missouri Department of Conservation added 16 conservation areas where hunters must use nontoxic shot, bringing the total number to 37. The new regulations went into effect in March.
The goal is to protect birds like ducks and geese that may mistake pellets for small stones, which they eat to help grind their food. Lead exposure can be fatal for some birds.
Eagles and other bird species may also scavenge animal remains and accidentally ingest lead shot.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon wanted on a felony warrant for burglary who escaped a traffic stop.
Just after 3a.m. Sunday, deputies conducted a traffic stop in the 4500 block of SE Oak Bend Drive in Shawnee County, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.
Thompson -photo Shawnee Co.
The driver Tanner James Thompson, 24, was taken into custody for a felony warrant for Burglary as well as traffic related charges.
During the course of deputies investigating Thompson’s vehicle and circumstances of the incident, Thompson escaped custody. An extensive search continued early Sunday afternoon with a heavy law enforcement presence in the SE part of Shawnee County looking for Thompson.
He is described as 6-foot tall, 175 pounds and was last seen wearing a blue shirt and black pants. He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A long-standing debate over when the school year should begin is back before Missouri lawmakers, who are considering a bill that would restrict public schools from beginning the academic year until late August.
Rep. Jeff Knight
The bill, which would prohibit schools from starting earlier than 14 days before the first Monday in September, pass the House by only four votes and now heads to the Senate.
Supporters include tourism officials and groups representing tourism-related businesses such as amusement park operators, hotel and campground owners and river outfitters, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported .
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Knight, a Republican from Lebanon, said earlier school years are hurting tourism because families are ending summer vacations in early August. Later start times would give businesses more time to make money, said Knight, who represents a district south of Lake of the Ozarks.
“Tourism is very significant in this state,” Knight told members of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday.
Darin Keim of Big Surf Waterpark at the Lake of the Ozarks said the summer season for his business has dropped from 105 operating days to 85 because of earlier school times. Lobbyist Jason Zamkus said Silver Dollar City, an amusement park near Branson, has had 100,000 fewer visitors in the past decade. And 47 canoe operations have gone out of business in recent years, said Michelle Lambeth of the Missouri Canoe & Floaters Association.
Opponents of the change include the Missouri National Education Association, the Missouri State Teachers Association and the School Administrators Coalition.
Mike Reid, of the Missouri School Boards’ Association, said locally elected public school boards should decide when school years start in their community.
“What happens in Poplar Bluff is going to be different than in Kansas City,” Reid said.
Education representatives said the earlier start times allow districts to give final exam before winter break and allows more time before standardized tests are given in the spring. They also said the earlier start prevents holding classes in June to make up for snow days.
The issue of when school years should start has been debated for decades. In 1983, lawmakers held a similar debate about prohibiting schools from opening until after Labor Day because of tourism concerns. The law was last changed in 2006, when lawmakers gave school districts the power to set their calendars, if they hold a public hearing. That came after the Legislature passed a law in 1992 allowing urban and suburban districts to open before Labor Day. Previously, only rural districts could start before the holiday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hembert Figueroa just wanted a taco.
So he was surprised to learn the dollar bills in his pocket were no good at Dos Toros Taqueria in Manhattan, one of a small but growing number of establishments across the U.S. where customers can only pay by card or smartphone.
Cash-free stores are generating a backlash among some activists and liberal-leaning policymakers who say the practice discriminates against people like Figueroa, who either lack bank accounts or rely on cash for many transactions.
Figueroa, an ironworker, had to stand to the side, holding his taco, until a sympathetic cashier helped him find another customer willing to pay for his meal with a card in exchange for cash.
“I had money and I couldn’t pay,” he said.
The issue got some high-profile attention this week when retail giant Amazon bowed to pressure from activists and agreed to accept cash at more than 30 cashless stores, including its Amazon Go convenience stores, which have no cashiers, and its book shops. Amazon declined to say when the change would happen.
There is no federal law that requires stores to accept cash, so lawmakers are working on the issue at the state and city level.
Earlier this year, Philadelphia became the first city to ban cashless stores, despite efforts by Amazon to dissuade it. New Jersey passed a statewide ban soon after, and a similar ban is working its way through the New York City Council. Before this year there was only one jurisdiction that required businesses to accept cash: Massachusetts, which passed a law nearly 40 years ago.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas legislator is suggesting that the state treasurer should drop his bid for the U.S. Senate because he “needs to be at home, helping to raise his young children.”
State Treasurer Jake LaTurner responded Friday that state Sen. Gene Suellentrop’s comments were “cowardly.”
Jake LaTurner was sworn in April 2017 as the 40th Kansas State Treasurer-Photo office of Kansas Governor
LaTurner is a Republican running for the seat held by four-term GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, who is not seeking re-election in 2020. LaTurner is the only candidate to have filed so far, but at least seven other Republicans are considering the race.
The 31-year-old LaTurner has four young children.
Suellentrop is a 67-year-old Wichita Republican and made his comments about LaTurner in a tweet responding to a news report about the race.
LaTurner replied that Suellentrop should “be a man” and talk to him personally.
Ray Alvarez remembers the summer he couldn’t make ends meet driving children to school.
“I did qualify for food stamps,” the Olathe school bus driver said. “And yes, I accepted them. My income was so low.”
Alvarez has driven buses off and on for a decade. The financial crisis back then upended his livelihood as a mortgage broker, he says.
He and other drivers urged a panel of state senators recently to consider letting them apply for unemployment during the 70 or so days each year when schools are closed for the summer. The bill stalled in committee.
When Kansas school districts contract with private companies for janitors, food service workers, bus monitors and more, those employees can seek unemployment benefits if they can’t find work during the offseason.
Bus drivers can’t. That’s because of a decades-old carve-out in state law that state officials couldn’t explain. The Kansas Department of Labor checked on 10 nearby states and found eight let privately employed school bus drivers apply for unemployment. Two don’t.
Advocates of dropping the state’s carve-out argue it isn’t fair — nor helpful at a time when bus drivers are in short supply here and nationally, and jobless rates remain exceptionally low.
Mimi Horn has driven for the Lawrence school district for five years and says new employees — who earn less and are less likely to snag a coveted summer school route — struggle especially.
Even during the school year, many drivers can count on only a few hours of work each day, making it hard to cover rent, utilities or other bills.
“Two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon.” Drivers, Horn said, “have to not pay something in order to pay the other. Rob Peter to pay Paul.”
Could unemployment benefits help?
Starting pay for Lawrence bus drivers is $15 an hour. Pay at Horn’s level of experience is closer to $16. Raises top out after 13 years at $18.
‘I’ve seen some of them, in the summertimes they go to the food banks. They have to rely on food stamps.’
A Teamsters union representative said the company that Lawrence Public Schools contracts with, First Student, has repeatedly raised pay to entice more applicants.
The question is whether letting drivers apply for unemployment during the summer might help companies hire and retain them in Kansas. (The proposed change wouldn’t affect drivers employed directly by public school districts, who still wouldn’t qualify for reasons related to a federal law.)
Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat, urged her fellow senators to think again if they imagine retirees who don’t want a full-time gig will do the driving.
“More and more individuals who are bus drivers transporting our most precious cargo to and from schools — that is their main livelihood,” she said at a legislative hearing. “I’ve seen some of them, in the summertimes, they go to the food banks. They have to rely on food stamps.”
First Student, which lobbied for the bill, says turnover is higher among its drivers in Kansas than in states where its drivers can seek summertime unemployment benefits.
The company brought more than 20 drivers from Minnesota to pick up routes in Wichita that lacked drivers at the start of this school year in August. It raised starting pay to $16 in September.
That helped, a spokeswoman for the company said by email, but “we do believe the bill would further help.” Right now, drivers who quit when school ends often mention the need for summer work.
The unemployment change faces opposition from the Kansas Chamber, the state’s influential business lobby. Taxes paid by businesses fuel the state unemployment fund.
“How do we ensure parity and fairness with the rest of the business community?” Lobbyist Kristi Brown asked senators at a hearing. “When you’re asking a certain group that you anticipate will be a seasonal position to be able to withdraw from that fund, I think there needs to be an expectation for the company that employs them to be paying in appropriately.”
Brown warned against drawing from a once ailing fund that the state fought to make healthy.
Lawmakers sympathetic to the drivers’ plight argued the state would take that into account.
Companies contribute more or less into the state’s unemployment system based on factors such as the size of their payrolls and how often their employees end up on the benefits.
And when a person seeks benefits, the Kansas Department of Labor considers how they became unemployed, how long they worked, whether they’re actively looking for work or turning down jobs, and other details, before paying out.
What about paying drivers year-round?
A representative for First Student told senators the company spends $3,000 to train each new employee, and more just to find them. For every 10 applicants, only two get hired. Hurdles include earning a specialized license and passing a background check for criminal and traffic violations.
Some senators wondered whether the company should explore other options, such as keeping more drivers on its summer payroll to save on recruiting and training.
‘Have you done the cost analysis, if you just simply paid them for 72 days?’
“Have you done the cost analysis,” Topeka Republican Eric Rucker asked, “if you just simply paid them for 72 days?”
First Student says letting employees apply for unemployment would be cheaper, even given that the company would need to pay higher taxes into the state’s unemployment fund.
Moreover, First Student, said if it compensated drivers year-round, that would show up in the price it charges districts.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
