AP Top Kansas News at 5:45 a.m. CDT

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Kan. Senate leader to run for attorney general

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt announced Wednesday that he's running for attorney general next year, dropping a campaign for secretary of state after two months.

The Republican from Independence said he has a strong interest in crime issues. He is the second Republican to announce for attorney general. The primary election is August 2010.

In July, Schmidt appointed a treasurer for a campaign for secretary of state, a step that's required before a candidate can raise money legally. At the time, he said he was serious about becoming the state's chief elections officer.

But in a statement Wednesday, he said he and his family have wrestled for a year with how he could best contribute to the state. He said he recently saw a story in his hometown newspaper about the seizure of a methamphetamine lab near his home.

"Life's events sometimes have a way of opening our eyes to the obvious," Schmidt said. "This is where I can make the greatest difference for our state over the next four years."

Democratic Attorney General Steve Six is expected to run next year as well. He's never campaigned for elective office, having been appointed to the job after a sex scandal forced his predecessor to resign.

------ Wichita businessman joins fray for Kan. House seat

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas oilman is the latest candidate to join the growing throng vying for the U.S. House seat from south-central Kansas being vacated by Republican Todd Tiahrt.

Willis "Wink" Hartman Sr. officially announced on Wednesday his candidacy for next year's GOP primary. He says Washington needs to get off the backs of businesses with less taxation, less regulation and less litigation.

"We need to do all in our power to promote strong conservative ideas, the same conservative ideas that built our country into the greatest nation of our time," he said. The 4th Congressional District is heavily Republican.

At least four other Republicans may vie for the seat in 2010, including state Sen. Dick Kelsey, of Goddard; Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo; state Sen. Jean Schodorf and retired pilot Jim Anderson. Also considering a run are Democrats state Rep. Raj Goyle, of Wichita, and retired court services officer Robert Tillman.

Hartman told supporters he supported protecting human life from conception to death and supported gun rights. He criticized the current health care reform plan and called the proposed energy bill "truly reprehensible."

The country needs to wean itself from foreign oil and instead invest in wind power, renewable fuels, coal, nuclear energy and domestic exploration of oil, he said. The Wichita oilman also said the that instead of taxing energy, the country needs to increase the amount of American energy.

------ Judge rules Mulvane violated free-speech rights

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The city of Mulvane violated the First Amendment right to free speech of a woman who was escorted out of a council meeting by police after she tried to talk during a public forum over a proposed casino, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot said in a written opinion that Jacque Farnsworth is entitled to nominal damages of $1, plus attorney fees and costs. The judge did not award compensatory damages, ruling she did not prove an actual injury at her Sept. 1 trial.

The court declared Mulvane's policies and actions in the case were unconstitutional.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a religious advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that is representing Farnsworth, said the decision sets a precedent not only in Mulvane but throughout the 10th Circuit federal courts and the United States.

"We are very pleased with the court's decision that vindicated her rights," said Joel Oster, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney in Leawood, Kan.

As for the $1 in damages awarded, Oster said their case was not about money.

------ Kansas senators drop protest of Obama nominees

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Kansas' U.S. senators, who insisted that Guantanamo detainees were unwelcome at Fort Leavenworth, have been told by the Obama administration that the prisoners are likely headed elsewhere.

In return, the lawmakers said Wednesday that they would stop blocking President Barack Obama's nominees for senior posts at the Pentagon and Justice Department.

Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, both Republicans, had been standing in the way of the confirmation of New York Republican Rep. John McHugh for Army secretary and of nominees before the Senate for other senior Defense and Justice Department positions. A single senator can delay action on a bill or nomination by placing "holds" on them and blocking them from advancing in the legislative process.

The two senators said they have been meeting with administration officials to explain the "obstacles and challenges" of moving Guantanamo detainees to the military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth as well as expressing the concerns from residents.

"We had discussions with several administration officials and they indicated to both myself and Sen. Roberts that Leavenworth was not a suitable site for detainees," Brownback said.

Obama's administration wants to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay by a self-imposed deadline in January. It has been wrestling with legal questions on how to prosecute and where to house the 226 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters held at the military prison in Cuba.

------ Gates restores Air Force authority in tanker deal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday restored the Air Force's authority to select the winner of a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp.

Gates last summer stripped the service's ability to award a contract in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report that found the Air Force failed to evaluate both proposals on the same merits.

Northrop, and its partner Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company N.V., beat out rival Boeing for the deal to replace 179 tankers last February. Boeing later successfully protested the award.

The Pentagon "cannot afford the kind of letdowns, parochial squabbles, and corporate food-fights that have bedeviled this effort in the past," Gates said, speaking at the Air Force Association trade show in National Harbor, Md.

While Gates' move might be seen as a "small moral victory" for the Air Force, the political showdown among lawmakers in states with jobs at stake will be "worse than ever," said Teal Group aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia. "You are going to see continued micromanagement by the politicians involved."

The political war of words began anew following the World Trade Organization's interim ruling earlier this month that deemed European loans for Airbus as illegal subsidies. A separate ruling on a European Union counter-complaint against the U.S. is expected in about six months.

------ Hutchinson approves buyout of homes near sinkholes

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) -- Hutchinson city officials have approved an agreement that will allow a company to buy out more than 30 homes adjacent to property that is susceptible to sinkholes because of years of salt mining.

After hearing objections from a lawyer for some residents in the area, the Hutchinson City Council voted Tuesday to approve the agreement with VigIndustries Inc. and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for a southeast Hutchinson neighborhood known as Careyville.

The agreement requires VigIndustries to buy 37 properties, rather than the 33 properties originally in the proposal. The company wants to create a buffer between the neighborhood and an area where sinkholes are possible because of brine wells left from mining.

City staff, VigIndustries representatives and some residents in the buyout area urged the council to approve the agreement.

But Hutchinson attorney Matt Bretz told the council that he represents one-third of the Careyville neighborhood, and his clients were not in favor of the agreement.

Under the agreement, property owners will be paid fair-market value plus $10,000 for their homes. VigIndustries also will pay all normal closing costs.