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

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Urban League and partner to offer small biz loans

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The National Urban League is teaming with a small-business financial specialist to offer loans to companies unable to get approved by banks.

On Deck Capital will provide loans through Urban League local affiliates, starting in Philadelphia and Los Angeles and then expanding across the country, it was announced Wednesday.

The program offers one-year loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 at interest rates of 18 to 36 percent. All the loans must be repaid through automatic daily "micro-payments" from the business' bank accounts.

The program will focus on urban areas with high concentrations of minority businesses and help create new jobs there, said Patricia A. Coulter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia.

"In today's really tight market, credit has dried up, banks are not lending," she said. "It's even more critical for small and minority businesses to have access to capital."

To qualify, businesses should generally have between $500,000 and $2 million in annual revenue and have been operating for at least three years, said On Deck founder and CEO Mitch Jacobs.

------ Kan. gov.: Lawsuit threat not being considered

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas' governor said Tuesday that the threat of a lawsuit over education funding won't influence the spending cuts he'll make to keep the current state budget in balance.

Gov. Mark Parkinson plans to announce next week how he'll make nearly $260 million in cuts and other budget adjustments. The changes are designed to prevent a deficit when the state's 2010 fiscal year ends June 30.

Some of Kansas' 293 school districts already are contemplating suing the state because it has backed off previous commitments to increase aid to schools each year.

And Parkinson's budget-balancing measures are likely to include further reductions in education funding. School aid consumes more than half the state's general tax revenues, and Parkinson can't impose a tax increase without approval from legislators, who don't reconvene until January.

"My immediate responsibility is to balance the 2010 budget," Parkinson said during a news conference. "The threat of a lawsuit from any particular recipient of funds is not affecting the decisions that we make."

Legislators enacted a law in 2006 that promised continuing increases in aid to schools. It was a response to Kansas Supreme Court decisions that said the state had failed to live up to its responsibility under its own constitution to provide a suitable education for every child.

------ Long-awaited pipeline funnels gas across 8 states

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- A 1,679-mile pipeline crossing eight states is now fully completed and funneling natural gas from Wyoming and Colorado to the eastern edge of Ohio.

The long-awaited Rockies Express Pipeline became fully operational Nov. 12 following the recent completion of the final 195-mile section between Warren and Monroe counties in eastern Ohio. The $6.8 billion pipeline carries 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas, enough to heat 4 million homes, and took three years to complete.

Wyoming gas producers and state officials are hopeful that the ability to export more gas to markets in the East will mean better prices and revenue.

"We have for a long time in Wyoming wanted to get, with the gas we produce, farther east," Gov. Dave Freudenthal said in a news conference Tuesday with pipeline officials. "This does it for us."

Insufficient pipeline capacity is one reason why prices at the Opal Hub in western Wyoming have lagged behind prices at other natural gas pricing points such as the Henry Hub in Louisiana. The new pipeline also runs through Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

Thanks in part to the Rockies Express, prices at the Opal hub have tracked more closely to prices at other hubs since last summer, said Mark Doelger, a former Wyoming Pipeline Authority chairman who had a hand in the project.

------ Ex-pharma executive runs as Dem for Kan. governor

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A former pharmaceutical company executive who returned to Kansas this year announced Tuesday that he's running for governor, giving Democrats a declared candidate.

Tom Wiggans, 57, appointed a campaign treasurer Tuesday and filed the paperwork required by the state to begin raising money for next year's race. Wiggans has lived in Olathe since January, after spending several decades working for firms outside Kansas.

Wiggans said his experience in running businesses and creating jobs makes him the best candidate to lead the state as it deals with economic problems. He and other Democrats contrasted his business career with the 15-year congressional tenure of the presumed Republican nominee, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback.

"Our state needs a governor who can speak the language of business, jobs and prosperity," Wiggans said in a statement.

Democrats had been without a declared candidate since Gov. Mark Parkinson and state Democratic Chairman Larry Gates said they wouldn't run. Brownback faces only minor opposition in the GOP primary in August.

Wiggans wasn't available for interviews Tuesday. Campaign adviser Amy Jordan Wooden said he was in meetings and would speak to reporters soon and tour the state.

------ 5 indicted in scam targeting agencies in 4 states

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A federal grand jury in West Virginia has linked five more people to an international scam that allegedly tricked government agencies in several states into paying at least $3.3 million to bogus companies with names that sounded like legitimate firms.

The charges unsealed Tuesday implicate Minnesota residents Michael M. "Mikie" Ochenge, 33; Robert M. "Robe" Otiso, 36; Paramena J. "Joseph" Shikanda, 35; Albert E. Gunga, 30; and Collins A. Masese, 20.

All were born in Kenya and live in or near Minneapolis, prosecutors said. All but Masese were in custody Tuesday, and scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge in Minneapolis.

The felony counts allege Ochenge, Otiso and Shikanda helped devise a scheme that exploited increasing reliance on the Internet by both the public and private sectors to conduct business.

Posing as businesses that provide services to state agencies, the conspirators tricked officials between March and July into giving them money owed to the legitimate vendors, the indictment says.

They managed to scam $1.2 million from Massachusetts, $919,000 from West Virginia, $869,000 from Kansas and $301,000 from Ohio, the indictment says. The money had been intended for either Deloitte Consulting or Accenture Corp.

------ NY political anchor takes bizarre fall from grace

POMONA, N.Y. (AP) -- Big political names abound in New York: Mario Cuomo. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Rudy Giuliani. And for political climbers seeking a stage in the media, a platform to join or displace the powerhouses, the man to go through for years was Dominic Carter -- until last month.

Carter, a longtime political anchor for New York City's cable news channel with influence that spread well beyond the nation's largest city, recently took a far, fast fall in a bizarre cascade of events that began last month when charges that he beat his wife became public.

That led managers at NY1 to pull him off the air; revelations of contentious workplace behavior; his wife's recantation of the abuse allegation and a new story that a day laborer beat her; and dubious reports that he was considering suicide. A judge could rule this week on the domestic assault case after papers are filed Thursday.

This from a man photographed with Donald Trump and Caroline Kennedy and once introduced by "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer as the person most likely to have his finger on the story about Kennedy's prospects of becoming a U.S. senator.

Carter did not respond to an e-mail or answer his doorbell in attempts to seek comment for this story, and his home phone is unlisted.

The morning after Mayor Michael Bloomberg won re-election to a third term Nov. 3, a pile of newspapers lay untouched in the driveway outside the house belonging to the 46-year-old Carter. For the first time since 1992, he wasn't around to work because of the leave of absence he had taken five days earlier.

------ Kansas' Mangino says school investigating incident

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- A bad year for the Kansas Jayhawks just got worse.

The school said Tuesday that it is investigating an unspecified personnel issue involving coach Mark Mangino, the national coach of the year two seasons ago. And Mangino -- his team mired in a five-game losing streak -- conceded that he's lost the support of "some people around here."

Mangino was not present Monday night when athletic director Lew Perkins met with the entire football team. The coach, who has been dogged by anger issues during his eight seasons at Kansas, met briefly with Perkins on Tuesday but neither would say what was discussed.

Mangino insisted he has not lost the support of his players, something that was echoed by quarterback and team leader Todd Reesing.

"I haven't lost the team, not one bit," Mangino said. "I may have lost some people around here but it's not players."

Asked to elaborate, Mangino said, "Take it for what it's worth. You decipher it and see."

------ Chiefs WR Bowe suspended for drug violation

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Dwayne Bowe, in and out of his coach's doghouse all year, is in much deeper trouble now.

Kansas City's third-year wide receiver was suspended without pay for four games Tuesday for violating the NFL's policy against performance-enhancing substances. Neither the Chiefs nor the league would make further comment and Bowe's agent, Todd France, did not return calls seeking comment.

His loss is a blow to the Chiefs (2-7), who have struggled in coach Todd Haley's first year and been particularly weak at wide receiver, signing them off the street throughout the year and then discarding them and trying others.

The only constant at the position has been the talented but exasperating Bowe. Although the former first-round pick out of LSU has abundant ability, he's made a habit of coming up with a spectacular catch on one play only to drop an easy ball or make a silly mistake the next.

He was one of the first players to run afoul of the new regime when Haley replaced Herm Edwards this year. Although he was clearly the most talented pass-catcher on the team after the trade of tight end Tony Gonzalez to Atlanta, he dropped as low as third-team on the depth chart and spent much of the summer fighting his way back.

"I think that was good for me overall," he said in an interview in September. "I didn't like it at the time, didn't really understand why it happened. But I think I'm a better practice player now."

------ Nebraska's Suh eager to face K-State running game

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh says Kansas State's run-oriented offense might be just what he needs to break out of his slump.

The star defensive tackle didn't have a sack or tackle behind the line of scrimmage in the last two games against Oklahoma and Kansas. Suh said he expects K-State (6-5, 4-3 Big 12), led by league rushing leader Daniel Thomas, to run right at the Cornhuskers (7-3, 4-2) on Saturday in the game that will decide the Big 12 North.

"They want to come downhill on you," Suh said. "That's great for me. That's my type of football -- not the cutesy stuff we see the majority of the time in our conference with spread offenses."

Suh made four tackles against Oklahoma and three against Kansas, both of which used creative double-team strategies to tie him up.

Coach Bo Pelini said opponents' schemes show great respect for the Lombardi Award finalist, who on Tuesday was named one of 15 "players to watch" for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.

Pelini said he's told Suh to not let the double-teams eat at him.

------ 5 more indicted in scam targeting 4 states

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A federal grand jury in West Virginia has linked five more people to an international scam that defrauded several states out of more than $3.3 million.

Michael Ochenge, Robert Otiso, Paramena Shikanda, Albert Gunga and Collins Masese have been indicted on charges alleging roles in the scheme.

Prosecutors say the conspirators assumed the identities of companies that provide services to public agencies. They then tricked officials in Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio and West Virginia into giving them money owed these legitimate vendors.

At least some of the funds ended up in Kenya. The conspiracy also allegedly involves the United Arab Emirates.

A North Carolina woman, Angella Muthoni Chegge-Kraszeski, was indicted in the scheme in May and awaits trial.

------ Wichita NWS to receive new radar

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A radar upgrade next year will allow meteorologists to better track severe weather -- and Wichita's will be the first National Weather Service office to receive it.

The dual polarization radar being developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Norman, Okla., is slated to be installed next fall, NOAA officials said at the quarterly meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Wichita last week.

"What I'm excited about with this is to be able to look at radar and feel with some sense of confidence, 'Hey, I've got some big, large hail with this,"' said Dick Elder, meteorologist-in-charge with the Wichita branch.

The radar will also be able to detect debris being carried by a tornado -- thus confirming that a tornado is on the ground. Current Doppler radar can detect rotation in the clouds, but not whether a tornado has touched down.

"That's going to tell me, 'I've got something on the ground,"' Elder said. "That's pretty neat."

The upgraded radars will be installed at the rest of the weather service branches over a two-year period ending in 2012, NOAA officials said.

------ Kansas launches $34M energy efficiency program

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas launched a new energy efficiency program Tuesday to make low-interest loans available to several thousand home owners and small businesses for upgrading insulation, installing new furnaces and sealing air-leaking doors and windows.

Gov. Mark Parkinson said officials have discussed creating such a program a few years, but the state couldn't afford one until federal economic stimulus dollars became available this year. The state will make $34 million in stimulus funds available to private lenders, who will then write loans.

State officials said during a news conference that home owners and businesses participating in the Efficiency Kansas program will pay back their loans from the savings on their monthly energy bills, so they don't face out-of-pocket expenses for making improvements. Also, the program isn't limited to poor or middle-class families.

Parkinson said state officials decided to set up a loan program so that when the money is repaid, it can be loaned out again.

"We now have a cutting-edge energy efficiency program that will last indefinitely," Parkinson said. "It's the type of program that we had dreamed about two or three years ago. We just didn't have the money to do it."

Home owners will be eligible for loans of up to $20,000 and small businesses, up to $30,000. But officials at the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, said loans typically should be between $5,000 and $6,000. Interest rates are capped at 4 percent.

------ Apologetic Kan. bank robber sentenced to 57 months

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas man who apologized before holding up two banks in Wichita has been sentenced to 57 months in prison.

The sentence imposed Monday on 40-year-old Michael Maples was the longest prescribed by the federal sentencing guidelines.

The Wichita man held up a Commerce Bank on March 19 and a Sunflower Bank on March 24. Both times, he handed the tellers a note apologizing for the impending robbery and thanking them.

Maples' attorney blames a crack cocaine addiction for the holdups.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot noted in a letter that Maples' criminal history dates back to an armed robbery when he was 17 years old.

------ State: Flu activity in Kansas is twice as normal

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- The percentage of people reporting flulike symptoms at outpatient clinics has declined slightly but is still twice the number of reports normally seen this time of year, said Kansas health officials.

Outpatient clinics usually see about 2 percent of patients with flulike symptoms at this time of year, but clinics reported that 5.6 percent of their patients last week had flulike symptoms, said state epidemiologist Charlie Hunt.

Despite a small decline from the previous two weeks the number is "still more than twice the normal level of flu activity and is unprecedented at this time of year," Hunt said.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Monday released its most recent weekly report on the impact of influenza-like illness in Kansas.

With the swine flu virus circulating across the state, flu activity in Kansas remains extremely high, said Mike Heideman, department spokesman.

The health department monitors flu viruses all year, and uses the data to establish a baseline of a "normal" level of flu activity, Heideman said.

------ Owners of downtown KC area wants dress code panel

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- After a new round of complaints, the Cordish Co. announced Monday that it plans to hand off enforcement of its dress code in the Power & Light District downtown.

The company has invited civil rights and community groups to join an independent oversight board to make sure the dress code is fairly enforced.

The company also said it would pay an independent contractor to implement the dress code in the KC Live block of the district. That company would be selected by, and answer to, the independent oversight board.

"We hope this will be a transparent process that will ultimately lead to harmony in the community," Zed Smith, Cordish's managing partner of the Power & Light District, said at a news conference.

The oversight board would not consider changes to the dress code itself. It simply would make sure that enforcement is consistent.

Smith emphasized that Cordish believed its handling of the dress code had been "absolutely color-blind." He said the complaints of racial bias represented a minuscule number of the millions of people who had enjoyed the district in the last two years.