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

Monday, July 6, 2009

Kan. gov., legislators to discuss cash crunch

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson hopes to get permission from legislative leaders Monday for a plan to head off a government cash crunch.

Parkinson wants to transfer $700 million deposited in various government funds into the state's main bank account.

He says the move is necessary to pay some overdue bills and keep paying other bills on time. The state delayed some tax refunds and aid payments to public schools from June into July.

But the Democratic governor needs the approval of the State Finance Council. It's made up of the governor and eight top lawmakers. Six of the lawmakers are Republicans.

They've been receptive to Parkinson's plan. Last week, he made $160 million in adjustments to the state's budget to keep it balanced.

------ Kan. man denies killing toddler

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A Sedgwick County jury is expected to begin deliberating Monday in a murder case in which a man admitted placing an 18-month old girl alone near a street -- but he swears he didn't kill her.

Jonell Lloyd is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Chavira Brown, whose body was found in an attic last summer in Lloyd's Wichita home. She was found in two trash bags zipped inside a sofa cushion, and had bruises across her face.

The 24-year-old testified last week that he placed the girl outside near the street so he could clean up after his nearly dozen pit bulls, which had urinated and defecated on the floor. He said it was to protect the toddler from the dogs.

Lloyd fled and was found three days after Chavira's body was found.

------ National Guard hosts kids camp in Salina

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Children of Kansas National Guard soldiers are heading to camp to build relationships and enjoy the outdoors.

This is the 10th year for the camp, held at the Kansas Regional Training Center in Salina. Children ages 8 to 12 from across the state will participate. A similar camp for teens will be held in August.

In addition to crafts and sports, the children will get to train on a military transportation simulator, an M-16 laser rifle simulator and take part in a night march.

Brig. Gen. Deborah Rose will speak to the students during a camp graduation ceremony.

------

On the Net:

------ Analysis: New Kan. gov. more conciliatory to GOP

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson has been friendlier toward the Republican-controlled Legislature than his predecessor.

That's made the debate over Kansas' budget problems less contentious.

Kathleen Sebelius' final months as governor were marked by tension between her and GOP leaders. One confrontation in February briefly created worries that the state wouldn't make its payroll on time.

She resigned in April to become U.S. health and human services secretary, elevating Parkinson from lieutenant governor to governor.

With Parkinson as governor, legislators wrapped up their work early in May, with a budget-balancing plan generally to his liking.

Even after slumping revenues threw the budget back out of balance, GOP criticism of Parkinson remained muted.

------ Cap-and-trade could cost northern Kansans more

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Unless changes are made, a proposed cap-and-trade system would mean coal-dependent northern Kansas utility customers would face higher rate increases than their nuclear-power using neighbors to the south.

The systems proposed in Congress would force utilities to reduce their emissions or pay extra for pollution credits.

For years, southern Kansas customers paid more for electricity because of the expense of building Wolf Creek nuclear plant at Burlington, the baseload power plant for Westar South. But the gap has closed as the debt for the nuclear plant was paid down and restructured and the cost of coal rose.

Currently, customers of Topeka-based Westar Energy Inc., the state's largest electric utility, pay nearly identical rates.

Westar wants to equalize the rates before they diverge again; the Kansas Corporation Commission will consider the issue.

Analysts say that if the rates aren't equalized, Westar Energy customers in the northern part of the state would face rate increases that are twice as high as their southern cousins.

------ Donors continue to give to Kansas universities

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Endowments have taken hits at Kansas' two largest public universities as the stock market faltered, but alumni are keeping their pocketbooks opens.

Officials at the University of Kansas expect to see about a 3 percent increase in endowment commitments and contributions in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Rosita Elizalde-McCoy, senior vice president of communications and marketing for the KU Endowment Association, said the school raised around $94 million -- the largest amount generated in the association's 117-year history.

"We're very gratified with these fundraising results," Elizalde-McCoy said. "We think it shows that even in this significant economic downturn, donors still believe in KU and want it to remain a strong institution."

Kansas State University officials expect to fall only slightly short of the record $99.5 million generated through the KSU Foundation in fiscal 2008.

Julie Lea, vice president of communications, said the school was still anticipating a top-five year in total fundraising, which she called "very heartening."

------ Kansas survey finds residents rate traffic flow OK

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas Department of Transportation survey finds residents in five large northeast Kansas counties believe maintenance of current roads in the cities and traffic flow on major roads should be the state's top focus.

The survey questioned 1,194 households in Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties.

The survey found people were most satisfied with traffic flow on major roads and the maintenance of current roads. Those surveyed were least satisfied with transit between cities and the availability of bike lanes and facilities.

More than 50 percent of residents in five counties said they'd use a regional transit system.

------

Information from: Lawrence Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com

------ Wichita pawn shops giving more loans

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Central Kansas pawn shops report giving out more short-term loans to cash-strapped customers willing to trade wedding rings and other luxury items.

Money Town Pawn Shop in Wichita recently loaned Lisa Boland money in exchange for her wedding ring so she could take an emergency trip out of town. She got back the ring after paying back the loan.

National Pawnbrokers Association vice president Dave Crume says he's seeing an increase in these loans at A-OK Pawn in Wichita.

He estimates loans have increased by 15 to 25 percent.

Money Town owner Barry Ellis says about 70 percent of customers eventually buy their items back.

------

------ Husband of missing KC woman faces new charges

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The husband of a missing Kansas City mother has been arrested after police allege he stood in the yard of home from which he is accused of stealing a gun and yelled at a man.

Thirty-six-year-old Shon Pernice was cited for a city ordinance violation and released from jail Sunday afternoon on a $100 bond.

No details were released about what he yelled shortly after midnight Sunday.

Pernice told WDAF that it was the neighbor who initiated the confrontation.

Pernice is charged in Clay County Circuit Court with stealing the gun in late January, several weeks after his 35-year-old wife, Renee Pernice, went missing. Police believe she is dead and have named Pernice a person of interest in the case. But he has not been arrested or charged in that case.

------ Hosts help campers at Kansas parks

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) -- Avola Fitzwater has become the queen of water-skiing at El Dorado State Park.

The 77-year-old can usually be found there, especially this recent July Fourth holiday weekend.

Fitzwater and her husband, Clarence, have been camp hosts at the park since 1992. For up to six months a year, they collect camping fees, explain park services and contact park staff about problems such as clogged toilets or unruly guests.

There are about 130 camp hosts scattered among Kansas' state parks.

Avola Fitzwater says she's taught a lot of people how to water ski during her time. She also skis nearly every weekday.

The Fitzwaters spend the other half of the year living from the same camping trailer in south Texas.

------ Teen improving after pipe bomb injury in KC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A 14-year-old injured on the Fourth of July in a pipe bomb blast is improving at a Kansas City-area hospital.

Kansas City police said Sunday that the boy had been upgraded from critical to serious condition.

Witnessed told police that the teen lit a pipe bomb on the porch of an abandoned home, and it exploded before he could get away.

He was suffering from a serious head injury when officers arrived.

Authorities are investigating.

------ Marquis, Hawpe earn All-Star bids for Rockies

DENVER (AP) -- Now that Jason Marquis made his first All-Star team, his family's trip to Disneyland is going to have to wait.

Sorry, kids.

The Colorado Rockies pitcher had to alter vacation plans to the theme park after learning Sunday he'd been selected to the squad. Outfielder Brad Hawpe will also be joining him for the All-Star game July 14 in St. Louis.

So, how does Marquis break the news to his two young kids there will be no Mickey this summer?

"We didn't tell them (we were going to Disneyland) yet," Marquis said, smiling. "We're not going to tell them."

Even though Marquis had the credentials in the first half of the season for a spot on the All-Star team, he didn't let himself think about making the team.

------ Missed revenue forecasts pose more woes for states

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- With its IOUs and plans to close state offices three days a month, California gets all the attention as lawmakers fight to write a budget set off balance by a $26.3 billion deficit.

But the dozens of states that made spending cuts, tapped into reserves or relied on federal stimulus funds to patch together budgets that took effect this past week are hardly free from worry. Many of those spending plans are based on tax revenue projections that have been wrong throughout the recession -- and may be unreliable again.

More miscalculations could bring a variety of consequences: deeper cuts to services such as health care and education; layoffs and furloughs of state employees; renewed consideration of tax and fee increases.

"All of these states are going to have to readjust on the fly, because they've started budgets this year that were built on unrealistic expectations, and the revenue just isn't there," said Mark Marchand, a spokesman for the Rockefeller Institute on Government at the State University of New York in Albany.

During the just-concluded fiscal year, revenues fell below the projections used to craft budgets in at least 38 states, were roughly on target in 10 states and ahead in just two, according to a survey released last month by the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors Association.

And states weren't just barely missing their revenue projections, they whiffed by large margins.