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

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Roy, Blake lead Trail Blazers past Nuggets

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Brandon Roy learned from Portland's loss on Christmas last season, so he pared down his holiday schedule to make sure he was prepared to face Denver this year.

He sure looked ready.

Roy had 41 points while wearing a thin brace to protect his sore left shoulder and Steve Blake added 17 to lead the Trail Blazers to a 107-96 win over the Nuggets on Friday night.

Roy, who missed Wednesday's win at San Antonio, had 25 points in the first half and made a career-high 16 field goals for Portland, which has won four straight and six of seven despite a spate of injuries. The Trail Blazers lost 102-94 to Dallas last Christmas, when Roy finished with 22 points on 8-of-20 shooting.

This holiday matchup went much better.

"It was Christmas Day, and I didn't feel like a prepared the team last year -- when we came out, we enjoyed the day a little too much," Roy said. "Today I was focused all day long and I wanted to come out and play well tonight."

------ Forecasters warn of continued blizzards in Plains

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Residents in the nation's heartland were digging out after a blustery storm as meteorologists warned that blizzard conditions could continue across the northern Plains on Saturday.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin through Saturday. The storm had already dumped significant snow across the region, including a record 14 inches in Oklahoma City and 11 inches in Duluth, Minn., on Thursday.

Slippery roads have been blamed for at least 21 deaths this week as the storm lumbered across the country from the Southwest.

Paul Mews, who drove from Faribault, Minn., to a relative's home in Plum City, Wis., on Friday morning, said the first 15 minutes of the 80-mile trip were clear, but a surge of heavy snowfall produced a stretch of near-whiteout conditions.

"It was snow-pocalypse. It was wicked," said Mews, 25. "We thought about turning around and going back."

They decided to continue when the surge passed minutes later.

------ Emporia honors NASCAR's Bowyer with street name

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) -- NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer has donated and raised thousands of dollars for good causes in his Kansas hometown in recent years, and now Emporia has shown its thanks.

Bowyer's racing career began on a practice track at Flint Hills Towing on Emporia's Graham Street. He was on hand Wednesday as the city unveiled a sign adding the honorary label "Clint Bowyer Boulevard" to Graham Street.

"It's very gratifying, very humbling to think back where this was where it all started, and to see your name on top of Graham Street," Bowyer said. "It's such an important street to me and my family, it means a lot to me."

Two years ago, Bowyer established the 79 Fund with the Emporia Community Foundation to aid the city and people in need. The fund has helped a city clean-up project and the city Arts Council's building fund, and this month provided 20 Christmas trees to Emporia families and shoes for 85 children enrolled in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

"I love this town," Bowyer said. "There's no better people than right here in Emporia.

"We're taking baby steps and looking at getting more money raised to put into the programs, and I'm looking forward to making (the fund) a bigger and better thing for the children and making the community a better place," he said.

------ City wants Kan. cap on historic tax credits lifted

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Historic tax credits help developers turn old, unused buildings into condos, hotels and office space, while preserving a city's unique architectural image, supporters say.

But new limits on how much in credits can be used statewide each year have put many projects -- including some in downtown Wichita -- on hold.

Eliminating the cap is one of Wichita's top goals during the legislative session that starts in January.

"Historic tax credits have played an important role in preserving some of Wichita's most notable landmarks, such as the Carnegie Library, which was renovated by Fidelity Bank," said Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

"Similar plans for the Broadview Hotel were short-circuited by the unintended consequences of last year's budget cuts by the state Legislature."

The program allows developers to tap into tax credits for up to 25 percent of the project, said Christy Davis, a preservation consultant with Davis Preservation in Topeka. The credits can be combined with a similar federal historic tax credit program and leveraged to borrow money.

------ Fired med school president had promoted big change

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The recently fired president of a Kansas City osteopathic medical school had been promoting a change that some feared jeopardized the independence of the entire profession.

Karen Pletz had said in a widely distributed e-mail that the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences was looking into offering students the opportunity to become a doctor of osteopathy and a medical doctor at the same time.

The Kansas City Star reported that no other osteopathic school confers dual D.O.-M.D. degrees.

Two days before her Dec. 18 termination, a group of current and former leaders of the American Osteopathic Association who are alumni of the university sent Pletz a letter asking that any dual D.O.-M.D. proposal be abandoned.

Critics had said that the combined degree could raise questions about continued independence of the field of osteopathy, which emphasizes holistic care and employs manipulation techniques somewhat similar to those of chiropractic medicine. They said other osteopathic medical schools also would be forced to offer M.D. degrees if Pletz's plan were adopted.

Pletz has declined to discuss her firing with The Star, saying a lawsuit was in the works.

------ Candle, Christmas tree blamed in fatal Kan. fire

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A house fire that killed a 4-year-old Topeka boy was ignited when a child playing with a candle set a Christmas tree ablaze, investigators said.

"It was a live tree," Topeka Fire Department Investigator Allan Stahl said Thursday. "It was a very rapid fire that ended in a horrific incident."

The victim was identified as Davier Holmes.

The blaze broke out shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday at a home in a public housing district maintained by the Topeka Public Housing Authority.

A woman and her three children were in the home when the fire began and spread quickly through a front living room area. Stahl said the mother was able to rescue two of the children before emergency crews arrived.

Firefighters searched through heavy smoke and heat to find the third child, who was taken by ambulance to a Topeka hospital in critical condition.