AP Top Kansas News at 5:45 a.m. CDT
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Ex-US AG Ashcroft endorses Tiahrt for Senate
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) -- Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who on Friday endorsed fellow Republican Todd Tiahrt's U.S. Senate campaign, condemned the Obama administration for moving the trial of Sept. 11 terrorism suspects to civilian rather than military court.
Ashcroft, who served as attorney general at the time of the attacks, said the trials could endanger the public and give anti-U.S. elements a public stage to voice their rhetoric. He also said prosecutors will have to publicly disclose evidence, which could compromise efforts to monitor and break up future attacks.
"If your top priority is the liberty and life of American citizens and the security of their lives and liberty then this decision is less than optimal," he told reporters before a fundraiser for Tiahrt (pronounced TEE-hart). "I believe we are still in a very significant war on terror. The administration doesn't appear to believe that we are in a war on terror."
Attorney General Eric Holder decided last week to send professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged henchmen from a detention center at Guantanamo Bay to New York to face a civilian federal trial instead of facing a military tribunal.
He and President Barack Obama have defended the decision, saying prosecutors have enough evidence to find the men guilty and that the nation's intelligence secrets can be protected in a public trial. Holder also told lawmakers judges can prevent defendants from grandstanding and being disruptive during their trials.
Tiahrt, a congressman, said he filed legislation this week seeking a House vote on whether to keep the trials under military jurisdiction.
------ 3 sentenced in staged Kansas City assault
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Three people have been sentenced for staging an assault to influence a sexual harassment suit against a Kansas City luxury car dealer.
Prosecutors said two women offered $100,000 to Gordon Reabe Jr. to attack them and sexually assault one of them in November 2008.
The 52-year-old Lee's Summit man was sentenced Friday in federal court to one year and one day in prison without parole for the assault.
One of the women, 39-year-old Julie Bernet of Bucyrus, Kan., was sentenced to five months in a residential re-entry center followed by five months of home confinement. The other woman, 24-year-old Lindsey Crawford of Kansas City, was sentenced to three years probation.
Prosecutors say the goal was to increase damages in a lawsuit the woman had filed against their former employer.
------ Topeka-area man, 75, dies from swine flu
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas officials say a 75-year-old man from the Topeka area has died of swine flu, bringing to 19 the state's total deaths related to the illness.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday that the man had underlying health condition putting him at greater risk from the H1N1 virus.
No other information about the man is being released. The agency says the death was reported to the state Wednesday. Swine flu was confirmed by lab tests on Nov. 4.
Cases of swine flu have been confirmed in 89 of the state's 105 counties since late April.
------ Little-Warner friendship on hold Sunday
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Friendship goes out the window Sunday when the St. Louis Rams' Leonard Little tries to sack his friend, Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner.
"Hopefully, we can bring him down a couple of times and slow him down," said Little, who was Warner's teammate during his run with the Rams. "I got a whole lot of respect for him. He led us to two Super Bowls and we won one of them. So, I got the utmost respect for him. He's a good friend of mine."
Friendship, however, stops when the Rams (1-8) host Arizona (6-3) in a NFC West game. St. Louis, 6-35 over the last three seasons, has lost its last nine home games while the Cardinals are undefeated in four road games this season.
Making life tough for Warner is a must, Little said.
"My job is to rush the passer and he knows it's my job," Little said. "I don't try to hurt anybody but it's my job to try and tackle the quarterback so I try and do that as much as possible."
The Rams' defensive front is hampered with ailments. Little has been bothered by a sore knee. James Hall is nursing a sore back while Chris Long (knee) and Clifton Ryan (toe) also are not at full strength.
------ High-scoring Grant gets hall of fame nod
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- College basketball's greatest scorer shot his way out of poverty with a tennis ball and a 5-gallon bucket tacked to his house.
Long before he became known as "The Machine" at Kentucky State, scoring more points than even Pete Maravich, Travis Grant was just a kid in the segregated South who loved basketball. No money for a real basket, he cut out the bottom of that bucket, grabbed a 25-cent rubber ball, a tennis ball, whatever he could find, and shot. Anything to shoot.
When he could, Grant paid a dime to watch the high school team play outdoors, on a dirt court lined in chalk. He later became a star when the team moved indoors -- after the school could afford to build a gym.
Grant went on to win NAIA championships, become college basketball's all-time leading scorer and play professionally. Now, finally, that kid with the tennis ball and a dream is headed into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
"Travis should have been in all the hall of fames a long time ago," said William Graham, Grant's Kentucky State teammate and former coach at the school. "It's been like 40 years since he's been in school and he deserves to be in quite a few hall of fames. If it's basketball, he should have been in the hall of fame."
The big names in Sunday night's induction ceremony in Kansas City will be Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, whose epic battle in the 1979 NCAA title game spawned the modern era of big-time college basketball. Johnson's coach, Jud Heathcote, former Oklahoma star Wayman Tisdale, NCAA patriarch Walter Byers, longtime coach Gene Bartow and contributor Bill Wall will also be inducted.
------ Officers behind junk fax scam are sentenced
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The president of a Florida consulting firm was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for his role in defrauding thousands of small business owners in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Richard Hagan, chief executive of the Melbourne, Fla.-based PBS Global Inc., blinked back tears Friday after his sentencing in a massive junk fax scam. He was sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering and ordered to repay more than $1.02 million in restitution and forfeit a similar amount in assets.
Sales manager John Persaud, of Boca Raton, Fla., was sentenced to seven years and six months. He was ordered to make restitution of more than $4.04 million and forfeit more than $3.07 million in assets.
------ Reward increased in case of missing Atchison woman
ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) -- The reward for information in the case of a missing 58-year-old Atchison County woman has reached $50,000.
The family of Patricia Kimmi offered $10,000 Thursday for information about Kimmi, who hasn't been seen since Nov. 6. On Friday, an anonymous donor called Atchison County Undersheriff Larry Myer and offered another $40,000.
Kimmi disappeared from her rural Atchison County home south of Horton. Authorities say they believe foul play was involved in her disappearance.
------
Information from: KAIR-FM
------ Record, title, turmoil in Kansas vs. No. 3 Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- When Colt McCoy started his first game at Texas in 2006, the second pass of his career was a sign of things to come: a 60-yard touchdown in a rout of North Texas.
He still calls it one of his fondest memories at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
On Saturday night, McCoy will trot onto the home-field turf for the last time with a chance to grab a record of a lifetime.
If the third-ranked Longhorns beat a Kansas team mired in a losing streak and a school investigation of coach Mark Mangino, McCoy will set the NCAA record for career victories by a starting quarterback with 43.
And he will get his first Big 12 South championship.
Over his four seasons as a starter, McCoy has built a resume that ranks among the best in college history in terms of wins, school records and name recognition -- a Texas QB named Colt is pretty catchy.
------ Kansas jobless rate dips to 6.4 percent
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- The Kansas unemployment rate declined to 6.4 percent in October, though a state labor analyst cautioned Friday that the job market remains weak.
The new report revealed there were 22,815 initial claims for unemployment benefits in October, an increase of 5,300 from September and 5,500 more claims than were filed in October 2008. The 6.4 percent jobless rate was down from a revised 6.8 percent in September.
For the month, there were 11,700 new jobs in Kansas, rising to 1.34 million. But the figure was still 57,700 below October 2008. Most of the gains were in seasonal jobs, though some growth was seen in government, education and health services.
Inayat Noormohmad, an analyst for the Kansas Department of Labor says the over-the-year job losses are significant.
"While we're seeing improvements in some economic indicators, we know recovery in the job markets remains uncertain for the near future," he said.
The labor department said 163,700 Kansans were continuing to receive unemployment benefits, a drop of 16,450 from September, but still nearly 84,000 more residents than in October 2008.
------ Conviction upheld in Kan. pool attendant's killing
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the capital murder conviction and 50-year sentence of a swimming pool maintenance man in the 2002 killing of a college student.
But the court also threw out Benjamin Appleby's separate 19-year sentence for the attempted rape of Kansas State University freshman Ali Kemp.
The court said Friday the separate sentence amounted to double jeopardy, since attempted rape was an element of the capital murder charge.
Appleby was convicted of beating and strangling Kemp at the Leawood pool in suburban Kansas City where she had a summer job.
The court rejected several other arguments in Appleby's appeal, including his claim that he was denied a lawyer after he was arrested in Connecticut.
------ Survey suggests improving but weak Plains economy
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Business appears to be slowly improving in rural areas of 11 Midwest and Plains states, but the economy there remains weak, according to a new survey of bankers.
"The decline in farm income related to pullbacks in agricultural commodities from last year continues to weigh on the rural, agriculturally dependent economy," Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said.
The Rural Mainstreet survey's overall economic index rose to 38.4 this month from 37.5 in October and 36.5 in September, but it remained in negative territory below 50.
The index runs 0 to 100. Organizers say a score below 50 suggests the economy will contract in the next few months; above 50 indicates the economy will expand.
But the overall November index is well above the record low of 16.9 set in February.
The survey covers Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
------ Pregnant Wichita woman arrested in thefts
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Wichita police say a pregnant woman has been arrested after she allegedly robbed homes after asking residents for help.
Police say the woman, who is eight months pregnant, had been telling people in west Wichita that her car broke down and she needed to call someone for a ride.
Once the residents let her inside their homes, she allegedly took money from the homes. Police say she hit at least three houses in Wichita and is suspected in similar crimes in Goddard and Maize.
The woman was taken into custody Thursday night.
------
Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
------ Topeka-area woman, 48, dies from swine flu
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas officials say a 75-year-old man from the Topeka area has died of swine flu, bringing to 19 the state's total deaths related to the illness.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday that the man had underlying health condition putting him at greater risk from the H1N1 virus.
No other information about the man is being released. The agency says the death was reported to the state Wednesday. Swine flu was confirmed by lab tests on Nov. 4.
Cases of swine flu have been confirmed in 89 of the state's 105 counties since late April.
------ Lawrence group against gender identity policy
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- The Lawrence Human Relations Commission has voted not to recommend adding gender identity to the city's anti-discrimination policy.
The commission voted Thursday 6-3 against amending the policy. The Kansas Equality Coaltion had sought to have gender identity added to the policy.
The Human Relations Commission's decision will be forwarded to the Lawrence City Commission, which will make the final decision.
The proposed change would have protected from discrimination people who identify or express themselves as a gender other than the one assigned at birth.
Opponents who spoke at Thursday's meeting mentioned expense of changing the policy, ambiguity about the definition of gender identity, and concerns about how the policy would affect public facilities such as restrooms.
------
------ KU student panel rejects proposed policy change
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- A panel of University of Kansas students has rejected a proposal to allow housing staff to enter students' rooms unannounced if they suspect a housing violation.
The policy change proposal was a response to two student deaths last semester that were blamed on drinking.
Under the proposal, housing supervisors could enter a student's room if they had probable cause to believe the occupants were violating housing policy. Currently, housing staff must get a search warrant to enter a room if the occupants refuse.
Members of Student Senate's Student Rights Committee voted unanimously Thursday against the proposal.
Committee chairman Tom Cox says students are concerned that the policy wouldn't curb drinking. And he says the school's code of conduct gives students the right to privacy.
------