(AP) — The two children killed in a south-central Kansas house fire have been identified as 23-month-old twin boys.

The Pratt Police Department said in release Tuesday the twins were inside the burning home when firefighters arrived Monday afternoon.

The twins were identified as Jayce and Jasper Ibarra, who would have turned 2 years old in January.

Their mother, 24-year-old Destry Ibarra, escaped from the house. She was reported to be in good condition Tuesday in the burn unit at Via Christ-St. Francis hospital in Wichita. Police say the children’s father was not home when the fire broke out.

The Kansas Fire Marshal is working with police to determine the cause of the blaze.

 

 

PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Infant twins have died in a house fire in south-central Kansas.

Police in Pratt say the infants died Monday afternoon in the fire at their home. Emergency crews called to the home found the twin’s mother outside covered in smoke and soot. She’s been hospitalized with fire-related injuries.

Pratt police say the two babies were pronounced dead at the scene. The father of the twins was not at home at the time of the fire.

The names of the victims haven’t been released.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

 

Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) statement on the House rule change allowing the incidental use of holiday greetings.

“For decades the PC Police have intimidated Christians throughout America with their attacks on the symbols and language of Christmas. From nativity scenes to Christmas trees, those opposed to Christmas has sought to eradicate any reason for the season from the public square. And Congress has not been exempted.

Amazingly since 1973, the U.S. House of Representatives has forbidden the use of ‘Merry Christmas’ and deemed use of such words in any official mailing or e-mail an ethics violation. Instead, they demanded the use of ‘Happy Holidays.’ This month, the House Franking Commission accepted the position I have fought for since arriving in Congress – ignore the PC Police and let us use ‘Merry Christmas.’

In 2011 during an interview on Fox News, I stated my refusal to comply with this decades-old policy, which reflects the continual leftist war on Christmas. I have continued that refusal through today, even as it has cowered many other public officials and private industry alike. The new refusal of the U.S. House to cater to the PC Police moves us one small step away from that carefully crafted secular society devoid of any reference to our religious and cultural heritage. I am glad that finally Members of Congress can express their holiday joy in a manner that they see fit and consistent with our American history – without an ethics threat.

As I have done for the past two years, I personally wish you and all of America a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

2 p.m. UPDATE  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It’s a wrap for NASA’s Christmas Eve spacewalk.

Two astronauts are safely back inside the International Space Station after replacing a pump in a crippled cooling line on Tuesday. Preliminary testing shows the new pump to be working well. NASA expects to have the station’s cooling system restored by this weekend, with all equipment running again.

Astronauts Rick Mastracchio (muh-STRACK-ee-oh) and Michael Hopkins braved a mini-blizzard of noxious ammonia as they hooked up the new pump. But in the end, they triumphed in their second spacewalk in four days.

It was only the second Christmas Eve spacewalk ever. Mission Control says it’s the best Christmas ever

 

Expedition 38 Flight Engineers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins are conducting the second in a series of spacewalks to replace a degraded ammonia pump module on the International Space Station’s starboard truss. The spacewalk officially began at 6:53 a.m. EST and is scheduled to run about 6 hours and 30 minutes.

Live streaming video by Ustream

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas was the 10th highest oil producer in the U.S. as of September 2013.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says Kansas produced about 3.8 million barrels of crude oil in September. By comparison, Texas produced nearly 82 million barrels.

The Kansas Geological Survey says overall oil production in Kansas as of August 2013 was at about 31 million barrels. That compares to 29 million barrels in the first eight months of 2012. Part of that increase likely was due to 302 new drilling wells recorded in 2013.

The Wichita Eagle reports (https://bit.ly/1jEbRjI) natural gas production in Kansas was down as of mid-2013. Kansas produced about 199 billion cubic feet of gas in the first eight months of 2012, but that fell to about 195 billion cubic feet through August 2013.

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) — For kids who can’t wait for Santa to arrive, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has a Christmas treat. Visions of sugar plums can be augmented by a check on the fat man’s progress around the globe on Christmas Eve. Here are five things to know about the holiday tradition called NORAD Tracks Santa:

1. HOW DO YOU FOLLOW SANTA’S PATH?

NORAD provides updates by phone, Facebook, Twitter and email. If you call 877-HI-NORAD, a live person will give you an update. Online: https://www.noradsanta.org . Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noradsanta . Twitter: @NoradSanta. Email: [email protected]. Smartphone apps are also available at app stores. NORAD’s Santa operations center opens at 6 a.m. ET on Dec. 24. NORAD says Santa usually starts in the South Pacific and hits New Zealand and Australia before heading to Japan and Asia. Africa and Europe are next, followed by North America and South America. “Santa calls the shots,” NORAD says on its website. “We just track him!”

2. HOW MANY PEOPLE FOLLOW SANTA?

Last year, volunteers answered 114,000 phone calls from around the world. The website had 22.3 million unique visitors. NORAD Tracks Santa had 1.2 million followers on Facebook and 129,000 on Twitter.

3. WHY DOES NORAD DO IT?

In 1955, a local newspaper advertisement invited children to call Santa but mistakenly listed the hotline or NORAD’s predecessor. Rather than disappoint the kids, commanders told them they indeed knew where Santa was. NORAD, a U.S.-Canadian operation based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., continues the tradition every Christmas Eve.

4. WHY WAS THERE CONTROVERSY THIS YEAR?

A children’s advocacy group complained that an animated video on the NORAD Tracks Santa website injected militarism into Christmas by showing fighter jets escorting Santa’s sleigh on a 39-second video promoting the event. NORAD says the fighter escort is nothing new. NORAD began depicting jets accompanying Santa and his reindeer in the 1960s.

5. WHAT DO KIDS ASK WHEN THEY CALL?

Among the questions kids have had on their minds when they called in previous years:

— “Am I on the nice list or the naughty list?”

— “Can you put my brother on the naughty list?”

— “Are you an elf?”

— “How much to adopt one of Santa’s reindeer?”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County parolee convicted when he was 18 of having sex with a 15-year-old is fighting state rules preventing him from having contact with his children.

Nathan Walker would like to spend Christmas at home with his wife and newborn son, Noah, as well as his 5-year-old stepson. Instead he’s living in a halfway house a few miles away.

Walker has started a website dedicated to fighting the order from the Corrections Department’s Prisoner Review Board.

Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay says Walker’s parole terms include no contact with minor children except with advance permission from his parole officer and consultation with the sex offender treatment program.

Defense attorney John Stang says Walker’s situation isn’t unique for teenage Kansans convicted of unlawful voluntary sexual relations.

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Faculty members at Kansas State University want the Kansas Board of Regents to repeal a social media policy devised after criticism about a Kansas journalism professor’s anti-NRA tweet.

The regents approved the policy last week allowing university officials to fire faculty and staff who post social media messages that conflict with the institution’s best interests and efficient operations.

The policy was partly a response to a tweet by a KU professor after the September Navy Yard shootings that killed 13 people in Washington.

More than 40 distinguished Kansas State professors signed a letter saying the regents should withdraw the policy, calling it an affront to academic freedom.

Regents Chairman Fred Logan says the policy was carefully drawn to protect First Amendment rights and academic freedom.