TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says phasing out the Kansas mortgage registration fee will help the state’s economy grow, but counties fear they’ll be forced to boost property taxes to make up the lost revenue.

Brownback said Thursday that a home is the biggest purchase most people make and phasing out the fee will help borrowers a little bit. He signed legislation Wednesday to phase the fee out by 2019.

The state imposes a fee of $2.60 for every $1,000 borrowed to register mortgages, and most of the money goes to the 105 counties.

The new law will increase other fees, but the Legislature’s staff projects that counties still will lose $53 million over the next five years.

And some county officials believe those estimates understate the potential losses.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 75-year-old Topeka man has admitted arranging fraudulent marriages for foreign nationals to help them become legal, permanent U.S. residents.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said Thursday that Quong Bow Low pleaded guilty this week to one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud in a scheme that went on from 1992 to 2013. Prosecutors had filed the charge in late April.

Low admitted charging thousands of dollars to find U.S. citizens to participate in arranged marriages. His paid services also included coaching couples before their citizenship and immigration interviews, providing documentation of the marriages and letting couples list his home as their addresses.

Investigators identified about 40 arranged marriages in which Low was involved.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 1.

Over 75 new pair of Oakley sunglasses in. Also new shipment of Oakley attire is in. Come check us out!

By HANNAH SWANK
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — The news of Michelle Obama’s commencement address to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision was greeted with an online petition to prevent the first African-American First Lady from addressing Topeka Public Schools students.

Topeka High School seniors Taylor Gifford and Madison Lockhart initiated the petition, which has incited strong reactions from students as well as members of the community. The petition reached a total 2,760 supporters and cited issues of economic strain and dissatisfaction with limited seating as the reasons for wanting traditional graduation ceremonies.

“Epic Fail USD 501,” one commenter said on the change.org petition. “You seriously need to rethink this for the sake of all those kids who should be the main ones honored.”

The “epic fail” was rendered when Obama’s staff announced that, instead of a combined Topeka Public Schools graduation on Saturday, the First Lady would only speak at a senior recognition ceremony on Friday, in order to accommodate Saturday’s previously scheduled, separate commencements.

“The intent of the two young ladies was to ensure that more seating was available for their families and friends at graduation,” Topeka High School Assistant Principal Dot Mallon wrote in an email. “Instead of specifically clarifying those wishes, this opened the door for other issues to overshadow the original message.”

Jordan Cain, a THS senior and captain of the soccer team, said she, and many other students at Topeka High, find the national media attention embarrassing for the school district and the city of Topeka. Cain said the environment at school has been so hostile that even the word “graduation” became a point of contention.

“This situation became such a big deal and impacted our class so much that it negatively affected our relationships with each other, “Cain said. “Most people were looking forward to this huge honor and it got blown out of proportion. It makes us look selfish and it makes Topeka look bad.”

Hostility boiled over when Gifford and Lockhart were threatened with fights about three weeks ago and campus police had to intervene. Lockhart said the environment kept her from attending school for several days and she was absent on the day it was announced that the First Lady would move her speech to allow each of the five district high schools separate ceremonies.

“It says a lot for my public speaking skills and my ability to affect change in my community,” Lockhart said. “It tore us all apart, but in the midst of the anger, my graduating class is excited to welcome her.”

While promoting their petition, Gifford and Lockhart also hung posters in the school hallways. Several students, including THS senior Connor Brennan, were fined after they tore posters off the walls.

“The petition and the girls who started it got a lot more media coverage than they should have,” Brennan said. “Graduation is about embarrassment now, rather than achievement.”
Assistant Principal Mallon said the posters became problematic because they were directed at preventing Obama’s presence at graduation entirely, instead of focusing on the core goals of the petition.

“When the posters became an attack on an individual, they crossed a line for many of us in the profession,” Mallon said. “A great deal of time was squandered by students, division principals, security officers and parents who dealt with the disruption caused to the school.”

Lockhart said the petition was never about politics, but she was concerned about the ticket limitations. Each graduating senior would have received six tickets, which wouldn’t have been enough for Lockhart’s large family including step-parents and grandparents.
“My family deserves to see me walk at graduation,” Lockhart said. “Everyone gets what they want now, and we still get to say that Michelle Obama spoke at our senior recognition ceremony.”

Despite all these issues, Mallon said it does not diminish the honor and pride in Topeka Public Schools to be chosen as the district the First Lady will address.

“In many ways, the consternation over the graduation plans is indicative of the tremendous emphasis placed upon graduating with a diploma from Topeka High School.”

Hannah Swank is a University of Kansas senior from Topeka majoring in journalism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed changes to oil refinery rules that would compel operators to monitor benzene emissions, upgrade storage tank emission controls, ensure waste gases are properly destroyed and adopt new emission standards for delayed coking units.

The move is part of a consent decree that resolved a lawsuit filed by nonprofit environmental attorneys with Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project on behalf of people directly affected by pollution from refineries in Louisiana, Texas and California.

Kanas refineries are located in McPherson, El Dorado and Coffeyville.

The EPA will take comment on the proposals for 60 days. It also plans to hold two public hearings near Houston and Los Angeles, and will finalize the standards in April 2015.

The agency says the proposals would reduce toxic air emissions by an estimated 5,600 tons per year.

Salina Post

SALINA —Three people have been arrested and police are looking for a fourth person in connection with beating and holding a woman against her will Monday at a residence at 616 S. Ninth.

Salina Police Capt. Mike Sweeney said the incident began after the victim, 34-year-old Kristi Dean, was accused to taking money from other residents in the home.

Sweeney said Dean was kicked, beaten and had obscene messages written on her between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday.

She was then wrapped up in a blanket, placed in a car and dumped in an alley in north Salina. A friend later found Dean.

Police became involved Tuesday after someone shared a cellphone picture showing a severely beaten Dean.

Dean is at Salina Regional Health Center for treatment of injuries that include a fractured back, fractured eye socket, fractured cheek and several bruises.

Arrested on allegations aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery and criminal threat were Ondrya Biles, 36; Corey Jackson, 35; and James Waller, 16. Police still are looking for a fourth suspect, reportedly a teenage girl.

DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — Cargill Beef says it is trimming its workforce at its Dodge City slaughterhouse because of tight beef supplies as the nation’s cattle herd begins to rebuild from drought conditions.

Company spokesman Mark Klein said in an email Thursday the company does not have a firm number on how many workers will be laid off or reassigned. But the remaining workforce is still expected to be “well above” 2,000.

Klein says decisions to lay off workers are never easy, and Cargill looked at every option to avoid it.

Cargill is one of the nation’s biggest meatpackers. It closed its Plainview, Texas, slaughterhouse last year and moved its remaining business to plants in Dodge City; Friona, Texas; and Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Klein says the latest layoffs affect only Dodge City.

Salina Post

SALINA — A 15-year-old Salina Central High School student is in juvenile detention in Junction City for allegedly placing a note in a bathroom at school, saying there were bombs in both Central and Salina South High School Wednesday.

Police Capt. Mike Sweeney said the student told a faculty member he had found a note with the bomb threat in a second-floor boys bathroom Wednesday morning.

He took the teacher to the bathroom, but another student already had found the note and turned it in to the office.

After an investigation by police and staff, it was alleged the student had written the note and placed it in the bathroom.

Captain Sweeney said there is no evidence connecting the student in custody to the other threatening notes and a cellphone with a bullet hole found in an office last month.

The 15-year-old was taken into custody on allegations of criminal threat.

WASHINGTON–Senator Jerry Moran, a member of the Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee made these opening statement’s during Thursday morning’s”State of VA Health Care” hearing with Sec. Shinseki

Moran told Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki that he believes the “nationwide, face-to-face audit” of the VA system Sec. Shinseki announced last week is simply damage control, and not truly a comprehensive and sincere look at the magnitude of the problems at hand.

Shinseki said he hopes to have a preliminary report within three weeks on how widespread treatment delays and falsified patient scheduling reports are at VA facilities nationwide, following allegations that up to 40 veterans may have died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA center.

Shinseki resisted calls from a Democratic senator to bring in the Justice Department and FBI for a criminal investigation since there’s evidence of VA employees making potentially false statements to the federal government. Shinseki said he first wanted to see results of the audit and a report on the VA inspector general’s office on its investigation of the Phoenix hospital.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said there appears to be “evidence of a crime” by some VA employees.

—Matthew Daly, Associated Press contributed to this report.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas labor officials say the state’s unemployment rate dropped in April to a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent, down from 4.9 percent in March.

The rate reported by the state Department of Labor on Thursday shows the state’s rate below the 5.5 percent for April 2013.

Private-sector job growth was 0.2 percent for the month with the creation of 1,900 new jobs. The Labor Department says 16,900 jobs have been added over the past year when adjusting for seasonal fluctuations.

A state labor economist says the data suggests positive economic growth, noting that the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell in April to 108,777, compared with nearly 141,000 in April 2013. The figures count all available unemployment benefit programs.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The opening of the world’s tallest slide at a Kansas City, Kansas, water park has been delayed about two weeks to allow for more testing.

The Verruckt initially was scheduled to start operating May 23 when the rest of the Schlitterbahn attractions open, but that’s been pushed back to June 5.

The Kansas City Star reports the Verruckt, which means “insane,” was certified in April by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest. The slide is 168 feet 7 inches tall and sends riders on four-person rafts plummeting at 60 to 70 mph.

Park owners say they hope the ride will become a destination attraction.