TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A national gun control group argues in a federal lawsuit that a Kansas law challenging federal authority to regulate guns is unconstitutional and endangers public safety.

The Washington-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed the lawsuit Wednesday against a 2013 law declaring that the federal government has no authority to regulate guns manufactured, sold and kept only in Kansas.

The law also makes it a felony for any U.S. government employee to attempt to enforce federal regulations for Kansas-only firearms, ammunition or accessories.

The lawsuit says gun regulations fall under the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce and the state is improperly trying to nullify federal law. It says the effects of not regulating some guns could be far-reaching.

Gov. Sam Brownback has promised to defend the law.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Early riders on the world’s tallest water slide say the Kansas City, Kansas, attraction is as scary as it looks, but they couldn’t wait to go down it again.

Among those getting a sneak peak at Verruckt at Schlitterbahn Waterpark on Wednesday was Kansas City Mayor Mark Holland, whose security detail anxiously waited while he took a second trip down the slide before being whisked away to another appointment.

The 17-story, 168-foot-tall water slide is scheduled to open to the public on Thursday, six weeks later than initially anticipated. The ride was reconfigured after early tests included sandbag-filled rafts flying off the slide and crashing to the ground.

Verruckt, which means “insane” in German, was certified as the world’s tallest water slide in April by Guinness World Records.

DICKINSON COUNTY — A Kansas man avoided injury when a train in Dickinson County hit his car just after noon Tuesday.

The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office reported a 2010 Mazda MX6 driven by Randall Nichols, 48, Chapman, failed to yield at 1800 Avenue and Nail Road just east of Kansas 43. A BNSF train hit the rear end of the Mazda.

There was no railroad crossing gate at the location.

Nichols was not injured. The car was seriously damage, and train suffered some front-end damage.

DELAND, Fla. (AP) — A 4-year-old Russian blue cat named Kush is being quarantined after apparently going berserk inside a central Florida home, prompting its owners to call 911.

Police say the feline scratched owners Teresa and James Gregory on their arms and legs Saturday, causing the couple to retreat to a bedroom, where they called 911.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports Teresa Gregory told the dispatcher she had mistakenly stepped on the cat’s tail earlier in the day and the cat went after her husband. They locked Kush in the bedroom for most of the day. When they finally opened the door, Kush wasn’t happy.

Kush was placed in quarantine for 10 days at a pet shelter. Officials say the owners can then take the cat back home, relinquish ownership or have it put down.

LAWRENCE (AP) — The University of Kansas has a new director of news and media relations, and she previously held a similar job at archrival Kansas State University.

KU announced Monday that Erinn Barcomb-Peterson had started the director’s job on the Lawrence campus after nine years at Kansas State.

Barcomb-Peterson holds a journalism degree from the University of Kansas. She worked as a reporter for the Eudora News and design editor for the Ottawa Herald before going to work for Kansas State’s News and Editorial Services in 2005. She became director there in 2011.

The KU job became open when Jill Jess Phythyon took a similar position in March at Ohio State University’s College of Nursing. KU School of Medicine Communications Director David Martin replaced her temporarily.

By LINDSEY ELLIOTT
K-State News and Editorial Services

MANHATTAN — Cases of chikungunya continue to rise, with more than 100 people from the United States infected with the mosquito-borne virus that they contracted while out of the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kansas State University’s Stephen Higgs, one of the world’s leading researchers of the virus and director of the university’s Biosecurity Research Institute, says precautions should be taken to avoid a chikungunya outbreak in the U.S.

Higgs has been studying chikungunya for almost 10 years, and he and his collaborators have published 30 works on the virus. They also produced an infectious clone of the disease that is widely used by other researchers, and they are assisting with efforts to develop a vaccine for chikungunya.

“The concern is that the two types of mosquito that transmit chikungunya virus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are widely distributed in the United States,” Higgs said. “There is potential that somebody could come from overseas not knowing they are infected with the virus, because it takes a few days between getting infected and getting sick. If they unknowingly bring the disease to the United States, our mosquitoes could feed on these people when they have the virus in their blood and pick up the virus. Then we would have transmission in the United States.”

Chikungunya is an African Makonde word that means “to bend up.” It describes a crippling arthritis that can be so intense that it actually causes the person to bend up in pain, Higgs said. No vaccine or treatment for the virus is available and it can take days, weeks or sometimes longer to go away.

“Most of the people who get infected do get sick, unfortunately,” Higgs said. “The fatality rate is relatively low, but has seemingly increased over the last few years for reasons we don’t know.”

The infectious potential of the virus also has increased, according to Higgs’ research.

“One of the really strange things that happened with this virus when it got into the Indian Ocean is that it started being transmitted by the Asian tiger mosquito,” Higgs said. “It was known that this mosquito could transmit the virus. What my group of researchers proved was that a single-point mutation occurred in the virus genome that altered the surface of the virus, making it 100 times more infectious for that particular mosquito.”

The chikungunya virus was first discovered in the 1950s in Tanzania. Since then, there have been outbreaks in India, Asia, the French islands and most recently in the Caribbean.

According to the CDC, the best way to prevent getting the virus is to not get bitten by mosquitoes. That means to avoid going outside at dusk and at dawn, when mosquito activity is high; use repellant when you do go outside; and get rid of standing water around your house, such as in potted plants, because this is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Also check the CDC website for information before traveling to infected areas. If you think you may have been infected, contact your doctor.