WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow the Senate to act on critical legislation to protect farmers, ranchers and private property owners from proposed Waters of the U.S. rule changes by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“The House has approved bipartisan legislation to stop the EPA’s regulatory assault on farm country through its proposed changes to the ‘Waters of the U.S.’ rule,” Roberts said. “It is time for the Senate to act on this commonsense legislation to protect farmers, ranchers and other private property owners from confusing and vague proposed rules. I call on Majority Leader Reid to call up the House passed bill or the Senate bills that would stop this attack on rural America.”

Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 5078, the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act, by a bipartisan vote of 262-152. This bill would prohibit the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from enacting the proposed rule redefining waters of the United States in the Clean Water Act.

Senator Roberts has cosponsored and voted for legislation to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing the rule. He is an original cosponsor of S. 2496, the Protecting Water and Property Rights Act, and  S. 1006, the Preserve the Waters of the United States Act, and has also cosponsored Senator Rand Paul’s Defense of Environment and Property Act, S. 890. He supported an amendment no. 888 to preserve existing rights and responsibilities with respect to waters of the United States during debate of S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act. For more on Senator Roberts efforts go here.

In July, Senator Roberts and other Agriculture Committee Republicans met with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. In the meeting, Roberts expressed frustration with the Agency’s recent dismissal of concerns from Kansans regarding the proposed Waters of the U.S. rules. Roberts took issue with the EPA’s recent campaign calling these concerns “myths.”

“Just two weeks ago, you were in Missouri to meet with producers regarding the proposed Waters of the United States regulation. Farmers and ranchers had hoped they would be able to persuade you to recognize the far reaching and negative impacts of the proposed and interpretive rules, but the reports back have not been positive.” Roberts said. “To hear that their concerns were categorized as ‘silly’ or ‘ludicrous’ is truly frustrating.”

Roberts has fought regulations that hurt farmers and ranchers, hospitals, businesses and consumers. He is an outspoken opponent of costly regulations that harm the economy and job creation.

Senator Roberts is also an outspoken opponent of the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit that is now required in addition to any label requirements or restrictions already placed on the use of a pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

This double permitting requires approximately 35,000 pesticide applicators to get permits to cover about 500,000 applications per year. EPA estimates determined the permit rule will cost states, local entities and pesticide applicators $50 million and require one million hours to implement per year.

Roberts and Senator Mike Johanns have introduced a bill, S. 175, to ensure Clean Water Act permits are not needed for the applications of pesticides and amends FIFRA by stating that no permit shall be required for the use of a pesticide that is registered under FIFRA. Roberts introduced the same legislation in the last Congress where it was blocked from consideration on the Senate floor.

Responding to the concerns of Kansans, Senator Roberts has also fought the cap and tax scheme for its negligible impact on climate. He says cap and tax policies will simply pass on costs to consumers already struggling in this tough economy.

Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A body found in a Lawrence creek last month has been identified as that of a 57-year-old man.

Two people walking in Burcham Park discovered the decomposed remains Aug. 31, in a small creek near a bridge over the Kansas River.

Police said Wednesday the Douglas County coroner has identified the man as Lawrence resident Mark Kemberling. Officers said there was no sign of foul play, but the cause of death may not be known for several weeks.

Investigators also don’t know how long Kemberling had been dead. They’re asking to hear from anyone with information about the case.

SABETHA, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas man charged with child rape has been arrested in Florida after a month-long search.

KMZA-FM reports 51-year-old William Lee Vogel was taken into custody Tuesday by police in Fort Lauderdale. He was being held in the Broward County Jail pending extradition to Kansas.

Vogel, of Sabetha is charged in Nemaha County with engaging in sex with a child younger than 14. His Kansas bond has been set at $1 million.

Vogel has been sought since he was charged Aug. 11. Sabetha police brought in the U.S. Marshal’s Service in late August to help find him.

ROB MAADDI, AP Pro Football Writer

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers have insisted they didn’t see the violent images until this week.

The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: “You’re right. It’s terrible.”

The official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says the NFL never followed up. The person can’t confirm if anyone at the NFL watched the video.

The person said he shared the video — which he was unauthorized to release — because he wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice’s punishment.

MARYSVILLE, Kan. (AP) — The chances of a historic northeast Kansas train depot avoiding the wrecking ball are looking better.

The Manhattan Mercury reports that the Marysville City Council voted this week to approve the purchase of the depot from Union Pacific for $151,000. The railroad company also agreed to pay for the removal of the building’s exterior asbestos and lead paint, up to a maximum of $177,000.

If those costs aren’t too high, the deal will close Dec. 19. The station then will be sold to the Union Pacific Depot Preservation Society for $20,000. The deal allows the city to retain surrounding land, which can be sold to adjacent businesses and used for future development.

The depot was built in 1929. Union Pacific had been set to demolish the building.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic nominee Chad Taylor is refusing to answer questions about his petition to the Kansas Supreme Court to have his name removed from the ballot as a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Taylor told reporters Wednesday that he wouldn’t discuss the case for now.

Taylor ended his campaign last week. Some fellow Democrats nudged him out of the race in an attempt to give independent Greg Orman a better chance of defeating three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts in the Nov. 4 election.

The Democrat sent a letter of withdrawal to Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

But Kobach said Taylor didn’t comply with state election laws and has kept his name on the ballot.

Taylor filed a petition Tuesday with the state Supreme Court to force Kobach to relent.

United States Attorney’s Office

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, and Barry R. Grissom, United States Attorney for the District of Kansas, announced that law enforcement officers and victim service providers from throughout a multi-state region are in Kansas City, Mo., this week to attend the 11th annual Protect Our Children Conference at the Airport Hilton in Kansas City, Mo., through Friday.

The Protect Our Children provides training for those who are in the trenches combating Internet crimes against children, child exploitation, child sexual assault, and child abduction. Dickinson, Grissom and Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forte welcomed conference attendees this morning.

The three-day conference, which is hosted by United States Attorneys in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana, rotates among cities each year. The event provides a multi-disciplinary approach for law enforcement, medical and mental health and victim service providers. Experts and practitioners present a comprehensive strategy to protect children and seek justice on their behalf.

The overall goal of the 11th Annual Protect Our Children Conference is to increase community awareness, improve investigative and prosecutorial practices, and provide resources to all participants. This year’s conference showcases presenters from across the country specializing in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children and the treatment of child victims.

A special keynote address will be presented by Christopher Baughman, host of MSNBC’s new series on human trafficking, at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, 10, 2014.

Prior to Baughman’s retirement, he headed up the Pandering Investigation Team (PIT) and Human Trafficking Task Force for the Las Vegas Police Department, where his team arrested and convicted several of the city’s wealthiest and most violent criminals. He teaches pandering investigations to other departments across the nation, including members of the FBI, IRS, and Federal Parole and Probation Agencies. He is also author of the best-selling true crime human trafficking series, “Off The Street.”

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, closing keynote speaker Derek Clark will share his compelling personal testimony of the childhood trauma he endured and overcame, which has inspired thousands of people to overcome their own adversity. A published author and well-known expert in working with troubled children and youth, he will also share insight and training to equip us for dealing with young victims.

Plenary speakers will address such topics as “Trauma and Recovery,” “Neurobiology of Trauma,” and “Cyberbullying.” Sixteen workshops feature separate tracks with experts and topics that are specifically relevant to law enforcement, health care/medical, or victim providers. Special elective workshops will also be offered on a diverse range of topics.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today announced he is sponsoring the Stop Wasteful Bonuses Act (S. 2545), bipartisan legislation to rescind bonuses paid to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees who were involved in manipulating electronic waitlists.

“VA personnel should be accountable for their actions – otherwise the current system of mediocrity and failure will remain,” Sen. Moran said. “This legislation will help make certain that those who put veterans lives at risk will be held responsible for those actions and return bonuses they unjustly collected. We need leaders in the VA who are willing to take a stand, identify the problems, and get on the right path to resolve those problems so that veterans have a Department of Veterans Affairs worthy of their service.”

S. 2545 directs the VA Secretary to require VA employees who received bonuses in 2011 or later to repay those bonuses if they contributed to a deliberate omission from an electronic wait list the names of veterans waiting for health care. The employee’s superiors are also required to pay back bonuses if they knew, or reasonably should have known, of their subordinates’ purposeful omission of the names of veterans from electronic waitlists. The bill requires the VA secretary to identify these VA employees through reports issued by the department’s Inspector General.

Because the VA used compliance with wait-time metrics as a factor in determining employee bonuses, some VA employees were incentivized to use secret waitlists to artificially inflate compliance data in order to maximize their bonus payments. According to one report, employees at the Phoenix VA hospital received approximately $10 million in bonuses since 2011, while simultaneously using secret waitlists to hide delays in patients receiving care.

Sen. Moran has been a member of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees for 18 years, chaired the Health Subcommittee in the House for two years, and has worked with nine VA Secretaries.

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — A $12.5 million federal grant will pay for urgent repairs on the route of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief in western Kansas and eastern Colorado, but funding for upgrades in southern Colorado and New Mexico remains uncertain.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado announced Tuesday the Transportation Department approved the grant after Kansas and Colorado communities committed $9.3 million.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says the money will pay for repairs allowing passenger trains to maintain 60- and 70-mph speeds.

Magliari says BNSF Railway, which owns the tracks, runs only slower-speed freight trains and doesn’t need to keep the track up to high-speed standards.

Magliari says Amtrak is discussing funding for repairs in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico with state officials and BNSF.

A BNSF spokesman didn’t immediately return a call.

By Julie Rovner
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Heading into the 2014 mid-term congressional elections, health care is not shaping up as a make-or-break issue, according to a new poll.

Health care trails jobs and the economy as a top issue on voters’ minds this fall, 21 percent to 13 percent. Only 3 percent of voters in the monthly tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation mentioned the health law by any name (Affordable Care Act/Obamacare) when asked about issues most likely to determine their vote. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation).
Health care is even less important to independent voters, those who frequently decide close races. While Democrats and Republicans both chose health care as their second ranked issues with 15 and 16 percent respectively, independents rank of health care tied for fifth with 9 percent.

The issue is, however, nonetheless playing a role in the current campaigns, particularly in key swing states where control of the U.S. Senate is at stake. Republicans need to capture a net gain of six seats to gain a majority in that chamber.

Nearly three-quarters of registered voters in the 11 states considered likely to decide Senate control said they saw or heard health-related election ads in the previous month. (The poll was conducted Aug. 25 to Sept. 2). In those states, 34 percent said they saw or heard more ads opposed to the health law, while only 4 percent saw more ads supporting the law.

Forty-eight percent of registered voters said they are “tired of hearing candidates for Congress talk about the health care law” and think they should move on to other issues, while 47 percent say the health care debate is important and should continue. Not surprisingly, more than 60 percent of Republicans favor keeping the debate going. About the same percentage of Democrats say candidates should move on, and independents are evenly split.

Republicans are thought to have an edge in the coming elections, partly because the party out of power traditionally does well in a president’s second midterm and partly because the Democrats are defending several seats in traditionally GOP states such as Alaska, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Republicans voters are also more enthusiastic than Democrats about voting this fall. But apparently the health law isn’t driving that enthusiasm to any great degree. When Republicans who said they were eager to vote were asked the reason for their enthusiasm, the top answers were giving Republicans control of the Senate (13 percent), wanting their vote counted (10 percent) and getting rid of incumbents (10 percent). The health law was named by 3 percent.

The poll was conducted in a telephone sample of 1,505 adults, including 1,239 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points for both groups for the full sample.