DETROIT (AP) — General Motors says a new high-performance version of the Chevrolet Corvette can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds.

The 2015 Corvette ZO6 is the fastest car GM has ever made. The company says it can hit 60 mph in 2.95 seconds and can finish a quarter-mile in just under 11 seconds. It can reach 127 mph in one-quarter mile.

GM spokesman Monte Doran says GM believes it to be the first front-engine, rear-wheel-drive production car to break the three-second barrier.

The Z06 that achieved the times is equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. It has a supercharged V8 engine that puts out 650 horsepower.

The Z06 goes on sale early next year and will cost just shy of $80,000.

MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief Medical Writer

A study shows that giving teens free birth control encourages them to use long-acting methods and greatly cuts the chances they will become pregnant or have an abortion.

The study involved a project in St. Louis that offered 1,400 girls their choice of methods but stressed the benefits of IUDs and hormone implants that last three to 10 years over less reliable methods like birth control pills and condoms.

The average annual pregnancy rate was only one-fifth of the national average for sexually active teens. Birth and abortion rates also were much lower for teens offered free birth control.

The project also included about 7,500 older women. Similar results for the group as a whole were reported two years ago.

Results are in the New England Journal of Medicine.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas Bureau of Investigation administrator has been disbarred by the state Supreme Court after pleading guilty earlier this year to sexual exploitation of a child.

Former KBI deputy director Kyle G. Smith was third in line at the bureau last November when an agency secretary found a photo of a teenage girl engaged in sexually explicit conduct that was traced to Smith’s email account.

Smith pleaded guilty earlier this year and was sentenced to 32 months in prison, which was suspended and he was placed on probation for three years. He also must register as a sex offender for 25 years.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the Supreme Court issued its disbarment order Friday. Smith had surrendered his Kansas law license Sept. 17.

 

SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press

CALUMET, Okla. (AP) — A decade ago, states offered wind-energy developers an open-armed embrace and envisioned a bright future with cheap electricity, new jobs and steady income for landowners.

But now that wind turbines stand tall across many parts of the nation’s windy heartland, some leaders in Oklahoma and other states fear their efforts succeeded too well.

The industry is gobbling up huge subsidies in many states, drawing frequent complaints and using its powerful lobby to resist reforms.

Many of the same political leaders who initially welcomed the wind industry now want to regulate it more tightly, even in especially conservative states like Oklahoma. The change of heart is happening as wind farms creep closer to more heavily populated areas.

Opposition is also mounting about the loss of scenic views and environmental impacts.

SOLOMON Kan.- A teenager was injured in an accident involving a school bus just after 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Ottawa County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Freightliner school bus driven by Helen J. Stephens, 74, Solomon, was westbound on Solomon Road seven miles north of Solomon at Kansas 18.

The bus pulled out in front of a Freightliner semi-dump truck pulling two trailers loaded with rock and driven by Terry M. Studt, 62, Basehor.

The semi made an evasive maneuver but clipped the bus and came to rest on its side.

The bus had nine students on board. One student Morgan White, 13, Solomon, was transported to Salina Regional Medial Center. The KHP reported Studt was possibly injured but did not indicate where he was transported or treated. Stephens was not injured. The drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

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By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — The community mental health center here on Thursday will formally open a 26-bed crisis intervention center that’s expected to lead to fewer mentally ill adults being referred to Osawatomie State Hospital or ending up in jail.

“We’re hoping this new facility will take some pressure off the state hospital,” said Glea Ashley, chief executive at Valeo Behavioral Health Care. “But our main goal is to get people the services they need so they don’t deteriorate to the point where they end up in Osawatomie, or in jail, or in the emergency room. If we can get them stabilized and get them the wrap-around services they need, then hopefully we can get them back on their feet. That’s the goal.”
Last year Valeo referred 207 patients to Osawatomie State Hospital, one of two state-run hospitals for the mentally ill.

In recent weeks, the state hospital has admitted record numbers of patients. And more than 900 of the 9,600 inmates in the state’s prison system are known to have serious and persistent mental illnesses.

Valeo will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at the new facility, 400 S.W. Oakley. Several city, county and state officials, including Susan Mosier, director of Medicaid services in Kansas, are scheduled to address the gathering. The ceremony will coincide with a come-and-go reception that’s expected to last until 2 p.m.

“I think this is going to be great,” said Jim Mosbacher, director at Breakthrough House, a drop-in program for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses. “It’s desperately needed. It should help keep some people from sleeping under the bridge.”

Most of the new facility’s services will target Shawnee County residents.

“We always take care of Shawnee County first,” Ashley said. “But we’ll take individuals from throughout the state if we can and if they meet the criteria.”

Services at the new facility will include short residential stays, lasting three to five days.

The facility, she said, is not meant to replicate Rainbow Services Inc., the now-privatized crisis stabilization unit that replaced Rainbow Mental Health Facility, a state-run psychiatric hospital in Kansas City.

“As I understand it, a lot of the services at Rainbow now are new. It’s a new model,” Ashley said. “But a lot of what we’re doing will be more of an expansion of what we’ve been doing. We’re taking crisis services that we’ve had spread out over eight locations and we’re consolidating them into one central location.”

The new building, she said, also “should free up some space in the other eight locations, which are just packed with people now.”

Ashley said most of the facility’s services will be financed through the state’s Medicaid program.

Valeo, she said, is covering the project’s $5.4 million in construction costs.

“This has been a long time coming,” Ashley said. “This is 10 years of saving up our reserves. We’d thought of doing a separate capital campaign, but it would have taken too long and the need was just so great. We knew we needed to get it up and going.”

The new facility will not include additional detox beds, she said, because the operational funding is not available. “That’s a major issue,” Ashley said. “But the funding isn’t there. It’s not increasing; if anything, it’s decreasing.”

Valeo, she said, currently has 11 detox beds but only has enough funding for eight.

Last year, the mental health center served about 7,100 patients. Its annual budget – a mix of city, county, state and federal monies, plus private pay, donations and grants – stands at $19 million.

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — A 31-year-old southern Kansas man will have to wait until next month to learn if there is enough evidence to try him on a first-degree murder charge in the 2012 death of his girlfriend’s 18-month-old daughter.

The Wichita Eagle reports  the preliminary hearing for Justin Edwards of El Dorado was scheduled for Wednesday but was continued to Nov. 12.

Edwards is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2012 death of Jayla Haag, whose injuries included a broken jaw, missing teeth that had been forcibly removed, severe head injuries and multiple bruises. She also was suffering from malnourishment and tested positive for methamphetamine.

Her mother, Alyssa Haag, pleaded guilty in May 2013 to involuntary manslaughter.

Edwards had been in prison since early 2013 on drug convictions.