LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence voters narrowly rejected a new sales tax for a $28 million police headquarters.
Unofficial results show the proposal for a 0.2 percent sales tax failed by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin — about 915 votes.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports opponents criticized the City Commission its handling of the proposal. The project was presented to voters after the commission used about $25 million in available funding for the Rock Chalk Park sports complex.
Police officials say the city’s aging, small headquarters is inefficient, forcing staff to work at two different locations. Evidence and equipment are stored at four other locations.
Mayor Mike Amyx said after the vote that the city’s next step is to determine what the public’s expectations are for public safety in Lawrence.
There’s a national movement underway encouraging college campuses to better prevent and better respond to gender-based violence, whether it’s dating violence, sexual assault or stalking.
It’s being lead by the White House, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice and victims of such crimes on college campuses, according to Dr. Curt Brungardt, director of the Fort Hays State University Center for Civic Leadership.
“We’ve been proactive at Fort Hays State, thanks to folks in Student Affairs and Academic Affairs,” said Brungardt. “Still, FHSU needs to do a better job of preventing these types of crimes on our campus and we need to do a better job of responding when those crimes do take place.
“We’ve created a coalition of faculty, staff and students called the ‘Campus SAFE Initiative’ to look at ourselves. Are we doing what we can to prevent these kinds of crimes among our students? What can we do to better respond to these issues?
“I couldn’t be happier to be part of a proactive campus in this area, rather than being forced by the feds as some campuses in Kansas are,” Brungardt pointed out.
Washburn University in Topeka is one of several across the nation under federal investigation for the handling of sexual violence complaints.
Last week, Washburn President Jerry Farley signed a pledge to help stop sexual crimes on campus. Farley said the school does not have a rampant sexual violence problem, but it is important to ensure that students are safe.
Brungardt said there are two federal laws that “encourage colleges to do a better job of this — the 1972 Title IX Act ensures everyone has an equal opportunity for an education and, if someone is a victim of gender-based violence, they’re not getting an equal opportunity to get an education. The 2013 Campus Save Act requires college campuses to do prevention work on these things, and now the feds are starting to enforce that.”
“One in five women will be sexually assaulted during their college experience in this country. Every year, 100,000 Kansas women will be victims of domestic violence, and every 13 days a woman will die as a result of domestic violence in Kansas. Those numbers are alarming:”
“FHSU wants to be ahead of that, and we want to do it for the right reasons. We want to be sure we’re providing adequate prevention activities for all our students, as well as our staff, and when these crimes to take place, that services are available for victims, and the perpetrators are held accountable,” Brungardt said. “Domestic violence and sexual assault is a serious social disease that needs to be addressed. We’re doing better than we were a decade ago, but we have a long way to go, “
Beginning Thursday, construction will begin for new waterline installation along Hickory Street. The project will start on 29th Street working south toward 27th Street. On 29th Street at Hickory, the eastbound traffic will be restricted. The construction is scheduled to be completed within six weeks (pending weather conditions).
Signs will be in place to direct the traveling public. The traveling public should use caution and if at all possible avoid these areas.
For more information, call the Public Works Planning, Inspection and Enforcement Division at (785) 628-7310 or the contractor, Stripe and Seal, at (785)639-3919.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Saline County voters narrowly rejected a proposed half-cent sales tax to fund a new jail and justice center and parking garage.
Unofficial results from Tuesday’s election showed the tax for the $46.5 million project failed by 882 votes, 6,369 to 5,487.
Supporters of the tax argued that the county badly needs more space for its law enforcement facilities. They say the current 192-bed jail is constantly overcrowded and inmates have to be housed in surrounding counties. The new jail would have held 344 beds.
The justice center would have housed the courts, court services and county attorney, which currently are in a City-County building. The proposed building would have placed community corrections in an addition to the current jail and sheriff’s office, and added a 250-300 space parking garage.
NASHVILLE (AP) – The entertainer of the year category at the Country Music Association Awards could come down to whether the voters are feeling sentimental or feeling girl power. George Strait retired from touring this year, and Miranda Lambert is one fierce female in the boys’ club of country music. Blake Shelton and Keith Urban are high-profile contenders because of their reality shows, and Luke Bryan has sold huge numbers of records. Lambert leads the nominations with nine. The CMAs will air live tonight on ABC.
NEW YORK (AP) — Supporters of legalized marijuana use are celebrating a couple of victories on Election Day.
Voters in Oregon and the District of Columbia approved ballot measures allowing the use of marijuana by adults.
Oregon will join Colorado and Washington state, where voters approved the recreational use of pot two years ago. And the District of Columbia is on the same path, unless Congress blocks the move.
Alaska also had a marijuana legalization measure on its ballot.
In Washington state, voters who were faced with two competing measures on gun sales approved an expansion of background checks.
In Colorado and North Dakota, voters rejected measures that opponents feared could lead to bans on abortion. The Colorado proposal would have added “unborn human beings” to the state’s criminal code. But Tennessee voters approved a measure that will give state lawmakers more power to regulate abortion.
Voters in Arkansas and Nebraska approved increases in their states’ minimum wages. In Arkansas, it will rise from $6.25 an hour to $8.50 by 2017, in Nebraska it will go from $7.25 to $9.
More than half of registered voters in Ellis County turned out for Tuesday’s general election.
There were 10,265 ballots cast in Ellis County, a 57.41 percent voter turnout. An estimated 257 provisional ballots must still be counted, according to Ellis County Clerk Donna Maskus, but “not enough to make a difference in any local races,” she said.
Results are unofficial until canvassed Monday, Nov. 10, at 5 p.m. by the Ellis County Commission.
A previous story published Tuesday regarding turnout figures was incorrect. Hays Post apologizes for the error.
TOPEKA — Ken Selzer, a conservative Republican who supports repeal of the Affordable Care Act and Kansas’ participation in a multi-state compact designed to allow member states to take control of their Medicare programs, has been elected Kansas insurance commissioner.
Selzer, 61, defeated Dennis Anderson, a Democrat, in the general election Tuesday.
“The message we got from people all across Kansas tonight is that they are looking for someone to really focus on the issues and to bring a business-like approach to an important state department,” Selzer said during a telephone interview shortly after Anderson conceded defeat.
At the time, Selzer, who lives in Leawood, had captured 60 percent of the statewide vote.
He succeeds Sandy Praeger, a moderate Republican from Lawrence who chose not to seek a fourth four-year term.
Praeger had endorsed Anderson in September due to his support for expanding eligibility for the state’s Medicaid program, which Selzer opposes.
Anderson, 57, leads an Overland Park-based company that trains and provides continuing education courses for insurance agents. Like Praeger, he had expressed support for implementation of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, and for expanding the state’s Medicaid program. He opposed Kansas legislators’ decision to join the compact.
Selzer said he was committed to ensuring a “seamless transition” between his and Praeger’s administrations.
He downplayed the office’s role in implementing the Affordable Care Act, expanding Medicaid or defining the parameters of the health care compact.
“Those are legislative issues,” he said. “They’re for the Legislature to decide. I’ll be focusing my attention on the three things that the office is required to do, and that’s educate and advocate for consumers, regulate insurance companies, and license insurance agents.”
Selzer, who grew up in Marion and McPherson counties, is an executive managing partner with Aon Benfield, a global insurance and consulting firm. His office is in Kansas City, Mo. He has a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California. He’s also a certified public accountant.
He said he will resign his position with Aon Benfield before he’s sworn in as insurance commissioner on Jan. 12.
The Kansas Insurance Department is charged with ensuring the financial solvency of companies that sell health, life and property insurance in Kansas; enforcing regulatory compliance; educating and assisting consumers; and licensing agents.
In its 143-year history, the department has had one Democrat commissioner, Kathleen Sebelius, who later was twice elected governor before joining President Obama’s Cabinet as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Sebelius and Praeger are the only women to have been elected Kansas insurance commissioner.
Mark Peterson, chair of the political science department at Washburn University, said that despite Praeger’s decision to endorse Anderson, the insurance commissioner’s race didn’t seem to pique much interest among voters.
“It was a curious race in that we had the candidates talking about Obamacare and the health care compact when, in reality, as insurance commissioner they won’t have much authority over either question,” Peterson said. “It was sort of like they were grasping at straws to get the public to pay attention, but I don’t sense that the public did pay attention.”
Peterson called the race “one of the closest (on the ballot) to being a straight-party vote.”
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) â Law students at Washburn University will honor Kansas veterans and their families with a free, one-day Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic.
The event will take place from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the School of Law on the Topeka campus.
This is the second year the clinic has been held. Students work under the supervision of law school faculty to provide wills, living wills and durable powers of attorney for veterans and others with connections to the military.
All of the students in the clinic have been certified by the Kansas Supreme Court to work as legal interns.
Thomas Romig is dean of Washburn’s law school. He retired in 2005 as a major general in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps after 34 years of service.
According to the Kansas Secretary of State’s office, here are the vote totals from Tuesday’s general election. Results are not official until a statewide canvass.
United States Senate
Precincts Reporting:3479 of 3479
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence voters narrowly rejected a new sales tax for a $28 million police headquarters.
