MELISSA HELLMANN, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An effort to repeal national educational standards in math and reading is moving forward in the Kansas Legislature.

The House Education Committee approved a bill last month that would prohibit school districts from using Common Core standards. The Kansas Department of Education says the standards will better prepare students for college and life, but critics say they set a national curriculum instead of letting local leaders decide what’s best for students.

House Speaker Ray Merrick’s spokeswoman Rachel Whitten said the bill was sent back to committee to remove the most-opposed provisions. Common Core supporters say they worry that signals the bill could pass this year.

The standards call for a classroom focus on analytical skills instead of rote memorization.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — President Barack Obama says politicians who aspire to lead the country should try to bring Americans together, not divide them.

Obama says candidates who won’t do that don’t deserve the public’s support and votes.

He says the best leaders remind Americans that what they have common is more important than their differences.

The president spoke a day after protesters forced Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to cancel a campaign event in Chicago on Friday.

Trump’s political rivals and others blame him for using language they say is sowing division across the country rather than unity.

Obama commented at a Democratic Party fundraiser Saturday in Dallas.

Party officials say about 750 supporters paid up to $33,400 per person to attend the event at Gilley’s saloon.

DOUGLAS COUNTY- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 1p.m. on Saturday in Douglas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Chevy Impala driven by Carolyn S. More, 75, Eudora, was westbound on North 700 five miles south of Eudora.

The vehicle crossed left of center, traveled into the south ditch and hit a tree.

More was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

By Joshua Robinson

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – If you’re a water rights owner, get ready to pay higher fines if you don’t report your water usage on time.

The House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resource on Monday discussed Senate Bill 337, which will place tougher penalties on water right owners who do not report usage to Kansas Department of Water Resources.

Currently, the state can impose a $250 fine. SB 337 proposes to implement a $250 fine if water usage is not reported once but increases the fine to $1,000 if water usage is not reported two consecutive times.

Supporters say the bill is needed because some water rights owners are ignoring reporting requirements. The bill applies to people and establishments that use water for agricultural, industrial or municipal purposes. It includes farmers, city governments, businesses and irrigators, said committee chair Rep. Sharon Schwartz, R-Washington.

“This bill is for people to comply (with) current law. Sometimes, we have to find ways to make them fall in line just like a lot of other issues that are out there,” said Schwartz.
Kent Askren, director of public policy for the Kansas Farm Bureau, spoke in favor of Senate Bill 337. Askren believes the greatest tool for getting people to report water use is to increase the penalties for those who fail to do so.

“This bill is important because it will help encourage uniform water usage reporting all across our state,” Askren said. “It has reasonable guidelines for penalties, and . . . the main stimulus for the bill would be the … threat for possible suspension of water rights if water usage is not submitted.”

Askren said, however, that only a small percentage of water owners do not report on time.

Edited by Maddy Mikinski

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Parents of a former University of Kansas student who says she was raped in university housing are suing the university, claiming its housing is unsafe.

The university, however, says its campus and housing are safe and that it works hard to ensure student safety.

In the lawsuit filed Friday in Douglas County, James and Amanda Tackett’s daughter, Daisy Tackett, says she was a freshman at the University of Kansas when she was raped in a university apartment by another student-athlete in 2014.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims the university has misled the public by representing campus housing as safe.

The Associated Press doesn’t normally name rape victims, but Daisy Tackett, a former varsity rower, told The Lawrence Journal-World and The Dallas Morning News she wanted her name used.