HermanMy opponent recently released a statement accusing our campaign of spreading misinformation about him, claiming our “attack” on him was fueled by “misinformation and fear.” The fact is, Rep. Billinger votes overwhelmingly with Gov. Brownback. His evidence to the contrary is cherry picked. He cites votes he made during an election season to distance himself from Governor Brownback, but refuses to own up to his prior votes; votes that are still harming Kansas.
To be clear, Rep. Billinger voted for the largest tax increase in Kansas history – a tax increase that disproportionately targets working Kansans by hiking the sales taxes. I don’t agree with sticking working Kansas with the bill for business owner income tax exemptions.
My opponent likes to say he is “pro-life” but how can he justify his vote to take away the child-care tax credit? How can he justify cuts to seniors, through less funding for meals-on-wheels, and in-home care services? He can’t. So he has to try to muddy the waters. He can’t hide his record.
As your state Senator I will fight relentlessly to bring real, sensible economic growth to our state. I will advocate for income tax policies that do not shift the burden to the middle class; I will work to abolish the sales tax on food; I will fight to bring real economic growth back to Kansas. I will do everything to halt the raids on KDOT funds, the raids on KPERS, and for better mental health services to protect our safety.
It’s time to move Kansas beyond Brownback and the disaster he’s made in Kansas; we can’t trust someone who helped make the mess to actually clean it up.
Temperatures will cool back some during the week ahead, but will remain above normal. Despite normal highs only in the mid 50s we can expect highs to be in the 70’s today and then the 60’s Sunday through next week. A storm system over New Mexico will bring an increasing opportunity for precipitation. The most likely period will be Sunday into Monday.
Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 69. Light south southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. South wind around 8 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. South wind 9 to 17 mph. Sunday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 51. South wind 8 to 11 mph. Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 65. East southeast wind 5 to 9 mph.
Joanna Slusky, a KU scientist pictured in her lab, was announced today as one of five recipients of a fellowship from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for her work on antibiotic resistance. SARAH MULLINAX
By DAN MARGOILES
A University of Kansas scientist has been named one of the first recipients of an $825,000 fellowship for her work in developing a protein designed to thwart antibiotic resistance.
Joanna Slusky, 37, who heads the Slusky Lab at KU and specializes in outer membrane proteins, is one of five inventors nationwide recognized by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in Palo Alto, California.
The foundation, established by the co-founder of Intel Corp. and his wife, anticipates awarding a total of $33.75 million to support 50 promising inventors over the next 10 years, according to its website. Slusky is part of the first cohort announced today.
Slusky is an assistant professor of computational biology and molecular biosciences at KU. She was recruited there two years ago after completing postdoctoral work at Stockholm University and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Her lab looks at how outer membrane proteins fold. It seeks to develop applications for cancer therapeutics, vaccine development and environmental remediation.
The invention for which Slusky is being recognized is a so-called helper protein that disables a bacterium’s ability to protect itself from attack by antibiotics.
“In order to do that, what one needs to do is disable the resistance mechanism of the bacteria,” Slusky said in a telephone interview.
Slusky said the resistance mechanism is a protein pump that pushes antibiotics out of a cell, thwarting their ability to kill it.
“So I’m making proteins that disable that resistance and disable it in a particularly interesting way that has never been tried before,” she said.
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics have spawned antibiotic-resistant bacteria, one of the world’s most pressing health problems. Illnesses that were once easily treatable with antibiotics now often mutate into dangerous and sometimes life-threatening infections.
“More than 700,000 people are dying worldwide every year from antibiotic-resistance infections,” Slusky said.
Some studies project that, if current trends continue, by 2050 more people in the United States will die from such infections than from cancer.
Slusky’s invention is still a long way from coming to market. It has yet to undergo preclinical studies, let alone clinical trials in humans.
“It’s probably a minimum of 15 years off, or something like that,” Slusky said. “And that’s partly related to the fact that it takes so long, once you have something that works, to bring to market.”
The Moore Foundation money – $825,000, including $50,000 from KU, over three years – will help accelerate that process. The funds will enable Slusky to do more hiring, plan more long-term experiments and, with any luck, begin pre-clinical trials in three to five years.
“We are investing in promising scientist problem solvers with a passion for inventing – like Gordon Moore himself,” said Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, in a news release. “By providing support to these early-career researchers, we can give them the freedom to try out new ideas that could make a real and positive difference.”
The release said that Slusky’s invention “could have a global impact on antibiotic resistance and re-establish the efficacy of antibiotics.”
The other recipients of this year’s Moore Foundation awards are Deji Akinwande of the University of Texas; Shane Ardo of the University of California, Irvine; Xingjie Ni of Pennsylvania State University; and Mona Jarrahi of the University of California, Los Angeles.
The awards are being given out on the 50th anniversary of Gordon Moore’s now-famous prediction, known as Moore’s law, that components on integrated circuits would double every 18 months, exponentially increasing computer power.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas man died in an accident just after 11p.m. on Friday in Shawnee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported Anthony C. Espinosa, 29, and Jamie D. Cooper, 25, both of Junction City were changing a tire on a disabled vehicle on the inside shoulder of westbound Interstate 70 one mile west of the east Topeka Toll Plaza.
A westbound Ford F150 struck both men before continuing westbound on the Interstate.
Espinosa was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Shawnee County Coroner’s office.
Cooper was not transported for treatment.
Authorities are searching for a truck bearing an unknown Kansas 60-day temp tag, missing part of the driver’s side mirror and and has additional damage to the front driver’s side, according to the KHP.
AP-FBH–Kansas Prep Scores,
Friday’s Scores
Eds: CORRECTS to show Lawrence Free State 42, Garden City 7 Lawrence Free State 22, Garden City 17
By The Associated Press
PREP FOOTBALL
Class 2-1A State Tournament
Regional
Pittsburg Colgan 42, Olpe 21
Plainville 49, Elkhart 6
Smith Center 52, Moundridge 6
Troy 42, Valley Heights 16
Washington County 18, Jefferson North 0
Class 4A Div-I State Tournament
Regional
Basehor-Linwood 21, DeSoto 14
Bishop Miege 64, KC Piper 0
Buhler 45, Abilene 13
Louisburg 20, Independence 0
Maize South 63, Ulysses 14
McPherson 21, Andale 20
Mulvane 42, Augusta 7
Ottawa 45, Labette County 13
Class 4A Div-II State Tournament
Regionals
Frontenac 56, Iola 14
Girard 28, Columbus 24
Holcomb 34, Scott City 20
Topeka Hayden 55, Osawatomie 34
Wichita Collegiate 35, Clay Center 7
Class 5A State Tournament
Regional
Goddard 20, Wichita Bishop Carroll 12
Great Bend 16, Andover 7
St. Thomas Aquinas 42, Bonner Springs 14
Topeka Seaman 62, KC Turner 14
Valley Center 27, Maize 13
Wichita Heights 42, Emporia 7
Class 6A State Tournament
Regional
Blue Valley 49, Olathe South 35
Hutchinson 42, Junction City 41, OT
Lawrence Free State 42, Garden City 7
SM East 36, Gardner-Edgerton 35
Washburn Rural 24, Manhattan 21
MANHATTAN -Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are searching for a juvenile who was reported as missing from his home on October 21st, 2016. RCPD is currently seeking information on the whereabouts of Kobi Scroggin, 16, of Manhattan, Kansas. Anyone with information should contact the department immediately by phone (785-537-2112) or by using the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers (785-539-7777).
Scroggin is a 16 year old white male with brown hair and brown eyes. He stands approximately 5 feet 9 inches and weighs approximately 140 pounds.
Scroggin was last seen wearing a black Adidas style hooded sweatshirt, with black pants and black shoes.
Scroggin has been known to possess firearms in the past. Please do not attempt to contact or detain this juvenile.
Those members of the public that choose to use the Crime Stoppers Service can remain completely anonymous and could potentially qualify for a cash reward. The Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers can be contacted online through the “submit a tip” service at www.ManhattanRileyCountyCrimeStoppers.com or through the “TipSubmit Mobile” app; free on Android and iOS devices.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — An attorney for Chelsea Manning says the transgender soldier imprisoned in Kansas has tried to kill herself for the second time in recent months.
Vincent Ward said Friday that Manning attempted suicide last month at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, though the attorney declined to divulge specifics. Manning also tried to take her own life in July.
Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman, on Friday would not discuss the latest attempt, citing medical privacy laws.
Manning is serving a 35-year sentence. She was arrested in 2010 as Bradley Manning and was convicted in 2013 in military court of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks.
Manning was an intelligence analyst in Iraq at the time.
ABILENE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman has been sentenced to more than 14 years and four months in prison in the death of her 13-month-old son.
The Salina Journal reports that 30-year-old Jessica Stinnett, of Enterprise, was sentenced Wednesday in Dickinson County for reckless second-degree murder and child abuse in the death of Maddox Jones. Stinnett pleaded no contest to the charges in September.
Dickinson County Attorney Daryl Hawkins says Stinnett indicated in court that her drug problem contributed to the toddler’s death in May.
The boy died at a hospital where he was taken with bruising and obvious signs of trauma. He had been home with his mother at the time he was injured.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a young girl is dead and another girl and a woman injured after stabbings in Wichita.
The attacks happened around 6:30 a.m. Friday. Police responding to a call about an accident found one girl and the woman inside a Jeep that had crashed into an empty van in a Wichita parking lot.
The girl is believed to be between the ages of 5 and 7 and died from multiple stab wounds. The woman also suffered multiple stab wounds.
A second girl, possibly a sister age between 4 and 6 years old, was later found with stab wounds in a field several miles away near Valley Center.
Wichita Police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow says police have “a person of interest” in custody and are looking for another man Antonio Ray.
————
SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement officials are investigating a Friday morning stabbing death and aggravated battery and searching for a suspect.
Just after 6:30a.m., police responded to report of an injury accident in a parking lot near the intersection of Lincoln and Oliver in Wichita, according to police.
They found a young girl and a twenty-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds.
Both were transported to a local hospital where the child died.
Police confirmed just after 10 a.m. on Friday they had located Hassan Wright, 49, as a person of interest in connection with the stabbing.
They are also looking for Antonio Ray, 25, in connection with the case.
Police asked the public to call 911 immediately if you know where Wray is or see him.
He is considered armed and dangerous.
Wright has previous convictions for 2nd-degree murder and aggravated battery in Wyandotte and Sedgwick County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement officials are investigating a Friday morning stabbing death and aggravated battery and searching for a person of interest.
Just after 6:30a.m., police responded to report of an injury accident in a parking lot near the intersection of Lincoln and Oliver in Wichita, according to police.
They found a young girl and a twenty-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds.
Both were transported to a local hospital where the child died, according to police.
Police are looking for Hassan Wright, 49, as a person of interest in connection with the stabbing.
Person of interest in this mornings homicide. Please call 911 immediately if you know where he is . Armed and dangerous pic.twitter.com/4VEcjqehYN
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas transportation officials will host two public events to celebrate the completion of a long-waited highway project nearly three years after the start of construction.
Ribbon cutting for the South Lawrence Trafficway. The completion of this project is a testament to faith and persistence. #kslegpic.twitter.com/2xitpkxggj
The Kansas Department of Transportation hosted a ribbon cutting and public walk-bike event Friday for the opening of the east leg of the Kansas 10 South Lawrence Trafficway.
The 6-mile stretch of four-lane highway will complete a loop around the city of Lawrence and links Kansas 10 on the east side of Lawrence to a part of the highway that opened on the west side in 1998.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The president and general manager of the Louisburg Cider Mill says products made at the mill are not the source of an E. coli outbreak.
State health investigators have confirmed seven cases of E. coli that may have originated during the mill’s Ciderfest in late September and early October.
Mill president Josh Hebert told The Kansas City Star that state and federal investigators tested manufactured products, processing equipment and some retail items at the mill and all the samples came back negative.
Herbert says it’s the first time in 39 years of business that his mill has had such an issue.
He told customers in a letter that the business will continue to help with the investigation to find out how the outbreak occurred and how to avoid it.
Listen as ‘Voice of the Chiefs’ Mitch Holthus recaps last week’s win in Indianapolis over the Colts and previews Sunday’s home game with Jacksonville.
Temperatures will cool back some during the week ahead, but will remain above normal. Despite normal highs only in the mid 50s we can expect highs to be in the 70’s today and then the 60’s Sunday through next week. A storm system over New Mexico will bring an increasing opportunity for precipitation. The most likely period will be Sunday into Monday.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a young girl is dead and another girl and a woman injured after stabbings in Wichita.
