DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Health officials are puzzled about how the most basic baking ingredient — flour — became contaminated with bacteria normally found in animal feces.
The tainted flour has sickened 46 people in 21 states and prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to warn cooks to treat it like other foods that could cross-contaminate kitchen surfaces.
Plus, the Food and Drug Administration is cautioning consumers to never taste raw cookie dough or cake batter.
HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man convicted on charges of indecent solicitation of a child and furnishing alcohol to a minor for illicit purposes is scheduled for a parole hearing in October with a public comment period next month.
John Scazzafavo, 31, Burrton was convicted and sentenced for furnishing alcohol to a 15-year-old girl at her older sister’s home in Hutchinson in November of 2008.
The state says he served those drinks in an attempt to get the young girl to have sexual relations, or at the very least, allow him to touch her in an inappropriate way.
He admitted that he went on a three-month drinking binge because of personal problems, but denies the allegations.
He was originally granted community corrections in this case, but violated the corrections and was ordered to serve the sentence.
He will go before the parole board in October for possible parole in November.
In December 2015, federal inspectors found incidents where hospital staff and patients weren’t protected from violent and inappropriate behavior. The hospital subsequently lost $1 million in monthly Medicare payments. ISTOCK
Years of problems at Osawatomie State Hospital reached a crisis point in the fall of 2015, when the sexual assault of a hospital employee by a patient triggered two failed inspections and the loss of federal funding.
Kansas had relied more on OSH after it reduced the number of state hospital beds in the 1990s. The idea was to put more money into community mental health services, but that hadn’t happened since the early 2000s — and those services actually lost money during the Great Recession.
The problems for OSH became worse in 2011, when the state used early retirement incentives to trim the hospital’s workforce but lost too many experienced employees. It all added up to fewer employees at OSH trying to take care of more patients with stagnant resources.
Inspectors from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found problems with treatment, patient safety and understaffing at OSH in 2014 and 2015. In one case, understaffing contributed to a patient’s death.
Still, they were willing to give the state more time to remedy the problems.
Lack of security checks
For a while, it appeared OSH was making progress. The hospital consistently stayed at or below capacity for the first time in years in 2015 because of an admissions moratorium. Renovations prompted by federal inspections were gradually removing safety hazards and funding stayed stable, though it remained below pre-recession levels.
According to a report from federal inspectors, a mental health technician was taking gowns to a male patient’s room during the night shift on Oct. 27, 2015, when the patient grabbed her, covered her mouth and sexually assaulted her. Two patients who were in the hall at the time said they heard screaming, went to the room and shoved the male patient, who had a history of domestic violence, off the worker.
When inspectors investigated the attack, they found security staff had falsified records to indicate they were performing regular checks, when in fact they weren’t. In interviews, three administrative staff members said they had been told that security employees weren’t performing checks, and a fourth said the hospital didn’t have enough nursing staff to adequately supervise the units.
According to the report, an administrative employee “revealed they had received reports from the hospital’s supervisory staff, prior to (the employee) being attacked, that they had concerns with security rounds staff incorrectly performing the required 10-minute security rounds. Some of the concerns were that security round staff are standing around talking with (mental health technician) staff, not performing their rounds, and leaving the unit before their replacement arrives.”
Inspectors also noted that the lack of supervision placed patients who might be suicidal at greater risk, because they had unsupervised access to bathroom fixtures that could be used for hanging.
“The cumulative effect of the systemic failure to supervise the provision of care, to perform required safety checks and to protect suicidal patients from hanging risks placed all patients receiving services at risk for harm,” the inspection said.
A letter from CMS, dated Nov. 27, noted it could cut off Medicare payments to OSH immediately due to its “ongoing non-compliance” but wouldn’t do so because of the hospital’s importance to an already strained mental health system. CMS officials gave the hospital one more chance to salvage its federal funding.
During a follow-up inspection in December 2015, CMS found more incidents where both staff and patients weren’t protected from violent and inappropriate behavior.
The inspectors found that a male patient with a conviction for criminal sodomy had been placed in a wing of the hospital with mostly female patients.
Female patients reported that the male patient touched them inappropriately, and he had what apparently was consensual sex with a female patient who had a history of suicide attempts, self-injury and attacks on other patients.
A staff member told the inspector that employees had raised concerns about placing the male patient with a history of sexual violence in a female wing, where a number of patients with severe needs were being treated.
“The case mix in this unit is loaded so heavy with high-risk patients that it is the ‘perfect storm,’” an OSH employee told inspectors.
Despite the concerns expressed by staff, neither patient was moved until their sexual encounter was discovered.
The inspector also said staff hadn’t taken steps to calm another male patient who had shown signs of agitation and potential violence before he punched and kicked staff members and stabbed another patient with a plastic utensil.
One staff member said other staff didn’t respond when a patient tried to hit him or her, and the nurse on duty “rolled her eyes” when the staff member spoke up, according to the inspection.
The incidents convinced federal officials that the hospital wasn’t doing enough to maintain a safe environment for staff and patients. CMS decertified OSH in December 2015, costing the hospital about $1 million in monthly payments for Medicare-eligible and uninsured patients.
John Worley, who became superintendent of OSH in August 2015, said staff tried to do their best, but stress, fatigue and a sense of “doom” from trying to implement the many changes inspectors wanted reduced their ability to work effectively. In addition, frequent turnover made it difficult to keep everyone fully trained, he said.
“There were very many things that were being requested through the hospital,” he said. “Some things just slid off the plate.”
‘Systemic failure’
CMS called the violence at OSH, and staff’s response to it, evidence of “systemic failure.” The hospital’s former superintendents largely agree.
Don Jordan, who was superintendent of OSH from 2002 to 2005 and secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services from 2006 to 2011, said psychiatric hospitals will never be free of violence, but the inspections indicate employees ignored basic safety protocols.
Worse, the final inspection report showed that direct-care employees weren’t doing required checks on patients, he said.
“When you can watch a unit for an hour and nobody does their job, that’s the problem,” he said. “If that’s not a systemic failure, I don’t know what is.”
Some former leaders of psychiatric hospitals placed the blame for the violent incidents at the top — with hospital and state leaders.
Steve Feinstein, who was superintendent at OSH from 1994 to 1998, described the inspection findings as “absolutely shocking.” The problems suggest a disconnect between the hospital’s leadership and front-line staff, he said, and a need for managers who have to the authority to identify and fix issues.
Don Jordan, who was superintendent of Osawatomie State Hospital from 2002 to 2005, said psychiatric hospitals will never be free of violence, but federal inspections from 2015 indicate employees ignored basic safety protocols. CREDIT HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR FILE PHOTO
“If those things had been found in a private hospital, people would have been fired right at the very top,” he said. “Some of these nursing problems are so egregious it’s almost unbelievable they happened in this day and age.”
Steve Ashcraft, superintendent of OSH from 2011 to 2013, defended current superintendent John Worley, who took over in August 2015. He laid blame on the state, however, for hiring people who lacked experience with mental health patients for leadership positions at a psychiatric hospital.
Worley “is very competent, but he’s an anomaly,” he said. “He can’t do everything himself.”
The problems involving violence and a lack of oversight may have had more to do with a lack of stability among leadership than any particular superintendent’s actions, some suggested. OSH had four superintendents from 2011 to 2015, not counting Wes Cole’s brief interim stint.
Stability is critical in psychiatric facilities, so front-line staff can focus on observing the patients for signs of trouble, said Walt Menninger, former CEO of the Menninger Clinic, which was based in Topeka until 2003.
“You want an environment that is fairly stable, so ideally the person working on the line with the patient … can focus on that job with 90, 95 percent of their attention,” he said. “If there is a problem with a higher level … if you have to divert some of your attention to wonder what is happening up there, you’re going to miss signals down here.”
Next: While significant improvements are under way at Osawatomie State Hospital, experts say Kansas needs to examine its mental health system as a whole to avoid a future crisis.
Megan Hart is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach her on Twitter @meganhartMC
KANSAS CITY–On National Child Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention & Awareness Day, Sunday, July 31, KidsAndCars.org is urgently calling upon the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require driver reminder technology in all vehicles that will help to prevent the tragedy of babies and toddlers dying in hot cars.
“Since 1990 more than 775 children have died in these preventable tragedies. Where is the outrage?” stated Janette Fennell, president and founder of KidsAndCars.org, the only national nonprofit child safety organization dedicated solely to preventing injuries and deaths of children in and around vehicles. “Automakers have already added numerous reminders to make sure we buckle up, don’t leave keys in the ignition, don’t leave our headlights on and many more. We think a driver reminder chime to save a child’s life should be just as important as preventing a dead car battery.”
So far this year at least 23 children have died of heatstroke in vehicles, nearly as many as the total for last year, KidsAndCars.org reports. Four died over the July 22-24 weekend in the states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Texas.
In 2012 Congress directed NHTSA to study technological fixes to prevent children from being left alone in vehicles and called on NHTSA to take faster action. However, a July 31, 2015, article in the Detroit News stated “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has no plans to require automakers to add in-vehicle technology that would alert parents who leave young children behind in hot cars,” the article said. This is despite the fact that NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind has said, “There’s no reason we can’t have technology backstops.”
These “backstops” could be developed and installed in new vehicles. “We must all insist on technology to help prevent parents and caregivers from unknowingly leaving children alone in vehicles and enduring a lifetime of pain, sorrow and grief,” Fennell said. In 2016 one manufacturer has introduced a reminder system in one of their 2017 models. But that is only in one vehicle model in the entire United States. “NHTSA needs to report back to Congress as directed about the potential use of other technology, including sensors that could alert a driver or passerby that a child is alone in a vehicle,” she added.
“There can be no compromise on safety for children in and around motor vehicles,” stated Henry Jasny, senior vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should set standards for technology to alert drivers when an infant or young child is left behind in a vehicle. We already have systems that alert drivers who leave their headlights on or when the gearshift is not in park. The technology to alert drivers when a child is inadvertently left in the vehicle is also available. NHTSA should put it to use.”
Trunk releases, the result of a years-long campaign by KidsAndCars.org, are an example of a successful, inexpensive solution. Required in all vehicles starting in 2002, they prevent child entrapment, saving an untold number of lives. “We know of no deaths in a vehicle equipped with a trunk release,” Fennell said.
Educational efforts, such as KidsAndCars.org’s “Look Before You Lock” program, also help to raise awareness among new parents and caregivers, but are only a partial solution. “It’s impossible to educate every parent and grandparent as well as other family members, caregivers and babysitters about the dangers,” says Susan Auriemma of KidsAndCars.org.
“We encourage individuals in all communities to take action if you see a child alone in a vehicle. Try to find the driver of the vehicle, call 911 and if the child seems to be in imminent danger, break the window furthest away from the child to rescue them,” stressed Amber Andreasen director of KidsAndCars.org. The organization offers a small tool called resqme™, an all-in-one window breaker and seat belt cutter that fits on your keychain. The spring-loaded device is tapped on the corner of a car window and the glass is shattered. (https://bit.ly/15NMOWj)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A pocket version of the U.S. Constitution has become a best-seller on Amazon.com.
The 52-page pamphlet printed by the National Center for Constitutional Studies sells for $1 and was in the Top 10 best-selling books on Amazon on Saturday afternoon. The site produces an hourly list of its best sellers.
Capt. Khan embodied the best of our values when his actions saved his unit. Last night, his parents told his story:https://t.co/3z8Wvf8Xdg
The Constitution emerged as a best-seller days after Muslim-American lawyer Khizr Khan, whose son was killed while serving in Iraq, flashed a pocket Constitution and offered to lend it to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The version Khan used at the convention did not appear to be the same as the one that became popular on Amazon.
A message sent to Amazon seeking sales details for the Constitution pamphlet was not immediately returned.
BROWN COUNTY –One person died in an accident just before 12:30a.m. on Saturday in Brown County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Chevy Silverado driven by Cole C Bergen, 27, Orleans, NE., was eastbound on 270th Street two miles east of Sabetha.
The vehicle went across roadway into the north ditch.
The driver overcorrected. The vehicle traveled back across roadway, hit a tree head-on, flipped, caught fire, and entrapped the driver.
Bergen was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Popkess Funeral Home. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
———
BROWN COUNTY – Law enforcement officials are investigating a fatal accident just before 12:30a.m. on Saturday in Brown County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a vehicle was eastbound on 270th Street two miles east of Sabetha.
The vehicle went across roadway into the north ditch.
The driver overcorrected. The vehicle traveled back across roadway, hit a tree head-on, flipped, caught fire, and entrapped the driver.
Name of the victim has not been released while the investigation is underway.
Investigators at the scene of the Hot Air Balloon crash in Texas- image courtesy KVUE News
LOCKHART, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the hot air balloon that crashed in Central Texas (all times local):
3:40 p.m.
A woman who lives near the site where a hot air balloon crashed in Central Texas says she saw a giant fireball.
Margaret Wylie, who lives about a quarter-mile from the site and has an unobstructed view, told The Associated Press that she was letting her dog out Saturday morning when she heard a “pop, pop, pop.”
She said, “I looked around and it was like a fireball going up.”
Wylie also said the fireball was located under large power lines. As she described it, the fireball was about four stories high — almost high enough to reach the bottom of the power lines.
Authorities say there are likely no survivors after the hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught fire and crashed. Wylie says she did not hear anyone scream or call out.
Wylie said that she called 911. She added that the weather seemed clear and that she often sees hot air balloons in the area.
1:10 p.m.
Officials say a “significant investigation” will be done at the site of the Texas hot air balloon crash, which caused a “significant loss of life.”
Erik Grosof with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference Saturday that there are a “number of fatalities” but would not provide an exact number.
He also said the federal agency has deemed it a major accident and a full-bore investigation will begin Sunday when more federal officials arrive.
The crash happened at about 7:40 a.m. Saturday. Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration said earlier that the balloon was carrying at least 16 people.
Authorities have not said where the balloon was based out of, though Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel C. Law told The Associated Press that it’s the kind of situation where people can walk up and buy a ticket, unlike an airplane, which would have a list of names.
___
12:10 p.m.
The site of a hot air balloon crash in Central Texas appears to be directly under large power lines.
Authorities have said there are likely no survivors after a hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught fire and crashed near Lockhart on Saturday morning.
The land near the crash site is mostly farmland, with corn crops and grazing cattle.
Cutting through that farmland is a row of massive, high-capacity transmission lines, and the site of the crash appears to be right below the overhead lines.
Authorities are investigating the crash, and have not yet provided further details. A large number of law enforcement personnel is at the scene.
___
12 p.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says in a statement that he and the first lady are extending their condolences following a hot air balloon crash in which authorities say there are likely no survivors.
Abbott said in a statement Saturday that he and his wife, Cecilia Abbott, “extend our deepest condolences” for those affected” by the “heartbreaking tragedy.”
Authorities have said there are likely no survivors after a hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught fire and crashed near Lockhart on Saturday morning.
Abbott says he and his wife’s thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community. He says, “The investigation into the cause of this tragic accident will continue, and I ask all of Texas to join us in praying for those lost.”
___
11:05 a.m.
Authorities say it is likely there are no survivors after a hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas.
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Saturday that investigators are determining the number of victims and their identities.
Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration said in an earlier statement that the accident happened shortly after 7:40 a.m. Saturday near Lockhart, Texas, when the hot air balloon crashed into a pasture. Lunsford said there were at least 16 people on board.
Lunsford said that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are going to the scene to investigate.
Location of Friday’s possible carbon monoxide deaths-google map
OSAGE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Osage County are investigating the death of two men on Friday in a small community south of Topeka.
On Friday, officers responded to 636 W. North Street in Carbondale, according to a media release.
They found two men who may have died from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.
The victims have been identified as Gregory K. Bayless, 54 and Troy Adkins, 51, both of Topeka.
Adkins and Bayless were using gas-powered generators in the house while working, there was no electricity on in the house, according to the sheriff’s department.
Final autopsy results are still pending, which may take up to eight weeks.
Senator Moran with Sec. James at McConnell on Friday- photo office of Senator Moran
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James visited McConnell Air Force Base, calling the Wichita base a “key location.”
James visited McConnell on Friday with Sen. Jerry Moran to tour some of the $277.5 million in military base construction tied to the arrival of new KC-46A tankers.
The Wichita Eagle reports (https://j.mp/2ahudWp ) James called the base a “key location for us in the United States Air Force.”
She spoke from the headquarters of the 184th Intelligence Wing, the Kansas Air National Guard component on base. James said the arrival of the KC-46 tankers, which are expected to start coming in August 2017, will add “an absolutely fantastic capability” to the Air Force.
It was her visit to McConnell since her 2013 appointment by President Obama.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two Bonner Springs teens addressed the Democratic National Convention, recalling how they were fired after asking why one had been paid 25 cents an hour less than the other for the same job at the same restaurant.
Jensen Walcott and Jake Reed took their story of wage discrimination to the Democratic party convention in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Issues arose this month after the 17-year-olds found summer jobs at a pizza restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas. When Jensen asked why she was going to earn $8 an hour while Reed was set to earn $8.25 for the same job with the same amount of work experience, they were fired.
The Kansas City Star reports that the pair told the crowd discrimination of any sort shouldn’t be tolerated.
DALLAS (AP) — Cheaper oil is leading to the lowest summer gasoline prices in years, and it is causing heartburn for oil companies and their shareholders.
On Friday, Exxon Mobil Corp. reported its smallest quarterly profit in nearly 17 years — although it still earned $1.7 billion. Chevron Corp. lost money.
The reports from the two biggest U.S. oil companies followed weak second-quarter results from BP and Royal Dutch Shell.
Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said the results “reflect a volatile industry environment.”
The companies have slashed spending on exploration and cut budgets to offset lower prices, but that has yet to create a sustained rebound in oil prices.
U.S. crude rallied from below $30 a barrel in February to above $50 in early June. But more recently oil prices have faded again, with crude inventories remaining stubbornly high and the global economy mired in a funk. This week, U.S. oil hit a three-month low.
Production of oil in U.S. shale fields has fallen, and wildfires in Canada and unrest in Nigeria have also interrupted oil flows at times this year. Still, major players like Saudi Arabia continue to pump away.
The outlook is good for drivers, bad for anyone working in, or investing in, the energy sector. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that oil will average $43.57 this year and $52.15 next year.
“Oil prices shot up to $50 sooner than we all thought,” said Brian Youngberg, an analyst with Edward Jones. “In the near term they could fall back a little farther, but I’m confident oil prices will be in the $50s for most of 2017.”
For consumers, that’s like money in the bank, at least compared with two years ago. The average U.S. price for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $2.14 on Friday, the lowest price since April, according to auto club AAA.
Gasoline prices are skidding because of high inventories. The decline in pump prices defies the usual pattern of higher prices during summer, when people drive more. Motorists are filling up on the cheapest July gasoline in 12 years, the auto club says.
Exxon said its profit fell because of lower oil and gas prices and weaker margins from its refining operations, which had been one of the company’s strengths.
“When crude prices collapsed, (refiners) decided to make as much gasoline as they could,” said Stewart Glickman, an analyst for S&P Global Market Intelligence. While those inventories have come off their highs, he said, remain near the top of the five-year average.
Exxon’s net income tumbled 59 percent from a year ago, and also fell below the first-quarter earnings of $1.8 billion. It was the Texas company’s smallest profit since $1.5 billion in the third quarter of 1999.
The profit came to 41 cents per share, well below the 64 cents per share forecast from analysts surveyed by FactSet. Exxon did not exclude any one-time costs from the per share calculation.
Revenue fell 22 percent, to $57.69 billion.
Chevron, the second-biggest U.S. oil company, reported a loss of $1.47 billion, a reversal from a year-ago profit of $571 million. The results were dragged down by write-downs in its exploration and production business. The California company said its adjusted profit was 35 cents per share, 3 cents better than analysts predicted.
Chairman and CEO John Watson said his company was in the midst of “our ongoing adjustment to a lower oil-price world.”
Revenue dropped 27 percent to $29.28 billion. The company got $36 a barrel for oil, down from $50 a year earlier, and natural gas also was cheaper. Production declined 3 percent.
Photo by Lisa Rodriguez/KCUR The Finney County Democrats started meeting in December. With signs in English and Spanish at the Beef Empire Days Parade in Garden City, they were hoping to capture Latino voters’ attention.
Kansas is a red state. In western Kansas, it’s deep red. But it’s also one of the most demographically diverse regions in the state. The population in several cities in the southwest corner is almost 50 percent Hispanic.
In Finney County, a small group of young Democrats are working to engage that huge group of potential voters who have long been in the background.
The Finney County Democratic Party had fallen apart about 10 years ago, over a divide between blue-collar Democrats and environmentalists about the expansion of a coal-fired power plant in Holcomb.
Since then, Johnny Dunlap, the 1st Congressional District Chair for the Kansas Democrats, has watched party organization come and go with elections.
As Democrats flounder, demographics change
The first time Dunlap tried to organize Democrats in Finney County was in 2012, but the group stopped meeting after the presidential election.
“In 2014, I went over again and organized them, and they knocked on doors, and made phone calls for (gubernatorial candidate) Paul Davis. … And then the election came and went and it, sort of, fell off – they stopped meeting,” Dunlap said.
At the same time, the Hispanic population has continued to grow steadily. Latinos make up nearly half of the total population in Finney County.
“He’s a Democrat, running in the 39th. For us that’s like … a unicorn.”
– John Doll, Republican candidate for the Kansas Senate 39th District seat
Dunlap is a high school English teacher in Garden City, and he said most of his students speak Spanish at home.
Waves of immigrants have been drawn to the region by its prospering beef industry.
That industry is celebrated each year at Beef Empire Days festival in Garden City. Along the festival’s parade route, you could hear a mix of English and Spanish.
The parade is a required stop on the campaign trail. All of the candidates in Senate District 39 are there, including one of Dunlap’s young recruits: Zach Worf.
“He’s a Democrat, running in the 39th. For us that’s like … a unicorn,” Republican candidate John Doll said.
While Democrats are like unicorns around here, Hispanic candidates are even more rare.
But in nearby Dodge City, which resembles Garden City demographically, Johnny Dunlap found one Latino willing to run: 22-year-old Miguel Angel Rodriguez.
Rodriguez grew up in Liberal, and his parents both work for the National Beef Packing Company in Dodge City.
Rodriguez said he’s trying to appeal to a broader audience than just Latinos, but he admits that his candidacy is significant, because it means someone is making an effort on their behalf.
There’s only one Latino office-holder for miles around — the city clerk in Garden City.
“They see a Hispanic going into there with their voice, and growing up in the community and knowing what their hardships are,” Rodriguez said.
Nearly 40 percent of the voting-age population the 38th Senate District — where Rodriguez is running — is Hispanic.
But if finding a Latino to run for office is hard, try getting thousands to vote.
“When you look at the number of registered Hispanic voters, versus the number of registered Hispanic voters who actually voted, there’s a huge drop-off,” Dunlap said.
Registered Latinos often don’t vote
Dunlap crunched the numbers for Ford County, which is in the 38th District. Although voter registration forms don’t ask for race or ethnicity, he used information from the Kansas Democratic Party to determine the number of registered Hispanic voters.
According to his research, in the 2014 general election, just shy of 15 percent of registered Hispanic voters actually voted. That’s compared to 54 percent of all other registered voters.
Garden City restaurant owner Jorge Guzman admits he doesn’t vote.
“The thing of it is, like a lot of people like soccer and they go for a certain team. Well, I don’t like to be disappointed, so I don’t go for any team at all,” he said.
He said he understands the argument that if you don’t vote you can’t complain.
“Well I don’t complain either,” he said.
Guzman’s restaurant, Las Margaritas, is a popular spot in Garden City. His wife is a real estate agent. His family gets along just fine. He said he has no reason to complain.
Guzman’s cousin and business partner, Maria del Rayo, disagrees.
“Yo creo que es la problema de los Latinos que no nos comprometemos en la política … Estamos demasiado preocupados por sobrevivir, porque nos vaya bien, pero no nos unimos y exigimos nuestros derechos en este país.”
“I think that’s the problem with Latinos – that we don’t get involved in politics. We’re too worried about surviving, because we do well, but we won’t unite and demand out rights in this country,” Del Rayo said.
She said Latinos are scared of getting more involved. A lot of immigrants feel like even though they might have proper documentation to vote, they don’t want to become targets, she said.
At Beef Empire Days, the Finney County Democrats were registering voters in Spanish.
Worf, the Democrat in the 39th District, is still trying to get Latino votes, with campaign materials in English and Spanish.
Doll, for his part, said his campaign is focusing on Republicans and independents, including Latinos, though his campaign materials are all in English.
SALINE COUNTY – A Kansas woman died in an accident just before 7p.m. on Friday in Saline County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Chevy Venture Van driven by Misty Marie Miller, 35, Salina, was westbound on Interstate 70 two miles west of Solomon Road.
The van left the roadway, traveled across the median and struck an eastbound semi.
Miller was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Carson Geisendorf Funeral Home.
The semi driver Matthew Edward Palmer, 42, Glenn Heights, TX., and a passenger were not injured.
Miller was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
KANSAS CITY–On National Child Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention & Awareness Day, Sunday, July 31, 
