The Ladder Creek farm site in Greeley County is the largest hog-growing facility in Kansas. -Photo by Phil Cauthon
ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press
TRIBUNE, Kan. (AP) — Only 1,200 people live in Kansas’ smallest county, where using irrigation is no longer an option for many because the groundwater underneath the arid prairie is nearly exhausted due to decades of overuse.
Economic development was at a standstill, so residents voted five years ago to allow the nation’s second-largest hog-feeding operation to move in. A second feeding site was just approved by the state.
It was a significant tradeoff.
Kansas-based Seaboard Foods is now its top taxpayer and accounts for roughly 9 percent of Greeley County’s tax base.
But though the thousands of hogs require less water than it would take to irrigate crops, the company is pumping wells that had been idled for a decade. Environmentalists and some residents fear the remaining groundwater will be used up.
Roads across Kansas are icy and slick. The Kansas Highway Patrol reported troopers worked over a dozen injury or fatality accidents over the past three days.
Roll over accidents continue this morning.
This accident at Southeast 36th south of Woodlawn in Harvey County.
The driver was not injured.
If you must travel, use extreme caution. Road, especially elevated surfaces, are icy. Go slow & drive for conditions. #kswx
Photo by Andy Marso Sen. Forrest Knox, right, a Republican from Altoona, leads a recent meeting of the Kansas Legislature’s 2015 Special Committee on Foster Care Adequacy. Knox provided a set of notes for the special committee that included links to a high-profile case in Utah in which a judge initially pulled a foster child from the home of a lesbian couple.
As concerns circulate about the attitude of the Kansas Department for Children and Families toward adoptions by homosexual couples, a special legislative committee is mulling controversial research about the effects of gay parents on children.
At a meeting last week, the 2015 Special Committee on Foster Care Adequacy heard concerns about the state’s foster care system, which has hit record levels of out-of-home placements in recent years.
A portion of the meeting was set aside to hear from Donald Paul Sullins, a priest and professor at Catholic University of America. Sullins, testifying via speakerphone, told the committee his recent research indicates that children of same-sex couples are more likely to have a host of emotional problems and be victims of sexual abuse.
Sullins’ study, based on a large sample of government data gleaned from surveys performed between 1997 and 2013, has come under scrutiny based on its methodology. Philip Cohen, a sociologist from the University of Maryland, joined other researchers in saying there were variables Sullins did not differentiate for, such as how long the children in question had been with the gay couple, whether the gay couple were married or whether one of the parents was the child’s biological parent.
Instead, he grouped all children living with a same-sex couple in one cohort and compared it to children living with married, biological or adoptive parents of different sexes. Cohen also critiqued the peer-review process used for Sullins’ latest research and the journals in which it was published.
Sullins discussed some of the limitations of his research in an interview with Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic publication. He also said that though his research revealed substantial differences in outcomes when children were parented by a same-sex couple versus two biological, married parents, he found no differences when he compared the children of same-sex couples to children being parented by opposite sex couples in which one or both were not the child’s biological parents.
That finding was not discussed at the recent foster care committee meeting. The committee also heard from Clinton Anderson, who heads an office on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender concerns for the American Psychological Association.
Anderson said the association reviewed Sullins’ study and others that show negative outcomes for children of gay parents but found they have “very substantial methodological problems” and could not repeat their results.
He said the bulk of the scientific literature shows no differences in the parenting strengths of same-sex parents versus opposite-sex couples. Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Republican from Shawnee, said the establishment of Anderson’s office within the American Psychological Association had biased the organization in favor of gay couples.
“It’s too bad that these children have become the subject of political correctness instead of looking at the scientific evidence,” Pilcher-Cook said. Rep. Annie Tietze, a Democrat from Topeka who is involved with the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, said she feared some of the research the committee was being asked to examine did not account for the prevalence of same-sex couples stepping up to foster children who had been through trauma and had emotional problems.
“I’m real concerned that the way this is headed will be to not allow same-sex parents to have foster care rights,” Tietze said. “I would also, then, in light of that, like to know how many children would that increase in the system that we couldn’t place.”
Knox and his bill
The foster care committee is led by Sen. Forrest Knox, a Republican from Altoona, who said the differences between the two sides on same-sex foster parenting seem irreconcilable.
In February, Knox introduced a bill that would have given preferential treatment in the foster care process to Kansans who are married and follow a list of behavioral mandates like keeping alcohol and tobacco out of their homes.
At the time, gay couples would have been excluded from consideration, because the U.S. Supreme Court had yet to issue the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision that compelled Kansas to recognize gay marriage.
Knox provided a set of notes for the special committee that included links to a high-profile case in Utah in which a judge initially pulled a foster child from the home of a lesbian couple.
Knox’s notes also include excerpts from a book called “U Turn: Restoring America to the Strength of its Roots” that criticizes homosexual behavior as something “the Bible explicitly condemns” and says gay marriage has led to plunging rates of heterosexual marriage in other nations.
One of the book’s co-authors, David Barton, had a previous book about Thomas Jefferson pulled from circulation by publisher Thomas Nelson after historians rebutted its contents.
An executive from Thomas Nelson, a Christian publishing house, said the company lost confidence in the book’s accuracy. Knox said the committee received permission to reprint excerpts of “U Turn” from the book’s publisher, Frontline, which is a subsidiary of the Christian publisher Charisma House.
Wichita case
Cindy Poe, center in blue shirt, grandmother of a 10-month-old girl who died in July 2014 while in the care of homosexual caregivers, attended last week’s legislative hearing. She questioned why the committee focused on the caregivers’ sexual orientation rather than drug use. -photo by Andy Marso
Among the five examples in the appendix was Kadillak Poe-Jones, a 10-month-old Wichita girl who in July 2014 was “left in a hot car and died while the homosexual caregiver smoked marijuana with hid (sic) partner in the house.”
None of the other examples listed the sexual orientation of the caregivers.
The child’s grandmother, Cindy Poe, attended the foster care committee meeting. Afterward, she said the two men who fostered her grandchildren were good parents who made a terrible mistake.
“I didn’t mind the two guys, because they took real good care of my grandbabies,” Poe said, adding that the older kids told her they liked their dads.
“You couldn’t ask for a better couple.” She said she was confused about why legislators have focused on the pair’s sexual orientation rather than asking how their drug use escaped DCF screenings. Poe was in tears at several points during the meeting. She said she thought it was important for her to be there on behalf of her granddaughter, whom she called “Bunny.”
“Somebody’s got to speak for Bunny,” Poe said, choking up. “She can’t speak for herself. She can’t speak for her little self.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man has been charged with child abuse after police responded to an armed disturbance that led them to discover human remains at a barn on his property.
Forty-four-year-old Michael A. Jones also was charged Friday with aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a firearm. He is being held on $10 million bond. The Wyandotte County prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email asking whether he had an attorney who could comment.
The prosecutor’s office said in a news release that he is accused of battering a woman and “torturing or cruelly beating” his 7-year-old son. Police said that while responding to the disturbance they were told that the boy had been missing for “an extended period of time.”
DODGE CITY- Law enforcement authorities in Ford County are investigating suspects in a series of drug arrests.
On Tuesday, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Dodge City Police and the Ford County Sheriff’s office
executed a series of search warrants in the 1100 block of Colorado and 1900 block Avenue A in Dodge City, according to a media release.
As a result of the joint law enforcement effort, five adults were arrested for felony drug violations.
The investigation resulted in the seizure of marijuana, mushrooms, and cocaine. Additionally, law enforcement seized a large sum of United States currency, and firearms.
The investigation is ongoing and no further details will be released pending formal charges. The Ford County Attorney is not releasing names of those arrested pending formal charges.
BARTON COUNTY -There have now been two full weekends of pheasant hunting in Kansas and it seems like there are mixed reviews on just how good the bird population is throughout the state.
In central Kansas and at Cheyenne Bottoms the bird numbers have been good, but there are a few complaints from hunters that the only birds they are seeing are hens.
Wildlife Biologist Charlie Swank says he does not put much stock into this complaint.
“The roosters are there. Half the hatch is male and half is female. Some of that has to do with inexperienced hunters and inexperienced dogs that don’t get a lot of chances to hunt pheasants,” said Swank.
“I talked to two hunters who were very happy and had seen a lot of birds after several years of not seeing much of anything,” he said.
Swank acknowledged he was not a supporter of mobs of people walking fields together because of the increased noise that occurs.
Hunters need to remember to be as quiet as possible, according to Swank.
“I don’t slam car doors, don’t yell at the dog and guys that hunt with me, we don’t even talk,” said Swank. “We just slip into where we are hunting and are as quiet as possible.”
Pheasant and quail season in Kansas runs through the end of January.
Chief Judge Larry T. Solomon- Kansas Judicial Branch
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Attorneys for a Kansas judge contend recent legislation changing judicial selection in Kansas is unconstitutional. But the state argues the law is a proper exercise of longstanding legislative authority.
District Judge Larry Solomon of Kingman County has been challenging a 2014 law that says judges in the 31 judicial districts in Kansas pick their chief judges, taking that authority from the Kansas Supreme Court.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Solomon’s attorneys argue in new court filings that the legislation is unconstitutional as a violation of the separation-of-powers doctrine. Solomon’s lawyers also ask the Kansas Supreme Court to invalidate the entire law.
The state says in its brief that the law is “a proper exercise of longstanding legislative authority to regulate the selection of ‘officers.'”
Photo by Dave Ranney Rep. Don Hill, left, a Republican from Emporia, and Rep. Susan Concannon, right, a Republican from Beloit, recently were removed from the House Health and Human Services Committee because they support Medicaid expansion. At center is Rep. Jim Kelly, a Republican from Independence. –
By JIM MCLEAN
Two Kansas lawmakers who lost their health committee assignments because they support Medicaid expansion say the purge has given the issue more momentum.
Interviewed over the weekend for KCUR’s “Statehouse Blend” podcast, Republican House members Susan Concannon, from Beloit, and Don Hill, from Emporia, said Speaker Ray Merrick’s decision to remove them from the Health and Human Services Committee was a mistake if his goal was to shut down discussion on the expansion issue.
“I think the leadership was shortsighted and ill-advised,” Hill said. “The response I’ve had from my constituents has been overwhelming. There is a sentiment that they’ve been deprived a voice.”
News of the purge broke just as Concannon, the vice chairwoman of the committee, was sending her annual pre-session survey to constituents.
“A day or two after the news hit, people were filling out the survey,” she said. “So, I am getting a lot of feedback right now and people are quite upset.”
Merrick, a conservative Republican from Stilwell, issued a statement confirming he ordered the shake-up because of his opposition to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion.
Kansas Rep. Susan Concannon, from Beloit, says ‘people are quite upset’ about the decision to remove her and two other moderate Republicans from the Health and Human Services Committee. CREDIT KANSAS LEGISLATURE
“Kansans oppose expanding Obamacare, a program that has busted budget after budget in states that have expanded it,” Merrick said. “I will continue to fight to protect Kansans from the disastrous effects of Obamacare.”
Merrick and other GOP leaders, including Gov. Sam Brownback, oppose expansion in part because they say it will provide coverage to non-disabled adults while Kansans with disabilities continue to wait for Medicaid support services that allow them to live independently.
In a blog posted recently to the website of the House Republican caucus, Rep. Dan Hawkins, the chairman of the HHS committee, said the state has a “responsibility to provide a healthcare safety net to the poor, disabled and elderly.” But he added, “My concern begins when we expand that to able-bodied adults with other health care options.”
The expansion issue has gained little traction in the Legislature despite a strong lobbying effort by Kansas hospitals. However, two recent events — the closure of a southeast Kansas hospital and a Wichita forum where Kansas lawmakers discussed a conservative expansion plan implemented by Republican Gov. Mike Pence in Indiana — were starting to generate more serious discussion of the issue, Concannon said.
Rep. Don Hill, of Emporia, is a pharmacist. He calls the decision to remove three moderate Republicans from the Health and Human Services Committee ‘shortsighted and ill-advised.’
The health committee purge, she said, was an attempt to blunt whatever progress expansion advocates were making and to warn House Republicans to stop “discussing these hare-brained ideas.”
Characterizing Merrick’s actions as “heavy handed,” Hill predicted they wouldn’t work. The financial struggles of other rural hospitals, growing support from religious and business groups, and polls that show that a majority of Kansans support expansion will at some point force lawmakers to deal with the issue, he said.
“The grassroots effort is building, there’s no doubt. And I think the developments of the 11th of November have only increased that momentum,” Hill said, referring to the date on which he and Concannon were removed from the committee, along with Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican, and Kevin Jones, a Wellsville Republican.
Concannon agreed that support for expansion was building. But she said because of the state’s ongoing budget problems and election year politics, it won’t be approved in the 2016 session.
“I really don’t think it’s got a prayer for this session,” Concannon said. “It will happen. It’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”
Brownback privatized the Kansas Medicaid program in 2013. Now called KanCare, the nearly $3 billion program is administered by three managed care organizations.
Expansion would extend KanCare coverage to non-disabled, childless adults with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty, $16,105 annually for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.
It is estimated that expansion initially would provide coverage to approximately 150,000 Kansas, many of whom are now uninsured because they make too much to be eligible for the state’s existing KanCare program but too little to qualify for federal tax subsidies to help them purchase private coverage in the ACA marketplace.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The home improvement retailer Menard Inc. is proposing a $25 million distribution center and manufacturing facility in Lawrence.
The Kansas City Star (https://bit.ly/1XlmoEi ) reports that the facility would bring about 100 jobs to the community.
Economic Development Corp. of Lawrence and Douglas County said in a statement that Midwest Manufacturing would operate the facility. Midwest Manufacturing is a division of Wisconsin-based Menard and supports the retail stores by handling such things as door manufacturing, steel siding and roofing.
The development organization says the company must still complete property and engineering examinations of its 90-acre site. The project also is contingent on receiving necessary permits and approvals.
The organization says the projects will receive a local assistance package, but details weren’t disclosed. The package requires final approval.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a bank robbery in Wichita.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the robbery happened Friday morning at an Intrust Bank branch. Authorities are seeking a man who wore a black hooded sweatshirt and had a black bandanna over his face.
Traffic backed up on icy roads at 11:30 a.m. on Friday in Wichita-photo WichWay
SEDGWICK COUNTY -Freezing rain and slick roads are blamed for several accidents across the state on Friday.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported the driver of a Suzuki SUV lost control of the vehicle on northbound Interstate 235 at the Kansas 42 just before 12:30 a.m. on Friday. The SUV entered the median and struck an unoccupied pickup from a previous accident.
A passenger in the Suzuki Franics L. Little, 52, Derby, was transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
Just after 6:45 a.m. a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup driven by Emery Ray Caudill, 63, Winfield, was southbound on U.S. 77 just north of the Cowley County line.
The driver lost control of the pickup on an icy bridge and overturned. Caudill was transported to William Newton Memorial Hospital.
Just before 9 a.m., a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder was westbound on Kansas 68 two miles west of Ottawa.
The driver lost control on an icy bridge and the vehicle overturned.
A passenger in the Nissan Myranda Love Romero, 20, Pomona, was transported to Ransom Memorial Hospital.
Luis Vaquera-Pimentel, 40 and a passenger Silvia Vaquera-Pimentel, 42, both of Santa Fe, NM., were transported to the hospital in Russell just before 9 a.m. on Friday after their Dodge pickup rolled into the south ditch on Interstate 70 eight miles west of Russell.
Just after 9a.m. a semi was westbound on Kansas 254 five miles east of Wichita. The driver Cemone Felton, 40, Wichita lost control on icy roadway. The truck went off the right side of roadway and rolled over. Felton was transported to Wesley Medical Center.
Just after 1p.m. a GMC Sierra 2500 was southbound on Interstate 235 at the Kansas 42 in Sedgwick County.
The driver Carlos A. Garcia-Perez,30, Wichita, changed lanes and lost control of the truck. It went down an embankment and rolled. Garcia-Perez and a passenger Julian G. Ramirez, 30, Dodge City, were transported to Wesley Medical Center.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for sections of central and southern Kansas through early Saturday. The weather service says up to a quarter inch of sleet and ice are forecast by late Friday night.
