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THURSDAY • JUNE 23 • 2016
‘Gentling’ an Old West icon
RANDY BILLINGER’S BELT BUCKLE features a wild mustang in full gallop.
Mustangs look for homes in Tonganoxie
Emergency moves sap $900M from idle funds Senate president: State ‘rearranging chairs on deck of Titanic’ By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
By Elvyn Jones Twitter: @ElvynJ
R
andy Billinger knows of many reasons why horse lovers should consider adopting wild mustangs from the Bureau of Land Management. The animals are beautiful, have few flaws from inbreeding, possess strong hooves and have excellent feet suited for many uses, Billinger said. But he said the emotional high that comes with gaining a wild horse or burro’s trust is the greatest reward. “There’s just no experience like that first touch when the animal finally accepts you,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of people tear up when they tell me about it. It’s a pretty amazing thing.” Area residents will have the opportunity to acquire living symbols of the Old West from noon to 6 p.m. Friday and 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at the Leavenworth County Please see ICON, page 4A
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photos
A MUSTANG NAMED ESTRELLA COMES UP TO GREET BILLINGER on Wednesday along the fence line of his ranch southeast of Baldwin City. Billinger and his wife, Kristi, have been adopting and “gentling” horses since 2000 and are founders of the Midwest Mustang & Burro Saddle Club, where they help other adopters by teaching them successful techniques for calming animals. See the video at LJWorld.com/mustangs623
BILLINGER’S ADOPTED HORSES, mostly mustangs, wander freely in a pasture next to his home. The animals like to keep close together in the wild, as seen at right, because of their natural herd behavior, Billinger explained.
Topeka — Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration ordered several last-minute emergency financial adjustments Wednesday, including partial delayed payments to school districts this month, to prevent the state from ending this fiscal year in the red on June 30. At the same time, Brownback and legislative leaders met as the State Finance Council to approve temporarily borrowing a re- LEGISLATURE cord $900 million from state idle funds in order to maintain positive cash balances throughout the next fiscal year. That’s $60 million more than the state borrowed this year. Budget Director Shawn Sullivan announced at the meeting that so far in June, revenues have not been coming in as expected, and a shortfall this month will add to the estimated $45 million budget hole caused by earlier shortfalls in April and May. And with only eight days left in the fiscal year, he said, it is virtually impossible to make up that shortfall by ordering more spending cuts. The measures announced Wednesday include: l Delaying part of the final payment owed to public school districts Please see MOVES, page 2A
Statehouse Live
Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
A spectator’s guide to the special session
K
ansas lawmakers return to the Statehouse at 8 a.m. today for the start of a special legislative session, the 23rd such session in state history and the second one in 11 years focusing on school funding and the Kansas Constitution.
Business Classified Comics Deaths
Low: 71
Today’s forecast, page 8A
At stake is one simple question: Will public schools be allowed to open and operate as usual this fall, or will the Kansas Supreme Court effectively close public schools unless or until
INSIDE
Cooling off?
High: 92
to this point, and the policy options confronting it, are sometimes so complex, it often seems the Legislature comes up as though lawmakers with a constitutional way — not to mention the of funding them? journalists covering Passions are runthem — are speaking ning high as the court’s in an entirely different June 30 deadline draws dialect. closer. But the issues But when the technothat got the Legislature jargon is peeled away,
Inside: Republican legislators say they’re close to a deal with Kansas educators on a $38 million plan aimed at keeping public schools open. 2A
2A 5C-9C 10C 2A
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what remains is a situation that ought to be of deep concern for every Kansas taxpayer, parent, educator or patron of a school district. Here, then, is your spectator’s guide to what’s going on in the special session.
Parking delay, No. 3
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Please see GUIDE, page 2A
Vol.158/No.175 26 pages
An Oread apartment developer again has told the city that his solution for the massive project’s parking woes is close, but not yet ready to be unveiled. 3A
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