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SATURDAY • JULY 9 • 2016
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOUTH
Kansas suing over transgender restroom rules 10 states file lawsuit over federal guidelines Lincoln, Neb. (ap) — Ten states sued the federal government Friday over rules requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms conforming to their gender identity, joining a dozen other states in the latest fight over LGBT rights. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Nebraska and included nine other states: Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming. The filing comes after 11 states sued in May over the same Obama
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THREE-YEAR-OLD JACK FARRELL stands on his tippy-toes while pretending to zoom around the galaxy in an X-Wing Fighter on display in the lobby of the Lawrence Arts Center as part of Jedi Camp. The camp, which concluded Friday, introduced children to the world of Star Wars through dance, art and even epic lightsaber battles. Jack’s older brother Ryan Farrell, 6, participated in the camp with almost 40 other kids. The X-Wing was created by Arts Center artist in residence Juniper Tangpuz. AT RIGHT, 7-year-old Charlotte Helling, right, looks to strike back at Eliza Wysong while the two trade whacks with their lightsabers Friday.
By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Event next year expected to draw 40,000 to Lawrence Twitter: @nikkiwentling
In December, while waiting outside a conference room in Houston for their turn to sell Lawrence as the next venue for the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympics National Championships, Bob Sanner, with Explore Lawrence, and Kansas University Athletics Director
Please see RESTROOM, page 2A
Dem stronghold Wyandotte County shedding voters
City begins preparing for Junior Olympics By Nikki Wentling
administration directive. North Carolina officials also sued the federal government in May over the same issue. Vast sums of federal funding are at stake: Money could be withheld from public schools that refuse to comply with the federal directive. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said the U.S. Education Department and Justice Department have circumvented established law and the process for changing existing laws. “It also supersedes local school districts’ authority to address student issues on an individualized, professional and private basis,” Peterson said in a written statement.
Sheahon Zenger made a promise to each other. “We both agreed that we were willing to do whatever was necessary to make the Junior Olympics a success here, so we could put Lawrence in the position for bigger and better things,” Sanner said. After the presentations, organizers picked Lawrence.
“And we’ve backed up that statement since day one,” Sanner said. With just over a year until the event comes to Lawrence on July 23-30, 2017, Sanner, Zenger and others in a local organizing committee have started forming plans. They’ve secured about 7,000 hotel rooms in Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City, Kan., Overland Park
and Olathe; brought on Vincent Key, the Royals’ team physician, to create a “gold standard” medical plan; and hope to put on a “truly special” opening ceremony, Sanner said. The event is expected to draw around 9,500 athletes and 30,000 of their family members, though Sanner said those estimates are conservative and that it would likely Please see OLYMPICS, page 2A
Topeka — The state of Kansas has added 10,591 more voters to its registration rolls in the last two years, with Democrats seeing the largest growth. But Wyandotte County, a traditional Democratic stronghold and the third largest county in the state, has lost 7,009 registered voters, most of them Democrats. Those figures are raising new questions about how hard the Democratic Party is working to maintain its strength there, which could have a direct impact on how competitive the party will be in
the 2016 elections. Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Bruce Newby said the decline was due in part to routine maintenance of voter registration rolls that involves purging the names of voters who have moved out of the county. But he also chided both political parties for not doing enough to register new voters. “We do everything we can to register people, but I don’t see the political activity in our county that used to be here — people in the community going out and giving out voter registration applications,” he said. Please see VOTERS, page 2A
Analysis: Lawrence residents’ income growth lags Town Talk
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
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awrence residents should be feeling a little bit better than the state as a whole this week. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday released data that shows personal income in Kansas grew at the second slowest rate in the country. The one piece of consolation is that the figures are for 2014 — it takes
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percent in 2014. The growth rate is adjusted to account for inflation. So, the way to read this is that after inflation, people’s incomes increased by about a half-percent in Kansas in 2014. That trailed only South Dakota, which grew at 0.4 percent. But as I mentioned, Lawrence bucked the state trend. After inflation, Lawrence saw
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the government quite awhile to compile personal income numbers — so perhaps the situation has improved since then. Regardless, 2014 was not a good year for many Kansas bank accounts. Personal income — which is everything from paychecks to rental income to Social Security benefits and everything in between — grew by only 0.5
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per-capita income grow by 1.8 percent in 2014. That was tied for the top mark of any metro area in the state. Here’s a look at the other metro areas and their growth rates: l Kansas City, Mo.-Kan: 1.8 percent l Manhattan: 1.5 percent l Topeka: 0.6 percent
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Gardening columnist Jennifer Smith has tips to keep weeds at bay in mid- to late summer, when they’re at their toughest. Home & Garden, 1C
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Vol.158/No.191 32 pages