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Jenkins’ presence intensifies redistricting intrigue By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — Intrigue over redrawing congressional district boundaries increased Friday as U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, was seen in the Statehouse looking over a possible plan.
Jenkins
But Jenkins, whose 2nd House District includes west Lawrence, denied she was getting involved in the process, saying, “I trust lawmakers to do their job.” “I don’t have a vote and I’m uninvolved,” she said. Jenkins and her chief of staff
the past 10 years and make the districts equal in population. The process could have a big impact on Lawrence, which was split 10 years ago between the 2nd and 3rd districts. Lawrence leans Democratic and Republicans are in command of redistricting, holding
A musical education
Mostly sunny
High: 46
Patrick Leopold were seen in a Statehouse hallway looking over a potential congressional map with state Rep. Clay Aurand, R-Courtland. State legislators are realigning boundaries of Kansas’ four U.S. House districts to take into account population shifts over
Kansas residents oppose plans for federal lab
Low: 21
INSIDE KU faces Iowa State on the road today The KU men’s basketball team is one of the few Big 12 teams to have success playing on the road in hostile environments, and today the Jayhawks take their 50-17 league road record under Bill Self into today’s 1 p.m. contest at Iowa State. Page 1B
By John Milburn Associated Press
geriatric prison population. Roberts said 470 older Kansas inmates currently require daily living assistance. The main reasons for the trend, said Jamie Fellner, author of the Human Rights Watch report, are the long sentences, including life without parole, that have become more common in recent decades, boosting the percentage of inmates unlikely to leave prison before reaching old age, if
MANHATTAN — Residents and college faculty in northeast Kansas said Friday they were worried health and safety would be threatened if deadly pathogens escaped from a new federal research lab. They expressed their concerns during a field hearing held by a National Research Council committee that will be reviewing a risk assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. The $650 million lab would do research on deadly plant and animal pathogens, including foot-and-mouth disease, and critics said during the twohour meeting that the risks outweighed the benefits of building it near Kansas State University. “We don’t want to be guinea pigs,” said Sylvia Beeman of the anti-NBAF group Biosecurity for the Heartland. The Department of Homeland Security hired a private firm last year to conduct a site-specific risk assessment of the planned lab, which would replace an aging facility at Plum Island, N.Y. This is the second risk assessment. One finished in 2010 raised questions that led to further review of the lab and the plans for security measures to protect livestock and humans if pathogens are released. Greg Baecher, a professor of engineering at the University of Maryland serving on the NRC committee, said members expect to receive the final draft of the latest risk assessment in February, review it and release their conclusions this summer. “This committee is still in the process of deliberation. We’re in the process of information gathering,” Baecher said. “We’re here to listen.” Torry Dickinson, a university faculty member, said the process of preparing for NBAF hasn’t been open and Kansas State employees have been afraid to speak out about their
Please see INMATES, page 2A
Please see NBAF, page 2A
STATE GOVERNMENT
Kobach accused of violating ethics
“
QUOTABLE
He really helped me understand a trauma of that magnitude and how you carry it. You can use what you’ve learned to make a life of caring and joy.”
THE CHIARA STRING QUARTET performed for area schoolchildren Friday at the Lied Center. Rebecca Fischer, above, is one of the quartet’s violinists. Trying to play along, in photo at right, is Logan Gurske, a student from Kennedy preschool. The quartet members played a variety of music, explained each instrument and also told the story of how they met and formed the string quartet. Chiara is scheduled to give a performance at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Lied center.
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photos
— Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas’ poet laureate, talking about Lou Frydman, a Holocaust survivor and former Kansas University social welfare professor. Frydman died Tuesday at the age of 81. Page 2A
COMING SUNDAY We take a look at local industries and how workforces have changed in the past few years.
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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Puzzles Society Sports Television Vol.154/No.28
6A 1C-4C 6C 2A 8A, 2B 5C 5A 7A 5C 8B 1B-6B 5A, 2B, 5C 22 pages
PRISONS
As inmates age, medical costs soar By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Prison inmates across the country are getting older, and more expensive, for states and the federal government, according to a report released Friday by Human Rights Watch. And Kansas is no exception. Since 2000, the percentage of Kansas inmates 50 and older has nearly doubled, from 8.7 percent to 14.9 percent in 2010. That
amounts to more than 1,300 costs reach about $40,000. Kansas inmates, including “The corrections officials 149 older than 65. are scrambling,” said Marc The Human Rights Mauer, executive director Watch report deof the Sentencing tailed several probProject, a national lems with the grayprison reform advoing of the inmate cacy group. population, and risKansas Departing medical costs ment of Correcare at the forefront. tions Secretary Ray While the average Roberts, at a NoHEALTH annual medical care vember meeting of costs for inmates is about the Joint Commission on $5,400, that doubles as in- Corrections and Juvenile mates reach age 55. For in- Justice, highlighted the inmates 80 and older, annual creased needs of the state’s
Area students provide labor, collect life lessons during recent sojourn in Haiti By Andy Hyland
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They’re dealing with issues that students can read about Molly Schmeidler didn’t know very but can’t really understand much about Haiti before this winter. until they’re there.” ahyland@ljworld.com
Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org
Please see JENKINS, page 2A
NBAF
Today’s forecast, page 8A
Democratic leaders in the Kansas Legislature said Friday that Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the state’s top elections official, is violating ethics standards by serving as the honorary campaign chairman for a fellow Republican seeking a state Senate seat. Page 3A
all congressional seats, strong majorities in the Legislature and the governor’s mansion. One potential plan would place Lawrence entirely in the 2nd District. And another would place it entirely in the 3rd District, which is represented by
But the Baker University senior from Hays said she learned a lot about the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere on a recent trip. For one, she learned how few students can afford to go to school there. Public schools are few and far between, so if Haitian citizens can’t pay, they can’t get a good education. “This was a hard-working nation that still has a lot of pride in its people,” Schmeidler said. The trip was part of an inter-term
— Jake Bucher, assistant professor of sociology course at Baker. The two-and-a-half week trip was graded pass/fail for three hours of college credit. The students helped build a school, marked the two-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, taught English to students Please see HAITI, page 2A
Photos courtesy of Molly Schmeidler
BAKER UNIVERSITY SENIOR MOLLY SCHMEIDLER, of Hays, smooths out the cement of the foundation during the construction of four new classrooms for Ecole Shalom, the primary school in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti.