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MONDAY • JANUARY 31 • 2011
Carving a place in history
Smart meters simplify energy efficiency ——
Devices save time, money but raise some privacy issues By Christine Metz cmetz@ljworld.com
foreign policy achievements to his political legacy more than 20 years after leaving office. “In 1980, we were in a funk,” Smith told the 350 or so guests. “We had begun to lose confidence.” Faced with the tough economic times, the man who “made a career out of being underestimated,” became “one of a handful of transformative presidents,” Smith said. Smith, having just written a feature for this week’s Time magazine, “The Reagan Revelation,” selected Reagan as one of four 20th century Mount Rushmore candidates, along with former Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.
For many Kansas electric cooperatives — the energy providers that serve the state’s most rural areas — smart meters are old news. In Lawrence, the community is just learning about the meters, and some questions are being raised on how they will affect electric bills and customers’ privacy. Westar Energy is spending $40 million to install 45,000 smart meters in Lawrence this year and establish the backbone of its system’s smart grid. Eventually customers will be able to go online and see how much electricity they use by the hour. With this knowledge, Westar hopes that Lawrence residents will do a better job of conserving it, which in the future could delay the need for Westar to build more power plants. Combined, 10 of the state’s 29 electric co-ops have installed almost 72,000 smart meters, about 25 percent of all their meters, said Dave Holthaus of Kansas Electric Cooperatives, the organization that serves all Kansas co-ops. He defines a smart meter as one that provides two-way communication between the home and the electric provider. Co-ops like being able to
Please see REAGAN, page 2A
Please see METERS, page 2A
John Young/Journal-World Photos
HISTORIAN RICHARD NORTON SMITH kicked off the 2011 Presidential Lecture Series at the Dole Institute of Politics on Sunday. Smith has chosen four 20th century presidents for a new Mount Rushmore. Ronald Reagan was the first of his nominations, and future lectures will discuss Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Woodrow Wilson.
Historian discusses Reagan’s monumental legacy for 20th century Mount Rushmore By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Organizers were scrambling Sunday afternoon just minutes before presidential historian Richard Norton Smith began his talk about Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Staff and volunteers kept lining up chairs inside the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, 2350 Petefish Drive. The crowd kept growing. Eventually, those who hadn’t come early to the first of the five-part 2011 Presidential Lecture Series were ushered into the overflow AP File Photo room, where they watched Smith on a large screen as he touched on numerous aspects of PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, shown here in 1985, is one of the 20th century’s greatest presidents, histo- Ronald Reagan’s presidential tenure; everything from his gubernatorial campaign to his rian Richard Norton Smith says.
A.D. search cost KU just over $6K Volunteer patrol helps HEALTH CARE COSTS
fight Medicare fraud
By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
Scammers who are trying to make a quick buck off the health care system are everywhere. Seniors and the disabled, who are on Medicare or Medicaid, tend to be prime targets. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t get several calls about something that’s happening here,” said Darrell Elliott, of the Kansas Department on Aging. “It seems like the individuals who are creating these scams come up with something creative every day.” Elliott is project coordinator for the Kansas Senior Medicare Patrol. There is a Senior Medicare Patrol, commonly called SMP, in every state. The program helps seniors and disabled people understand how to detect and report fraud. The program does this through volunteers, community presentations and partner organizations.
SMP reaches about 1.5 million seniors nationwide. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said SMP plays an important role in cracking down on health care fraud. “The more seniors that know about how to recognize and report these crimes, the more reluctant criminals may be to try them,” Sebelius, who is a former Kansas governor, said last week during a conference call. In 2010, the federal government recovered a record $4 billion in health care fraud and convicted 726 people. There were 140 indictments involving charges filed against 284 defendants who collectively billed the Medicare program more than $590 million. Please see VOLUNTEERS, page 2A
ahyland@ljworld.com
ONLINE: See documents related to the search at LJWorld.com
The bill for expenses related to Kansas University’s recent athletic director search totaled just more than $6,200. That’s according to records obtained after a Journal-World open records request seeking invoices from KU pertaining to the search that concluded when the university hired Sheahon Zenger. The total bill was far less than the search that resulted in the hiring of Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little in 2009, which cost $162,000. That search was far more costly because of the involvement of a professional search firm, and because both the university and the Kansas Board of Regents incurred expenses from the search. The bill from the search firm alone totaled more than
$120,000 in the chancellor search. The documents also confirm some additional details Zenger about the athletic director search. For example, KU appeared to interview three separate candidates for the job. Two stayed overnight in the Raphael Hotel in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 6 and 7. One candidate is known, according to media reports. Bubba Cunningham, the University of Tulsa’s athletic director, was reported to have interviewed at KU before signing an extension at his current job. KU provided a document detailing Delta and United flights for a second candidate on Dec. 7. Though the university redacted details that would have revealed the flights’ original location, the candidate flew through
INSIDE
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High: 33
By Andy Hyland
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EXPENSE REPORT
Advertisements Catering for search committee meetings Conference calls for search committee Lodging and room service for candidates Commercial airline flights to Kansas City Airport transportation Private flight to Illinois from Lawrence
$460 $107.47 $148.56 $337.78 $405.30 $123 $4,627.65
Total cost
$6,209.76
Detroit on the way to Kansas City, and through Chicago on the way out. The total cost was $405.30. A third candidate — likely Zenger — appeared to have been interviewed on Dec. 30, when a plane flight went from Lawrence to Chicago and back. That flight likely carried GrayLittle to Illinois to speak with Zenger, who was hired on Jan. 2. That flight, a private flight, comprised the bulk of the expenses. It cost $4,627.65. The private flight was paid for with state funds, which is typical for KU
because of federal regulations governing private flights. KU covered the rest of the search expenses — conference calls, food for the search committee and advertisements posting the position opening — with private funds. Though Kansas Athletics Inc. reported it hadn’t incurred any expenses for the search to date, it will still be responsible for paying Zenger’s moving expenses, according to his contract. — Higher education reporter Andy Hyland can be reached at 832-6388. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/LJW_KU.
COMING TUESDAY We update the status of plans for a new Dillons store on Massachusetts Street..
Vol.153/No.31 36 pages
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