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Romney wins big in Fla. primary, routing Gingrich By David Espo and Steve Peoples Associated Press
TAMPA, FLA. — Mitt Romney routed Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary Tuesday night, rebounding smartly from an earlier defeat and taking a major step toward the Republican
presidential nomination. Gingrich vowed to press on despite the one-sided setback. Romney, talking unity like a nominee, said he was ready to take the Republican helm and “lead this party and our nation.” In remarks to cheering supporters, the former Massachusetts
It’s now or never, Elvis fans
Staying mild
High: 59
governor unleashed a strong at- low, and now it’s time to get out tack on Democratic President of the way,” he declared. Barack Obama and said the Returns from 98 percent of competitive fight for the GOP Florida’s precincts showed Romnomination “does not divide us, Please see ROMNEY, page 2A it prepares us” for the fall campaign. “Mr. President, you were GOP ‘super PACs’ raised elected to lead, you chose to fol- millions in 2011. Page 6A
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Today’s forecast, page 8A
INSIDE
Gerald Herbert/AP Photo
GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Mitt Romney waves during his victory celebration after winning the Florida primary election Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.
Ruling puts coal plant on hold ——
Judge says environmental review required
KU women force overtime, then lose
By Scott Rothschild
Despite some late-game heroics from KU junior guard Monica Engelman, who drained a three-pointer to tie the game with 5 seconds to play in regulation, the Oklahoma Sooners outlasted the Jayhawks, 74-68, in overtime on Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse. Page 1B
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srothschild@ljworld.com
Flash mob takes over KU class to promote the King
QUOTABLE
There can be 100 restaurants, but you have something that only you have that’s unique, you’re OK. All the dishes that we have downtown, you can go to any Mexican restaurant and not find a single dish that’s the same.”
KANSAS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS and members of the Lied Center Student Association, including Mitchell Newton, at left, break out into dance to a string of Elvis songs during a flash mob presentation Tuesday in Brian Staihr’s Introduction to Economics class at Budig Hall. The performance, which lasted about two minutes, occurred with permission and was organized to promote “Elvis Lives,” a musical event scheduled for Thursday at the Lied Center. See the video at LJWorld.com.
— Angel Alvarez, an owner of Mexquisto, talking the variety of Mexican and Latin American restaurants downtown. Page 8B
COMING THURSDAY We’ll be at a forum on Kansas Medicaid reform.
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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Food Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll Puzzles Sports Television Vol.154/No.32
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Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org
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KU employees required to report child abuse By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
In the wake of the ongoing child sex abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University, a new policy at Kansas University codifies the responsibility of its employees to report suspected child sex abuse to law enforcement. Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, in a message to campus in November, said the university didn’t have such a policy previously, and the state’s mandatory reporting law didn’t apply to higher education. “It’s the chancellor’s hope that people would report this without a
policy in place, but this makes clear what the university’s position is,” said Jack Martin, a university spokesman. The policy applies to employees at all university campusGray-Little es and employees of Kansas Athletics and the KU Memorial Unions. “When any employee has reason to suspect that a child under 18 years of age has been harmed as a result of sexual abuse, the employee shall report the matter promptly to an appropriate law enforcement
agency,” including the University Public Safety Office or to local law enforcement, or both, the policy says. Employees who do not report criminal activity could face termination. “As I wrote last fall, we each have a moral obligation to look out for the safety of the members of our community, especially when they are children,” Gray-Little wrote in a message to campus announcing the new policy. — Higher education reporter Andy Hyland can be reached at 832-6388. Follow him at Twitter.com/LJW_KU.
TOPEKA — Environmentalists on Tuesday cheered a court ruling that the proposed 895-megawatt coal-fired power plant in southwest Kansas cannot be built until there is a thorough environmental review. “We are confident that once the environmental impacts of this plant are considered in light of alternatives, the project’s impacts will be unacceptable, and it will be rejected,” said the Sierra Club’s Scott Allegrucci. Officials with Sunflower Electric Power Corp., which has been pushing for the project near Holcomb, had no immediate comment. COURTS Cindy Hertel, a spokeswoman for Hays-based Sunflower Electric, said the company was analyzing the court decision. The ruling was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan in Washington, D.C. Sullivan’s decision follows a March 2011 ruling that the federal government’s Rural Utilities Service, which was financially supporting the Sunflower project, failed to consider environmental impacts of the plant. Sullivan has ordered “RUS shall not issue any approvals or consents for agreements or arrangements directly related to the Holcomb Expansion Project, or take any other major federal actions in connection with the Holcomb Expansion Project, until an EIS is complete.” The decision represents another twist in the project that has rocked Kansas politics for years. In 2007, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby denied a permit to Sunflower Electric citing the effects of the project’s Please see COAL, page 2A
Senate president says he questioned Cedar Crest meetings TOPEKA (AP) — The Kansas Senate president says he questioned whether so-called legislative dinners hosted by Gov. Sam Brownback throughout January violated the state’s open meetings law, but the governor’s spokeswoman insists there were no violations because the meetings were “social gatherings.” Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, said that on Jan. 9 he was at the governor’s Cedar Crest mansion with members of the Sen-
Governor’s office defends events as ‘social gatherings’ ate KPERS Select Committee and the House Pensions and Benefits Committee. When Brownback Morris suggested the committees “do something” about KPERS, Morris said he quickly warned those in at-
tendance about violating the Kansas Open Meetings Act. “I tried to intervene at that particular meeting,” said Morris, the only Republican on the KPERS Select Committee who wasn’t invited to the dinner. “A couple of people tried to say stuff, and I stood up and said, ‘We can’t do this.’ I don’t know about any of the rest of the meetings.” The Jan. 9 meeting was the first of seven such din-
ners in January hosted by the governor. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Tuesday that Brownback’s office provided a list showing that a majority of 13 committees were invited to the dinners, often with two or three committees with related policy missions invited at the same time. KOMA prohibits a majority of a legislative body from discussing government busi-
ness without giving the public notice and access. Morris has been criticized by some conservatives for leading a moderate Senate that has acted contrary to the governor’s wishes on tax and budget issues. He said he was invited to but didn’t attend a Jan. 23 dinner that brought together the Senate Agriculture Committee and the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. The only Democrat invited Please see MEETINGS, page 2A