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FRIDAY • MAY 27 • 2011
New law criticized as attack on rights of women
Places for remembering Robinson Park, just west of Lawrence City Hall
Veterans Park, 19th and Louisiana streets
Liberty Memorial Central Middle School, 1400 Mass.
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Lawmaker suggests victims ‘plan ahead’ for being raped By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
World War II Memorial Carillon and Campanile, KU campus
TOPEKA — Without comment, Gov. Sam Brownback has signed into law a bill that critics say will hurt women who get impregnated after being raped. They criticized the House sponsor of the measure, Rep. Pete DeGraaf, R-Mulvane, for comments he made during debate, which opponents said trivialized the horror of rape. “This attack DeGraaf on women’s rights has to stop,” Amber Versola, lobbyist for Kansas NOW, said Thursday. Brownback, an anti-abortion Republican, has already signed
Eldridge Hotel, 701 Mass.
Black Jack Battle Site, near Baldwin City
Memorials large and small abound in area By George Diepenbrock
Korean War Memorial, on KU’s Memorial Drive
Constitution Hall in Lecompton
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gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
ome are in plain view — such as the Memorial Campanile honoring Kansas University students who died in World War II. Others are less prominent and much smaller. Regardless of size or visibility, Douglas County features many memorials honoring people who served in wars dating back to the Bleeding Kansas days leading up to the Civil War. “I think it’s really great that this community recognizes those folks who have given their lives on our behalf,” said
Judy Billings, president of Destination Management Inc. in Lawrence. Jerry Karr, a Vietnam veteran and post commander of the Lawrence Veterans of Foreign Wars post, says it’s not surprising Douglas County has several memorials because of the area’s history with the Battle of Black Jack east of Baldwin City, Quantrill’s Raid in Lawrence and the number of residents who served in World War II and other 20th century wars. “When people lose loved ones, feelings run high and they want to have a memorial Please see MEMORIALS, page 2A
Vietnam War Memorial, on KU’s Memorial Drive
Please see LAW, page 6A ● Military health plan doesn’t
cover abortion after rape. Page 8A
Plan would brighten tunnel near Pinckney
KU’s Memorial Stadium
See a list of Memorial Day services in the area on page 2A.
By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Kansas nuclear power plant not fully twister-proof By Dina Cappielo and Matthew Daly Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON — The closest nuclear power plant to tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., was singled out weeks before the storm for being vulnerable to twisters. Inspections triggered by Japan’s nuclear crisis found that some emergency equipment and storage sites at the Wolf Creek nuclear plant in southeastern Kansas might not survive a tornado. Specifically, plant operators and federal inspectors said Wolf Creek did not secure equipment and vehicles needed to fight fires,
retrieve fuel for emergency generators and resupply water to keep nuclear fuel cool as it’s being moved. Despite these findings, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded that the plan met requirements put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks that are designed to keep the nuclear fuel cool and containment structures intact during an emergency. Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp., which runs the facility about 150 miles northwest of Joplin, said it would take action to correct the problems. “The issues affected only one of several (emergency) procedures, so we continue
Please see NUCLEAR, page 7A
AP File Photo
THIS JAN. 11, 2000, FILE PHOTO shows the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near New Strawn, Kan., which went online in 1985.
INSIDE
T-storm chance Business Classified Comics Deaths
High: 73
to conclude Wolf Creek meets requirements, the same conclusion we’ve reached for every U.S. plant,” said Scott Burnell, a NRC spokesman. Wolf Creek, until recently, was one of three nuclear plants placed on a federal watch list in March for safety-related issues. David Lochbaum, a former nuclear plant engineer who now works on nuclear safety for the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, said the equipment that a tornado could disable is the “backup of backups,” but that potential should raise
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Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion
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Poll Puzzles Sports Television
Low: 58
Today’s forecast, page 12A
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There may be light at the end of this tunnel, but it doesn’t produce much optimism. When it comes to the pedestrian tunnel that travels beneath Sixth Street near Pinckney School, the smell usually overshadows everything else. “On certain days it is scary,” said Thomas Huang, an Old West Lawrence resident who has two children who use the tunnel to walk to school. “There are days where there’s standing water and you can still smell the urine.” Then, there is the reading material. It is scrawled on the walls in the form of graffiti, and most certainly isn’t on the suggested reading list for elementary students. “I’ve continually described the area as depressed, at best,” Please see TUNNEL, page 2A
COMING SATURDAY We’ll be at the graduation ceremony for Veritas Christian School.
Vol.153/No.147 40 pages
Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org