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Lawrence in 1st Congressional Dist.? Officials say no way By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, whose 1st Congressional District includes Lawrence ... wha?? In the redistricting process, just about any proposal can get
Huelskamp
a look-see, even one that draws a congressional district from Lawrence to Liberal, while also lassoing Kansas City, Kan. Legislators pooh-poohed that map, which was provided by a source and described as a plan that was being circulated in Washington, D.C.
Huelskamp said he hadn’t seen such a map. “I haven’t seen one like that,” he said. “Wholesale changes would make little sense. Kansans would not put up with gerrymandering,” he said. Gerrymandering is the term used to describe the process of
drawing district boundaries to benefit a certain party or candidate. The Kansas Legislature has the once-a-decade task of redrawing boundaries for congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts to equalize the population within
Please see 1ST DISTRICT, page 2A
Both sides of health care act defended
Warm, windy
High: 86
the districts. Since 2000, population shifts have put the districts out of whack. The congressional districts should have about 713,280 people to ensure equal representation.
Low: 57
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
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Supreme Court to decide whether law mandating coverage is constitutional
Researcher discusses genetic role in aging
By George Diepenbrock
Cynthia Kenyon has used a tiny roundworm, C. elegans, to demonstrate a wide range of the effects genes can have on aging. She spoke at Kansas University on Thursday as part of the Takeru Higuchi Memorial Lectures. Page 3A
gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
SPORTS
Big 12 reaches key agreements The Big 12 on Thursday confirmed its pursuit of Texas Christian University to join the league. The league also announced that it had agreed to a revenue-sharing plan. Page 1B
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Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos
Macabre mob marches up Mass.
QUOTABLE
A TRIO OF ZOMBIES, ABOVE, wait Thursday in South Park for the start of the fifth annual Lawrence Zombie Walk. More than 500 people attended the walk, with money raised from the event going to the Lawrence Humane Society. TOP LEFT, zombie Clay Westerlund, center, and his daughter Izabella, 7, right, scare diners as they shuffle up Massachusetts Street. BOTTOM LEFT, a zombie couple, foreground center, wait with others for the start of the fifth annual Lawrence Zombie Walk on Thursday. BELOW, a zombie family turned out together to join the rite. The event has grown in popularity and draws participants of all ages. See a video of the Zombie Walk at LJWorld.com.
We’re able to, in essence, pay the university back for the many gifts the university has given us throughout our lives.” — Tom Bowser, of Olathe, who, with his wife, Judy, donated $4 million to Kansas University. Page 3A
COMING SATURDAY It’s dry. The county has issued a burn ban. Golf courses are watering their greens, and local residents are concerned about their foundations.
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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll Puzzles Sports Television Vol.153/No.280
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A one-sentence question was posed by Dole Institute of Politics Associate Director Barbara Ballard: Is the federal government’s 2014 insurance mandate under the new health care law constitutional? One attorney on each side tried to make it simple. But it’s complicated. “What doesn’t seem to fall into the rubric of regulating commerce is forcing people into commerce so that the government can regulate them,” said Gregory Katsas, a litigation partner at the Washington firm of Jones Day, who is involved in one challenge to the federal health care law on behalf of a national small-business group. But Catherine Stetson, a partner and director of appellate practice at another Washington firm, Hogan Lovells, had members of the audience raise their hands if they’d ever had to unexpectedly go to the doctor or the emergency room. “There is another market that all of us are in or will be in whether we want to be or not,” she said, “and that’s the health care market.” Stetson argued that’s what Congress was trying to accomplish by passing the law in 2010 and including the mandate that requires every individual to purchase insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. It’s crucial because it costs the health care industry and hospitals billions of dollars in uncompensated care to uninsured patients, she said. Please see HEALTH, page 2A
Lawrence business leaders receive Hall of Fame honor By Aaron Couch acouch@ljworld.com
Four prominent community leaders were inducted into the Lawrence Business Hall of Fame on Thursday night, each for making significant contributions to the city and its people. In the 1940s, Jim Owens took a chance and bought the flower shop that would become Owens Flower Shop. In the 1960s, Bob Billings got the itch to build a golf course, and eventually developed one under Alvamar Inc. In the 1980s, Shirley Martin-Smith continued a passion for finding work for others as the owner of Martin-Smith Personnel Servic-
es. And in the 1990s, Gene Meyer, CEO of Lawrence Memorial Hospital, championed the idea that Lawrence could be home to high-tech medical procedures. Owens, 95, took to the front of the Kansas Union Ballroom at a recognition dinner to share some memories from the floral business. One favorite of his was a 10-day trip he took to Washington to help decorate the White House with flowers during the Gerald Ford administration. Meyer, of LMH, took the opportunity to let his family know how important they were to him. He lost his father when he was 10, and said his mother did a wonderful job of encouraging him.
“She felt that I had some attributes to be a leader, and was cut out to be in the business field,” Meyer said. “I, on the other hand, thought I was cut out to be a professional baseball player. Obviously it shows that mom knows best.” Bev Billings accepted the honor for her late husband, Bob, who died in 2003. She spoke of her husband’s legendary generosity, and got a big laugh when she quoted a joke longtime friend Monte Johnson had delivered at Billings’ memorial service. Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo “If Bob had been female, he would have been preg- PHOEBE AND PHIL GODWIN, left, visit with Jim Owens during a recepnant all the time because he tion Thursday at the Kansas Union Ballroom. The 2011 Lawrence Business Hall of Fame inducted Owens, along with Bob Billings, couldn’t say no.” Shirley Martin-Smith and Gene Meyer. The hall of fame is sponPlease see HALL, page 2A sored by Junior Achievement.