Lawrence Journal-World 10-22-11

Page 1

L A W R E NC E

JOURNAL-WORLD ®

75 CENTS

3!452$!9 s /#4/"%2 s

Staying nice

High: 72

Low: 45

Today’s forecast, page 10A

INSIDE

SUNFLOWER SHOWDOWN

Saturation patrols planned after game Staff Reports

Kansas Highway Patrol plans extra traffic patrols across the area for today’s Sunflower Showdown game at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence. After the 11 a.m. game between Kansas University and Kansas State Univer-

sity, KHP will conduct seat belts and have a saturation patrol in children in proper Lawrence, and troopsafety restraints. ers will be on the KHP requests lookout for impaired drivers use the West drivers. Kansas DeLawrence exit on the partment of TransKansas Turnpike beportation is funding the excause of construction on tra patrols through a grant. a bridge near the East LawTroopers also are re- rence exit. minding drivers to use their KDOT also recommends

drivers heading east to Lawrence for the game use the Interstate 470 loop while traveling through Topeka because Interstate 70 in Topeka will have multiple lane closures for pavement repair work.

For more on the game,

President Barack Obama promised Friday that the remaining 40,000 U.S. troops in Iraq would be “home for the holidays,” fulfilling a campaign promise but also acceding to the reality of a depleted treasury and the overwhelming sentiment of American public opinion. Page 7A SCHOOLS

Obama education official visits Cordley Alexa Posny, President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of education for special education and rehabilitative services, visited Cordley School on Friday to answer students’ questions and how the president’s jobs bill could pump millions of dollars into Kansas schools. Page 6A

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Brownback to unveil proposal next month By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

QUOTABLE Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

FREE STATE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS Spencer MacDonald, No. 59, and Patrick Sniff, No. 73, were among the Firebird players wearing pink socks in support of breast cancer awareness for Friday night’s game against Olathe North at Free State. The Firebirds beat the Eagles, 19-14. In other action, the Lawrence High School football team lost to Olathe Northwest, 21-3. For more on the games, see page 1B.

State officials ease abortion clinic rules

— Olivia Burchett, education and outreach coordinator with the Douglas County AIDS Project, talking about HIV testing. Burchett provides free testings on the By Roxana Hegeman Kansas University campus. Page 3A Associated Press

COMING SUNDAY Come along with us as we tour the new apartment and office building at Ninth and New Hampshire streets.

FOLLOW US Facebook.com/LJWorld Twitter.com/LJWorld

INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Faith forum Horoscope Movies Opinion Puzzles Society Sports Television Vol.153/No.295

7A 1C-8C 9A 2A 10A, 2B 9B 7C 5A 8A 7C 8B-9B 1B-6B, 10B 5A, 2B, 7C 28 pages

What: The KU football team takes on Kansas State in the Sunflower Showdown When: 11 a.m. today Where: Memorial Stadium On TV: The game will be shown on FSN

Gov. says tax plan not a secret

President: U.S. troops in Iraq coming home

KU VS. K-STATE

see page 10B.

Gritty in pink

It can be a pretty nerveracking thing. It’s a scary thing. It does take a degree of self reflection.”

LJWorld.com

WICHITA — Kansas officials are easing contentious new regulations governing abortion clinics, but the move may not be enough to placate abortion providers who have already persuaded a federal judge to block earlier versions, The Associated Press has learned. The AP obtained an advance copy of the new permanent rules that will take effect Nov. 14. A comparison with the temporary version of the rules shows Kansas Department of Health and Environment officials have removed some of the provisions that have been criticized during a public comment period and in a federal lawsuit. The revised regulations no longer specify required procedure and patient room sizes and give clinics wider latitude to adjust a room’s temperature. They

Although the regulations have changed in some ways, they remain unacceptable, imposing unnecessary and unreasonable requirements that will prevent physicians from providing the full range of reproductive health services to the women of Kansas.” — Bonnie Scott Jones, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights also pare down the list of required medications and equipment doctors need to have on hand and no longer require clinics to have a large janitorial room per each procedure room. But the bulk of the original provisions remain, including rules that require abortion providers to have clinical privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic and that require patient medical records to be available at the clinic for state health department officials to review.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman Miranda Steele said in an email that while the temporary regulations were reasonable based on industry standards, the public comment period served its purpose. “KDHE took into account the suggestions and input received during the public comment period and made some changes to the regulations, but maintaining the same intent — to ensure the safety of patients,” Steele said. U.S. District Judge Car-

los Murguia in July blocked the temporary regulations from taking effect after abortion providers said the rules would have forced the closure of two abortion clinics that would have had to make extensive building renovations in order to comply. Murguia has since ordered attorneys to submit briefs by Oct. 28 analyzing the similarities or differences between the permanent and temporary regulations. Attorneys representing the two clinics — the Center for Women’s Health in Overland Park and the Aid for Women clinic in Kansas City — indicated the changes would do little to end the legal fight. “Although the regulations have changed in some ways, they remain unacceptable, imposing unnecessary and unreasonable requirements that will prevent physicians from proPlease see ABORTION, page 2A

TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback on Friday denied his proposed plan to cut taxes was being formed in secret. Brownback, a Republican, will officially unveil his tax proposal next month, and a group formed by recent Kansas Republican Party leaders who worked to get Brownback elected has started a cam- Brownback paign to advocate for elimination of the state income tax. Brownback and his top lieutenants have said they want to reduce the income tax, but they have also kept a tight grip on information about a task force that meets in secret and is putting together Brownback’s final plan. On Friday, Brownback said discussions on tax policy have been open. “This is not being developed clandestinely,” he said. Brownback said he has traveled across the state to meet with numerous groups in public settings to get input on the state’s tax laws. The task force putting together the tax plan is working with Kansas Department of Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan. The task force’s meetings have been private, and the Brownback administration has declined to reveal the identity of some of its members. The Journal-World has filed a request under the state Open Please see TAX, page 2A

Studies: Teen drivers most at risk in 1st month with license ———————

AAA recommends more practice in challenging conditions, setting rules for passengers Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org

By Christine Metz cmetz@ljworld.com

This is the time of year when teenagers seem to go out of their way for a good scare. Even so, here’s some information that should give teens (and their parents) a start:

Teenagers are 50 percent more likely to crash in the first month of having a driver’s license than they are after a full year of experience driving on their own.

They are nearly twice as likely to crash in that first month as they are after two full years of experience. Those numbers come from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and were released just in time for Teen Driver Safety Week, which begins Sunday. For AAA, the take-home message is that after teens earn their driver’s license, parents shouldn’t just hand over the keys and get out of the car. Part of the problem is that as teens

transition from learner’s permit to driver’s license, the person in the passenger seat shifts dramatically. After getting a licence, teens spend 65 percent of their time driving alone, which is a good thing. But when they are driving with someone, it’s most often with another teen or sibling. Parents or other adults ride in the vehicle just 3 percent of the time. “It is good for parents to stay involved even though the learner’s permit is over,” said Jim Hanni, ex-

ecutive vice president for public and government affairs at AAA in Topeka. “They need to expose teens to progressively more challenging driving conditions.” The 50 percent number came from a study conducted by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. About 175,000 crashes among North Carolina teens were analyzed. Along with the fact that teens were most likely to crash in their first month of driving, the Please see DRIVERS, page 2A


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