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‘A great step’ toward highway safety
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Testing the waters: tap vs. bottled A group took to Massachusetts Street on Wednesday to see whether pedestrians could taste the difference between tap and bottled water. The challenge was part of a campaign that hopes to get people to avoid drinking bottled water, which, in the U.S., agencies have found to have fewer regulations than tap water. Page 3A SPORTS
KU women defeat Emporia State, 83-61 The Kansas University women’s basketball team started its season on the right note with an easy exhibition victory over ESU. Junior point guard and captain Angel Goodrich scored Goodrich 16 points in just 21 minutes against the Hornets. Page 1B
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QUOTABLE
There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners. ... the worry now is that the downturn, which will end eventually, will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can’t recover.” — Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, on new census data that show the poorest poor in the U.S. has hit a new record: 1 in 15 people. Page 7A
Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photo
A WHITE CROSS FOR RYAN PITTMAN, 24, stands next to Kansas Highway 10. Pittman was killed in April when his car crossed the median and collided head-on with a minivan carrying 5-year-old Cainan Shutt of Eudora, who also died. On Wednesday, the Kansas Department of Transportation said it would install median barriers along parts of K-10 to help prevent such accidents.
In tragedy’s wake, barriers going up on stretches of K-10 By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
EUDORA — The Kansas Department of Transportation will install cable median barriers along two two-mile stretches of Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence, including a section where 5-year-old Cainan Shutt of Eudora died in April. On Wednesday morning, KDOT Deputy Secretary Jerry Younger announced the $800,000 project likely to begin next summer in Eudora. The decision was made after a committee of local stakeholders had met with state officials for months to discuss the highway’s safety east of Lawrence in the wake of the April 16 double fatality near Eudora. “That committee helped get us to a point that makes
sense,” Younger said, “to take some actions that make sense.” Cainan’s g r a n d m o t h e r , Cainan committee member Carrie Lawrence of Overland Park, sat in the audience at the Eudora Community Center and pumped her fist as her eyes teared up when Younger announced plans for the project. She also clutched her daughter, Alison Shutt, the mother of Cainan and Courtlynn Shutt, 2, who suffered a spinal fracture in the crash. Ryan Pittman, 24, also died when his vehicle crossed the median and struck head-on the minivan the children’s step-
George Diepenbrock/Journal-World Photo
ALISON SHUTT, OF EUDORA, holds her daughter, Courtlynn, after the Kansas Department of Transportation announced plans on Wednesday to install a cable median barrier on Kansas Highway 10 near the spot where Shutt’s son, Cainan, died in an April 16 crash. Courtlynn was also injured in the accident and has recovered from a broken neck. grandfather, Danny Basel, dreds of people had was driving. Basel and his formed a group, “Cables wife, Ann, were also in- for Cainan,” in the wake of jured. Please see BARRIERS, page 2A Alison Shutt and hun-
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EPA says KDHE lied in coal argument KANSAS CITY, MO. (AP) — An Environmental Protection Agency official has accused lawyers representing a Kansas agency of lying to the state Supreme Court about support for a permit that would allow a $2.8 billion coal-fired power plant to be built in southwest Kansas. In a letter this week to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, EPA Region 7 administrator Karl Brooks took issue with KDHE claims in written arguments to the Supreme Court Brooks last month that the EPA didn’t have a problem with the permit for construction of the Sunflower plant near Holcomb. “EPA has no substantial objection to the issuance of the construction permit,” attorneys for KDHE wrote. Brooks’ letter said, “Kansas incorrectly informed the court” that EPA did not object. The Sierra Club and Earthjustice have filed a lawsuit seeking to block construction of the power plant, which has been the subject of a six-year battle between supporters who say the plant is needed and environmentalists who believe the coalfired plant will create harmful greenhouse gases. Lawyers for the two groups argued in a filing with the court that the state permit issued by KDHE to Sunflower Electric Power Corp. did not comply with the Clean Air Act. The brief claims the permit does not include enforceable limits on nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide pollution, failed to follow requirements to consider use of best available control technology and denied the public a fair opportunity to participate in the agency’s evaluation. Please see EPA, page 2A
COMING FRIDAY Daylight saving time is about to expire. And that means more traffic accidents.
Missouri billionaire behind Kansas anti-income tax push
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TOPEKA — A Missouri billionaire and Ronald Reagan economist are driving the anti-income tax bus in Kansas. And Gov. Sam Brownback is ready to turn the ignition key. Brownback says in a video
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Tax, which will be taking a bus tour Friday and Saturday to spread its message. The group, led by Republican operatives, is being funded in part by St. Louis anti-tax billionaire Rex Sinquefield, according to the Kansas City Star. Sinquefield is also working to abolish the state income tax in Missouri and
replace it with a higher state sales tax on a wider variety of goods and services. His spokesman declined to say how much Sinquefield has contributed to the anti-income tax group in Kansas. Since Kansans for No Income Tax is registered as a nonprofit, its donors and how much they gave can be kept secret. In
Missouri, Sinquefield contributed $1.3 million to a group seeking to do away with the income tax there. Last year, he contributed $11 million to other initiatives to repeal taxes in Missouri. Kansas Democrats criticized the involvement of a Please see MISSOURI, page 2A
State leaders discuss Medicaid reform, taxes with seniors Legislators say 2012 session will be full of hot-button issues By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
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on his Facebook page that he wants a tax system that is “flatter, simpler, fairer.” “That is going to be a centerpiece issue in the legislative session,” which starts in January, he said. Coinciding with Brownback’s previous statements to reduce state income taxes is a new group called Kansans for No Income
State legislators warned Douglas County residents that sweeping changes will be debated during the 2012 session. Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said past governors have tweaked programs and funding, but Gov. Sam Brownback wants to implement serious changes. “They will impact the daily lives of people,” he said during a two-hour forum
Wednesday afternoon at the Lawrence Senior Center, 745 Vt., that was attended by about 40 people. The forum was sponsored by the Lawrence chapter of the Older Women’s League and the Douglas County Coalition on Aging. Rep. William Prescott, ROsage City, said typically there are one or two hotbutton issues, but this year there will be three times that number. “This is the best soap opera in Kansas,” he said,
laughing. Other legislators at the forum were: Sens. Tom Holland and Marci Francisco, and Reps. TerriLois Gregory, Tom Sloan, Ann Mah and Barbara Ballard. Among the hot-button issues is Medicaid reform. The Brownback administration is looking to cut at least $200 million from the $1 billion price tag that the state pays for the program. There are 324,000 beneficiaries, including 37,500 seniors and 71,600 people with disabili-
ties. Fifty percent of seniors rely on Medicaid for nursing home care. All of the legislators expressed concern about Medicaid reform. Davis doesn’t want to see changes in eligibility or benefits. Francisco and Prescott said that finding providers is difficult now, so they don’t want to see lower reimbursement rates. “It’s a gigantic problem, and we have to deal with it,” Davis said. That’s because the program is adding about 20,000 people annually. The biggest problem is that the plan for Medicaid reform still hasn’t been re-
leased, and under the proposed plan it will be implemented in July. Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer’s office has been saying the details will be released in a couple of weeks for the past two months. Mitzi McFatrich, the moderator and a member of the Douglas County Coalition on Aging, said the time frame is a real concern because there will be no time to formulate a response. “When we are talking about Medicaid, we are already talking about people who don’t have resources, who are vulnerable and who Please see SENIORS, page 2A