Wire
Celebrities
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Prince William plans to become a full-time search-and-rescue pilot in the Royal Air Force, royal officials said Monday. The prince’s Clarence House office said William would begin an 18-month training program in January. William, 26, learned to fly earlier this year during a stint with the air force. He also has served for several months with the Royal Navy and is an officer in the British army. Clarence House said...
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Statehouse honors Buffalo Soldiers
TOPEKA (AP) — Adrian Cruz acknowledges that before she began working at Fort Leavenworth, what little she knew of the Buffalo Soldiers came from hearing the famous Bob Marley song. She and other Kansans gathered Wednesday at the Statehouse in hopes of seeing that today’s young people don’t have the same knowledge gap. Cruz, the fort’s community relations officer, and about 70 people participated in a ceremony honoring the Buffalo Soldiers,...
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Pitt prof steps away from debates after YouTube rant
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A University of Pittsburgh debate coach is limiting her contact with the team and issued an apology for cursing at a Kansas coach who dropped his pants while arguing with her at a national championship tournament, an encounter that was recorded and posted on YouTube. The Pitt professor, Shanara Reid-Brinkley, won’t travel with the team or coach in tournaments this academic year, the school announced Wednesday. The school a...
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Kansas health agency to seek smoking ban, tax hike
WICHITA (AP) — A state board will push again next year for a big health plan that includes an increase in tobacco taxes and a statewide ban on smoking in public places. The Kansas Health Policy’s proposal are likely to meet with some resistance from legislators because of their cost. The recommendations would phase in a $243 million increase in spending on health care programs over four years. Marcia Nielsen, the authority’s executive dire...
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World Briefs
Asian stock markets lose steam after opening higher on AIG bailout; European shares gain HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance Wednesday, giving up early gains as a U.S. plan to rescue troubled insurer AIG failed to persuade many investors that recent financial turmoil would soon ease. European shares were higher in early trade. Asia’s markets opened mostly higher as Wall Street’s rise overnight lifted sentiment ...
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Biotech corn, soybeans encroaching on wheat acres
WICHITA (AP) — Biotechnology that allows more profitable corn and soybean crops to thrive in arid fields is encroaching on traditional wheat acreage across the Great Plains, industry experts say. Corn and soybeans varieties whose transgenic traits allow them to adapt to drier climates are making those crops more competitive for farmers to grow than wheat. Not only has biotechnology moved those crops west, but it has boosted their yields, s...
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Oddities
NY charity turns down share of $3M lottery jackpot PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (AP) — A New York charity says it has turned down a share of a $3 million lottery jackpot because accepting the money could send the wrong message to gambling addicts. The Lighthouse Mission, which helps feed 3,000 hungry Long Island residents a week, had been chosen to share an anonymous donor’s jackpot last month. The donor gave the winning ticket to the True North Commun...
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Celebrities
NEW YORK (AP) — Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are giving back to the country where their 3-year-old daughter Zahara was born. The couple have donated $2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ethiopia, said the Global Health Committee, which announced the donation by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The organization will use the money to build a center in the capital city of Addis Ababa for children affected by the disease and establi...
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Pittsburg mom pushed for surgery to save son’s life
Nikki Patrick The Morning Sun PITTSBURG (AP) — Brent Cosby has always been healthy. The 12-year-old Pittsburg boy enjoys sports and last summer helped his uncle roof a house. But on Feb. 5, 2008, he collapsed in his mother’s classroom at Carl Junction, Mo., Junior High School, stricken by a medical mystery that took months to solve. “I didn’t know what was going on,” said his mother, art teacher Elizabeth Cosby. “I called his name and he...
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Florida pastor state’s Reform Party nominee
TOPEKA (AP) — A state board sided Monday with Kansas leaders of the Reform Party in settling whom to list as the party’s presidential nominee. The State Objections Board had to decide between listing Chuck Baldwin, a Pensacola, Fla., minister and radio host, and Ted Weill, of Tylertown, Miss. The Kansas party’s leaders back Baldwin. “Essentially, what this things boils down to is that we’ve got a split in the national Reform Party,” Secret...
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Kansas abortion provider seeks dismissal of charges
WICHITA (AP) — Attorneys for one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers filed court papers Monday seeking to suppress evidence in the criminal case against him, claiming outrageous conduct by the “obsessed” prosecutor who initially conducted the inquisition on which the case is based. But that prosecutor responded that Dr. George Tiller and his attorneys “believe he is above the law.” The 154-page defense motion is the first publ...
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Political shuffle looming in Kansas
Sam Hananel Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The 2008 election season is rapidly coming to a close, but many of the top elected officials in Kansas are already gearing up for the next round, when the state could see a seismic shift in the political landscape. It all starts with Republican Sen. Sam Brownback and his longtime commitment to leave his seat in 2010, fulfilling a self-imposed limit to serve just two full terms. Brownb...
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Jury recommends death for Kleypas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A second jury on Monday recommended the death penalty for a man convicted of killing a southeast Kansas college student 12 years ago. Wyandotte County jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning their decision in the case of Gary Kleypas, who was convicted in 1997 of capital murder in the death of 20-year-old Carrie Williams. A Crawford County jury also recommended the death penalty for Kleypas in 199...
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University of Kansas receives $20.2M federal grant
John Hanna Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — University of Kansas researchers are joining a hunt for new, disease-fighting molecules through the largest federal research grant ever awarded in the state, officials said Monday. The grant is worth $20.2 million over the next six years, and it’s from the National Institutes of Health. The university will become part of a network of nine institutions across the nation trying to create mole...
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Oddities
Vermont man biking to California for race warm up PITTSFIELD, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man planning to ride in a 508-mile bicycle race in California is taking the long way to the starting line. He’s pedaling there. Joe Desena, 39, says he is leaving Monday on his 3,000-mile trip west, which is expected to take about two weeks. He’s planning to be in the field on Oct. 4 for the Furnace Creek 508, which goes from Santa Clarita, Calif., to Twenty...
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Flooding causes headaches for parts of Kansas
WICHITA (AP) — Constant heavy rainfall on Friday caused flooding throughout south-central Kansas, leading officials to close some roads and schools. The National Weather Service reported up to 9 inches of rain in some areas, with more rain still expected. A flood watch was in effect for parts of central, eastern and southern Kansas until Saturday. The forecast called for occasional showers and isolated thunderstorms, with the local possibil...
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World Briefs
Hurricane Ike begins battering the Texas coast, threatening to obliterate waterfront towns HOUSTON (AP) — Hurricane Ike, a colossal storm nearly as big as Texas itself, began battering the coast Friday, threatening to obliterate waterfront towns and give the skyscrapers, refineries and docks of the nation’s fourth-largest city their worst pounding in a generation. As the storm closed in, it trapped 60 people who had to be rescued from the flo...
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Heloise
Dear Readers: Believe it or not, the slipping economy is affecting household pets! How, you ask? Well, with home foreclosures on the rise and people moving because of job loss, household pets are being left or surrendered to shelters. Many times, they are taken to shelters because families cannot afford to pay deposits for pets at new housing, or for other financial reasons. This is extremely sad and no fault of the pet. So please keep in m...
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Ask Amy
Dear Amy: My 20-year-old son died a few days ago. It has been a devastating loss to my family and me. I appreciate all the well-wishers coming over and calling to pay their respects, but the questions about the details of his death are overwhelming. We told people that it was an accident, and I think that should be enough said. We are getting bombarded with questions from people wanting to know where it happened, how it happened, if he w...
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Other Editors
The Manhattan Mercury on heating bills: If the only higher bill Kansans will face in the next couple of years is the roughly $10 increase that Westar Energy seeks in monthly utility rates, consumers might not have objected as vociferously as they did at a Kansas Corporation Commission hearing. Unfortunately, it won’t be the only higher bill. The cost of simply driving to the grocery store is going up, as is the tab at the checkout line. Cl...
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