Wire
Newborn screening expanded in state
TOPEKA (AP) — State health officials have started screening the blood of all newborns for 29 potential disorders. The state previously screened for just four disorders, fewer than almost every other state. Missouri tests for 63 disorders. House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, an Ingalls Republican who pushed for more screenings, called the new law one of the most significant health policies in the last 20 years in Kansas. The law went into effect ...
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Oil extends slide into second day
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices fell as much as $6 a barrel Tuesday, hurling crude back to levels not seen since June 26 as traders wary about the health of the global economy cashed in gains from oil’s recent rally. A barrel of light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $6.23 in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following a $3.92 slide on Monday, and later traded down $5.36 at $136.01. The market’s bearish turn this week er...
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Family, admirers lay former Sen. Helms to rest in N.C.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney and a delegation of U.S. senators joined hundreds of other mourners who paid their respects Tuesday at the funeral of former Sen. Jesse Helms, a five-term Republican who died on the Fourth of July. Helms’ family sat in the front pews of the packed 800-seat sanctuary at Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh, where Helms worshipped for decades and served as a deacon. A bipartisan group of feder...
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G-8 endorses halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 RUSUTSU, Japan (AP) — The Group of Eight leading industrial nations on Tuesday endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, edging forward in the battle against global warming but stopping short of tough, nearer-term targets
G-8 endorses halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 RUSUTSU, Japan (AP) — The Group of Eight leading industrial nations on Tuesday endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, edging forward in the battle against global warming but stopping short of tough, nearer-term targets. The G-8 countries — the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy — also called on all major economies to join in t...
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Chapman rebuilds after tornado
CHAPMAN (AP) — Nearly a month has passed since a tornado roared through Tina Holliman’s hometown and destroyed her house. Since then, she has kept busy salvaging belongings from the rubble, taking care of her family and serving meals to truck drivers who are hauling debris to a landfill about a mile east of town. The storm last month recalled memories of another deadly twister that leveled most of Greensburg in May 2007, but Chapman has re...
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Fort Riley soldier’s death investigated FORT RILEY (AP) — The noncombat death of a Fort Riley soldier is under investigation
Fort Riley soldier’s death investigated FORT RILEY (AP) — The noncombat death of a Fort Riley soldier is under investigation. First Lt. Daniel Farkas died from injuries Friday in Kabul, Afghanistan. The 42-year-old artillery officer from Brooklyn, N.Y., served on a military transition team. He was assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. Farkas entered the Army in October 1992. He began serving with the 1st Infantry Division in Ja...
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Ask Amy
Dear AmyROOMMATE HAS TROUBLE CONFINING HIMSELF TO HIS OWN BED DEAR AMY: I have been living with the same two roommates since college, going on four years now. “Larry” is neat and organized, and “Steven” is messy and gross at times. Despite the differences, we have made it work. However, recently I have noticed that Steven has been sleeping in Larry’s bed when Larry’s not at home. When I asked him why, he said he does it because he enjoys i...
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Heloise
Dear Heloise: It seems in the past several months that I’m finding more and more weevilsWEEVILSin my flour, cornmeal and biscuit mixes. Is it my housekeeping, or am I bringing them home from the grocery store? I don’t have room in our freezer/fridge for these staples. What can I do to ensure clean flour and grain products? I end up wasting so much! -- Claire in Phoenix Chances are, you’re bringing the weevils home from the grocery store. It’s...
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Celebrities
’Survivor’ producer sued by ex-partner for $70M LOS ANGELES (AP) — The producer of the hit reality series “Survivor” and “The Apprentice” has been sued in Los Angeles by his former business partner. Conrad Riggs filed the lawsuit against Mark Burnett on Monday. Riggs claims he is owed more than $70 million for his contributions to their joint efforts. The two met in the 1990s when Burnett was trying to pitch the “Survivor” concept and Riggs w...
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Oddities
Police nab Mercedes-climbing goat CAPSHAW, Ala. (AP) — The goat was arrested, the Mercedes-Benz was assaulted and the dog came along for the ride. It happened Sunday when a woman driving the Mercedes saw a goat and dog playing on U.S. 72 in northern Alabama, Sheriff Mike Blakely said. She stopped, afraid they would get hit, Blakely said. But the goat jumped on the car and wouldn’t come down. Fearing scratches and dents in her import’s pai...
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Celebrities
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nicole Kidman gave birth Monday to a baby girl named Sunday. In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, Paul Freundlich, a publicist for Urban, said: “Nicole and Keith Urban are delighted to announce that Nicole Kidman gave birth to a baby girl on Monday morning, July 7, 2008, in the United States. Sunday Rose Kidman Urban weighed 6 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces. Husband Keith was by Nicole’s side and mother and baby ar...
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State briefs
Schools squeezed by rising food prices TOPEKA (AP) — Like many families, the state’s school districts are feeling pinched by rising food prices. It’s pressuring them to increase what they charge students for lunches. Some already have increased their prices. For example, the cost of lunches in Topeka schools will increase by 10 cents each when the new school year begins in August. And those rising prices are coming at a time when school ...
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Ask Amy
Dear AmyBE FIRM WITH ‘MOM’ ABOUT PAJAMAS AT DINNER DEAR AMY: How does one tell a nearly 80-year-old woman that coming to the dinner table in pajamas is not acceptable in our home? We have a parent living with us. “Mom” is very helpful around the house, pulls her fair share of the chores and has a heart of gold, but every afternoon, she puts on her pajamas and often puts her hair in curlers. It is a most unflattering sight to behold, especi...
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Heloise
FOR RELEASE TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2008 Dear Heloise: While serving a mission for my church in Bolivia, my pursePURSEwas taken one evening in a restaurant. Since I rarely carried it, I didn’t have anything of value to a thief in it. I only had it that evening because I needed my glasses to read the menu! I wasn’t terribly upset when he took it, as I knew that I hadn’t lost anything that I couldn’t replace -- my glasses being the most inco...
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Celebrities
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Sheryl Crow is urging people to get involved in saving America’s wild horses. “I think it will be a real shame when we look back and we don’t have these incredible species, and I guess my best hope would be that people, individuals, step up at this point and really protect these animals,” the 46-year-old Grammy-winning singer says in an upcoming documentary, “Saving the American Wild Horse.” The program airs 9 p.m. ...
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Oddities
Wrong number! Job hotline number was sex line ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Looking for work in all the wrong places? That’s what happened to job seekers who dialed a phone number listed on the state’s Family Health Administration’s Web site — which actually was a phone number for women looking for sex. The number for the Maryland Job Service Hotline was listed incorrectly on the state Web site, as well as in the Verizon Yellow Pages and other We...
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Ask Amy
Dear Amy: It seems a few times a month, someone writes to you about a situation or grievance about another person’s behavior, asking how to “confront” the offending party. You generally reply that “confrontation” is not necessary. I think that’s such an important point. Why is this word “confront” so often brought into interpersonal situations now? Are we really so hostile toward each other that, when we have some kind of a problem with ano...
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Abortion foes question need to rewrite Kansas laws governing late-term abortion
Grand jury suggested amendments to legislation to clarify guidelines John Hanna Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — Some abortion opponents doubt a state law restricting late-term procedures needs to be rewritten, despite a grand jury’s conclusion that it isn’t clear enough to allow an indictment of Dr. George Tiller. Abortion opponents forced Sedgwick County to convene the grand jury to investigate Tiller’s clinic in Wichita. Tiller i...
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Kansas moms meet with Foulston about SRS issues
Mothers accuse Sedgwick DA’s office of being too eager to remove children from parent’s custody WICHITA (AP) — Three mothers who claim their children have been abused and neglected while in state custody met with District Attorney Nola Foulston, amid increasingly public frustrations over the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The meeting Wednesday followed publicity of comments by SRS Director Don Jordan that Foulston...
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Couple spends free time helping sick kids
Lacey Storer St. Joseph News-Press ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Next month, 6-year-old Masan Payne will take his first trip to Disney World. He’ll get a limo ride to the airport, be able to head to the front of the lines and ride all the rides. For Masan, who suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a disease that causes nerve degeneration and muscle weakness in the extremities, it will be the trip of a lifetime, a rare chance to just be a kid...
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