LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Up to 60 dogs living at the Lawrence Humane Society need temporary homes. The humane society says it will provide free pet food supplies and veterinary care for the dogs during February while its kennels are being repaired. Those who volunteer to keep the dogs temporarily will also receive foster care orientation. The Kansas Department of Agriculture requires foster animal keepers to register and pay a $10 license fee. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the humane society will take in only stray dogs during February to help manage the shelter population while the kennels are repaired.
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A trumpet ensemble from the University of Kansas will represent Kansas in President Barack Obama’s inaugural ceremony, thanks to some quick planning and hard work. The University of Kansas Trumpet Ensemble had only 10 days to prepare for its trip to Washington D.C. after a group chosen to represent Kansas dropped out. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the 16 students and two faculty members spent the last week and a half cramming in practice while also raising money for the trip. Private donors and the chancellor’s office helped with some of the costs, and the university’s athletics department…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has hired former conservative lawmaker Brenda Landwehr for a job in the Department of Children and Families. The Wichita Eagle reports that Landwehr lost to Democratic Rep. Nile Dillmore in November. Landwehr was hired Jan. 13 as a part-time senior policy analyst in the Wichita regional office of the Department of Children and Families. The agency was formerly known as the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. DCF spokeswoman Angela de Rocha says Landwehr will earn $26.45 an hour. That figures out to about $27,000 a year. During her 18 years as a…
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) The executive director of the Finney County Convention and Visitors Bureau has resigned. The Garden City Telegram reports that the bureau’s board of directors said it’s looking for a new executive director to replace Lynn Schoonover. The board made the announcement Thursday. Board chairman Amro Samy says the board will begin a search for a new director immediately. Samy says the board hopes to have a new executive director in about a month. Events Director Larry Johnson will act as interim director until a new director is hired. Schoonover led the CVB since 2008.
IOLA, Kan. (AP) The east-central Kansas town of Iola has received a nearly $200,000 settlement from a manufacturer of the herbicide atrazine. The Iola Register reports that a class-action lawsuit was brought by water treatment plants against agriculture chemical company Syngenta Crop Protection. Iola is sharing in a $105 million settlement. Iola water and wastewater superintendent Toby Ross insists that the city’s water is safe. Legally, the amount of the herbicide in the water must be lower than three parts per billion. In Iola, the water coming through the plant averaged .11 parts per billion. The nearby city of Humboldt…
HORTON, Kan. (AP) The Kickapoo Tribe in northeast Kansas has picked its next chief of police. The tribe says in a news release that its new head of law enforcement is Mike Dougherty. The Kickapoo Tribal police department provides law enforcement services on the tribe’s reservation about five miles west of Horton in Brown County. Tribal police work closely with both tribal and non-tribal law enforcement agencies.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger has promoted a staff attorney to director of the office’s Consumer Assistance Division. Praeger notes that Jennifer Sourk began working for the Insurance Department in 2007 as a consumer representative in the same division she’ll now lead. Sourk received her law degree from Washburn University of Topeka in 2005 and now serves on its Board of Regents. As consumer assistance director, she’ll replace Kevin Davis, who recently left the Insurance Department for a job at Security Benefit Corp. in Topeka.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas legislative leaders from both parties have endorsed plans to shorten this year’s annual session to 80 days. If they’re successful, the Legislature will trim 10 days off the normal 90 days that leaders expect each year. Republican House Speaker Ray Merrick of Stilwell says legislators should be able to finish their business within 80 days, and Democratic leaders agree. Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka and House Democratic Leader Paul Davis of Lawrence strongly embraced Merrick’s call to avoid pushing all major business into the wrap-up period that follows the Legislature’s annual spring break. Lawmakers…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Visitors have been filing through the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka as the nation marked the start of President Barack Obama’s new term and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Many of those who came to the site on Monday said they believe the Democratic president can be successful if he remembers his faith and stands up to Republicans in Congress. The historic site is housed in the old Monroe Elementary School, which at one time educated only black children. Monroe was at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has submitted an executive order to Kansas legislators merging the state’s troubled Juvenile Justice Authority with its adult Department of Corrections. Brownback delivered the order to the House and Senate on Friday. It takes effect in July unless either chamber rejects it by March 19. The Republican governor promised last month to submit such an order. So far, no significant opposition has emerged in the GOP-dominated Legislature. Brownback has argued that two critical legislative audits in the past six months demonstrate the need for a new approach to juvenile justice. The governor contends juvenile…