The Weekender December 24-26, 2015
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High court strikes down state law reducing its power
STILL SCRAPING BY
By ROXANA HEGEMAN The Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously struck down a law meant to reduce its administrative influence over lower courts, setting up a showdown with lawmakers who threatened to defund the state’s entire judiciary system if the law was overturned. The high court ruled that the 2014 law changing how chief judges are selected is unconstitutional and was an “unconstitutional encroachment” by the Legislature on the Supreme Court’s authority to administer a “unified”
Alan Ard scrapes food from a dish at First Presbyterian Church’s Sunday Soups meal Sunday.
Sunday Soups program downsizes What started out with a “Hoorah!,” has been diminished to more of a “hey there,” at First Presbyterian Church’s Sunday Soups. Since late summer, the free meal has been reduced from every Sunday evening to the last two Sundays of the month. Lack of manpower has strained the program’s organizers, said Diana Asher,
a member of First Presbyterian who is faithful to the mission. “We wish we could continue it every Sunday,” said Asher. The demand is there. Ever since it began in November 2014 the numbers have remained constant at about 60-75 a night. In its 13 months, more than 4,700 meals have been served to area residents. The mix of diners includes young families struggling to make ends meet; the
Thief buys Christmas tree BEND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI says a 28-year-old man faces federal and state charges after he robbed a credit union in Bend, then went on a shopping spree that included buying a Christmas tree he later used to try and hide from police. The Oregonian reports the FBI says Brett GillispieComstock went into a Selco Community Credit Union twice on Dec. 16 before he walked to a teller, told her he was ready to open an account and handed her a note demanding $5,000. He left with $1,373 in an envelope. The newspaper
reports that Bend police officers found Gillispie-Comstock nearby about 40 minutes after the robbery and arrested him. Authorities say GillespieComstock told investigators that he and his mother had lost $400 gambling and that they needed money for rent, Christmas presents and a Christmas tree. The Oregonian reports that authorities say he used some of the money to buy a Christmas tree. The FBI says he had been trying to use the tree to hide his face when police stopped him.
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 41
court system. The justices said that by enacting the law, the Legislature asserted significant control of a constitutionally established essential power of the Supreme Court. The law enacted last year by the Republican-dominated Legislature stripped the Supreme Court of its power to appoint the chief judges for the trial courts in each of the state’s 31 judicial districts, giving it to the local judges. Lawmakers followed up this year by passing another law saying that if the administrative change was overturned, the court system’s entire budget through June See COURT | Page A2
Feds cite ‘systemic failure’ at Osawatomie
REGISTER/SUSAN LYNN
By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
www.iolaregister.com
elderly, many of whom are single; and those who suffer from disabilities of one kind or another — physical or mental — which prevent them from being gainfully employed. “Some come for the fellowship as much as for the food,” Asher said. Typically a “widows’ table,” of elderly women who have lost their spouses crops up. “We think Sunday Soups
OSAWATOMIE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas mental hospital that lost federal funding failed to supervise care, perform safety checks and protect suicidal patients, inspectors said. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report cited a rape at the Osawatomie State Hospital in October as an example of the problems that prompted the federal government to
See SOUPS | Page A4
cut off funding Monday. Kansas now has to pay for care at the facility, which is one of only two of its kind in the state. The report found that staff members were not appropriately stationed to provide safety and oversight before the sexual assault, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. The worker who was See HOSPITAL | Page A6
Hostages finally awarded compensation Americans held 444 days in Iran Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON — For 38 surviving Americans taken hostage in Iran in 1979, more than three decades of lobbying and legal battles over compensation have finally ended. A spending bill approved by Congress last week sets aside about $4.4 million for each of the hostages. “The money can’t bring back family members, or the 444 days of their lives,” Sen.
Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who championed their cause, said during an interview. “But it would bring some closure and some justice.” More than 60 diplomats, embassy employees and citizens visiting Iran were taken hostage Nov. 4, 1979, when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Some were released soon thereafter, but 52 endured 444 days of torture and mock executions before their release on Jan. 21, 1981, the day of President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. Many never truly escaped, said Tom Langford, a Virgin-
“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” — Dr. Seuss 75 Cents
ia attorney representing the hostages. Fifteen died premature deaths, including the suicide of a former CIA agent “from causes that flowed out of their mistreatment,” he said. “I get calls about one of them being readmitted into a psychiatric facility because they are still having panic attacks, sometimes multiple times daily,” Langford said. “We have hostages who are reclusive and still scared of Iran because they were told when they left, ‘We’re going See HOSTAGES | Page A6
Hi: 53 Lo: 31 Iola, KS