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SATURDAY • JANUARY 25 • 2014
‘I didn’t think I would get it’
CASSIE PETERS, who works as a receptionist at the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, survived breast cancer in her mid-20s with the help of several local organizations.
Group scraps social media policy ——
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25-year-old breast cancer victim pulls through with perseverance, help from local agencies
Lawrence Young Survival Coalition
couldn’t afford it. gbruce@ljworld.com As the months wore on, though, she continued to Cassie Peters was more worry about that lump. proactive than most. In late 2012, she went to Because she had a family the local safety-net, Health history of breast cancer, she Care Access, where, after routinely gave herself breast an examination, she was exams. She went to the docreferred to Lawrence Memotor once after discovering rial Hospital. A biopsy there a mass but, because Peters discovered she had breast was only 25, her physician cancer. didn’t think anything of it. Even though Peters had The next year, too old to stay lost a grandmother and aunt on her parents’ health plan, to the disease, she was still she decided to go without shocked. insurance — she thought she “I didn’t think I would get was healthy and, besides that, it,” said Peters, a Wichita na-
Cassie Peters hosts a support group for breast cancer survivors under the age of 40 on the first Monday of every month (except February) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Signs of Life, 722 Massachusetts St.
By Giles Bruce
tive who came to Lawrence to study expanded media at Kansas University and now works as a receptionist in the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. “I just thought, ‘You don’t even get mammograms until you’re 40 or 50.’” Peters’ care was covered under the Early Detection Works program, which provides cancer screenings to uninsured women in Kansas and, if they are diagnosed, enrolls them in Medicaid. Please see CANCER, page 2A
Panel making recommendation to regents starting from scratch By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Topeka — A group charged with recommending changes to the Kansas Board of Regents’ controversial policy on the improper use of social media has decided to disregard that policy and instead compose its own proposal. “Let’s just BOARD OF start from REGENTS scratch,” said Kevin Johnson, general counsel at Emporia State University, co-chair of the social media working group, which held its first meeting Friday. He said the group should ignore the current policy Please see SOCIAL, page 2A
Officials disagree on effect of school budget cuts Data interpretations by Davis and state board of education member draw criticisms
By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
A Republican member of the Kansas State Board of Education fired back this week at claims that Lawrence Rep. Paul Davis made recently about the impact that state budget cuts have had on public schools. Davis, the Kansas House minority leader and presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, said in a televised response to Gov. Sam Brownback’s State of the State ad-
dress that “public school class sizes are growing (and) teachers have been laid off by the thousands.” But Ken Willard, a Hutchinson Republican Davis who serves on the state board, issued a statement this week saying, “Information available to the public
on the KSDE website shows a very different picture.” And while official state data on the website does indeed paint a different Willard picture, Willard’s characterization of those data was only partially accurate and, according to some, a bit misleading.
through 12th grade classes in Kansas. Brownback assumed office in January 2011. The following year — the first full year of Brownback’s administration — the ratio went up to 15.1 students per teacher and has remained at Class size vs. ratios that level ever since. Actually, according to the But education officials were state’s official data, during the quick to point out that Davis 2010-2011 school year, there and Willard are actually using were 13.5 “students” for every Please see SCHOOLS, page 2A “teacher” in pre-kindergarten
“The fact is that while student numbers have been increasing, the number of teachers has also increased over the past three years, resulting in a declining teacher-student ratio,” Willard said.
ENVIRONMENT
Royalties for sand dredged from Kaw would double under bill By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Francisco
Topeka — Sand dredgers would have to pay double what they are currently paying the state for sand taken from the Kansas River under a bill proposed by a Lawrence legislator.
“There are environmental costs to the state for having sand removed,” said State Sen. Marci Francisco, DLawrence. Senate Bill 300 was referred Friday to the Senate Natural Resources Committee for consideration. Francisco’s bill would in-
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to protect and preserve the Kansas River. Laura Calwell, who is the Kansas Riverkeeper with the group, said increasing the cost of dredging would provide an incentive for dredgers to move their operations to open-pit mines on dry land.
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crease from 15 cents per ton to 30 cents per ton the royalty fee that sand dredging operations would pay the state to remove sand from Kansas rivers. Francisco said she proposed the bill on behalf of Friends of the Kaw, an environmental group that works
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She said dredging on the Kansas River over the past 100 years has caused erosion, collapsed banks and other problems. “For the sake of the river we would like to see those operations moved,” she said. Please see DREDGING, page 2A
KU celebrates addition The School for Architecture, Design and Planning’s Studio 804 celebrates a “symbolic” groundbreaking for its addition to Marvin Hall. Page 3A
Vol.156/No.25 26 pages