Lawrence Journal-World 09-16-2015

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WEDNESDAY • SEPTEMBER 16 • 2015

Future of Free State Festival unclear

Golden harvest

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City OKs portion of funding sought for event By Nikki Wentling Twitter: @nikkiwentling

Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

LAWRENCE FARMER LOWELL NEITZEL EMPTIES CORN INTO A HOPPER holding close to a thousand bushels cut from a field Tuesday north of Lawrence. A little bit of rain during the morning didn’t keep area farmers from going out on the fields.

Murder trial begins in disabled man’s death Defense argues that caregiver was assisting in suicide By Caitlin Doornbos Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

The first-degree murder trial of 49-year-old Ronald Eugene Heskett, of Eudora, commenced Tuesday after prosecutors and the defense selected an all-female jury. Heskett is accused of killing a 65-year-old man in his care on Sept. 12, 2014. Prosecutor Eve Kemple alleged in her opening statements Tuesday that Heskett suffocated Vance

“Van” Moulton for financial gain at Moulton’s residence at Prairie Ridge Place Apartments, 2424 Melrose Lane. Heskett’s attorney, Michael Warner, told jurors Tuesday that evidence will show it was an assisted suicide. Moulton, of Lawrence, had cerebral palsy, which restricted his mobility, Douglas County Coroner Erik Mitchell testified Tuesday. Mitchell said he ruled Moulton’s death a homicide by asphyxiation. Heskett worked as a home

health care attendant for Moulton, both Kemple and Warner said. In photos presented to jurors, Heskett Moulton was seen hours after he was pronounced dead the morning of Sept. 12, 2014, lying on his right side with a purple towel twisted around his neck, the ends extending behind him. In addition to finding evidence of cerebral palsy and

limited mobility, Mitchell said he also found petechiae, or dot-like hemorrhages in Moulton’s face and eyelids, plus a rug burn-type scrape beneath his chin. Mitchell said the petechiae and abrasion were consistent with being suffocated with a towel. Though Moulton’s body showed signs of having bladder irritation and kidney infection because of his cerebral palsy symptoms, causing Moulton to need catheters to relieve himself, Mitchell said

Twitter: @saramarieshep

Kansas University now has a physical home for its Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity — a nook in the Kansas Union envisioned as a safe space for LGBT students and allies. “This is one of the places where

your gender pronouns will absolutely be respected without question,” said Vanessa Delgado, assistant director of KU’s Student Involvement and Leadership Center, or SILC, and coordinator for the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity. She said students should feel that “KU has a place for me, and I can feel at home Please see KU, page 2A

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Today’s forecast, page 8A

GRAND OPENING KU’s Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity plans a grand opening celebration for its new dedicated space for LGBT students and allies. The event is planned for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the Center, located in Room 420

of the Kansas Union, inside the Student Involvement and Leadership Center on Level 4. There will be a short program at 11:30 a.m. The event is open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

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Closure spurs talk of Medicaid expansion By Peter Hancock

Topeka — The impending closure of a hospital in southeast Kansas is prompting some Republican state lawmakers to consider allowing some form of Medicaid expansion as allowed under the King federal Affordable Care Act. “I’ve never been amenable to just an expansion of the Affordable Care Act,” Senate Vice President Jeff King said Tuesday. “But as we look at states like Indiana that take Please see MEDICAID, page 6A

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Please see FESTIVAL, page 5A

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Please see TRIAL, page 6A

KU opens ‘safe space’ for LGBT community By Sara Shepherd

The future of the Free State Festival was pushed into uncertainty Tuesday after the City Commission voted to contribute $60,000 for the weeklong summer arts event — $40,000 less than the Lawrence Arts Center requested. The Arts Center asked for $100,000 of the city’s transient guest tax revenue, which would provide 25 percent of the event’s funding.

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Firebirds spike Lions The Free State High School girls’ volleyball team took down Lawrence High in a city showdown Tuesday night. Sports, 1C

Vol.157/No.259 40 pages


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