USA TODAY
Deadly blizzard shuts down travel in New York City. 1B
MEDICAL
HOT & COLD
HISTORY
New museum exhibit explores odd, interesting public health stories from the turn of the century. A&E, 1D
over Texas Ellis leads KU rt, 76-67. after slow sta
Sports, 1C
L A W R E NC E
Journal-World ®
$2.00
SUNDAY • JANUARY 24 • 2016
LJWorld.com
Court deals blow to death penalty repeal effort By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Topeka — Leading up to the start of the 2016 legislative session, Kansas death penalty opponents thought they had a good chance of
passing a bill this year to repeal the law. In fact, a bill was formally introduced Friday in the House, with 17 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle, including religious conservative Republicans as well as liberal and centrist Democrats.
It would prohibit death sentences for any crimes committed after July 1, and it would create a new crime of “aggravated murder” punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole. But after the U.S. Su-
preme Court issued a ruling this week that put one of the most infamous mass murders in Kansas history back in the spotlight, some lawmakers say those chances may have dimmed. “Up until (Wednesday), we had enough votes that
we could have passed it in the House,” said Rep. John Bradford, R-Lansing, one of the conservative cosponsors. “Right now, after that decision, I think it’s going to be questionable.”
A level playing field
County jail expansion plans to be shared at meeting
With no district policy, some elementary students are getting less recess time
By Elvyn Jones Twitter: @ElvynJ
support a measure that would reduce criminal penalties for first- and second-time offenders for marijuana possession, 64.5 percent of respondents answered “yes.” Nearly 20 percent — 19.9 — said they were “not sure,” and 15.5 percent said “no,” they wouldn’t support it. The results had a margin of error of 2.1 to 2.9 percentage points.
Douglas County residents will have their first opportunity Monday to see what a proposed 120-bed expansion of the county jail would look like. The county will host its sixth town hall meeting on the expansion of the jail at 6 p.m. Monday in the second-floor commission meeting room of the Douglas County Courthouse, 111 E. 11th St. Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug and Sheriff Ken McGovern said representatives with Treanor Architects will present schematic designs at the meeting. Those attending the 90-minute session can expect to see a Weinaug proposed footprint of the expansion and renderings of interior and exterior details. Public comment would be welcome so designs can be further refined as the county and Treanor work to develop final bid-ready plans, Weinaug said. Another significant first-time development shared at the meeting will be a cost range for the expansion, Weinaug said. The proposed expansion would add about 120 beds to the existing 186-bed facility that opened in 1999. However, Weinaug and McGovern said the intention of the expansion was not to incarcerate a greater number of prisoners. Rather, the goal is to provide environments that allow the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and its partners to more effectively deal with the county’s inmate population so that inmates are less likely to have future brushes with the law. “This county has a history of incarcerating people at a lower rate than any county in Kansas,” Weinaug said, allowing that neighboring Johnson County also has a low rate.
Please see VOICES, page 8A
Please see JAIL, page 5A
By Rochelle Valverde Twitter: @RochelleVerde
Across elementary playgrounds in the Lawrence school district, all is not equal. Just ask fourth-graders at Sunset Hill Elementary. Fourth-graders at Sunset get 15 minutes of recess per day while fourthgraders at most other Lawrence public schools get 30 minutes per day. Such discrepancies exist for fourth-graders at two other Lawrence elementary schools and for fifth-graders at eight of the district’s 14 elementary schools. School district leaders are aware that some students are getting half as much playtime per day as their peers, and they say it is a concern. But it is unclear whether the district will be able to make changes to level the playing field, so to speak. “It’s tough because I do think different schools have different strategies for how they spend their time,” said Vanessa Sanburn, president of the Lawrence school board.
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
FROM LEFT IN FOREGROUND, SCHWEGLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THIRD-GRADERS Nadia Esperance and Sa’Rieyah Branch move along to an exercise video during an indoor recess Friday at the school. Temperatures were too cold for the class to go outside so the children participated in playing games and other activities. A report delivered to the Lawrence school board says that some Lawrence elementary students only get 15 minutes of recess per school day when state policy allows for 30 minutes per day. Board’s recess goal Board members are working on the issue, though. For this school year, one of the board’s goals to enhance student wellness is to “investigate increases in time for physical movement with emphasis on recess.” Please see RECESS, page 8A
Recess lengths at elementary schools • Third grades that get 15 minutes: Sunset Hill • Fourth grades that get 15 minutes: Sunset Hill, Quail Run, Pinckney • Fifth grades that get 15 minutes: Sunset Hill, Quail Run, Pinckney, Hillcrest, Broken Arrow, Kennedy, Sunflower, Woodlawn
Readers support reforms to marijuana, hemp laws A Thousand Voices
Nikki Wentling nwentling@ljworld.com
A
proposed reform of hemp and marijuana laws garnered support from a majority of readers in our latest LJWorld.com survey. The new survey of 1,000 readers shows most are in favor of a bill in the Kansas Senate that would both reduce penalties for first- and second-time marijuana charges and legalize the use of hemp oil for treatment of certain seizure disorders, though it has not been approved for such use by the U.S. Food and Drug Ad-
Arts&Entertainment 1D-6D Classified 1E-6E Deaths 2A Events listings 2C, 2D
Low: 35
Today’s forecast, page 8C
ministration. The bill would also promote industrial hemp research. The hemp oil provision, sponsored by Rep. John Wilson, D-Lawrence, received slightly more support than the part of the bill to soften penalties for possession. Here’s a look at the results: l When asked whether they’d
INSIDE
Milder
High: 45
Please see DEATH, page 6A Bradford
Home&Garden Horoscope Opinion Puzzles
6D Sports 4D Television 7A USA Today 4D, 5D
Join us at Facebook.com/LJWorld and Twitter.com/LJWorld
Fewer wrecks 1C-8C 2C, 8C, 4D 1B-8B
A new city report shows fewer overall traffic collisions have occurred in a stretch of Ninth Street in the year after it was redesigned from four lanes to three. Page 3A
Vol.158/No.24 36 pages