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Tax-cut deficit pegged at $712M; governor disputes By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — The tax cut endorsed by Gov. Sam Brownback would drive the state into a $712 million deficit within six years, according to a new calculation released
Wednesday. But the Brownback administration said the calculation put together by the Kansas Legislative Research Department was wrong. Kansas Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan and Brownback’s budget director, Steve
Anderson, said the tax cut would boost the economy and lead to a positive ending balance in state coffers. “We are not playing games with these numbers,” Jordan said. “We are confident in our methodology.” He said the Revenue Department
would release its estimates today. Legislators have depended on the nonpartisan, professional staff of the Kansas Legislative Research Department for decades. On Monday, the Legislative Research Department re-
Bridge work closer to completion
leased a state general revenue fund profile that showed the proposed tax cuts would produce a deficit of $161 million in Please see TAX, page 2A
House spikes Senate
redistricting plan. Page 3A Brownback
City trying to revoke bar’s liquor license ——
Public safety cited as reason after 3 violent incidents at Taste Lounge, Bar and Grill By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
EMPLOYEES OF WILDCAT CONCRETE SERVICES of Topeka cover freshly poured concrete Wednesday on the northbound section of the Kansas River Bridge. Traffic has been reduced to one lane as crews finish a repaving job left over from last summer. The Kansas Department of Transportation expects the repaving work to last into early June.
Possible storm
Low: 67
High: 86
Today’s forecast, page 10A
COMING FRIDAY We’ll tell you about the four laureates named as the 2012 class for Junior Achievement’s Lawrence business hall of fame.
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Agency taking action against sex offenders following report By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
A September JournalWorld investigation of Kansas sex offenders who fail to register when crossing state lines prompted a federal agency to take action and led to several arrests, said Tom Lanier, a chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service. Last year, a Journal-World investigation found that more than 160 Kansas sex offenders who left Kansas were not registered in other states. Failing to register after moving to other states is potentially a federal and state crime. Following the investigation, the Journal-World furnished the Marshals Service — tasked with enforcing sex offender laws across state lines — with a list of unregistered offenders. “We went painstakingly through the list,” said Lanier, who is in charge of the Sex Offender Investigations branch, which includes Kansas. They were quickly able to narrow the list down, Lanier said. Some of the offenders had died or moved to states with different registration laws that did not require them to register. For the past several months, the Marshals Service has been investigating 22 of the cases identified by the Journal-World. Those investigations led to two arrests, while two additional sex offenders were arrested
Arrests since our investigation:
Samuel M. Gagnon: Convicted in Johnson County in 2002 of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child, Gagnon told Kansas authorities he was moving to Colorado, but failed to register in that state. Gagnon was arrested by the Marshals Service and the Denver Police Department in February and charged with failing to register Gagnon as a sex offender.
Thomas C. McCoumb: Convicted in Harper County in 2004 of indecent liberties with a child. McCoumb was released from a Kansas prison in 2009 and told authorities he was also moving to Colorado. McCoumb failed to register there and was arrested by the Marshals Service in January in Denver. McCoumb
These sex offenders were arrested for other offenses during the investigation and could face additional charges of failing to register:
Thomas J. Miller: Convicted of sexually assaulting a minor in Nebraska in 2006. Miller moved to Kansas but failed to register with another state when he left Kansas. Miller is currently in jail in Wyoming for drunken driving and is facing charges in Texas for failing to register as a sex offender.
Raymond C. Carrick: Convicted in Kansas in 2000 of sexual battery, moved to Georgia following his 2006 release, but failed to register as a sex offender. Carrick Carrick was arrested on burglary charges. for other offenses and could face additional failure-toregister charges. The Marshals Service is actively searching for several other offenders who have failed to register, but the agency asked that those names not be released. In addition, two of the of-
fenders, B.J. Lucas and Hayton P. Robinson, are currently serving in the U.S. Army. Lanier said that the Marshals Service contacted the Army in both instances and that the Army is aware of both men’s sex-offender status. Calls to Please see OFFENDERS, page 2A
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Lawrence city officials are seeking to revoke the liquor license of Taste Lounge, Bar and Grill based on public safety concerns. A bouncer was shot outside the bar, 804 W. 24th St., on March 17, and there were two other incidents where shots were fired outside the business last October and December. Suspects have been arrested and charged in all three cases. “These are things that draw our attention when you have these threats to the safety and well-being of the community,” said Chad Sublet, an assistant city attorney. City commissioners at CITY their May 15 meeting are scheduled to conduct a hear- COMMISSION ing on whether Taste’s city liquor license should be revoked, and city staff members are also asking the commission to request a hearing before the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control to determine whether Taste’s state license should be suspended or revoked, according to an April 27 letter City Attorney Toni Wheeler sent to Taste’s owner, Lee Riley of Topeka. A bar that loses its city-issued liquor license could still serve alcohol under its state license, but the city would not be able to collect alcohol sales tax funds, Sublet said. The Please see CITY, page 2A
Underage drinking crackdown shifts from bars to parties By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Law enforcement agencies in Douglas County are shifting their efforts to crack down on underage drinking this spring from bars to neighborhoods and house parties. A team of Lawrence police, Kansas University police and Kansas Alcoholic Beverage Control officers last Friday night patrolled areas around the Oread neighborhood. ABC officers did cite a caterer at an event at the Sigma Chi Fraternity, 1439 Tenn., alleging the catering company allowed minors to possess alcohol, failed to notify the ABC and police department of the event and allowed people to remove alcohol from the premises, said Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman. “We had an idea there was going Please see DRINKING, page 2A