LAWRENCE&STATE
WORLD BRIEFING
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LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD ● LJWorld.com/local ● Thursday, May 12, 2011 ● 3A
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1 | ATLANTA
Gingrich: I’m running for president Republican Newt Gingrich said Wednesday he’s running for president because his experience has prepared him to return America “to hope and opportunity.” In a post on Twitter Wednesday, the former House speaker made official what has been an open secret for months: “Today I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.“ In a YouTube video, Gingrich assures viewers, “There’s a much better American future ahead with more jobs, more prosperity, a better health system, longer lives, greater independent living and a Gingrich country that is decentralized under the 10th Amendment with power once again back with the American people and away from the Washington bureaucracy.”
Alvamar getting new management By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
Alvamar’s two Lawrence golf courses are about to join the roster of a major course management company. On Tuesday, Billy Casper Golf Group will take charge of the day-to-day operations of Alvamar’s recreational assets: the two 18-hole golf courses, the two pro shops, the driving range, the
dining room and other operations now owned by 120 shareholders. All 120 employees will remain at the service of the operation’s 1,000 members, their guests and others who arrive at the complex off Crossgate Drive in western Lawrence for golf, swimming, dining and other activities. “To the members and the patrons who play here, it will be
absolutely seamless,” said Dick Stuntz, who will remain general manager. Shareholders had offered the recreational assets for sale late last year for $6.5 million and had secured a contract that was supposed to close by year’s end. But when that deal fell through — a deal that would have had an outof-town buyer hiring the Casper group as manager — the owners’ own leaders decided to enter
2 quakes in Spain kill 10, injure dozens
3 | NEW YORK CITY
Possible human lung stem cell found Scientists believe they’ve discovered stem cells in the lung that can make a wide variety of the organ’s tissues, a finding that might open new doors for treating emphysema and other diseases. When these human cells were injected into mice, they showed their versatility by rebuilding airways, air sacs and blood vessels within two weeks. One expert called that “amazing.” While stem cells have been found in bone marrow and some other parts of the body, it hasn’t been clear whether such a versatile cell existed in the lung. Experts not involved in the HEALTH study stressed that the work must be confirmed by further research and that it’s too soon to make any promises about therapies. But they said it could be a significant advance in a difficult field of research. “These are remarkable findings and they have extraordinary implications,” said Dr. Alan Fine of Boston University, who called the mouse results amazing. “But it has to be replicated.” 4 | CONGO
Study: 48 women raped every hour The African nation of Congo has been called the worst place on earth to be a woman. A new study released Wednesday shows that it’s even worse than previously thought: 1,152 women are raped every day, a rate equal to 48 per hour. That rate is 26 times more than the previous estimate of 16,000 rapes reported in one year by the United Nations. Michelle Hindin, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health who specializes in gender-based violence, said the rate could be even higher. The source of the data, she noted, is a survey that was conducted through faceto-face interviews, and people are not always forthcoming about the violence they have suffered when talking to strangers. “The numbers are astounding,” she said. Congo, a nation of 70 million people that is equal in size to Western Europe, has been plagued by decades of war. Its vast forests are rife with militias that have systematically used rape to destroy communities.
Please see ALVAMAR, page 5A
Varsity House offered reprieve
2 | MADRID
Two earthquakes struck southeast Spain in quick succession Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, injuring dozens and causing major damage to buildings, officials said. It was the highest quake-related death toll in Spain in more than 50 years. The epicenter of the quakes — with magnitudes of 4.4 and 5.2 — was close to the town of Lorca, and the second came about two hours after the first, an official with the Murcia regional government said on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. Dozens of injured people were being treated at the scene and a field hospital was set up in the town of about 85,000 people, officials said. About 270 patients at a hospital in Lorca were being evacuated by ambulance as a precaution after the building sustained minor damage, the Murcia regional government said. The Spanish prime minister’s office put the death toll at 10 and the Murcia administration said the deaths included a minor and occurred with the second, stronger quake.
management negotiations of their own. The management agreement stretches through the end of 2014, during which time Alvamar leaders plan to continue seeking a buyer so that shareholders — many of them investors since the project started in the late 1960s — can sell their shares and move on, said
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Developer offers to move historic home to make way for apartments By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com Photos courtesy of Justin Dominguez
GEOFF KNIGHT, A KANSAS UNIVERSITY GRADUATE, meets with women in Mufindi, Tanzania, who make baskets to earn income. Their baskets will be sold during a fundraising event Saturday evening at The Oread. The women are HIV positive or are caring for children who are orphans because of HIV.
Couple work to combat HIV, poverty in Tanzania Fundraiser in Lawrence set for Saturday to support work By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
Two Kansas University graduates are working to improve the lives of people in Muf indi, Tanzania, where poverty and HIV are prevalent. Jenny Peck, 28, and her husband, Geoff Knight, 29, have been working in the country since 2008, and they enjoy it. “It is very different, but it’s a very wonderful place to live,” she said. “The poverty level there is outstanding, and yet you go visit a home and they will go to their gardens and give you whatever they can. They will send you home with a chicken or a bag of potatoes just for visiting.” The two work for a nongovernmental organization called Foxes Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust. It was founded in 2005 to: ● Provide shelter, education and medical care for orphans and foster families.
JENNY PECK AND GEOFF KNIGHT, both Kansas University graduates, are pictured March 2011 in front of a house where women gather to weave baskets in a village in Mufindi, Tanzania, where they work.
MUFINDI DAY IN LAWRENCE
Lawrence residents have organized a 5K race and “Cocktails for a Cause” on Saturday to provide care for people in Mufindi, Tanzania. The 5K race begins at 8 a.m. at Hollywood Southwind 12 Theater, 3433 Iowa. Cost is $25 and then $30 on race day. It is a timed race, and there will be medals and refreshments. Pre-register and packet pickup will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at Garry Gribble’s Running Sports, Please see TANZANIA, page 5A 839 Mass. Race day registration and
packet pickup is from 6:45 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. at the theater. For more information or to register online, visit mufindiorphanslawrence.com. “Cocktails for a Cause and Silent Auction” will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Oread, 1200 Oread Ave. The silent auction will include local items as well as woven baskets, textiles, jewelry and other crafts made by the people of Mufindi. The Oread is donating a portion of proceeds from each “Mufindi Martini” to the cause.
An early 1900s Oread neighborhood home known as Varsity House still may have some time left in the game after all. New plans for a multimilliondollar apartment complex at 11th and Indiana streets have been filed with City Hall, but unlike previous proposals, they no longer call for demolishing the Varsity House, 1043 Ind. Instead, it would be It is an moved down effort to the block from its current site. show that “It is an attempt at a we don’t have to tear compromise,” said Lawrence everything architect Paul down to Werner, who is designing the make way project for a for new group led by projects.” Lawrence businessman — Paul Werner, Thomas Fritzel. “It is an Lawrence architect effort to show that we don’t have to tear everything down to make way for new projects.” Werner’s group is proposing to move the house, which got its name because Kansas University’s varsity football team was housed there in the 1950s, to a vacant lot immediately north of the current site. The current site would be part of a project to build a four- to five-story apartment building that would have 50 two-bedroom units and two levels of underground parking for 129 cars. Werner said the project could serve as a model for how to redevelop several other aging apartment complexes in the Oread area. “This is the right place to do it,” Werner said. “It is a block
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