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Tuesday, August 7, 2012
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DEATHS Journal-World obituary policy: For information about running obituaries, call 8327151. Obituaries run as submitted by funeral homes or the families of the deceased.
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GOP moderates may get help from party switchers By John Hanna Associated Press
IMOGENE KAY RUFF Imogene Kay Ruff, 64, passed away Thurs. Aug 2, 2012. Memorial services pending. Arrangements have been made with Church Funeral Associates. 913-789-9600
DALE ARTHUR MAYHEW SR Born August 1, 1932 in Lawrence, Kansas and passed away in his home on August 3, 2012. He is preceded in death by his parents, Arthur Harrison Mayhew and Ida Viola Tevis, and two beloved sisters, Virginia “Kathleen” Knight and Joan Thompson. He is
survived by two children, Dale Arthur Mayhew Jr of Missouri and Victoria Mayhew Kushima of Hawaii. 5 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Burial will be at Underwood Cemetery. Please sign this guestbook at Obituaries. LJWorld.com.
DIANA SCOTT Memorial services for Diana Scott, 89, Lawrence, are pending and will be announced by Warren-McElwain Mortuary. She died Aug. 5 at Pioneer Ridge.
GLEN HUTCHERSON, JR Funeral services for Glen Hutcherson, 88, of Lawrence are pending and will be announced by the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. He died Monday at Brandon Woods.
Fair CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
missing at the fairgrounds. “It did qualify him for a State Fair entry,” his mother, Joyce Miles, said, “so he won’t be able to do that. We are asking that it be returned anonymously.” Adam’s project wasn’t the only one missing or apparently stolen from the displays in Buildings 1 and 2 at the fairgrounds, said Margaret Kalb, executive secretary of the Douglas County Fair Board. She said fair officials did notify the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office after they noticed a few projects by 4-H members and others apparently were taken. The fair book has a liability section that states exhibitors enter and display items at their own risk, but Kalb said the apparent thefts were still disappointing. “We hope that somebody would be honest enough that they would
consider returning the items,” she said. “The fair board is very concerned. We do our best to find volunteers to watch those buildings. I’m sure sometimes you can’t see everything in any type of business. I’m so sorry for the loss of those types of items, and so is the whole fair board.” Joyce Miles said her son, who will attend South Middle School this year, had planned to give the project as a gift to his father, Mark Leonard. The family is asking anyone who has the wall hanging to return it anonymously to his mother’s employer, Housekeeping Unlimited, 1611 St. Andrew’s Drive, which is west of Bob Billings Parkway and Kasold Drive. “I think he’s just more shocked than anything that it was taken,” she said. “And if they really liked it that much, he probably would have made them one.” —Reporter George Diepenbrock can be reached at 832-7144. Follow him at Twitter.com/gdiepenbrock.
State resubmits KanCare application By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration announced Monday it had resubmitted to the federal government its proposal to overhaul the Kansas Medicaid program. Under the proposal, more than 350,000 Kansans will receive health care services through managed care plans run by private insurance companies. Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer said KanCare will provide better health outcomes and save approximately $1 billion in five years. “Compared to old Medicaid, KanCare will offer needy Kansans three vibrant options for integrated care and value-added services,” said Colyer, who is a plastic surgeon. “KanCare will provide expanded coverage for dental care, heart trans-
plants and bariatric services. With KanCare, members will be able to choose the plan that works best for their families. We’re able to make these improvements without cutting provider rates or changing eligibility requirements,” Colyer said. Some health care advocates have been skeptical of the claims made by the Brownback administration. The administration had submitted its proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in April. But it withdrew the application to consult with two Native American health centers. Last week, state officials held meetings on the KanCare plan in eight cities. Colyer said the administration still hopes to implement KanCare by Jan. 1. — Statehouse reporter Scott Rothschild can be reached at 785-423-0668.
L AWRENCE J OURNAL -W ORLD
TOPEKA — Moderate Republicans who are trying to retain control of the Kansas Senate are likely to get help from Democrats who’ve temporarily switched parties to vote against conservative challengers in GOP primary races, the state Democratic Party’s leader said Monday. State Chairwoman Joan Wagnon said Kansas Democratic Party officials have seen hundreds of people change their party affiliations to the GOP in counties with contested Senate races on today’s primary ballot. The state GOP allows only registered Republicans to vote in its primaries. Wagnon said Democrats were trying to pin down firm figures on the party switchers, but she believes it’s a significant number. Voter registration numbers from Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office also suggested such a trend is possible. The number of registered Republicans, unaffiliated and total voters is higher than at the same point in 2010, but the number of registered Democrats has declined. A majority of the state Senate’s 40 districts and the House’s 125 districts had contested primaries, but the hottest races in Kansas were a dozen contests in which a moderate GOP senator faced a more conservative challenger. Conservatives hoped to oust the incumbents and end moderate Senate leaders’ ability to stymie moves to the right in fiscal and social policy. “All kinds of people see that there’s a huge threat with the loss of the Senate, so they’re switching over,” Wagnon said. Kansas has about 1.7 million registered voters and when registration for the primary closed in mid-July, the number was
Voters CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Republicans that join together to promote a Democrat agenda.” House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said when he read that statement from Brownback he thought it was peculiar. “Do the people of Kansas want their representatives to work with each other or not? I believe the answer is a clear yes.” Meanwhile, those Republican incumbents were battling back with the support of teachers, bipartisan union PACs and gaming interests. “The moderates have really fought back in a more aggressive fashion than I think some of us who have been watching Kansas politics had anticipated,” said Burdett Loomis, a political science professor at Kansas University. “The moderates aren’t going down without a fight,” said Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty. “It’s a true battle. It’s not like the U.S. men playing Nigeria in basketball.” While GOP state legislative races have dominated politics in much of Kansas, Douglas County is part of a Democratic primary for the 2nd Congres-
Republican PACs spend more than half-million dollars in final days TOPEKA (AP) — The political action committee of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce has spent more than $394,000 on legislative races in the final days before today’s party primaries. Campaign finance reports filed through Monday show most of the money went for mailings and radio spots for conservative Republicans running for state Senate. The chamber’s PAC reported spending nearly $307,000 on Sunday alone, but chamber vice president Jeff Glendening said $45,000 of the spending also was listed in an earlier report. The chamber is backing efforts by GOP conservatives to oust a dozen moderate Republican senators in primary races. But the chamber also is helping conservative candidates seeking open seats. According to other campaign finance reports filed through Monday,
political action committees backing moderate Republicans in Kansas Senate races have spent at least $178,000 in the final days before the party primaries. A PAC for Kansas real estate agents reported spending more than $58,000 on mailings and online advertising in the week before today’s primary. Other groups backing moderate Republicans for Senate also report spending more than $30,000 each in recent days. They include the Kansas Traditional Republican Majority PAC, the Kansas Jobs PAC and the Kansas Values PAC. The Kansas Jobs PAC received a $15,000 contribution from the state’s largest public employees union. Kansas allows PACs to spend unlimited amounts on ads promoting candidates if those activities aren’t coordinated with the candidates.
seven-tenths of 1 percent higher than in mid-July 2010. Republican registrations were up 2.3 percent and unaffiliated registrations up 3.7 percent. But Democratic registrations were 5 percent lower in mid-July than in mid-July 2010. And figures from Kobach’s office showed that Democratic registrations dropped after July 1. Moderate GOP senators joined Democrats in resisting Gov. Sam Brownback’s successful push to cut state income taxes this year. The bipartisan coalition in the Senate has prevented Brownback’s fellow conservatives from going as far as they’d like toward lessening the political influence of labor unions, remaking the appellate courts and mov-
ing new public employees into a 401(k)-style pension plan. The state’s largest teachers’ union and other labor groups were working with GOP moderates, and some Democrats said their party’s members were switching their voter registrations to influence Republican races. The powerful Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the anti-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity were backing conservatives’ efforts to remake the Senate. Still, Kobach was predicting that only 18 percent of the state’s 1.7 million registered voters — about 310,000 — would cast ballots. Republicans generally believe a low turnout favors conservatives.
sional District. Lawrence and Douglas County have been split for 10 years between the 2nd and 3rd districts, but court-ordered redistricting brought the county entirely into the 2nd. The newly aligned districts were ordered by a panel of three federal judges in June after the Legislature failed to approve a plan. Scott Barnhart, Robert Eye and Tobias Schlingensiepen are vying for the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, who is seeking her third two-year term. Barnhart is a farmer from Ottawa; Eye, an attorney from Lawrence; and Schlingensiepen, a pastor from Topeka. Eye and Schlingensiepen have had the most active campaigns. Back on the legislative side, two Republicans are vying for their party’s nod in the 3rd Senate District. James C. “J.C.” Tellefson, a former Leavenworth County commissioner, faces Anthony Brown, a state representative from Eudora. The winner will go against incumbent state Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, in the November general election. The newly drawn 3rd Senate District covers parts of Leavenworth and Douglas counties, including Basehor, Tonganoxie, Eudora, Baldwin City and about one-third of Law-
rence’s population. In the GOP primary in Senate District 19, two newcomers face off: Matthew Windheuser of Lawrence and Casey Moore of Topeka. The winner will face state Sen. Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, in the district that covers western Douglas County, east Topeka and all of Osage County. In Senate District 2, Ronald Ellis of Meriden faces Jeremy Pierce of Lawrence, but Pierce ended his campaign and threw his support behind Ellis, who is expected to challenge state Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence. Lawrence state Reps. Barbara Ballard and Paul Davis, both Democrats, and Tom Sloan, a Republican, face no primary opponents. Republican primaries are being held in two House districts that include portions of Douglas County. State Rep. Connie O’Brien, of Tonganoxie, faces Sandra Bohne of Leavenworth in the 42nd House District; and Debra “Debbi” Childers of Auburn, Ken Corbet of Topeka, and Dana Webber of Scranton are running in the 54th House District. The winner in that race will face state Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka. — Statehouse reporter Scott Rothschild can be reached at 785-423-0668.
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BRIEFLY Reece Hardy said that Spencer Museum the incident did not affect closed another week the museum’s galleries and The Spencer Museum of Art at Kansas University, which had two lower floors damaged by a water main break last week, will be closed for another week, director Saralyn Reece Hardy said in a message to museum supporters Monday.
collections but that the museum will still be closed through next Monday. KU officials have said water from a broken main last Wednesday on Mississippi Street damaged two bottom floors. A majority of the damage was in the mu-
seum’s bottom floor, which houses the Murphy Art and Architecture Library, and KU sent between 15,000 and 20,000 books, which is roughly 10 percent of the library’s 170,000 volumes, to Chicago for treatment and repairs. The museum has been closed since the leak last Wednesday. Reece Hardy
said scheduled group tours will proceed as planned. Updates on the museum’s schedule will also be posted on the museum’s website, spencerart.ku.edu.
Library to reopen after bedbug reports WICHITA (AP) — The
Wichita public library will reopen its main branch today after dealing with bedbugs that were found last week. A patron reported seeing an insect last Wednesday in a chair at the downtown branch. An expert identified it as a bedbug, and a search turned up more of the insects on chairs in
two other lounge areas. Library officials brought in pest control companies and a dog trained to detect bedbugs to search the premises. All of the lounge seating has been removed, and other seating and some materials on shelves have been treated.