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Regents get update on NBAF budget battle By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
McKechnie
MANHATTAN — Three years ago, Kansas won a big-league competition to have the toplevel federal biosecurity laboratory. But now the $650 mil-
Sunny, breezy
High: 65
lion National Bio and AgroDefense Facility is mired in an appropriations limbo in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, members of the Kansas Board of Regents looked at the empty 46-acre NBAF site adjacent to Kansas State University.
“The challenge is trying to do something significant in a tight budget process,” said Regent Ed McKechnie, chairman of the board. The Department of Homeland Security selected the Kansas site to replace an aging lab at Plum Island, N.Y.
The new lab is scheduled to be completed in 2018. Once built, the 600,000-square-foot NBAF will be used for the study of diseases that could threaten the food supply and public health. Some of these include Nipah virus, Hendra virus,
Burn prepares wetlands for growth
Low: 46
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
Seniors revisit sex education
The topic of discussion at this month’s Kaw Valley Older Women’s League meeting was sex, specifically among the older crowd, and participants got a healthy pep talk on the subject. Page 2A
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Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photos
ROGER BOYD, DIRECTOR OF NATURAL AREAS FOR BAKER UNIVERSITY, sets fire to the Baker Wetlands on Thursday. The controlled burn is an annual event that helps clear the wetlands for new spring growth.
I certainly believe he comes in with a lessthan-objective perspective. In reality, when I look back at the controversy surrounding the KBA, I always viewed Mr. Rodman as being the governor’s hatchet man.” — Sen. Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, on Gov. Sam Brownback’s appointment of Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman to the Kansas Bioscience Authority. Rodman led the administration’s oversight of a recent audit of the KBA’s management and investment activities. Page 7A
INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Puzzles Sports Television Vol.154/No.97
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KANSAS UNIVERSITY
80 jobs cut at Med Center
ahyland@ljworld.com
Football field is coach’s classroom
QUOTABLE
Please see NBAF, page 2A
By Andy Hyland
SPORTS
Kansas University defensive coordinator Dave Campo is glad to be back at college because it gives him a chance to teach what he’s learned after more than two decades in the NFL. Page 1B
African swine fever, and foot and mouth disease. Kansas officials are hoping that NBAF will be the anchor of an animal health corridor, running from Kansas State through Kansas University and to the
Douglas County growing, albeit slowly By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Douglas County is still growing, according to new numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau, but its growth remains at a historically slow pace. On July 1, 2011, Douglas County’s population stood at 112,211 people, up 1,385 people from the 2010 Census. For the 15-month period, Douglas County grew by 1.2 percent. Converted to an annual rate, that’s just under 1 percent for the year, which is about what
the Census Bureau found the county’s growth rate to be in the decade of the 2000s. That growth rate was the slowest for Douglas County since the Great Depression, and the new Census estimates confirm what real estate and construction statistics have indicated: A population rebound hasn’t yet started. But there was good news in the Census Bureau’s latest population estimates. Among some of the findings:
Douglas County’s population growth rate
was twice as strong as the statewide growth rate. The Census Bureau estimates Kansas grew by 0.6 percent, or 18,120 people, for the 15-month period.
Douglas County continues to be the fifthmost-populous county in the state, and isn’t likely to move from that spot for quite awhile. The top six counties and their populations: 1. Johnson: 552,991 2. Sedgwick: 501,076 3. Shawnee: 178,941 4. Wyandotte: 158,224 5. Douglas: 112,211 6. Leavenworth: 77,176
In terms of actual numbers, Douglas County added the fourth most people to its population out of Kansas’ 105 counties. During the 15 months, Douglas County added 1,385 people. Coming in ahead of Douglas was Johnson, Sedgwick and Riley — home of Manhattan — which added 1,882 people.
In terms of percentage, Douglas County was the 13th fastest growing county in the state, just ahead of Leavenworth County and just behind
Please see COUNTY, page 2A
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Leaders at Kansas University Medical Center have eliminated 80 jobs as part of an ongoing efficiency review on the Kansas City, Kan., campus. The 80 jobs were staff positions and do not involve tenured faculty. The efficiency review, called Changing for Excellence, is still ongoing and was conducted with the assistance of the Huron Consulting Group. A similar efficiency review is ongoing at KU’s Lawrence campus. KUMC employs about 3,900 people. C.J. Janovy, a KUMC spokeswoman, said the cuts came from across the organization and were not targeted at a specific area. In a newsletter to the campus community, Barbara Atkinson, ex- Atkinson ecutive vice chancellor at KUMC and the executive dean of the KU School of Medicine, said the cuts came following budget cuts and employee performance reviews. “We are painfully aware that due to severe pressures on the state budget, our employees have gone without raises for four years,” Atkinson wrote. “One reason we are asking leaders to make targeted cuts is so that we can begin to free up resources to correct that.” The efficiency review at KUMC is also examining the best ways to re-invest the money saved, a process that could result in new jobs being created. On KU’s Lawrence campus, the review so far has resulted in three layoffs, all in supervisory positions in the university’s facilities department, said Gavin Young, a KU spokesman. On the Lawrence campus, the review has called for the merger of the university’s facilities department with student housing’s facilities operations. The cuts do not affect KU Hospital, which is operated separately from KU Medical Center. — Higher education reporter Andy Hyland can be reached at 832-6388. Follow him at Twitter.com/LJW_KU.