Lawrence Journal-World 07-12-13

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Dozens speak against Westar rate increase plan By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

TOPEKA — Westar Energy customers on Thursday strongly criticized a proposal by the utility to increase residential rates while reducing electric rates paid by big businesses. A standing-room-only crowd

of more than 80 people packed a hearing room at the Kansas Corporation Commission, with more participating via videoconferences set up in Hutchinson, Salina and Pittsburg. Westar’s proposal would increase rates on average residential customers by $7.50 per month.

decreasing big business rates by $46 million and public school rates by $3.6 million. Westar says the overall rate increase is needed to pay for environmental upgrades at its coal-burning La Cygne power plant. The utility said the rates have to be “rebalanced” because big

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It would raise residential bills by 8.8 percent and small businesses by 6.2 percent, while decreasing industrial bills by 8.4 percent and bills that public schools pay by 7.6 percent. In all, Westar has proposed raising residential rates by a total of $62 million and small business rates by $21.5 million, while

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Today’s forecast, page 10A

INSIDE

businesses are paying more than the cost of their service, said Jeff Martin, Westar’s vice president of regulatory affairs “That is not good for Kansas jobs or the economy and it’s also not very fair,” Martin said. But dozens of speakers disPlease see WESTAR, page 2A

Brownback won’t reveal the names of judicial applicants By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday announced he would not disclose the names of those applying for positions on the Kansas Court of Appeals. “In checking with those who have already expressed interest in applying, there is a strong preference for confidentiality, which we will respect,” Brownback said in a statement released by his office. “It is clear that disclosing the names of potential nominees would hurt applicant pools for future selections and this is why the American Bar Association recommends this method of selection and why the Federal judicial selection process follows this same path,” he said. On Tuesday, Brownback’s Brownback spokeswoman said the governor would disclose the names because she said keeping them secret had become a distraction after a public outcry. But then later Tuesday, the office retracted that statement. By not disclosing the names of those applying for a appeals court positions, Brownback breaks with more than 30 years of practice in Kansas. A new law allows the governor to make

All signs point to pilot error in crash NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said Thursday that no signs of mechanical error were found in the South Korean flight that crashed in San Francisco last weekend, and the focus is on the pilots trying to land the plane. Page 7A NATION

Zimmerman faces lesser charge The jury hearing the case against George Zimmerman, accused of killing Trayvon Martin, now has the option to convict him of manslaughter, which still could bring a sentence of life in prison. Page 6A

QUOTABLE

Water is obviously the big question. In drought you don’t have enough water. As seas rise, you have too much.” — Jonathan Pershing, deputy assistant secretary of energy for climate change policy and technology, on a report that climate change and extreme weather already are causing disruptions in the U.S. energy supply. Page 7A

Please see JUDGES, page 2A

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo

DEXTER HORNE, 19, OF LOUISVILLE, KY., from left, Annamaria Viazzo, 23, of Westchester, N.Y., and Rogelio Ayllon, 20, of Philadelphia, work Thursday on a Lawrence Habitat for Humanity house at 212 N. Comfort Lane. The three are part of a 30-person Bike and Build group bicycling from Providence, R.I., to Half Moon Bay, Calif., this summer and stopping along the way to build homes and spread awareness about affordable housing. When riding, the group averages about 73 miles a day. By the end of the route they will have cycled 4,173 miles.

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INDEX Business 2A Classified 4B-10B Comics 9A Deaths 2A Events listings 10A, 2B Horoscope 9B Movies 4A Opinion 8A Puzzles 9B Sports 1B-3B, 10B Television 10A, 2B, 9B Vol.155/No.193 20 pages

KU picks longtime philosophy prof to oversee undergrad education By Matt Erickson merickson@ljworld.com

Ann Cudd won’t start her new job until August, but she already knows what her two biggest goals will be. Kansas University on Thursday named Cudd, a longtime KU professor and administrator, as its first vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies. She’ll be working toward two benchmarks she calls “ambitious”: a 90 percent freshman retention rate and an 80 percent six-year graduation rate. Those are goals set by Chancellor Bernadette GrayLittle, and they’ll require an improvement of about 10 percentage points each.

“Those are going to be difficult goals to reach, but I think it’s really important,” said Cudd, a dist i n g u i s h e d Cudd professor of philosophy at KU. Cudd came to KU as an assistant professor in 1988, the same year she earned a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Since then, she has taught classes in philosophy and women, gender and sexuality studies. She’s written five books and dozens of journal articles on subjects including

oppression, feminism and capitalism. She was director of KU’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program from 2001 to 2008, and since 2008 she’s been an associate dean in KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Also in 2008, she was inducted into the KU Women’s Hall of Fame. “We felt she would be a great leader,” said Sara Rosen, KU’s senior vice provost for academic affairs. KU’s search for the job was limited to internal candidates. Cudd will oversee KU’s undergraduate education as it undergoes its biggest Please see KU, page 2A

Amid criticism, Kansas preparing to test new reading and math assessments By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com

Kansas education officials are gearing up to launch a new type of test for reading and math next spring that is being designed to go along with the new Common Core State Standards. The process is moving forward even as some residents still are urging the Kansas State Board of Education to abandon the new standards, and all forms of testing that go along with them. “I don’t feel like our voices have been heard,” SCHOOLS Lawrence resident Megan King told the state board Tuesday. “We have not been here complaining about the standards themselves, but about the nationalization that was tied to those standards and the loss of local control.” King identified herself as a leader of a group called Kansans Against Common Core. For each of the past three monthly board meetings, members of that group, as well as other critics of Please see STANDARDS, page 2A


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