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Officials warn residents to avoid warm bodies of water outdoors By John Hanna Associated Press
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NORITA HIGGS, OF LITTLE ROCK, ARK., BECOMES ANIMATED as she and her granddaughter, McKenzie Brown, a kindergartner at Langston Hughes School, read “Clifford’s Big Dictionary” on Friday during Grandparents Day at the school. Grandparents from near and far, such as Higgs, came to listen to songs, eat snacks and learn about their grandchildren’s school.
Legislator upset that $85M contract accepted By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — A state legislator who applied pressure on Gov. Sam Brownback to reject a $31.5 million federal grant because it was related to federal health reform is now taking aim at an even larger grant. O’Hara Rep. Charlotte O’Hara, R-Overland Park, said the recently announced $85 million contract between the state and Accenture to install a state-of-the-art computerized system for Medicaid and other services is also related to health reform. Ninety percent of the cost of the project is funded by the federal government. “I’m really disappointed and my confidence in the Brownback Administration is in tatters,” O’Hara said in her most recent newsletter. She said the Accenture contract means
Clear-cutting of woodlands occurs as new regulations are on horizon By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Bulldozers and bonfires have been busy in a pair of rural Douglas County woodlands owned by a Lawrence developer. The Journal-World received multiple inquiries about bulldozers that have been clearing acres of trees on 75 acres just north of the ranger station at Clinton Lake State Park and on 160 acres about one-half mile north of the Lecompton interchange on the Kansas Turnpike. Lawrence developer Mike Stultz owns both pieces of property, according to county records, but multiple attempts to reach Stultz for comment were unsuccessful. Lawrence-Douglas County planners said there have not been any development plans filed for either piece of property. But the clearcutting comes at a time when new regulations limiting large-scale tree cutting are on the horizon. City commissioners and county commissioners both narrowly passed a new environmental chap-
By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
A former Kansas State University English professor convicted of killing his ex-wife north of Lawrence in 2003 is challenging the legality of his prison sentence, arguing there were problems with the state’s DNA evidence at his trial. Thomas E. Murray, 55, is serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the stabbing death of Carmin Ross, whose body was discovered
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Please see WOODLAND, page 2A
Thomas Murray’s appointed attorney is arguing that the DNA expert who testified for the prosecution at the trial in his initial report found an “unknown contributor” in a blood sample on the baseboard of Ross’ bathroom mixed with Ross’ blood. Nov. 14, 2003, in her home north of Lawrence. A Douglas County jury in 2005 convicted Murray of first-degree murder. Murray’s lawsuit is pro-
ceeding as a civil case in Douglas County District Court under a law that allows prisoners to challenge their sentences. Murray’s appointed attor-
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ter that was added to the city’s planning documents. That chapter has directed planning staff members to create new regulations that would “preserve and sustain woodlands within Douglas County.” “If they are clear-cutting and diluting the land to avoid whatever changes might come, that is unfortunate,” said Douglas County Commissioner Nancy Thellman, who wasn’t aware of the cutting operations. “I don’t think we’re going to set unreasonable expectations. We’re not about stopping growth and development.” Currently, the county does not have any prohibitions on largescale tree removal on agricultural
land, especially if no development plans have been filed, said Sheila Stogsdill, assistant director of planning. The city and county have not set a timeline for creating the new regulations called for in the environmental chapter. The situation has created uncertainty about what type of regulations will be governing rural development in the future. “I think in the rural area there is quite a concern among landowners,” said County Commissioner Jim Flory, who opposed passage of the environmental chapter because he said it hadn’t been adequately discussed with rural residents. “Their concerns are what many people’s concerns are: more government, more government. There is an uncertainty that all of a sudden the government is going to be dictating every move they make on their properties.” In addition to calling for more regulations related to woodland protection, the environmental
Murray files suit challenging sentence in ex-wife’s slaying
Please see LEGISLATOR, page 2A
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Jerry Schecher, park manager at Clinton Lake State Park, said he was concerned about erosion, drainage issues, and the impact the cutting has had on wildlife habitat next to the park.
TOPEKA — A Kansas resident died this week from what was likely a rare infection by a braineating amoeba, giving the state its first documented case, public health officials said Friday. State and local officials warned residents to avoid activities in warm rivers, lakes and other bodies of heated, fresh water, including ponds near power plants. They said people shouldn’t dig into or stir up sediment or put their head under water in such places. Single deaths from such infections also have been reported this summer in Florida, Louisiana and Virginia. The Centers for Disease Control has said about 120 cases, nearly all of them fatal, have been reported since the early 1960s. The Kansas victim was from Sedgwick County, but health officials declined to release more information to protect the person’s privacy. Sedgwick County spokeswoman Amanda Matthews said the person apparently went swimming in August in the city lake in Winfield, about 30 miles southeast of Wichita, then entered a hospital Aug. 19 complaining of headaches, developed breathing problems and died five days later. Matthews said the CDC confirmed Thursday that a specimen from the victim initially tested positive for HEALTH the amoeba. She said more testing will be conducted by the CDC, and the county is awaiting a coroner’s report as well, and more information might not be available for several weeks. “It’s unknown, really, why it causes such a rare infection,” Matthews said. “Not a lot is known about it because it is so rare.” The amoeba is Naegleria fowleri, and it gets up the nose, burrows into the skull and destroys brain tissue. It’s found in warm waters during the summer, particularly when temperatures rise and water levels fall. Health officials can’t say why a few people get the fatal nervous system condition while others don’t after swimming or other activities in waters with the amoeba. “You would see this in the South more than places north of that because water would stay warmer longer,” said Miranda Myrick, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “There isn’t any testing in place for this as far as regular water inspections.” Myrick noted that while there are reliable tests, they’re “extremely slow and very expensive.”
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ney is arguing that the DNA expert who testified for the prosecution at the trial in his initial report found an “unknown contributor” in a blood sample on the baseboard of Ross’ bathroom mixed with Ross’ blood. “At trial, however, he altered his conclusion and testified that although not conclusive, he believed the DNA belonged to Tom Murray based upon his review of the results,” defense attorney Jessica Kunen has written in a court motion.
She said the “alteration to the conclusions in his report” took Murray’s trial attorneys by surprise and the change was detrimental to Murray’s case. “This conclusion was not reflected in his report and should have been reported to defense counsel prior to trial,” Kunen wrote. Kunen also believes the testimony about the DNA found in the bathroom should have been rebutted “because such Please see MURRAY, page 2A
COMING SUNDAY We introduce you to two people who enlisted after 9/11 and tell what actually brought them together.
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