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Celebrities
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A high-end clothing store in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is suing Oprah Winfrey’s mother for failing to pay her bill. The civil complaint says Vernita Lee of Milwaukee owed Valentina nearly $156,000 for purchases and interest as of July 1st and has failed to make the monthly minimum payment of $2,000. Store attorney Joseph Niebler Sr. says his client tried to resolve the matter with Lee before filing the lawsuit in Waukesha Cou...
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Oddities
Nebraska man sues prosecutor retrieve leg ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — After being shot five times, a western Nebraska man had to go to court to get his prosthetic leg back from prosecutors. The Box Butte County Attorney’s office gave Val McCabe’s leg back Wednesday after a judge ordered it returned. McCabe’s prosthetic left leg had been held since Friday’s shooting because prosecutors wanted to run tests on it and a bullet lodged inside. The ...
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Audit paints mixed job creation picture
TOPEKA (AP) — A recent audit of the state’s investment in economic development initiatives gives mixed results on how successful Kansas is in creating new jobs. The review by the Legislative Division of Post Audit found that $1.3 billion in state and local funds were earmarked for economic development from 2003 to 2007. More than $800 million was in local tax revenues that were waived for businesses and industry. Auditors said the number of n...
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KU silences whistle that signals end of classes
LAWRENCE (AP) — For nearly a century, the University of Kansas used a steam whistle daily to signal the time to change classes. Over the years, it became a familiar sound heard throughout the city and part of the university’s traditions, along with the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant and the Campanile bell tower that’s a World War II memorial students pass through during graduation. But the whistle-blowing tradition has been tossed aside by the univ...
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Democrats work to counter Palin
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democrats shot back at GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Thursday, saying her convention speech was laden with partisan attacks but devoid of substantive answers about where the Republican ticket would take the nation. Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden was dispatched to the television morning shows to deliver the response. The Delaware senator complimented Palin on the skillful delivery of a ...
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Brownback speaks at GOP convention
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — It wasn’t the acceptance speech he once hoped to deliver, but Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback took the podium for a few minutes Thursday night at the Republican National Convention to praise John McCain as a “bold and aggressive” candidate “given to action more than words.” Brownback, who played a key role in helping McCain reach out to — and reassure — skeptical social conservatives, called the Arizona senator “a friend of ...
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Arma caregiver accused of bilking nearly $1 million
ARMA (AP) — An Arma woman has been charged with bilking a 97-year-old southeast Kansas woman she had been caring for out of out of almost $1 million. Ernestine Anselmi, 74, was charged Wednesday with felony mistreatment of a dependent adult, Lena Zanichelli, also of Arma, the Kansas attorney general’s office said. Anselmi was arrested last week and posted $50,000 bond. Ashley Anstaett, spokeswoman for Attorney General Stephen Six, said An...
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Facebook to test New Jersey’s Web safety icon
Angela Delli Santi Associated Press Writer TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The popular social networking Web site Facebook has agreed to test replacing its own link for reporting abuse with a bigger one developed by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Facebook will display a “Report Abuse!” icon on a small fraction of its pages that display videos instead of its own link for reporting objectionable mate...
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World Briefs
Smiling, searing and sarcastic Palin lays ground for McCain’s nomination acceptance speech ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Republican presidential nomination his at last, John McCain makes his case for the presidency to the GOP convention and the nation after his surprise choice for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, energized delegates with a rousing speech. Searing, at times sarcastic, but always smiling, Palin used her speech Wednesday ni...
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Celebrities
FISHKILL, N.Y. (AP) — Akon is headed to trial on criminal charges he tossed a fan offstage at an upstate concert last summer. The 35-year-old singer is accused of tossing a teenager off the stage during a June 2007 concert at a minor league baseball stadium near Poughkeepsie. Another concertgoer said she suffered a concussion when the boy landed on her. Akon, whose real name is Aliaune Thiam, asked for the jury trial during a brief appeara...
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Boeing strike would affect suppliers
WICHITA (AP) — Boeing’s largest union was voting Wednesday on whether to reject a contract offer and strike, a decision that would have a ripple effect on the company’s suppliers here far beyond its Kansas employment numbers. Boeing’s Wichita defense plant employs more than 700 machinists, a small fraction of the 27,000 workers represented by the union. But a strike decision could have an impact on Boeing’s suppliers, particularly companies l...
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Two killed in Ulysses
ULYSSES (AP) — State and local law enforcement officers are investigating the deaths of a couple in Ulysses as a double homicide. Few details have been released about the deaths of Marcos Garcia, 33, and his wife, Hilda, 34, whose bodies were found Saturday morning in a mobile home they shared at the Bedrock Trailer Park near Ulysses. Their names were released Wednesday. Local officers and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are conducting ...
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Last soldiers leave to assist Louisiana
TOPEKA (AP) — The last of 600 Kansas National Guard soldiers left Wednesday for Louisiana to assist with recovery efforts after Hurricane Gustav. Officials say the last soldiers departed to help distribute relief supplies, provide security and support the Louisiana National Guard. The units are expected to be gone up to 15 days. An additional 12 members of the state’s incident management team were leaving Wednesday or Thursday for Louisiana...
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Oddities
NYC man charged with selling stolen bras on Web NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man has been charged with selling $80,000 worth of stolen Victoria’s Secret bras online. Prosecutors say 41-year-old George Tutaya was arraigned Tuesday on charges of possessing stolen property. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. A telephone call to his attorney hasn’t been returned. Prosecutors say Tutaya used eBay auction and PayPal payment accounts t...
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600 Kansas Guard members head for storm zone
John Milburn Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — The first of two waves of Kansas National Guard units was leaving Tuesday to help Gulf Coast states recover from Hurricane Gustav. The units were heading to areas similar to where they deployed in 2005 after Katrina, which caused extensive damage to New Orleans and Mississippi. In all, some 600 members were heading Tuesday and Wednesday to the region to help restore communications and direc...
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Oddities
This ain’t no jive; particle physics rap is a hit EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Who says science doesn’t turn people on? Kate McAlpine is a rising star on YouTube for her rap performance — about high-energy particle physics. Her performance has drawn a half-million views so far on YouTube. The 23-year-old Michigan State University graduate and science writer raps about the Large Hadron Collider, the groundbreaking particle accelerator that h...
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Oil plunges as Gustav dissipates
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices plunged to the lowest level in five months Tuesday, falling to within sight of $100 a barrel on signs that Hurricane Gustav only grazed U.S. energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $5.75 to settle at $109.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping as low as $105.46. It was the lowest trading level since April 4, just before oil began an...
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Evacuees kept at bay by checkpoints in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The road back home for the estimated 2 million Hurricane Gustav evacuees was slow going Tuesday, as those trying to filter into the coast were greeted by police checkpoints and National Guardsmen who told them it was still too dangerous to return. Though the storm largely spared New Orleans and Louisiana, hard-hit neighborhoods still had no power, and roads were blocked by trees. With only a handful of communities allowin...
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Freed inmate hopes to help others who are innocent
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis man released from prison after a judge ruled that his 1984 murder trial was constitutionally flawed said he hopes his case will convince the public that this country is jailing innocent people. Darryl Burton, 46, was convicted in 1985 of capital murder and armed criminal action and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years. He was released from the Jefferson City Correctional Cente...
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Changing law on slots at tracks iffy
Carl Manning Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — Time was when the Woodlands race track did a decent business. Then along came the Missouri riverboat casinos and tribal casinos in northeastern Kansas and things weren’t so good. Then last year, legislators enacted the expanded gambling law allowing slot machines at pari-mutuel tracks and creating four state-owned casinos, including one in Wyandotte County. Things worsened for the track. ...
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