Wire
Kansas Nat’l Guard equipment still lacking
John Milburn Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — The Kansas National Guard is closer to having the equipment it needs but is still concerned about losing some of its hardware to the war in Iraq, the state’s top Guard officer says. Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state adjutant general, said the inventory of helicopters, trucks and other equipment is getting better, but much of it needs to be repaired before it can go back into service. “Fai...
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Kansas wheat harvest 95 percent finished
WICHITA (AP) — The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service says the winter wheat harvest is now 95 percent finished in the state. Its weekly crop condition report shows most areas of the state are almost done with cutting, with northwest Kansas the farthest behind at 91 percent. Harvest in east-central Kansas was 92 percent completed, while south-central Kansas was 100 percent done. Meanwhile, the agency rates corn condition as 9 percent excel...
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Customers wait at IndyMac to withdraw money
200 people line up to pull money out of second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history Christina Hoag Associated Press Writer PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of worried IndyMac Bancorp Inc. customers lined up Monday to pull as much money as they could from the failed financial institution. However, federal regulators said it could be years before the affairs of the bank were fully resolved. Charles Tengeri, a retire...
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Court hearing set in dispute over coal plants
Sunflower believes Secretary Rod Bremby overstepped his bounds by rejecting company’s permit based on CO2 emissions John Hanna Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — A utility hopes a district court hearing Tuesday will bring it closer to building two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas despite a state regulator’s concerns about global warming. The issue for Judge Philip Vieux in Finney County is whether to dismiss lawsuits by ...
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Bush trumps Congress; moves first on drilling
Ben Feller Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well. There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by the firs...
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Inmate: ‘I am not an informant’ in pill mill case
Stacey Hill says she does not want to be dragged into the fray Roxana Hegeman Associated Press Writer WICHITA (AP) — A former inmate ordered to testify at the trial of a Haysville nurse who is accused of running a “pill mill” with her husband said Monday she is not a jailhouse informant. Stacey Hill called The Associated Press on Monday to say news reports linking her to the case against Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, have pu...
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Heloise
FOR RELEASE TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 Count Your Pills Dear Heloise: After reading your hints to readers about double-checking prescriptions, I’d like to add one more: count your pillsCOUNT YOUR PILLS, especially if you get your prescriptions through a mail-order pharmacy in 90-day supplies. I do this on a regular basis now after once discovering that an order was eight pills short. That can add up to lots of $$, or worse, you can ...
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World briefs
Anheuser-Busch agrees to takeover by Belgian brewer InBev, creating world’s largest brewer ST. LOUIS (AP) — Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light, has agreed to a takeover by a giant Belgian brewer, a union that creates a global beer leader and brings to an end one of the most iconic names in American business. The board of directors of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. on Sunday accepted a sweetened $52 billion takeover offer from ...
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Hallmark hit! Lawrence boy’s baby photo
Janet Reid The Lawrence Journal-World LAWRENCE (AP) — A picture may be worth a thousand words, but one Lawrence mother is hoping a picture she snapped of her son is worth a thousand dollars instead. “I just knew that the picture was kind of something special,” said Stephanie Kelton, referring to a photograph she took when her son Bradley was just a few months old. “The picture just seems to strike a chord with people.” The photograph, po...
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Casino selections won’t be delayed
TOPEKA (AP) — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys want the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission to delay its decision on the selection of a casino Sumner County, but the commission doesn’t plan to wait. Commission spokesman Mike Deines said Friday the casino review board will make its decision about Sumner and Cherokee counties Aug. 21-22, and for Wyandotte and Ford counties Sept. 18-19. Those choices will be forwarded to the commission for backgr...
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Bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers found in Iraq
Bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers found in Iraq DETROIT (AP) — For more than a year, Gordon Dibler held out hope that his stepson, Army Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, would return home from Iraq. Then military officials delivered the grim news that the bodies of Fouty and another soldier captured in an ambush south of Baghdad had been found. “Every day that he’s been missing has been a day of ‘what could have been’ ... but after hearing the news ....
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Stocks end lower amid worries on Fannie, Freddie
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s angst over the ongoing fallout from the credit crisis made for a turbulent end to a volatile week Friday — stocks tumbled, soared and then turned south again as investors tried to assess the dangers faced by the country’s biggest mortgage financiers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Dow Jones industrial average, which traded down more than 250 points in the session, briefly moved into positive territory Friday b...
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Celebrities
LOS ANGELES (AP) — He’s the one that she wants. Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the hit movie version of the musical “Grease,” has married, it was announced Thursday. Newton-John wed John Easterling on June 21 in Cuzco, Peru, said a statement from the Reno, Nev., office of attorney John Mason. Other details were not released. A statement on Newton-John’s official Web site Thursday said the couple had a private ceremony, followed by a s...
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Beyond homes, entire neighborhoods going green with co-housing option
Holly Ramer Associated Press Writer PETERBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) — At a time when the housing market remains in a slump, consumer demand is growing for energy efficient homes that are kinder to the environment. And it’s not just individual homes that are going green. Increasingly, it’s entire neighborhoods. With its mix of single-family, duplex and 4-unit buildings, organic farm, shared office space and common house, the Nubanusit Neighborhood...
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Double your kids, double your brainpower
Angie Wagner For The Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ever notice that there is a big difference between the moms who have just one child so far and the moms who have at least two? Here’s what I mean: At my 2-year-old’s gym class, I often notice the new moms: massive strollers, sippy cups in every color and style, enough snacks to feed a preschool class. And they usually have good hair and makeup. They sit together and talk about new clo...
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In Jackson-type oops, step 1: Pull foot from mouth
Megan K. Scott Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It’s doesn’t happen only to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. We’ve all been there: Caught on an open speaker phone saying something embarrassing, or overheard by a colleague at an inopportune moment. Jackson was unaware that his microphone was on when he made disparaging remarks about Barack Obama during a break for a Fox News program last Sunday. When he learned that the Fox News program “The O’R...
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Kansas legislative leaders to cut spending
TOPEKA (AP) — Legislative leaders are tightening their own belts in effort to shore up state revenues for the current fiscal years. The Legislative Coordinating Council said Friday it is ordering a 2 percent cut in spending, or about $600,000. The cuts will come from travel, printing and postage and hirings. Leaders also will limit the number of interim committees that will meet before the 2009 session begins in January. “It is important to b...
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Oil tops $147 a barrel
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s only July, but it might be time to start loading up on blankets and sweaters. Oil spiked to a new trading record as hostilities rise between the West and Iran — raising the likelihood that this winter’s heating bills will be the priciest yet. Crude oil’s brief jump past $147 a barrel Friday arrived not only as the United States and Israel view Iran as a growing threat, but also as the U.S. dollar fell and worries erupte...
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Oddities
Man sues Tennessee church over spiritual fall KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A man says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshipping. Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay $2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Matt Lincoln says he is suing after the church’s insurance company denied his claim for medical bills. The 57-year-old has had two surgeries since the June 2007 injur...
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Southwest Kansas man wants Clutter memorial
HOLCOMB (AP) — A man with a connection to the 1959 slayings of the Clutter family is working to erect a memorial in time for the 50th anniversary of the crime. Bob Rupp has approached the Holcomb City Council, saying he has been contacted by people from all over the world asking about a memorial for the Clutter family, the murdered family of four at the center of Truman Capote’s novel “In Cold Blood.” “There is no memorial,” Rupp said. “Th...
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