Kansas Legislature Considers New Retirement Plan for State Workers
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - The chair of the Kansas Senate’s tax committee wants to create a new retirement plan for state workers. It could ultimately reduce costs for the state, but would not pay a guaranteed benefit to workers like the current pension. Republican Senator Caryn Tyson plans to hold hearings on a bill that would create the new system. It would match employee contributions into a retirement plan, similar to a 401(k). Lawmakers will consider creating the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) after the legislative session starts in January. Tyson says the healthy Kansas budget makes the shift possible. “If we could start converting to the TSP system, especially with the money in the bank now, now would be the time to do it,” Tyson sad. The plan could lead to higher investment returns for workers and would save the state money in the long term. Under the change, the investment risk would be shifted to workers and they wouldn’t have a guaranteed payout at retirement. The state infused more than $1 billion in KPERS in 2022. Tyson believes that is a temporary fix and that phasing out KPERS entirely will save taxpayers money.
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Anonymous Donor Gives $50 Million to KU School of Business
LAWRENCE, Kan. — An anonymous donor has given $50 million to the business school at the University of Kansas to support undergraduate students and faculty research. The Kansas Reflector reports that this is the largest gift ever received by the School of Business. The funding has been earmarked to support students through study abroad, entrepreneurship and career-focused programs as well as initiatives tied to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The donation will also support faculty professorships and fellowships.
“While a gift of this size is certainly newsworthy, it’s what this gift will enable that is truly worth noting,” said Dan Martin, president of the KU Endowment. “The impact of such a sizable gift will have a ripple effect that extends well beyond this current moment in time.”
KU said the donor was inspired by the business school’s accomplishments over time and the strategic planning process initiated in 2017.
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Kaw Official: Kansas Schools Should Offer Tribal Members Full Scholarships
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) - A Kaw Nation official says universities in Kansas should offer full scholarships to members of the tribe. The Kaw Nation once inhabited nearly half of Kansas. The federal government forced the Kaw out of Kansas 150 years ago and gave some of the territory to Kansas State University and schools in several other states. The schools sold that land at a massive profit. Jim Pepper Henry, vice chairman of the Kaw Nation, is calling for full scholarships for all Kaw students. “If you were to take that 22 million acres in today’s dollars - and the resources that have come from that land - it’s in the multi-trillion dollars,” Henry said. The Kansas Board of Regents, which governs universities in the state, replied that it grants in-state tuition to Kaw students who don’t live in Kansas.
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Marion Newspaper's Lawyer: Police Didn't Follow Warrant in Last Month's Newsroom Raid
UNDATED (AP) — Police officers who raided a small Kansas newspaper's offices last month didn't follow the requirements of the search warrant to only seize computers that had been directly involved in suspected identity theft, according to the newspaper's lawyer.
Authorities released data to the newspaper last week showing police spent 1 hour and 20 minutes fruitlessly searching one computer for signs it was used to look up the driving record of a local restaurant owner and the status of her driver's license on the Kansas Department of Revenue's site. No evidence was found. But the Marion County Record 's attorney Bernie Rhodes said Tuesday that police seized that computer and then took all the other computers in the newsroom along with two reporters' cell phones without checking to see if any of those devices were involved.
“So it’s a complete and total sham, which is, in my view, simply more evidence that this so-called search was just a pretense to intimidate the newspaper,” Rhodes said.
The Record's publisher, Eric Meyer, whose home was also searched on August 11 along with the home of a city council member, has said he thinks the the search was motivated by the newspaper's investigation of Police Chief Gideon Cody's background with the Kansas City Police Department before he was hired in Marion earlier this year.
Cody didn't respond to email questions from The Associated Press on Tuesday. He defended the search initially, but hasn't said much publicly since the Kansas Bureau of Investigation took over the case. He said in affidavits used to obtain the search warrants that he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided, had violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.
Police had said in court documents that investigators believed the newspaper may have acted illegally to obtain personal information about a local restaurant owner. But a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Revenue has said the search a reporter did after they received some information from a tipster was legal.
The KBI hasn't offered updates on its investigation or when it might turn over its findings to the local prosecutor in the central Kansas town of about 1,900 people.
Video of the raid on the home of publisher Eric Meyer shows how distraught his 98-year-old mother became as officers searched through their belongings. Meyer said he believes that stress contributed to the death of his mother, Joan Meyer, a day later.
The raids have been sharply criticized nationally because of the implications for the press protections outlined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But now Rhodes said he believes there were also violations of the Fourth Amendment's restrictions on unreasonable searches.
In the search warrant, the judge directed police to “conduct a preview search of all located digital communications devices and digital storage media to exclude from seizure those which have not been involved in the identity theft.”
Rhodes said the data reviewed by his forensic expert shows that didn't happen. Rhodes is still gathering evidence for the lawsuit he plans to file on the newspaper's behalf, but one of the Record's reporters already filed her own lawsuit against police.
Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey didn't immediately respond to questions Tuesday about the search warrants. But a few days after the raids, he said, there wasn't enough evidence to justify the searches so he ordered authorities to return everything they seized.
Legal experts believe the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privacy law or a state law shielding journalists from having to identify sources or turn over unpublished material to law enforcement.
The City Council was holding another meeting Tuesday afternoon, but didn't plan to discuss the raids at all other than to hear public comments about it. Mayor David Mayfield the city's attorney advised him not to talk about the KBI's criminal investigation.
“When the investigation is completed by them, the council will then decide if any action needs to be taken,” Mayfield said in a text message to The Associated Press.
Mayfield said he believes that if there was anything wrong with the searches then the judge should have never approved the warrants, but once they were approved he believes police acted properly.
“It’s my understanding that the police served a valid search warrant that was issued,” he said.
But Mayfield said he really doesn't know everything that happened because when Cody told him he was investigating a City Council member “I told him I did not want to know any details.”
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Manhattan Man Killed in Single-Vehicle Crash Near Ogden
OGDEN, Kan. (KSNT) - Crews responded late Monday afternoon to a fatal crash near Ogden. The Riley County Police Department says the single-vehicle crash was reported around 5:15 p.m. KSNT TV reports that one person died after being ejected from the vehicle. The Kansas Highway Patrol has identified the person as 47-year-old as Nathan Grindle of Manhattan. Investigators say Grindle was driving eastbound on Kansas Highway 18 when the car went off the road and struck a cement bridge pillar. No other vehicles were involved. The road was closed for several hours, but reopened around 7 p.m. Emergency crews also had to extinguish a fire caused by the crash.
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Firefighters Knock Down Two Weekend Blazes in Lyon County
EMPORIA, Kan. (WIBW) – Nearly 100 acres of brush were scorched in northwest Lyon County over the weekend following two separate fires. WIBW TV reports that emergency crews were called to Highway 56 in Lyon County on Sunday on reports of a brush fire. Firefighters from Allen-Admire, Americus, Dunlap and Miller all battled the grassfire all afternoon then responded to a second fire in the town of Bushong about 6:30 Sunday evening. Officials say that no injuries were reported as a result of either fire.
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Traffic Reduced for Signage Work on Portions of I-70 in Topeka
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A construction project will reduce traffic along Interstate 70 in Topeka starting this week. The Kansas Department of Transportation says a contractor will begin work Tuesday on the inside lanes in both directions between SW Wanamaker and SW 6th St. Crews will be installing electronic message boards in the median area. WIBW TV reports that new message boards are part of an effort to improve driver safety through the instant transmission of real-time information to travelers. KDOT says the installation is expected to take about one month. On and off ramps will remain open throughout the project.
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Douglas County Courts Chosen to Participate in Initiative for Alternatives to Eviction
LAWRENCE, Kan. (Lawrence Times) - Douglas County District Court has received a grant that will help it implement alternatives to the traditional eviction track. The Lawrence Times reports that the grant from the National Center for State Courts Eviction Diversion Initiative is intended to improve housing stability across the county. Douglas County was selected to participate in the experiment through a competitive application process. The court will use the funding to hire dedicated staff to implement new strategies for both landlords and tenants as alternatives to the traditional eviction procedures. The court will still hear and decide eviction disputes when landlords and tenants are unable to reach a resolution, but the goal of the initiative is to help both sides avoid the time and expense of traditional litigation. The initiative aims to implement new reform strategies and make use of existing community resources including legal aid, financial counseling, and rental assistance programs. Other courts were selected in Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington. Find more information on the Eviction Diversion Initiative Grant Program here.
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Kansas City Runner Attacked by Owl
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — An early morning runner in Kansas City’s Brookside neighborhood had a big surprise yesterday morning when he was attacked by an owl. WDAF TV reports that runner Ben Olson says an owl swooped out of a tree and attacked him, leaving three large puncture wounds on his head. Olson, who has been training for the upcoming Kansas City Marathon, said the owl flew past him once, then started diving to attack him with its claws. Olson declined medical attention and finished his usual eight mile run after the attack. Wildlife experts say owls tend to avoid people, but will behave aggressively if they believe their young are at risk. Kansas City Animal Control says it has not received any other reports of owl attacks. Olson says he plans to start wearing a hat during his early morning runs.
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DHS Awards $1.3 Million to Recruit, Train Kansas Volunteer Firefighters
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded the Kansas State Fire Fighters Association more than $1.3 million in grant funding to help recruit and volunteer firefighters across Kansas. Now the Fire Fighters Association is asking Kansans to step up and volunteer. WIBW TV reports that the grant will fund a 4-year project to include recruitment campaigns, training in basic firefighting skills, gear for trainees and leadership training. The association says there has been a 20% to 30% decline in the number of volunteer firefighters across the country. Those volunteers protect a total of nearly two-thirds of the all the land in the country including much of rural Kansas. In addition to frontline firefighters, the grant is intended to help recruit computer technicians, dispatchers and other support staff.
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Federal Programs Help Keep Kansas Kids Out of Foster Care
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Recent programs funded with federal money are helping Kansas keep kids out of foster care. The Family First program, created in 2018, gives states money to fund prevention services that help keep families intact so kids don’t end up in foster care. That could include therapy for families. In Kansas, multiple organizations say the programs are keeping over 90% of kids out of the foster care system. Nicole McCauley works for foster care agency St. Francis Ministries. She says money historically has supported foster parents and adoption. “That’s important,” McCauley says, “but so is keeping kids out of foster care in the first place. I think it strengthens the entire child welfare system.” Two separate audits say Kansas is struggling to care for kids once in foster care and the agencies say that makes this prevention work even more important. (Read more.)
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Kansas Receives Federal Funds to Improve Rural Drinking Water
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – The federal government will spend about $10 million and lend $40 million more to improve drinking water and sanitation in rural Kansas. The goal is to help rural utilities fix old sewer lines, install backup generators and make other changes to keep their water systems in shape. The U.S. Department of Agriculture funding will go to half a dozen communities, such as Mankato and Perry. Girard in southeast Kansas will get the biggest help: More than $16 million in grants and loans to replace 42 miles of sewer mains, install new valves and hydrants, and build a water-softening plant.
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KU Aerospace Engineering Students Win Big with Missile Design at International Competition
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) — Aerospace engineering students at the University of Kansas took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place at an international aerospace design competition. One of the award-winning designs is for a new missile, which has drawn the attention of military contractors. The missile took 2nd place, but KU professor Ron Barrett-Gonzalez says the design really impressed the judges, especially those who work in the U.S. defense industry. "There were several managers from Lockheed-Martin Missile and Fire Control," he said. "They gave us a call, they wanted a briefing. They're currently signing some papers with KU." The KU Center for Research is already seeking a patent for the new missile design. With its latest accolades, the aerospace engineering program at KU has won more than 100 awards from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, far more than any other school in the nation. (Read more.)
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KU Team Physicians Monitoring QB Daniels Ahead of Illinois Game
LAWRENCE, Kan. (TCJ) — As the University of Kansas Jayhawks prepare for their game opposite Illinois on Friday, the team is still monitoring the health of starting quarterback Jalon Daniels. The Topeka Capital Journal reports that KU head coach Lance Leipold told reporters Monday that coaches are closely watching Daniels and several other players including wide receiver Luke Grimm and offensive lineman Ar'maj Reed-Adams. Leipold said Daniels is looking good in practice and said he could have played in last week’s opener against Missouri State. Backup quarterback Jason Bean played in Daniels’ place last week with 276 yards passing and a couple of touchdowns. KU won in a blowout 48-to-17. The Jayhawks are gearing up to play the University of Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday night in Lawrence.
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Denny Hamlin Signs Multiyear Contract Extension to Stay with Joe Gibbs Racing
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Denny Hamlin is staying with Joe Gibbs Racing. The organization announced Monday that Hamlin signed a multiyear extension to keep driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry TRD in the NASCAR Cup Series. The company said in the release terms of the contract extension will not be disclosed.
Hamlin first drove in a Cup Series race at Kansas in October 2005 and has since made more than 600 starts all for owner Joe Gibbs.
Gibbs said in a statement it was amazing to think Hamlin first drove for the team nearly two decades ago.
“He's been a big part of Joe Gibbs Racing ever since then and we look forward to that continuing for years to come,” Gibbs said.
Hamlin has 50 career Cup Series wins, tied for 13th all time in NASCAR history. He won three Daytona 500s, three Southern 500s at Darlington Raceway and one Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hamlin is part of his 17th NASCAR playoffs and has reached the final championship four times: 2014, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Hamlin said his relationship with Joe Gibbs and his team “means a lot to me. We have accomplished so much together over the years.”
Hamlin had a strong car at Darlington on Sunday night, leading a race best 177 out of 367 laps. But problems in the pits and a late accident dropped him to a 25th-place finish in the Southern 500. Hamlin was asked last Thursday and at NASCAR playoff media day if he still hoped to drive for JGR and quickly answered, “100 percent.”
Hamlin and the 15 other NASCAR playoff drivers compete at Kansas on Sunday.
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Chiefs All-Pro Travis Kelce Hyperextends Knee in Practice for Opener vs Detroit
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee during the Chiefs' final practice before their opener against Detroit, leaving the status of the All-Pro tight end in doubt two days before Kansas City faces the Lions at Arrowhead Stadium. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the injury occurred during their final full workout Tuesday but provided no other details.
“We'll just see how he does going forward,” Reid said.
Kelce caught a career-high 110 passes for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, helping the Chiefs win their second Super Bowl in four years. He has eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in seven straight seasons and, perhaps most importantly, the 33-year-old Kelce has been a consistent threat in an offense that will be breaking in several new wide receivers.
Kelce has not missed a game to injury since his rookie season in 2013, which he had a microfracture procedure to fix a cartilage problem in his knee. He has twice been held out of meaningless games to end the regular season.
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Chris Jones Fails to Report to Chiefs for Start of Regular-Season Game Prep
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chris Jones did not report to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday to begin preparing for their season opener against Detroit, making it highly unlikely that the All-Pro defensive tackle will play against the Lions on Thursday night.
Jones has been holding out while trying to get a long-term contract. He is entering the final year of a four-year, $80 million pact, and has been racking up millions in fines for missing offseason workouts, training camp and all three preseason games.
The 29-year-old pass rusher will forfeit about $1.1 million for each regular-season game he misses.
“You're never sure how it's going to work out. You deal with too many people in this type of thing,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who declined to discuss his own involvement in the negotiations before the first significant practice of game week.
“These things can go any direction. I don't want to spend too much time on it," Reid added. "We had 90 guys in the offseason that I was making sure were going in the right direction, and now we're getting ready to play a game. That's how I go about it.”
Reid was more hopeful that wide receiver Kadarius Toney and cornerback L'Jarius Sneed would be ready for the opener. Toney missed most of training camp after surgery for a torn meniscus and Sneed, one of the Chiefs' best cornerbacks, has been out for more than a month with swelling in his knee.
Most of the attention remains on Jones, though, given his importance to the Kansas City defense. He tied a career high with 15 1/2 sacks last season, picked up his first postseason sacks and helped the Chiefs beat Philadelphia in the Super Bowl.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said last week communication with Jones' representatives picked up after a long impasse ahead of the regular season.
Veach even said he was “certainly hopeful” that a deal could be reached in time for Jones to report to practice and be on the field when the Chiefs raise their latest title banner at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I don't know what his agenda is," Reid said, “or when he is coming.”
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who is close with Jones, went on his “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce, and implored his teammate to report to practice. Kelce sounded much like Reid, telling Jones: “You must know something I don’t know because I just don’t get it. I really want to win another Super Bowl ring with you, brother."
“I mean, at this point you just prepare to play the game with the guys that are in the building,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes added before Sunday's sweltering practice, “and let the front office handle that. We have a tough test and we're going to focus on how we can win with the guys we have here.”
Indeed, the Chiefs are preparing to face one of the league's top offenses. Led by quarterback Jared Goff and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, the Lions had the third-most yards in the NFL last season and finished fourth in touchdowns.
Jones' absence is compounded by the fact that pass rusher Charles Omenihu, who was signed to replace defensive end Frank Clark, is suspended for the first six weeks of the season for violating the NFL's personal-conduct policy.
“It's the same thing as if a guy got hurt in the middle of the season,” Chiefs safety Justin Reid said. “The situation is what it is. Chris is one of the best players in the NFL. But we have to go with what we've got.”
Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton, who carries the green dot and is responsible for getting the defense set, pointed out that Kansas City has been without Jones throughout the offseason and training camp. That's given time for Derrick Nnadi and Turk Wharton to get more reps in the base defense and backups Keondre Coburn and Malik Herring extra work at the tackle spot.
“We gave a lot of people a chance to play,” Bolton said. “A lot of guys that don't get a lot of playing time with Chris here will get a lot of opportunities. The guys we've got, we've got, and we're going to go out there and try to dominate Week 1.”
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Big 12 Faces Week of Big-Time Matchups After Rocky Start to College Football Season
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — There are some heavyweight matchups for Big 12 schools in Week 2 of the college football season, headlined by the big one in 'Bama, where No. 11 Texas visits the No. 3 Crimson Tide for a showdown of future SEC rivals.
It's a good chance for the league to bounce back from an embarrassing start.
Baylor is coming off a loss to Texas State and gets No. 12 Utah, which just beat Florida in its opener. Texas Tech is coming off a field-storming loss of its own at Wyoming to face No. 13 Oregon. Iowa State tries to beat Iowa for just the second time in the past eight seasons, and Kansas gets a Friday night visit from Illinois in another tangle with the Big Ten.
Throw in the River City Rivalry between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State's trip to future Big 12 foe Arizona State and UCF playing Boise State on the Smurf turf and it becomes a statement week for Commissioner Brett Yormark's conference.
“We're focused on what we need to do,” said Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team narrowly lost at home to Alabama a year ago. “The moment you start focusing on what the outcome could be, what the result could be, the game hits you in the mouth and you could lose. So we needed to focus on what we need to do.”
There probably isn't a whole lot of Big 12 pride for the departing Longhorns, especially after Yormark publicly told Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire that he “better take care of business” when the Red Raiders play Texas later this season.
The rest of the league has pride, though, and it took a beating a week ago.
In the highest-profile game of the weekend, College Football Playoff runner-up TCU lost at home to Colorado — entirely rebuilt by Deion Sanders after winning once a year ago. Baylor was heavily favored to beat Texas State but lost in lopsided fashion, and the Red Raiders were a trendy pick to play in the Big 12 title game before they were waylaid by Wyoming in double-overtime.
Even some of the wins were nail-biters: Oklahoma State scuffled to a 27-13 win over Central Arkansas, BYU beat Sam Houston 14-0 and fellow newcomer Houston had to hold on in the fourth quarter to beat UTSA, 17-14.
Not exactly the start to the season that the new-look Big 12 had in mind.
"It's been a hard couple of days looking at tape, seeing what went wrong, where plays could be made,” Baylor coach Dave Aranda said. “I think there’s been honest and open conversations and discussion on things we did wrong, that we could do better.”
It won't be easy against the Utes, who easily put away the Gators even without star quarterback Cam Rising, who is working his way back from a torn ACL that he sustained in a Rose Bowl loss to Penn State in January.
The Bears lost their own quarterback, Blake Shapen, after he hurt his MCL in the loss to the Bobcats.
“It was a disappointing loss for Baylor, I’m sure," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We don’t expect the same team we saw on Saturday, that we’ll see on tape, in that game. They’ll fix things. They have good coaches and will get the ship corrected.”
That's probably what Oregon's coaches are saying about Texas Tech this week.
“The message is really, ‘Don’t let Wyoming beat you twice,'” McGuire said earlier this week. “No matter what happened Saturday, we cannot allow next Saturday to affect us, other than learning, right?...Oregon is going to be a great opportunity. That's a word we use a lot, even before the Wyoming game. We have a great opportunity in front of us.”
That goes for the entire Big 12 this week.
Iowa State ended a long losing streak to Iowa last season by shutting down the Hawkeyes' inept offense in a 10-7 victory. But the Cyclones haven't beaten their biggest rivals in consecutive years since 2012 — Matt Campbell's second season in charge.
Kansas faces the Illini while aiming for a perfect non-conference schedule for the second straight year. Cincinnati and Pitt once played annually but will be meeting for the first time since 2012. Oklahoma State could win its eighth straight non-conference road game by beating Arizona State. UCF faces the prospect of playing at Boise State, where the Broncos are 130-15 over the past 22 seasons, the second-best winning percentage behind Oklahoma in major college football.
"It just happens to be one of the toughest places to play in college football, but we’re looking forward to it,” Knights coach Gus Malzahn. “It will be a good test to see where we’re at.”
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Tom Parkinson and Kaye McIntyre. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. You can also follow KPR News on Twitter.