Tour Will Examine Wheat Damage
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ Farmers and other agriculture industry leaders plan to fan out across Kansas in the coming days to examine the extent of damage to winter wheat from drought, disease and winterkill. The Wheat Quality Council's hard red winter wheat tour this year has already drawn a record number of participants with more than 90 people signed up to take part.
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Bird Flu Remains a Mystery to Researchers
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ It's been five months since the H5N2 bird flu virus was discovered in the U.S., and producers have lost more than 21 million birds in the Midwest alone. Yet, researchers with federal agencies acknowledge they still know little about the virus' origin and how it spreads, inspite of heightened biosecurity measures at commercial poultry farms.
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Stabbing In Wichita Unsolved
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ A 45-year-old man was in critical condition after police say he was stabbed by a 17-year-old for refusing to place a bet on a foot race between the two. The Wichita Eagle reports the unidentified victim was visiting someone who lived in a Wichita neighborhood when he and the teen decided around midnight they would race. The victim was taken to a hospital with a punctured lung, but is expected to survive. Police don't know if the 17-year-old and victim knew each other, and they haven't located the suspect.
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Garden City Woman in Spotlight for Medical Marijuana Use
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) _ A single mother with Crohn's disease, who lost custody of her son for using medical marijuana, has gone from being a massage therapist eking out a living in the back of a health food store to a national figure at the center of the pot debate. Police officers searched her home in Garden City and found marijuana and cannabis oil last month. Thirty-seven-year-old Shonda Banda has not been charged. But authorities took her 11-year-old son away, put him into protective state custody and referred the case to the Finney County prosecutor for possible drug and child endangerment charges. Banda's story soon went global, with more than 84,000 people from around the world signing an online petition supporting her.
