Firm: Faulty Weld, Pressure on Pipe Led to Kansas Oil Spill
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — A faulty weld at a bend in an oil pipeline contributed to a spill that dumped more than 500,000 gallons of heavy crude into a northern Kansas creek and pasture. The pipeline's operator, TC Energy, announced that news Thursday, estimating the cost of cleaning up the spill at $480 million.
The company said the flawed weld caused a crack that then grew over time because of the stress on the bend in its Keystone pipeline system. The company said the weld was for a fitting that connected two sections of pipe. The fitting and weld came from a manufacturing plant.
The company says it's analyzing “other areas (of the pipeline) with potentially similar conditions.” The December 7 rupture spilled nearly 13,000 barrels of crude oil. The spill was the largest onshore spill in nine years, and larger than 22 previous spills on the Keystone system combined, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data.
The Kansas House energy committee plans to have hearings on the oil spill in March, according to its chair, state Rep. Leo Delperdang, a Wichita Republican whose career includes a stint with a pipeline company. “I’ve got lots of questions,” he said. “It should be unsettling to everyone along the pipeline path and to Americans generally,” he said.
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After Keystone oil spill, Kansas Democrats want to cancel tax exemptions when pipelines leak
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Kan. (KNS) - The Keystone Pipeline is Washington County's biggest source of property taxes for schools and other local government, but the company didn't pay anything for 10 years. After the Keystone spilled more than half a million gallons of crude oil onto native prairie and cropland and into a creek, some Kansas lawmakers want oil companies to forfeit their tax exemptions when pipelines burst. Right now, energy companies that lay pipelines in Kansas get to skip out on the first 10 years of paying taxes to school districts, county governments and other local units of government along their routes. But a group of 21 Democratic state lawmakers want to tweak Kansas laws so that the exemption ends immediately if a pipeline carrying substances such as oil or natural gas spills or leaks within those 10 years. (Read more.)
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ACLU Wraps Up Arguments in Challenge to Kansas Death Penalty
WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW/KNS) - A challenge to the state's death penalty law by the America Civil Liberties Union has wrapped up in Wichita. The ACLU is making the challenges in the capital murder case of Kyle Young, who is Black. He is accused of killing two people in Wichita in 20-20. Chief Judge Jeffrey Goering will issue a written ruling on the issue of jury selection, which the A-C-L-U says disproportionately eliminates potential Black jurors by excluding those opposed to the death penalty. Cassandra Stubbs is the director of the ACLU’s capital punishment project. "If the judge rules the death qualification is unconstitutional, there’s a far greater chance that Mr. Young could have a jury of his peers - where black jurors, women jurors - have not been excluded," Stubbs said. Judge Goering says he will not rule on the ACLU's other arguments challenging the death penalty until Young's trial in October.
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Abortion Pill Could Be Pulled Off Market by Texas Lawsuit
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas lawsuit is posing a threat to the nationwide availability of medication abortion, which now accounts for the majority of abortions in the U.S. The case, filed by abortion opponents who helped challenge Roe v. Wade, seeks to reverse a decades-old approval by the Food and Drug Administration. A federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump could rule this month. If he sides with the plaintiffs, it could halt the supply of the drug mifepristone in all states, both with abortion bans and without. The plaintiffs argue the drug was approved too quickly, but lawyers for the FDA say that's not true. The attorney general of Missouri filed a brief in the case on Friday. Mississippi's attorney general filed an additional brief backing the lawsuit on behalf of her state as well as 21 others, including Kansas and Oklahoma.
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Social Media Content Bill Passes Out of Kansas Senate Committee
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - A Kansas Senate committee has narrowly advanced a bill making it a crime for social media companies to block user content. Violations of the law could mean fines of up to $10,000. The issue is being pushed by Republicans who point to conservative content that has been censored on social media platforms. To address possible legal challenges, Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach suggested changing the penalties from civil to criminal fines. Dan Burrows, who works for Kobach’s office, says criminal legislation is more likely to be upheld under federal decency law. “That’s not to say that no one is ever going to challenge this," he said. "But it is to say the attorney general believes this is more defensible than what was presented previously.” Opponents argue the bill would cost the state millions in legal fees and violate private business rights. Some critics say the change would protect the spread of misinformation.
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Kansas House Panel Approves School Voucher Measure
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Republicans in the Kansas Legislature have advanced a bill that would give families state tax dollars to pay for private schools. Supporters of the House school voucher bill say education savings accounts would give more Kansas families an option other than public schools. The bill would allow families to sign up for an account that could give them about $5,000 per student every year. An amendment approved in a House committee on Wednesday would phase in the plan over four years. The measure now moves to the full House for consideration. Representative Kristey Williams says the accounts would give families more choices. “Highly flexible, personalized, for all kinds of students that may be learning at home, that may be learning in new ways that we have not yet envisioned," she said. Critics say the bill siphons money away from public schools. They also say private schools have little accountability on how they spend money.
One of those critics is Democratic Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin. She pointed to a case in Ohio where a white supremacist homeschool shared Nazi-related lesson plans. “Should a homeschool become a dissonant homeschool in Kansas, the state would be paying for neo-Nazi curriculum and materials," she said. Supporters say an appointed board would monitor school expenses.
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KHP Superintendent Retiring from Embattled Agency
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - The leader of the Kansas Highway Patrol plans to retire later this year amid controversy around the agency. Superintendent Herman Jones will step down July 1 from an agency that's been under fire. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly appointed Jones in 2019. His tenure has been marred by federal lawsuits alleging gender discrimination in the patrol. And some Kansas Republican lawmakers contend Jones has mismanaged the patrol, leading to staff shortages. They have threatened to move oversight of the patrol to the attorney general. There have been ongoing allegations of poor management stretching back to previous agency leaders.
Governor Kelly has also announced that Adjutant General David Weishaar, who leads the Kansas National Guard and is the state's emergency management director, will step down April 1. Kelly has appointed Brigadier General Michael Venerdi to fill the post.
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Kansas Lawmakers Consider Changes to Adoption Rules
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas lawmakers are considering making changes to adoption rules. Legislators are rethinking whether to give preference to relatives of children in adoption disputes. If a foster family wants to adopt a baby or child in their care, the scales are tipped against them if a relative of the kid also wants to adopt. But Kansas lawmakers are considering a tweak to state law. The new language would say that the child’s emotional bonds must be a key consideration. The change is meant to consider situations where a child doesn’t know their relatives, but is emotionally attached to the foster family, and allowing the foster family to adopt may serve the child best.
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Kansas Man Convicted of Murder After Son Drowns in Pool
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man whose 2-year-old son drowned in a swimming pool in Wichita has been convicted of first-degree murder.
William Kabutu was convicted Thursday in the July 7, 2020, death of Omari Garcia in a pool at a mobile home park.
Prosecutors said Kabutu was drunk when he allowed Amari and his 4-year-old brother to squeeze through a fence around the closed pool. Amari went into the water and drowned.
Kabutu was unable to get into the pool because of the fence and locked gate, prosecutors said.
He was convicted of first-degree murder, an alternative count of second-degree murder, and two counts of aggravated child endangerment. He will be sentenced on April 18.
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EPA Administrator Visits Kansas
BUCYRUS, Kan. (KNS) - EPA Administrator Michael Regan joined farmers, ranchers and ag leaders in Kansas Thursday to discuss climate goals. At a farm near Bucyrus, in eastern Kansas, many in the ag community wanted to talk about how the federal government could encourage farmers to practice regenerative agriculture. Bill Pracht, CEO of East Kansas Agri-energy, said he hopes to see farmers fairly compensated for keeping carbon in the ground. “We’re going to be farming for carbon credits that are gonna be available with the use of cover crops, the use of no-till, better practices all around," he said. Others brought up the need for herbicides and pesticides in order to use practices like no-till farming, which minimizes soil disturbance. Administrator Regan said that the agency needs more resources to review herbicide and pesticide replacement products.
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If KC Wins Superbowl, the Gambling Payout for Kansas Might Not Be Much
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (KNS) - About 80% of the Super Bowl bets in Kansas are picking the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. But the state will not earn a huge windfall off a spike in bets and may get nothing if the Chiefs win. After federal taxes and paying out money to the winners, Kansas collects just 10% of the remaining revenue. That tax rate is less than half the amount the state takes in from traditional gambling, like slot machines and blackjack. Kansas only made $2 million in revenue from more than $700 million of bets made in 2022. In Kansas, the lopsided betting in favor of the Chiefs means if they win, the casinos might actually lose money and the state of Kansas would get nothing. Daniel Wallach, a sports gambling attorney, says the Super Bowl did that to Rhode Island when the New England Patriots won in 2019. “Maybe the Kansas Lottery is going to be rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles," he said. Kansas legalized sports betting last year. The American Gaming Association estimates $16 billion in wagers will be placed on the Super Bowl.
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Marines, Bonded by Kidney Donation, Now Head to Super Bowl
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two former Marines bonded by a kidney donation and their love of football are now headed to the Super Bowl.
John Gladwell, a Kansas City resident and Chiefs fan, donated a kidney to Philadelphia Eagles backer Billy Welsh two years ago after Welsh, who lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease.
The two men first met at a military base in the early 2000s and remained in touch through social media after they left the service. When Welsh made a post in 2019 asking if anyone was willing to become a donor, Gladwell responded and soon learned he was a 99% match. He eventually flew to Philadelphia, where the 10-hour surgical procedure was performed.
“It meant the world to me. I was speechless. John Gladwell is my hero,” Welsh said Wednesday when the two men appeared on NBC's Today show.
Gladwell said he didn’t hesitate to make the donation because Welsh has a son who is a little older than his own grandson.
“I wasn’t going to let his son grow up without his dad being there for everything,” Gladwell said.
The all-expenses-paid Super Bowl trip was put together by Eagles President Don Smolenski and his Chiefs counterpart Mark Donovan. Smolenski said the story symbolizes the unifying aspects of the Marine Corps and the NFL. The team presidents spoke with the two men during a video call last Sunday, letting them know they would be flown to Arizona on Friday, put up in hotel rooms and have side-by-side seats for the big game.
“The opportunity to bring these two guys together, their two teams playing on the biggest stage in sports, it’s very, very humbling and gratifying,” Smolenski told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Welsh said he was "speechless” when he got the news. Gladwell, meanwhile, thought he was getting a spam call when a Super Bowl Host Committee representative contacted him Sunday morning.
“They’re like, ‘You’re going to the Super Bowl,’” Gladwell said, remembering the shock. “I’m like, ‘I am?’”
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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. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on Twitter.