Kansas Governor Nixes Abortion, Anti-Diversity Budget Items
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Governor Laura Kelly vetoed anti-diversity and anti-abortion provisions in Kansas' next state budget Friday, intensifying a conflict with the Republican-controlled Legislature over culture war issues that could see her scotch a dozen or more conservative initiatives.
The governor has the power to excise individual budget items and used it to eliminate $2 million in state tax dollars for anti-abortion centers providing free counseling and pregnancy and parenting services. She's previously vetoed two bills that would enact anti-abortion policies despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 affirming abortion rights.
Kelly vetoed a budget provision that would have prevented state universities from using diversity equity and inclusion principles in their hiring. She nixed another provision barring the state board that licenses mental health professionals from requiring them or giving them incentives to undergo training involving diversity or anti-racism theories.
The governor also has vetoed five bills rolling back transgender rights, including a sweeping bathroom bill and a measure that would have ended gender-affirming care for minors. GOP lawmakers are expected to try to override most if not all of Kelly's vetoes on hot-button issues when they reconvene next week to wrap up their business for the year.
“Governor Kelly had two choices — to honor her campaign pledge to govern from the middle or to move Kansas sharply towards the left,” Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said after several vetoes earlier this week. “The governor has clearly chosen the latter.”
Republican lawmakers in statehouses across the U.S. have pursued several hundred measures this year rolling back LGBTQ+ rights and attacking liberal ideas or policies in education and business. While voters in GOP-leaning Kansas affirmed abortion rights and narrowly reelected Kelly last year, they also left conservatives firmly in charge of the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Kelly has until Monday to act on a bill that would allow parents to pull public school students out of a lesson or activity that “impairs the parent’s sincerely held beliefs, values or principles.” Also on her desk is a bill that would prevent state and local officials from using environmental, social and governance issues in investing public funds or awarding government contracts.
On the budget legislation, Kelly followed the traditional Kansas practice of signing the measure itself — containing most of a proposed $24 billion annual budget — while vetoing multiple individual items.
The aid to the anti-abortion centers would have helped them aid both pregnant people and new parents, providing supplies, parenting and life-skills classes and job training or placement. It also would have started a state-supported advertising program to make them more visible.
Lawmakers put the money in the budget for State Treasurer Steven Johnson, a Republican who opposes abortion, rather than in a department under the control of Kelly, an abortion rights supporter. In her veto message, Kelly suggested that neither the state's founders nor any of its treasurers would have seen such a program as part of the office's duties.
“This is not an evidence-based approach or even an effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancies,” Kelly said.
Republican lawmakers also are hoping to pass a proposal to provide up to $10 million a year in state income tax credits to the centers' donors.
Kelly this week vetoed a measure that would have required clinics to tell patients that a medication abortion can be reversed with a regimen rejected by major U.S. medical organizations and a bill that would have subjected doctors to criminal charges or lawsuits if a newborn is delivered alive during certain abortion procedures and they are accused of not providing the care that a physician reasonably would with other live deliveries.
On the anti-diversity provisions, Kelly said the one for the board licensing mental health professionals could have restricted training “in life-saving practices,” without being more specific.
She said the provision for state universities would have hindered hiring, made it harder for them to attract federal and private grants and hurt efforts to “support students from all backgrounds.”
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said Kelly had rejected measures to “support women in need” and prevent “the prevention of radical ideology” using tax dollars.
==========
Kansas Governor Vetoes 4 Anti-Trans Bills as Overrides Loom
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teens, but Republican lawmakers who pushed them appeared to have the votes to override most of her actions. Governor Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on overnight school trips. Her actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who've made rolling back transgender rights a priority.
The measures on bathrooms, jails and overnight school trips passed earlier this month with the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto, and on April 5, lawmakers overrode Kelly's March veto of a separate ban on female transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. However, two days later, the measure on gender-affirming care fell 12 House votes short of a supermajority. Kelly said in statement on the four vetoes that measures “stripping away rights” would hurt the state's ability to attract businesses.
The vetoes also were in keeping with her promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. “Companies have made it clear that they are not interested in doing business with states that discriminate against workers and their families," Kelly said in her statement. “I’m focused on the economy. Anyone care to join me?” At least 14 states with GOP-led legislatures have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors, including North Dakota as of Wednesday. At least seven have bathroom laws, mostly focusing on schools, and 21 states have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes. The Kansas bathroom bill would have applied not only to bathrooms and locker rooms outside schools but rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and state prisons, as well as the county jails covered by a separate vetoed bill. Because it also sought to define “sex” as “either male or female, at birth,” transgender people wouldn’t have been able to change the gender marker on their driver’s license, though a 2019 federal court decree still would have allowed them to change their birth certificates.
Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights see the measure as legally erasing transgender people and denying recognition to non-binary, gender fluid or gender non-conforming people. “I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet,” Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent transgender rights rally outside the Statehouse. “We are in a fight for our lives, literally.”
GOP conservatives argue that many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that people’s gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; don't want cisgendered women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries for minors. “By any reasonable standard, governing from the middle of the road should include ensuring vulnerable children do not become victims of woke culture run amok,” Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement deriding Kelly's veto of the ban on gender-affirming care.
That Kansas measure would have required the state's medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care, and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later. Supporters said the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy. But the measure also applied to “causing” acts that "affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex” if it differs from their gender assigned at birth. Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations. “It’s one thing to have a family member that’s unaffirming of who you are as a person,” said Derrick Jordan, a licensed therapist who works with trans youth and directs the Gender and Family Project at New York’s Ackerman Institute for training child and family therapists. “It’s a whole other thing to have a system tell you you’re not fully human or you don’t have the same rights as other folks.” Kelly’s office said the Kansas bathroom bill would have complicated the administration of multiple state programs — including programs assisting women farmers and hunters. Also, it said, some of those programs would have violated federal anti-discrimination laws and the state could have lost federal dollars. The measure borrows language from a proposal from several anti-trans groups. It says “important governmental objectives" of protecting health safety and privacy justify separate public facilities for men and women and applies “where biology, safety or privacy” prompt sex-separation. It defines male and female based on a person’s reproductive anatomy at birth.
While supporters avoid calling it a bathroom bill, they've said repeatedly that it would have prevented transgender women from sharing bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities with cisgender women. Masterson portrayed Kelly's veto as “not being able to define a woman."
==========
"The Damage Is Unbelievable:" Tornadoes Kill 3 in Oklahoma
DALLAS (AP) — Crews scrambled to restore power to thousands of residents after tornadoes plowed through Oklahoma during another deadly spring storm in the U.S., killing at least three people and damaging dozens of homes. On Thursday, a day after at least eight tornadoes spun through Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt said authorities were still assessing the scale of destruction. He toured the aftermath in Shawnee, where nearly every building at Oklahoma Baptist University showed damage. A home improvement store was destroyed, but several people sheltering inside survived. Two long-term care facilities and a hospital in Shawnee were also damaged. "The damage is unbelievable when you walk through there," Stitt said after touring the city. Stitt also visited the small town of Cole, where he said two people died and 50 to 100 homes were damaged.
Authorities said a third person who was injured had also died, but it was not immediately clear where that person was injured. "There are definitely dozens of various injuries, from minor all the way up to fatalities," said Deputy Sheriff Scott Gibbons of McClain County, the county south of Oklahoma City where Cole is located. Gibbons told television station KOCO that one victim in McClain County, where Cole is located, is a 66-year-old man. Deadly storms this spring have killed dozens of people across a wide swath of country, including one in March that produced tornadoes and killed at least 32 people from Arkansas to Delaware. Days later, another tornado left five dead in Missouri. Following the storms, Stitt declared a state of emergency in five counties: Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie.
(-Related-)
Crews Assessing Tornado Damage in Chase County
CHASE COUNTY, Kan. (KSNT) — Emergency workers are still surveying damage from this week's tornadoes in Chase County. Officials say a tornado touched down in Strong City Wednesday night. The Chase County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed damage across the area, including numerous downed power lines. KSNT reports that a semi was overturned on U.S. Highway 50, near Elmdale. Another vehicle was picked up by the tornado near Strong City and thrown. The driver was taken to a hospital for treatment.
==========
Kansas Planning State Presidential Primary for March 2024
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas plans to hold a presidential primary in March 2024 rather than leave it to political parties to decide whether they want to have more exclusive caucuses or state conventions instead.
Democratic Governor Laura Kelly on Friday signed a bill into law that schedules the election for March 19, 2024, for the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties. The measure had bipartisan support when the Republican-controlled Legislature approved it this month.
County officials will oversee the voting and the state is likely to cover the costs, which could be several million dollars. Far more voters are expected to participate than the tens of thousands who usually do in caucuses or the dozens who would attend a party convention.
The new law does not schedule presidential primaries after 2024, however.
Kansas last held a state presidential primary in 1992, and about 373,000 voters participated. In canceling later primaries, legislators often cited the potential cost and left it to the parties to decide what to do, at their own expense.
In 2020, Democrats funded and ran their own primary by mail ballot only, while Republican leaders committed to supporting then-President Donald Trump without a vote or any caucuses.
==========
Detectives: Teens Apparently Killed Each Other in Olathe
OLATHE, Kan. (KC Star) — Police in Olathe say they have discovered how two people died in a vehicle last weekend and it involves a twist investigators didn’t suspect. Detectives say 18-year-old Monterrio Spencer Jr. and 19-year-old Jessica Hicks shot and killed each other inside a vehicle. The Kansas City Star reports that officers responded to the double shooting Saturday afternoon at an apartment complex parking lot. Hicks was pronounced dead at the scene and Spencer later died at a local hospital. The investigation into their deaths revealed they had shot each other. The deaths mark Olathe’s second and third homicides of the year.
==========
Kansas Governor Signs Bipartisan Water Funding Plan
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has signed into law a bipartisan funding plan to preserve water. The plan helps address a growing water crisis in the western part of the state. The new Kansas law adds $35 million this year for state projects aimed at conserving water. Some of the funding will go to grants that farmers can use to pay for water-saving technology, like advanced irrigation systems. Kelly says the plan is needed to protect the water sources used by farmers for future generations. Water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer, an important water source in western Kansas, have steadily declined for decades. Those levels have fallen sharply because of irrigation. The giant underground reservoir in western Kansas also provides drinking water.
==========
Two Dismissed Emporia State Professors Win Their Jobs Back
EMPORIA, Kan. (KNS/Kansas Reflector) - Two professors fired by Emporia State University (ESU) last year will get their jobs back after winning an appeal. Emporia State University laid off 33 employees, including tenured faculty, last September. School officials called it a cost-cutting move. The Kansas Reflector reported this week that a state appeals officer has reinstated two professors, saying ESU did not adequately explain why their jobs were eliminated. History professor Amanda Miracle and math and economics associate professor Rob Catlett won their appeals. Other professors who appealed their dismissals are still waiting to learn their fate. Emporia State has 30 days to seek a judicial review of the decision.
==========
Police in Nebraska Locate Missing 14-Year-Old, Topeka Man Now in Custody
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - A Topeka man is now in police custody and facing multiple charges after a 14-year-old girl was reported missing from North Platte, Nebraska. Police in North Platte say they located the missing teenager and 26-year-old Cameron Quintin, of Topeka, Wednesday morning. KNOP TV reports that Quintin was taken into custody for kidnapping. Nebraska authorities were assisted by the Topeka Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the FBI.
==========
Kansas City Police Shoot, Kill Armed Man Who Allegedly Pointed Gun at People
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KSHB) — A man died after he was shot by Kansas City police Wednesday afternoon. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, two officers responded to an area (near E. 27th Street and Brighton Avenue) after receiving reports of a man pointing a gun at people. Witnesses told police the man was walking up and down the street, pointing his weapon at passersby. KSHB TV reports that officers tried to de-escalate the situation, asking the man to put down his weapon. Police say the man refused. One officer fired and fatally wounded the man, who was later identified as 43-year-old Reginald Byers Jr. No officers were injured.
==========
Kansas Man Wanted for Attempted Murder of Police Officer Captured in California
RED BLUFF, CA (Daily News) — A man suspected of shooting at a central Kansas police officer has been apprehended in California. Authorities accuse 38-year-old William Thomas Frederick Junior of trying to kill a Hoisington police officer. On April 1st, a Hoisington police officer attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle. The vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed and eventually crashed in nearby Claflin. Police say during the chase, Frederick fired several shots at the officer, disabling his police cruiser. Barton County Sheriff's deputies caught up with the vehicle, where two suspects were captured but Frederick fled the scene. He was apprehended in Red Bluff, California, Wednesday afternoon and arrested for the attempted murder of a police officer. The Red Bluff Daily News reports that the driver of the vehicle, identified as 21-year-old Rylan J. Witmer, of Wilson, was charged with possession of methamphetamine and fleeing police.
==========
Man Sentenced for Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Crime in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 25-year-old Kansas City man has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for shooting and wounding a teenager several times because of his sexual orientation. Malachi Robinson pleaded guilty in July to violating federal hate crime laws when he shot the 16-year-old eight times. Robinson was sentenced Thursday to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The teenager survived the May 2019 shooting but underwent several surgeries and physical therapy and still has bullets in his body, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, the two went into a wooded area but Robinson shot the teenager when he tried to leave. Court documents said Robinson told several people he shot the victim because of his sexual orientation. Court documents said the two met by chance and were walking near Swope Park when Robinson suggested they go into a wooded area to engage in a sex act. But Robinson wrote separately to his girlfriend that he "might shoot this boy" because of his sexual orientation. When the teenager changed his mind and tried to leave, Robinson shot him eight times, prosecutors said. He was able to get away and eventually collapsed near an apartment building, where a bystander called 911. Before his arrest, Robinson told several people that he shot the victim because of his sexual orientation, according to court documents. (Read more in the NY Times.)
==========
Kansas Game Wardens: Beware of Rattlesnakes
McPHERSON, Kan. (KAKE) - Kansas game wardens are advising residents to keep an eye out for rattlesnakes, whether they're alive or dead. In a Facebook post, the Department of Wildlife and Parks said that a dead rattlesnake was removed from the McPherson County State Fishing Lake area Wednesday because even dead snakes can pose a threat. In the post, game wardens explained that rattlesnakes can still envenomate - or, inject venom - for some period of time after death. Wildlife officials say there are 42 species of snakes in Kansas, including four native venomous snakes. KAKE TV reports that wild reptiles, alive or dead, can only be collected for non-commercial purposes and cannot be bartered or sold in Kansas.
==========
Most Kansas State Historic Sites Now Free to Visit
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Exploring the state's history just got easier. The Kansas Historical Society (KSHS) recently announced via social media that every Kansas State Historic Site, with the exception of one, will now be free for those who want to visit. KSHS Executive Director Patrick Zollner told KSNT that they want to make Kansas history accessible to everyone, so they're offering free admission for Kansas families to all state historic sites, except for Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway. The free admission policy will be in place for the foreseeable future to help encourage more participation.
==========
Suspect Arrested for Allegedly Passing Fake Checks Across Kansas
BARTON COUNTY, Kan. (KAKE) - A North Carolina man is accused of buying large amounts of goods all across Kansas with forged checks. Detectives with the Barton County Sheriff's Office spent weeks tracking the suspect and now say they have made an arrest. KAKE TV reports 65-year-old Roger Kornegay was taken into custody on charges of using fake checks. Authorities say he would purchase goods at farm stores, implement dealers and parts houses all over Kansas with these checks. Kornegay had recently been released from federal parole and had been using at least 25 different aliases. Detectives obtained a warrant and received information that Kornegay would be heading from Nebraska to Oberlin, Kansas. Kornegay is currently being held in the Decatur County jail.
==========
No Mandatory Jail Time for Kansans with Suspended, Revoked Driver's Licenses
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Governor Laura Kelly has signed a bill to remove mandatory jail time for Kansans caught driving with a suspended or revoked license. People can lose their licenses because of issues like unpaid fines. If they’re caught driving without a valid license, judges will now be able to decide if a first-time offender should serve jail time. Prior Kansas law had a mandatory five-day sentence. Supporters of the change argue the five-day sentence was excessive and can keep people in a cycle of poverty. This is the latest reform in Kansas around suspended drivers licenses. Previous changes allow waiving court fees and reinstating licenses more quickly.
==========
Schools in Kansas and Across the Country Race to Catch Up Kids On Reading
UNDATED (AP/KPR) - Third graders across the country face a looming crisis. The majority will move on to fourth grade next year and will be expected to read well. But many haven't received adequate instruction because of pandemic-fueled school interruptions and reliance in some places on ineffective teaching methods.
From their first days in school until the end of third grade, students receive support from their teachers to perfect their reading and comprehension. Starting in fourth grade, students are expected to read class instructions, math problems and books by themselves and to improve their reading on their own. Research shows students who do not read proficiently by the end of the third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school or not finish high school on time.
Experts believe one of the most effective ways to help students catch up is with so-called "high dosage tutoring," essentially small-group or one-on-one tutoring with a skilled teacher multiple times a week. Some districts have used COVID relief money to pay for this expensive help, while others have struggled to find the staff to offer intensive support. Just as districts try to make up for pandemic interruptions to learning, many also are shifting the way they teach young children to read. More educators are embracing phonics-based lessons in line with scientific research showing many students need to learn this systematic approach to decoding words.
Reading scores reflected historic learning setbacks after the pandemic disrupted U.S. schools. In the fall, the National Assessment of Educational Progress — known as the "Nation's Report Card" — released 2022 scores from hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth graders across the country. No region was spared. (See how Kansas students fared.)
The test didn't measure this year's third grade class, where the losses may be even more profound. One of the nation's major test makers, NWEA, released a study in December that found third graders are currently suffering the largest pandemic-related learning losses in reading, compared with older students in grades four to eight. Third graders also are not readily recovering, NWEA found.
==========
Kansas Creates a New State Park in Allen County
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Kansas has created a new state park in Allen County that includes 12 miles of trails, an abandoned quarry, a lake and a 300-foot-long cave. Governor Laura Kelly signed off on the bill creating the state’s 29th state park. The measure establishes the Lehigh Portland Trails in Allen County. KSNT reports that measure also provides disabled veterans with free permanent hunting and fishing licenses in Kansas.
==========
Topeka Zoo Accepting Storm-Damaged Tree Branches, Leaves for Animals
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – The Topeka Zoo is collecting tree branches, leaves and other debris from this week’s storms. KSNT reports that the zoo is accepting natural storm debris for its animals. Zoo officials say they are accepting tree branches that were broken loose from the storm to give to their resident animals. However, the zoo is only accepting branches from the following trees: cottonwood, little leaf elm, American elm, fruiting pear, Bradford pear, red bud, river birch, sweet gum, mulberry and sycamore.
==========
CPKC Railroad Announces Deal to Handle Mexico Shipments
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad announced its first big business win Friday — a week after completing its long-planned merger — with a multiyear agreement to handle the Schneider National trucking company's rail shipments to and from Mexico starting in mid May.
The deal provides that CPKC will become Schneider's preferred cross-border rail partner. It will move shipping containers of goods that the trucking company picks up at manufacturers and ports in Mexico to the key rail hub of Chicago, where all the major railroads exchange traffic — taking traffic away from Union Pacific and BNSF.
The companies didn't say how many of these intermodal shipments might be involved in the deal, but Schneider reported a $458 million profit last year on all the deliveries it handled across North America.
Schneider has said in previous investor presentations that some $800 million worth of all kinds of products crosses the U.S.-Mexico border at Laredo, Texas, every day. American farmers send large amounts of corn and pork south while Mexican avocados and car parts made at factories there head north. And more companies are moving manufacturing operations to Mexico to have their production closer to their customers.
Laredo is where CPKC’s trains cross the border, and the railroad said it is planning to add another span to its bridge there to increase the capacity of its tracks. That new bridge should be done by the end of next year.
Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau said “management has hit the ground running” with this deal coming shortly after the $31 billion Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger was completed.
CPKC CEO Keith Creel said he thinks his railroad’s new single-network across the continent offered a compelling value. Shippers using other railroads have to hand off their cargo from a Mexican railroad to one of the other U.S. rails at the border.
“The CPKC combination creates compelling new transportation solutions for Schneider’s current and future customers looking for more reliability and increased capacity in their supply chains,” Creel said.
But Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said her railroad offers “the best access of any North American railroad” to Mexico because it connects to Mexican railroads at all six main crossings along the border.
"Our service, particularly for intermodal and automotive freight, provides customers with unparalleled reach and service into critical markets across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico,” South said.
Schneider has a separate agreement with Union Pacific for that railroad to handle its shipments across the western United States. That contract just started in January.
==========
U.S. Traffic Deaths Drop Slightly in 2022 but Still a "Crisis"
DETROIT (AP) — The number of people killed on U.S. roadways decreased slightly last year, but government officials said the 42,795 people who died is still a national crisis. Estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that the number of fatalities dropped 0.3% from the 42,939 killed in 2021. Traffic deaths declined slightly in the fourth quarter, the third straight quarterly decline. But they're still close to 2021 numbers, which were the highest in 16 years. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that the nation continues to face a national crisis on its roadways. The department says it has adopted a national safe systems strategy to reduce the deaths, including more than $800 million in grants to help communities with projects in high-crash areas.
In releasing statistics for 2021 earlier this month, NHTSA said speeding and impaired or distracted driving are on the rise. Data showed a 12% increase in fatal crashes involving at least one distracted driver, with 3,522 people killed. That prompted the agency to kick off a $5 million advertising campaign in an effort to keep drivers focused on the road. Agency officials said such cases likely are under-reported by police.
The number of pedestrians killed rose 13%, and cyclist fatalities were up 2% for the year. The number of unbelted passengers killed rose 8.1%, while fatalities involving alcohol-impaired driving were up 14%. Speeding-related deaths increased 7.9%, while crash deaths involving large trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds were up 17%, the agency said. People are driving more as the coronavirus pandemic waned, with miles traveled increasing almost 1% over 2021.
==========
Super Bowl Champion Chiefs Ready for KC to Host NFL Draft
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will still be reveling in their Super Bowl triumph when they are on the clock in the NFL draft. They are due to pick 31st overall, last in the first round, after beating the Philadelphia Eagles to hoist their third Lombardi Trophy. The Chiefs have 10 picks overall. They had a very successful draft a year ago, despite picking late in most rounds. A rookie class that included cornerback Trent McDuffie, pass rusher George Karlaftis and running back Isiah Pacheco were major contributors to their Super Bowl run. General manager Brett Veach will try to replicate that effort with holes on the roster at offensive tackle, defensive end and wide receiver.
==========
Longtime K-State Coach, Administrator Ernie Barrett Dies at 93
UNDATED (AP) – Former Boston Celtics forward Ernie Barrett, who starred at Kansas State and spent 75 years at the school as an athlete, coach and administrator, died Friday in his hometown of Manhattan, Kansas. He was 93.
Barrett's family announced his death. A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday at Bramlage Coliseum, where the Wildcats play their basketball games and where a banner recognizing Barrett's achievements hangs from the rafters.
“He came to visit me before every home game and was incredibly welcoming to me and my staff in our first year,” said Kansas State men's basketball coach Jerome Tang, who led the Wildcats on a surprising Elite Eight run this past season. “No one loved this university and its basketball team more than him.”
Barrett was a Kansas schoolboy legend in the 1940s, when he led Wellington High School to its only state championship in basketball. He was recruited by Phog Allen to play at Kansas and Henry Iba to attend Oklahoma State, but he wound up going to Kansas State and playing for Hall of Fame coaches Jack Gardner and Tex Winter.
Barrett led the Wildcats to the national championship game in 1951, where they lost to Adolph Rupp and Kentucky.
Barrett was chosen by the Celtics with the seventh pick in the 1951 draft, but he deferred his NBA career to spend two years in the Air Force. He wound up playing two seasons for Red Auerbach alongside Celtics great Bob Cousy.
The pull of Barrett's alma mater was strong, though, and he returned in 1955 to work with the alumni association. He became an assistant coach for Winter in 1958, and over six seasons Barrett twice helped the Wildcats reach the Final Four.
Barrett moved into an administrative role in 1963, and was Kansas State's athletic director from 1969-75. He also spent time as a consultant and director of development until his retirement in 2007, though he remained active with volunteer work.
“Ernie was the dearest of friends, one of the greatest K-Staters in the world,” said longtime Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder. “Never in my 40-plus years here have I met anyone who meant more or did more for a university than Ernie. He sought out opportunities to promote Kansas State University and the athletics program everywhere he was.”
Barrett was popular among students, too, offering a firm handshake to anyone who crossed his path. The bronze statue outside Bramlage Coliseum depicts Barrett offering one of those handshakes, rather than showing him as a player.
“Ernie cared so deeply about Kansas State, and I appreciated our friendship and his personal interest in our football program,” Wildcats football coach Chris Klieman said. “Everyone knows Ernie for his figurative handshake, but what I will remember most is a person who spent nearly three-quarters of a century trying to make his alma mater a better place.”
Barrett is survived by his wife of 72 years, Bonnie, along with his son Brad and grandson Ryan. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ernie and Ruby Barrett, and by his son, Duane.
==========
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. And follow KPR News on Twitter.