Excessive Heat Warning in Effect for KPR Listening Area
The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Warning for the KPR listening area. It remains in effect until 9 p.m. Friday for all KPR listeners, and has been extended through 9 p.m. Saturday for several locations including Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, Emporia, Junction City, and the entire greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Residents are advised to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air conditioned places if possible, and to check up on relatives and neighbors. Residents are also advised to take extra precautions if they work or spend time outside. When possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or in the evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing when possible. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. City of Lawrence cooling centers will be open during regular hours over the weekend.
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Scientists: July 2023 May Be Hottest Month Globally on Record
WASHINGTON (AP) — July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the globally hottest on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat through. Thursday's announcement by the World Meteorological Organization and the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service says July's heat is beyond record-smashing. They say Earth's temperature has been temporarily passing over a key global warming threshold. July is about six-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit warmer than the old record set in 2019. Scientists say this month may be the hottest in 120,000 years.
July has been so off-the-charts hot with heat waves blistering three continents – North America, Europe and Asia – that researchers said a record was inevitable. The U.S. Southwest's all-month heat wave is showing no signs of stopping as the heat wave at the end of the week pushed into most of the Midwest and East with more than 128 million Americans under some kind of heat advisory Thursday. "Unless an ice age were to appear all of sudden out of nothing, it is basically virtually certain we will break the record for the warmest July on record and the warmest month on record," Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo told The Associated Press.
In the middle of some of the worst heat, where Phoenix is now at a record 27 straight days and counting of 110 degrees or higher temperatures, University of Arizona climate scientist Katharine Jacobs said the records are giving humanity a message about reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
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Driver Dead After Semi Crashes and Catches Fire in KC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KC Star) - A driver died after a semi-truck swerving to avoid debris crashed and caught fire Thursday morning on Interstate 435 in Kansas City. The Kansas City Star reports that fire crews responded around 8:45 am to eastbound I-435 near Interstate 470, where they found the semi-truck crashed into the highway’s outer barrier. The semi-truck pulling two trailers was traveling on eastbound I-435 when it was struck by debris and swerved to avoid more debris falling from a pickup truck. The semi struck a Honda Civic and then a guardrail. It then traveled off the roadway and into a drainage ditch before striking a noise abatement wall. Upon impact, the cab exploded, engulfing the cab and trailer in flames. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Three lanes of eastbound I-435 remained closed for hours as the vehicles and debris were removed from the scene.
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Scammers Are Impersonating the Kansas Secretary of State's Office
TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Kansas Secretary of State’s Office took to Twitter this week to warn of a phishing scam impersonating the secretary's Office. Director of Communications and Policy Whitney Tempel said the scam email comes from an email address ending in .org and portrays itself as coming from the Secretary of State's office. KSNT reports that the phony email has a clickable link to “review documents,” where scammers will try to steal a person's information. Officials remind the public that all official emails from state government will come from an address ending in .gov.
Anyone receiving one of these scam emails is encouraged to call the Secretary of State's Office at (785) 296-4564.
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Feds: Instead of Treating Hazardous Waste, Johnson County Company Dumped It in Sewer
LENEXA, Kan. (KC Star) - Federal officials are accusing a Lenexa company of dumping hazardous materials into the Johnson County sewer system, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The Kansas City Star reports that a complaint was filed this week in federal court alleging an employee of Disposable Instrument Company sent hazardous waste into the sewer.
The complaint accuses Bradley Bruss, the plant manager since 1990, of a criminal offense for violating the law. The company’s president, Brian Chansky, faced the same accusation in a complaint filed last year. In February, he was sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $50,000. Chansky and Bruss were not immediately available for comment Thursday.
Disposable Instrument Company, founded in 1970, manufactures medical and surgical instruments through a process that uses heavy metals. Prosecutors say the process includes medical parts being washed with acid and another chemical. The company was supposed to treat the wastewater but is accused of bypassing the treatment process and dumping waste.
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More than Half of At-Home Tornado Deaths Occur in Mobile Homes
UNDATED (AP) - The Associated Press has analyzed tornado deaths and found that since 1996, 53% of the tornado deaths in people's homes were in mobile or manufactured housing. That's even though manufactured homes are less than 6% of the American housing stock. That's more than 800 deaths in mobile or manufactured homes. And when tornadoes are weak — with winds of 135 mph or less — an even higher proportion of tornado deaths at home (79%) are in mobile homes. The Top 10 States with Tornado Deaths include Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas and Florida.
Since 1996, Alabama leads the country by far with 396 tornado deaths, with 293 of them at home. Of those at-home deaths, 49.1% or 144, of them were in mobile or manufactured homes.
MISSOURI
Since 1996, Missouri ranks second in the country with 252 tornado deaths, with 139 of them at home. Of those at-home deaths, 28.8% or 40, of them were in mobile or manufactured homes. Yet only 5.3% of Missouri's housing stock are mobile homes.
OKLAHOMA
Since 1996, Oklahoma ranks fifth in the country with 131 tornado deaths, with 86 of them at home. Of those at-home deaths, 44.2% or 38, of them were in mobile or manufactured homes. Yet only 7.7% of Oklahoma's housing stock are mobile homes.
ARKANSAS
Since 1996, Arkansas ranks sixth in the country with 126 tornado deaths, with 97 of them at home. Of those at-home deaths, 53.6% or 52, of them were in mobile or manufactured homes. Yet only 9.9% of Arkansas' housing stock are mobile homes
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Former Inmate Sues Defunct For-Profit Jail in Leavenworth over Stabbing Incident
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) - A former inmate of a now-defunct private jail in Leavenworth is suing the facility’s operators, saying the facility was poorly run and so dangerous that he was stabbed. The Kansas Reflector reports that Joshua Braddy's lawsuit accuses CoreCivic of running a "dangerous, understaffed and insecure" facility. The lawsuit alleges that CoreCivic's employees acted recklessly at the Leavenworth Detention Center. The facility in Leavenworth was a detention center contracted to house detainees awaiting trial in federal courts. Its contract with the U.S. Marshals Service ended in December 2021. CoreCivic, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the nation's largest private prison operators. It has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. During a sentencing hearing, a federal judge once described the facility as “an absolute hell hole.”
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GOP Measures Would Remove Protections for Endangered Lesser Prairie Chicken, Northern Bat
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has approved two measures to undo federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat — two endangered animals that have seen their populations plummet over the years.
In separate votes Thursday, the House gave final legislative approval to rescind protections for the lesser prairie chicken — a rare prairie bird once thought to number in the millions, but now hover around 30,000, officials said — and the long-eared bat, one of 12 bat types decimated by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome.
The legislative actions, backed mostly by Republicans, represent rare congressional involvement in matters usually left to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Endangered Species Act tasks the agencies with deciding which animals and plants to list as endangered or threatened and how to rebuild their populations.
The lesser prairie chicken, which belongs to the grouse family, is found in parts of the Midwest and Southwest, including one of the country’s most prolific oil and gas fields — the oil-rich Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas. The bird's range also extends into parts of Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas, but has diminished across about 90% of its historical range, officials said.
The House voted 221-206 to reverse protections for the prairie bird.
A separate 220-209 vote would overturn protections for the northern long-eared bat, which has seen its population reduced by 97% or more in some areas because of white-nose syndrome. The bat is found in 37 eastern and north-central states, plus Washington, D.C., and much of Canada.
The House votes follow similar action in the Senate in May and send both plans to President Joe Biden, who has threatened to veto both resolutions.
Overturning protections for the lesser prairie chicken "would undermine America’s proud wildlife conservation traditions, risk the extinction of a once-abundant American bird and create uncertainty for landowners and industries who have been working for years to forge the durable, locally led conservation strategies that this rule supports,” the White House said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the White House said bats are "critical to healthy, functioning ecosystems and contribute at least $3 billion annually to the U.S. agriculture economy through pest control and pollination.'' Overturning protections “would risk extinction of a species.”
Environmentalists have long sought stronger federal protections for the prairie bird, which they consider severely at risk due to oil and gas development, livestock grazing and farming, along with roads and power lines.
The crow-size, terrestrial birds are known for spring courtship rituals that include flamboyant dances by the males as they make a cacophony of clucking, cackling and booming sounds.
White-nose syndrome, meanwhile, has spread across about 80% of the northern bat’s range and caused a precipitous decline in bat populations. Critics of the endangered listing contend it would hamper logging and other land uses that aren’t responsible for the bat’s sharp decline.
Rep. Bruce Westerman, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, called the Endangered Species Act an important but outdated part of U.S. history.
“The unavoidable truth about the ESA is that a listing means less private investment, which harms conservation efforts,'' he said.
In the case of the lesser prairie chicken, the protected status “is a tool for Fish and Wildlife to go implement the Biden administration's none-of-the- above energy policy,'' Westerman said on the House floor. “It’s another attack on low-cost energy for the American taxpayers. It’s an attack on jobs in America and it’s making us more dependent'' on hostile countries in the Middle East and South America, he said.
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the natural resources panel, said the GOP measures "give industry and not science the upper hand in making decisions about endangered species.''
He labeled Republican opposition to the Endangered Species Act “a vendetta." He also said the two votes on Thursday were egregious since the GOP-controlled House has not taken action to address climate change, even as Arizona and other states suffer through "one of the most brutal summers in this country's recorded history.''
Climate change “isn't about some distant warning about melting icecaps in the far-off future. The climate crisis is here, it is now,'' Grijalva said, noting that Phoenix has set a record with a 27-day streak of temperatures over 110 degree Fahrenheit.
“People are suffering. People are dying, and the GOP isn’t doing a thing about it,'' he said.
The Republican majority “has had zero hearings on climate change'' since taking over in January and has ”introduced zero bills to seriously address climate change,'' Grijalva said.
The House votes follow actions by Congress earlier this year to block a clean water rule imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and a separate Labor Department measure that allows retirement plan managers to consider the effects of climate change in their investment plans. Biden vetoed both legislative measures.
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Kansas Attorney General Seeks to Stop Trans Kansans from Intervening in Driver's License Lawsuit
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says allowing transgender Kansas residents to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to stop the state from changing the sex designation on their driver’s licenses would create a legal “morass.” Kobach told a court Wednesday that he wants to keep the focus of the case on a new law that requires the state to list a person's biological sex at birth on driver's licenses. Transgender Kansans want the right to change official documents to reflect their gender identities. The lawsuit came after Governor Laura Kelly announced that transgender people in Kansas could continue to have their driver’s licenses changed despite the new law. A Shawnee County District Judge set a hearing an August 16 on the transgender people’s request to intervene.
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More Than One Million Travelers Pass Through KCI in June
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KSHB) — More than 1 million passengers arrived or departed through the new Kansas City International Airport in June. Airport officials have just released the figures and it’s the first time since August of 2019 that KCI saw more than the 1 million passengers. KSHB TV reports that fewer than 250,000 passengers arrived or departed through the airport in June 2020 during the early months of the pandemic. More than 5 million travelers have passed through KCI in the first six months of this year, but KCI administrators say the number of passengers has not yet completely recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
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Ag Economists Predict Economic Challenges for Midwest Farmers
UNDATED (HPM) - The U.S. agriculture industry has had a few good years, but Midwest farmers will likely face more economic challenges in the coming years. Farmers have seen crop prices at record or near-record high levels over the last two years. But this year, as interest rates rise, banks are lending less money to farmers and agricultural equipment sales are falling. Ernie Goss, a regional economist at Nebraska’s Creighton University, says fewer countries are importing U.S. ag products. "What I expect, and what our surveys point to, is somewhat slower growth in rural economic growth... but it's still going to be positive," he said. Goss also says consumers should expect food prices to stay high due to ongoing inflation.
Wade Simpson, of Ag Resource Management, an agricultural finance company, says the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates will affect farmers’ ability to take out loans for equipment and real estate. "It's gonna put a strain on farmers," he said. Simpson says keeping crop insurance affordable in this year’s upcoming Farm Bill will be key to making sure farmers can stay in business.
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KU Researchers Receive Federal Grant to Improve Language Skills in Underserved Communities
LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW) — Researchers in early childhood development at the University of Kansas have been awarded a $300,000 grant to help improve language and communication skills in underserved communities, WIBW TV reports the project will focus on dual language learners and children with disabilities. KU researchers say the newly developed toolkit promotes language and communication in young children including those with developmental disabilities. KU officials say the researchers will work with the state to measure the program’s success in a variety of community child care settings in urban and rural communities.
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Remains of WWII Veteran Killed in Action Returning to Kansas for Burial
PLAINS, Kan. (KAKE) — The remains of a Kansas WWII veteran killed in World War II are finally returning home. U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert C. Elliott, of Plains, Kansas, was killed during a bombing mission in Romania. He was killed August 1, 1943 when his plane was hit by enemy fire. Elliot was just 24-years-old. His remains could not be identified at the time, so he was buried alongside other unidentified soldiers in Romania. After the war, the remains of all unnamed U.S. casualties were taken from the cemetery in Romania. KAKE TV reports that Elliot's remains were finally identified in February by a laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. Sgt. Robert Elliott will be interred at Plains Cemetery on Tuesday, August 1 - exactly 80 years to the day after he was killed in action. He served in the 343rd Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force.
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Heatwave Will Make Crickets Chirp Like Crazy
UNDATED (HPM) - Heat waves are pushing temperatures up this summer and breaking records across the world. It’s affecting people, animals, crops and... crickets. Harvest Public Media reports that a chorus of cricket chips isn’t just summer background music, it can also be used as a temperature gauge. According to an old scientific theory, if you count the number of chirps per 15 seconds and add 40, you’ll wind up with the temperature in Fahrenheit. Kyle Koch, an entomologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says heat helps crickets’ chirping muscles warm up. "So, they’re cold blooded. Basically they’re affected by the ambient temperature. As the temperature rises, they can have those muscle contractions occurring more rapidly which allows them to have a higher frequency," he said. Crickets could be chirping faster than ever this year as many experts say there’s a good chance 2023 could be the hottest on record.
The National Weather Service office in El Paso, Texas, has a cricket chirp converter where you can plug in how many chirps you hear to get the temperature. Meteorologist Jason Laney jokes that after more than a month of heat above 100 degrees, it might be less useful. "Unfortunately, down here now, we've lost track of the temperature because now we have our fried crickets," he said. El Paso is just one city trapped under a heat dome during what many experts say could become the hottest year in modern history.
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No Big Winner in Mega Millions Drawing; Jackpot Hits $910 Million Friday
UNDATED (KPR/AP) - The Mega Millions jackpot will climb to nearly a billion dollars since Tuesday night's drawing produced no big winners. That extends a stretch of bad luck dating back to April. The absence of a jackpot winner brings the count of fruitless drawings to 28, at least for the big prize. The jackpot for this Friday's drawing is expected to hit $910 million or more. The winning numbers drawn Tuesday were: 3, 5, 6, 44, 61 and the yellow ball 25. Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Colorado Leaving Pac-12 and Returning to Big 12 in 2024 Following Unanimous Vote by Board of Regents
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The Colorado board of regents voted unanimously Thursday to leave the Pac-12 Conference and return to the Big 12. A source told The Associated Press that Big 12 school leaders have already voted to accept Colorado if the Buffs formally apply. The Pac-12 has seemed vulnerable to more poaching. It will lose USC and UCLA to the Big Ten next year and has spent months trying to land a new media rights contract.
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Prime Real Estate: Colorado's Return to Big 12 Fits Deion Sanders's Football Recruiting Blueprint
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado's return to the Big 12 in 2024 fits right into Deion Sanders' recruiting blueprint, allowing him to get an even better foothold in the teeming Texas and Florida markets.
“I think Colorado is already an exciting team on the recruiting trail with Coach Prime and his experienced staff full of college coaches who have been around for a while and a lot of guys with NFL pedigree,” said Steve Wiltfong, national recruiting director for 247Sports. "So I think more than anything it adds to the excitement because it’s moving to what is certainly a more stable conference and one that just had a football team (TCU) in the playoff.”
Athletic director Rick George said he kept basketball coaches Tad Boyle and JR Payne in the loop along with Sanders, who's entering his first season in Boulder, before the CU board of regents rubber-stamped Colorado's return to the Big 12 on Thursday.
“I think all of them felt like: Whatever you think’s best for us, we're going to play whomever you ask us to play," George said. “I will tell you, there are tremendous benefits for being in the Big 12 for the direction that Coach Prime’s going as it relates to recruiting, being able to play in Orlando against UCF, where he's recruiting very heavily (and) the state of Texas has always been a priority for us."
The newfangled Big 12 isn't the same league the Buffs left in 2011 during the initial rounds of conference realigment when Texas A&M, Missouri and Nebraska also left. Texas and Oklahoma are leaving next year for the Big Ten. TCU and West Virginia came on board a decade ago and Cincinnati, Houston, BYU and Central Florida were added this year. Sanders, who's overseen the biggest roster overhaul in the nation since his hiring this spring, already has strong roots in Florida and Texas. He was born in Fort Myers and starred at Florida State before embarking on a dual sports career as an NFL defensive back and a Major League outfielder. Some of his best years came during his half decade with the Cowboys from 1995-99 and he still has a home in the Dallas area. When the Buffaloes return to the Big 12 next year, they will have four conference opponents in the Lone Star State in TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor and Houston, which features one of the nation's largest television markets.
“Houston has always been a favorable market for us in recruiting," said George, who then mentioned a few players from CU's heyday in the late 1980s and early '90s. "You think back to Alfred Williams, Kanavis McGhee and Chris Hudson. That area — the fifth-largest market in the country — also was a factor” in Colorado's decision to return to the Big 12.
“Colorado recruits Texas hard because it’s an obvious state to go recruit,” Wiltfong said, "and now being in the Big 12, with all those Texas teams, it gives them one more inch to say, ’Hey, we’re going to be coming to the Lone Star State a lot throughout your career to play some big games.'”
Wiltfong expects Sanders to compete with the big boys when it comes to the recruiting trails of Texas.
“Deion’s lived in Texas, right? Deion is going to go where the players are. He’s going to recruit nationally because his name is electric," Wiltfong said.
Colorado is the third school to leave the Pac-12 in the last year, joining UCLA and USC, which are going to the Big Ten next year. The moves coincide with the expiration of current media rights deals with ESPN and Fox. Colorado is expected to get $31.7 million in annual TV revenue in the Big 12, which last year came to an agreement with ESPN and Fox on a six-year extension worth more than $2 billion that runs through 2030-31.
After Colorado's vote to leave, the Pac-12 issued a statement that read, “We are focused on concluding our media rights deal and securing our continued success and growth. Immediately following the conclusion of our media rights deal, we will embrace expansion opportunities and bring new fans, markets, excitement and value to the Pac-12.”
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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 amweekdays 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.