Various KPR news

i was invited to be a western civilization a lecture series speaker at the university of kansas the spring it thrilled me but i protested that teacher brutal research i said that my story sources i disappear and surely derivative i've made a living for sixteen years by clarifying other people's research ideas for with me and i swear with ideas that i'm gone i'm like a bumblebee winning from flower to flower all the professors that i interviewed tend to hang around a single flower all their lives what would i say to a group of them as i thought about it later some thoughts hatched here are the points i would've made first i would've asked the academics to tie some of their knowledge back to the public by becoming popular asian their fields physicists do it the most inscrutable things the greatest popular accounts that would've pointed to georgia can off his dirty little book mr tompkins in wonderland has given two generations away readers a fighting chance to grasp the weird laws that rule the world of the album james truffle in his sharks have no bones introduces

us to base concepts of the courts several sciences simplicity i would've told the audience is power second i would've said that i had been ruminating lately about the three brains tucked inside every human skull i stumbled across this idea years ago an essay by poet robert bly who was reporting on the ideas were brain scientist and paul mcclean now you can't always trust go to interpret scientists but here's what bly said apparently would possess a reptile brain and a mammal brain in addition to its inner layer called the new cortex that stretches over these more primitive breads the reptile brain is the me first part the part that gears up during extreme emergencies the mammal brain is about family tried and child rearing and its not altogether warm and cuddly bears it's dedicated to keeping our tribal life even if that means having to kill their tribe now but the neo cortex rats have some of that but we humans have way more it's the

scene of such exclusively human functions as language and long term planning i would have told the audience of my lecture that i suspect this rind of neo cortex is to recently evolved to have full control over our behavior we carry as the wolf the all the fox terrier the koala bear a human monster if we could only fess up to the heavy claim laid on aspire reptile in ourselves we might bridge toward world peace more effectively last i would've asked my audience a question whereas the figure of the court jester gone he was always present in shakespeare's plays right there was i became tweaking the authorities and puncturing inflated people unless i'm missing something this figure has been subtracted from the contemporary board room our bureaucracy all we get our letterman leno on late night we need some gestures hanging around our leaders writing them the world's grown too serious that's what would've said the package of consumer protection measures includes a bill that would prevent

insurance companies from denying health care benefits to battered women a recent survey conducted by the kansas insurance commissioner's office from the domestic violence was being routinely used by health insurance companies as a reason to refuse coverage twenty four percent of them look at domestic violence as something they would consider and whether or not to offer insurance and over sixty five percent of the life insurance companies look at domestic violence is a factor in underwriting insurance that's time while they're an aid to state insurance commissioner kathleen sebelius who's behind this latest proposal their offices also behind a bill being considered this week that would make it illegal for insurance companies to refuse comprehensive auto insurance to drivers involved in previous accidents sebelius is also supporting a ban on what has become popularly known as dr through deliveries the legislature is expected to vote this session on a bill preventing insurance companies from limiting a hospital maternity state to less than forty eight hours at

the state house this is mccain's reporting fb state senator eric ios to wichita and said he had made a personal decision as early as last wednesday to remove himself from the us senate race that was when it became clear first district congressman pat roberts was jumping back in when the when they review an image that we didn't have a game winning because harbor july i agree on the issue and it would've been aware of the effort that we would have been available i would houston rockets a bold fiscal conservatives they also agree on many social issues they are pro life or anti gun control advocates well it is expected to formally declared candidate for the us senate

meanwhile two other republicans are still thought to be interested in the race which it all real estate tycoon mr white and johnson county develop a dialogue rock at the statehouse but says mccain's reporting currently in kansas of a girl on the beach with a team wants an abortion as their parents disapprove she can still go before a judge who could wave the parental consent requirement that over reaching a parental authority though folks alito republican lawmaker katie o'connor it's specially is it's the parents she says was still able to pay for the costs of the procedure and to rectify any unexpected health problems that occurred as a result of a pregnancy be terminated o'connor's bill would prevent judges in the future for bypassing the parents' wishes unless they can find someone who is willing to take on the financial costs for example of

another huge chunk of them and have an abortion have suffered a perforated uterus that can result in very serious problems including hysterectomy which can be a very expensive procedure the parents are now under current law responsible for that medical bill and i feel that as an unfair burden to place on a parent especially when the rights of the parents were taken away when it came to the decision of whether or not the abortion that even going to be done or call it doesn't specify bilbo who would pay for those health costs if it's not the parents she suggests though that could form the father of the unborn child grandparents or even groups like love parenthood o'connor introduced to go in the kansas legislature last year but it failed to get out of committee of the state house that has mccain's reporting fb former state senator eric yost of wichita and said he had made a personal decision as early as last wednesday to remove himself from the us senate race that was when it became clear first district congressman pat

roberts was jumping back in well i think it will encourage roberts indicated that he was going to get back in the race i began talking with people renovate it became clear to me and raised in that robert was not only visible virus in the first place which he had announced in november and only make more sense to go on now was there a real aviation command knew and your place is that you simply couldn't beat pat roberts without it when that when they review an image that we didn't have a game winning week the harbor tonight agree on the issue and it would an ability to separate that we would've had an unpalatable normal i don't have very much to begin by going on whatever issue do you about robert agree on gun violence and i are both political conservatives are

both concerned about taking on the democrats on capitol hill we're both social if you could really do it you do feel like you're the only person in the field who can present an overview of why there robert and robert's extensive voting record in congress illustrated clearly how close the dodge city republicans political philosophy there is that the videos both are pro life event roberts holds the distinction of having a one hundred percent pro life voting record in washington the two republicans also and think on another major social issue among conservatives gun rights and political science at the university of kansas roberts is expected to formally announce his candidacy for the us

senate on saturday at the annual kansas day celebration in topeka you'd expect you to pick up on the marlene dortch months from top republicans on that the two don't count co ed used among them he says he still reserving judgment on that to become a ball in the primary that would be unworkable videos do you still hold any animosity towards roberts pleads for the race right now if he hadn't changed his mind at the last minute well obviously it never believe your kid in november but i'm not angry at any one point and in some violent but you know him at night i did go on until the arabic homes with us now to the running the question now being asked in kansas political circles is well pat roberts even have a challenge in the republican primary august six

most of the potential big names have already cost up the opportunity in fact only two other republicans are still thought to be considering the race which it all real estate barons as the white and i'm johnson tell the real estate developer valve of rock or grow old maybee removing its name from a short list so this week he canceled a campaign the section he had planned for this saturday's kansas day celebration a signal to many political observers and rock rock is no longer interested in the site as for there being another candidate to enter the race well with the support of governor graves and senator dole already going to pat roberts it's unlikely another moderate republican would come forward to challenge him after a more conservative candidate weldon johnson of the state's largest anti abortion group kansans for life says most christian conservatives are already happy with robert stand on the issues it's really too early to pay anything for sure but i can't imagine that that poignant high in any other candidate entering the way who feel people are comparable to have

robert johnson says organisation would certainly not support the campaign to the other potential pro life candidate mr white and the real estate tycoons ways and fathering of an illegitimate child how solid his reputation in the eyes of many christian conservatives in the state meanwhile the death of candidates in this year's us senate race is not just restricted to the republican party when it went bad the measure that is causing so much controversy has been proposed by lee wood republican representative david atkins he says a quick look at the kansas highway fatalities statistics is evidence enough that the state needs to clamp down on under age drinking and driving if you look overall dui statistics and kansas alcohol related crashes are down but for drivers under the age of twenty from nineteen ninety

three to nineteen ninety four there was a nearly eighteen percent increase in alcohol related crashes and i think we want to say that under aged drivers who are interested just exude demonstrated a propensity towards crashes anyway any level of alcohol in their blood system is unacceptable the so called zero tolerance bill has widespread support mothers against drunk driving have given the proposal their stamp of approval so as the kansas bureau of investigation and the kansas highway patrol even governor bill graves is behind it he called on legislators to pass the measure in his state of the state address recently but all of that support is worth nothing unless a majority of kansas lawmakers are willing to sign on to the bill too and that may be a challenge it's based on a faulty premise that is that it is illegal for anyone under twenty one have our courses but that's simply not the law tim comedy is a republican house member from overland park he's afraid that if this bill becomes law it will unfairly branded many teenagers as drunk drivers like a twenty year old he says who with his parents'

permission has a glass of lying around the family dinner table or the teenager what a party drinks a bottle of one of the non alcoholic beers that are currently on the market there point four percent so they're not classified as either an alcoholic beverage or a serial serial more beverage you consume a couple of those and someone who's eighteen can they will then be considered a drunk driver forty eight hours to ninety days in jail hundreds of dollars in fines on your driving record when in fact they were not impaired driving comedy's says if kansas wants to get at the underage drinking problem you should simply tighten the existing laws on the sale about all we can increase the penalty for consenting mother was attacked the problem correctly don't use some i think an under handed methods to attack the problem democrat lawmaker don smith of dodge city is also against this bill smith was a former district court judges as if drunk driving is such a problem in kansas the state should impose

a zero tolerance drinking and driving ban on all kansans i've not just on those under the age of twenty one for how long oh no you won't but the author of the bill david atkins says smith may be willing to change his mind on the issue when he realizes that millions of dollars of federal funds to kansas are tied up in this legislation although there are those that certainly would argue the broader issue its a fiscal issue to as a result of the passage of the national highway system designation act of nineteen ninety five federal funds to the state of kansas are at risk according to that new federal or kansas stands to lose nearly seven million dollars in federal highway matching funds by the year nineteen ninety nine if the state doesn't approve the zero tolerance proposal that loss we jumped to almost forty

million dollars the year after that mandate from washington should be a powerful incentive for kansas lawmakers to put aside their philosophical differences with this bill and vote for it but federal dollars are not representative don smith says he won't be swayed i don't like about both when you want a good patient approach a passion for you know that roger you know what you ought to do more smith may not be alone in that thinking several votes in the kansas legislature over the last few years have shown that lawmakers are willing to resist federal government mandates in nineteen ninety four they refused to pass a bill requiring motorcyclists to wear safety helmets even though washington threatened to take away five million dollars in federal highway matching funds if they didn't approve the legislation and last year lawmakers refused to pass the national voter registration act even though the us attorney general's office said they would sue the state for non compliance the legal battle over that

issue has so far cost kansas more than ten thousand dollars in attorney's fees while legislators may be willing to hang tough on zero tolerance as well it's worth noting that most other states have already given him so far twenty seven states have added such legislation to that studied books at the state house this is mccain's reporting the measure would make it illegal for anyone under the age of twenty one to even tasted drop of alcohol and then drive doing so would constitute an automatic a dui conviction the author of the proposal is leeward republican david atkins if you look overall dui statistics and kansas alcohol related crashes are down but for drivers under the age of twenty from nineteen ninety three to nineteen ninety four there was a nearly eighteen percent increase in alcohol related crashes and i think we want to say that under aged drivers who are interested just exceed demonstrated a propensity

towards crashes anyway any level of alcohol in their blood system is not acceptable adkins says there's also a financial incentive for kansas to pass the measure the federal government is threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal highway matching funds if the state doesn't approve the legislation so far twenty seven states have such a law on the statute books some lawmakers though are critical of the proposal they say it'll unfairly brand thousands of teenagers is drunk drivers even though they may only consumed as little as half a glass of wine at the family dinner table at the state house this is mccain's reporting the latest allegations stem from state senator bob graham crumbs association with the law firm that helped the legal work on several investments made by the kansas public employees retirement system in the late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties which ultimately went sour all

told more than two hundred and sixty million dollars was lost in those investments money which would have gone to pay the retirement benefits of thousands of kansas public employees from teachers to police officers overland park representative gary mallard who serves on the legislature's job and pension committee has spent months examining the mountain of documents relating to those papers investments he told a packed kansas house of representatives yesterday that his research clearly pointed direct involvement in the animal at imperial to actual wrongdoing including but not limited to follow region for the jury duty conflict of interest and other acts maliki has debated the world final documents to the kansas attorney general's office which he says lincoln on crime for the capers gamble is called on the attorney general and kansas

legislative leaders to launch a full investigation into the murder immediately and crime though insist that they'll find nothing he says alleges that the probe into the capers scandal five years ago have already exonerated him of any wrongdoing this was thoroughly investigated by special legislative committee would subpoena powers and that had a special counsel during my head of the cost some three hundred thousand dollars to taxpayers of kansas i was called in to justify did testify in the committee's report found no wrongdoing crime is convinced that now that is only bringing up these allegations for political reasons he says merit wants to run against him in the primary election for his kansas senate seat it's only a political game and i think that the so called investigation and he's done is nothing more than an attempt to smear me meredith denied his allegations are politically motivated on the floor of the kansas house

yesterday that said he was only interested in writing an obvious wrong there are times when i regret even being appointed to the joint pensions committee and is going to revisit his use of how but in the current edition but i cannot turn my back on what i have learned that when the row that rents allegations against and crime have been supported by a number of influential members of the kansas house house speaker tim shellenberger says he doesn't think mare is making the allegations up but shellenberger says that about a crime is a member of the kansas senate i'm not the house there's nothing that his chamber can do to investigate complaints of wrongdoing that have to be done he says by the senate with some reluctance kansas senate majority leader jerry moran said his chamber would be willing to examine the allegations are that not me

i think the senate have an obligation to review consider any information that represented vera provides to us and then we'll take appropriate action generation raised on what we hear are meanwhile the kansas attorney general's office has so far refused to say whether they'll investigate as well if they call a still pool declined to even talk about the issue other than to say that representative matt had not yet approached it conserving his allegations stumbles want to get involved it's perhaps understandable on crime is a personal friend and a member of the nineteen ninety four election campaign advisory committee still bills added to build discipline senate democratic aide bob martin was as the attorney general seems to have a double standard when it comes to investigating complaints when some democratic party officials were there was concern raised about them she launched an investigation he said i will investigate it and that's rubbed me now one and a flexible in her political party she was i think an operative as it strikes me is more than a little

hypocritical but even if a full scale investigation would be conducted its unlikely it could be completed before the end of this legislative session when the kansas legislature conducting its original probe into the capers campbell five years ago it's up more than ten months to reach any conclusions with some of the key witnesses now why the dead the living out of state family gets a reopening the case know could take even longer for the state house this is mccain's reporting in an hour long debate on the floor of the kansas house lawmakers voice their support for raising speeds to seventy miles per hour on highways currently posted at sixty five an increasing speeds on roads posted at fifty five to sixty five miles an hour lawmakers also agreed on a so called insurance but the provision that keeps speeding violations of no more than five miles over the limit off bing records the chairman of the house transportation committee kenny king called the proposal a good compromise bill

that should attract the support of both the senate and the governor the western kansas people attend one of higher in the eastern kansas people tend to want lower and this bill is somewhat in the middle of all else and it's about almost exactly what the governor proposed in the state of the state speech and i would suspect that before they get through the beginning and over in the senate that deal with very much like as senate majority leader jerry moran said he thought his colleagues would be comfortable passing the measure if they acted quickly kansas motorists could be traveling at those faster speeds by the end of next month at the state house this is mccain's reporting well folks at speeds of the time in the kansas house of representatives there have been more proposals than there are wheels on the average semi trucks barreling down the kansas interstate

and there are the examples of other states ever since the fed's quick setting the limit western states colorado and wyoming for example are going want westerners are always done getting places does that help manifest as they can and can you blame though asked kansas included as a land a vast distance and sparse population oh our traditions say speed the pony express slathered a horse as fast and far as it could possibly go all the iron horse sparked a frenzy of rail building between every little town more rails per capita in kansas than you'd find in the east the airplane first flown in the east was perfected in wichita with its level and in constant wind boeing beach and cessna where westerners think of cans and amelia earhart and midwesterner charleston there or the spirit was at a st louis's gateway to the west lindbergh

did not call his plane the spirit of the east no the romance of the west as the romance of terrible distances over a car that's why we celebrate the hardships of grandma in a covered wagon creating across the dangerous place even though a majority of people came on speedboats and by rail and romanians western style dies hard although federal government has tried to suppress it with commonsense all these years we see how easily it is resurrected in state legislature after western state legislature so what is kansas to do all i like to leave the speed limit as it is because we have another tradition in kansas besides the western romance was speed a tradition for public good public health for doing what benefits the many rather than the few that's kansas populism and the progressive republicanism of william allen white thats why we

regulate everything from banks to our water supply that's why we have the world's longest prohibition of demon rum historian carol vacca dallas about kansans having conquered nature they cheerfully confront the task of transforming human nature and other words folks will regulate human beings are going to transform behavior the speed limit then puts the square between western individualism and kansas common sense and i hope we'll do what kansas should be best at moderating the difference between individual freedom and the public good in this case that would be the status quo my constituents agree with me and mabel dreamers weekly letter says if you want to be but as it is in say the two hundred and forty thousand dollars in low cost replace highway signs and any scheme is gonna make sense no speed limit or restrict or speed and that's what his darn fool ten mph grace for those who can afford to pay fines or don't show up on their

police orange orange record how democratic ears that you might as well set speed limits according to age label suggests you can so ninety one and a half william wyler humbled can go at a point on a young people got to invest in why was not that label if we all three want to kill ourselves unsafe at any speed limits that sounds money western i'm a moderate kansan with a local common sense and the public going to keep speed limits as they are and injured species act the law prevents any harm being caused a nearly a thousand different kinds of animals birds and fish that the government says would become extinct if they weren't protected fewer people know that with an individual states also have their old endangered species law was protecting local birds and wildlife indigenous to their own areas kansas for instance currently has fifty eight such species on

its list everything from the eastern spotted skunk to the gray bellied salamander but a bill currently before a state senate committee calls for an indefinite moratorium on the kansas endangered species list in effect making it extremely difficult for any new categories of wildlife to be added in future the move has incensed local environmental groups pretending us bases is an endangered doesn't alter reality it's the human equivalent of hiding our heads in the sand to avoid danger that's cynthia abbott of the kansas audubon council one of the groups that is fighting his latest bill along with bill craven of the kansas sierra club listed spaces provide a wealth of information for the medical community the rosie perez gulf which is now extinct has provided the ingredient which is reduce the mortality rate of childhood leukemia from ninety five to less than ten percent asked a family with a history of childhood leukemia whether there is

value in preserving threatened or endangered species on the other side of this debate though were hundreds of kansas farmers and ranchers who feel that wright says landowners are being circumvented by state and federal environmental laws which dictate how they can use their own property from kingston to russia from cottonwood falls is worried about that and perhaps for good reason on a creek that flows through his land are fast disappearing species of fish known as the topeka shine in a two inch minnow is currently being considered by kansas wildlife officials for endangered species status one thing in mind is that if it does become a list of bases they could somewhere down the road maybe even possibly mike spence awfully strange hotel couldn't drink prom or you know rothko or whatever and that's not so a real big kingston is not being paranoid government officials have gone to such lengths before in other parts of the country to protect endangered species in oregon the listing of the spotted owl as an officially protected that

wreaked havoc in the logging industry there and it's estimated the designation cost the state more than fifteen thousand jobs bill full of the kansas farm bureau says this latest bill before the kansas legislature is intended to restore the delicate balance between protecting the environment and protecting the rights of people to make a living the real desire to be able to preserve its pc at the same time have very low impact on the values of the landers four's farming is concerned for us as the bill currently before the kansas legislature does not constitute a complete babylon new species were being added to the state's endangered list he admits though it will mean more fault will have to be given in future to the consequences of that designation in the past the kansas secretary of wildlife and parks made the ultimate decision on whether a species should be added are not based on a slew of scientific studies and this proposal the final decision now

rests with the legislature who according to the wording of the bill will be allowed to use impact on the economy as a reason to turn down the request which means that the listing the future spaces on to the state last week essentially become a political decision and i would not be a decision based on available scientific evidence it will create some of the kansas sierra club again let's work together to make certain that are quote reforms close quote of the state endangered species act are responsive and are not an overreaction much as we would say about a bottom a proposed as a cure for a headache it's not clear at this stage where the cravens concerns resonate with state lawmakers the mood is changing in topeka and there seems to be a healthy appetite among legislators at this time to reduce government red tape and unnecessary regulation whenever they have the opportunity to do so while craven attempts to paint the

supporters of this bill as anti environmental dewayne hand a farmer from pepsico tries to convince lawmakers that the reality is not so simple if we can find something that would enhance bases open to a properly that could if it's given today in the sense that we would like you to work with us on a voluntary basis mandates don't go well i'm sure no one in the city were pushing someone mandating how they can come along one virtue of trees in our backyards and that you know we are we give an opportunity to cooperate public hearings will continue on the kansas endangered species act today but no final committee action is expected for another week at the statehouse but says mccain's reporting don't stay out to late my mother says handing me her car keys do you want wait up for me i asked her she shrugs i won't be able to sleep anyway when i leave my home in kansas city to visit my mother i am mature woman

but when they enter my mother's house i revert to my earliest most practiced role that of daughter i mean that was so much more than her daughter every mother's death secret hollows and lost potential of her daughter the mother saves these insights like precious and red love letters she prays that somehow someday or daughter will ask her just how much she knows i too am a mother i know the exact words that could change my daughters and happier women unlike my mother i wait helplessly for them to open their ears to me i return to my mother's house before midnight she opens the door before i cannot i have something to show you she says i follow her into the breakfast room look at this she points to a photo of a beautiful woman her lipstick as a taunting read her hair a provocative black this was taken when i was a nurse is training my mother says i see her joy and how beautiful she was i sit down

and study the picture knowing that she had already lost her mother and her first husband deep sorrow stretched underneath her beauty that my mother spreads more pictures me at age five playing jacks in my daughter sitting in a mimosa tree no one could hurt you as much as your own daughter can my mother says handing me a photo of my wedding i knew your marriage was a big mess steak she jabs her finger at my ex husband's picture before when my mother made remarks like this i resented it but this visit i allow the words to sink again i hear their translation i love you you are so important to me that she'd been speaking in a foreign language all these years so i never noticed her real meaning i come home to check on my fifteen year old daughter hi how are you i say find housing day ok i know when she's done talking to mutual call her friends and chat for hours feel like a

thirsty woman wanting to many drops of water wine some coffee dear my mother asked me take the coffee made the way she likes it too strong she ask whether it properly i want to answer yes and a voice as crisp and clipped as my daughters i take a deep breath yes i say it properly to get enough rest my friends and i talk about work relationships children no one else asked me these basic questions am i survive again no one dares gets so deep so primal in the beginning the mother is the everything arms and heart and breath of her daughter the mother is the leader the model but gradually the child pushes away from her mother like a swimmer kicking off from the side of the pool the child moves herself into deeper water i know that moment standing at the edge of the pool watching my daughter swim faster and farther it is a moment of hallelujah

success and heartbreaking loneliness to be a good mother means to lose your child to the world my mother's child has returned i am old enough to us allow her to renew our original bond my original role in life i am old enough to truly treasure having a mother the the traditional practice of starting the legislative day with a prayer his proposal calls for lawmakers to take turns and delivering the daily spiritual message instead i think it would be more meaningful piece was to prayer says will work with each other i think we would be more tolerant of each other soyuz proposal would also save kansas taxpayers money the house appointed chaplain gets a stipend of more than four hundred dollars a month to perform his spiritual duties in the legislature there's no word yet though on whether republicans will go along with his

idea and the state house this is mccain's reporting state insurance chiefs was awarded almost a one hundred thousand dollar worker's compensation claim back in nineteen ninety one after allegedly entering his back while lifting a briefcase from the trunk of his car while prosecutors had long argued bell had lied about his injuries and it does influence to manipulate how state employees handle his claim when the case actually when the court last year the presiding judge dismissed the charges citing lack of evidence this latest kansas supreme court ruling now indicates that lower court decision and finally put an end to a case that has cost the state nearly fifty thousand dollars in legal fees to prosecute martin bennett is bells attorney obviously you were displeased thirties for the past couple years and they all are indicated there was a case

there are obviously if you're in the issues you're a worrier and colombe are vindicated and i think he has been bell no longer lives in kansas last year he left his home in lawrence and moved to arkansas all of the state house this is mccain's reporting title to a parole hearing every three years that is once they've completed their mandatory minimum sentences other kinds of felonies including rapists get the same opportunity every twelve months this latest proposal though would put a stop to that if approved mergers would become eligible for possible release only every ten years and other kinds of offenders every five years john top look at isn't a laser republican and one of the co sponsors of the bill he says the measure will save the victims of violent crime from the anguish of attending regular appearances before the kansas parole board as they try to keep their perpetrators behind bars if we can do anything to help them from going back

years or to relive the horror over again then that's what we want to we want to show that we are concerned with the victims and their families talk with his bill is being challenge by the american civil liberties union who argue it violates the rights of criminals a similar although has been costing california has been held constitutional by that state's supreme court at the state house this is mccain's reporting fb kansas should hold a presidential primary is money one point four million dollars worth of it to be exact it certainly bring down a turnout of voters that period and fear that's state senate agenda scott a republican from had in a small town in north central kansas she's behind this latest proposal to do away with the primaries it is a very expensive popularity contest and with the timing of this in april it after the fact because

generally as we've seen in the path to super tuesday really bring the conclusion to the presidential race honda's not the only lawmaker questioning the wisdom of holding a presidential preference primary senator anthony hensley at the peak a democrat also has problems with it especially during an election year in which he's had it easy to identify or the winners will be unlike other primaries that have been passed there are real competitive field of candidates immigration law be renominated on the republican side you've got the senior senator from kansas bob dole who will win his state in a walk you looking at and it has been one point four million on an option that i think is already decided hensley has proposed his own bill to repeal this year's april second presidential primary but unlike up and of his bill have these proposal doesn't do away with the election indefinitely or plans though i'll be vehemently opposed by the kansas

secretary of state one hundred thirty three of the outcome of the election they appear inevitable it's better that the people of kansas the site that rather than party leaders meeting in caucus a local republican presidential primary is that we get ten times as many people voting in the process and win in the last caucus we have less than forty thousand people vote in the last primary we had over four hundred thousand people vote that a vast difference he told lawmakers that the primary be completely money they may already be too late we're already met with the predators around the state minority order balance talkin paper stuffed inside so some money has been expended already within the next week to ten days we will expand a half a million dollars in printing those ballots and preparing polling place supplies and so we're in a very very tight timeframe in which to make this happen thornburgh says that the

presidential primary doesn't take place it will also have a major impact on dozens of cities and counties will be relying on the april second election to place local issues on the ballot at last count local governments were planning to go to the voters with seventy four issues everything from corporate hog farming in school bombs to local sales taxes kansas governor bill graves also hope to put the gambling issue on the ballot and as well well grapes believes there's better ways for the state to spend money that on a presidential primary is spokesman mike matson says adding a statewide issue to the public could help justify the expense of holding it our thinking is that the expanded gambling issue of the thing about the primary and you give him that but one third of the global senator anthony hensley says he supports the governor's thinking a little less than nine weeks to go before the election is due to take place he's not convinced lawmakers have enough time to make that happen in the amount of time that we have i don't think it is realistic and even if we head and of time i'm not

sure the legislature will pass a gambling proposition i said because i don't think of a house and having said that i see every day in the presidential primary despite the lingering uncertainty over the april second primary seventeen presidential candidate in all have paid the one hundred dollar filing fee that will ensure their names appear on the kansas ballot a ballot that still may never be printed at a statehouse this is mccain's recording slave ship to pass an outright ban on lobbyists' wining and dining only gives each time it's come up though the issue has failed miserably sensing that reality a new compromise bill has been introduced the session what allows lobbyists to continue with the practice of entertaining lawmakers it requires them in future to release monthly reports detailing exactly how much they spend on each individual legislator whether it be on

cocktails or even sports tickets that information would then be made available to the public senator bill brady of parsons is one of the co sponsors of the bill it does not intend to determine what's right what's wrong but rather allows the public no opportunity to obtain information and make their own judgments the measure though is being hotly contested by lobbyists rebecca rice represents more than half a dozen different organizations including the cessna aircraft company says rather than cutting down on ledges the day of hospitality the bill may put pressure on lobbyists to do a lot of it right is being taken now routinely as many by someone is on the opposite side of my mission and to feel obligated i'm going to do the same thing the bill currently remains in the house elections committee there's no indication yet on whether there are enough votes to pass it at the state house this is mccain's reporting budget or lowering kansas property taxes but the militia

as an official language issue is certainly one of the hot topics at the state house this week one lawmaker who serves on the committee that is debating the issue says just yesterday alone he received more than fifty calls from constituents asking him to support the measure constituents like franklin pacey a livestock farmer from clay's center who says that unlike earlier immigrants to america the new wave of immigrants are completely disinterested in learning the language well i have to come to this country they should think enough to manage to get along with the language of the country casey's expected to offer testimony today calling for english to be made the official language of kansas he will be joined by the american legion organization which is also calling on lawmakers to pass the measure champion get is a spokesman for the veterans group by using different languages i think we'll have to look to the north canada quebec or the language barrier there it when the french and english speaking come back as a promoted a lot of separatism the dissatisfaction among the two

different groups mostly immigration is in california and the southwest but many of those people are spreading out throughout the country and have those people are to become productive citizens i think that they should adopt our language younger says it's also a question of economics the us government spends tens of millions of dollars every year are printing all of its brochures and official documents in spanish many younger contends could be put to better use elsewhere it's an argument that presidential hopeful bob dole has advanced on the campaign trail this year he's maybe english as an official language issue a major plank in his platform it's a move though that has horrified some of his fellow republicans who see the issue is simply an act of day old racism it is really horrible and the real housewives of the employment agency in lenexa shes also vice chair of the kansas association of hispanic republicans comparative gop party are they

you know what language would write one culture europe or northern europe particularly the english language and you know like you don't get how they're going to do whatever they can to make their country but they seem to forget that we are the immigrant the daylight between immigrant again today and became probably the primary impact year ago we are having today real ass as if the english as an official language bill becomes law it could have enormous ramifications for the hispanic community in kansas including she says limiting their access to the ballot box they have a common language will be english a public document and a public meeting and the ballot if a public document i think you cannot read or write english consequently it will be like that limit the tension that was built up on the african american and about rehab the rewrite the political thing now only if the language but the state's chief election

officer says passing a law making english the official language of kansas would have no impact whatsoever on how the state currently conducts its elections kansas secretary of state rahm fonda says that's because kansas doesn't provide bilingual ballots as it is well under the federal law only when a certain percentage of what it's five percent of the population does not speak english and have five percent of my same foreign language they were required to print a ballot in a foreign language we have no communities in the state of kansas that it matched that requirement thornburgh admits though that some counties in the state come exceptionally close to meeting that federal requirement such as in c word ford and fannie counties in southwestern kansas where the meatpacking industry has brought in large numbers of hispanic and vietnamese immigrants the american civil liberties union is one of several organizations that is already concerned about how those non english speaking residents are receiving access to all kinds of government services in that part of the state including their access to the ballot box

the aclu is wendy mcfarland says defeating the english as an official language bill is one of their organization's top priorities this year is to get it anyways certainly laws are certainly nothing new as far back as seventeen at john adams proposed to the continental congress in english only law and his proposal was rejected as undemocratic a threat to individual liberty we certainly still subscribe to the same reasons that they denied him his bill than and we would use the same argument today it's still a democrat again it's still a threat to individual liberty so far twenty two states have passed statutes designating english as the official language and the issue is pending in ten other state legislatures this year at the statehouse but says mccain's reporting