Various KPR news

folks every time i drive from topeka to hear answers i stop in and see my old friend of beebe ems more at the garden of eden in the us of course it costs me money losing him because he's no longer in his log cabin home building at one stall know he's in his mausoleum and he's dead and he's been dead since nineteen thirty two fortunately i can still get a smile from him because he plays himself in a glass lidded cement coffin and promised everyone that comes in to see me if i see them dropping a dollar in the hands of the bronte and i see the dark i will give them a smile i'm judy and more back in the nineteen teens and twenties i remember the day in nineteen seventy one to speak then eighty one years old married twenty one year old emilie prozac on horseback and his two children by her son became the only korean war veteran to be the son of a civil war there i remember when densmore was busy on the grounds of his

cabinet making it a tourist showplace forged he recreated genesis in cement sculptures at him and he came in a name oh saying if the guardian is not right mo says is to blame he wrote it up and i built it but i like these moore's politics even better like so many grand army of the republican veterans who came to kansas after the civil war he was a republican of a progressive even populous stripe his segment is political of the goddess of liberty tree he said there is liberty with one put on the trust's and a spear in her hand going through the head of the trust's the trust clause are getting nothing down below is a man and woman with a cost cuts are marked ballot sawing off the chartered right liam that the trust stands on another sculpture shows labor crucified by the

primary crackers lawyer doctor preacher banker who are according to wallis be the leaders of all who eat cake by the sweat of the other fellows face no wonder as begins more smiles when i see him and no wonder i smile back wheels do agree politically even sixty four years after his death and always do agree that has a monument to grassroots religion and politics are known all over the world has some of the finest grassroots are ever made shows the power of visionary individual something and just won't smile but today a un frowning because early in the legislative session my colleague in the kansas house floor mcclure democrat introduced house concurrent resolution number five or three or designating the city of lugo says the grass art capital of kansas are a resolution now sits in the calendar and printing committee the closest thing in the house to around a file and it will stay there unless

ordinary citizens of the dunes more spry put pressure on the powers that be you might want to know like as spielberg did what concrete thing you might do to help designate lucas the grassroots art capital well i know right delane you're tired of politics that moves slower than cement that it's time to honor the garden of being done to put a smile on the old man's face is not as begins more than a lie if the heat energy from the burned out people are about the gas rate hike could be harnessed we could light up the entire nation that's why we invented the new all purpose birds furnace is amazing device operates on anger anytime your ira is roused simply hit kicked or scream at this sensitive machine and witnessed your

wrath transformed into vibrating kilowatts in the unlikely event that gas or oil companies aren't causing you to tear your hair out the purse first can be activated by anger at your boss' wife husband mechanic or any other source of irritation the utility companies heard about my invention and naturally scared the living gas out of them a high tech innovation like this makes solar power look like a firefly in a black hole soon a consortium of conglomerates paid me a visit i knew they wanted to sabotage and barry libert and stress but i played along with their game a natural gas company executive told me how vital by intervention was to america's security and that his company would be proud to market it he offered me a hundred thousand dollars and for utilities for life i told him where he could drill next slandered royal opera one million dollars stock options in a harem of arab

versions i stormed over and kick the burners for a spray mean what can a sellout do you do you do you take me for my anger energizer start worrying and buzzing and stored enough energy to heat toledo for a week it even works on synthetic anger the utility terrorists were impressed but soon returned certainly kill muggy rep grabbed me by the shirt was in can't we could be doing a gizmo in the lake with cement insulation so you'd better cooperate so first crude mike lee replied at this very moment copies of my machines plans are being made to distribute throughout the world have any harm comes to make the burn this furnace will be available to the public free of charge know let's be reasonable said the man from amphibious service what deal could we offer for your ingenious device that would satisfy you i had them where i

wanted them they were graduate before me these mighty magazine misery i savored the feeling of power is turning of the tables the whole world yearn to overcome the help of subservience we endured at the hands of these corporate controls and now i'm alone could free mankind from their stranglehold with my clean and free energy source as just about the silver the island of tahiti was a hundred million dollars in a swiss bank account when in walked my trusted thing paid these players are too big to fit in the copy machine at the drugstore so hard to go to get some copies made the company maury froze the bad guys looked at each other and then at us there was fire in their eyes they grabbed the plans and torn to shreds then with blood curdling screams the attack me and morey at that moment the barrister is overloaded circuits it exploded i landed in the middle of next week i've been re scared ever since i don't

know what happened the more it i hope they got him this is franklin go up tobacco companies have never been willing to admit that cigarettes can damage your health that's why the likud tobacco company's latest legal settlement with the states of florida massachusetts mississippi louisiana and west virginia is so unprecedented in return for those states dropping lawsuits against the company that it has agreed to pay two and a half percent of its gross income over the next twenty five years to reimburse those states medicaid programs for the amount of money they've spent treating smoking related illnesses the well publicized agreement though allows other states to join in wichita democrat henry helgason wants to make sure the kansas doesn't miss the boat he's introduced a resolution in the kansas house calling on the state attorney general calls stovall to join the law suit immediately tens of billions of dollars are spent every year on caring for individuals

that have smoking related illnesses what we're asking for is only if their reimbursement is for these cost cost how much kansas could reasonably expect to gain from such litigation is uncertain but halvorson believes it could be in the millions at the state house this is mccain's reporting there are more than twenty three thousand kansans who claim welfare checks each month it's believed by state officials that as many as twenty percent of the alcoholics or the actual drug users and reapply i'm currently being resolved in the legislative drawing conference committee officials couldn't future turn away substance abusers from claiming those benefit checks if they refuse to seek treatment at a free state run a drug rehabilitation or detox clinic i do this bill as an opportunity rather than punishment call the hubble is a commissioner in the kansas department of social and rehabilitation services she's convinced that taking away benefit checks from

substance abuse is will provide them with a powerful incentive to clean up their act michael is to have the welfare recipients of welfare rolls and into jobs the two biggest barriers we see are the disciplines with drug arapaho problems and because it was a learning disability so if we can remove barriers we can remove those problems helped them become responsible show up for a job and be employed while state welfare officials see this latest reform measure as a way of helping poor kansans escape their addictions and lead better lives several social advocacy groups in the state are viewing the legislation very differently the national association of women has called the proposal counts mean spirited and insensitive now spokeswoman monica deaf believes cutting the benefit checks of substance abuse is will simply propel many already poor families into homelessness how unfairly punish the children of welfare recipients even if a small portion was

cut if you're only getting three hundred dollars a month we can destabilize entire household and the children would be benefactors of the most harm because whether we like it if there's not clarity has indicated there's a curse actually these caretakers will continue to have responsibility of caring for these children and by destabilizing the caretakers what essentially are going to promote the deterioration of the children's basic needs and their future today if cutting the benefit checks of welfare recipients simply means less food getting to the belize of welfare children but surely republican lisa bedlam the author of this latest bill isn't convinced the children are getting it now in my opinion is going towards the drug habit or the alcohol habit so i don't think that we're going to be hurting the children anymore representative baron isn't just fighting groups like the national association of women on this issue the american civil liberties union which is philosophically against all arbitrary drug testing is also opposed to it the aclu is wendy mcfarland says implementing the new law could become a costly

nightmare for the state currently there are four thousand kansans on general assistance that could be affected and subject to these kind of test that they were sent in the inpatient treatment programs which every age a cost of five hours dollars per month that in and of itself is going to raise millions of dollars the question is though could kansas make up those costs in the money it stands to save in cutting off welfare checks from those substance abusers who refused to participate in the free trade the programs so far there's no definitive answer to that question perhaps that's why some lawmakers have now asked that the proposal be scaled back to become just a pilot project that could be killed by the legislature if the program proves to be too costly lawmakers are expected to resolve those final technical details this week before sending a measure to governor graves for his signature at the state house this is nick haynes reporting

hercules entered our lives one april sunday is we could think of the park md eleven year old found him he ran toward is holding what looked like a long crooked stick and the stick we go so it garners death ended right now keep going please my instinct was no looking in his eyes made me hesitate like many learning disabled children he had grown up feeling different and tom he has to grow into his own mourning power was the way one doctor put it i look from and he's pleading eyes to the unblinking eyes of the snake is conflict may i shuddered please mom please i'm still not sure why i said yes but hercules as auntie mame came home with us in the sunlight his scales danced and glittered the way sunlight will catch on a dragon flies wing to a boy with dyslexia reading can be excruciating and he had never read for fun that hercules or it checked out every book on stakes in the library we were amazed all he learned six great teacher invited hercules to school and it was smaller than most of his

classmates but a shorter straightened as he proudly carry the snake into his class kirk became andes near constant companion a summer off and when he went out on his bicycle her quote with him sometimes wrapped around the handlebars other times tucked in and his draw string snake bag seventh grade is a tough year for kids and her shy insecure and they start in junior high could've been a nightmare but now there was a difference he was the guy with a snake rail watched fascinated when hercules shed his skin slithering out with a smooth fluid motion to leave behind the old skin perfectly intact well as new skills glowed with youth and promise carefully and he collected your skin in place to protect his valuables we never learned what sent hercules into convulsions but one friday afternoon and he read to me screaming harry carey something is wrong with her we rush to the vet dr ge injected some cortisone and it seemed to work gradually hercules grew calmer and he gently stroking snake pretty sweet couple split and his teeth with his tongue he told again into a

graceful loop around and he's neck for several weeks kurt really seemed fine but then the convulsions returned and again a third time and then it was apparent that hercules was dying his long lean body lay limp and then the slap is gale's instead of catching the light were covered in gray he tried to lift his head is and he's dropped his back that effort was more than he could manage his tongue to gird one's weekly like a candle flame about to go out and then he was still tears roll down and his cheeks and mine it would be another year before and he would blossom seemingly overnight into the six feet of linebackers bill that would carry him through high school and into college in india's top drawer before he left for college he found her cheese dried snake skin time to go outside and he looked at me and our don't you dare mom he touched the skin gently told her

he was once planted snake wasn't a yes he was he gave a shy lonely boy the first integration of all he was and all he could be cool herk i thank you though some good news from the kansas house we voted ninety nine to twenty two in favor of senate bill for forty to designate us highway fifty four back from king when to greensburg as the cannonball stage line highway you know i've been griping about the designations being ignored by the house leadership some of us believe designating lucas the kansas grassroots our capital or naming a poet laureate might be a good idea historically culturally and economically governor graves said he doesn't want legislators wasting his time talking about squared and cement are poets and state fish they are budgetary but the house colleague dennis mckinney

democrat greensburg nurtured the cannon balls days on highway bill tells a different story in fact donald are cannonball greene founder of greensburg operated a state line from king when the greensburg that ran one thousand horses and android seven hundred people that's early economics he was pilot county's first legislature after its organization and eighteen eighty six and he earned his nickname cannonball in the house that's historical especially in a time when there's more firecrackers and cannon's serving time in topeka and green appeals to our western culture here's a man who evicted carry any nation from a stagecoach after she objected to his cigar smoking we all know it's hard to object of booze and tobacco in the land of western individualism i've thought some of kerry's battles and i've been left on the roadside to mckinney

claims his bill caught fire while others sputter because of widespread grassroots support six city council's three county commission there a historical societies and three chambers of commerce endorsed the bill because it spoke to history and culture was part of implementing the strategic economic plan and there's no better planned than a strategic one not an ego the role i had maybe other legislators will share macguineas success but it helps to be writing one thousand horses instead of just why now the poet laureate grassroots art might find brought aboard but house bill number two it won't know designating the song kansas waltz as the state walls might not i will vote for a waltz with this first verse there is a ring and harrington is for the very ones that i have won all what's plan nor for all the

winners who lived and loved him and harrington other versus mentioned state symbols but the writing in this provincial song makes me long for a poet laureate of course a square dances back but with no luck finding partners and then there's the state fish introduced him recently by jerry henry democrat atchison who was contacted by a grade school class announcing new designating them to bigger shiner again henry a bit of a shocker because john salley henry's counterpart in the senate chose the same time to got pecans endangered species list and sure enough the shiner was on that list and controversy y'all but in spite of these tube and i'm for these bills that define us through poetry grassroots art or into the western characters who may ask what we are

under current kansas law and inmate convicted of murder and rape or other serious sex crimes is entitled to a parole hearing every three years that is once they've completed their mandatory minimum sentences this latest proposal though would put a stop to that violent criminals and future would only come before the state parole board every ten years john topic it is emily's the republican at a co author 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 is they can do anything to help them from going back years to relive the horror over again and that's what we want to we want to show that we are concerned with the victims and their families the measure has already been approved by the kansas house the senate is expected to give the bill its final stamp of approval later today at the state house this is mccain's reporting

fb sealed weapons bill which was considered by state lawmakers would not have given all kansans an automatic right to carry a handgun license will have been grounded the residents over the age of twenty one with no previous felony convictions and with pasta recognized firearms training course on top of that no permits would've been granted to residents with documented alcohol or drug abuse problems or who would be diagnosed with a mental condition despite all of those restrictions the majority of the senate argued that allowing all kansans to carry guns simply wasn't the answer to concerns over rising crime leavenworth republican carolyn tillotson and the wife of another and i'm the mother of a hunter i'm not anti gun but i think our approach was sufficient as i explained to my sound over lunch yesterday he can have a gun at home and his place of business and then his car i don't think that we need to make that well a broader kansas is now just one of eleven states that does not permit its residents to

carry concealed weapons at the state house this is mccain's reporting they could be nothing more tantalizing to a lawmaker is seeking re election this year and to have the opportunity to put on his or her campaign brochure that they managed to cut their constituents property taxes oakley republican senators stabbed clock had a grand plan to achieve that yesterday on the senate floor he outlined a proposal that would have tremendous outrage residential property tax bills in the state by a third to eliminating over a six year period the thirty five email last week that he's currently imposed on kansas property owners to fund public schools young families receive from this eight hundred and sixty one dollar property tax reduction of their homes than forty thousand dollars so this is all wins for families we have heard lots of rhetoric but how we won a whole line

how to reduce taxes not only here but in washington dc and you have a four year proposal that lawmakers of all political colleges are in favor of cutting taxes this election year but they receive is concerned about how to pay for those cuts set the clock was to fund his six hundred million dollar property tax reduction plan with the three tenths of one percent increase in the state sales tax for what he describes as natural growth over the next few years in other state revenues but it's not betting on what the state might collect in future which concerns governor bill graves was already stated that he will veto any tax cut measure that relies on such a speculative financial assumptions wichita republican senator pat branson agreed that there was a need for caution we have a lot of uncertainties in this state right now about what's coming down the road we are always facing rising prison populations

we may have to spend more money we're closing hospitals going to take a lot of money we had lost it on the single vs buried on the income tax we don't know how that time and am i could go on and on senator ronson predicted that funding such an aggressive property tax reduction plan as you could leave the state in a budget crisis in the near future if that would happen independent republican tim abbott questioned where that would leave public schools in the state which currently rely on the thirty five no property tax levy for at least a third of that funding it is a disastrous to education i mean you cannot vote for this bill and stand up in the same breath and saying i want to fund education it cannot be done that is truly talking about both sides of your mouth if such concerns were enough to kill the property tax bill sponsored by sen clarke it was also enough to kill a more modest tax cut plan

proposed by johnson county republican senator nick jordan was simply would use the thirty five mil tax levy to thirty males over the next two years the senate's action yesterday he now puts into serious question the chances of any property tax cuts being approved this session even house taxation committee chairman phil kline was being one of the most aggressive advocates for tax cuts in the legislature appeared pessimistic thomas impossible to predict at this time how that they will perceive however it certainly makes it more difficult if the senate that expresses its desire not to reduce taxes today time is running out for any further negotiations on the property tax cut issue there are only seven working days left of this year's legislative session at the state house this is mccain's reporting some people who are severely retarded bang their heads old thousands of times a day gets their eyes or peel back skin to the bone in the nineteen thirties

psychiatrist carl mehling are labeled such behavior fogel suicide he thought was a way of relieving the tension by the nineteen seventies some psychologists theorized that those were maimed themselves or trying to communicate their needs the psychologist created systems are rewards and punishments to delete the behavior steve schroeder director of the university of kansas institute for a lifespan studies was one of those he studied self taming behavior for twenty five years can file drawer of articles about people with mental illness who perform elective surgery on various other organs in loans using tools you know i hear about he remembers prison inmates who had whittled hundreds of cuts between risk and shoulder telling him it made them feel better ms primary focus has been on his behavior in people who have developmental disabilities for that he'll be honored in late may but the american association on mental retardation

according to a nominating letter schroeder was one of the first researchers to use behavior modification techniques to prevent self naming eventually quit in an institutional setting caregiver time attention would shut down the behavior he says but outside that hothouse the old habits reappeared nine days schroeder focuses on biological triggers that they control the behavior the theory is that the brain they mishandled to chemicals that manufactures the opening gambit endorphins built remains linked to emotional learning the bravest self injuring person they make too much and be too sensitive to it there's a whole group of nerve cell sites called receptors that are solely dedicated to being fired up by doping schroeder's experiment with two drugs cause of pain and despair down in an attempt to plug those sites but and orphans make athletes euphoric

after prolonged exercise that that the pain killing properties of synthetic opiates like morphine and heroin schroeder said that people who hit our cats themselves might not otherwise have access to the data and orphans in the us to halt the behavior you might try taking away the endorphin payoff the results from self naming a drug called nelle tracks on which also canceled the feel good effects of heroin blunt self injurious behaviors and fifty percent of those who take it all this makes me think about the no pain no gain others' of the clinics isn't there a continuing that runs from self inflicted pain that signing condolence to these pathological forms were schroeder draw the line he says we feel like when there's clear tissue damage its time entertain plus the risk benefit ratio for football players a little different