THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008
NEWS
》 LAWRENCE
3A
Commission gives final approval for second Wal-Mart
BY ANDY GREENHAW agreenhaw@kansan.com
While students were away for the holidays, the Lawrence City Commission approved plans for a new place to shop.
Lawrence city commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to give Wal-Mart the final approval needed to build a second Supercenter in Lawrence at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. The approval ends a five-and-a-half-year dispute between Lawrence residents and the world's largest retailer.
Kyle Wagner, St. Paul, Minn., senior, who lives in Saddlebrook Townhomes near the store's future location, said the second Wal-Mart would be convenient for students living in that area.
"A lot of people in our area could use a Wal-Mart nearby," Wagner said. "There's not a Wal-Mart or Target or anything out here."
Bobby Carter, Overland Park senior, said he thought the new store was a bad idea.
"Wal-Marts are notorious for killing smaller businesses." Carter said. "I personally won't shop there because there's
the public who opposed the project attended the meeting. Doug Compton, co-president of VI Wak Land Investments, which sold Wal-
" Wal-Marts are notorious for killing smaller businesses. I personally won't shop there."
already a Wal-Mart in Lawrence, and I rarely shop there."
BOBBY CARTER Overland Park senior
The commission's decision was met without protest as one from one
Mart the 52 acres for the project - said he couldn't be happier with the decision.
"It's good to get this final chapter behind us," Compton said shortly after the vote took place. "I've been doing this for a long
time, and this has been the longest process I've ever been through."
Fewer than 10 minutes were devoted to the issue before the
vote took place. City commissioner Dennis "Boog" Highberger who has opposed the project from the beginning, cast the only dissenting vote.
"I think the project won't be beneficial to the city," Highberger said after the meeting. "I think it will generate a significantly higher amount of traffic than the city is ready for."
The next step is for Ray Frankenburg, a private consultant for Wal-Mart, to submit his building plans. Wal-Mart officials said they planned to get a building permit by this spring. They estimate the store's construction will take 10 to 12 months and hope they can open the store by 2009.
The conflict began in August 2002 when Wal-Mart officials
first announced their plans to build the 200,000 square-foot Supercenter store on the west side of the city.
Neighbors immediately raised concerns, ranging from a traffic increase to the negative effect the retail store would have on downtown businesses. After the previous city commission denied the project, Walmart and VI Wak Investments filed several lawsuits claiming the city acted outside the scope of its authority.
Days before the trial was scheduled to start last April, the 2007 election put Mike Dever and Robert Chestnut on the city commission, flipping the majority in favor of the new Wal-Mart. The lawsuit was settled out of court as the two sides agreed to
shrink the size of the new store by 50 percent to 100,000 square-feet.
Toward the end of the commission meeting, city manager Dave Corliss advocated the need for a new stoplight at the intersection to accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic. Because the area is considered a benefit district, Wal-Mart would have to pay two-thirds of the cost for the stoplight, which is estimated to be about $330,000. The other businesses at the intersection are expected to pay the remainder.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5 to discuss how businesses in the area will divide the cost of the proposed stoplight.
Edited by Sasha Roe
NEWS BRIEFSE Rapper DMX ordered to pay $1.5 million for slander
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — DMX has been ordered to pay $1.5 million to the mother of his child after the rapper-actor failed to appear in court to defend himself against allegations of defamation.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was sued by Monique Wayne for defamation of character after he allegedly told a magazine that Wayne raped him during a 2003 hotel stay in Baltimore, leading to her pregnancy.
Wayne responded to the comments by filing a $6 million lawsuit against Simmons in Prince George's County Circuit Court in October 2006.
Judge Thomas Smith ruled in Wayne's favor Friday when Simmons didn't appear at the scheduled court hearing. He ordered Simmons to pay Wayne $518,400 in compensation and $1 million in punitive penalties, according to Wayne's lawyer. Stephanie Moran.
"The judgment of the court speaks to the outrageousness of
what Mr. Simmons said about Miss Wayne and that such false statements will not be tolerated," Moran said.
A lawyer for Simmons didn't return calls Tuesday seeking comment.
Besides his top-selling records, Simmons has acted in films including "Never Die Alone" "Romeo Must Die" and "Cradle 2 the Grave."
Federal Reserve reports bleak outlook for economy
Bleak outlook for economy WASHINGTON — Retailers, home builders and many manufacturers should brace for even more rough times ahead, the Federal Reserve suggested Wednesday amid growing fears that the U.S. might be sliding into recession.
The Fed's snapshot of business conditions showed a national economy losing momentum heading into the new year and a future riddled with uncertainty. The persistent housing slump and harder-to-get credit are making people and businesses ever more cautious, it said.
Separately on Wednesday, more big banks reported losses and said people were having trouble making payments for everything from credit cards to cars. Stocks were mostly down for the day, the Dow Jones industrial average declining 34.95 points, or 0.28 percent.
The Fed report was the unwelcome icing on a recent batch of economic indicators — ranging from a plunge in retail sales to a big jump in unemployment — raising concern that the country is heading for its first recession since 2001.
At the beginning of last year, many economists put the chance of a recession at less than 1-in-3; now an increasing number say 50-50 or even worse. Goldman Sachs, the biggest investment bank on Wall Street, thinks a recession is inevitable this year.
The Fed report said the economy did grow during the survey period — from the middle of November through December
— but more slowly than during the late fall. Credit problems intensified in December as did troubles in the housing market. That threw Wall
Street into new turbulence.
street into new turbinehouse.
After retailers suffered their worst sales season in five years in 2007, "the outlook for 2008 among retail merchants was cautious," the Fed said in its report. And the outlook for housing remains gloomy: "weak during the first part of 2008."
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a speech last week, pledged to aggressively cut a key interest rate as needed to try to prevent all these problems from plunging the economy into a major recession. The Fed started cutting rates in September, but some critics on Wall Street and elsewhere say Bernanke should have acted sooner and more forcefully.
White House e-mails still lost, potentially recycled
WASHINGTON — The White House has acknowledged recycling its backup computer tapes of email before October 2003, raising the possibility that many electronic messages — including those pertaining to the CIA leak case — have been taped over and are gone
forever.
The disclosure came minutes before midnight Tuesday under a court-ordered deadline that forced the White House to reveal information it has previously refused to provide.
Among the e-mails that could be lost are messages swapped by any White House officials involved in discussions about leaking the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
Before October 2003, the White House recycled its backup tapes "consistent with industry best practices," according to a sworn statement by a White House aide.
Backup tapes are the last line of defense for saving electronic records.
The White House "does not know if any e-mails were not properly preserved in the archiving process," said the statement by Theresa Payton, chief information officer for the White House Office of Administration. "We are continuing our efforts," said Payton, whose staff is responsible for the White House e-mail system.
If the e-mails were not saved, the White House might have violated two laws requiring preservation of documents that fall into the categories of federal records or presidential records.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that "there is no basis to say that the White House has destroyed any evidence or engaged in any misconduct."
Fratto said that despite the recycling, some tapes should contain e-mails from before October 2003.
"Of course the disaster recovery backup tapes were, at one time, recycled" said Fratto. "However, since October 2003, the Office of Administration has retained and preserved its disaster recovery tapes. The disaster recovery system is set up to regularly back up everything on the network for the Executive Office of the president at the time of each backup."
"If the backup tapes have been erased or taped over or recycled, it's hard to imagine where we will find copies of many lost e-mails," said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel to the National Security Archive, said in an interview Wednesday.
Associated Press
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS January 17,2008 SENATE funded by:
ABWA Meeting Welcome Back! Tuesday, January 29th @ 7pm Alderson Auditorium (4th floor Kansas union) Casual Dress New & returning members-- come hear about what ABWA has in store for the Spring semester!
Food & Prizes!!!
Looking for a way to get involved this semester? Not sure where to start?
Check out Student Senate for a great way to be a leader on campus.
Contact Adam McGonigle for information regarding the many great opportunities available.
Adam McGonigle - 785-864-3710 amcgonigle87@yahoo.com
Vietnamese Student Association's General Meeting
Tuesday, January 22 @ Burge Union (Courtyard Room), 7:00pm
- We will discuss about our Big Vietnamese New Year's Celebration (TET), which will be on February16,2008
- Come join us in need of preparation for different acts, performances, skits,and fashion
- Food and drinks will be served
- Hope to see you all there ·
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by joining our Facebook organization: KU VSA 2007-2008