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THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
TECHNOLOGY
Campus Crusade for Christ fights porn addiction
Covenant Eyes works on addicts' computers
A casual glimpse at two women have ing sex can turn into an obsession.
Easy access to pornography via the Internet can turn into a dangerous addiction.
Campus Crusade for Christ suggests an accountability program called Covenant Eyes, which installs itself on addicts' computers to help them recover and get past their addiction.
The program consists of a Web site tracker that notifies an accountability partner of the addict's choice anytime the addict visits a questionable Web site. The partner then works with the addict, helping the person recover.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOLLYWOOD WRITERS ON STRIKE
Late-night shows will air reruns until the strike is resolved.
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© 2007 The University Daily Kansan
TOUGH ON TOBACCO
Health group proposes statewide ban, user fee
Photo Illustration by Anna Faltermier/KANSAN
The rest of Kansas may join Lawrence in a smoking ban if the Kansas Health Policy Authority has its way. The group made 21 recommendation to reform health state care, including a 50-cent cigarette user fee and a statewide public cessation law. The State Legislature will begin reviewing the group's plan in January.
Senator says lawmakers won't adopt recommendations
BY SASHA ROE
sroe@kansan.com
Smokers were on the hot seat Thursday when the Kansas Health Policy Authority announced its 21 recommendations to reform the state's health care system. The recommendations, part of a $158 million plan, included a statewide smoking ban and an increased tobacco tax.
Among the 21 recommendations the agency revealed to the Kansas Legislature's Health Policy Oversight Joint Committee were an excise tax on cigarettes to raise the price by 50 cents per pack, another tax on smokeless tobacco products and a statewide public smoking ban. According to the authority, the tobacco tax, or "user fee", would produce revenue of $51.9 million a year. A 2007 poll by the Sunflower Foundation said 64 percent of Kansans would be in support of a tobacco user fee to decrease its use.
"If we're going to talk about health care reform seriously, this has to be part of the debate," said Marcia Nielson, executive director of the Kansas Health Policy Authority.
Rep. Bob Bethell (R-Alden), a member of the legislative committee, said the fee and the ban would single out a group of people who created public health problems by continuing their habit. Twenty
percent of Kansans were smokers, he said, so the user fee had a very small group of people who would oppose it. He said studies had shown that when taxes were increased fewer people used the product. Bethell said it was important to remember the statistic was difficult to track because tobacco users may buy in another state to avoid the user fee.
Jesus Castillo, Liberal senior and a smoker, said paying an extra 50 cents wouldn't keep him from buying cigarettes because it was something he chose to do and the government couldn't force him not to do it.
Also proposed was the statewide smoking ban in public places. Lawrence enacted a citywide smoking ban in 2004.
Castillo said he would be OK with a statewide smoking ban, too. He said smokers had the option of stepping outside restaurants and bars to smoke, but other people there didn't have that choice and were subjected to secondhand smoke.
"It doesn't bother me because it's my individual choice," Castillo said. "I'd still do it anyway."
Sen. David Haley (D-Kansas City), another committee member, said he knew a lot of work went into the authority's recommendations. He said it was only natural for the authority to look at the No.
1. public health problem and want to do something.
"When the most preventable of public health problems is identified, any task force is going to be looking at ways to prevent its presence," Haley said.
Haley said statistics had shown that increasing the cost of cigarettes reduced their usage and the money raised could go to health care in Kansas. He said the legislature had looked at a statewide smoking ban and cigarette tax increase before but chose not to adopt it. Haley said that even though the increased tobacco tax of 50 cents was called a "user fee" rather than a tax, he still thought the legislature would be resistant.
"The legislature has always had a hesitancy to impose tax increases," Haley said. "And I think the legislature still uses the cliché, 'If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck.'"
Nielson said polls had shown that the public supported the user fee increase and statewide smoking ban. She said 22 community tours, four advisory councils and many meetings with stakeholders had gone into the research for the reform proposals. The recommendations will be reviewed in the 2008 legislative session, which begins Jan.14.
Edited by Tara Smith
》 MEN'S BASKETBALL
'Little guards' make big difference on court
Trio to start together until Rush returns
Russell Robinson, Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers will be spending a lot of
time together on the court until Brandon Rush returns from a knee injury.
Kansas coach Bill Self said the trio would make the offense faster and the defense tighter.
Robinson
"I really believe that there are a lot of good guards in the country, and this is the year of the point guard they're saying," Self said. "Last year there were a lot of good big guys. This year there's probably more guard play, and our guards can match up with anybody. All three are good."
Other schools have played three guards before, including self's old school, Illinois.
Chalmers
Collins
Self said his plan was for the trio to help make the team faster.
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NASA
Shuttle Discovery to land after flying across U.S.
Cross-country re-entry planned for Wednesday
The space shuttle Discovery is set to make the first coast-to-coast re-entry since the Columbia disaster in 2003 took the lives of all seven astronauts on board.
A Monday safety check showed no damage to the shuttle from micrometeorites or space junk. The shuttle is scheduled to land Wednesday afternoon.
The original landing was supposed to happen during the pre-dawn hours following a flight from the southwest over Central America. Shuttle commander Pamela Melroy preferred an easier daylight landing, though, so Discovery will descend over the Pacific Northwest heading toward Florida.
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