TUESDAY, IANUARY 25. 2005
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
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Lawmakers debate death penalty rewrite
TOPEKA, Kan. — Legislators should wait for a potential U.S. Supreme Court decision before attempting to rewrite the state's death penalty law, the parents of a capital murder victim said yesterday.
Barbara and Duane Oblander, of Goddard, attended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a bill drafted in response to a Kansas Supreme Court decision in December that struck down the 1994 law. Attorney General Phill Kline plans to appeal the ruling to the nation's high court.
The Oblanders agreed with prosecutors who worry the U.S. Supreme Court won't review the Kansas court's decision if legislators rewrite the law.
Left turns prohibited on 23rd Street
In a 4-3 decision, the Kansas court said the state's death penalty law was unconstitutional because of a provision on how juries weigh evidence for and against imposing a death sentence. The law says that if the evidence is about equal — which prosecutors contend will be rare — a jury must recommend death.
The Associated Press
BY JASON SHAAD
jshaad@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
A series of 12 signs located along 23rd Street between Louisiana Street and Haskell Avenue now restrict left turns to relieve rush-hour traffic.
The signs, which read "No Left Turn," prohibit left turns between 4 and 6 p.m. onto seven streets along 23rd Street.
The area has experienced a high number of traffic accidents, most of which have been rear-end accidents, said Chuck Soules, director of the city's Public Works department.
The signs will go through a trial period during which the city will determine their effectiveness this spring. Soules said.
"I've been on that darn street, and it's bad, especially between four and six and during KU games," Soules said. "You just inch forward."
As part of the trial process, the department has created a link on its Web site at www.lawrencepublicworks.org to gather feedback on the signs.
"We've already had several people say that it's about time we did this." Soules said. "But there has been some concern that this will limit residents' access to neighborhoods and cause more congestion at the Louisiana intersection."
For Michele Williams, Park Hill neighborhood resident, the project poses both a problem and a solution.
"I think it will improve traffic congestion during rush hour," Williams said. "But I think congestion at 23rd and Louisiana will happen. It takes a large amount of traffic, especially when University employees leave work and come down Louisiana."
The main entry into Park Hill is through Vermont Street, where left turns have been prohibited. Park Hill neighborhood is located southeast of the intersection of 23rd and Louisiana Streets.
Williams now uses Louisiana Street to get home, she said.
Ashley Burkemper, St. Louis junior, works at Endless Summer Tan, 2223 Louisiana St. Congested traffic on
Louisiana often made left turns difficult, but the signs should make a difference, Burkemper said.
The signs are usually effective if they're noticed and enforced, said David Woosley, city traffic engineer.
Orange flags are attached to each of the signs to make them more noticeable.
Disobeying the sign is prohibited by law. Enforcement is currently in an educational enforcement stage, said Sgt. Dan Ward, Lawrence Police Department spokesman.
During this stage police will issue warnings instead of citations. Ward said.
If the signs relieve accident rates and congestion, the city will consider installing similar signs along Iowa Street between 9th and 15th Streets, Soules said.
"We would like to see accidents reduced and safety improved," Soules said. "It has worked in Kansas City and Topeka, so we think it will work here."
— Edited by Lisa Coble-Krings
John Tran/KANSAN
Lawrence is conducting a trial of "No Left Turn" signs on 23rd Street from Haskell Avenue to Louisiana Street. The city is making an attempt to curb the amount of traffic accidents and congestion.
Research may lead to greater yield from Kansas oil wells
By TY BEAVER
teaver@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WINTER
The sight of an abandoned oil pump in the fields throughout Kansas isn't rare. Jenn-Tai Liang, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, and his fellow researchers may be able to change that.
Thanks to a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Liang will be able to study the use of molecules called biosurfacants to recover oil from reservoirs in carbonate rock. Such reservoirs are common in central and western
Kansas, where wells are idle due to high operating costs and stranded oil.
"At times, you're pumping out ten times more water than oil," Kansas Geological Survey senior scientist Tim Carr said.
Surfacants are used to produce oil from wells that no longer flow naturally or are resistant to waterflooding. Surfacants work in a way similar to dishwashing detergent. Currently, chemical surfacants in high concentrations are injected into an oil well with water. The surfacant interacts with the rock of the reservoir to make it more water-absorbent. The rock then
sucks up the water while releasing trapped oil.
Chemical surfacants are expensive, however, and many smaller oil companies and operators cannot afford them. They could also be harmful toward the environment. Liang said that while a goal of the project was to make the technology available to private enterprise, that wasn't why the Department of Energy was funding the project.
"The DOE is particularly interested in the environmental aspect of the project," Liang said. "Their entire mission is advocating the beneficial reuse
of organic materials to produce energy."
Working with the KU School of Engineering's Tertiary Oil Recovery Project and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Liang will study how dilute concentrations of biosurfacant interact with carbonate reservoirs and how much oil can be drawn with their use. One of the project's goals is to understand why the surfacant makes the rock more water-absorbent. The biosurfacant is the product of a bacteria feeding off high-starch agricultural waste from potato, rice, or wheat processing plants. It is
the same bacteria used to clean the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
Kansas produces a significant amount of the oil in the United States. KU engineer Richard Pancake said much of that oil was high quality by market standards, with an API gravity of 40 and low sulfur content. And there is no shortage. Pancake estimated that 60 percent of the supply was still in the ground. Carr said that Liang's research could potentially add 30 more years of recovery to the states reservoirs.
Edited by John Scheirman
TOP 10 OIL PRODUCING STATES
1. Texas (33.4 percent)
2. Louisiana (15.1 percent)
3. California (14.3 percent)
4. Oklahoma (8.0 percent)
5. Alaska (7.6 percent)
6. Wyoming (3.7 percent)
7. Kansas (3.7 percent)
8. New Mexico (2.8 percent)
9. Illinois (2.0 percent)
10. Mississippi (1.3 percent)
Source:
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/us/
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