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Volume 128 Issue 113
Thursday, April 23, 2015
kansan.com
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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The student voice since 1904
WEEKEND EDITION
JOHN HANNA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas Budget Director Shawn Sullivan (left) answers a question about a new fiscal forecast
Legislature weighs cuts, tax increases to fix $400M deficit
KELLY CORDINGLEY
@kellycordingley
Kansas is at the bottom of a nearly $400 million hole legislators need to fill before the end of this fiscal year on June 30. Gov. Sam Brownback's administration announced it would release a budget amendment later this week to remedy some of the looming deficit.
According to the state constitution, Kansas cannot finish a fiscal year in a deficit, so legislators must fix this issue before June 30. To fix such a budget
deficit, they'll likely have to make more cuts in more areas such as education, potentially raise taxes and move money from other state funds such as the highway fund, for example.
Rep. Jerry Henry (D-Atchison) said the essence of the governor's 2012 tax plan was to enhance job growth and cut income taxes. With income taxes being cut, people could use that money to enhance sales tax, thus stimulating the economy. Henry said the plan that many of his Republican counterparts supported fell flat.
"We had some growth, but nothing phenomenal," he said. "It's kind of been a failure. The plan they thought would happen has not happened. It's actually gone backwards. Every time we do a consensus estimating, we're losing another $100 million in gross. The growth is just not there."
bill will need to be reworked and foresees more cuts.
"I think they'll have to revisit some of the spending and see if there can be reductions," he said. "I'm concerned higher education is a possible cut. Medicaid could get cut and there will be some across-the-board cuts."
Kep. Barbara Boilier (R-Mission Hills) said Speaker of the House Rep. Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) continues to insist Kansas has a spending prob-
Currently, an appropriations bill has passed conference committee — a committee with two Senate Republicans and two House Republicans. This bill will determine the state's spending but not its taxes. Henry said he thinks the
SEE DEBT PAGE 2A
University alumnus stars in short film at Wild West Film Festival
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LILY GRANT
@lilygrant_UKD
University alumnus Sam Jones is a jack-of-all-trades and a nomad. He's a self-proclaimed country boy, an athlete and an actor. He is the villain in a short film called "Neon Veins," which will premiere at Liberty Hall tonight as a part of the Wild West Film Festival.
"It's got a really colorful soundtrack," Jones said. "We call it a neo-noir. The lighting and the colors in the film are really beautiful."
The 24-year-old graduated in 2014 and since then has taken some time off to work in the oil fields of North Dakota before beginning his acting career in the midwest. He said he plans to make the jump to a bigger city with more opportunities eventually, but right now he's participating in the Wild West Film Festival and acting in other film projects with friends. When he's not acting, he's doing odd jobs to make money.
Jones is from a small town
in southern Missouri called Rogersville. He attended the University with a scholarship to run middle-distance track. He started out as an organic chemistry major, but fell in love with acting after taking an acting class to fulfill an arts credit.
He then changed his major to film and media. After graduating, he traveled just outside Watford City, N.D., to work in the oil fields — a dangerous job — to do some research for a script he's currently writing. Jones took a notepad and pen everywhere he went, recording his experiences and jotting down ideas.
Before the oil boom, Watford City had about 2,000 people. Since then it's grown to more than 10,000 people. Jones said some people who showed up to work were living in tents without running water or electricity. Jones said he felt the experiences he had in North
"It's really like a modern day wild west," Jones said of the area.
SEE JONES PAGE 5A
LAUREN MUTH/KANSAN
University alumnus Sam Jones worked with others on this production for a limited 48 days through the Wild West Film Festival.
Football program adopts new technology to prevent concussions
ABIGAIL WALSH
@kansannews
Murphy Grant was peering at a laptop during a recent spring football practice, electronically tracking players' hits, when he noticed one player was getting hit more than others. After the third hit registered on the screen, Grant, the University's director of sports medicine, ran out to the field to make sure the player was OK.
This mouth guard alert system, in use for the first time as the football team prepares for Saturday's spring game, is a new step the University is taking to react to concussion-level hits to players.
A dozen football players suffered concussions in 2014, according to KU Athletics, which provided the numbers to the Kansas upon request. In the past five years, as many as 17 football players had concussions in a single season, though the average has been about 12 per year.
In recent years, as concerns about brain damage to athletes and liability have increased, so has the focus on how Division I schools
identify, treat and report concussions.
"Now, that would never happen," Lawrence Magee, head team physician for KU Athletics, said. "But it was the standard back then."
Ten years ago, if a player took a hit during a game, the sideline trainers would determine if that player suffered a first-, second- or third-degree concussion. If the player had a first-degree concussion, he could be put back into the game 10 minutes later.
"More students are likely to self-report to the physicians quicker than they used to 10 years ago."
Today, if student athletes are suspected of having a concussion, they are pulled from play for the remainder
LAWRENCE MAGEE
Head team physician for
KU Athletics
SEE FOOTBALL PAGE 2A
SKYLAR ROLSTAD
@SkyRolNews
University researchers awarded for book on police racial bias
Using data collected from surveys instead of traffic citations, a group of University researchers has found new evidence of racial bias in investigatory traffic stops monitored in the Kansas City metro area
Charles Epp, Steven Maynard-Moody and Don Haider-Markel, all University employees, published their research in a book called "Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship," and have won the 2015 Best Book Award from the American Society for Public Administration's Section on Public Administration Research
"Employing a strong research design and utilizing a variety of data, 'Pulled Over' documents how these stops reflect a form of institutional racism that undermines both racial equality and police-community relations," said John C. Thomas, chair of the ASPA review committee, in a University press release.
The three researchers surveyed 2,329 drivers in the Kansas City metro area who were pulled over in the last year. The study identified two kinds of traffic stops: traffic safety stops and investigatory stops.
In a safety stop, a driver has committed a crime like running a stop sign or driving too fast and is ticketed. Epp said. In an investigatory stop, the
"By far and away, the most likely to be subject to these stops are young African-American men and women. It's a racial bias, simple and straightforward."
officer pulls over the driver who looks out of place or suspicious, but has not necessarily committed a crime.
Epp said African Americans were five times more likely to be searched in investigatory stops than whites, but traffic stops showed no disparities.
“[In investigatory traffic stops, we] found that African Americans are dramatically more likely to be stopped. Young people are dramatically more likely to be stopped.” Epp said. “By far and away, the most likely to be subject to these stops are young African-American men and women. It's a racial bias, simple and straightforward.”
CHARLES EPP University researcher
A survey was chosen to conduct the research by Epp, Maynard-Moody and Haider-Markel, whereas police citations are commonly used to collect data on police stops.
Index
OPINION 4A
A&F 5A
SEE BIAS PAGE 2A
PUZZLES 6A
SPORTS 14A
CLASSIFIEDS 13A
DAILY DEBATE 11A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2015 The University Daily Kansan
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