PAGE 6A
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEATHER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A snow blower clears a road after an overnight storm dropped several inches of snow near Echo Summit Calif., Tuesday. The California Department of Water Resources snow survey showed the snow pack to be 17.7 inches.
Snow strikes the west
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's finally looking like ski season in California's Sierra Nevada as a late winter storm exceeded forecasts by dumping at least 6 feet of fluff at the highest elevations.
"It's still coming down really good," Rochelle Jenkins, a spokesman for Caltrans, said Thursday as crews worked around the clock to keep open Interstate 80, the main highway between Northern California and Nevada. "The valley is clear, but up here it's anything but."
The storm is sticking around longer and delivering more snow than predicted because it got "hung up on the mountains," said Johnnie Powell of the National Weather Service in Sacramento, Calif.
"It's a classic orographic lift," Powell said. "All a storm needs is lift and water. It hits the mountain and goes straight up. This one just staved there on the mountains."
Powell said the weather service planned to lift the winter storm warning later Thursday, with the expectation that the snowfall would likely end around sunset.
Despite the heavy snowfall, California is far behind in amassing the amount needed to sustain water use in the arid state for the rest of the year. The state uses reservoirs and a system of aqueducts to deliver snowmelt to 25 million Californians who depend on it for all or part of their water.
Measurements on Thursday showed the water content of the
snowpack at 34 percent of normal, the fourth-lowest reading since the 1940s, said Dave Rizzardo, chief of snow surveys for the Department of Water Resources. Last year at this time, the snowpack was 124 percent of normal and reached 165 percent by April 1.
The storm is bringing fresh powder to the ski resorts, but powdery snow lacks the moisture content that Rizzardo wanted to see. Snow in the state currently holds 8 inches of water, compared to 23 inches that would be normal by this date.
"It's a nice change," Rizzardo said of the storm, "but the reality is we need a lot more."
"The ski resorts are happy — it will be a nice powder day tomorrow. But we like the wet, cement stuff that really hurts you when you fall down," Rizzardo said. "Nothing personal against skiers."
The lack of water content and the unlikely prospects that enough storms will come to make up the deficit by April's melt has prompted officials to warn Central California farmers that they will receive only half of the water they requested this growing season.
The snowfall, part of a blast from the Gulf of Alaska, fell heaviest in the Northern Sierra, with smaller readings as far south as Yosemite National Park, where chains were required.
"We're running out of time," Rizzardo said. "We have our three wettest months behind us."
Avalanche danger in the Lake Tahoe area was down slightly on Thursday, but warnings still exist
due to high winds, new snow and a weak snowpack.
In California, weather forecasters say a sunny weekend should make for ideal skiing conditions.
"Skiers can go have all of the fun they want on the weekend. It worked out perfectly," said weather forecaster Powelli. "It should be plowed out and there should be plenty of fresh powder."
As storms moved in from the west, the Colorado Department of Transportation closed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 near Glenwood Springs because of accidents as a snowstorm moves into Colorado. Up to six inches of snow had fallen by Thursday afternoon in northwestern Colorado, and up to 18 inches is expected to accumulate in some areas by Friday.
Forecasters were predicting two to four inches of snow throughout Thursday east of the Continental Divide. Farther east, an overnight winter storm dumped nearly a foot of snow in parts of upstate New York, a rare wallop in a season that's been unusually snowless.
More than half a foot of snow also fell across parts of southern Maine by midday, with the National Weather Service calling for accumulations of 5 to 15 inches by the time storm clears out late Thursday.
As for California, the snow in the Northeast was a welcome sign for some students who got a snow day and for snow plow drivers happy to get back to work on Thursday.
They're frequent targets of criticism from progressive groups and the Occupy movement over their political activities. The small-government, anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity was founded with their support.
LEGAL
The lawsuit said a foundation set up and named for Charles Koch in 1974 became the Cato Institute in 1976. On the institute's website, a 25th anniversary timeline says the institute was established in 1977 with Crane and Charles Koch as co-founders.
In its last annual report, the institute listed 120 employees and an annual budget of $23 million and said 80 percent of its revenues come from individuals.
Koch brothers pursue think tank
According to court documents, Niskanen signed the 1985 shareholders' agreement, the same year he became the institute's chairman, and David Koch became a shareholder in 1991.
Charles Koch, a Wichita resident, is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, which has about 67,000 employees worldwide and $110 billion in annual revenues, with interests that include oil refineries, fertilizer, chemicals, paper and pollution-control equipment. David Koch, who lives in New York, is the company's executive vice president.
Submitted with the lawsuit, the 1977 and 1985 shareholders' agreements said any shareholder wishing to sell his or her shares must first offer them to the institute. However, neither specifically deals with the death of a shareholder.
The two brothers are the only plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which names the institute, Crane and Kathryn Washburn, Niskanen's widow, as defendants. Chris Kennedy, the institute's media relations director, said Thursday that it was consulting with attorneys.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The brothers filed their lawsuit Wednesday in Johnson County District Court, arguing that the Kansas court has jurisdiction because the Cato Institute, while based in Washington, also lists an office in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. The brothers are the top executives at Wichita-based Koch Industries Inc., but the multibillion-dollar industrial firm is not involved in the lawsuit.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, known for supporting conservative political causes and candidates, are pursuing a lawsuit in their native Kansas over the ownership of a libertarian-leaning think tank based in Washington.
"Over the past several months, Charles Koch and David Koch have made multiple efforts to resolve this issue," Wes Edwards, an attorney for the brothers, said in a statement. "Reluctantly, they believe the time has come to ask the court for help in confirming the meaning of the shareholders' agreement."
The Koch brothers are longtime shareholders in the Cato Institute, a research organization that promotes free-market, small-government policies. Their lawsuit seeks a court ruling that would leave the institute with only one other shareholder, its president and chief executive officer, Edward Crane III, who also is a defendant.
as chairman in 2008 and died in October. The Koch brothers contend that under shareholders' agreements in 1977 and 1985, his wife can't retain the shares and control his ownership interest but must sell the shares back to the institute.
The lawsuit centers on the 25 percent ownership interest in the Cato Institute previously held by William Niskanen, who retired
U.S. Air Force to investigate selection process for aircraft
GOVERNMENT
WICHITA, Kan. — The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it plans to rescind a disputed $354 million contract for a light air support plane and open an investigation into the award, saying it was not satisfied with documentation supporting the decision.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft Corp. had challenged the award, claiming its own AT-6 aircraft was wrongly excluded from the selection process. Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. was given the contract Dec. 22 and was to work with Brazil-based Embraer, which makes the Super Tucano airplane.
At stake is which company will build the light air-support aircraft, a single-engine turboprop supporting security efforts in Afghanistan. The contract ultimately could be worth nearly $1 billion, depending on future orders.
Hawker Beechcraft sued after the government dismissed its protest over being blocked from the contract. The Air Force last month halted work on the contract, but said at the time it was confident of the merits of its decision.
On Tuesday, the Air Force said it advised the Department of Justice that it will take corrective action and set aside the contract to Sierra Nevada effective March 2.
Citing the ongoing litigation,
"While we pursue perfection, we sometimes fall short, and when we do we will take corrective action." Donley said in an emailed statement.
Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley would only say that David Van Buren, the Air Force's senior acquisition executive, is not satisfied with the documentation supporting the award decision.
Hawker Beechcraft said in a statement that it had received notice Tuesday from the Air Force that the company will be reinstated to the competition.
Gen. Donald Hoffman, commander of the Air Force Material Command, has initiated an investigation into the matter, the Air Force said.
"We commend the Air Force for this decision and we believe strongly it is the right thing for the Air Force, the taxpayers and the people of Hawker Beechcraft." Hawker Beechcraft chairman Bill Boisture said. "We look forward to competing for this contract as this important initiative moves forward."
Afghanistan and support the redeployment of U.S. troops next year.
Taco Gilbert, vice president of business development at Sierra Nevada, said in a phone interview that the Air Force's decision was a "big disappointment" because the company was confident it had a superior product that met or exceeded all requirements. He said the company was eager to start producing aircraft to meet combat requirements for
"We know it is important to start creating jobs in America, particularly given the situation that we find ourselves in," Gilbert said. "And again we were anxious to start hiring Americans for our production line down in Florida."
"The Air Force does not do that lightly," Pompeo said. "It is very unusual absent a supplier not performing, which is clearly not the case here. This is highly unusual, which suggests that there is going to be a very broad re-look of the entire process."
Sierra Nevada has said its work on the contract would support more than 1,200 U.S supplier jobs, including at least 50 new high-tech and engineering positions at its jacksonville, Fla. facility. Hawker Beechcraft said had it won the contract, the work would have supported 1,400 U.S. manufacturing jobs, including 800 at the company's facility in Wichita.
U. S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, whose district includes the Hawker Beechcraft headquarters, said in a teleconference that the Air Force had excluded Hawker from the competition just days before the bidding, leaving a single company eligible to bid. For the Air Force to set aside the contract that had been awarded was "no small undertaking."