MONDAY, MARCH 11,2002
STATE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
.79
Suspected hacker charged
The Associated Press
OLATHE — Authorities think an Overland Park man is "Artech," a computer hacker suspected of getting into more than 50 Web sites in 1999 and 2000.
Matthew T. Kroeker, 18,
appeared in Johnson County
District Court Friday on 11 felony
counts of computer crime. He was
charged in the juvenile division
because he was 16 when the crimes
occurred, but prosecutors said they
would seek to try him as an adult.
Kroeker is being held under house arrest, with his next court hearing scheduled for March 25.
Kroeker is accused of getting into Web sites run by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Institutes of Health, the cities of Stockton, Calif., and Overland Park, and the Haysville, Kan., school district.
Detense lawyer Kevin Moriarty said Kroeker cooperated fully with authorities when they questioned him almost two years ago.
"He had reason to believe the matter was behind him," Moriarty said. "Some of these occurred more than two years ago when he was barely 16."
The investigation began in January 2000 when an unauthorized message was posted on a Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce site. But it was an attack on the Stockton, Calif., Web site in June 2000 that led investigators to Kroeker.
After the city's site was invaded, employees received e-mails from Artech, who offered to help the city protect itself from such attacks in exchange for a laptop computer, according to the allegations. Artech allegedly made similar offers to other victims.
Cathy Sloan, Stockton's Webmaster, said Friday that she began exchanging e-mails feigning interest in the offer and praising Artech's computer skills.
"I told him we thought he had done wonderful work," she said.
Sloan said she told Artech that he would be working for the city as a volunteer. She e-mailed an application and received a response with Kroeker's name, address and other information. She even got him to send a picture of himself.
Sloan was working with the police and the FBI, and arrangements were made to deliver three laptops to Kroeker's southern Overland Park house on July 20, 2000.
Instead, an Overland Park detective and FBI agents showed up with a search warrant and seized several computers.
Kroeker was questioned. Since then he has completed high school and is now working and attending college, Moriarty said.
State security increased since Sept.11 attacks
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Two guards sit behind a makeshift desk in the east hall of the Statehouse. They watch as state officials, workers and visitors traipse into the storied building.
They sit to make sure that business as usual is conducted in an environment that is anything but usual since the morning of Sept. 11. Since the twin World Trade Center tower came down, the state's security has been up.
"We've come a long way in three years. Sept. 11 accelerated our progress," said Maj. Gen. Greg Gardner, state adjutant general.
Gardner, who also serves as director of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, said the state was well into its assessment of potential threats and
response before the attacks looking at public and private entities.
"As a result, the Legislature is considering multiple bills to improve our preparedness," he said.
Among those are efforts to increase security of sensitive data systems, give more tools to law enforcement to detect and investigate terrorism and laws protecting agriculture products from intentional exposure to disease.
However, many of those bills come with a price that the state is unable to afford in a tight budget year. Legislators have initially denied a request to hire additional planners to help counties develop emergency management plans. An appeal to create Regional Emergency Medical Response Teams also
ONTHENET:
Emergency Management:
http://www.ink.org/public/kdm/
Kansas Division of
Kansas Adjutant General:
■ Kansas Adjunct General:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kans
as/adjutant/
Kansas Legislature:
http://www.kslegislature.org
Combined, the programs would cost the state less than $450,000. But facing a $675 million budget gap, Gardner understands legislators' plight.
was too costly.
"I'm really glad to see some attempt to address some of the Homeland Security issues," Gardner said. "We understand that funding for these will only come with increases in revenues."
Representative and father bond with TV, politics
"That's when it became as much of a friendship as a classic
TOPEKA — Marion Mays says only two kind of people ever created problems for him: politicians and lawyers.
Yet his daughter became an attorney and his son, a legislator.
The elder Mays, 79, moved to Topeka from Pittsburg in the early 1990s after his wife died. Soon after that move in 1994, he had a major stroke.
father-and-son relationship," said the younger Mays, who is 51. "Our lives had been on two separate tracks and suddenly they were brought together, and we found we had a lot more in common."
"He pretty well explains what they're doing, what the bill will do and what it won't do," said Mays. "I just listen to what he says because it makes pretty good sense to me."
The two have developed a routine. Every Monday through Friday at 9 p.m., they watch Law and Order, the news and Jay Leno's opening monologue. When the Legislature is in session, the elder Mays listens to House sessions over the Internet during the day and questions his son about bills at night.
Mays is serving his fifth term representing a central Topeka district in the House and is chairman of the Federal and State Affairs Committee. He served as speaker pro tem for two years, losing a bid to become speaker last year.
His father's "healthy disrespect" for politicians doesn't stop Rep. Doug Mays, R-Topeka, from spending a couple hours every night with him—an arrangement the younger Mays describes as an addiction.
Marion Mays isn't surprised by his son's interest in politics. Politics have been important to family as long as the two can remember.
The Associated Press
The elder Mays said his father was a Republican and his grandmother a Democrat. They wouldn't speak or eat together during the week before an election.
"I have been plagued with politicians from the day I was born," said Marion Mays said. "But I'm not into politics much. I just ride along with Doug. He seems to know what he's doing."
22 22
Mar.13 10:00 am-2:00 pm St.Patricks Day Celebration
Difficult budget cuts loom
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Legislators now face the hard choices.
How many teachers will lose their jobs? How many firstgraders will be crammed into a single classroom?
How many elderly Kansans won't get hot meals during the week? Will the courts be closed on some weekdays?
Legislators have been waiting for new revenue estimates before starting meaningful discussions on the budget to finance state government after July 1. They received those numbers Friday.
Lawmakers can ignore most bills and state government will go on. But they're not done with their work until the last appropriations bill passes — and the
next budget balances.
Legislators began the year facing a $426 million gap between expected revenues and spending required by state and federal law. Creating much of the hole were promises that legislators made when times were good.
But with pessimistic revenue estimates, the gap has grown to $675 million, legislators don't face merely a choice of raising taxes or breaking important promises.
They must decide whether to increase taxes — even though the state's economy is slumping and some families are suffering financially — or to cut services.
Legislative leaders believe the solution will be a painful combination of the two. Each number on paper represents a policy decision, and many decisions
will affect Kansans directly.
If aid for education is cut, some public schools are likely to reduce their teaching staffs and have larger classes. Universities are likely to scale back their course offerings.
Social services present a special problem because the cost of providing services for the needy is rising and some services are mandated by federal law.
When the session began, Gov. Bill Graves submitted a proposed budget that assumed no new revenues and reduced aid to education, cut social services, closed minimum-security prisons and canceled highway projects.
Now, legislators may need to increase taxes just to prevent the budget from being worse than Graves' austere proposal.
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Other events at the Union
Brown Bag Classics
Amir Khorspur, Plano Wednesday, March 13
Alderson Auditorium, Level 4, Kansas Union 12:30 pm to 1 pm
Thursday Afternoon Tea 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Traditions Area, Level 4, Kansas Union. Free sweets and tea.
Friday Freebies
*FRIDAY FREEBIES*
1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
Atruim. Level 3, Kansas Union
k j n x
Questions about these or other SUA events? Call the SUA Office at 864 SHOW