16 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS IN BRIEF
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2003
STATE
Lawsuit showers more water on farmers during droughts
TOPEKA (AP) — Officials from Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado agreed on a model to regulate the usage of the Republican River to make more water available to Kansas farmers in dry years.
The model was a final piece of a settlement to a lawsuit filed by Kansas in 1998 after farmers complained they were not getting their fair share of the water.
State officials estimated that in drought years Nebraska used 40,000 acre feet of water more than it should have. That cut the amount of water flow to Kansas by about 16 percent, state officials said.
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said yesterday the model was finalized Monday and submitted to a special master, who was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
The 1943 Republican River Compact, called for Nebraska to get 49 percent of the river's water, Kansas 40 percent and Colorado 11 percent.
Officials identify substance in post office as cleaning agent
TOPEKA (AP) — The powdery substance that sent six U.S. Postal Service workers to the hospital was identified early Sunday as toluene, a toxic solvent.
The Topeka Fire Department said in a statement toluene often was used as a cleaning agent.
Officials do not believe there was any malicious intent" involved in the incident.
Emergency responders went to a mailsorting center in Topeka around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, after employees called complaining of scratchy throats and burning eyes after a powdery substance fell out of an envelope.
Six people, who worked in the area where the substance was found, were decontaminated and taken to St. Francis Health Center, where they were treated and released, said Kim Gronniger, a hospital spokeswoman.
She said two of the workers transported to the hospital had complained of scratchy throats at the postal facility.
The powder was tested at the postal facility early Sunday by the Civil Support Team, a unit of the Kansas National Guard.
Inhalation or contact with toluene may irritate or burn skin and eyes, according to the Emergency Response Guidebook.
Businessman pleads guilty; savs co-defendant innocent
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One of two Topeka businessmen charged with federal bank fraud pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of making false bank entries and insisted his co-defendant, the former head of Kansas' largest utility, had nothing to do with the crimes.
Attorney Clinton Odell Weidner II entered his plea before jury selection began in his trial and that of David Wittig, former chief executive of Westar Energy.
The crimes were not related to Westar business.
Weidner still faces one count of conspiracy and one count of money laundering. Wittig faces four counts of making false bank entries, reports and transactions. Another count would require Wittig and Weidner to forfeit $1.5 million to the federal government to offset a loan that was the center of the case.
Pedro Irigonegaray, Weidner's attorney, also said that Weidner's plea should not be held against Wittig.
Robinson set a sentencing date of Sept. 29 in Topeka.
BAXTER SPRINGS (AP) — A judge has dismissed charges filed against a newspaper advertising director accused of stealing promotional inserts from a competing weekly newspaper.
Judge dismisses charges of theft against ad manager
After the prosecution rested its case Friday, Judge Frederick Smith issued a directed verdict in favor of Mary Broyles of the Baxter Springs News. She faced a charge of theft by deception.
Smith, a Pittsburg city judge appointed to hear the case, said the city had failed to meet its burden in identifying the victim.
Michael Goodrich, Broyles' attorney
requested the directed verdict.
"This is the most gigantic cluster over nothing that I've ever seen in my life," Goodrich said.
Larry Hiatt, publisher of the Baxter Springs News, said the case was an example of the city's harassment of him and his paper because of its coverage of controversial stories.
Kansas farmers producing more genetically engineered crops
WICHITA(AP]—More Kansas farmers were growing genetically engineered crops, the Department of Agriculture said Monday.
In its latest acreage and grain stocks report, USDA reported that Kansas planted 87 percent of its soybean acreage to Roundup Ready soybeans, genetically designed to resist Monsanto's Roundup weed-killer. That is up 4 percentage points from last year.
Farmers around the country planted slightly more genetically engineered corn, including the insect resistant Bt and Roundup Ready varieties. Total biotech corn acreage nationwide is up 6 percentage points to 40 percent this year.
In Kansas, the use of biotech corn was up 4 percentage points at 47 percent this year.
"In Kansas, we have a lot of issues especially with the earworm and, as far as the Roundup Ready variety, we have quite a few weed issues," said Sue Schulte, spokeswoman for the Kansas Corn Growers Association and the Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association.
NATION
Monkeypox infects 30 people; exotic animals carried disease
ATLANTA (AP] — Nearly 30 people have been confirmed to be infected with the monkeypox virus, federal officials
said Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said lab testing indicated 29 of the country's 79 suspected cases had the virus, which is a cousin of smallpox.
Monkeypox is a west African disease never before seen in the Western Hemisphere. As of June 25, there were 14 confirmed cases in Wisconsin, seven in Indiana and six in Illinois. One case each was confirmed in Kansas and Missouri.
The virus caused rashes, chills and fever, and more than half of the cases were hospitalized. Most (69 percent) involved adults; the median age was 28.
Most cases were exposed to wild or exotic mammals that included prairie dogs. Some had at-home contact with others infected.The CDC said no cases solely involving person-to-person transmission were confirmed.
Two children and 24 adults received smallpox vaccine, which is considered 85 percent effective against monkeypox.
West Nile virus strikes again; 18-year-old horse euthanized
PINEVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A horse from southwest Missouri's McDonald County was determined to have contracted the West Nile virus, a county health official said.
Officials with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said it was the first equine case confirmed in the state this year. A year ago, 662 Missouri horses became ill with the mosquitoborne virus.
Neoma Schlessman, a nurse with the McDonald County Health Department, said a veterinarian from outside the county called her last week with word that the virus had been found in an 18 year-old horse.
Schlessman said privacy rules prohibited her from identifying the owner, but said the case was from the southeastern part of the county. She said the horse was killed.
Informant says roommate killed Baylor basketball player
WACO, Texas (AP) — An unidentified informant said the roommate told a cousin he shot Patrick Dennehy, missing Baylor University basketball player, in the head as the two argued, said court documents.
Authorities said yesterday there were no arrests and they have no single suspect.
A search warrant affidavit made public Monday said the informant told investigators in Delaware that Carlton Dotson, a former teammate of Dennehy's as well as his roommate, killed Dennehy with a 9 mm handgun.
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