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NEWS | KANSAN.COM
Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015
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Study suggests water in Great Plains region may be contaminated
JOSH FUNK Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — A new study suggests that nitrates may play a key role in increasing uranium contamination in groundwater.
The researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln estimate that nearly 2 million people in California and the Great Plains live over groundwater that has been contaminated with uranium, which can cause health problems.
The study found that 78 percent of the groundwater samples that showed unsafe levels of uranium were from areas with high levels of nitrates, which typically come from nitrogen fertilizers and animal waste.
"If the problem is this widespread, more research needs to be done," said UNL assistant professor Karrie Weber, who
led the research.
Environmental Protection Agency rules say that uranium shouldn't exceed 30 micrograms per liter in drinking water. Weber's research found examples in California well above that threshold.
Prolonged exposure to high levels of uranium in water has been linked to kidney problems and increased cancer risk.
Some studies have also suggested that uranium might accumulate in certain crops if they are irrigated with contaminated water.
Weber said groundwater samples aren't always tested for uranium making it harder to study. She said the lack of testing also raises safety concerns because smaller communities and rural families often use well water without treating it.
Weber said the nitrates moving through the soil can convert uranium from a solid state
to a soluble form that can contaminate groundwater.
"As nitrates come into the system, they are increasing the concentration of uranium in the water," Weber said.
Data from roughly 275,000 samples from two of the nation's largest aquifers — the High Plains aquifer and the Central Valley aquifer in California — were examined for the study. Those two underground stockpiles supply water for irrigation and many communities rely on the aquifers for drinking water.
The High Plains Aquifer stretches underneath some 174,000 square miles in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
The study was published in the August edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters.
CHRIS CALRSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A worker adjusts the irrigation system that borders the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in Calipatria, Calif. A study claims that much of the water in California and Great Plains aquifers could be contaminated by uranium.
JACOB BYK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mason Loving, 19, the youngest member of the Oxford House, in Hutchinson. Each Oxford House operates independently, but under Oxford House International rules.
Program for training service dogs cut by Hutchinson jail
Associated Press
HUTCHINSON, Kan. The Hutchinson Correctional Facility's decision to end a program that lets inmates train service dogs will likely mean an even longer wait for people who need such dogs, according to the director of a dog-training organization.
"We had to make a choice," Moss said. "We had to pull that position back into security."
People who need service dogs already wait about 18
At full employment, the Hutchinson Correctional Facility has 365 uniformed security officers. About 40 of those positions were open in early August, Moss said.
Staffing shortages prompted The Hutchinson Correctional Facility to end its service-dog program as of Aug. 1, spokesman Dirk Moss said. The prison had one full-time officer overseeing the program and that person had to be moved back into a security job, The Wichita Eagle reported.
months, and the end of the Hutchinson program could stretch that to two years, said Sarah Holbert, executive director of the organization that oversees the dogs' training. About 125 people are already on the program's waiting list.
Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education and Services sends dogs for basic training to prisons throughout the Midwest before bringing the dogs back to its Concordia headquarters for specialized training that fits the needs of the person who will get a dog.
Dogs that would have been sent to Hutchinson will now go to either Ellsworth Correctional Facility, the only Kansas prison still operating a CARES program, or an out-of-state prison.
Hutchinson began working with CARES in 2009 and trained 12 to 15 dogs at any one time, Holbert said. Newer programs train about half that number. Since the program began at Hutchinson, about 125 inmates have trained at least 245 dogs,
Moss said.
"One of the things we found, we don't have data, but we noticed that inmates participating in the program are considerably less troublesome than some of the other inmates," Moss said. "For some of them, it's the first time in their life that they have a positive bond with another living being."
The El Dorado Correctional Facility ended its affiliation with the CARES program about three years ago. Holbert said that prison determined that most of its inmates did not have the personality needed to train dogs because they had committed violent crimes or had mental health issues.
Moss said it was possible that the program would someday return to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.
"That'd be one of the first things we'd look at if staffing numbers go back up," Moss said.
Trump, on a campaign break, reports for jury duty
JAKE PEARSON
VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Donald Trump pulled up in a long black limousine and gave a very presidential wave as he made his way into the building. Then the billionaire promptly found himself seated next to ordinary, wage-earning, subway-riding New Yorkers, forced to wait — and wait some more — for the wheels of justice to turn.
The Republican presidential candidate reported for jury duty in Manhattan on Monday and spent much of the day like everyone else, filling out forms and wondering whether he would get picked.
Donald Trump arrives for jury duty in New York on Monday. The front-runner said last week before a rally in New Hampshire that he would willingly take a break from the campaign trail to answer the summons.
By late afternoon, he was released without getting selected for a trial, his civic obligation fulfilled.
Inside, a lawyer posed for a selfie with him, a sketch artist presented him with a drawing to sign, and a bystander exhorted him to "save this country!"
The businessman's limo arrived in the morning at the foot of the courthouse steps familiar to viewers of TV's "Law & Order," and he was met by a throng of camera crews, reporters and onlookers. Some booed, while others greeted him with fist bumps and books for him to sign.
A murmur went through the 75 or so other prospective jurors when Trump walked in. But they largely kept a respectful distance from the real estate mogul, reality TV star and GOP front-runner.
Trump had high praise for the public servants at the courthouse, saying: "The people in the court system are really professional. It was an honor to see how it worked."
"He makes it a little more bearable," said Christian Johnson, 21, a University at Albany student doing jury duty for the
SETH WENIG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
first time. "He's giving me a lot of material for my Snapchat."
Another juror, retiree Renee Shapiro, said: "I'm looking at him and I'm saying, 'Are my eyes deceiving me?' She said he looked taller than she expected.
The civic duty was somewhat overdue for Trump, who had been summoned but didn't appear five times before. His campaign explained that Trump never got those summonses because they had been sent to the wrong address.
After filing through security, Trump was escorted to a front-row seat in a juror waiting room to fill out a questionnaire about biographical basics, hobbies, experiences with crime and the courts, and occupation. Trump said he listed real estate, "only because I refuse to say 'politician."
Jury assembly supervisor Irene Laracuenta told the prospective jurors that celebrities are entitled to the same privacy and face the same selection process — as anyone else.
"No one — no one — gets special treatment," she said.
Still, from a security standpoint, Trump wasn't treated entirely like everyone else.
A special team of uniformed and plainclothes officers shadowed him to make sure he could get around the court-house easily, as is standard when high-profile people come to court, court officers' union leader Dennis Quirk said. Trump also brought his own, unarmed bodyguard.
"It's a system, and we go through it. And it's a great system. It's a system that works," Trump said at midday. "They do a fantastic job, and I met some wonderful people."
After sitting silently through much of the morning, Trump returned from a lunch break with copies of The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Not
bringing reading material earlier "was a mistake," he said.
Trump said he hadn't asked for a postponement, because serving jury duty is "the right thing to do." But asked whether he hoped to get cut loose after only one day, he said: "I hope so."
Over the years, many celebrities, including Madonna, Spike Lee and Woody Allen, have been called for jury duty in New York. Indeed, "Saturday Night Live" cast member Bobby Moynihan was in the jury pool with Trump. Moynihan had no comment.
While it was once de rigueur for doctors, lawyers, various other professionals and elected officials to get out of jury duty, the state eliminated their exemptions in 1996.
SETH WENIG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Donald Trump gives a fist bump to a pedestrian as he arrives for jury duty. By late afternoon on Monday, he was released without getting selected for a trial.
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