6A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY OF BABY KANSAS
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006
Chris Carlson/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Golfer Tiger Woods helps introduce the 2008 Buick Enclave to the media at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Tuesday in Pasadena, Calif
Auto show highlights alternative-fuel vehicles
9th and Massachusetts·843-6360
ENVIRONMENT
BY GARY GENTILE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Automakers will roll into the Los Angeles Auto Show with a new lineup of concept cars powered by alternative fuels. But activists complain the companies are still moving too slowly to curb the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG will unvell vehicles that run on hydrogen, while other companies, including DaimlerChrysler AG and Volkswagen AG, will show vehicles powered by E85 ethanol, electric-gas hybrid engines, biodiesel, natural gas and low-sulfur diesel fuel.
Environmentally friendly cars will be a highlight of the auto show, which gained prominence this year after it was moved from January to November to occur before the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
"Consumers are angry that they don't have greener choices in the showroom, so at least on the concept car front, automakers can say, 'Hey, we're working on it,'" said Jason Mark, vehicles director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Organizers said 21 new models will make their world debuts at the Los Angeles show, which opens to the public on Friday and runs through Dec. 10.
Mark and others also argue that carmakers should make more fuel-efficient cars now by using available technology instead of waiting
A consumer group called "Jumpstart Ford" plans to demonstrate outside the auto show on Wednesday to say the vehicles on display provide too little, too late.
decades for new systems to prove themselves.
"Integrating these new technologies into a system is major progress," she said.
"The automakers' efforts sadly fall far short of the response needed in order to effectively break America's oil addiction," the group said in a prepared statement.
Still, a mass-produced fuel cell vehicle is 10 to 15 years away, said Simon Ng, director of the alternative energy technology program at Wayne State University in Detroit.
The unveilings in Los Angeles are further steps toward bringing hydrogen vehicles to market, said JoAnn Milliken, acting hydrogen program manager for the U.S.
Department of Energy.
Major obstacles include the lack of fueling stations and high costs, he said.
Energy Department estimates show a mass-produced fuel-cell engine would cost about four times as much as a conventional gasoline engine.
HOSPITAL (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Hospital would focus on clinical care. The KU Hospital would also be the lead clinical facility as the effort to achieve designation as a National Cancer Institute goes forward.
KU Hospital CEO Irene Cumming said the hospital wanted to support the KU Medical Center since the two separated eight years ago, and after increasing the funding each year, it was now in a financial position to make a much larger pledge.
"It's important to us to have a strong partnership with the school," she said. "We looked at this as a way to promote that partnership."
This proposed affiliation is part of an effort to push the Kansas City area into the top 20 for life sciences research, something Atkinson said was "hugely important" for the region.
Cumming added that it was important to the Medical Center to obtain the NCI designation it sought, and the partnership could help promote that.
She said it would imply that Kansas City would have top tier, nationally recognized facilities that would not only be able to provide the best care for its patients, but provide the best teaching for its students.
Atkinson said discussions and negotiations would be ongoing and an agreement between the Hospital and the Medical Center wouldn't be immediate because the process had just begun.
"The community is expecting us to be a leader in this region," Atkinson said.
Kansan staff writer Jack Weinstein can be contacted at jweinstein@ kansan.com.
— Edited by Mindy Ricketts
BUSKERS (CONTINUED FROM 1 A^2)
Bovaird-Abbo said.
"The idea of traveling from place to place using music and performance as methods of gaining sustenance is very much in the style of the troubadour"
Well into the late hours of the evenings, Schreiner plays and sings to earn enough tips to pay his child support. He said that in the last few months, he and McCoy had met all sorts of
in 27 years playing "legitimate" gigs
in 27 years playing regimentate gigs
Kozak is founder of the annual
Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival in
Topeka, which celebrated its 11th
"It's nothing like panhandling. We provide a service, and if you don't want to put your money in the box, you don't have to."
JOE SCHREINER Street musician
interesting people while doing what they love: singing and composing.
Schreiner said his experiences as a busker and homeless person have provided him with interesting life experiences.
"Friends of his from college, they stop by and say it's good to see the two of us surviving," McCoy said.
"I know I'll write my best stuff out here." Schreiner said.
Up the way from Schreiner is jazz saxophonist Dan Kozak, who says he has made more money in his three years busking downtown than he did
year this June,
honoring legendary Topeka saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, who popularized the tenor saxophone.
This heavily tattooed and soft spoken New York-born veteran of the music business lives in
"About 95 percent of the time people just walk on by and don't pay me any mind," Kozak said. "But that other 5 percent make it worth the while."
Buskers like Schreiner and Kozak take a certain measure of pride in their street music.
In the flickering lights of the city after dark, usually on Fridays.
Lawrence year-round and plays his sax at Seventh and Massachusetts streets; selling his CDs and sharing his love of jazz with whoever will stop and listen.
Twice a week a grizzle-bearded Oskaloosa native, who insists his stage name is Man Mountain, plays in front of the Red Lyon Tavern. Mr. Mountain said hed been busking for nearly 32 years "all over the world in Europe and Mexico."
Saturdays and Sundays, the musicians serenade bar crawlers hoping for tips or an occasional cigarette.
Mr. Mountain said he traveled wherever he felt he could make some money playing his banjo.
The street musicians have a charm and wit that make them approachable. Most see it as work and not begging.
"It's nothing like panhandling." Schreiner said. "We provide a service, and if you don't want to put your money in the box, you don't have to."
"it's enough to keep me in cigarette money," he said as he plucked a riff and asked for a smoke.
Occasionally, Schreiner said, a naysayer or two have walked up to ask him why he didn't go out and get a "real job."
"I just explain to them that I'm trying," he said, "but until something better comes along I keep doing what I love."
Schreiner has a second job in
telemarketing. During the holidays, he plays his guitar for donations for the Salvation Amy. As soon as he gets off work, he heads downtown with his guitar and sings into the late night hours, even though his throat is dry from talking on the phone all day.
Schreiner performs next to the statue in front of US Bank, whom he has affectionately named "Stephen Eugene Statue Dude," having fun making up a few songs on the spot. He acquiesces to the occasional request for Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird," with McCoy joining in on harmonies when the mood strikes her.
In the cold weather Schreiner and many other buskers do their best to find indoor venues that will allow them to perform out of the wind and chill.
Schreiner said that just because it was cold didn't mean he wouldn't feel like playing.
"The plow stops for nobody" he said.
Kansan staff writer Ben Smith can be contacted at bsmith@kansan. com.
Edited by Jacky Carter
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