4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2007
MEDICAL RESEARCH
University to open new autism center
BY DYLAN SANDS
dsands@kansan.com
A permanent autism research center at the University of Kansas is in the works, and more than 20 researchers and faculty are collaborating to develop it.
"We lack a synergetic effort to address the rapidly growing number of children identified with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The need is quite urgent," said Debra Kamps, an autism researcher at the University's Juniper Garden Children's Project in Kansas City, Kan.
Autism is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined, Kamps said. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that one in 150 children have the disorder.
The Life Span Institute at the University has created the Work Group on Autism Research and Training to organize the new research center.
Kamps will be the chairwoman of the group, which aims to combine faculty from the University and from the University of Kansas Medical Center to increase funding for research and training.
"Currently there are several grants funded, but limited collaboration across campuses and departments," Kamps said.
The group will expand during the next few weeks to include parents of autistic children in an advisory committee.
A grant will finance the group for one year to explore the creation of the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training, or K-CART. K-CART would increase training activities for people with autism, as well as for the parents, special education, specialists and teachers who work with autistic children.
Plans for the center do not include construction of a new building, but that could change.
"A possible permanent autism center might not be a bricks and mortar place at first," said Karen Henry, assistant director of the KU Bureau of Child Research. "Our centers are often virtual for quite
some time until space and funds are secured."
Henry said the group's activities would take place in existing University and Med Center space, with potential outreach to University satellite locations.
Meredith Poore, Topeka graduate student and a graduate research assistant for the Bureau of Child Research, works with autistic children. She said the center would make a great addition to the University.
"There has been great progress in assessment and intervention for autism, but there's also a large amount of misinformation out there." Poore said.
Poore said that many parents of autistic children are confused about
what's best for their child.
"I think KU recognizes this, and as a top research university, understands the need for creating a center which brings numerous top-notch scientists and autism specialists together to address the need for solid research on a disorder that affects so many people." she said.
The group will present itself and its plans in a discussion entitled "Considering Autism: KU Life Span Institute Community Conversations" at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 in Regnier Hall at the Edwards Campus in Overland Park.
Edited by Rachel Bock
Senator's support lessens after bathroom incident
POLITICS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, left, reads a statement to the media Monday next to his wife, Suzanne. Craig pleaded guilty earlier this month to disorderly follow following an undercover police operation in a Minnesota airport men's room.
BROTHERS
Est.1967
BAR & GRILL
1105 Massachusetts St. Lawrence 1105 Massachusetts St.
Welcome Back Students!
$1
Domestic Bottles JAGER BOMBS & Bacardi Bombs
Double Wells SO-CO Cuervo Lime SHOTS SHOTS
Double Calls It 's That Easy
Well Mixers Jager Bombs $1.00 Domestic Draws Bacardi Bombs ...You get the idea!
Craig "represents the Republican Party," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the first in a steadily lengthening list of GOP members of Congress to urge a resignation.
WASHINGTON — Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's political support eroded by the hour on Wednesday as fellow Republicans in Congress called for him to resign and party leaders pushed him unceremoniously from senior committee posts.
The senator's spokesman declined to comment. "They have a right to express themselves," said Sidney Smith. He said he had heard no discussion of a possible resignation.
The White House expressed disappointment, too — and nary a word of support for the 62-year-old lawmaker, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month. The charge stemmed from an undercover police operation in a Minneapolis airport men's room.
Craig said Tuesday that he had committed no wrongdoing and shouldn't have pleaded guilty. He said he had only recently retained a lawyer to advise him in the case that threatens to write an ignominious end to a lifetime in public office.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
$2.00 Call Mixers
On the Web at BROTHERSBAR.COM "Always the 'Best' Specials, Always the 'Most' Fun!"
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said, "We are disappointed in the matter," without specifying exactly what was causing the discomfort.
For a second consecutive day, GOP Senate leaders stepped in, issuing a statement that said Craig had "agreed to comply with leadership's request" to temporarily give up his posts on important committees. He has been the top Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee as well as on subcommittees for two other panels.
Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of Minnesota joined Hoekstra in urging Craig to step down, as did Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida — and others who joined them as the day wore on.
Coleman said in a written statement, "Senator Craig pleaded guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming of a senator."
"This is not a decision we take lightly, but we believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the ethics committee," said the statement, issued in the name of Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the party leader, and others.
McCain spoke out in an interview with CNN. "My opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn't serve. That's not a moral stand. That's not a holier-than-thou. It's just a factual situation."
"There was supposed to be all this money, but whered it go?" said Russ, whose house was the only restored home on an otherwise desolate block. "None of us got any."
On Tuesday, the leaders jumped in ahead of Craig's appearance before television cameras in Idaho to announce they had asked the ethics committee to look into the case.
He said he hoped the ethics committee would do its work swiftly.
Clarence Russ, 64, took a dim view of politicians' promises as he tried to put the finishing touches on his repaired home in the city's devastated Lower Ninth Ward.
NATION
The memorial will be the final resting place for more than two dozen unclaimed bodies.
NEW ORLEANS — Prayers, protests and a lingering disgust with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina marked the disaster's second anniversary Wednesday, with a presidential visit doing little to nullify those still displaced by the event.
Churches throughout the region, including historic St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter, held services in honor of those who lost their lives in the disaster.
Not far away, President Bush visited a school.
New Orleans residents still angry about Katrina aid
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"We're still paying attention," Bush said before heading to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, also devastated by Katrina. "We understand."
But Gina Martin, who is still living in Houston after Katrina destroyed her New Orleans home, was not convinced.
"We ring the bells for a city that is in recovery, that is struggling, that is performing miracles on a daily basis," said Mayor Ray Nagin, who famously cursed the federal response in a radio interview days after the hurricane.
"Bush was down here again making more promises he isn't going to keep," Martin said. "The government has failed all of us. It's got to stop."
Martin was among an estimated 1,000 people taking part in a protest march that started in the Lower Ninth Ward. It was a uniquely New Orleans-style protest: There were signs accusing the Bush administration of murder and angry chants about the failure of government. But marchers also danced in the street to music from two brass bands.
Bells pealed amid prayers, songs and tears at the ground breaking for a planned Katrina memorial at a New Orleans cemetery.
Set & Lighting Design by Lee Saylor • Stage Manager: Jakob Wozniak