4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2007
BRIDGES (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"Our bridge inspections are rigorous and our data is current and sound," Deb Miller, Kansas transportation secretary, said in a statement. "The Kansas bridge system ranks among the best in
the country, and I want all travelers to feel safe and confident when they use our highways."
K D O T
D o u g l a s
County and the city share responsibilities for maintaining bridges in
ratings to the deck, superstructure and substructure. The deck is the part of the bridge that cars travel on. The substructure is below the deck, and the superstructure is above it.
Lawrence. Workers inspect bridges every other year, Browning said.
"It doesn't mean that bridge is ready to collapse. It just means there's an element of the bridge that needs monitoring or repair."
Inspections involve assigning
KEITH BROWNING Douglas County public works director
Inspectors look for factors such as cracking and deterioration to determine the overall sufficiency rating of the bridge, Browning said. Bridges labeled as functionally obsolete or structurally
deficient get replaced or repaired depending on how serious the damages are.
"Whenever something is seen
that needs to be done," Stich said, "we do it. When something needs to be fixed, you want to do it."
The Douglas County public works department can have several bridge projects going on at any time. Its goal is to replace two bridges a year. The department recently finished rebuilding a bridge over the Kansas River in Lecompton at a price of $2.5 million.
Browning said the disaster in Minneapolis made bridges more of a public issue. But drivers don't need to worry about driving on the county's bridges, he said.
"KDOT and us have always done a good job." Browning said. "Bridges do collapse, and it has to warrant attention. You just can't take it for granted."
Edited by Matt Erickson
Jessie Fetterling/XANSAN
Cars run underneath the northbound 1-70 access bridge near Sixth and Iowa streets on Monday. Keith Browning, Douglas County public works director, said the bridge and others rated "structurally deficient" were not dangerous for drivers.
IMMIGRATION
Police arrest undocumented mom
Famous activist deported after leaving year-long refuge at Chicago church
BY PETER PRENGAMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor said.
Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change.
"She is free and in Tijuana," said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. "She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border."
She had just spoken at a Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where Arellano had been living.
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is now living with Coleman's family. During a news conference in Los Angeles
"From the time I took sanctuary, the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," she said in Spanish. "I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight."
after Arellano's arrest, the boy hid behind the pastor's wife and wiped away tears.
Arellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.
Arellano had said on Saturday that she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents.
She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.
She had not left the church property until she decided to travel by car to Los Angeles, Coleman said.
U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed her arrest and said she was deported Sunday night through San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Elvira Arellano worships during a Mass in Los Angeles on Sunday. Arellano was arrested outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church on LA's historic Olvera Street where she had been speaking to reporters, said the Rev. Waw Water Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago where she sought sanctuary last year.
POLITICS
Bush meets with North American leaders
BY BEN FELLER ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTEBELLO, Quebec — President Bush, tending to relations with two border nations, sought Monday to invigorate his partnership with like-minded leaders of Canada and Mexico.
Bush arrived by mid-afternoon in the Canadian countryside, where he will promote North American integration with Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Police in riot gear pushed back dozens of protesters marching just outside the gate of the resort compound, where a few hundred people gathered in demonstration.
of its kind during Bush's presidency, and each one has been meant to bolster a compact - dubbed the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America - that serves as a way for the nations to team up on health, security and commerce.
"I heard it's nothing," Harper said, dismissing the protests as Bush arrived at the posh Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello. Bush ducked a question about it and just smiled.
The broad theme of the event is economic prosperity, built around several topics: border security, competitiveness with India and China, product safety and energy solutions.
Bush will also be faced with matters of specific concern to each of the countries.
The two-day summit is the third
"I don't expect any major announcements," Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "I think it's a continuance of discussions that we have regularly with our two closest neighbors."
For Bush, the event also allows him to show that he does not take his neighbors for granted; they are both vital trading partners and energy providers for the U.S.
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