6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2006
Give 'em a brake
April Schwindt, flagger for B.A. Green Construction, controls traffic flow near the intersection of 13th Street and Oread Avenue by the construction of the first half of what will be a roundabout and fountain. According to B.A. Green carpenter Dale Robb, the roundabout should be completed within the next two months.
PRISONS
Ex-cons down on their luck
BY DAVID TWIDDY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ed Zurga/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lamar Brooks has spent the past two weeks looking for a job and explaining to potential employers why he didn't need one for the past five years.
Brooks, 30, of Kansas City, was in federal prison on drug charges. He said that's been a tough obstacle as he's looked through newspaper and online classifieds and even had some interviews.
"Most people, when they hear you're a felon, they don't give you a chance," he said.
Lamar Brooks, right, scans the help wanted ads in the newspaper for a job while friend Harold Hagans looks on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. Brooks, released in April after serving five years in a federal prison on drug charges, said most people, when they heard he was a felon, didn't give him a chance.
Federal probation officials said employment is a common problem for ex-offenders trying to reinsert themselves into society after prison and can become a reason they return to crime.
On Thursday, federal probation officials in Kansas City will hold a career fair, matching an estimated 400 recently released offenders, such as Brooks, with around 20 companies willing to give them a shot.
"We felt there was a need for prisoner re-entry in the Kansas City area," said Chi King, who is coordinating the event. "We're just trying to hook them up with employers where they already know from the get-go what they're getting. It removes that one barrier and we're hoping there will be some good matches as a result of this."
The felons go through a one-day job readiness class that helps them develop a resume and instructs them on how to deal with the inevitable questions about their past. King said the companies range from typical service industries to white collar jobs, trying to push offenders toward real careers that will stick with them.
"Job-seeking is stressful enough," King said. "But when you add on the stigma of a felon and you walk into an interview knowing you're going to have to explain that felony, it's down-right frightening."
Last year, the St. Louis program matched 550 former offenders with 42 employers and another 20 organizations providing job training or other community resources. Coordinator Scott Anders estimates the program has a 15 percent placement rate.
The event mirrors a job placement program federal probation officials in St. Louis began in 2002 that has become a model for federal and state jurisdictions around the country.
In addition, probation officers have developed partnerships with apprenticeship programs and steered job training toward areas of high job growth, such as computer training, hotel management and auto repair.
The program now holds annual conferences to teach its lessons to other prison and probation officials, Anders said, adding that only four other federal court districts offer similar job match programs for offenders.
tion for the U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri, said 81 percent of people who violated federal probation or parole last year were unemployed at the time. His district's caseload of 1,800 individuals averages an unemployment rate of just 3 percent.
Helping ex-convicts find work hasn't been a priority for federal and state probation offices, which are focused on substance abuse problems, Anders and Burris said.
"It's real important that there's a work force culture in law enforcement agencies so employment is a priority," he said.
Doug Burris, chief of proba-
"I hope to find someone who will take a chance on me," he said.
LEGISLATURE
Sebelius declares 'victory for Kansans'
BY JOHN MILBURN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — While the school finance debate will never end, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday she was pleased that legislators completed the task of increasing funding for the state's 300 school districts.
She declared a "victory for Kansans" a day after legislators sent her a package to increase school funding by $541 million over three years. She said the package satisfied a goal she established in January of passing a multiyear plan addressing concerns identified in a legislative study on education costs that leaders in both parties would support.
"I fully intend to sign the
The plan, drafted by House and Senate negotiators, assumes $75 million in additional contributions to teacher pensions. It would rely on existing revenues to support the new spending, which could create budget problems by 2008.
Senators voted 21-18 late Tuesday to send the plan to governor, hours after the House approved it, 66-54.
would prefer they dismiss the lawsuit. It's never comfortable to operate in the shadow of a court's judgement."
bill headed to my desk," Sebelius said during a news conference.
But Johnson County legislators in both chambers didn't like
"I hope that meets the test," Sebelius said. "I see this very much as a commitment that we have made."
Part of the Supreme Court's mandate is to increase spending on programs that help poor students and students at risk of failing academically. Supporters said the plan meets those concerns.
After being signed by Sebelius, the plan would be ready for review by the Kansas Supreme Court, which had ordered lawmakers to increase school funding.
Kathleen Sebelius Kansas governor
Wichita attorney Alan Rupe, who filed the case in 1999 on behalf of the Salina and Dodge City school districts, already has said the package misses the mark.
Ron Keefover, a spokesman for the court, said the court's review would likely be triggered by a motion filed by attorneys expressing favor or disfavor. The court would then schedule when briefs will be filed and a hearing date.
"The court is going to act as expeditiously as possible," Keefover said.
Added Sebelius, "I would prefer they dismiss the lawsuit. It's never comfortable to operate in the shadow of a court's jurisdiction."
NATION
the compromise and all voted against it.
Their issue was how much authority school districts would have to increase local property taxes to supplement their state aid. While the
WESTMINSTER, Texas
WESTMINSTER, Texas
- Authorities went door to door in a search for victims Wednesday after twisters ripped through rural North Texas overnight, reducing homes to concrete slabs and killing at least three people.
The commission is expected to suggest changes in the way the state funds programs for students at risk of failure. Those policies will be the basis for legislative initiatives to close the achievement gap among student groups.
Texas officials search for victims of twisters
TH
At least 26 homes were destroyed. Ten people were hospitalized and dozens of others were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
county's schools benefit from various provisions, its legislators viewed taxing authority as vital.
State law allows districts to use property taxes to generate revenues equal to 27 percent of their general fund budgets, and the percentages would increase to 30 percent next year and 31 percent for the plan's second and third years.
An elderly couple were found dead in a destroyed mobile home in Westminster,
Sebelius said she was disappointed that Johnson County's needs weren't met and promised to continue working with the county's lawmakers, as well as working for funding all-day kindergarten statewide.
Many Johnson County legislators wanted the cap removed if the court deems state aid to all districts sufficient.
Senate President Steve Morris said a commission established last year can review trends and needs in Kansas education, putting the onus on legislators to respond:
about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, Collin County Fire Marshal Steve Deffibaugh said. He said a 14-year-old was found dead in a home in neighboring Grayson County.
Christy Adame, who lives a half-mile from the home where the elderly couple died, took shelter in a closet with her husband and two sons.
"It sounded like a regular thunderstorm, then it went crazy," said Cathy Dotson, who huddled on the floor of her Westminster home with her grandchildren when the tornado hit Tuesday night. "I could actually feel my house move."
The Associated Press