4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY, MAY 1, 2006
NATIONAL
Christina Jennings, left to right, Allie Szymczak, Betty Baumgertner, Urooj Mughal and Reid Rector join thousands of protestors on The Mall to protest the genocide in Darfur on Sunday in Washington. Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration to use its political muscle to help end genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.
Thousands rally to spur action in Sudan
BY ELIZABETH WHITE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration to use its political muscle to help end genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.
"Not on our watch," the crowd began chanting as a parade of speakers lined up for their turn on a stage on the National Mall, the Capitol serving as a backdrop.
"The personal motivation for a lot of us is the Holocaust," said Boston-based Rabbi Or Rose of Jewish Seminarians for Justice. "Given our history and experience, we feel an obligation to stand up and speak out."
The organizers' permit estimated a turnover of 10,000 to 15,000 for the rally, one of several planned in U.S. cities over the weekend over what the United Nations has termed the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
"It is the socially responsible, good conscience thing to do," said Ron Fisher, who took a pre-dawn bus from Cleveland with his 15-year-old daughter Jordyn to attend the demonstration. "It an opportunity to show my daughter what people do when they care about something."
The U.S. Park Police, which does not issue crowd estimates, reported no arrests. "It's a large crowd. I think they have a really good turnout," Sgt. Scott Fear said.
The event attracted high-profile speakers from the worlds of
"We need deeds,not words. They need
to come to Darfur today, not tomorrow,because what is going on is a disaster."
Hassan Cober
Sudanese refugee
screen, athletics, religion and politics: actor George Clooney, just back from a trip to Africa; Sen. Barack Obama, D-Dll; House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California; Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel; Olympic speedskating champion Joey Cheek, who donated his bonus money to projects in war-torn Darfur; and Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of
Washington.
Refugee Hassan Cober said he was forced to leave his family and flee Sudan four years ago after many were killed and raped in his village. He urged the U.S. and the United Nations to act quickly, saying he had no idea where his family was or if they were OK.
"We need deeds, not words," said Cober, who now lives in Portland, Maine. "They need to come to Darfur today, not tomorrow, because what is going on is a disaster."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a broadcast interview, noted developments Sunday in Nigeria, where Sudan's government said it was ready to sign a peace agreement to end the bloodshed. Rebels, however, rejected the draft deal.
STATE
BY JOHN MILBURN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
House revises education bill
TOPEKA — A House committee axed $65 million Saturday from a Senate school finance plan, sending the revised bill to the House, where passage is far from certain.
The new $401 million package assembled by the House Select Committee on School Finance would phase in funding over three years and make changes to a bill that senators approved 24-16 on Thursday.
The package largely fol
The package lows previous bills with where the dollars are spent, but it makes much smaller allotments to the state's 300 school districts.
legislators must increase school spending to satisfy last year's Kansas Supreme Court order.
It is the House's second attempt at a school finance plan this session. A coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats pushed through a $633 million plan in March. One coalition leader said nothing appears to have changed to budge the group from its position.
Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, said he was pleased that the committee acted because it pushed legislators closer to negotiating the final version of a school finance bill.
"Certainly, there's nothing there to take votes away from the coalition," said Rep. Ward Loyd, R-Garden City. "Our intent is to reaffirm the school finance plan that was adopted by the House."
Legislators must increase school spending to satisfy last year's Kansas Supreme Court order in a lawsuit filed in 1999 over how much the state spends on schools and how the funds
are distributed.
Rep. Kathe Decker, chairwoman of the school finance committee, said debate was expected on the plan Monday or Tuesday.
Pass or fail, she expected to begin negotiations with senators to reach a compromise. Doing so would expedite the end of the wrap-up session, which began Wednesday.
Decker said she thought the plan could have votes from some members of the coalition, in particular Johnson County moderates, who expressed
support for a provision giving 17 districts with higher-than-average housing costs authority to raise additional local taxes
"If not, we'll
go to conference with what the Senate did," said Decker, R-Clay Center.
All the proposals in play rely on existing state revenues for the next three years, though some budget projections point to problems funding the third year.
And neither the House nor the Senate followed a cost study from the Legislative Division of Post Audit, presented on the session's first day in January.
That study, required by the court, said the state should increase its share of education spending by as much as $470 million in the 2006-07 school year, then by $216 million in 2007-08 and $146 million in 2008-09. That is $832 million over three years.
Democrats suggested that heftier spending increases for programs for students at risk of failing academically would address the crux of the court's 2005 ruling.
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