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LAWRENCE - Kansas offensive lineman Darius Parish was arrested Sunday and charged by the Johnson County District Court with criminal threat, criminal trespass and two counts of criminal damage.

Self doesn’t want Robinson to get down about his minutes.

“I’m really happy with Thomas because he tries so hard,” Self said. “I really think his best ball is still a month from now, when he can react instead of think. When that occurs, he’s going to look even more athletic.”

Parkinson was lieutenant governor until the resignation of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in April to join the Cabinet of President Barack Obama. It was assumed the new governor would be a candidate for a full term in 2010. He wants no part of it.

Starting in January, juniors and seniors in De Soto USD 232 could visit the prehistoric world one day and the Civil War the next.

The newly created Honors Archeology and Artifacts course, taught by Museum Connections instructor Keil Hileman, begins in the spring semester. And the course already has a waiting list for students.

K-State’s freshmen have been less noticeable in the Wildcats’ 10 other games, however. McGruder, the group’s top scorer, is averaging 5.9 points, and Judge, the group’s best rebounder, is averaging 3.5 rebounds.

On a team that leans on its veterans for point production, coach Frank Martin believes those stats are deceiving and that his youngest players performed reasonably well during their first semesters in college.

When I first met Marcus and Markieff Morris, it was late May 2008 and they were showing me around their native Philadelphia with their mother, Angel. Honestly, I couldn’t take my eyes off the 6-foot-8 Marcus and 6-foot-9 Markieff. I was struck by their obvious connection to one another - many twins share an intense connection, but it was immediately clear that Marcus and Markieff could not function without the other.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A northeast Kansas woman, her son and two other people have been bound over for trial in the killing of the woman’s husband.

Conservative legal groups, such as the Heritage Foundation, have argued that Congress cannot require people to purchase private insurance contracts.

Before the next snowflakes fall, we want to recognize the yeoman’s effort put forth by the city and contract employees who worked around the clock on Christmas and throughout the three-day weekend in an attempt to clear city streets of more than 11 inches of snow. That the work continues does nothing to diminish the importance of their labor.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Phases I and II of the Kansas City, Mo., snow ordinance ended at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, city officials said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Both optimists and pessimists among Kansas City’s long-suffering fans are pointing to Jamaal Charles as proof that they are right.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The University of Missouri system’s lesser-known Division I men’s basketball team pays a visit to Mizzou Arena on Wednesday night.

At some point — and this already has occurred in much of Western Europe — public sector spending tends to choke off private-sector growth. America’s current high unemployment levels have been commonplace in much of Western Europe for the last 25 years.

The question now is whether they will become commonplace in the United States in the decade ahead. The decision by the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress to hold public-sector employees in place while the private sector is gravely weakened has the potential to place us on that trajectory.

The unemployment data show that this recession has had a much greater effect on private-sector workers than on public employees, on men than on women, on blue-collar workers than on white-collar employees.

Social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter can expect more attention from cybercriminals in 2010, according to a new report (PDF) released Tuesday by McAfee Labs. Also at risk are users of Adobe Systems products including Acrobat Reader and Flash. And move over Microsoft; the security firm predicts that Google’s Chrome OS will “create another opportunity for malware writers to prey on users.”

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President Barack Obama has apparently issued a long-awaited executive order on classification that fulfills one of his campaign promises by setting up a National Declassification Center to oversee the release of historical documents. But the announcement, ironically, is shrouded in secrecy and confusion.

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The trend as of now favors conservatives.  Within the last few weeks, several credible conservative Republicans have emerged to run for seats that are currently held by Democrats.

Let’s start off with three pick offs that are more than likely to occur:

- John Rubin, in District 18, has announced he’s running against Cindy Neighbor, whom he narrowly lost to in 2008, a strong Democratic year.  Look for a Rubin victory here.  More about Rubin can be found at http://www.johnrubin.net

- Amanda Grosserode, in District 16, has announced she’s running against Gene Rardin, who has narrowly won the last two elections.  I would hate to be Gene Rardin, as Grosserode, a leader in the tea party movement and extremely well organized, will walk circles around Rardin.  More can be found out about Amanda athttp://www.amanda4kansas.com.

- Brett Hildabrand, in District 23, has announced he’s running against Milack Talia, who defeated August Bogina in 2008.  Hildabrand is a strong, liberty-based, pro-life conservative who will campaign hard for this district.  More about Brett can be found out athttp://hildabrand2010.com/.

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Many thanks to Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation for just beating the December 31 deadline for the dumbest comment of the year award. Regarding the failed terror attack on Flight 253, Vanden Heuvel writes:

I believe the lesson is that we need to end as quickly as possible the military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and call for an end to permanent war against Islamic terrorists.

The cover of Al Gore’s new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, features a satellite image of the globe showing four major hurricanes–results, we’re meant to believe, of man-made global warming. All four were photoshopped. Which is nice symbolism, because in a sense the whole hurricane aspect of warming has been photoshopped.

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Seventy-eight percent (78%) of voters nationwide say it’s at least somewhat likely that the health care reform legislation working its way through Congress will cost more than projected. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 14% believe the costs are not likely to exceed projections.

Eighty-one percent (81%) also think passage of the legislation is at least somewhat likely to lead to higher middle-class taxes.

The survey finds that 68% believe the legislation will increase the federal budget deficit. Only 11% say the program will achieve its stated goal of deficit reduction.

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The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 43% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 38% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

Support for GOP candidates slipped just one point over the past week, but support for Democrats rose two points.

Despite the decline, the latest numbers highlight a remarkable change in the political environment during 2009. When President Obama was inaugurated, the Democrats enjoyed a seven-point advantage on the Generic Ballot. That means the GOP has made a net gain of 12-percentage points over the course of the year. Support for Democrats has declined four points since the inauguration while Republican support is up eight points.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - GMAC Financial Services is expected to get about $3.5 billion in additional U.S. government aid to help the troubled lender absorb mortgage losses, a financial industry source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

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A Sturgis woman had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found earlier this month behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle parked on Interstate 90, according to Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal.

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) — France’s constitutional court rejected a proposed tax on carbon emissions, saying a web of exemptions violated the principal of equality and rendered efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions ineffective.

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As part of Olathe’s new citywide recycling program, recycled materials will be collected every other week beginning January 4, 2010. All residents received information with their new recycling carts advising of the schedule. Recycling for customers residing in “red” week areas of the city will begin the week of January 4th. Recycling for customers in “blue” areas begins the week of January 11th. Recycling will be collected on the same day as trash during designated weeks.

Anyone with questions about which week their recycling is collected can contact Olathe Customer Service at 971-9311 or through the citizen request system on the city’s website. In addition, a schedule and calendar are available on the municipal services section of the City’s website at www.OlatheKs.org.

NEW-Residents interested in receiving an automatic email reminder the day before their recycling pick-up is scheduled can sign-up on OlatheKs.org as well. The service is free. Simply create an on-line account and check the “recycling reminder” box at the bottom of the form.

Kansas Representative Lance Kinzer, District 14, will be the keynote speaker at our January Town Hall Meeting. (more…)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The “Peanuts” comic strip character Snoopy was named the top dog in pop culture by the American Kennel Club on Tuesday as part of its 125th anniversary celebration, beating out a college sports mascot.

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