The Star reports that Hopkins is a current leader with the National League of Cities, an anti-capitalist organization that opposes private property.
But Hopkins’ public service has not been confined to Prairie Village. Since 1994, she has served continuously in various committee positions for the National League of Cities. That work was crowned in 2004, when Hopkins won a two-year term on the League of Cities’ board of directors. She now serves on the body’s advisory council.
At the county level, Hopkins has become an expert on the issue of solid waste disposal. She currently serves on the Mid America Regional Council’s Solid Waste Committee, and chairs the Johnson County Solid Waste Committee.
Hopkins said she was “phenomenally honored” to be recognized by the Johnson County League of Women Voters.
“A goal of mine is to get more women involved in politics,” she said. “I think women are still such a minority. I love going to talk to groups like the Girl Scouts. It’s great to get them started early, to let them know there are opportunities available, and it’s so important to get involved.”
One of her great pleasures as a public servant, Hopkins said, is to see how effective the democratic process can be in real peoples’ lives..
“People call me, they’re so frustrated, and with a call to the public works director, I can take care of it,” she said. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is that democracy works best at the local level. It gets so much more politicized and complicated as you move up.”
Connie Kesselring looked out her back window recently and saw 13 deer grazing in her backyard.
They’ve destroyed plants and shrubbery and are even eating her evergreens.
“There’s deer poop all over the yard and, of course, the dog wants to eat that,” she said.
Kesselring moved six years ago to a Lenexa home that is next to Shawnee Mission Park.
She was among 40 people who spoke Wednesday at a public hearing on the deer overpopulation at the park. The hearing, held at the Shawnee Civic Centre and attended by more than 100, was conducted by the Johnson County Park and Recreation Board.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - A Merriam hospital has agreed to settle a federal investigation into how it handles and stores hazardous waste.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that Shawnee Mission Medical Center will pay $83,488 to settle the matter. The hospital also will provide the EPA with inventories of its solid waste and make quarterly reports for one year on how is it identifying and disposing of hazardous waste.
The hospital is not admitting or denying wrongdoing.
A pack of charity motorcycle riders is camped out at the Topeka Service Area on the Kansas Turnpike, poised to merge back onto the turnpike and head east with help from the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Late this morning, the Kyle Petty Charity Ride entered the turnpike at the I-70 connection at the eastern edge of town, and was to continue east toward the turnpike’s Eastern Terminal.
Cathleen Curless, who fills a new 10th board seat, will serve through the Kansas City pasta-maker’s 2012 annual meeting, AIPC (Nasdaq: AIPC) said in a Tuesday release. Curless has expertise in strategic planning and information technology systems integration and use, the release said. From 2001 to 2007, she was chief information officer for Topeka-based Payless Shoesource Worldwide (NYSE: PSS) and handled the company’s global IT systems portfolio.
TOPEKA | The legal fight over prosecuting Planned Parenthood continued today with arguments before the Kansas Supreme Court.
At issue is whether subpoenas from former Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline were improperly quashed by a district judge. Kline filed charges against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri alleging that its Overland Park clinic performed illegal abortions and then falsified records handed over to prosecutors.
Kline subpoenaed four people for records, including those from the state health agency to make his case, but those records - which do not contain identifying information - are carefully protected by state law.
After a district court judge quashed the subpoenas, Kline appealed. He has since left office. His successor, District Attorney Steve Howe, said the case against Planned Parenthood is on hold until the Supreme Court rules on the subpoenas.
“We’re just waiting for the ruling by the court,” Howe said. “We don’t know how to proceed until then.”
The Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, which went through Topeka Wednesday, is now in its 15th year.
Petty’s motivation these days - apart from raising millions of dollars for children’s charities - is to try to equal what, for him, was the perfect motorcycle trip.
“I thought it would make it to the third year and that would be about it, to be honest with you,” Petty said. “The first year we had so much fun. The second year it seemed so much like work that we almost didn’t want to do it the third year.
TOPEKA, Kan. | The Kansas State Board of Education has refused to grant a teaching license to a former Topeka mayor who served time in prison.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported on its Web site that Doug Wright said he was “very disappointed” after the board’s 6-4 vote Tuesday. Wright said he had been “rehabilitated.”
Kansas had 27 layoffs of at least 50 workers in the first quarter of 2009, up from 25 mass layoffs in the fourth quarter and up from seven in the first quarter of 2008, according to statistics released Tuesday.
Layoffs in the aviation industry have impacted Wichita’s economy in the last six months, but data released by the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that the work-force reductions statewide extend well beyond the aerospace industry.
Kansas reported 3,009 initial claims for unemployment insurance in the first quarter, down from 4,238 in the fourth quarter and up from 1,619 claims in the first quarter of 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A KU student was critically hurt early Sunday after he fell from a retaining wall in Lawrence, and officials say alcohol was involved.
Officials say Sam Hedrick was treated for a concussion at Lawrence Memorial Hospital before being transferred to the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Officials in Hedrick’s fraternity say they are unsure what caused the fall, but they say the incident was not connected to any official event hosted by the frat.
David’s victory over Goliath, in the Biblical account, is held to be an anomaly. It was not. Davids win all the time. The political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft recently looked at every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants. The Goliaths, he found, won in 71.5 per cent of the cases. That is a remarkable fact. Arreguín-Toft was analyzing conflicts in which one side was at least ten times as powerful-in terms of armed might and population-as its opponent, and even in those lopsided contests the underdog won almost a third of the time. (more…)
In hockey it’s called the third-man-in rule — the third man in to any fight gets thrown out of the game. I was never a fan of that rule. If your teammate needs help in a fight — even if he started it — you’re pretty much expected to join in. So it’s not surprising that Rasmussen found:
Forty-nine percent (49%) of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the United States should help Israel. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% believe the United States should do nothing while just 2% believe the U.S. should help Iran.
I suspect that the other 37 percent is split between those who don’t think Israel is a friend and ally of the United States (isolationists and anti-Semites) and those who believe that war is never the answer (pacifists and Communists).
Also noteworthy:
Sixty-six percent (66%) of all voters now say that preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is more important than preventing war between Iran and Israel. That’s up fourteen percentage points from 52% last July.
The Times reviewed every case on record in the last 15 years in which a tenured employee was fired by a California school district and formally contested the decision before a review commission: 159 in all (not including about two dozen in which the records were destroyed). The newspaper also examined court and school district records and interviewed scores of people, including principals, teachers, union officials, district administrators, parents and students.
Among the findings:
* Building a case for dismissal is so time-consuming, costly and draining for principals and administrators that many say they don’t make the effort except in the most egregious cases. The vast majority of firings stem from blatant misconduct, including sexual abuse, other immoral or illegal behavior, insubordination or repeated violation of rules such as showing up on time.
* Although in general, districts press ahead with only the strongest cases, even these get knocked down more than a third of the time by the specially convened review panels, which have the discretion to restore teachers’ jobs even when grounds for dismissal are proved.
* Jettisoning a teacher solely because he or she can’t teach is rare. In 80% of the dismissals that were upheld, classroom performance was not even a factor.
When teaching is at issue, years of effort — and thousands of dollars — sometimes go into rehabilitating the teacher as students suffer. Over the three years before he was fired, one struggling math teacher in Stockton was observed 13 times by school officials, failed three year-end evaluations, was offered a more desirable assignment and joined mentoring programs as most of his ninth-grade students flunked his courses.
In somewhat of a continuation of Matthew Miller’s/MWS’s discussions of “conservative populism” (title pending) and a new party coalition centered in the Industrial North in 2012, perhaps we overlooked a highly accomplished candidate from a Midwestern state: Mitch Daniels. Last December, Michael Barone highlighted a press release from Daniels’ 2012 campaign manager. Some highlights from the press release:
Daniels won southern Indiana by 57%. Southern Indiana is known as Blue Dog/Reagan Democratic territory and is currently represented in Congress by D-Rep. Baron Hill and D-Rep. Brad Ellsworth. Hill won re-election 57-38% and Ellsworth won re-election 64-35%.
Daniels won every county in the blue collar UAW region (Howard, Grant, Madison, Delaware ), an improvement from 2004.
Daniels received 20% of the African American vote, up 13% from 2004. In 2004, Daniels lost Marion County (the state’s largest county/Indianapolis) by 18,000 and won it this year by 48,000 votes. To further illustrate this over-performance, Daniels received 7,000 more votes in Center Township than he did in 2004, up 10%. Center Township is the heart of Marion County and is represented by D-Rep. Andre Carson in Congress. Daniels got 31.6% of the votes from African American majority precincts throughout Indianapolis. Daniels received 71,000 more votes in Marion County than Senator McCain.
Independent voters favored Daniels 57%-39%, a massive 38 point swing from 2004 when this group of ticket-splitters favored his opponent 58%-38%.
…Daniels won every age demographic, including the 18-29 year-olds by nine points (51%-42%). 18-29 year-olds were 19% of the Indiana electorate in 2008, compared to McCain receiving 35% of Hoosier 18-29 year olds. Seniors 65 and older were his strongest demographic, supporting him by 36 points (67%-31%). This is a 19 point improvement over 2004, when Daniels lost voters 60 and over by two points (48%-50 %.).
A refresher for those unfamiliar: CDC monitors the cell-phone-only population because it conducts huge ongoing health “surveillance” surveys via telephone, and as such, asks questions about telephone usage on their ongoing, in-person National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Traditionally, telephone surveys have relied exclusively on random digit dial (RDD) samples that reach only those with landline phone service. These regular CDC estimates are a big reason why most national media polls are now including samples of cell phone users.
The NCHS estimate of the percentage of American households with only wireless phones increased 2.7 percentage points (from 17.5% to 20.2%), amounting to “the largest 6-month increase observed since NHIS began collecting data on wireless-only households in 2003,” according to the report. They also note a big jump in what some call “cell-phone mostlys. “One of every seven American homes (14.5%) received all or almost all calls on wireless telephones, despite having a landline telephone in the home.”
With the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that fewer people are moving because of the bad economy, 90% of U.S. voters say they have lived in the state where they are today for more than five years.
Just two percent (2%) say they’ve only been in the state where they now reside for less than a year, while another seven percent (7%) say they’ve been in their present state for one to five years, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Seventy-four percent (74%) of voters say they’ve lived in the same place for more than 20 years. For 11 percent (11%), their present state hasn’t changed in 10 to 20 years, and five percent (5%) say their home state has been the same for five to 10 years.
There is a magnet that can detect malaria at the flick of a switch, a flu-resistant chicken, an “antiviral” tomato and a vaccine enhanced with the use of a laser. The ideas are so bold that, as the scientists behind them admit, they can often struggle for funding.
Today, though, more than 80 projects at the far edge of innovation in global health research will share millions of pounds of grants to support unorthodox thinking - and the outside chance of a world-changing discovery.
Among the recipients, announced today by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of their Grand Challenges initiative, are three British scientific teams pursuing novel approaches to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and pneumonia, as well as viruses such as HIV.
A team of engineers from the University of Exeter is attempting to create a handheld, battery-powered device that uses a magnet to detect the presence of malaria parasites in blood - and dramatically speed the diagnosis of the disease.
Rather than pander, he says, the goal of the NCNA is to launch “a wide-open policy discussion,” but one based on conservative principles. He lists free markets, individual freedom, and faith in God as being at the core of the project.
While Cantor makes clear that the Council is an official caucus and not a vehicle for electioneering, he believes it will help Republicans expand their party. Cantor assures conservative critics and skeptics that “conservative credentials are there and are really guiding the effort.” Right now is an “opportunity,” he says, for “our agenda to begin to attract independents.”
And about the name: Cantor says it’s merely a “recognition of the fact we’re in the 21st century,” acknowledging our need to embrace technology, competition, and meet new challenges.
The Council’s initial event in northern Virginia featured Cantor along with Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney.
But what if Tom Ridge and Arnold Schwarzenegger want in on the next one? Cantor dismisses concerns, citing Reagan’s 11th Commandment and emphasizing the importance of coalition building. “We’ve got to rally around the things that unite us,” he says.
According to Colvin, Ben Franklin would take essays from The Spectator magazine and translate them into verse. Then he’d translate his verse back into prose and examine, sentence by sentence, where his essay was inferior to The Spectator’s original.Coyle describes a tennis academy in Russia where they enact rallies without a ball. The aim is to focus meticulously on technique. (Try to slow down your golf swing so it takes 90 seconds to finish. See how many errors you detect.)…
Coyle and Colvin describe dozens of experiments fleshing out this process. This research takes some of the magic out of great achievement. But it underlines a fact that is often neglected. Public discussion is smitten by genetics and what we’re “hard-wired” to do. And it’s true that genes place a leash on our capacities. But the brain is also phenomenally plastic. We construct ourselves through behavior. As Coyle observes, it’s not who you are, it’s what you do.
Obama has said he hopes to get out of the car business soon, and he has urged private investors to replace the government as the source of ongoing funds. But no executive in her right mind would take that gamble when it is clear that, in dealing with the government, private capital will always take a back seat to politically powerful entities. Bankruptcy — which everyone has dreaded until now — may prove an unlikely balm. Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 last week, and GM may be facing a similar fate. At least in this arena, long-established rules, and not political favoritism, will play a pivotal role in deciding who gets what. It will also bring some business discipline to decisions that will shape the companies — and, I hope, enable them to pay back every red cent I’m owed.
Republicans and conservatives have a lot of work to do over the coming months and years. In one way, an additional Democratic senator and a younger liberal Supreme Court justice make the hurdles a little higher. But Arlen Specter and David Souter weren’t going to help the cause of a revitalized conservatism–and their departures provide a chance to begin to clarify the alternative to Obama-ism that conservatives must offer in time for 2010, and especially 2012.
Of the 537 men and women elected to federal office, he is the only one who ever had to stiffen his spine and peer into that abyss. No one speaks to the American people on this issue from a position of greater authority.
McCain was adamantly opposed to the methods used by the Bush Administration. But in this hour of grave national unseriousness, he has chosen to be the adult in the room.
After years of protesting the extreme techniques, McCain’s message of late has been simple: dutiful public servants attempting to shield the American people from another terrorist attack shouldn’t be prosecuted because they failed to anticipate that a future administration wouldn’t like their advice. If we expect these men and women to devote the full force of their talents to keeping the nation safe, then we have to promise them something better than victors’ justice. Only a suicidal society flogs those who are trying to save it.
At the heart of liberal democracy, there is a notion - humble and just - that policy differences are not to be criminalized. Destroy that standard and you substitute the raw force of power for the cool reason of law. If John McCain’s courageous stand can preserve that principle, he will have saved a hallmark of the American system. And he will have earned his place in history.
A survey found that 65% of Daily Kos’ discussion of a recent Olbermann segment is negative.
Last week, Fox News’ Sean Hannity made an off-the-cuff offer to partake in waterboarding for charity, an announcement that MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann met with his own charity offer.
“For every second you last, a thousand dollars — live or on tape, provided other networks’ cameras are there,” the MSNBC anchor said. “A thousand dollars a second, Sean, because this is no game. This is serious stuff. Put your money where your mouth is, and your nose. Oh, and I’ll double it when you admit you feared for your life, when you admit the horrible truth — waterboarding, the symbol of the last administration, is torture.”
