Baby, mom, dad, share birthday; 2,000 tickets by trooper; fake kidnapping

By WILLIAM SMITH

The Hawk Eye

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Despite a failing kidney that drained her energy, stiffened her joints and forced her on dialysis, Burlington resident Samantha Ripple never asked anyone for a kidney transplant.

It just went against her code of ethics.

"The doctors were like, 'The best option would be for you to find a living donor," she told The Hawk Eye (http://bit.ly/1P96rtW). "I don't feel comfortable going up to someone and being like, 'Hey, how's it going? You like the weather today? You think you could give me a kidney?' I didn't ask anybody."

If not for her friend and boss, Margo White, the 40yearold Ripple still would be on the donor list, doing her best to make it to the bathroom without vomiting. The two underwent a kidneyswap surgery a couple of weeks ago, and now Ripple is running around with more energy than she's had years.

"I probably told Margo 4,000 times that it's OK to say no, up to the morning of the transplant," Ripple said.

White, 41, of West Burlington listened to Ripple's repeated protests with the patience of a woman who made her mind up long ago.

Though White's body will have to adjust to having one less kidney, her weariness will pass. The warmth of giving her friend the ultimate gift will last the rest of her life.

"I'm in awe of that," said Ripple, who was struggling to hold back tears. "She never once faltered."

Both Ripple and White have been registered nurses at the Great River Klein Center for the past decade (Ripple is coming up on her 10th year), and Ripple's failing health was more than noticeable to her colleagues. By midmorning, Ripple's knees would be so swollen she couldn't bend them.

She was put on the kidney donor list in July of 2015 and was told it likely would take two to three years to get one from a cadaver. Though Ripple had to endure eight hours of dialysis every night, she already had accepted her fate. She didn't want to push it on someone else.

"I always said I would never get a living donor," Ripple said.

Her fellow nurses at the Klein Center had other ideas.

"They kept bothering me. They're like, 'So what do we have to be a donor?' and I was like, 'That's just silly,' " Ripple said.

Four Klein Center staff members and the mother of one staff member signed up for testing to see if their kidneys would work in Ripple's body, but White was the only perfect match.

"I had hounded her (Ripple) for the (transplant) papers, and I had talked to my husband about it, and he was on board with it," White said.

She may be the head nurse, but White treats her staff like a family, always keeping the atmosphere light. When they aren't helping patients, the nurses at the Klein Center usually joke around with each other.

"When Margo announced it to the staff, she said, 'I would do this for any of you, but it's first come, first serve,' " Ripple said with a laugh.

It took quite a bit of testing to determine if any of the staff would match, and Ripple was standing next to White when the confirmation call came in. White was given the option to tell White herself, or have a transplant official spill the beans.

White just laughed off the second option.

"I said, 'If I know her well enough to give her a kidney, I think I know her well enough to tell her,' " White said with a grin.

The miracle call came just before Christmas, and White had to undergo further testing to make sure she was physically fit enough for the surgery. The women were placed sideby-side in the surgery room, and White's kidney was only in the air for a matter of seconds before it became a part of Ripple's body.

"It's not uncommon for a living donor kidney to last 20 or 30 years, because they have a better congestive rate," Ripple said.

That means more blood flow and less chance of rejection than a kidney from a recently deceased donor. Ripple was forced to get a kidney transplant 13 years ago due to complications with Type I diabetes. Her donor, Nick Thomas Jones, 22, of Oskaloosa had died in a car accident 30 hours earlier, on New Year's Eve.

"I met with his parents and talked to his mom, and they were very supportive," Ripple said.

Ripple still keeps in contact with the mother of her original donor, which isn't that surprising, considering the passion she has for her job. Klein Center is a retirement community for those who no longer can take care of themselves. Both Ripple and White love their jobs, which made Ripple's illness all the more frustrating. She never called in sick.

"I like the elder population. I think they deserve a lot of respect and dignity," Ripple said. "It's like going to work and taking care of 16 of your grandmas and grandpas every day. You get to hug them."

Ripple has a 6yearold daughter at home, and White is happy her coworker will have enough energy to play with her again. The rest of the Klein Center nursing staff has pitched in as well, selling Tshirts to help defray the cost of the surgery.

"Before the transplant, I kept thinking, 'I can't imagine how (Ripple's) mom feels not being able to help daughter, and how helpless that feeling would be,' " White said.

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Information from: The Hawk Eye, http://www.thehawkeye.com

An AP Member Exchange shared by The Hawk Eye.

By REECE RISTAU

Omaha World-Herald

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Imagine if battling slick and dangerous road conditions caused by snowstorms could be as easy as flipping a switch.

Chris Tuan, a professor of civil engineering for the University of Nebraska at the Peter Kiewit Institute, has been perfecting an electrically semiconductive concrete over the past 20 years.

The mixture includes a 20 percent mix of steel fibers, shavings and carbon added to a traditional concrete mix. Steel reinforcing bars serve as the conductor, and once electricity is added, the concrete heats to 35 to 40 degrees — just enough to melt the ice and snow.

In a demonstration outside the Peter Kiewit Institute, Tuan threw a handful of snow on a small area of fenced-in concrete. Within about 90 seconds, it melted.

Mitchell Kowalewski, Tuan's graduate research assistant, sees myriad future benefits.

"You're no longer having the city people out to de-ice it, you're no longer having to shovel it, and in industrial applications, you can use this on loading dock areas so you're no longer having injury on the job," Kowalewski said. "It'll decongest and make areas safer."

Tuan said the concrete is likely too expensive to be universally applied. But his hope is that accident-prone roads — bridges, interstate exit ramps and intersections — will eventually all be paved with the mix. He also envisions an Internet-connected system that can monitor weather conditions and turn on automatically prior to a winter storm.

For now, the concrete can't be used in public spaces. Anything exposed and electrified above 48 volts — much less than the 208 volts used in Tuan's concrete — is considered high voltage and is not allowed. Federal law will have to be rewritten to change that.

Although the concrete is more expensive — about $180 more per cubic yard than regular concrete — he said the long-term benefits pay off.

"You have to compare apple with apple," Tuan told the Omaha World-Herald (http://bit.ly/1UNXmZ1 ). "Compare $300 versus $120 — $300 you have a de-icing function, and $120 you don't have anything, and you have to spray salt or de-icing chemicals and that degrades your concrete."

Tuan said traditional concrete needs to be replaced every five years or so. Without chemical use, the electric concrete lasts much longer, with fewer potholes. His concrete is also maintenance-free, because the power cords and conductive rods are encased in the concrete and not exposed to the elements.

This concept is different from the hydraulic system often used for residential driveways, Tuan said. Traditionally, heating fluids, such as antifreeze or warm water, are pumped through pipes embedded in the concrete, a method Tuan said is expensive and wastes more energy.

The Federal Aviation Administration is monitoring Tuan's work and is considering integrating the technology into airport tarmacs.

However, he said the FAA isn't interested in runways; those can be cleared in a matter of minutes with plows. The concrete would be used in the fenced-off luggage and food-loading areas near planes, which are often the cause of flight delays.

The method itself is safe, Tuan said, but each project would require individual specifications to ensure safety. He said conductivity, the spacing of the electrodes and the size and thickness of the slab of concrete are all factors to consider. In warmer weather, the electricity would simply be shut off, the concrete back to normal until the next snowfall.

The de-icing concrete has already been tested in the real world. In 2003, Tuan installed 52 slabs of the concrete onto the 150-foot Roca spur bridge 15 miles south of Lincoln. The five-year test showed the method was workable. Melting snow on the bridge cost about $250 per major snowstorm.

In 2013 Tuan also implemented his concrete on ramps in China. He recently installed a private driveway in Regency using the legally allowed 48-volt limit, which is less energy efficient.

"If the government or if insurance agencies approve this technology, then everybody can use it," Tuan said. "But right now, it's almost cost prohibitive."

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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Omaha World-Herald.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former Wisconsin Capitol Police officer is accused of stealing and selling a state-owned painting by Wisconsin artist Aaron Bohrod.

Travis Sackett, 32, of Tempe, Arizona, was charged Friday with theft and misconduct in public office, both felonies, the Wisconsin State Journal (http://bit.ly/1PsbumZ ) reported. He's scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

According to the complaint, Sackett was a Capitol Police officer from March 2009 to February 2011. He worked nights at the governor's mansion in Maple Bluff.

A Bohrod painting called "Gold Fantasy Box" was discovered missing from storage at the residence last month and recovered from a Connecticut art dealer. The complaint says the painting was sold in February 2011.

A state employee tracked the missing painting down on the Internet. Joan Sample, who works for the state Department of Administration, was hired to audit and catalog state-owned property at the governor's residence. All of the artwork was accounted for except a piece by Bohrod, a former UW-Madison artist-in-residence who died in 1992. The painting in its gold and velvet frame was missing from the security room of the residence, the complaint said.

Sample looked on the Internet and found the painting for sale by a Connecticut art dealer.

The art dealer who bought the painting said he paid "about $2,000" for it and had it for sale for $3,000. Donald Barese, of Don Barese Fine Art and Antiques in Hamden, Connecticut, said he had the painting up for sale for four years but, "It didn't sell."

The surreal-style painting features a bright gold-colored chest with gold-colored toys and a white glove. Barese said the man who sold the painting to him said he bought it at an estate sale for $400.

Capitol Police referred calls from the newspaper to a supervisor who would not be available until Monday. A spokesman for the Department of Administration, which controls the property, was unaware of the case. It was unclear Saturday if Sackett has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The student newspaper at the University of Kansas has filed a lawsuit accusing university administrators of approving funding cuts to the newspaper that were enacted after an editorial critical of the student Senate.

The University Daily Kansan's leadership filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas. The lawsuit accuses University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Tammara Durham of approving funding cuts to the newspaper made by the student Senate in violation of the newspaper's freedom of speech protections.

University spokesman Joe Monaco told The Topeka Capital-Journal (http://bit.ly/1Q22x9R) Friday he didn't know anything about the lawsuit and said no one was immediately available to comment. He did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.

A spokesman for the student Senate didn't immediately return a call early Friday evening.

The lawsuit comes after a May 2014 editorial in the student newspaper by Mark Johnson, president of the Kansan's board of directors. The editorial highlighted "inadequacies" in the student Senate election code and what the paper called a "confusing" appeals process.

The lawsuit also alleges that throughout the next annual budget review of the Kansan's student fees, student senators used the process to punish the newspaper's leadership for unflattering coverage. The newspaper sought to maintain its funding level of $2 per student per semester, or about $90,000 a year. But in February 2015 the student senate's fee review committee voted to cut the fee to $1, reducing funding by about $45,000.

The lawsuit alleges that as the Kansan's fee made its way through the senate process, the newspaper's content was discussed multiple times. The full Senate approved a $1 fee cut on April 1, 2015.

"We want our funding restored and we want acknowledgment that there was a First Amendment violation," said Katie Kutsko, the newspaper's former editor in chief, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

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Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Suburban Chicago police say three people face felony disorderly conduct charges for allegedly faking a kidnapping in hopes of getting money to pay gambling debts.

WLS-TV reports (http://abc7.ws/1QNixcH ) 25-year-old Joseph Vicario and his 21-year-old girlfriend Amanda Woods allegedly called Vicario's mother, Rose, on Friday and said they were being held by assailants.

Bridgeview police say Woods later called Rose Vicario to say they were being held by individuals who demanded $3,000 and then $4,000. She told officers it sounded like her son was being beaten during the calls.

Woods, Joseph Vicario and 26-year-old Shane Ablan were arrested after being found unharmed in a car. They were being held Saturday without bond at the Cook County Jail.

It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could speak on their behalf.

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Information from: WLS-TV.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has placed a deputy on administrative duty after learning the deputy is under federal investigation.

The unidentified deputy has been under federal investigation for more than two years.

In a statement, Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said Saturday the move was made because the deputy had not informed the sheriff's office of the investigation. The nature of the investigation was not disclosed.

No charges have been filed. The name of the deputy is not being released while the investigation continues. A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation declined comment to the Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/20A1IK7).

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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com

By JOHN CANIGLIA & JO ELLEN CORRIGAN

The Plain Dealer

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — The hockey mom from Philadelphia hit 82 mph and never saw the silver patrol car in the median of the Ohio Turnpike.

When she finally realized her fate and hit the brakes, Trooper John Williams already had pulled out. He hit the accelerator to catch up to her and switched on his blue flashing lights.

Minutes later, the woman appeared to seethe as Williams, ever polite, handed her the speeding ticket and wished her a safe trip.

The officer went on to make 11 stops in the next eight hours. For Williams, 39, that has become a typical day: He has written more tickets than any trooper in Ohio from 2010 through 2014, the most recent years available, according to a Plain Dealer analysis of Ohio State Highway Patrol tickets. He averaged nearly 2,000 tickets a year during that span.

But Williams is far from a rigid, citation-writing machine. His empathy for drivers is matched by his attention to detail and concern for roadway safety. He has doled out warnings, calmed agitated motorists and offered directions to the misguided. In short, he does far more than send speeding drivers to court.

Williams and a handful of troopers work from a turnpike post in Milan, near Sandusky. They cover 80 miles from Lorain County to Ottawa County. In the summer, with Cedar Point and the Lake Erie islands attracting visitors, the turnpike is the busiest roadway in the state. It also is the most heavily ticketed, the analysis shows.

Troopers can patrol all of Ohio's roads, but they focus on state routes, the interstates and the turnpike. Unlike Williams and his colleagues who patrol the turnpike, most troopers are scattered across the state, working at county posts and running between traffic stops and crashes. They also help local authorities with investigations.

Williams has done some of that, too. He is a 15-year veteran who has investigated accidents, arrested drunken drivers and found his share of illegal drugs in drivers' cars. But he has focused on speeding drivers on the turnpike.

"I don't pay attention to (statistics)," Williams said. "I come out here to enforce traffic laws and to, hopefully, change drivers' behaviors. Excessive speed is a huge problem.

"For me to work the interstate and not write tickets would be wrong. My chances to enforce traffic laws here are much greater than someone who is working in a county post."

And that leads to a question he hears often: Do troopers face a quota?

"There has never been a quota," Williams said. State troopers' salaries are paid with driver registration fees and taxes, not fines from tickets.

The patrol has 1,600 officers, though many, such as crash reconstructionists, investigators and command officials, do not patrol roads. In the five-year span that the newspaper examined, troopers wrote an average of 540,000 tickets a year.

At 6:17 a.m. on the coldest day of January, Williams began his day by checking and calibrating his TruSpeed laser gun. When it failed him, he grabbed a new one. He then spent just as much time, nearly 15 minutes, checking the new device.

With a sugar-free Monster energy drink and the laser gun at his side, Williams wheeled his patrol car onto the turnpike for his day shift.

He initially sought broken-down cars and trucks in the 3-degree weather. Finding none, he stopped in a median and pointed the laser gun at oncoming traffic and focused its beam on the front license plates of cars and trucks.

Within minutes, he noticed a white Honda.

A woman headed to work passed a semitrailer going 82 mph. The turnpike's speed limit is 70 mph. Williams wrote and printed out the ticket on a patrol-issued laptop, which troopers have in their Chargers. He thanked her for her time and urged her to be safe.

She seemed too flustered to notice.

Within the hour, he pulled over the Philadelphia mother in an SUV that had hockey team stickers on its back windows. He also stopped a father driving his daughter to college. Later, he stopped an older woman from Illinois going 84 mph.

She was more concerned with Williams' health than her ticket. She feared he would get sick because he was working in such cold temperatures. The woman appeared to drive away somewhat upbeat, though still worried.

"When I went to the (state patrol) academy, instructors said we would get 'thank yous' after traffic stops," Williams said. "I thought, 'What? You just gave a person a ticket and then he or she thanks you?' But it happens a lot."

Others aren't as cheerful.

Williams said he stopped a car recently with a set of parents and two children. The children, in the back seats, ripped Williams for what he did, while the parents sat silent.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "But you can't take anything personally."

Later in the day, he stopped his patrol car along a westbound emergency lane and looked at a memorial built to honor Robert Perez, a fellow trooper at the Milan post who was killed in 2000. Perez's cruiser was rammed from behind as he sat in it on the berm finishing paperwork after a stop.

He talked about Perez and the risks troopers face. The most dangerous involved approaching cars. On this day, as he does regularly, Williams headed to the passenger side of cars and trucks to avoid passing traffic. He then checked the number of people inside and what they were doing.

"I've seen too many bad movies," he said. "We don't know whom we're stopping. We don't know what's going on in the car. So we have to be careful."

Between stops, he bought a sandwich at a Subway shop off the turnpike and stopped briefly at the Milan post. He ate the sandwich and munched potato chips among colleagues while talking proudly about his two young children. Within minutes, he was back on the road.

His stops included several drivers who gave him a litany of excuses. They said there is a lack of posted signs about speed limits, that they were unfamiliar with Ohio laws, that they weren't paying attention to how fast they were driving.

"I've heard them all," he said.

As the temperature crawled above 5 degrees, Williams struggled to stay warm. A young woman whom he ticketed for going 82 mph wanted to know where she could buy some water.

The bottles that she had in the trunk were frozen. He answered several questions about the ticket, the roadway and area restaurants. He shivered as he jumped back in his patrol car.

"Is it summer yet?" he said. He was looking for speeding cars before he finished the question.

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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danika Donatti first met her biological father when he was in hospice dying from complications of a disease she might also carry.

Donatti, 18, was adopted shortly after birth. She has known the names of her biological parents since childhood, but she didn't try to form a relationship with them until she learned her biological father was fighting cancer and spinocerebellar ataxia type 6, a rare genetic disorder that degrades muscle control and that she had a 50 percent chance of inheriting.

"I could have this and I wouldn't have known that had I not had my birth certificate," she recently told The Associated Press.

Missouri is one of more than 31 states that restrict adoptees' access to their original birth certificates, according to the American Adoption Congress, a group advocating expanding such access. Adoptees can only obtain their original birth certificates through a court order; they can access their adoption file, which can contain identifying information, if their biological parents give their permission or die. If the parents cannot be found, the information remains sealed.

Legislation scheduled to be voted upon Tuesday by a Missouri House committee would change that. The proposed Missouri Adoptee Rights Act, sponsored by Rep. Don Phillips, would open access to original birth certificates to adoptees when they turn 18.

The current law creates hardships for adoptees that should not exist under the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause, said Phillips, a Republican from the southwestern Missouri town of Kimberling City. "It doesn't say, P.S., by the way adoptees, sorry about your bad luck but you're not included."

After an adoption is finalized, a court amends the child's birth certificate to list the adoptive family as the parents. An adoptee doesn't need consent to retrieve non-identifying information about his or her biological parents — which can include a medical history, if it was provided at the time of birth.

The current arrangement protects the confidentiality of the birth mother, said Laura Long, and it would be wrong to change the terms of that agreement retroactively.

Long, who is an adoptee, works as a confidential intermediary for people seeking their biological parents' permission to release their identifying information. Many parents consent, she said, but there are also many who were traumatized by the experience of getting pregnant and placing their child for adoption. People still feel stigmatized by that, she said, and it's still a secret for some.

"What do I tell a birth mom who says, 'You can't release my name, it would be devastating for me," Long asked.

Supporters and critics of the bill agree that searching for adoption records in some counties can be difficult.

The unreliability of those adoption files are why adoptees should have access to their birth certificates, said Heather Dodd of the Missouri Adoptee Rights Movement. State-maintained birth certificates are more dependable than counties' adoption files, she said.

Long said some smaller counties are ill-equipped to conduct a thorough search for biological parents, especially if the information on file is decades old. Long said she's encountered cases where the birth mother used an alias or listed a temporary address. Only a few cases are so opaque, she said, but they demonstrate how strongly some parents feel about remaining anonymous.

It's unrealistic to expect anonymity in the era of social media, Dodd said.

"We have countless people holding signs (in pictures) on Facebook ... stating all their basic information," Dodd said. "They're finding themselves desperate because they're not getting answers through the state."

The state should respect the wishes of parents who agreed to adoption because of its confidentiality, said Tyler McClay, general counsel for the Missouri Catholic Conference, which opposes the bill. He said a better model is Illinois, which has made identifying documents available to adoptees unless the biological parents opt out.

Donatti said that even if the state allows adoptees to learn who their birth parents were when they turn 18, it doesn't mean they invariably will seek them out. Her first meeting with her biological mother was a chance encounter at a store when she was about five years old, she said, and they didn't have another conversation until their trip to the hospice care facility.

Donatti said her father died about two months after that first meeting. But before that, she was able to visit him on her way to her senior prom to take pictures together.

"That's something I'll always be able to hold onto," she said. "You only have so much time before your birth parents — your parents in general — are gone."

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The Missouri Adoptee Rights Act is HB 1599

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Online:

House: http://www.house.mo.gov/

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Follow Adam Aton on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AdamAton

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A legislative dispute over how Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected is a political struggle over whether Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his supporters can make their conservative fiscal and social policies stick well into the future.

Brownback and his allies contend that their goal in seeking change is to make the selection process more democratic. His critics say they're fighting to preserve the court system's independence.

But comments from both sides showed what really was at issue, as the House rejected a proposal to give the governor and legislators more control over Supreme Court appointments. Brownback's allies believe a court that's more in touch with voters will be more conservative and less likely to nullify their work. His opponents celebrated the vote as a necessary check on Brownback's ambitions.

Rulings from the court overturning death sentences for convicted murderers and the potential for a major ruling in favor of abortion rights created openings for conservatives to reopen the judicial selection debate this year. Meanwhile, moderates and liberals are waiting to see whether the justices order the state to boost its spending on public schools in a pending case.

"They appreciate that court because they (the justices) do the things they (legislators) can't do with a minority number of votes," said House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, a Louisburg Republican.

Brownback's public calls for change have come to naught so far because it would require amending the state constitution. A proposal must pass both chambers by two-thirds majorities and be approved by a simple majority of voters in a statewide election.

Under the current selection system, a nine-member commission nominates three finalists for each Supreme Court vacancy. The governor must pick one, or the choice goes to the Supreme Court chief justice. Legislators have no role, though every six years, voters decide in a statewide yes-or-no ballot question whether to keep a justice on the bench.

The proposal rejected by the House would have allowed the governor to appoint justices, subject to state Senate confirmation. There would have been no nominating commission, giving the governor a freer hand. While the appointee would have faced a Senate vote, GOP conservatives have a supermajority there.

The House vote on the proposal was 68-54 in favor, leaving supporters 16 votes short of a two-thirds majority. House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City Democrat, declared that lawmakers rejected the "governor's power grab."

Backers of the current system contend it has minimized partisan politics in selecting justices. Voters adopted it as a constitutional amendment in 1958, dropping partisan elections.

"We've had it for 50 years," said Rep. Barbara Bollier, a moderate Mission Hills Republican. "There have been no problems."

Critics of the current system focus on the nominating commission's power to screen applicants for the governor. Five of its nine members, including its chairwoman, are attorneys elected by other attorneys. About 2,500 participated in the special elections in 2014.

"It's very hard to justify the current system, the way it's biased in favor of lawyer control," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, a conservative Independence Republican. "It's easier for opponents (of change) to demonize the governor."

GOP conservatives also contend that there have been problems with individual court rulings.

The high court in 2014 reversed the death sentences that brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr received for four killings in Wichita in 2000 after a night of mayhem in which the victims were sexually abused and robbed. The U.S. Supreme Court recently reversed the decisions.

The Kansas Supreme Court also is expected to review a case in which a lower court blocked a ban enacted last year on a common second-trimester abortion procedure.

None of the court's seven justices is due to retire before Brownback leaves office in January 2019, but five are on the ballot in November. Four were appointed by Brownback's predecessors, and the influential anti-abortion group Kansans for Life is urging voters to remove them. The Carrs' cases are likely to be an issue as well.

It's plausible that voters could create vacancies on the state's highest court. If legislators approve a change this spring in the process for naming new justices, the same voters could enact it in November. Brownback and his legislative allies could gain greater power just in time.

"They want to take over the court," said Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat. "Everybody knows what's going on."

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Political Writer John Hanna has covered state government and politics since 1986. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) — A northeast Ohio man who has proudly brought guests to see what's considered the world's oldest cucumber magnolia tree has become the target of criticism from residents who don't want him bringing people inside their gated community.

The 435-year-old tree sits on common ground within the Auburn Knolls community in North Canton and W. Roderic Covey, a resident of the community, has worked to protect and promote the tree, The Repository in Canton reported (bit.ly/1O9rax7).

Covey said that he has shown the tree to at least 1,800 people from nine countries and 11 states over the last three decades.

"People here know that the tree is a valuable asset to this community, to this county, to this city and to the world," Covey, 86, said. "It really is a special gift from God."

But the attention Covey has given to the tree has created friction with the board of the Auburn Knolls Consolidated Condominium Association.

Former Board President Bob Carncross told the Akron Beacon Journal in September that the board was considering legal action against Covey for giving the gate access code to unaccompanied guests. Carncross declined to comment to The Repository.

Erika Finley, an attorney representing the association, said the conflict with Covey had been resolved.

Covey denied giving the gate access code to unaccompanied guests and said those who come to see the tree are in Auburn Knolls as his guests.

"No one ever comes in and wanders around," he said. "They come in at my behest or my invitation, or they call and ask (to see it) and I say, 'of course.'"

North Canton police responded in October for a complaint about trespassers in the community and spoke with Covey, who was showing the tree to a group, according to police reports.

Officers haven't told Covey's visitors to leave and haven't escorted them from the property, according to Police Chief Stephan Wilder.

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Information from: The Repository, http://www.cantonrep.com

CLEVELAND (AP) — Federal officials say pilots of commercial airliners landing at the Cleveland airport have been distracted by lasers more than two dozen times since December.

The FBI says the most recent laser-pointer targeting of planes landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport happened Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Authorities believe the at least 25 laser strikes since Dec. 16 originated from an area on the west side of Cleveland. It's a federal offense, and they're asking anyone with information to contact the FBI or local police.

Lasers can distract or temporarily flash-blind pilots. Most reported laser incidents occur when planes are lower than 10,000 feet, with the highest percentage at under 6,000 feet.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa couple who have the same birthday just had their first baby — on their shared birthday.

Television station KCCI reports (http://bit.ly/1nN0jOt ) that Greg and Katy Merhroff, of Des Moines, were married two years ago, and both share Feb. 4 as their birthday.

Their newborn, Aurora Claire, was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, but instead arrived at Methodist West Medical Center in West Des Moines on Thursday, Feb. 4.

Aurora Claire even shares her birthday with her aunt, who is mom Katy's twin sister.

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Information from: KCCI-TV, http://www.kcci.com

By RICHARD CHIN

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — For sale: A 103-year-old church on St. Paul's most prestigious street, designed by the same architect who created the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary. Asking price is $1.69 million, reduced from $1.79 million. Great acoustics. Worship home of former governors. Stained glass, pews and organ come with the building.

Also included is a body buried underneath the altar.

St. Paul's on the Hill, a historic Episcopal church, is looking for a new owner. The Summit Avenue church just east of Snelling Avenue was shuttered last year after a dwindling and aging congregation decided it didn't have the numbers to keep it going as a house of worship, the St. Paul Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/1Q6Y67M ) reported.

It's a sad end for a building where generations of St. Paul's Episcopalians were married, buried and baptized, including some of the city's early ruling class.

"It's heartbreaking," said Jo Lottsfeldt, a St. Paul woman who was a member of St. Paul's since 1949.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful building," she said. "It's got a lot of history, and a lot of people's lives."

Now, church and community members are hoping a buyer will step forward to give it a new life — if not as a church, then perhaps as a performance center, a retreat, offices or a community center.

"It's an important piece of the fabric of the community," said Jay Nord, the real estate agent handling the sale of the church. "It needs to be appropriately repurposed."

Nord said a new buyer will have to find a way to reuse the Gothic Revival sanctuary in some fashion. He said it can't be torn down, because the structure is protected from alterations to the exterior as part of both a national and a city historical preservation district.

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The church's roots go back to St. Paul's frontier days. Founded in 1854, the original St. Paul's Church was built in 1857 in Lowertown on the site of CHS Field, the new Saints ballpark, according to Nord. Minnesota's first governor, Henry Sibley, was a founding member. Prominent St. Paul businessman Amherst H. Wilder also worshipped there.

When the congregation decided to relocate to the up-and-coming "Hill" area of St. Paul, the old church was dismantled, and the limestone, tower spire, pews, altar and stained-glass windows were hauled up to Summit Avenue by ox cart.

The Episcopalians chose Emmanuel Masqueray, a French immigrant to Minnesota, as the architect for their new church.

Masqueray, the chief designer of buildings at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, also was the favorite church architect of Minnesota's Catholic Archbishop John Ireland. He tapped Masqueray to design the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary.

The first service at the new Episcopalian church, dubbed St. Paul's on the Hill, was held on Christmas Day 1913, according to a church history.

The church building — with a 9,000-square-foot sanctuary, a 60-foot cathedral ceiling and a large rose window — is "quietly elegant," according to a profile of Masqueray by Alan Lathrop, a former University of Minnesota curator of manuscripts.

"I think it's one of his finer smaller churches," Lathrop said.

There are 33 stained-glass windows, many of which have dedications to the memories of former members like John Lafayette Merriam, one of St. Paul's earliest settlers and the father of another church member, William Merriam, a governor of the state. The Merriam Park neighborhood is named after them.

But there was one problem with the church building.

Despite being trained at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Masqueray didn't seem to know how to design a roof that could stand up to Minnesota winters.

"It's typical for Masqueray churches. The roof leaks," Lathrop said. "Masqueray never seemed to quite understand how to design a roof that drained properly."

Nord said church records show Masqueray was paid $2,700 for his design, but agreed to refund $61 for weather stripping.

Nord said the roof has been fixed, and while the building needs some interior work, he said the exterior and mechanical systems have been well-maintained. The church doesn't have air conditioning, but the boilers were upgraded in 1999.

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But it was still a struggle for parishioners to keep the doors open in recent decades.

"'How do we keep the church open?' was an underlying question for the 30 years I was there," said former member Betty Pat Leach. "We just didn't have the people."

The church specialized in what Leach described as an Anglo-Catholic style of worship: a high-church, ritual- and regalia-heavy liturgy that was beautiful and traditional but didn't put enough people in the pews.

"There were lots and lots of services attended by fewer and fewer people," she said. "There aren't that many people who want to worship that way."

Lottsfeldt said attendance also was hurt by a 1988 conviction of a former priest at the church who was accused of abusing a young boy.

The church eventually lost its status as an independent parish and became a mission of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. The original congregation also shared the building for several years with a Spanish-speaking congregation, La Mision El Santo Nino Jesus. But both of those congregations finally gave up on the building last year. La Mision El Santo Nino Jesus found another location. The original congregation eventually dissolved.

"People were swimming upstream, trying to keep the place alive," Leach said. "A lot of earnest people, but bad decisions made on a lot of fronts."

The Episcopal Church in Minnesota will try to find a reuse or separate sale for many of the smaller items in the church like baptismal founts, vestments, crosses, chalices, candlesticks and a 400-year-old painting of St. Jerome that was thought to have been painted by Italian artist Caravaggio. Nord said the painting turns out to have been done by a student of Caravaggio, and "not a very good student."

"Quite honestly, it's not very good," he said.

There's also a small wooden altar left by George Metcalf, a former associate minister at the church. Metcalf was a chaplain in the U.S. Army, and after World War II, he used the altar for services for Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the occupation for Japan, Nord said. During World War II, Metcalf was famous for helping craft a prayer for good weather requested by Gen. George Patton during the Battle of the Bulge. When the weather cleared the next day, U.S. airplanes took to the skies to help repel the German offensive.

Larger items like a statue of St. Paul, holding a "sword of the Spirit" and one of his lengthy epistles, set in a niche in the church tower, will stay with the building and the new owner.

Also staying is John Wright, a priest and the rector of the church at the time of its construction. When Wright died in 1919, he was buried in a crypt under the sanctuary. That makes the crawl space under the altar a "historic nonoperating cemetery," meaning the body has to stay there with the building.

Nord said ashes in a columbarium behind the altar will be relocated according to the wishes of the relatives of the deceased.

A less historic 11,000-square-foot addition of offices, classrooms, meeting rooms and a kitchen is also included in the sale. Nord estimates the sanctuary would seat about 350 people. But there are only 18 parking spaces on the property. Nord said that's probably not enough parking to attract a large enough congregation to support the building's reuse as a church.

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Still, one intangible asset is the church's acoustics.

"The place is a dream," said soprano Kim Sueoka, a member of The Rose Ensemble, which has used the sanctuary for rehearsals and performances.

"It amplifies and carries the sound so beautifully, a warm, round sound, especially for voices," said Sueoka, who also has worked as a staff singer at the church. "All the musicians who've ever done something there would hope in some way it will be used as a music venue."

Author and radio host Garrison Keillor has occasionally attended services at the church, according to former members. There has been a rumor he might buy it.

But in an email, Keillor wrote, "It's a handsome old church and a St. Paul landmark, and I wish Macalester College would buy it. I don't personally need any more real estate at this point."

Tom Welna, director of Macalester College's High Winds Fund, said the nearby college doesn't have a particular interest in buying the property either.

Nord said the church has quietly been on the market, but a small number of parties have expressed interest.

"I'm quietly optimistic a buyer group will emerge in the next six to nine months," he said.

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the St. Paul Pioneer Press

By MIKE ANDERSON

Rapid City Journal

BOX ELDER, S.D. (AP) — Step Five, the moment of truth.

Everything in the instruction manual so far had led up to this crucial point.

On a Thursday afternoon, seven kids were gathered in the Do-It-Yourself STEM lab at the Ellsworth Air Force Base youth center for the second meeting ever of the base's nascent robotics club, the Rapid City Journal (http://bit.ly/1R3h43L ) reported.

Each of them had painstakingly assembled a heavily bracketed arm out of tiny plastic rods and axle tubes, and the time had come to connect those arms to the engines that would someday power their Lego robots.

"Step Five," Craig Alberty, their instructor, said, "is complicated."

Alberty, the Military Program Assistant for 4H in Pennington County, paced at the front of the room, peeking over shoulders to make sure everyone was correctly fitting all the pieces together in their Lego Mindstorm kits.

"Robotics," Alberty said during a lull in the activity, "is one of those things that seems to be a good fit for the kids here, since a lot of their parents are scientists or engineers."

It's a brand new program at Ellsworth's youth center, inspired in part by a recent Lego robotics competition at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

Jake Martin, 10, was the first to successfully parse Step Five's complicated diagram. Alberty instructed Martin to go through the room and help his fellow roboticists get their connections right.

"It's not that tricky if you're really familiar with Legos," Jake said. "I've actually programmed this exact model before."

Ellsworth's youth center has partnered with the local 4H to attract youngsters to the much-in-demand disciplines known as STEM, for science, technology, engineering and math, and a new refinement called STEAM, a type of educational programming that seeks to mesh the arts with science.

The robot factory is part of that effort, as today's children seem as attracted to mechanical figures as generations past were to dinosaurs.

Once they finish the construction of their robots, complete with an array of sensors, the children will learn to program the machines to execute tasks like navigating obstacle courses, or picking up and dropping different items with a selection of articulated arms.

Lenora Amirault, 11, is hoping her finished robot can do practical things.

"Maybe pick stuff up," she said. "And throw it."

A stone's throw away on the other side of the room, Ethan Scott, 10, had other plans for his partially assembled automaton.

"Dance the robot," he said, nodding vigorously. "Pun intended."

Eyeing her partially assembled engine, Amirault said, "I haven't thought of a name for it yet."

Scott was more, or perhaps less, decisive.

"Billy," he blurted out. "Or no, wait, I've got a better one: Billy the Bot."

Fran Apland, the youth center's program director, said if the kids remain interested, she plans on purchasing updated Lego Mindstorm kits and starting a competitive robotics league at Ellsworth.

"I want to work on bringing some out of the box ideas here to the program," Apland said. "I want us to have programs that kids are interested in."

One example of the youth center's push for STEAM is the Science Chef's group, in which kids at Ellsworth's youth center can learn how to cook while exploring the distinct chemical makeup of different foods.

"We had one group extract gluten from dough," Apland said.

The youth director is also trying to get a new archery club off the ground, at which kids will learn the science, mathematics and engineering concepts that surround bows, be it the tensility of the wood they are constructed from or the trajectory and ballistic force of an arrow once it's launched from the string.

"If we have children who are engaged, they're going to be more active in their learning," Apland said.

The robotics club at Ellsworth appeared plenty engaged on Thursday afternoon.

With everyone having weathered the challenges of Step Five, Alberty rubbed his neck and wondered aloud if there was enough time to continue. No one responded, perhaps pretending not to hear as they dug in their trays for the next piece.

Smiling, Alberty threw up his hands. "All right," he said, "on to Step Six!"

A few of the kids cheered.

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Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Rapid City Journal