'Cookie' the cockatoo dies at 83; moving 1,000 horses; No. 1 party school
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Odd and interesting news from the Midwest.
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CHICAGO (AP) — An 83-year-old cockatoo named "Cookie" and a popular feature at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo going back to the 1930s has died.
The Chicago Zoological Society operates the zoo and it announced the death of the Major Mitchell's cockatoo in a statement Monday.
The statement says the white and pink bird with a red and yellow crest was one of the oldest living cockatoos on record. It had also been the last surviving animal from the Brookfield Zoo's original collection. It arrived at age 1 from Australia's Taronga Zoo.
One society official, Michael Adkesson, says Cookie's health abruptly declined Saturday, leading to the decision to euthanize the bird. Adkesson says Cookie suffered from many of the same ailments humans face as they get older. That includes osteoporosis, arthritis and cataracts.
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HENRYVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana school building that was rebuilt after a deadly 2012 tornado is now the focus of parental concerns about mold problems.
West Clark Community Schools' combined elementary and middle-high campus in Henryville has been inspected several times this summer for mold.
Officials say this summer's humid weather and a lack of air conditioning in the school's gym likely promoted the growth of mold at the school about 20 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.
Lindsay Draper has two children attending the school, including a third-grader with mold allergies who's complained of headaches. Draper tells the Courier-Journal of Louisville (http://cjky.it/2bwcZql) she feels guilty sending her kids to the school.
The school complex was rebuilt after being damaged during a March 2012 tornado outbreak that swept the area, killing 14 people.
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Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois elections officials are confident no voter data were compromised this summer when a hacker was able to see information on about 200,000 registered voters.
Ken Menzel (mehn-ZEHL) is general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections. He says the online voter-registration system was shut down July 13 when officials noted an unusually high amount of traffic. Security was improved.
The FBI warned state officials Monday to boost their security. State election websites in Arizona and Illinois experienced hack-related shutdowns earlier this summer.
Menzel says the Illinois system's hacker was able to get information that could include driver's license or portions of Social Security numbers. Each affected voter will be notified after a complete accounting.
He says the data accessed are not tied to vote-counting software so election results could not be altered.
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CARMEL, Ind. (AP) — The for-profit college chain ITT Educational Services has stopped enrolling new students.
The Indianapolis Star reports (http://indy.st/2bVetLD ) the move announced on ITT's website goes beyond the ban announced last week by the U.S. Department of Education banning the Carmel-based company from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid.
An ITT spokeswoman did not respond to The Associated Press to a request for comment.
The chain has been the subject of state and federal investigations focusing on its recruiting and accounting practices. ITT has been ordered to pay $152 million to the Department of Education within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closes. It is still paying another $44 million demanded by the department in June for the same reason.
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
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BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) — The federal government is a step closer to relocating more than 1,000 wild horses to a private ranch in southwestern South Dakota.
Initial results of a Bureau of Land Management study indicate the move would have no negative impacts on the environment, the Black Hills Pioneer (http://bit.ly/2bLZjtg ) reported.
The herd would come from the famed Triple U Ranch near Fort Pierre, a main setting for the movie "Dances with Wolves." The ranch was sold last year.
The herd could be relocated to Butte County as early as next month. The wild horse facility would be known as the Elm Butte Off Range Pasture and would be operated by Spur Livestock, the current bureau contractor that has managed the herd since it was relocated to South Dakota seven years ago.
The livestock management company plans to lease nearly 41,000 acres of private ranch lands to the east of Eight Mile Creek in southeastern Butte County to pasture the horses on.
The environmental assessment says the hoses will only be pastured on the central and eastern portion of the ranch initially.
Chip Kimball, BLM field manager of the BLM's Belle Fourche office, said people worried about the horses relocation will have 30 days to appeal the bureau's finding of no significant impact. The bureau would work to mitigate any concerns.
"Assuming it goes according to plan, relocation of the horses will begin next month," Kimball said. "Everything is still on track."
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Information from: Black Hills Pioneer, http://www.bhpioneer.com
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MINOT, N.D. (AP) — The property management company operating family housing at Minot Air Force Base is opening homes for lease to the general public.
Minot AFB Homes Community Manager Michael Lahr said occupancy in the 1,600 homes the company manages on base has dropped below 95 percent, precipitating the move.
"Ninety-five percent is our magical number," Lahr recently said to members of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee. "When anything happens and we tip below 95 percent occupancy, we start doing other things to try and bring our occupancy up. One of those is who else we can we rent to."
Lahr said the oil slowdown has opened up a lot of housing in Minot, giving people more options. He says Minot AFB Homes has to become "much more creative" to keep its occupancy numbers up.
The company's main target tenants are military members and their families, The Minot Daily News (http://bit.ly/2bLrmrb ) reported. Retired military members, Department of Defense employees and civil service employees can also lease the homes.
"We've been able to go even further with what we call our waterfall," Lahr said.
The company is now also renting to single military members and to the general public.
"We haven't actually had any general public folks come live with us yet, but we are now open to anyone," Lahr said. "We are accepting any qualified applicants to come live with us on base through our partnership with the Air Force."
The community includes more than 1,600 homes.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com
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CHICAGO (AP) — A former Chicago transportation official was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for taking bribes to steer $100 million in red-light camera contracts to a company in Phoenix.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced John Bills, 55, in Chicago moments after he apologized for his actions. Federal prosecutors had asked the judge for at least a 10-year prison sentence.
The former second-in-command at Chicago's Department of Transportation was convicted in January of bribery, conspiracy and extortion.
Bills was accused of accepting envelopes stuffed with cash, along with gifts — including condos in two states and a Mercedes — to help Redflex Traffic Systems obtain contracts in a decade-long scheme. Prosecutors said the cash and gifts were worth a total of up to $2 million.
Bills' attorney, Nishay Sanan, had asked for a more lenient sentence of three to four years in prison.
"Mr. Bills is not ex-Gov. Blagojevich," Sanan told the judge, referring to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year prison term. "He's not selling Senate seats."
During the trial, a Redflex consultant, who pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme, testified that he passed envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash at a time to Bills at a restaurant.
"This was a decade-long scheme to lie, cheat and steal at the expense of taxpayers," said U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, who represented the government at the hearing.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel canceled Redflex's contract in 2013 following the Chicago Tribune's reports about the bribery scheme. Bills retired from his job as Chicago's managing deputy commissioner of transportation in 2011. He was charged in 2014.
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MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Routine all night-access to Kansas State University's Hale Library has ended, with the building closing at midnight most nights to save money.
Kansas State said in an email that its libraries lost nearly $1 million over the past two years from a drop in general funds and lower enrollment. The email said the funding reductions come at a time when costs are rising, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Last year, students had all-night access most weeks, Sunday through Thursday. Scaling back hours will save $110,000 annually, largely by paring back security and custodial needs. A notable exception to the new hours for Hale will be finals season, when the library will be open round-the-clock the week of and the week before exams.
The library also is cutting subscriptions and reducing staffing levels through attrition.
The amount of money the university has received from the state has shrunk from $163 million in the 2010 fiscal year to $158 million in the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2017, university spokesman Jeff Morris told The Associated Press.
Most recently, Gov. Sam Brownback issued budget cuts in May and June to help shore up the state's budget, including 4 percent cuts to the state's six public universities. The University of Kansas and Kansas State University, however, took proportionately larger cuts of about 5 percent each because the smaller universities rely more heavily on state funding for their overall operating budgets than the larger research institutions.
Libraries aren't the only thing affected. Morris said Kansas State told all its departments this year to cut 3.85 percent from their budgets, with some leaving positions unfilled, delaying technology upgrades and hiring fewer graduate teaching assistants.
Despite the recent cuts, higher education funding statewide has increased $21.8 million since Brownback became governor in 2011, said his spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley. The statement noted that "each university determines budget priorities for their institution."
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman whose husband is a police officer has started a letter-writing campaign to support members of law enforcement and their families.
Kathleen McCallister told the Omaha World-Herald (http://bit.ly/2bLSDqJ ) that her fear of her husband's safety has increased in the past few months as officers have been attacked nationwide.
"It's a different lifestyle," McCallister said. "There's things you don't always anticipate, just off the radar."
McCallister is encouraging residents to write letters during September and send them to Embrace Blue, a group formed under the Fraternal Order of Police Association. Embrace Blue will send the well-wishes across the Omaha Police Department.
"He has always been eager to serve everyone," McCallister said of her husband, Michael McGee.
Cody Kanger whose father, Lt. Ken Kanger, works for the Omaha Police Department, also wrote a letter for the campaign.
"I can remember the ring tone on his work phone all too well, going off on our way to a family party, just sitting down for dinner, or even in the middle of the night," Cody Kanger wrote in his letter. "Not once did Dad hesitate to do what was necessary, even if that meant going in after a few hours of rest on New Year's Eve knowing full well the call would require several days' work."
People are also able to donate small items that officers will give to children while on patrol in an effort to promote the department's mission of community policing.
"Omaha is great, but we want to make it better," said McCallister, who has served on the Douglas County Board, the Nebraska State Board of Education and the Omaha Public Schools board.
More information about the program will be announced at a press conference Wednesday night.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Department of Human Services is still attempting to collect money from overpayments made nearly 30 years ago from its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, once more commonly known as food stamps.
The State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/2clZRGW ) reports that McLeansboro resident Sue Good received a letter from the department about a month ago asking her to repay $242 in an overpayment that occurred from August through November in 1985.
"Do you think anybody has some kind of paperwork (from 30 years ago)?" Good said. "I think if you had 30-year-old papers, you would be like 'I think you need to call (the TV show) 'Hoarders.''"
Alex Jordan, the department's director of fiscal services and chief of the Bureau of Collections, says federal regulations and state law require that an effort be made to recoup the money.
"There's no statute of limitations on DHS debt," Jordan said. "We have to follow the regulations. If we do give benefits out to individuals we shouldn't, the feds expect us to recover those benefits so ultimately down the road they're available to other individuals."
Jordan said Illinois isn't suddenly cracking down on overpayments in the state's records since the 1980s.
"There's no mass change in the Department of Human Services that we all of a sudden started billing people going back 20, 30, 40, 50 years," he said. "Our department historically collects debt from 1985, 1986."
Jordan said residents are able to call or write the department to express their concerns and receive copies of their record.
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Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis police are searching for suspects after a Molotov cocktail was tossed into the SUV of a 70-year-old woman as she was heading to church.
The crime happened Sunday. The woman was not hurt but her vehicle was badly damaged. The police bomb and arson unit is investigating.
Police say the woman was on her way to church when a Monte Carlo with three men inside pulled alongside her SUV. The back seat passenger tossed the explosive device into the woman's SUV, and it exploded, badly burning the inside of the vehicle.
A motive for the crime wasn't clear.
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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A nonprofit has partnered with the state of Michigan to air a series of documentaries and public service announcements in an effort to raise awareness about mental health issues.
Andrea Cole, executive director of the Detroit-based Ethel & James Flinn Foundation, told the Lansing State Journal (http://on.lsj.com/2bLUUC5 ) that the "Opening Minds, Ending Stigma" campaign aims to show that behavioral health treatment is a normal part of health care.
The first spots aired on TV and online in May, Mental Health Month. Another round of TV spots will launch in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Lansing and Saginaw for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September.
"We have to push the conversation," Cole said. "We have to have a dedicated focus on educating people because there is still a lot of misinformation and misperceptions that are impacting people's ability to get care."
The Michigan Department of Health & Human Services paid about $300,000 to buy TV and online spots for the documentaries and PSAs, and the Flinn Foundation spent about $300,000 to produce the films, create a website and run regular columns in Detroit's Metro Parent magazine.
They're aiming to capture the attention of young people with ads on Hulu, Google, Pandora and Spotify as well as posts on Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
"The goal is, if we target them, this is early intervention," Cole said. "Getting people early means they can manage their symptoms and illnesses much better than letting people languish to the point that it's really serious."
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Information from: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lansingstatejournal.com
- BY RICK MONTGOMERY The Kansas City Star
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Being a Kansas attorney for energy interests pays well, thank you very much.
So for James P. Zakoura it just feels wrong to pocket an extra $6,000 at tax time, though state law lets him, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/2bJgmfL) reports.
"I'd give that up in a second," said the Overland Park lawyer, a six-figure earner for decades. "I don't need it."
But Kansas does, he said. Zakoura regrets that the state in which he was born and schooled has been gasping for extra revenue the past four years.
That's why he's among a legion of well-off Kansans openly objecting to the state's so-called "LLC loophole."
Passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2012 on the promise of creating jobs, the provision allows about 300,000 independent business owners to pay no state tax on the bulk, if not all, of their income.
By Zakoura's tabulations — work done on his own in hopes that lawmakers repeal the policy — Kansas is forgoing tax revenues on $11 billion of annual business income (including his). He says that rescinding the exemption would raise at least $260 million in needed revenue year after year. Revenue officials dispute the $11 billion figure, placing it at about $7.5 billion. But even fans of the tax gift say the $260 million figure is near the mark.
Just last May state lawmakers faced a $290 million budget gap projected through June 2017. To close it they slashed funding for highways, higher education and other programs.
Kansas Sen. Jim Denning was unsuccessful last spring trying to get the tax law changed. He, too, benefits from the exemption as co-owner of a small LLC that rents out space.
Now as the Republican Denning seeks re-election, he's hearing from angry voters.
"When I go door-to-door I meet salt-of-the-earth people saying the number 1 issue in Kansas is to close that LLC loophole," said Denning, of Overland Park. "It's running neck-and-neck with school funding."
He said the electorate is thinking: "Everybody should pay their fair share of taxes when businesses are profiting.
"But I'm hearing it, too, from successful business owners. They feel like freeloaders."
Despite all its complexity, the income tax exemption has become a hot button — especially as Kansas schools, roads, law enforcement and health care delivery endure the strains of budget belt-tightening.
Some voters awoke to the issue with reports that University of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, the state's highest-paid employee, avoids paying Kansas income taxes on most of his nearly $3 million income. He shelters a chunk of assets in an LLC.
"In 22 years of holding public office I've never seen a more aware electorate in Kansas than I'm seeing this year," said Democratic state Sen. David Haley of Kansas City, Kan. "No matter your politics, there seems a universal disdain for this loophole."
Universal confusion as well, says the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. It defends the no-tax policy as a means of spurring business activity.
"The first question I ask people is, what is the loophole that is supposedly the problem?" said chamber president and chief executive Mike O'Neal, who was speaker of the Kansas House when the tax cuts passed. "To me 'loophole' suggests someone is scamming the system."
No, O'Neal said, the law's intent never was sneaky: "We'd like to be a zero income-tax state."
Gov. Sam Brownback has said he wants Kansas to keep making that possible for self-employed people, family-owned operations, partnerships and those income earners in an increasingly popular category called the LLC — limited liability company.
He told The Star last week: "The data shows we're getting a lot of people moving into the state because of the small business tax exemption and we're getting people moving, a number from Missouri, into Kansas."
But the governor also has said he believes the tax policy should be reviewed at least every five years to determine if adjustments need to be made, said his spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley. And 2017 would be five years.
"He will work with the Legislature when it returns in January," Hawley added.
O'Neal said most LLC owners welcome the lifting of state taxes on business income.
But others who benefit are saying, "Thanks but no thanks." A few dozen of them, including lawyer Zakoura, stated as much in testimony to a Kansas House committee in March.
They're asking:
— Where's the fairness in letting business owners skirt taxes on income — often called "pass-through" earnings — when their employees get no such break?
— Why in an era of yearly fiscal emergencies would Kansas turn away a quarter-billion in potential revenues?
— How can supporters of the LLC exemption argue that it creates jobs when, for the typical small business owner, the savings is less than $1,000 a year, according to one study?
That's hardly enough to pay just a month's worth of minimum wage.
— And how did the state's farmers get a pass on paying Kansas income taxes, even in profitable years?
You may be surprised at who's asking.
LeEtta Felter of Olathe is co-owner with her husband of several LLCs, including a small farming operation. She even used one of their LLCs — a car dealership — to stage a rally for Brownback when he sought re-election in 2014.
She wishes she hadn't.
Felter, who sits on the Olathe school board, says her tax freebie harms the state far more than it boosts her bottom line.
"I feel I owe the state of Kansas a little bit of an apology for helping (Brownback) get re-elected," Felter said.
As a school board member she wants secure funding of education. She worries that children's programs will be further squeezed of state help. And she deals with teachers who see the effects of strained budgets while paying their share of income taxes.
Beyond those concerns, Felter argues that the LLC loophole works against entrepreneurs taking investment risks to launch startups: They can't claim losses as they could before tax reform.
So Felter and her husband wind up paying more in taxes if their businesses don't profit in a given year.
Johnson County lawyer Dan Doyle came clean in a 2014 interview with The Star.
"I'm making out like a bandit, and it's completely unfair," he told columnist Barbara Shelly.
At the law firm where Doyle and 15 partners worked, the attorneys' Kansas income-tax liability became shielded by the LLC umbrella.
He said it saved him $5,000 to $10,000 a year in state taxes. Meanwhile, lower-salary paralegals and staffers without an ownership stake paid their required income tax.
Doyle wasn't joking when he said he planned to spend his savings on a family vacation to Cancun.
Some online readers were incredulous. They posted comments such as, "His choice to go to Cancun only reveals his character, not a faulty tax plan."
Hire office help, critics cried. Spruce up the firm, one said, or introduce workplace programs to make employees happier and healthier.
Doyle said his partnership would consider those things with or without a tax gift.
What he never saw was job creation.
Reached by the newspaper this month, Doyle said he recently formed his own practice as an LLC. No net job growth resulted from that transition, either.
"Some thought I was crazy back then for even saying anything. But it was true," he said. "Others were glad I spoke out."
Doyle said he still reaps $5,000 to $10,000 in tax savings, all cash. As for that windfall producing new jobs, "who are you going to hire for $5,000 to $10,000 a year?" he asked.
"What's the purpose? It's really to give people like me more walking-around money."
Kansas farmers also qualify for the zero-tax provision on income they don't file as wages. And fifth-generation farmer Donn Teske isn't cheering about it.
It is not that Teske loves income taxes. Who really does? (And those allowed an exemption legally could report all their income on a W-2 and pay taxes on it to help out the state. But who would?)
As president of the Kansas Farmers Union, which favors progressive tax policies, Teske wonders how he benefits overall from an income-tax exemption when his property and sales taxes shoot up to cover the shortfall.
Farmers call the triad of income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes a three-legged stool. The stool requires balance, Teske said: "You take one leg out (the income-tax obligation) and it messes everything else up."
State Sen. Denning voted for the 2012 tax reforms. But he said revenue officials at the time provided estimates on the number of qualifying businesses that were far below those that wound up exempted.
The Kansas Farm Bureau was equally surprised. "We never asked that farmers be thrown into this," said Warren Parker, the bureau's director of policy communication. "That decision happened under the (statehouse) dome.
"Now, like anybody else, we're not going to stand up and say, 'Hi, we want to pay more taxes.' But our focus will always be on keeping property taxes low."
The LLC income-tax exemption still has plenty of defenders.
"The overall policy is a good policy" even if it may need some tweaking, said Shawnee businessman Kevin Tubbesing, past chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business in Kansas.
The state Department of Revenue says total tax collections are increasing. And not all business owners who file for exemptions get an entirely free ride. They pay Kansas income taxes on capital gains, stock dividends, payments guaranteed to partners when the company formed, and on any W-2 wages declared outside their business earnings.
Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said more than 20,000 small businesses have started up in Kansas since the tax law took effect.
But Zakoura, the Overland Park lawyer, won't rest until fairness is restored.
This "passion," he said, has nothing do with any of his clients' interests: "It's just something I took up on my own." It's not about his politics, he insists. Though a registered Democrat, he says he has contributed to the campaigns of state candidates of all stripes, including Brownback.
Just this month the revenue department responded to Zakoura's open-records request for the number of tax filers who used the exemption in 2014, the latest tax year in which such information is known.
The state's answer intrigued him: 299,000.
That's up from the estimated 191,000 filers who were expected to benefit when the law was passed. But it's down from the 333,000 who actually took advantage of tax exemptions in 2013, the year it took effect.
"You'd expect the number of filers would increase," he said. "That it's shrinking tells me the law isn't having its intended effect" of bolstering business activity and employment.
So why does he care, with six grand more in his own pocket when he files taxes?
"Why look at this law and not 100 others?" Zakoura asked.
"I think the answer is that it's patently unfair to everyone else who has to pay income taxes in Kansas."
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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Kansas City Star.
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CLEVELAND (AP) — A set of 16 postcards from civil-rights activist Malcolm X to a woman in Cleveland has been sold at auction.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions says the handwritten cards from 1957, 1958 and 1964 went for $56,426.25 in Los Angeles last week.
The cards were written to Gloria Owens. She was the sister of Maceo X Owens, secretary at a Muhammad's Temple of Islam in New York where Malcolm X preached alongside Louis Farrakhan.
The postcards feature landmarks and depictions of African-American life from Malcolm X's travels in the U.S. and abroad. That included images that denigrated or stereotyped blacks. Sometimes he sent racist cartoons.
One note read: "Since I've seen what a mess can be made of things by narrow-minded people, I'm still traveling, trying to broaden my scope".
- By MARK FELDMANN The Journal Times
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BURLINGTON, Wis. (AP) — Listening is a skill.
Sometimes it's a lifesaver.
Just ask Burlington resident Dorothy Hakala, who worked as a guidance counselor in the Burlington Area School District for 30 years.
It was her open ears and alert mind that helped her avoid a massive — and potentially fatal — stroke earlier this summer, The Journal Times (http://bit.ly/2bRG0Ld ) reported.
"It hit me a few days after it was all over that this was something that could have been really bad," said the 69-year-old. "It could have turned out very different."
After retiring in 2005, Hakala started to volunteer at Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington, 248 McHenry St. She chairs the scholarship committee, helps families in the day surgery area, and participates in several healthy kids initiatives. She quickly became president of the volunteers at the hospital.
As part of their service, Hakala and the other 160 volunteers each April review stroke education and remind themselves how to discern the symptoms of a stroke, said Kathy Galstad, Aurora's manager of ancillary services.
"Because we are a primary stroke center, we need to have our volunteers have a refresher on stroke signs every year," Galstad said. "We want to get that message out."
Hakala paid close attention in the inservice, even though she was hearing the presentation for the eighth time. Never in her wildest dreams did she think the person she would save using her stroke knowledge would be herself.
About two months after taking the stroke course, Hakala and her husband, John, were returning from Galena, Ill., where they were celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary.
Hakala noticed her left arm went completely numb for almost 10 seconds. "Looking back, I remembered feeling some tingling sensation, but I figured it was probably nothing," she said. "But this time is was so heavy and limp."
Recalling her stroke training, Hakala surmised she might be having a stroke. The couple drove directly to the Midwest Medical Center in Galena, where she was assessed in the emergency room and told she was right: She had experienced a transient ischemic attack (TIA), where blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or reduced by a clot.
The emergency room physician in Galena stabilized Dorothy and sent her home, but told her she should see her primary care physician immediately upon her return for more tests.
She did the next day. She underwent several tests during the next five days. Doctors discovered that one of her arteries was almost 95 percent blocked.
"There was only a trickle of blood flowing," she said. "The doctors told me that I could have had a massive stroke at any time."
On July 1, she underwent surgery to clear the blockage. Lief Erickson, a surgeon who specializes in vascular and laparoscopic surgery, performed the four-hour operation. She went home the next day, and three weeks later, returned to the hospital to volunteer.
"I feel very lucky and very blessed," Hakala said. "I have a strong faith and I believe God still work for me to do."
For Hakala, finding out she had severe artery blockage was a shock. "I had no idea," she said. "I think I'm a pretty healthy person and I stay active. But so many people ignore symptoms. Your body will send you signals. When it does, it's usually trying to tell you something."
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Information from: The Journal Times, http://www.journaltimes.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by The Journal Times.
CHICAGO (AP) — An 83-year-old cockatoo named "Cookie" and a popular feature at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo going back to the 1930s has died.
The Chicago Zoological Society operates the zoo and it announced the death of the Major Mitchell's cockatoo in a statement Monday.
The statement says the white and pink bird with a red and yellow crest was one of the oldest living cockatoos on record. It had also been the last surviving animal from the Brookfield Zoo's original collection. It arrived at age 1 from Australia's Taronga Zoo.
One society official, Michael Adkesson, says Cookie's health abruptly declined Saturday, leading to the decision to euthanize the bird. Adkesson says Cookie suffered from many of the same ailments humans face as they get older. That includes osteoporosis, arthritis and cataracts.
HENRYVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana school building that was rebuilt after a deadly 2012 tornado is now the focus of parental concerns about mold problems.
West Clark Community Schools' combined elementary and middle-high campus in Henryville has been inspected several times this summer for mold.
Officials say this summer's humid weather and a lack of air conditioning in the school's gym likely promoted the growth of mold at the school about 20 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.
Lindsay Draper has two children attending the school, including a third-grader with mold allergies who's complained of headaches. Draper tells the Courier-Journal of Louisville (http://cjky.it/2bwcZql) she feels guilty sending her kids to the school.
The school complex was rebuilt after being damaged during a March 2012 tornado outbreak that swept the area, killing 14 people.
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Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois elections officials are confident no voter data were compromised this summer when a hacker was able to see information on about 200,000 registered voters.
Ken Menzel (mehn-ZEHL) is general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections. He says the online voter-registration system was shut down July 13 when officials noted an unusually high amount of traffic. Security was improved.
The FBI warned state officials Monday to boost their security. State election websites in Arizona and Illinois experienced hack-related shutdowns earlier this summer.
Menzel says the Illinois system's hacker was able to get information that could include driver's license or portions of Social Security numbers. Each affected voter will be notified after a complete accounting.
He says the data accessed are not tied to vote-counting software so election results could not be altered.
CARMEL, Ind. (AP) — The for-profit college chain ITT Educational Services has stopped enrolling new students.
The Indianapolis Star reports (http://indy.st/2bVetLD ) the move announced on ITT's website goes beyond the ban announced last week by the U.S. Department of Education banning the Carmel-based company from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid.
An ITT spokeswoman did not respond to The Associated Press to a request for comment.
The chain has been the subject of state and federal investigations focusing on its recruiting and accounting practices. ITT has been ordered to pay $152 million to the Department of Education within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closes. It is still paying another $44 million demanded by the department in June for the same reason.
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) — The federal government is a step closer to relocating more than 1,000 wild horses to a private ranch in southwestern South Dakota.
Initial results of a Bureau of Land Management study indicate the move would have no negative impacts on the environment, the Black Hills Pioneer (http://bit.ly/2bLZjtg ) reported.
The herd would come from the famed Triple U Ranch near Fort Pierre, a main setting for the movie "Dances with Wolves." The ranch was sold last year.
The herd could be relocated to Butte County as early as next month. The wild horse facility would be known as the Elm Butte Off Range Pasture and would be operated by Spur Livestock, the current bureau contractor that has managed the herd since it was relocated to South Dakota seven years ago.
The livestock management company plans to lease nearly 41,000 acres of private ranch lands to the east of Eight Mile Creek in southeastern Butte County to pasture the horses on.
The environmental assessment says the hoses will only be pastured on the central and eastern portion of the ranch initially.
Chip Kimball, BLM field manager of the BLM's Belle Fourche office, said people worried about the horses relocation will have 30 days to appeal the bureau's finding of no significant impact. The bureau would work to mitigate any concerns.
"Assuming it goes according to plan, relocation of the horses will begin next month," Kimball said. "Everything is still on track."
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Information from: Black Hills Pioneer, http://www.bhpioneer.com
MINOT, N.D. (AP) — The property management company operating family housing at Minot Air Force Base is opening homes for lease to the general public.
Minot AFB Homes Community Manager Michael Lahr said occupancy in the 1,600 homes the company manages on base has dropped below 95 percent, precipitating the move.
"Ninety-five percent is our magical number," Lahr recently said to members of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee. "When anything happens and we tip below 95 percent occupancy, we start doing other things to try and bring our occupancy up. One of those is who else we can we rent to."
Lahr said the oil slowdown has opened up a lot of housing in Minot, giving people more options. He says Minot AFB Homes has to become "much more creative" to keep its occupancy numbers up.
The company's main target tenants are military members and their families, The Minot Daily News (http://bit.ly/2bLrmrb ) reported. Retired military members, Department of Defense employees and civil service employees can also lease the homes.
"We've been able to go even further with what we call our waterfall," Lahr said.
The company is now also renting to single military members and to the general public.
"We haven't actually had any general public folks come live with us yet, but we are now open to anyone," Lahr said. "We are accepting any qualified applicants to come live with us on base through our partnership with the Air Force."
The community includes more than 1,600 homes.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com
CHICAGO (AP) — A former Chicago transportation official was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for taking bribes to steer $100 million in red-light camera contracts to a company in Phoenix.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced John Bills, 55, in Chicago moments after he apologized for his actions. Federal prosecutors had asked the judge for at least a 10-year prison sentence.
The former second-in-command at Chicago's Department of Transportation was convicted in January of bribery, conspiracy and extortion.
Bills was accused of accepting envelopes stuffed with cash, along with gifts — including condos in two states and a Mercedes — to help Redflex Traffic Systems obtain contracts in a decade-long scheme. Prosecutors said the cash and gifts were worth a total of up to $2 million.
Bills' attorney, Nishay Sanan, had asked for a more lenient sentence of three to four years in prison.
"Mr. Bills is not ex-Gov. Blagojevich," Sanan told the judge, referring to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year prison term. "He's not selling Senate seats."
During the trial, a Redflex consultant, who pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme, testified that he passed envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash at a time to Bills at a restaurant.
"This was a decade-long scheme to lie, cheat and steal at the expense of taxpayers," said U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, who represented the government at the hearing.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel canceled Redflex's contract in 2013 following the Chicago Tribune's reports about the bribery scheme. Bills retired from his job as Chicago's managing deputy commissioner of transportation in 2011. He was charged in 2014.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Routine all night-access to Kansas State University's Hale Library has ended, with the building closing at midnight most nights to save money.
Kansas State said in an email that its libraries lost nearly $1 million over the past two years from a drop in general funds and lower enrollment. The email said the funding reductions come at a time when costs are rising, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Last year, students had all-night access most weeks, Sunday through Thursday. Scaling back hours will save $110,000 annually, largely by paring back security and custodial needs. A notable exception to the new hours for Hale will be finals season, when the library will be open round-the-clock the week of and the week before exams.
The library also is cutting subscriptions and reducing staffing levels through attrition.
The amount of money the university has received from the state has shrunk from $163 million in the 2010 fiscal year to $158 million in the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2017, university spokesman Jeff Morris told The Associated Press.
Most recently, Gov. Sam Brownback issued budget cuts in May and June to help shore up the state's budget, including 4 percent cuts to the state's six public universities. The University of Kansas and Kansas State University, however, took proportionately larger cuts of about 5 percent each because the smaller universities rely more heavily on state funding for their overall operating budgets than the larger research institutions.
Libraries aren't the only thing affected. Morris said Kansas State told all its departments this year to cut 3.85 percent from their budgets, with some leaving positions unfilled, delaying technology upgrades and hiring fewer graduate teaching assistants.
Despite the recent cuts, higher education funding statewide has increased $21.8 million since Brownback became governor in 2011, said his spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley. The statement noted that "each university determines budget priorities for their institution."
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman whose husband is a police officer has started a letter-writing campaign to support members of law enforcement and their families.
Kathleen McCallister told the Omaha World-Herald (http://bit.ly/2bLSDqJ ) that her fear of her husband's safety has increased in the past few months as officers have been attacked nationwide.
"It's a different lifestyle," McCallister said. "There's things you don't always anticipate, just off the radar."
McCallister is encouraging residents to write letters during September and send them to Embrace Blue, a group formed under the Fraternal Order of Police Association. Embrace Blue will send the well-wishes across the Omaha Police Department.
"He has always been eager to serve everyone," McCallister said of her husband, Michael McGee.
Cody Kanger whose father, Lt. Ken Kanger, works for the Omaha Police Department, also wrote a letter for the campaign.
"I can remember the ring tone on his work phone all too well, going off on our way to a family party, just sitting down for dinner, or even in the middle of the night," Cody Kanger wrote in his letter. "Not once did Dad hesitate to do what was necessary, even if that meant going in after a few hours of rest on New Year's Eve knowing full well the call would require several days' work."
People are also able to donate small items that officers will give to children while on patrol in an effort to promote the department's mission of community policing.
"Omaha is great, but we want to make it better," said McCallister, who has served on the Douglas County Board, the Nebraska State Board of Education and the Omaha Public Schools board.
More information about the program will be announced at a press conference Wednesday night.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Department of Human Services is still attempting to collect money from overpayments made nearly 30 years ago from its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, once more commonly known as food stamps.
The State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/2clZRGW ) reports that McLeansboro resident Sue Good received a letter from the department about a month ago asking her to repay $242 in an overpayment that occurred from August through November in 1985.
"Do you think anybody has some kind of paperwork (from 30 years ago)?" Good said. "I think if you had 30-year-old papers, you would be like 'I think you need to call (the TV show) 'Hoarders.''"
Alex Jordan, the department's director of fiscal services and chief of the Bureau of Collections, says federal regulations and state law require that an effort be made to recoup the money.
"There's no statute of limitations on DHS debt," Jordan said. "We have to follow the regulations. If we do give benefits out to individuals we shouldn't, the feds expect us to recover those benefits so ultimately down the road they're available to other individuals."
Jordan said Illinois isn't suddenly cracking down on overpayments in the state's records since the 1980s.
"There's no mass change in the Department of Human Services that we all of a sudden started billing people going back 20, 30, 40, 50 years," he said. "Our department historically collects debt from 1985, 1986."
Jordan said residents are able to call or write the department to express their concerns and receive copies of their record.
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Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis police are searching for suspects after a Molotov cocktail was tossed into the SUV of a 70-year-old woman as she was heading to church.
The crime happened Sunday. The woman was not hurt but her vehicle was badly damaged. The police bomb and arson unit is investigating.
Police say the woman was on her way to church when a Monte Carlo with three men inside pulled alongside her SUV. The back seat passenger tossed the explosive device into the woman's SUV, and it exploded, badly burning the inside of the vehicle.
A motive for the crime wasn't clear.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A nonprofit has partnered with the state of Michigan to air a series of documentaries and public service announcements in an effort to raise awareness about mental health issues.
Andrea Cole, executive director of the Detroit-based Ethel & James Flinn Foundation, told the Lansing State Journal (http://on.lsj.com/2bLUUC5 ) that the "Opening Minds, Ending Stigma" campaign aims to show that behavioral health treatment is a normal part of health care.
The first spots aired on TV and online in May, Mental Health Month. Another round of TV spots will launch in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Lansing and Saginaw for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September.
"We have to push the conversation," Cole said. "We have to have a dedicated focus on educating people because there is still a lot of misinformation and misperceptions that are impacting people's ability to get care."
The Michigan Department of Health & Human Services paid about $300,000 to buy TV and online spots for the documentaries and PSAs, and the Flinn Foundation spent about $300,000 to produce the films, create a website and run regular columns in Detroit's Metro Parent magazine.
They're aiming to capture the attention of young people with ads on Hulu, Google, Pandora and Spotify as well as posts on Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
"The goal is, if we target them, this is early intervention," Cole said. "Getting people early means they can manage their symptoms and illnesses much better than letting people languish to the point that it's really serious."
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Information from: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lansingstatejournal.com
- BY RICK MONTGOMERY The Kansas City Star
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Being a Kansas attorney for energy interests pays well, thank you very much.
So for James P. Zakoura it just feels wrong to pocket an extra $6,000 at tax time, though state law lets him, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/2bJgmfL) reports.
"I'd give that up in a second," said the Overland Park lawyer, a six-figure earner for decades. "I don't need it."
But Kansas does, he said. Zakoura regrets that the state in which he was born and schooled has been gasping for extra revenue the past four years.
That's why he's among a legion of well-off Kansans openly objecting to the state's so-called "LLC loophole."
Passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2012 on the promise of creating jobs, the provision allows about 300,000 independent business owners to pay no state tax on the bulk, if not all, of their income.
By Zakoura's tabulations — work done on his own in hopes that lawmakers repeal the policy — Kansas is forgoing tax revenues on $11 billion of annual business income (including his). He says that rescinding the exemption would raise at least $260 million in needed revenue year after year. Revenue officials dispute the $11 billion figure, placing it at about $7.5 billion. But even fans of the tax gift say the $260 million figure is near the mark.
Just last May state lawmakers faced a $290 million budget gap projected through June 2017. To close it they slashed funding for highways, higher education and other programs.
Kansas Sen. Jim Denning was unsuccessful last spring trying to get the tax law changed. He, too, benefits from the exemption as co-owner of a small LLC that rents out space.
Now as the Republican Denning seeks re-election, he's hearing from angry voters.
"When I go door-to-door I meet salt-of-the-earth people saying the number 1 issue in Kansas is to close that LLC loophole," said Denning, of Overland Park. "It's running neck-and-neck with school funding."
He said the electorate is thinking: "Everybody should pay their fair share of taxes when businesses are profiting.
"But I'm hearing it, too, from successful business owners. They feel like freeloaders."
Despite all its complexity, the income tax exemption has become a hot button — especially as Kansas schools, roads, law enforcement and health care delivery endure the strains of budget belt-tightening.
Some voters awoke to the issue with reports that University of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, the state's highest-paid employee, avoids paying Kansas income taxes on most of his nearly $3 million income. He shelters a chunk of assets in an LLC.
"In 22 years of holding public office I've never seen a more aware electorate in Kansas than I'm seeing this year," said Democratic state Sen. David Haley of Kansas City, Kan. "No matter your politics, there seems a universal disdain for this loophole."
Universal confusion as well, says the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. It defends the no-tax policy as a means of spurring business activity.
"The first question I ask people is, what is the loophole that is supposedly the problem?" said chamber president and chief executive Mike O'Neal, who was speaker of the Kansas House when the tax cuts passed. "To me 'loophole' suggests someone is scamming the system."
No, O'Neal said, the law's intent never was sneaky: "We'd like to be a zero income-tax state."
Gov. Sam Brownback has said he wants Kansas to keep making that possible for self-employed people, family-owned operations, partnerships and those income earners in an increasingly popular category called the LLC — limited liability company.
He told The Star last week: "The data shows we're getting a lot of people moving into the state because of the small business tax exemption and we're getting people moving, a number from Missouri, into Kansas."
But the governor also has said he believes the tax policy should be reviewed at least every five years to determine if adjustments need to be made, said his spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley. And 2017 would be five years.
"He will work with the Legislature when it returns in January," Hawley added.
O'Neal said most LLC owners welcome the lifting of state taxes on business income.
But others who benefit are saying, "Thanks but no thanks." A few dozen of them, including lawyer Zakoura, stated as much in testimony to a Kansas House committee in March.
They're asking:
— Where's the fairness in letting business owners skirt taxes on income — often called "pass-through" earnings — when their employees get no such break?
— Why in an era of yearly fiscal emergencies would Kansas turn away a quarter-billion in potential revenues?
— How can supporters of the LLC exemption argue that it creates jobs when, for the typical small business owner, the savings is less than $1,000 a year, according to one study?
That's hardly enough to pay just a month's worth of minimum wage.
— And how did the state's farmers get a pass on paying Kansas income taxes, even in profitable years?
You may be surprised at who's asking.
LeEtta Felter of Olathe is co-owner with her husband of several LLCs, including a small farming operation. She even used one of their LLCs — a car dealership — to stage a rally for Brownback when he sought re-election in 2014.
She wishes she hadn't.
Felter, who sits on the Olathe school board, says her tax freebie harms the state far more than it boosts her bottom line.
"I feel I owe the state of Kansas a little bit of an apology for helping (Brownback) get re-elected," Felter said.
As a school board member she wants secure funding of education. She worries that children's programs will be further squeezed of state help. And she deals with teachers who see the effects of strained budgets while paying their share of income taxes.
Beyond those concerns, Felter argues that the LLC loophole works against entrepreneurs taking investment risks to launch startups: They can't claim losses as they could before tax reform.
So Felter and her husband wind up paying more in taxes if their businesses don't profit in a given year.
Johnson County lawyer Dan Doyle came clean in a 2014 interview with The Star.
"I'm making out like a bandit, and it's completely unfair," he told columnist Barbara Shelly.
At the law firm where Doyle and 15 partners worked, the attorneys' Kansas income-tax liability became shielded by the LLC umbrella.
He said it saved him $5,000 to $10,000 a year in state taxes. Meanwhile, lower-salary paralegals and staffers without an ownership stake paid their required income tax.
Doyle wasn't joking when he said he planned to spend his savings on a family vacation to Cancun.
Some online readers were incredulous. They posted comments such as, "His choice to go to Cancun only reveals his character, not a faulty tax plan."
Hire office help, critics cried. Spruce up the firm, one said, or introduce workplace programs to make employees happier and healthier.
Doyle said his partnership would consider those things with or without a tax gift.
What he never saw was job creation.
Reached by the newspaper this month, Doyle said he recently formed his own practice as an LLC. No net job growth resulted from that transition, either.
"Some thought I was crazy back then for even saying anything. But it was true," he said. "Others were glad I spoke out."
Doyle said he still reaps $5,000 to $10,000 in tax savings, all cash. As for that windfall producing new jobs, "who are you going to hire for $5,000 to $10,000 a year?" he asked.
"What's the purpose? It's really to give people like me more walking-around money."
Kansas farmers also qualify for the zero-tax provision on income they don't file as wages. And fifth-generation farmer Donn Teske isn't cheering about it.
It is not that Teske loves income taxes. Who really does? (And those allowed an exemption legally could report all their income on a W-2 and pay taxes on it to help out the state. But who would?)
As president of the Kansas Farmers Union, which favors progressive tax policies, Teske wonders how he benefits overall from an income-tax exemption when his property and sales taxes shoot up to cover the shortfall.
Farmers call the triad of income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes a three-legged stool. The stool requires balance, Teske said: "You take one leg out (the income-tax obligation) and it messes everything else up."
State Sen. Denning voted for the 2012 tax reforms. But he said revenue officials at the time provided estimates on the number of qualifying businesses that were far below those that wound up exempted.
The Kansas Farm Bureau was equally surprised. "We never asked that farmers be thrown into this," said Warren Parker, the bureau's director of policy communication. "That decision happened under the (statehouse) dome.
"Now, like anybody else, we're not going to stand up and say, 'Hi, we want to pay more taxes.' But our focus will always be on keeping property taxes low."
The LLC income-tax exemption still has plenty of defenders.
"The overall policy is a good policy" even if it may need some tweaking, said Shawnee businessman Kevin Tubbesing, past chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business in Kansas.
The state Department of Revenue says total tax collections are increasing. And not all business owners who file for exemptions get an entirely free ride. They pay Kansas income taxes on capital gains, stock dividends, payments guaranteed to partners when the company formed, and on any W-2 wages declared outside their business earnings.
Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said more than 20,000 small businesses have started up in Kansas since the tax law took effect.
But Zakoura, the Overland Park lawyer, won't rest until fairness is restored.
This "passion," he said, has nothing do with any of his clients' interests: "It's just something I took up on my own." It's not about his politics, he insists. Though a registered Democrat, he says he has contributed to the campaigns of state candidates of all stripes, including Brownback.
Just this month the revenue department responded to Zakoura's open-records request for the number of tax filers who used the exemption in 2014, the latest tax year in which such information is known.
The state's answer intrigued him: 299,000.
That's up from the estimated 191,000 filers who were expected to benefit when the law was passed. But it's down from the 333,000 who actually took advantage of tax exemptions in 2013, the year it took effect.
"You'd expect the number of filers would increase," he said. "That it's shrinking tells me the law isn't having its intended effect" of bolstering business activity and employment.
So why does he care, with six grand more in his own pocket when he files taxes?
"Why look at this law and not 100 others?" Zakoura asked.
"I think the answer is that it's patently unfair to everyone else who has to pay income taxes in Kansas."
___
Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Kansas City Star.
CLEVELAND (AP) — A set of 16 postcards from civil-rights activist Malcolm X to a woman in Cleveland has been sold at auction.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions says the handwritten cards from 1957, 1958 and 1964 went for $56,426.25 in Los Angeles last week.
The cards were written to Gloria Owens. She was the sister of Maceo X Owens, secretary at a Muhammad's Temple of Islam in New York where Malcolm X preached alongside Louis Farrakhan.
The postcards feature landmarks and depictions of African-American life from Malcolm X's travels in the U.S. and abroad. That included images that denigrated or stereotyped blacks. Sometimes he sent racist cartoons.
One note read: "Since I've seen what a mess can be made of things by narrow-minded people, I'm still traveling, trying to broaden my scope".
- By MARK FELDMANN The Journal Times
BURLINGTON, Wis. (AP) — Listening is a skill.
Sometimes it's a lifesaver.
Just ask Burlington resident Dorothy Hakala, who worked as a guidance counselor in the Burlington Area School District for 30 years.
It was her open ears and alert mind that helped her avoid a massive — and potentially fatal — stroke earlier this summer, The Journal Times (http://bit.ly/2bRG0Ld ) reported.
"It hit me a few days after it was all over that this was something that could have been really bad," said the 69-year-old. "It could have turned out very different."
After retiring in 2005, Hakala started to volunteer at Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington, 248 McHenry St. She chairs the scholarship committee, helps families in the day surgery area, and participates in several healthy kids initiatives. She quickly became president of the volunteers at the hospital.
As part of their service, Hakala and the other 160 volunteers each April review stroke education and remind themselves how to discern the symptoms of a stroke, said Kathy Galstad, Aurora's manager of ancillary services.
"Because we are a primary stroke center, we need to have our volunteers have a refresher on stroke signs every year," Galstad said. "We want to get that message out."
Hakala paid close attention in the inservice, even though she was hearing the presentation for the eighth time. Never in her wildest dreams did she think the person she would save using her stroke knowledge would be herself.
About two months after taking the stroke course, Hakala and her husband, John, were returning from Galena, Ill., where they were celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary.
Hakala noticed her left arm went completely numb for almost 10 seconds. "Looking back, I remembered feeling some tingling sensation, but I figured it was probably nothing," she said. "But this time is was so heavy and limp."
Recalling her stroke training, Hakala surmised she might be having a stroke. The couple drove directly to the Midwest Medical Center in Galena, where she was assessed in the emergency room and told she was right: She had experienced a transient ischemic attack (TIA), where blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or reduced by a clot.
The emergency room physician in Galena stabilized Dorothy and sent her home, but told her she should see her primary care physician immediately upon her return for more tests.
She did the next day. She underwent several tests during the next five days. Doctors discovered that one of her arteries was almost 95 percent blocked.
"There was only a trickle of blood flowing," she said. "The doctors told me that I could have had a massive stroke at any time."
On July 1, she underwent surgery to clear the blockage. Lief Erickson, a surgeon who specializes in vascular and laparoscopic surgery, performed the four-hour operation. She went home the next day, and three weeks later, returned to the hospital to volunteer.
"I feel very lucky and very blessed," Hakala said. "I have a strong faith and I believe God still work for me to do."
For Hakala, finding out she had severe artery blockage was a shock. "I had no idea," she said. "I think I'm a pretty healthy person and I stay active. But so many people ignore symptoms. Your body will send you signals. When it does, it's usually trying to tell you something."
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Information from: The Journal Times, http://www.journaltimes.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by The Journal Times.
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