October 07 2024

1. KANSAS LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES DEBATE CANNABIS LEGALIZATION AT WICHITA TOWN HALL
2. PROVIDENCE MEDICAL CENTER STOPS DELIVERING BABIES, CONTRIBUTES TO MATERNITY DESERTS IN KANSAS
3. FORMER MARION POLICE CHIEF MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE OVER NEWSROOM RAID
4. KANSAS CREATURES
5. K-STATE PARTNERS WORK TO BOOST YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH KANSAS ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGE
SPORTS

1. KANSAS LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES DEBATE CANNABIS LEGALIZATION AT WICHITA TOWN HALL

The ongoing debate over cannabis legalization took center stage at an expo and town hall meeting in Wichita Saturday. The meeting was organized by the Cannabis Justice Coalition group focused on advocating for policy changes regarding cannabis use in the state. Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and Independent candidates gathered to share their views on the need for Kansas to consider legalizing some form of cannabis use, highlighting a growing bipartisan interest in the issue as the state legislature prepares for its next session. The town hall follows the establishment of a special committee on medical marijuana during the legislative recess. The committee is set to meet later this month to discuss potential legislation and gather insights from various stakeholders.

Article Source: KWCH

2. PROVIDENCE MEDICAL CENTER STOPS DELIVERING BABIES, CONTRIBUTES TO MATERNITY DESERTS IN KANSAS

This summer, Providence Medical Center in Wyandotte County joined the growing list of community hospitals that no longer deliver babies. The for-profit hospital in a residential corner of northwest Kansas City, Kansas, said a decade of declining birth numbers prompted its decision to shutter its labor and delivery department at the end of June.  Since then, expectant parents who live nearby have had to look farther from home when it comes time to give birth. It’s a “troubling trend” in Wyandotte County, said Dr. Sandra Stites, chief medical officer of Vibrant Health, a community clinic that cares for patients in the area, many of them uninsured. It’s also a familiar trend.  In a world where hospitals say they’re struggling to recruit enough doctors and nurses, public and private insurance reimbursements are lagging and other expenses keep rising, maternity care tends to end up on the chopping block.  In the last two years, one in 25 obstetric wards across the country closed down, according to the March of Dimes.  That has left a third of counties — home to one in 12 women — “maternity deserts.” Those are areas without any obstetric hospital or birth center and a shortage of doctors. In Kansas, 48% of counties fit that definition. Just over half of Missouri counties do.

Article Source: Kansas Beacon

3. FORMER MARION POLICE CHIEF MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE OVER NEWSROOM RAID

Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody made his first court appearance Monday in Marion County. Cody is accused of interfering with the judicial process after he led raids on the Marion County Record’s newsroom, the homes of its publisher and a city council member last year. Prosecutors accuse Cody of telling Kari Newell to delete text messages after the raid on the Marion County Record offices.

Article Source: KSN

4. KANSAS CREATURES

A. LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN DECLINE SPOTLIGHTS THREAT TO GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEM  

ASHLAND, Kansas — In the remaining grasslands in Kansas lives the lesser prairie chicken, a stocky, quail-like bird that used to roam the Great Plains. They once fed, nested, danced and mated in the vast grasslands that covered the middle of the country. There used to be many birds making their unique cackling boom noises. That was before people transformed the prairie to produce food and make energy. Now the remaining prairie chickens are dispersed and disconnected.  

B. SCIENTISTS BAFFLED BY WESTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKES AT KANOPOLIS STATE PARK  

A park centered in the heart of Kansas may be hiding a scaly secret that has wildlife researchers baffled. KSNT News spoke with Zoology Collections Manager Jackson Roberts from the Sternberg Museum of Natural History about a recent field trip at Kanopolis State Park that took a turn after his group encountered a western diamondback rattlesnake. While the snakes are known to inhabit a few regions in Kansas, including Kanopolis in central Kansas, they are rarely encountered by people. They are considered very dangerous to people as they carry powerful venom that can cause life-threatening situations. Many western diamondbacks are found only in a southwestern part of the state in Barber, Kiowa and Comanche Counties, according to Fort Hays State University’s Herpetofaunal Atlas. Curiously, a small population of the venomous snakes has taken up residence at Kanopolis, far from other established groups of serpents. “The western diamondback rattlesnake has a long history at Kanopolis State Park,” Roberts said. People on a field trip at the park came across the first western diamondback in 1993, an interesting find for the group that wildlife researchers documented. Western diamondbacks found this deep into Kansas, which is odd as the snakes are separated from other well-established populations further south and out of state. “All we know is that they’re not supposed to be there,” Roberts said. “This was an illegal introduction in the early 90s, and there is still a lot of questions surrounding them.”

Article Source: KAKE, KSN

5. K-STATE PARTNERS WORK TO BOOST YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH KANSAS ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGE

Several Kansas State University partners are continuing an important collaboration with NetWork Kansas to build the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge as one of the leading youth entrepreneurship competitions in the state of Kansas. The Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge, or KEC, is a program of the NetWork Kansas Entrepreneurship E-Community Partnership and involves several K-State partners, including the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration. Through the K-State 105 initiative, K-State Research and Extension and Kansas 4-H are involved for the second year in a row. K-State Research and Extension and Kansas 4-H are providing nearly $100,000 in support for KEC per year for three consecutive years.

Article Source: Salina Post

SPORTS

KU 31-35 ASU; Royals 5-6 Yankees; Sporting KC 0-3 LA FC  

Tonight: Chiefs vs. NOLA; Royals vs. Yankees, Game 2 ALDS, OKC vs. SAS, Preseason  

SUN DEVILS SCORE LATE TO DEFEAT JAYHAWKS, 35-31  

By Clark Goble  

KU football fell to 1-5 with a 35-31 road loss at Arizona State on Saturday. ASU took the lead with a three-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds remaining and the Jayhawks’ Hail Mary attempt tumbled to the turf. The Jayhawks, who have a bye week before playing Houston in Kansas City on October 19th, gave up 313 rushing yards.

ROYALS LOSE TO YANKEES AFTER CONTROVERSIAL SEVENTH-INNING PLAY; YANKEES LEAD 1-0 IN ALDS

Michael Massey was visibly frustrated. Moments after the Royals lost Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees on Saturday, the Kansas City Royals second baseman headed straight to the video room to take a look at one crucial play. In the seventh inning, Massey had tagged Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm attempting to steal second base. Massey made an acrobatic play as he caught the incoming throw and placed his glove on Chisholm’s foot. At first glance, it looked as Chisholm was out. However, second base umpire Lance Barrett called Chisholm safe, which prompted the Royals to challenge the ruling. Massey pointed to the dugout and the Royals challenged the call. At first, the TBS broadcast crew expected it to stand, but upon seeing the slowed-down replays, even they decided the play should be ruled an out, as did the postgame crew. A lengthy delay ensued. An official replay review stayed with the call. Chisholm was safe at second base and the Royals lost their challenge. The Yankees took advantage as Alex Verdugo drove home Chisholm with an RBI single. It was the game-winning run as the Yankees won 6-5 and took a 1-0 series lead.

Article Source: KC Star

ARROWHEAD LIGHTS LINKED TO HIGH DROP RATE; STATISTICAL CORRELATION FOUND

When the ball bounced off former Kansas City Chiefs receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s hands, it only took a few minutes for Tyreek Hill to come to his defense. Hill played for the Chiefs from 2016-21. And from previous experience, he knew the play that Valdes-Scantling tried to make during the Chiefs’ home Monday Night Football loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last November was anything but simple.  “Everybody thinking that catch easy at night in them lights,” Hill posted on social media.  Bliss has long been fascinated by the idea of stadium effects in the NFL — even if it’s something that isn’t talked about nearly as much as other sports. There’s good reason for that. Baseball has different walls and playing dimensions, for instance, making it drastically different to play in Yankee Stadium compared to the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium. In soccer, varying field and sideline dimensions can also affect play and scoring. All NFL stadiums, however, seem like they should be about the same. Fields are 100 yards long with 10-yard end zones and identical-sized goalposts, meaning the variation from one place to the other doesn’t seem like it would change much.  During night games, Arrowhead had a drop rate of 10.3% for both teams — the highest of any stadium and time combination and well above the league average of 6.7%. Interestingly, the drop rate at Arrowhead for early afternoon (6.5%) and late-afternoon games (6.7%) remained right around the league average. Based on statistical measurements, Lopez later shared that the likelihood of Arrowhead’s higher drop rate being due to chance was roughly 1 in 6,000. Bliss also believes the results are “unlikely” to be randomness.  

Article Source: KC Star

Sources

1. https://www.kwch.com/2024/10/07/kansas-legislative-candidates-discuss-cannabis-legalization-town-hall/

2. https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/10/07/kck-providence-medical-center/

3. https://www.ksn.com/news/state-regional/former-marion-police-chief-in-court-monday-over-newspaper-raid

4. A https://www.kake.com/home/the-lesser-prairie-chicken-is-disappearing-in-kansas-can-conservation-credits-save-it/article_d133f2bc-84c1-11ef-bd61-77aeed29bd04.html
B https://www.ksn.com/news/state-regional/biologists-investigate-where-cluster-of-kansas-western-diamondback-rattlesnakes-are-coming-from

5. https://salinapost.com/posts/57291b2d-cd12-4727-992c-1eada0740346

7. https://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article293548539.html

8. https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article293480189.html