AP Top Kansas News at 5:45 a.m. CDT

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

New UI president prepares for first day

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) -- The new University of Idaho president said Tuesday that he is well aware of the high expectations tied to his new job, but is convinced that he's the right person to lead the 12,000-student school.

Duane Nellis, a 54-year-old geographer, will officially start as the 17th president of the state's oldest public university on Wednesday.

"I think the expectations are high," Nellis told The Associated Press. "I also think the search committee, the state Board of Education and the university chose me for a reason."

Faculty and students have already drafted a list of expectations for their new leader, a former provost and senior vice president at Kansas State University.

Faculty expect him to repair the last of the damage left over from a botched land deal in Boise several years ago and improve the school's ties with the state education board. Student leaders want him to get more outside funding so the school doesn't have to rely so much on fee increases to make up for state funding shortfalls.

And one other thing: This college town surrounded by wheat fields in the northern Idaho hills is also likely to follow his every move after Vandal boosters waged an intense campaign to get him hired.

------ Nuggets' Smith to serve 30 days in fatal accident

MILLSTONE, N.J. (AP) -- A judge sentenced Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith to 90 days in jail Tuesday night for causing an auto accident that killed his friend, though Smith will likely end up serving only 30.

Municipal Judge Debra J. Gelson suspended 60 days of the sentence providing Smith performs 500 hours of community service consisting of visiting sick children at hospitals.

Smith, who starred at Lakewood High School and St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, admitted driving an SUV through a stop sign and colliding with a car in Millstone Township, about 20 miles east of Trenton, in June 2007. Passenger Andre Bell later died from his injuries.

A grand jury declined to indict Smith, but he faced five motor vehicle violations and pleaded guilty to reckless driving Tuesday.

Bell's family has filed a wrongful death suit against Smith.

Smith, a 6-foot-6 guard, recently finished his fifth NBA season and averaged 15 points per game for Denver.

------ Kan. ends fiscal '09 below planned tax collections

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Gov. Mark Parkinson must make some more cuts to the state budget after Kansas ended the fiscal year $126 million short of expectations.

Parkinson planned to outline his budget-cutting plans at news conference Thursday. He has the authority to cut the budget by whatever amount he feels is necessary to balance it and has been conferring with legislative leaders to get their input.

"The final reports on state revenues are just coming in and we are reviewing them," said Parkinson spokeswoman Beth Martino.

The 2009 fiscal year ended Tuesday, and preliminary Department of Revenues show the state collected $126 million less in tax revenue than had been expected. Parkinson wants to ensure that the state doesn't carry the deficit into the 2010 fiscal year, which starts Wednesday.

Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, said he believes the Democratic governor must look at all areas of spending, but should spare some agencies already hit hard by budget cuts, such as the Department of Corrections, which already saw a $4.5 million reduction.

"We don't want to get in the mode of cutting so much that we actually endanger public safety," Morris said.

------ Kansas ag secretary moves to Farm Service Agency

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky has been tapped to head the Farm Service Agency in Kansas for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a position he held during the Clinton administration.

His appointment was announced Tuesday by the Obama administration and drew praise from Gov. Mark Parkinson.

"This is great news for Kansas. With Adrian's new position, the USDA is getting a great addition to their team, while we get to keep him right here in the Sunflower State," Parkinson said.

"Adrian has been a remarkable leader, overseeing an agency that deals with the very heart of our state agriculture. As a farmer himself, he understands the challenges and opportunities facing this industry, and I am grateful for his service."

Polansky, 58, owns a wholesale feed company and has a 1,900-acre family farm in Republic County near Belleville, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He was busy Tuesday helping with the wheat harvest.

"I was pleased the Obama administration was interested in bringing me back," he said in a phone interview from the cab of his combine. "Having someone with firsthand experience in agriculture is very helpful in these types of positions."

------ K-State reconsiders athletic facilities upgrades

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Faced with a struggling economy and a scatching athletic department financial audit, Kansas State University is re-evaluating a planned $70 million upgrade of athletic facilities.

New athletic director John Currie told university faculty and students during a Monday forum that the projects have not been eliminated but are on hold pending the review.

The projects, championed by former vice president and athletic director Bob Krause, include a basketball practice facility, an expanded ticket office, a Kansas State hall of fame and renovations for the west side of the football stadium.

"Currently, those projects are on hold," Currie said. "There are some of those projects we'll re-evaluate, and we're in the process of doing that now."

The re-evaluation comes after an audit released June 19 that detailed questionable financial practices at the university, including 13 undocumented payments totaling $845,000 to football coach Bill Snyder, Krause and former athletic director Tim Weiser.

The controversy prompted the Kansas Board of Regents to require state universities to conduct regular audits that include their athletic departments. Before the release of the audit, the school was already reeling from the discovery of a $3.2 million deferred payment agreement which Krause had signed with former football coach Ron Prince.

------ Yet more waiting for Neb., Kan. in river dispute

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- After years of hand-wringing, officials in Kansas and Nebraska who expected a referee's decision on their dispute over the Republican River on Tuesday were left with even more time to ponder the outcome of their water fight.

The report from a Colorado-based water expert acting as an arbitrator had not been given to state officials by late Tuesday evening as anticipated. Officials said they hoped to see it by Wednesday.

The arbitrator, Karl Dreher, is expected to rule on whether Kansas' demand to shut down wells that irrigate nearly half of the 1.2 million acres in Nebraska's portion of the river basin is responsible. Kansas also wants $9 million from Nebraska, which estimates the damages between $615,000 to $1.23 million.

Dreher also is expected to decide whether Nebraska has done enough to comply with the 65-year-old compact between Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado that guides use of the river. Attorneys for Kansas claim that in 2005 and 2006, Nebraska used about 25.7 billion gallons more water than allowed.

The arbitrator's decision won't be legally binding, and court action is likely if the states don't reach an agreement by the end of July.

Nebraska wants to get into compliance with the compact through, among other things, buying and leasing water from the river, a plan Kansas officials said was inadequate.

------ Boeing wins $750 million contract for B-52 work

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The Boeing Co. has announced it won a $750 million, 10-year contract from the U.S. Air Force for engineering support on the B-52 bomber.

The company said Tuesday the contract sustains about 150 jobs at Boeing plants in Wichita and Oklahoma City and at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La.

Under the contract, Boeing engineers will support software, communications, avionics and other work as directed by the Air Force. The contract provides for in-flight emergency support to aircrews that allow pilots to contact Boeing engineers from the cockpit.

------ Kan. developer pleads guilty in bribe case

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas developer admitted Tuesday he tried to bribe a member of a Junction City commission to get support to build new housing for Fort Riley soldiers.

David Ray Freeman of Lawrence pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Freeman's bid to develop the subdivisions were eventually approved, including one in which he reserved a nice lot in one of the subdivisions for himself.

The Army post, located 60 miles west of Topeka, will nearly double in soldiers to more than 18,500 by 2013. The Defense Department has asked surrounding communities to build additional housing, schools and other infrastructure to handle in influx.

"I gave money to a city commissioner of Junction City to influence projects that I was developing," Freeman told the court in Topeka.

Freeman, 45, has agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the bribes. Federal attorneys declined to comment about the scope of their investigation, if more indictments were coming or if any members of the Junction City Commission would be charged. The name of the commissioner hasn't been released, only referenced in court documents by a code name of "firefighter."

Freeman, who is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 29, faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $1 million. He left the courtroom Tuesday without speaking to reporters.