Kansas has joined with Oklahoma to challenge a federal endangered species listing.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced that Kansas joined an Oklahoma lawsuit that challenges a process resulting in the lesser prairie chicken being named as a threatened species.
North Dakota also joined in the lawsuit.
A “citizen suit” led to a federal court order that ultimately led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide to list the lesser prairie chicken as threatened under the endangered species act, according to the attorney general’s office.
Private interest groups may sue federal agencies and then enter into consent decrees that compel the agencies to take certain actions.
Oklahoma, Kansas and North Dakota are arguing that consent decrees cannot be used to circumvent provisions of federal statutory law. The states alleges that the Fish and Wildlife Service violated its statutory obligation to make endangered species listing decisions “solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available” and it alleges the agency failed to adhere to its own regulations and guidelines in the rulemaking process.
Month: April 2014
Semi driver injured in I-70 crash this morning
(KC Scout photo)
A semi truck driver was injured after an accident at 6:35 a.m. April 2 on I-70 westbound, just west of the I-670 split in Kansas City, Kan.
A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper’s crash log stated that the driver was going too fast for the conditions, lost control and struck the barrier wall. A thunderstorm with rain and lightning occurred this morning and some areas reported hail.
The driver, a 42-year-old man from Lansing, Kan., was taken to a hospital in Kansas City, Kan.
The interstate has reopened to traffic.
Lady Blue Devil streak to six with sweep of Fort Scott
by Alan Hoskins
Elizabeth Seimears pitched her first shutout of the season to complete a Kansas City Kansas Community College sweep of Fort Scott Tuesday.
Seimears blanked the Greyhounds on two hits in a 5-inning 13-0 win after Leslie Ford had pitched the Lady Blue Devils to a 7-3 win in the opener.
The wins pushed KCKCC’s winning streak to six in a row heading into pivotal weekend Jayhawk Conference doubleheaders – at No. 6 ranked Cowley County (11-5) Friday and No. 9 Independence (12-6) Saturday. At 10-6 in the Jayhawk and 18-6 overall, the Blue Devils are in position to move past both teams with sweeps. Wiped out by rain Wednesday, KCKCC’s scheduled twin bill with Neosho County has not been rescheduled.
Seimears had a perfect game through four innings of the nightcap before giving up a pair of singles in the fifth. The Blue Devils backed her with 15 hits led by Mierra Morisette and Lacey Santiago. Morisette had two doubles and a triple and drove in four runs while Santiago tripled and singled twice and scored three times. Hanna Barnhart added a double and single and Ashley Henington two singles.
KCKCC scored two in the first on a single by Santiago, double by Morisette and single by Barnhart and added two more in the second on Morisette’s 2-run double following a walk and Justice Scales’ single. The Blue Devils wrapped up the win with nine runs on nine hits in the fourth as everyone in the lineup but one hit safely. Santiago and Morisette each had 2-run triples, Amanda Holroyd and Barnhart doubles and Henington, Ford, Megan Dike and Laura Vanderheiden had singles.
Leslie Ford gave up just one run the first six innings before giving up two runs on three hits in the seventh in the 7-3 opening win. Ford struck out eight and walked three while the Blue Devils did all their scoring in the first three innings.
A double by Scales and singles by Morisette and Holroyd gave KCKCC a 1-0 lead and the Blue Devils added six in the third, four of which were unearned due to two Fort Scott errors.
Scales started the uprising with a double and after a walk, hit batsman and two errors, Ford and Dike rapped singles and Vanderheiden lashed a 2-run double. Scales, Morisette, Holroyd and Vanderheiden each had a pair of hits in the win.