Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
Bonner Springs plans a Candy Cane Christmas and Mayor’s Tree Lighting tonight at downtown Bonner Springs, Oak Street and Centennial Park.
A parade will be at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 3, followed by a tree lighting ceremony at 6:30 p.m., and then hot cocoa, cookies and a visit with Santa Claus at 7 p.m. at the Bonner Springs Community Center.
For information, visit www.bonnersprings.org/tourism.
by Mary Rupert
The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Reauthorization Act is poised to pass the U.S. House and Senate next week, according to Kansas City, Kan., human rights activist Alvin Sykes.
Sykes said the bill is scheduled to come to a vote in the House next week, and after that, it is expected to go to the Senate, possibly on Friday.
The bill allows federal investigators to look into any civil rights-era murder occurring before 1979, Sykes said. It applies to murders that were racially motivated. The bill encourages a partnership between federal and state investigators in unsolved civil rights cases, because of a federal five-year statute of limitations. The state has no statute of limitations on murder cases.
The bill is the extension of a civil rights bill that became law in 2007 and is set to expire in September of 2017.
An earlier version of the bill went through the Senate on July 14 by unanimous consent and then moved to the House, he said. There were some compromises recently made to the bill, he added.
Sykes is optimistic about the bill’s passage. Sykes said the key to the bill being successful was the recent re-election of Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., a sponsor, and other cosponsors. Another key sponsor was Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Other lawmakers who were co-sponsors were Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Sykes led an effort to get the reauthorization of the Till act passed this year. Emmett Till was a teenager in Chicago in 1955, when he traveled to Mississippi, and was brutally murdered. Two men were found not guilty in a trial in 1955, because the body could not be positively identified, but later admitted to the killing in a national magazine. In the 2000s, the case was reopened and the body was positively identified.
“I feel very good, it’s been a long time coming,” Sykes said about the bill being considered on Monday. “We did not get everything we wanted, but it was enough to move forward to solve civil rights murders.
“It is one more time that the poison that came out of Till’s death continues to be transferred to the medicine of justice for countless victims in the future,” Sykes said.
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College got some standout performances Friday but not quite enough to prevent North Arkansas to leave the KCKCC Field House with a 91-84 win.
The Blue Devils get a chance to bounce right back today when they play Washburn JV in Topeka at noon before finishing their pre-holiday home season against Iowa Western Tuesday at 7 p.m. The KCKCC women also play their final home game before the holiday break Monday when they are host to Saint Mary JV at 7 p.m.
Four Blue Devils scored in double figures and two others just missed but it wasn’t enough to overcome a dazzling all-around performance by North Ark’s Jalen Olds, who just missed a triple double with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. A 6-5 sophomore from Canton, Ohio, 21 of Olds’ 28 points came in the second half when the Pioneers erased a 45-42 halftime deficit.
North Ark built an 11-point lead early in the second half only to have Daniel Kingcannon come off the bench with spectacular shooting to cut the lead to 74-72. A 6-3 freshman from Highland Park in Topeka, Kingcannon scored 16 points in a six-minute stretch that included 4-of-4 three-pointers and 6-of-7 from the field, all career bests.
Sophomore center Jon Murray led the Blue Devils with his tenth double double of the season, 17 points and 15 rebounds in 25 minutes; Kellen Turner was a terror defensively with a career high eight steals and 14 points; and Mike Lee Jr. had nine assists to go along with 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Blue Devils had 22 assists on 31 field goals with Garrick McCuller adding five and Turner four. They also were guilty of only 12 turnovers while forcing North Ark into 15 and stayed almost even on the boards against the taller Pioneers (46-44) but managed only 35.7 percent second half shooting to 47.2 percent for North Ark (6-4). North Ark also won the first meeting of the two teams 96-85.
