Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
Sol Cortez from Kansas City, Kansas, has been named to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater dean’s list for the 2018 fall semester.
Students on the dean’s list received a grade point average of 3.4 or above in a single semester.
About 13,000 students attend the University of Wisconsin’s Whitewater and Rock County campuses.
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
A whole lot of good things happened to Kansas City Kansas Community College’s nationally ranked women’s basketball team Wednesday night, not the least of which was an 82-41 win over Fort Scott.
Caroline Hoppock re-wrote the KCKCC 3-point record mark; the No. 9 ranked Lady Blue Devils (20-3) had their best defensive effort of the season; and they vaulted into a four-way tie for the Jayhawk Conference lead thanks to Labette’s 72-54 thrashing of No. 1 ranked and previously unbeaten Johnson County.
The win sets up a huge home court showdown Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 3 ranked Highland (18-2), like KCKCC, Labette and JCCC 2-1 in conference play.
Hoppock tied the KCKCC record with eight 3-point field goals and established a new record for accuracy, knocking down 8-of-11 treys for 72.7 percent.
“I had no idea I had that many,” said Hoppock, who was mobbed by teammates at game’s end. “I don’t think I’ve ever shot the ball that well.”
A 5-10 freshman from Olathe East, Hoppock’s eight treys tied the Blue Devil record set by Rashaun Casey in 2013-14.
“Tonight she was really, really special,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Not necessarily that she was hitting the 3’s but she got the whole team going and we kind of needed that. We’ve been waiting for a night like that and I say that as a complement. She’s had some tough breaks (medical redshirt season) and it’s a credit to her that she’s stayed the course.”
Lillie Moore chipped in with a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds; Nija Collier had 19 points and seven rebounds; and Lenaejha Evans eight rebounds and six points.
Defensively, the Blue Devils forced 20 Fort Scott turnovers and limited the Greyhounds to 16-of-63 shots for 25.4 percent, a remarkable performance considering Fort Scott (15-4) was averaging 76 points a game and had played No. 1 JCCC to a 65-57 decision on Saturday.
“Very, very good; our best defensive effort all year by far,” McKinstry said.
Led by Caitlyn Stewart’s six assists, the Blue Devils had assists on 19 of 28 field goals. They also shot 48.3 percent from the field (70 percent in a 26-point third quarter) but it took Hoppock’s big night to get the 3-point shooting to 35.5 percent. Without Hoppock, the Blue Devils were 3-of-20 (.150).
The Blue Devils had to overcome a slow start. Leading just 6-5 with 3:30 left in the first quarter, it was 14-9 when Hoppock ignited the Blue Devils with a steal and short jump shot with 23 seconds left in the opening period.
Kisi Young added a field goal and then Hoppock drained two 3-pointers in a span of 37 seconds to open a commanding 24-9 bulge and it was never close the rest of the way.
“We had a little bit different preparation yesterday and today at our shoot around,” McKinstry said. “After watching Fort Scott film and the Highland-JCCC game Monday, I decided our problem was not our opponents but our effort and toughness levels; that they were tougher than us. I said we’ve played 22 games and we still had time to do better and challenged them and it showed tonight. We had some things we didn’t do well but when you play hard and compete and play tough, you can overcome mistakes and we showed that tonight.”
by Stephen Koranda, Kansas News Service
A proposed constitutional amendment introduced this week would effectively ban all abortions in Kansas by declaring that life begins at fertilization.
Republican Rep. Eric Smith is one of the amendment’s sponsors. To him, the measure gets at the heart of the matter where recent abortion debates haven’t.
“The root of the issue is are we talking about a life or are we talking about a right?” he said in an interview.
Supporters of the proposal want to extend constitutional rights to the unborn, starting at the moment of fertilization.
“At what age are we allowed to have the constitutional right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?” Smith said.
However, the state’s chief anti-abortion group will not be on board. Kansans for Life won’t support the amendment because its leaders believe the proposal would be struck down by the courts.
“That is something that just isn’t going to work at this time,” KFL Executive Director Mary Kay Culp said.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains blasted the proposal. A statement from the group said the amendment would have unintended consequences, including banning birth control.
“This is a blatant attempt to eliminate a woman’s right to access safe, legal abortion,” the group said in the statement.
It’s a high bar to amend the state constitution: It takes a two-thirds vote from both chambers in the Legislature and approval from a majority of voters during a public election.
Democratic Rep. Stephanie Clayton doesn’t believe enough lawmakers will be on board to meet that bar.
“To me it looks like it’s just political bomb throwing,” Clayton said.
Similar amendments have been offered in past years, but there could be more interest this time around because of a Supreme Court ruling that’s potentially coming soon. The state Supreme Court is considering a lower court ruling that found a right to abortion in the Kansas Constitution. The justices will decide whether to uphold that decision.
If the justices find that right, Kansans for Life members are planning to pursue their own constitutional amendment.
“Make it beyond crystal clear,” Culp said, “that there’s no right to unfettered abortion.”
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-lawmakers-introduce-plan-would-ban-all-abortions