Month: June 2019

As river levels decline in Wyandotte County, other areas are facing flood fights

Levels of the Missouri and Kansas rivers crested earlier today in Wyandotte County and are now declining, according to a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

The two rivers were in flood stage here today, with the Missouri at moderate flood stage and the Kansas at minor flood stage, after heavy weekend rains.

Although there was a possibility of rain in the forecast tonight in the Kansas City area, the next several days will be dry, except for possible occasional showers.

An emergency flood fight is currently underway in Holt County, Missouri, according to Rick Weixelbaum, emergency management specialist with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He spoke during a news conference today. The corps is assisting in the flood fight, and efforts include placing rock on a levee embankment.

Several rivers are currently flooding in Kansas and Missouri as a result of recent rains, according to a hydrologist for the Kansas City district.

Significant rainfalls over the past weekend raised the flood control pools to 90 percent in the lower Kansas basin, according to officials. Some of the reservoirs experienced an increase of 9 percent or more.

Milford reservoir was increased from a low flow release to 5,000 cfs today, with the travel time more than four days to the Missouri River, officials said. Levels at Waverly, Missouri, should recede before these new flows reach it, according to officials.

Tuttle Creek is going from a low flow to a 5,000 cfs release today, and it will take more than three days to reach the Missouri River.

Perry releases will go from 1,000 cfs to 2,000 cfs, officials said.

In the Osage basin, Truman reservoir is forecast to release water at 45,000 cfs, maintaining that level until conditions change. Releases were reduced from some reservoirs in the Osage basin over the weekend, with the heavy rains, but those releases now are being increased again, according to officials. Melvern is releasing 1,000 cfs.

During a question-and-answer session, a representative of districts including the Elwood-Gladden Drainage District in Doniphan County, Kansas, which is not far from the St. Joseph, Missouri, area, told the corps that they can’t keep up with pumping and they need the corps to reduce flows for several days from Gavins Point.

“Some of my smaller districts are about out of money to continue pumping,” the drainage district representative said. He asked the corps to reduce Gavins Point reservoir flows substantially for several days, possibly to 30,000 cfs, and then pick it back up again.

In South Dakota, the corps is still on track to reduce releases from the Gavins Point dam into the Missouri River from 75,000 cfs to 70,000 on Thursday, according to officials. However, that will be reassessed on Wednesday and the numbers could change based on conditions, officials said.

A corps official told the drainage district representative that they have more than 8.5 million acre feet of water stored upstream in the reservoirs currently at Gavins Point and above, are adding 15,000 to 20,000 acre feet a day, and will continue to add as the mountain snowpack hits the reservoirs hard. He said it’s not going to be possible to reduce the Gavins Point flows substantially, but the corps is discussing possible options for short-term relief today and this week.

“Everybody downstream understands,” the drainage district representative said. “But at some point we have to have a break. We don’t have the capability to mechanically pump this water.”

The drainage district representative stated that they have a half-million dollars worth of infrastructure in homes and businesses that they are protecting.

A hydrology chart showed the Missouri River at Parkville, which includes the Wyandotte County area, has crested and is starting a decline. The river is in moderate flood stage. The gauge is located on I-435 at the Missouri River, between Wyandotte and Platte counties. (National Weather Service – USGS graphic)
The Kaw River at 23rd Street, where the gauge is at Kansas Avenue and the state line, has crested and is starting a decline, according to hydrology charts. The river is currently in minor flood stage. (National Weather Service – USGS graphic)

Transgender Kansans can now get birth certificates that match their identity

by Dan Margolies, Kansas News Service

Kansas has agreed to change its policy and allow transgender people born in the state to update the sex listed on their birth certificates.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Friday entered into a consent decree that ends a lawsuit brought by four native Kansans and the Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project, Inc. (K-STEP).

The policy change is significant because birth certificates can determine access to education, employment, healthcare, travel and the ability to obtain other identification documents.

“It actually will affect the day-to-day lives of every transgender person born in Kansas,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior attorney at Lambda Legal, which represented the plaintiffs. “It means that the state will finally recognize transgender people for who they are and respect that identity.”

Until now, Kansas was one of only three states that didn’t allow people to change their birth certificates to reflect a gender identity that differs from the one they were assigned at birth.

Federal courts have struck down similar policies in Idaho and Puerto Rico, leaving only Ohio and Tennessee with such policies.

The plaintiffs in the Kansas suit filed last October alleged that the state’s policy violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution. They also argued that it violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment.

Gov. Laura Kelly lauded the consent decree, saying “(I)t was time for Kansas to move past its outdated and discriminatory anti-transgender policy.”

“This decision acknowledges that transgender people have the same rights as anyone else, including the right to easily obtain a birth certificate that reflects who they are,” Kelly said in a statement.

Under the consent decree, Kansans wanting to apply for an updated birth certificate can now do so by submitting a sworn statement accompanied by a passport, driver’s license or a certification from a healthcare professional confirming their gender identity.

Gonzalez-Pagan said the policy change builds not just on Lambda Legal’s court victories in Idaho and Puerto Rico, but years of advocacy by transgender people in Kansas, “who have been fighting for this for a long time.”

“That includes Stephanie Mott,” Gonzalez-Pagan said. “I wish she could have lived to the day where she would see this victory that she had fought so hard for.”

Mott founded K-STEP, which was a plaintiff in the lawsuit, along with Nyla Foster, Luc Bensimon, Jessica Hicklin, and an individual identified only as C.K. Mott had sued Kansas separately over its policy previously, but later dropped her lawsuit. She died suddenly in March.

“Her advocacy to make Kansas better is remembered in this important decision and in other progress she achieved for transgender people,” Kelly said in her statement.

Before Kelly assumed office this year, Kansas had been hostile to expanding legal protections to include LGBT individuals.

In 2015, then-Gov. Sam Brownback rescinded an order by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius barring discrimination against LGBT employees of the state.

And last year, Kansas was one of 16 states that urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that it’s legal to fire people for being transgender.

The Kansas Office of Vital Statistics routinely approved driver’s license amendments until 2012, when the Brownback administration told the agency to stop doing so.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said that made it difficult for transgender people to get driver’s licenses in other states and to register to vote in Kansas because of birth certificate requirements imposed by then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

“Just to be able to put a child in school, the birth certificate has to be disclosed to the school,” Witt said. “And in instances where you have a transgender child, those children were being outed. If you go in and get hired in a new job opportunity and you have to provide a birth certificate, those employees were being outed.

“So having the state of Kansas enter into this consent agreement is a big day for transgender Kansans.”

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter@DanMargolies. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/post/transgender-kansans-can-now-get-birth-certificates-match-their-identity

T-Bones beat Chicago Dogs, 8-6

by Harry Welsh

The Kansas City T-Bones came to Chicago and finished game one with a win, 8-6.

Kansas City started the game with a scoreless first inning; the bats quickly warmed up as Taylor Sparks smoked a home run off starting pitcher Jake Dahlberg in the second.

The Chicago Dogs rallied in the bottom of the second, scoring one off the Kansas City starter Erik Manoah.

Jake Dahlberg continued to pitch against the Bones through the fifth inning, but with little success. Dahlberg gave up runs to Ramsey Romano in the third and additional runs in the fourth to Christopher Colabello, who also sent a ball out of the park in Chicago.

As the T-Bones bats were hot, starting pitcher Erik Manoah dealt one-run second and third innings, managing to give up only four hits. The Kansas City sizzle continued as Robert Calvano entered the game and threw a scoreless sixth. Mark Magliaro gave up two in the bottom of the seventh.

Newcomer Christopher Colabello added another RBI to his stat line in the top of the ninth, and the T-Bones closer, Nick Lee, ended the night on a “hot” note, pitching the final two innings and giving only a single run away.

The winning pitcher was Erik Manoah (2-0), and the losing pitcher was Jake Dahlberg (2-2).

Kansas City will stay in Chicago to play game two of a four-game series against the Dogs before they travel to the SouthShore of Gary, Indiana, for a three-game series.

The T-Bones with the win jumped to third in the South Division and are now a game above .500 at (18-17). The Dogs dropped to (17-16).

Full and half-season 2019 ticket packages as well as mini plans are on sale online or by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.

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