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Police are investigating the shooting of two persons in the 2700 block of North Early Street.
According to a police spokesman, officers responded at 11:49 a.m. April 5 to North Early on a report of a shooting.
They found two gunshot victims, a male in his 30s, and a male juvenile. Both were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, the spokesman said.
The police are asking anyone with information to call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
While the Legislature returns to session on Saturday, April 5, to finish its work, including work on school finance, some progress was made on Friday night.
The House passed a bill Friday that was a compromise endorsed by Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, and House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Democrat.
The bipartisan effort on Senate Bill 218 passed 91-31. Rep. Broderick Henderson and Rep. Valdenia Winn, Democrats from the Wyandotte County delegation, voted against it.
“The school finance bill that passed the Kansas House today (Friday) with bipartisan support increases funding to Kansas schools by $83 million and includes $74 million of property tax relief,” Gov Brownback said in a statement. “I am pleased with the broad bipartisan support for a plan that puts money into the classrooms where it best benefits students and teachers.
The bill as passed made cuts to programs that assist students older than 19 and students who are part-time. Rep. Jim Ward, a Democrat from the Wichita area, said that even though he voted for the bill he was disappointed in the elimination of the at-risk services for these students, and he hoped that the conference committee would restore these funds.
“Poor urban school districts spend a great many resources keeping at risk students in school. Many of these students have to work. These students take an untraditional route to graduation but they do graduate. The finance formula should not punish districts that help these kids,” he said in a statement in the House.
The House also changed its plan to dip into retirement funds from the schools to pay for school finance, and also restored proceeds from the sale of Rainbow Mental Health facility in Kansas City, Kan., to mental health services. Instead, funding for school finance is coming from the state’s general fund.
The Kansas National Education Associated stated that it had opposed a change to licensure that would “lower the standards for teacher licensure in Kansas” and had opposed the expansion of the “innovative district” program. Those provisions were left in the version the House passed.
The House and Senate will work on their differences in the bill in a conference committee.
Legislative update from Sen. Pat Pettey, D-6th Dist.
April 4, 2014
In this issue:
• Senate adjourns this week
• School finance
• Community forum
• Kansas Health Institute
• Health information
Senate adjourns this week
Legislators worked long days this week finishing legislative business before the session break.
The session is scheduled to end April 4.
After this date, bills that haven’t passed both chambers can no longer be debated although certain bills are exempt from this deadline.
Following a short break, legislators will return for the veto session in late April. At that time, exempt bills, conference reports, and any vetoes by the governor will be considered.
If you have any questions about any of the legislation being considered, feel free to contact my office at 785-296-7375 or stop by my legislative office, located in 125-E of the Topeka Statehouse. My assistant’s name is Jennifer Parson.
School finance
The Senate will likely not finish today, but will convene again on Saturday, April 5, to work school funding legislation in response to the Gannon decision handed down by the Supreme Court.
I have voted “no” on this legislation, and join with Sen. Anthony Hensley in his explanation of that “no” vote, offered on the Senate floor:
“Madam President:
“I vote no on HB 2506.
“Less than one month ago the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed that the legislature has created an unconstitutional school finance system and then was the time to fix it. They told us to resolve inequities by fully funding capital outlay and local option budget equalization.
“Unfortunately, we have waited until the final two days of the legislative session to address this issue. When the equity issue should have been this legislature’s first and foremost priority.
“It is absurd that we are discussing more cuts to important areas of education – at-risk, virtual schools, transportation – to fix this. More cuts are not the solution.
“This bill makes unnecessary and unvetted new education policy such as blocking the implementation of the Common Core standards, creating a corporate tax scholarship credit, eliminating due process for teachers, and establishing a property tax credit without a fiscal note for families using private schools.
“The school finance formula is not broken and should not be changed. The formula is underfunded. And, if we really want to put money into the classroom, we should be restoring the cuts and raising the base state aid per pupil.”
– Anthony Hensley
This session on the Senate floor continued until 1:45 a.m. Friday morning. We debated the education funding bill for 6 hours.
Update from the House (from the Topeka Capital-Journal):
Both Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, House Minority Leader Paul Davis, urged the House to pass a compromise school finance bill Friday, in a bipartisan effort.
“While I was hoping to vote for a little bit better product, this does address the most important issue court set before us, which is that we need to fund the equalization pats of the (K-12 funding) formula,” Davis said about Senate Bill 218. To read this story, visit http://m.cjonline.com/news/2014-04-04/house-oks-bipartisan-school-finance-bill.
Community forum
Members of the Wyandotte County legislative delegation will participate in a Town Hall Forum sponsored by the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce. The forum will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. April 12, at the West Wyandotte Public Library, 1737 N 82nd St., Kansas City, Kan. All are welcome to attend, and I hope to see you there. I look forward to the opportunity to speak with you and answer any questions you may have about this legislative session.
Kansas Health Institute
According to the 2014 Rankings, the five healthiest counties in Kansas, starting with the most healthy, are Johnson, followed by Riley, Pottawatomie, Waubaunsee and Stevens. The five counties in the poorest health, starting with the least healthy, are Woodson, Elk, Wyandotte, Chautaqua, and Decatur.
The Rankings provide county-to-county comparisons within a state. In Kansas, this year’s Rankings show that within communities that rank lowest, babies are 50 percent more likely to have low birth weight and children are more than four times more likely to live in poverty than in communities that rank at the top.
Health information
From the American Heart Association:
“Children consume 45 percent more snack food when exposed to food advertising. 34 percent of food products in ads targeting children and teens are candy and snacks.”