Wichitopekington

TOPEKA – Families who have lost loved ones in war are hoping to display their pride and sacrifice with a “Gold Star Family” license plate.

“The Gold Star Family tag would enable us to display our heritage and express our patriotism for our loss and our country,” Antoinette Ortiz-Colon, told the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday in support of Senate Bill 361.

Ortiz-Colon’s father Staff Sgt. John Ortiz was killed in Vietnam in 1968.

“As the 42 years have gone by, I have lived with the loss of my father but have not been able to put things to rest,” she said.

The plate would allow her and others to honor their military family members killed in action, Ortiz-Colon said.

Sen. Dick Kelsey, R-Goddard, is pushing for this plate this year. Similar legislation stalled last year over concerns about who would pay the $10,000 cost of designing and distributing the plates.

This year, Kelsey has proposed the fee be paid for by private donations.

“All of us certainly want to honor those who have loved ones who have died in battle,” he said.

This year an upgrade to the Department of Revenue’s licensing computer system could delay the plate.

A department representative said with the upgrade going on, the department did not have the resources to put out the new plate – or any new licenses plate. She suggested delaying creating the new plate until July 2012 when the new Department of Motor Vehicles computer system would be up and running.

The Gold Star tradition began shortly after World War I with service banners, usually displayed in an exterior window at the homes of parents of military personnel. The original banners would show a blue star for each child in the service and a gold star for each killed in action. The tradition was cemented in World War II, when the military grew to more than 16 million personnel and 405,000 were killed, touching almost every community in the nation.

For more, read Wednesday’s Wichita Eagle.

TOPEKA – Sen. Dick Kelsey wants to send a message to entities thinking about suing the state using tax dollars – don’t do it.

“In our Constitution the Legislature is clearly given the responsibly to determine policy regarding the expenditure of state funds,” the Goddard Republican wrote in testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It is our duty to decide what to spend and how to spend it, not the courts.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear testimony Monday on Senate Concurrent Resolution 1621, which Kelsey introduced. The resolution seeks to bar entities from using tax dollars to sue the state seeking more money.

“I also believe very strongly that it is wrong to use taxpayer money to sue the Legislature to get more taxpayer money,” Kelsey wrote. “If groups want to sue, let them use their own money.”

The resolution does not come with any penalties for groups that do use tax dollars to sue the state.

The group Schools for Fair Funding, which includes the Wichita district, filed a motion earlier this month with the state Supreme Court arguing that Kansas should be spending more money on public education. The motion argues the state is out of compliance with the court’s 2006 ruling that forced the state to increase funding for public schools by $1 billion.

Over the last year, Gov. Mark Parkinson and lawmakers have cut about $1 billion from the state budget which started at $6.4 billion.

For more, read Tuesday’s Wichita Eagle.

TOPEKA – The Senate on Thursday sent a bill to the House which would ban two synthetic drugs which replicate the effects of marijuana and Ecstasy.

The measure, Senate Bill 348, passed 36-1 with Kansas City Democrat David Haley as the lone vote against the proposal.

“As our youth and others continue to search for legal ways to expand their flights of fancy I fear they will encounter more dangerous ways that what we ban here,” said Haley.

He noted that the move to ban two synthetic cannabinoids found in K2, which replicates the effect of marijuana comes as many states are expanding legal access to the plant itself.

The measure would also ban BZP which replicate the hallucinogen Ecstasy.

Kansas law enforcement officials have said high school students are using the new synthetic drugs.

Most lawmakers did not agree with Haley.

Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, who is also a physician, said he was voting for the ban after seeing first-hand the impact drugs could have on people’s lives.

“Even though it is an imitation drug it is still a drug,” he said.