The Arena Design Consortium, the architects chosen by Sedgwick County to design the downtown arena, released three exterior designs this morning. Option A (in rendering) is the most traditional, tying in with Old Town and existing brick buildings. Option B is a mix of contemporary curves on the south side and traditional brick on the north. Option C tries to be more unique, with an aviation-inspired roof. None of the three makes your jaw drop. What do you think?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Tony Snow doesn’t just want to talk for President Bush. He wants to talk to him. The new White House press secretary asked for “guaranteed access to the president’s ear and to an unusually large degree of latitude to reconfigure the (White House) press operation,” according to The National Journal’s Hotline.
Snow is smart and has journalism credentials that extend far beyond Fox News. But will his well-known conservative views make press briefings seem even more like political spin than they do now?
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Wichitan Bernie Mermis, one of 1,300 people swabbed during the BTK investigation, began contacting local authorities in December to make sure that his DNA sample had been destroyed, as per District Judge Gregory Waller’s order in October. What he got was a lot of runaround, he said. And as it turns out, The Eagle learned, none of the samples has been destroyed yet.
Police officials blamed this inaction on missing paperwork. And they say they hope to have the samples all destroyed by June.
Many citizens were understandably uncomfortable submitting to a DNA swabbing. But they agreed to allow it because they wanted to help with the investigation (and they were afraid of what might happen if they resisted). Now that BTK has been caught and is spending the rest of his life in jail, the police need to thank these citizens by destroying their DNA as quickly as possible.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
“The main elements of the national debate are here, just somewhat hidden beneath the surface: the mutually dependent relationship of employers and immigrant workers, the financial benefits and setbacks an influx of immigrants brings to a community, and the awkward question of who is legal and how much it should matter,” The New York Times reported in an article Tuesday about Liberal, Kan.
It noted that due to the growth of Liberal’s meatpacking industry, Latinos’ share of the Liberal population was 43 percent in 2000, up from 10 percent in 1980. And children of immigrants make up nearly two-thirds of the public school enrollment.
There has been some resentment about social costs and culture changes, the Times reported. But for the most part, Liberal residents have recognized that their economy has needed the workers, so the town has taken a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to immigration.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Judges should not discuss pending cases outside of court proceedings. In fact, doing so can be a violation of judicial conduct. So it was correct for Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Kay McFarland to ask an ethics panel Monday to investigate a lunch discussion by one of her fellow justices and two state senators.
Justice Lawton Nuss acknowledged meeting for lunch with Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, and Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, and briefly discussing school finance legislation, including showing them a chart Nuss made about various funding proposals. As a result, he removed himself from the state’s school finance case, as was appropriate.
But the Commission on Judicial Qualifications needs to examine the matter to see if there was an ethics violation and, if so, to determine the appropriate punishment. What’s not needed, at this point, is for lawmakers to further politicize the issue by holding their own hearings, as the Senate Elections and Local Government Committee did Tuesday, and using it as an excuse to not adequately fund public schools.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
With whopping 100-25 and 35-2 votes in the House and Senate, respectively, state lawmakers have already approved spending $5 million a year for five years to help Wichita Mid-Continent Airport keep and expand low-fare service. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed the bill last week. So what’s the problem?
Well, as the Legislature’s wrap-up session starts today, the airfares program remains unfunded and at risk of being inappropriately linked to a last effort to leverage votes to expand gambling. Casinos are a worthy issue, but in their own bill. On its own merits, this bill already won passage and Sebelius’ signature. Now, deliver the dollars.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
