2/17/2010

Deere plans to report 1Q earnings on Wednesday

Farm equipment maker Deere e its first-quarter earnings report and give investors another chance to check the strength of the global economy.

The Moline, Ill.,-based company plans to release its earnings report Wednesday morning before the markets open.

Over the past year, sales of Deere's farm and construction equipment have been hurt by the recession.

But analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters still expect Deere to report earnings per share of 19 cents on $4.19 billion revenue.

Deere has predicted it will generate a $900 million profit in 2010 largely because of tight cost controls. The company says it expects a 10 percent drop in sales of large farm equipment this year.

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------ Man wants trial on charge that he threatened doc

DENVER (AP) -- A Washington man who was expected to plead guilty to allegations that he threatened a Colorado abortion doctor has changed his mind and wants to take his case to trial.

Seventy-year-old Donald Hertz told a federal judge in Denver Tuesday that there were things in his plea agreement that he didn't want to plead guilty to because they were false. The federal judge did not immediately set a date for a trial.

Hertz is accused of calling the Boulder Abortion Clinic in Boulder on June 23 and threatening to kill members of Dr. Warren Hern's family. The call came within weeks of the slaying of Dr. George Tiller, who operated an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan.

Hertz faced charges of making an interstate threat and of violating a law protecting access to reproductive health services.

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Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com

------ Kan. Senate passes bill toughening seat belt law

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A proposal to prevent dozens of fatalities on Kansas' roads by strengthening the seat belt law won the approval Tuesday of the state Senate, and a separate measure to ban texting while driving cleared one of its committees.

The seat belt bill, which passed 26-14, would require any adult in a vehicle to buckle up and doubles the fine they would face for violating the law to $60, starting June 30. Senators' approval sent the measure to the House, which has been skeptical of such proposals in the past.

Kansas' current seat belt law applies to adults only when they are in a vehicle's front seat, and a police officer must stop a vehicle for another reason, such a speeding, before ticketing someone for not wearing a seat belt. The bill would permit officers to stop a vehicle only for a seat belt violation.

"It's about safety," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Dwayne Umbarger, a Thayer Republican.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed a bill that would make it a traffic infraction to text while driving, which could lead to a fine. A second offense could lead to a six-month jail sentence.

The anti-texting bill covers pagers, cell phones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants and text messaging devices. The proposed ban has exceptions for checking the weather or traffic updates or for making an emergency call to report criminal activity or a traffic hazard.

------ Suspect in fatal Kan. crash ruled incompetent

COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) -- A southeast Kansas man charged with murder in a crash that killed a Pittsburg mother and daughter has been ruled incompetent to stand trial.

A Cherokee County judge on Tuesday ordered 23-year-old Kaston L. Hudgins committed to Larned State Security Hospital for up to 90 days of treatment and evaluation.

The Galena man is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the collision that killed 41-year-old Teresa Kemp and her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, last July 16.

Prosecutors say Hudgins was fleeing from sheriff's deputies in a stolen car when he crashed into Teresa Kemp's car on U.S. 69 near Pittsburg.

Hudgins is also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

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------ Lottery chief: Deal reached on Kansas casino

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Plans for a casino south of Wichita appeared to be back on track Tuesday, less than two weeks after Kansas Lottery officials had worried that the possibility of an American Indian-run casino opening nearby would scuttle the project.

Executive Director Ed Van Petten said the lottery had a new agreement with the Chisholm Creek partnership for a $225 million hotel-and-casino complex. The partnership would build and manage the casino for the lottery, which would own the rights to the gambling and the gambling equipment, down to the dice and cards.

Chisholm Creek had agreed a contract with the lottery to build the complex at a site near Mulvane, about 20 miles south of Wichita, but in December, just before a state review board was to vote on the project, the partnership asked for time to revise its plans.

Chisholm Creek officials have said they are concerned about the Wyandotte Nation's long-standing pursuit of a rival casino north of Wichita. The northeast Oklahoma tribe bought 10 acres of land in 1992 and has been waiting for more than a decade for U.S. Interior Department approval of gambling on the site.

Earlier this month, Van Petten expressed doubts that the lottery and Chisholm Creek could draft a new agreement because the competition from a Wyandotte Nation casino would erode Chisholm Creek's revenue. He said Tuesday that the new terms included a provision offering the partnership some protection if the tribe built its casino as planned.

Van Petten said the Kansas Lottery Commission would consider a proposed contract between the lottery and Chisholm Creek during a meeting Wednesday. If the commission approves it -- as expected -- a state review board will determine this spring whether the project goes forward.

------ Kansans claim pancake race win over England

LIBERAL, Kan. (AP) -- A southwest Kansas physical education teacher won the annual trans-Atlantic pancake race Tuesday, beating the winner of the English leg of the race by 4 seconds.

But the women of Olney, England, won't have to worry any more about Liberal's Cheryl Bevis. It was the third win for the 32-year-old middle school teacher and coach, making her ineligible to compete in future years.

Bevis carried a pancake in a griddle over a 415-yard course in 63 seconds to beat a 13-woman field in Liberal.

Olney's Jane Hughes won the English portion of the race earlier Tuesday with a time of 67 seconds.

Legend recounts that the race began in 1455 when an Olney housewife ran to Shrove Tuesday church services still carrying a pancake in a frying pan. Liberal made it a friendly international competition in 1950.

------ Kan. House moves efficiency bill; another stalls

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Two proposals designed to help make Kansas government more efficient have met with different fates in the state House.

House members gave first-round approval Tuesday to a bill establishing a Streamlining Government Commission. The panel would review agencies and programs to determine which could be eliminated or combined.

The House vote was 73-46. Final action is expected Wednesday, and approval would send the bill to the Senate.

The other bill would create a Council on Efficient Government to consider government programs that can be turned over to private companies.

But the measure became embroiled in a debate over whether vendors for the state should be required to show they aren't hiring illegal immigrants. The House sent the bill back to committee.

------ 2 from Kansas firm guilty in Pa. brine dumping

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Two men from a Kansas oil-drilling firm pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally dumping 200,000 gallons of brine water down an abandoned well in Pennsylvania's only national forest.

The pollution by Swamp Angel LLC in the Allegheny National Forest could contaminate groundwater and streams, but authorities have not linked any water damage conclusively to the pollution, acting U.S. Attorney Robert Cessar said.

The pleas before a federal judge in Erie should send a signal to oil and gas drillers to properly dispose of brine, a saltwater byproduct of the drilling process that sometimes also contains metals, Cessar said.

"These guys were drilling oil wells, produced this brine water and decided they weren't going to pay for its disposal," Cessar said. "This is the result of them getting caught. That's the case in a nutshell."

The Wichita-based company's part-owner, 66-year-old Michael Evans, of La Quinta, Calif., and the company's site supervisor, 54-year-old John Morgan, of Sheffield, Pa., each pleaded guilty to felony violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Under the law, brine must either be hauled away and treated at a sewage treatment plant or dumped into an abandoned well, provided permits are obtained. Permits weren't obtained in this case, but are required to ensure measures are taken so the water won't leach into the ground and pollute groundwater and nearby streams, Cessar said.

------ Kan. panel backs driving-while-texting ban

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A bill endorsed by a Senate committee would make it a crime in Kansas to drive while texting.

The Senate Judiciary Committee made technical changes to the bill on Tuesday and sent it to the floor for debate.

The bill would make it a traffic infraction on the first offense for texting or sending images while driving a vehicle. It covers using a telephone, pager, personal digital assistant, text messaging device and laptop computer.

Exceptions would be for checking weather or traffic updates or making an emergency call to report criminal activity or traffic hazard.

A similar bill has been introduced in the House but has not been scheduled for debate.

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------ Bill to repeal Kan. death penalty in limbo

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A bill repealing Kansas' death penalty law remains stalled in the Senate.

Majority Leader Derek Schmidt said Tuesday that he's still considering whether to schedule a debate in the Senate on the bill, which emerged from committee last month.

That's frustrating supporters of the bill. No one has been executed under the 1994 capital punishment law, though 10 men are serving death sentences.

The bill would substitute life in prison without parole for the death penalty for a few types of killings. The change would not apply to inmates already under the death sentence.

Schmidt, an Independence Republican, opposes the bill and thinks it stands little chance of passing the House. He questions whether families of murder victims should have to go through a debate.

------ Kan. panel reviews plan to tax utility bills

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas House committee has been asked to reject a plan to impose the state's sales tax on residential utility bills.

The House Taxation Committee wrapped up testimony Tuesday on a bill to eliminate exemptions to the 5.3 percent sales tax. The measure would raise $182 million to help close a budget shortfall.

Most of the money raised would come from eliminating a sales tax exemption on residential water, electric and natural gas bills.

But David Springe (Sprin-GHEE'), chief attorney for a state agency representing residential customers, says utility customers already are hurting and angry.

Joe Dick, a lobbyist for the Board of Public Utilities in Kansas City, Kan., says many of its customers already are struggling to pay their bills.

------ Kan. competes for broadband funds

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Another round of federal grants to bring broadband access to Kansans and other parts of the nation is under way.

The Kansas Department of Commerce says Tuesday that the new application for Internet projects runs through March 15. There are two pools of federal stimulus funds totaling more than $4.8 billion available.

During the first round, Kansas provider Rural Telephone Service Co., received $101 million in grants and loans for Internet infrastructure projects. Kansas was also awarded $2 million to map broadband access in the state and to plan development.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that 40 percent of the nation's homes still lack broadband access.

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------ Report: SRS doesn't give cops child abuse reports

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Law enforcement agencies don't always receive child abuse reports so they can determine whether a crime has occurred, resulting in "many cases where the opportunity for criminal prosecution is missed," a state report says.

The report faults the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services for sometimes failing to forward abuse reports to law enforcement agencies.

The review, recently released by the Kansas Attorney General's Office, said another "systemic problem" involves "turf battles" that hurt communication between agencies that investigate child abuse.

And a third problem area: In some foster-care cases, SRS has failed to inform the Kansas Department of Health and Environment of abuse reports, as required by law. KDHE licenses day care homes and family foster homes.

The report urges dual reporting of suspected abuse by the public and by mandated reporters, such as school staff and health care personnel. It calls for reporting suspicions not only to appropriate state agencies but also to local law enforcement.

Attorney general spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett said she couldn't comment on where turf battles have occurred because the cases are confidential.

------ Scholarship offered in honor of 1959 murder victim

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- A scholarship is being offered to honor one of the victims of a southwest Kansas killing that was chronicled in Truman Capote's novel "In Cold Blood."

The Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship is named for the father of a family that was killed in 1959 at their Holcomb farmhouse.

Clutter was a farming leader who encouraged wheat research. Each year, $500 will be awarded to one incoming freshman from Kansas who is pursuing a career in agriculture.

The scholarship was created last year by the Kansas Wheat Research Foundation, which is administered by the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

Scholarship applications are due April 15.

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------ State still working to eradicate feral hogs

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas Livestock Commissioner George Teagarden calls them an invasive species -- nuisances that root up crops and pastures like a rototiller.

Yet as efforts continue to eradicate feral hogs from the Kansas plains, Teagarden says there is evidence that some people are still illegally transporting feral hogs into the state, possibly as a way to bolster Kansas' hunting industry.

"We are sure they are being transported into the state and transported around the state," said Teagarden, who runs the Kansas Animal Health Department. "Feral swine aren't good for the state. There are a few people who want to be able to hunt them, but the destruction they cause outweighs what we'd gain."

Hunters shell out a few hundred bucks a day to hunt wild hogs in Texas. But in Kansas, officials want to rid the state of the grunting and rooting animal that rips up pastures and is nearly as prolific as a rabbit.

The Kansas Legislature passed a law in 2006 banning feral hog hunting. Since then, Teagarden's agency, with help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, has been killing feral hogs from the air across south-central and eastern Kansas. They also trap them during the year in hopes of someday ridding them from the state completely.

The annual helicopter hunt got under way Tuesday along the Oklahoma border, starting first in Elkhart, then moving to Barber, Cowley and Douglas counties, said John Johnson, a wildlife biologist with the USDA agency who heads up the aerial team.

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