by Cleon Rickel

It’s Water 101. Class will be in session and even if you don’t show up for class, it’s still not one you want to flunk.

Openings are still available for this year’s three-day Marais des Cygnes Basin Leadership Institute starting July 29th, according to class coordinator Lesley Rigney. Although the classes will be conducted within a 17-county area in Missouri and Kansas in the Marais des Cygnes-Osage River watershed, the classes are open to anyone and draw people from Kansas City, outside of the river basin.

That’s because the classes offer lessons about water quality that apply to the entire region, she said. Besides, water doesn’t stop at the county or state line, she said.

What runs into rivers and streams is a particularly acute question for cities and water districts in the Kansas City region.

By Cleon Rickel

 The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued a draft copy of a permit for a new coal-fired power plant in southwestern Kansas.

The KDHE will accept public comments and has also scheduled public hearings, including two in Johnson County, about Sunflower Electric Power’s controversial proposal to build a 895-megawatt at Holcomb near Garden City.

“We appreciate the professionalism and expertise of the KDHE technical staff, which has drafted a stringent permit that protects the environment and follows strict state and federal laws,” Earl Watkins, Sunflower’s president and CEO, said. “The draft construction permit is an important step in meeting future base load generation needs of the people of central and western Kansas. The project will also provide significant economic benefits for the entire state.”

Opponents from such groups as the Sierra Club and the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy say the plant is unneeded – they note that most of the power would go to other states -- and presents an environmental hazard. And they also say they’ll attend the public hearings and submit comments.

By Cleon Rickel and Lisa McClendon

 I got to know Lisa McClendon, an Ottawa, Kan., native, shortly after Hurricane Katrina. She lives in Bayou Dulargea, part of Louisiana near the Gulf Coast not far from New Orleans – directly in Katrina/Rita’s path of destruction.

When the hurricanes hit and their lives were turned upside down. New Orleans got most of the publicity, while many areas elsewhere received just as severe damage, but were largely ignored.

I did several stories for a Kansas newspaper about McClendon’s experiences and her area’s plight. I even helped organize fundraisers here in Kansas for the victims of the hurricanes.

At the time, McClendon was surprised and later outraged by the ineffective state and federal response and subsequent news stories about how those same officials had assured Louisianans before Katrina/Rita how they were “prepared” for a large natural disaster – those assurances were like smoke in the breeze. This is when Lisa McClendon became an activist.

Despite the ballyhoo by state and federal officials in the years since the hurricanes, much of the Gulf Coast never fully recovered from the hurricanes.

And now, her area of Louisiana—known as the Bayou--has a new worry: the Deep Horizon oil spill.

From the beginning of this new man-made disaster, McClendon told me that her parish. Terrebonne Parish, had escaped much the oil spill.

“Our little edge of the coast of Louisiana has remained the pristine go-to spot for displaced shrimpers, crabbers, and sport fishermen throughout most of this disaster,” she wrote me. “As a result, Camp Dularge has been picking up business from people who typically fish areas like Venice and Grand Isle, where waters have been closed for 70 days, now.”

All that changed this week.

By Cleon Rickel

Missouri hopes to pick up some extra bucks when the Obama Administration announces a new round of passenger rail grants within the next few days.

The Missouri Department of Transportation will have an application ready to further its goal of increasing the speed limit on the Union Pacific line that serves as the Amtrak route between Kansas City’s Union Station and St. Louis, said Rod Massman, director of rail operations.

The application would include request for adding two more crossovers at Bonnoth Mill east of Jefferson City and at Hermann, he said. Crossovers allow trains traveling in either direction to move from one set of tracks to another set, eliminating bottlenecks.

By Cleon Rickel

The All-Star Game will return to Kansas City -- probably a few years before the World Series.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced Wednesday before the cheering crowd attending the Royals-Houston Astros game that the 2012 All-Star Game will be at Kauffman Stadium on July 10, 2010.

“This a special day for the Kansas City Royals organization, the local community and the great baseball fans of Kansas City," Selig said as he officially awarded the game during an announcement at the ballpark. "It is also a great day for Major League Baseball."

Another Kansas gubernatorial candidate dipped into the Kansas City area talent pool again for a running mate.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Holland, a state senator from Baldwin City, picked Wyandotte County State Senator Kelly Kultala, 51, of Kansas City as his Lieutenant Governor candidate.

The major Republican gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback selected Johnson County state senator Jeff Colyer, Overland Park, as his running mate last week.

Holland announced his selection Wednesday in three stops across the state.

“When I thought about who I would want to serve as my Lieutenant Governor, my criteria was simple - they must share my commitment to bi-partisanship,” Holland said. “I’m proud to say Kelly Kultala shares this commitment and has a track record of working across the aisle to achieve results."

by Cleon Rickel

The check was in the mail and now it’s in the bank. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday afternoon that nearly $80 million have been delivered to states working on President Obama's high-speed and intercity passenger rail program.

"The President's vision for high-speed rail will forever change the way Americans travel by offering new transportation options," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a written statement.  "The grants released today are merely the very beginning of many more to follow."

The investment in high-speed passenger rail will rail transform America's transportation system and improve the environment, while spurring economic activity and creating jobs, said Vice President Joe Biden. "Our unprecedented investment in high-speed and intercity passenger rail is not only going to provide real environmental benefits and greater convenience for travelers, but also long-term economic development for communities across the country."

The money delivered Thursday includes $66 million for program management and preliminary engineering on a 168-mile-an-hour train racing between Tampa and Orlando, Fla.

Last year, the administration said it would make a first payment of $8 billion for high-speed rail. However, transportation experts say what is even more important is the administration‘s promise to kick in at least $1 billion a year for five years into high-speed rail.

The state of Missouri also has been a beneficiary of the high-speed plan. The Obama high-speed rail proposal outlines a corridor connection Chicago with St. Louis and Kansas City and has promised around $1.13 billion for the corridor.

By Cleon Rickel

The Kansas Legislature has approved a deal that would give a jump-start to a controversial intermodal freight hub in southwest Johnson County.

The deal, tucked into the state’s new comprehensive transportation plan, would give $35 million to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe to build the intermodal center and logistics park on the outskirts of Gardner.

A joint statement released by BNSF, The Allen Group, the logistics park developer, and the Kansas Department of Transportation, praised the Legislature and Governor Mark Parkinson were commended for supporting the plan:

“The Kansas Legislature and Governor Parkinson have created an incentive to accelerate the investment of more than a half-billion dollars of private capital into one of the state’s most significant economic developments,” the statement said.

“Advancing the construction schedule of the KCIMF will create immediate local jobs, enhance revenue for the state of Kansas and create a long-term economic growth engine for the state and surrounding region.”

By Cleon Rickel

For fans of the Tour of Missouri, the last few days have been a misery.

After a week in which it appeared there would be no fourth annual Tour of Missouri, the popular across-the-state professional bicycle race received a reprieve of sorts Friday.

Originally setting a deadline of Friday, May 7th, Chris Aronhalt, of the Georgia-based sports management group, Medalist Sports, his firm would delay making any decisions on Missouri's cross-state professional bike race until after the Tour of California race, which is held May 16th –23rd. He added that his organization wouldn’t make any preparations for the Tour in the Show-Me State either.

Supporters of the race are hoping to spring loose $1 million in state money for the race. And they thought they had it and now are hoping that the standoff over the bike race will be a reprise of last year’s battle for funding.

Gov. Nixon originally denied funding for the race but after a public outcry, agreed to fund the Tour. Supporters said they have to generate another groundswell of public support for this year’s race and are planning a bicycle-in at the Statehouse to be held on Saturday, May 15th.

By Cleon Rickel

This week, the World Trade Organization ruled that the European Union and the partners of the aircraft-manufacturing consortium, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) had given illegal export subsidies to the aircraft-maker.

It was another turn in the corkscrew twists involved in buying a new Air Force aerial refueling tanker, known as the Stratotanker.

Needless to say, U.S. trade officials and members of Congressional delegations from Boeing have been jubilant. E.U. trade officials have been quick to point out U.S. support for Boeing. The reaction from EADS has been muted but persistent.

Boeing and E.A.D.S. are battling to build the next Air Force tanker by modifying commercial airliners for the job; in Boeing’s case, the 767; and in EADS’ case, the Airbus A330.

Although the initial contract would be small potatoes in Pentagon terms, many expect it to grow to a suitable Pentagon size. And because it involves using commercial aircraft as the foundation of the tanker -- which would keep production lines open -- the battle has been unusually bitter and unusually Byzantine.

The U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk, and other U.S. officials, have called this week’s decision of a six-year trade spat a landmark victory.

By Cleon Rickel

For the college sports cynic, it was Kabuki theater, loud, incomprehensible and lots of fun.

But by the end of this week’s curtain call, the once-mighty Big XII, assailed by a melodrama of Byzantine complexity, won’t be the Big 0.

Try the Texas League and a bunch of other schools.

A last-minute deal brokered by Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe this week kept the conference together but minus malcontent Nebraska unhappy with the power held by the University of Texas and which will go to the Big 10, and Colorado, which was invited to the PAC-10.

“I'm delighted for the recent decisions of commitment by … the remaining Big 12 Conference institutions to continue as members of this valuable, meaningful association of significant universities in this region of the country,” a relieved Beebe said. "…This conference is well positioned to continue as one of the most successful in the country and to provide significant educational opportunities and quality experiences for student-athletes as well as to provide a great source of pride for the supporters of these universities and the citizens of this regions."

“I'm honored and privileged to lead this conference into a tremendously bright future.”

It’s a saga that transfixed many in the Great Plains, created sound and fury in the news media and drawn in politicians of every stripe.

It’s not BP and its inability to plug the deep-sea oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not the Israelis’ raid on the aid convoy to Gaza. It’s not Obamacare or the Mayan prediction that the world ends in 2012.

It’s football, basketball and the Big 12 Conference.

And by the time you read this, XII may be zero.

Last night, the exodus began as the Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe announced that the University of Colorado has accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference.

"The Big 12 Conference has been informed that the University of Colorado has accepted an invitation to join the Pacific-10 Conference. I continue to work through the process that was agreed upon last week by our Board of Directors to address membership issues, and am working tirelessly towards the long-term viability of the Big 12."

Brownback Taps Colyer as Running Mate
by Cleon Rickel

U.S. Sen. and Kansas gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback has picked a state senator from Johnson County, Dr. Jeff Colyer, to be his running mate.

In an election season where virtually all Kansas Republicans have been to prove how conservative they are, there’s no doubt where the Brownback team stands.

Sen. Brownback, one of the more conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate, introduced Dr. Colyer, an Overland Park plastic surgeon, one of the more conservative Republicans in the Kansas Senate, on Tuesday.

"Jeff is a man of tremendous character,” Brownback said.  “He has distinguished himself in business and public service and is a true humanitarian. He shares our vision of getting our state's economy growing again as well as improving education and protecting families.”

By Cleon Rickel

The first of a series of public meetings about a proposed Amtrak route connecting Kansas City and Oklahoma City will be Thursday, May 27, in the Flint Hills Room at the Best Western Motel, Emporia.

Kansas Department of Transportation officials will make a brief, formal presentation at 5:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. concerning KDOT’s Amtrak Passenger Rail Study and the four options for extending rail service between Fort Worth, Texas, and Kansas City.

Otherwise, the meeting will be an open house-style meeting in which anyone can review displays detailing the four passenger rail options presented in the Amtrak study, operating and infrastructure costs, potential travel schedules, estimated ridership and connections to other cities.  KDOT staff will be on hand to answer questions or discuss issues.

Nearly 100 years ago, this small mining town was an economic powerhouse in one of the wealthiest areas in the state of Kansas. Now Treece, Kan., like many of its neighbors, is a destined to become a ghost town. Killed by industrial pollution from its boom town past.

“Back then, this town was the heartbeat of America,” said Treece’s Mayor Bill Blunk. “The lead and zinc and came from here and helped make munitions for the wars.”

The town is located in what’s called the Tri-State Mining District -- southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma. During its prime, the District’s approximately 4,000 mines produced half of all the zinc and 10 percent of all the lead in the U.S.-- more than 23 million tons of zinc concentrates and four million tons of lead concentrate, according to the Kansas Geological Survey.

Because it was blessed with coal and natural gas deposits and because railroads eagerly pushed their lines into the region, not only did companies dig out the minerals, companies could easily and inexpensively smelt those minerals.

During its prime, the Tri-State Mining District employed about 11,000 miners, and probably another 33,000 in support jobs. Perhaps it’s apocryphal; old timers say Treece was part of its twin-city Picher, Okla., but made so much money that in a bit of chicanery, the state of Kansas moved the state line a few yards to the south to absorb  Treece and all the tax revenue it was generating.

It wasn’t that long ago that Kansas Democrats were like those guys with the “will work for food” signs on the street corner when it came to this year‘s U.S. Senate race.

Conservative Republican U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback announced he wouldn’t seek re-election and that he would run for governor instead.

Faced with dealing with the winner of a Republican primary with two political heavyweights spending hundreds of thousands to succeed Brownback, Democrats were seen as having little impact on the outcome.