Fewer taking chance on lottery | CJOnline.com

Fewer taking chance on lottery CJOnline.com

LAWRENCE — The struggling economy has fewer people willing to gamble on a lottery ticket.
The Kansas Lottery said sales for all types of games and tickets for the week ending March 21 were down 4.3 percent from the same week a year ago. Powerball tickets were down even more, 12 percent below the same period a year ago.

Last year, Kansas Lottery sales were down 5 percent, mirroring declines for state lotteries across the country. California and Indiana saw lottery revenue dip 10 percent, Iowa declined 6 percent and Florida fell 8 percent. Missouri's sales were flat.

So, based on the story below this one, legislators are gambling more, while average Kansans are gambling less? And these folks at the Statehouse claim to represent us???

Budget based on hopeful numbers | CJOnline.com

Budget based on hopeful numbers CJOnline.com

A $13 billion-plus state budget is likely to win approval from legislators this week, but it's built on what seems a convenient fiction.

The apparent fiction is the notion that state revenues won't fall short of expectations again for the rest of the current fiscal year or the state's 2010 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Few, if any, legislators expect the state to have such good luck in the current economic climate.

If tax collections continue to fall as short of expectations as they did through February, the budget about to win approval fiscal 2010 won't balance, and legislators will be forced to revise it. If the state's finances get significantly worse, legislators might even have to revise the current budget, too.

God forbid, legislators would actually be realistic about their budget. Guess who will have to pay the bill if their dreams don't come true? That's right, us friends.

Transit Authority Hopes City Will Help with Funding / Kansas News Leader

Transit Authority Hopes City Will Help with Funding / Kansas News Leader

TOPEKA, Kan. - Topeka Transit hopes some extra funding from the City will help prevent making more cuts to the operation.

Board members met Friday at an emergency work session to discuss what can be done to help prevent them from putting Phase Two into action - this means buses would come every hour rather than half hour.

Phase One begins April 1, which means Topeka Transit will no longer provide bus service after 6:30 p.m. on weekdays or at all on Sundays.

It is sad that Topeka's transit system can't come closer to being self sufficient. But Topeka is not alone in that. We, as a community, have to decide how much we are willing to pay for mass transit. And I don't think we have really had that discussion as a community yet.

Storm impact may be less severe | CJOnline.com

Storm impact may be less severe CJOnline.com

The Topeka area remains under a winter storm warning until 7 p.m., although its impact has been slightly downgraded by the National Weather Service.

Bill Gargan, a meteorologist for NWS in Topeka, said it now appears snow fall accumulations this afternoon will be in the 1 to 4 inch range.

I am glad the worst of the storm will miss us. Still, I don't think our family is going anywhere today. If you do have to travel, please be careful. I don't want to lose any more friends this week.

Snow dump expected late Friday | CJOnline.com

Snow dump expected late Friday CJOnline.com

Topeka could see half a foot of snow late Friday, forecasters said, a
drastic shift from the 70-degree days of late.
An intense storm system diving
into the Rocky Mountains will push cold air across the plains. That air will
meet up with moisture floating up from the Gulf of Mexico to form a narrow
weather band in eastern Kansas that could drop upwards of six inches in the
area, said Matt Wolters, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in
Topeka.
This comes just days after the year's first spring storm poured more
than two inches of rain on the capital city and only weeks after Topeka broke
its March 5 record high temperature with a thermometer reading of 86
degrees.

You know the old saying about Kansas. If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour. We go from spring thunderstorms to winter snow in less than a week. Any question why so many people you know are sick right now?

The Associated Press: Senate reviewing how college football picks No. 1

The Associated Press: Senate reviewing how college football picks No. 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Everyone from President Barack Obama on down to fans has
criticized how college football determines its top team. Now senators are
getting off the sidelines to examine antitrust issues involving the Bowl
Champion Series.
The current system "leaves nearly half of all the teams in
college football at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to qualifying for
the millions of dollars paid out every year," the Senate Judiciary's
subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights said in a
statement Wednesday announcing the hearings.
Under the BCS, some conferences
get automatic bids to participate in series, while others do not.
Obama and
some members of Congress favor a playoff-type system to determine the national
champion. The BCS features a championship game between the two top teams in the
BCS standings, based on two polls and six computer ratings.

Can you believe that anyone in Congress would waste time with this issue? I hate the BCS as much as anyone out there, but c'mon. Is there any area of life that government doesn't want to control anymore?

On the other hand, if we could know that Congress would take all its time "fixing" sports, and leave the economy alone, maybe it would be worth it???

Kansas Chamber releases poll showing significant support for coal-burning power plants - KTKA.com

Kansas Chamber releases poll showing significant support for coal-burning power plants - KTKA.com

Topeka — The Kansas Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday turned up the political
heat for a bill to allow the construction of two 700-megawatt coal-burning power
plants with the release of a poll that indicates significant support for the
proposal.
“In all categories you see the support outweighs the opposition to
the coal plant,” said Amy Blankenbiller, president and chief executive officer
of the Chamber.
Fifty-one percent favor “the building of a new electrical
power plant that uses coal in Kansas,” according to the poll. Twenty-six percent
oppose it, and 23 percent were undecided, according to the poll of 600
registered voters that was conducted last week.

This poll doesn't surprise me a bit. The only reason the numbers aren't higher in favor is because of all the negative press coverage the plant has gotten. The fact is most Kansans want the plant, and the power and jobs it will bring our state. If only our governor would get that message