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Top Of The Morning News: Thursday, February 9, 2012

A daily digest of headlines from KCUR.

  • Former Kansas Congressman Dennis Moore Has Alzheimer’s
  • Fire Chief Says Budget Cuts Could Cost Lives
  • Missouri Senate Passes Workplace Discrimination Bill
  • Kansas Senate Endorses Congressional Redistricting Map
  • Dueling Rallies At Kansas Statehouse Over Governor’s Tax Plan

Former Kansas Congressman Dennise Moore Has Alzheimer’s

Former Congressman Dennis Moore has announced he has Alzheimer's. The 66-year-old Democrat represented Kansas for 12 years in the U.S. House.   The Kansas City Star reports:

He had noticed he was forgetting the names of people he hadn’t seen for a few months, or where he had placed things. That was followed by diagnostic testing and neurological evaluations in Kansas City and St. Louis before the final diagnosis in June. “It is just something you have to deal with,” he said. “It’s a part of life.” Moore said the disease is spreading slowly and insisted it did not affect him during his final years in Congress.

Moore says he's in the "early phases of Alzheimer's disease" and hopes to help others with the disease. 

Read Dennis Moore's statement here.

Fire Chief Says Budget Cuts Could Cost Lives

Major cities from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles require four firefighters on a pumper, because it takes that many to safely enter a burning building--two to suppress flames and two to search for victims inside. That was the message from Kansas City Fire Chief Smoky Dyer who said, budget cuts would allow only three on a pumper. Dyer’s remarks came as a Kansas City council committee heard testimony about the city manager’s suggestions to cut $7.5 million from the fire department’s budget.  Read more here.

Missouri Senate Passes Workplace Discrimination Bill

The Missouri Senatehas passedlegislationthat would redefine what constitutes discrimination in the workplace.The vote was a mere formality following last week’s battle to kill the measure.  Under the bill, discrimination would have to be a motivating factor, not a contributing factor, in any action taken by an employer against an employee.  Read more here.

Kansas Senate Endorses Congressional Redistricting Map

Kansas Senate has endorsed a map that would redraw the state's congressional districts. The plan would put the city of Lawrence entirely in the 2nd District. The city is currently split between the 2nd and 3rd.  The map would also move the city of Manhattan from the 2nd District into the 1st, which covers western Kansas. City officials have opposed that move. The redistricting plan will now go to the Kansas House.  Find out more here.

Dueling Rallies At Kansas Statehouse Over Governor’s Tax Plan

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback's plan to cut income and business taxes is getting both praise and criticism in Topeka.  Supporters and opponents of the plan sounded off Wednesday at a pair of Statehouse rallies.  A House committee is holding three days of hearings this week on the governor’s tax plan.  Listen to more here.

 

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