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Kansas City News Today Kansas City Front Page is a weekly news publication, with daily updates, spotlighting attractions, events, business and hospitality in Kansas City. |
KANSAS CITY NEWS TODAY - Monday, April 14, 2008 Kansas City's KSHB-TV Launches Free Mobile Traffic Camera Service to Help Lighten Traffic Load KANSAS CITY, (kansascityfrontpage.com), April 13, 2008 - KSHB-TV Channel 41, the NBC-affiliate station based in Kansas City, Missouri, has launched a free mobile traffic camera service for area residents and commuters. The KSHB Traffic Jam Cell Cams, targets the more than 150,000 daily commuters in the region who will now be able to view traffic tie-ups on their mobile devices before leaving their home, office or school. "This service offers Kansas City drivers and passengers a hand in planning the quickest, most fuel-efficient and safest routes, wherever they're heading," said Craig Allison, vice president and general manager of KSHB-TV, Tribune Broadcasting Company, Kansas City. "This service further demonstrates that we are the leading news, weather and now source of real-time traffic information." The KSHB Traffic Jam Cell Cams relies on over 100 traffic cameras operated by Kansas City Scout, the bi-state area's traffic management system. The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) designed Scout to lessen traffic jams by improving rush-hour speeds, to increase safety by decreasing the number of rush-hour accidents and to improve emergency response to traffic situations. "The Kansas and Missouri Departments of Transportation are pleased to develop an enhanced partnership with KSHB and 3rd Dimension to provide streaming video to the motorist of Kansas City," said Jason Sims, Kansas City Scout Traffic Center Manager. "This partnership provides not only enhanced services to Kansas City commuters, but it further maximizes Scout's comprehensive camera network." Kansas City Scout cameras are installed throughout several cities in the Kansas City/Missouri metropolitan area. These cities include, Kansas City, KS, Independence, MO, Lee's Summit, North Kansas City, Overland Park, Merriam, Lenexa, Leawood, Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Blue Springs, and Grandview. The NBC Action News Traffic Jam Cell Cams application is compatible with data enabled phones on the Sprint, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile networks, and including popular smart phones such as the BlackBerry, Palm Treo and the Motorola Q. Report Says American High Schools, Including Kansas City and Wichita Districts, Are in Crisis KANSAS CITY, (PRNewswire-USNewswire), April 14, 2008 - American high schools are in a state of crisis, including school districts in Kansas City and Wichita. So says the report issued last week from the Education Research Center and supported by both the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and America's Promise Alliance. It is the same message heard three years ago from the Gates Foundation in their report The Silent Epidemic. Thirty percent of students entering high school don't graduate, and in large cities the failure to graduate reaches 48 percent. In the Kansas City school district, the study reveals that the graduation rate for the 2003-2004 school year was 45.7 percent, with Kansas City ranking 40 out of 50 cities listed in the report. In the Wichita school district, the study reveals that the graduation rate for the 2003-2004 school year was 59.6 percent, with Wichita ranking 19 out of 50 cities listed in the report. In fact, in Kansas 159,000 students ages 14 to 17 do not attend traditional high school. In addition, 250,000 people over the age of 18 in Kansas have no high school diploma or an education less than 9th grade. Throughout the nation, nearly five million high school-age children do not attend high school. The Silent Epidemic report stated that a majority of the students who fail to graduate had grades of C or better. Nearly 50 percent of these students said that class was not interesting and that they were bored and disengaged. Of those that left for personal reasons, 32 percent had to get a job, 26 percent became parents and 22 percent had to care for a family member. "This growing crisis is the reason we founded Insight Schools," said Keith Oelrich, CEO of Insight Schools, Inc. "When the system is failing to meet the needs of this many students in our community, it is time to offer alternatives to that system. We're inspired by the success we've seen students experience in our schools and look forward to opening our virtual doors in Kansas." Online high school is still a relatively new concept in education, but already it is showing success rates and proving that for some student populations this makes high school graduation not only possible but exceptional. Another recent report supports the claim that online high school may be part of the solution. The Washington State Budget and Policy Center issued a report on March 24, 2008 Learning Online: An Assessment Of Online Public Education Programs. From the report: "Online programs are reaching students who would not otherwise be attending a public school, or would not be in school at all." The major finding of this report was that online public education programs are providing a high-quality, rigorous educational program for students who do not fit well in traditional public schools and that the curriculum not only meets, but often exceeds, state learning standards. "We often say Insight is 'high school powered by you'," said Oelrich. "It really is in the truest sense. We meet students where they are both personally and educationally. They have to be motivated to be a successful student, but we remove all the barriers to learning and provide a level of flexibility and mentorship that is unmatched in traditional settings." With four existing schools and four more opening this fall, Insight Schools operates the nation's largest network of tuition-free, diploma-granting, online public high schools. To learn more, call 800-975-8006. Existing schools include: Washington, Oregon, California and Wisconsin. New schools opening in Fall of 2008 include: Kansas, Minnesota, South Carolina and iSucceed Virtual High School in Idaho. Soaring Food Costs Seen Linked to Rapidly Expanding Ethanol Sector KANSAS CITY, (PRNewswire-USNewswire), April 14, 2008 - Soaring food prices in the United States are caused in part by $25 billion per year in unnecessary costs imposed on food producers by the federally subsidized ethanol industry, which is itself teetering on the brink of contraction due to rampant over-expansion and higher corn prices, an agricultural economist told food writers meeting recently in New Orleans. "We simply cannot subsidize our way into long term economic growth and job creation," warned Thomas Elam, Ph.D., president of FarmEcon LLC. "The policy favoring ethanol and other biofuels over food uses of grains and other crops acts as a regressive tax on the poor." The impact on food costs comes from the federal policy of subsidizing the conversion of corn into ethanol, which is then added to gasoline at a concentration of up to 10 percent for use in most vehicles and up to 85 percent for some vehicles. Until the last few years, corn was used mainly to make feed for livestock and poultry, but has increasingly been diverted into ethanol because of hefty federal subsidies. As a result, the price of corn has soared, along with soybeans and other grains and oilseeds also used in animal feed. "The biofuels policy that is driving higher prices of corn, other grains, and soybeans will cost the U.S. economy more than $100 billion from 2006 to 2009," Elam said. "It is inevitable that these costs will be passed along to consumers." Elam released a new study of the ethanol situation produced by his firm. He said that the ethanol industry has grown rapidly in response to the federal subsidy program - too rapidly, he suggested. Ethanol distilleries already in operation, plus those slated to come on line in the next year, will need up to 5 billion to 5.5 billion bushels of corn per year by 2009, Elam said. "We will not have nearly that much corn available for ethanol use," he warned. Crop rotation requirements and higher prices of soybeans will actually reduce the amount of corn available for all purposes in 2008/2009, compared to the current crop year, he said. Only about 4 billion bushels of corn will be available to the ethanol sector, meaning that it will be able to operate at only 75 percent to 80 percent of its capacity as early as next year, he said. Elam said many ethanol distilleries will have to suspend operations and most will operate at a significant loss. "Spurred on by subsidies, the ethanol industry has expanded at an unsustainable rate," he said. "It will be very difficult for the industry to make money even at its current size, even given federal subsidies. At the capacity the industry is building, it will not be able to operate its plants at that capacity in the foreseeable future."   The Kansas City Front Page is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Kansas City area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 2007 - 2008 Moore Design Group. |
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