Conference to empower women about finances

Haskell Indian Nations University will be host to its first annual woman’s conference from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday on campus at Stidham Union.

The conference, titled “Steps to Financial Empowerment,” will feature workshops on basic financing, first-time home ownership and understanding Social Security and pensions. Workshops are designed for women of all ages and backgrounds.

Also, Tenants to Homeowners Inc. of Lawrence will present a mini HUD-certified workshop for potential homeowners.

This is a free conference, with free lunch to the first 60 registrants. To reserve your seat, call Lori at 830-2715.

Longevity experts refute anti-aging claims

Two scholars who study longevity on Thursday will be at Kansas University to refute claims that anti-aging medicine has been discovered.

KU graduate Bruce A. Carnes, senior research scientist at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago, and S. Jay Olshansky, professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will speak at 4 p.m. in 2092 Dole Human Development Center. Their presentation is titled, “The Duration of Life: Warranty Periods and Anti-Aging Medicine.”

Carnes and Olshansky have written two recent articles in Scientific American magazine.

State fines restaurant for health violations

A Lawrence Chinese food restaurant recently was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine for food storage violations alleged by state health inspectors.

The violations were found during inspections on two different days in January at Peking Taste, 2210 Iowa. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment performed the inspections.

Violations included different types of raw food stored near each other and raw food stored above ready-to-eat sauces. The law requires food to be stored separately to prevent cross-contamination.

Another violation related to egg rolls and cooked chicken found stored and unrefrigerated on a rack by an ice machine, KDHE said.

The restaurant can file for a hearing on the violations during the next 20 days.

Contacted Monday, Peking Taste owner Wu Sheng Zheng would say only that the problems cited by KDHE had been corrected.

Gasoline spill floods into stormwater system

More than 260 gallons of gasoline spilled into the city’s stormwater system Tuesday night after a car ran over a tanker hose at the Kwik Shop, 845 Miss., according to Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical officials.

Firefighters and Douglas County Emergency Management responded about 5:20 p.m., Battalion Chief Rob Kort said.

A tanker truck was in the process of replenishing gasoline in an underground tank for the store’s gasoline pumps at the time of the accident.

Firefighters put foam on the spilled gasoline and a dike was set up to block the gasoline where it spilled out of the storm system into the Kansas River near Sixth and Kentucky streets, Kort said.

A private company from the Kansas City area was working late Tuesday to try to clean up the gasoline at the river.

Blood drive planned

A blood drive will be from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday in the Jayhawk Auditorium at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 325 Maine.

To sign up to donate call Chris Knowles at 749-6176.

The Community Blood Center is conducting the drive.