Dog owners cited after leaving pets in hot cars

Lawrence Police cited two people this week in separate cases of animal cruelty for leaving their dogs locked in cars with temperatures inside reaching triple digits.

Both cases were reported Saturday afternoon to animal control officers.

In one, a German shepherd was locked inside a station wagon in the parking lot at SuperTarget, 3201 Iowa. In the other, a Yorkshire terrier was found unresponsive in a truck in the 600 block of Massachusetts Street.

Officers discovered the temperature in one of the cars was at least 106 degrees.

In both cases, owners received citations and were ordered to appear in Municipal Court on animal cruelty charges. Neither dog was seized.

Oread

Commission approves new KU scholarship hall

After more than a year of debate, Kansas University now has the approval it needs to build a scholarship hall in the 1300 block of Ohio Street.

The city’s Historic Resources Commission on Thursday voted 6-1, with member Greg Hickam opposed, to allow KU to build a 17,000-square-foot hall to house 50 women.

The HRC and its companion group on campus deadlocked early last year on whether KU could demolish several houses on the block to build the hall. Gov. Bill Graves eventually allowed the demolition.

The design was the result of a joint city-university committee.

Several neighborhood residents said they were concerned about how the block would handle the extra cars the hall would bring. Hickam and some residents said they were concerned about how the hall would fit into the neighborhood.

KU officials said construction would begin in the spring, and the building would be complete for the fall 2005 semester. The university eventually plans to build a second scholarship hall on the block.

Telemarketing

State collects $187,000 in no-call violation fines

Topeka — Atty. Gen. Phill Kline said the state had collected $187,000 in penalties for violations of the Kansas No-Call Act since January.

The law prohibits telephone marketers from making unsolicited calls to people who are registered on the no-call list. There are more than 500,000 phone numbers on the list.

Kline said the number of reported violations had fallen, which he said indicated more companies were complying with the law.

Consumers who believe they have received an unsolicited call should obtain as much information as possible about the company. Consumers can file a no-call complaint by accessing the attorney general’s Web site at www.ksag.org or calling the Attorney General’s Office at (785) 296-3751 or (800) 432-2310.

Government

Kansas senator iffy on gay-marriage ban

Topeka — U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., on Thursday sounded lukewarm to the idea of a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Back from a three-day tour of Iraq, Roberts was asked about the issue and said, “I really haven’t done my homework on that.”

But, he added that he thought there were too many constitutional amendments proposed in Congress.

A day earlier, President Bush said he didn’t think a ban that had been proposed in the House was needed despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision that some conservatives say could lead to same-sex marriages.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has said he would support such a constitutional ban.

Kansas’ other senator, Sam Brownback, also a Republican, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.