Washington, D.C.

Senators seek K.C. homeland security hub

Kansas and Missouri senators are asking the Department of Homeland Security to open a regional office in the Kansas City area.

Republican Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Kit Bond of Missouri made the request in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

The senators said that while most of the focus of homeland security had been on cities along the nation’s coasts and borders, the agency needed a regional office with a central location.

Wichita

Truck driver pleads guilty in fatal crash

The driver of a truck that crashed in southwest Kansas, killing an illegal immigrant, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge of transporting illegal aliens.

Ariel Rosales, 18, of Morristown, Tenn., could get 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 26.

Rosales, a Mexican national who was in the country legally, will be deported after completing his sentence, U.S. Atty. Eric Melgren said.

According to court documents, Rosales was hired to drive 12 other Mexicans from Phoenix to Atlanta and Newark, N.J., where they were hoping to find jobs.

On the morning of Aug. 21, the Kansas Highway Patrol said, Rosales fell asleep and the pickup he was driving crossed the center line on U.S. Highway 160 near Ulysses. The pickup hit an oncoming tractor-trailer, killing Javier Juarez-Lopez, 31.

Wichita

Wheat seeding nearly complete in most areas

Wheat seeding and corn harvest are nearly complete in most areas, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday.

In its weekly crop weather report, the agency reported that 96 percent of the 2004 wheat crop had now been seeded. That is the same as last year and the five-year average. About 84 percent of the crop has emerged.

Continued dry conditions in the western half of the state last week stressed the young plants.

l See page 8A for a look at the local soybean harvest.