Dead birds at bank apparently electrocuted

For the past 10 mornings, employees at the Douglas County Bank branch at 3101 Iowa have found dead birds on the building’s lawn.

“Sometimes it’s a few, sometimes it’s a bunch,” said Pat Slabaugh, the bank’s executive vice president.

It appears the birds — starlings, mostly — are being electrocuted by nearby power lines.

“Those are high-voltage lines, and if they happen to be in a spot that’s not insulated, they’ll be electrocuted,” said Karla Olsen, a spokeswoman for Westar Energy.

“Unfortunately, it looks like the birds have chosen this location to roost at night. We wish they wouldn’t do that; we don’t want to see anything — humans or birds — get hurt,” Olsen said.

Olsen said crews would soon begin installing insulation on the lines.

Supreme Court OKs water settlement

The U.S. Supreme Court has approved a plan that would end five years of squabbling among Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado over water from the Republican River, officials said Tuesday.

The approval of a special master’s report and recommendation on the settlement reached in December 2002 was the final step in dismissing lawsuits over the dispute, Colorado Atty. Gen. Ken Salazar said.

The river flows out of northeast Colorado, across northwestern Kansas and into southwestern Nebraska before re-entering Kansas.

Kansas sued Nebraska in 1998 over a 1943 compact that gave Nebraska 49 percent of the water, Kansas 40 percent and Colorado 11 percent.

The U.S. Supreme Court approved the settlement, contingent upon the states adopting a computer model to determine what, if any, steps are necessary to keep water uses within the limits of the 1943 compact.

Elected officials to meet with KU students

Kansas University’s Graduate and Professional Assn. will meet tonight with state and local elected representatives.

The meeting, which is open to all students, is at 6 p.m. in the Governor’s Room of the Kansas Union.

Officials scheduled to attend are State Reps. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, and Paul Davis, D-Lawrence; State Sen. Mark Buhler, R-Lawrence; and City Commissioner Sue Hack.

For more information, call James Owen at 864-4914.

Shell executive is first to speak in KU series

A Kansas University graduate and president of Shell Canada Limited will kick off a new lecture series Thursday at Kansas University.

Linda Zarda Cook, a 1980 graduate in petroleum engineering, will speak on “Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility” at 3:30 p.m. in Spahr Auditorium in Eaton Hall. Her lecture is the first in the International Leadership Forum series, which is designed to build student awareness of the leadership role executives play in international firms and service organizations.

Cook, a native of Shawnee, also has held positions with Shell in Houston, The Hague and London before being named president and CEO of Shell Canada in 2003.

She plans to speak with students and meet with faculty Thursday and Friday during her KU visit.