A.G.’s office warns of Amber Plan scam

A group of solicitors has been falsely asking elderly Kansans for donations to the Kansas Amber Plan on behalf of the Kansas Sheriff’s Assn., the office of Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline announced.

The calls are not from the association, Kline’s statement said, because the plan does not solicit donations.

The Amber Plan is a voluntary, cooperative effort between law enforcement agencies, radio and television stations, and residents to distribute information about child abduction, the statement said.

Amber stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, of Arlington, Texas, who was kidnapped and killed in 1996.

Anyone who receives a similar solicitation is asked to get as much information from the caller as possible and report the call to the attorney general’s consumer protection division at (800) 432-2310.

History

Watkins Museum to offer workshop on journals

There’s an art to keeping a personal journal, and the folks at Watkins Community Museum of History want to share it.

Helen Krische-Dee and John Jewell will conduct a workshop to help 12- to 16-year-olds compile journals. The workshop will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. June 12 at the museum, 1047 Mass.

Krische-Dee will show participants how to use bookbinders’ methods to create personalized journals with household items. Jewell will discuss how people kept journals during the 1800s, and how society benefits from recorded life experiences.

The workshop, which includes a snack, costs $5, and is limited to 12 people. Registration is required.

For more information, contact the museum at 841-4109.

Kansas University

Five Lawrence students win research awards

Five students from Lawrence are among the 46 Kansas University undergraduates to receive summer undergraduate research awards.

The awards — worth $1,200 or $1,500 — are administered annually by the KU Honors Program.

Lawrence winners, their year in school, majors and high schools are Karl Byleen-Higley, junior in electrical engineering, Lawrence High School; Clarisa Diaz, senior in architecture, LHS; Rebekah Heacock, junior in international studies, Free State High School; Erin Larive, junior in economics and mathematics, FSHS; and Andrea Perdue, sophomore in speech, language and hearing, LHS.

Awards

Baker University honors two professors

Two Baker University faculty members have received teaching awards from the university.

Tracy Floreani, assistant professor of English, won the Kopke Teaching Award, which includes a $5,000 prize. Baker trustee Charles H. Kopke, of Kansas City, Mo., established the prize in honor of his wife, Verda, and his late mother, Jennie Howell Kopke.

Trilla Lyerla, associate professor of music, won the Exemplary Teacher Award from the United Methodist Church General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. The award goes to a faculty member who has exhibited excellent teaching along with service to his or her church and community.