Access award recipients announced

Independence Inc., an independent living resource center serving people with disabilities in Douglas, Jefferson and Franklin counties, has announced the recipients of six awards for the advancement of independent living opportunities for the disabled.

Wylma Mortell will receive the Roger B. Williams Community Access Award in recognition of her work in the Kansas Home and Community Based Services program.

Jeff Kuykendall will receive a Community Access Award in recognition of his work to make housing more accessible to the disabled. Kuykendall, a carpenter, builds wheelchair accessible ramps for buildings in Douglas and Jefferson counties.

Four other Community Access Awards will be given to people who have provided job opportunities to students with disabilities in Lawrence. They are: Midge Grinstead, director of the Lawrence Humane Society; Nancy Hettwer, administrative assistant with the University of Kansas Athletics Corporation; Clay Kucza, sales and leasing consultant with Laird Noller Automotive in Lawrence; and Pat Slimmer, owner of Slimmer’s Automotive of Lawrence.

Rare rhino introduced at Wichita zoo

Wichita — Visitors to the Sedgwick County Zoo were introduced to the latest addition Saturday.

Kati Rain, a female rhinoceros calf, was born Nov. 5, and now can be viewed by zoo visitors.

The rhino is part of a rare breed. Only 72 black rhinoceroses exist in North America, said Christan Baumer, a marketing and public relations manager at the zoo. There are fewer than 2,000 worldwide.

Kati Rain and her mother, 6-year-old BiBi, came to Kansas from a Japanese zoo three years ago. They are in the zoo’s Veldt building, also home to elephants and giraffes.

The newborn rhino weighs about 60 pounds.

Kansas City, Mo.

Westport stabbing convict gets 15 years

A judge ordered a 15-year prison sentence Friday for a Kansas City, Kan., woman who stabbed a man to death last summer outside a bar in Westport.

Jasmine Jackson, 22, was convicted in July of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the June 2003 killing of Roderick Chambers, 24, of Kansas City.

Jackson claimed the four men beat her and that she lashed out with a knife at Chamber’s neck as she got up from the ground outside The Hurricane.

But the prosecution said the argument involved only insults and a tossed drink before the stabbing.