Legislators to get bio-defense update

? Kansas lawmakers will get an update this week on construction of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan.

Governor Sam. Brownback’s policy director, Landon Fulmer, is scheduled to give a briefing Tuesday to the House Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is building the $650 million lab near Kansas State University to conduct research on deadly plant and animal pathogens. The lab will replace an aging facility in Plum Island, N.Y.

Kansas legislators have committed more than $105 million in bonds for the project.

On Friday, members of a National Research Council committee will be in Manhattan to take public comments on a revised risk assessment report on the project. The report addresses concerns about locating the lab in Kansas.