Former Republican governor endorses Democrat over GOP nominee

KANSAS CITY – Republicans in Kansas further splintered this week as the last moderate member of the party to hold the governor’s office endorsed a Democrat for governor over Kris Kobach, the GOP nominee.

In a statement, former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves said he planned to support state Sen. Laura Kelly in the November election. Kelly is running against Kobach and independent Greg Orman.

“Laura Kelly is the only Democrat I have ever endorsed for public office,” Graves said in the statement. “And the reason I’m doing that now is because I believe so much is at stake in the state of Kansas. I have known Laura for over 30 years. She has all the qualities and all the capabilities that we are looking for to lead the state during this difficult time and to reestablish the state to what it once was.”

Graves, who served as governor from 1995 to 2003, is one of the most prominent Republicans to support Kelly this election cycle.

The Kansas GOP said in an email that the support shows “the defenders of the Topeka status quo are quivering in their loafers.” Topeka is the state capital.

The endorsement comes roughly two weeks after House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican from Dighton, wrote an email to more than two dozen of his fellow centrists to discourage them from taking a public stance on anyone other than Kobach, the party’s standard-bearer.

A spokeswoman for the Kobach campaign doubled down on the candidate’s criticism of both Kelly and Orman as liberal after the endorsement was made public.

“There are two committed liberal candidates in the race, and I am happy that Graves was able to choose one to support. Kansas Democrats have a tough choice to make on the first Tuesday of November,” Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said.

Grizzly’s rare aggressive attack kills 1, puzzles officials

CHEYENNE – Grizzly bears aren’t docile animals, but an especially aggressive attack that killed a hunting guide and injured his client is puzzling wildlife officials.

A female bear that was with its cub killed Mark Uptain of Jackson Hole and injured Corey Chubon of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, after they went to cut up an elk that Chubon shot with an arrow a day earlier.

Unlike other grizzlies that frequently startle and sometimes attack elk hunters in the Yellowstone National Park region, these bears didn’t appear to be after the meat and weren’t taken by surprise, Wyoming Game and Fish Department regional supervisor Brad Hovinga said.

The recent attack in the Teton Wilderness east of Grand Teton National Park happened in an area where Wyoming officials are trying to persuade a judge to allow grizzlies to be legally hunted for the first time in decades.

Environmentalists argue that the Yellowstone region’s grizzlies, which lost federal protections last year, are not abundant enough to sustain hunting. A U.S. judge in Montana has postponed hunts that were set to begin this month in Wyoming and Idaho while he considers that argument.

The attack shows how a hunter can carry both a gun and bear spray and still become the hunted.

Five Game and Fish Department employees trapped the cub with meat from the slain elk Sunday, and the mother bear charged them. Two officers shot the sow dead, and officials euthanized the cub.

Officials plan DNA testing to verify the same bears were responsible for the attack but are almost positive based on Chubon’s description. At the scene of the attack, they found a used can of bear spray, which wildlife officials often advocate as the best defense – in some cases, better than a gun – against a charging grizzly.

In 2017, wildlife managers tallied 273 conflicts between humans and grizzly bears in the region spanning northwest Wyoming, southeast Montana and eastern Idaho. Almost two-thirds of those involved attacks on cattle.

Feds accused of planning crackdown on pipeline protests

BILLINGS, Montana – Civil liberties advocates sued the U.S. government this month, alleging law enforcement agencies have been making preparations to crack down on anticipated protests over the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and its Montana affiliate filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula against the Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Justice departments.

They asked the court to order the release of all documents about cooperation over the pipeline between federal, state and local law enforcement and private security companies.

The groups cited confrontations between law enforcement and protesters, including many Native Americans, which turned violent during construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through South Dakota.

The clash over Dakota Access included surveillance and prosecution of protesters, Montana ACLU Attorney Alex Rate said. Planning appears to be underway for a similar response to protesters against Keystone XL, Rate said, citing documents obtained through public records requests submitted to state and local agencies.

The pipeline would transport up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska. It was approved by President Donald Trump in March 2017, a decision that’s been challenged in court.

A judge in that case last month ordered federal officials to conduct a more thorough review of the project after the Nebraska Public Service Commission approved an alternative route for the line through Nebraska.

Catholic diocese rocked by old abuse allegations

LINCOLN, Nebraska – For more than a decade, a conservative Catholic diocese in Nebraska was the only church in the U.S. that refused to participate in annual reviews of sexual misconduct that were a key reform enacted in the wake of the 2002 Boston clergy abuse scandal.

As a new wave of abuse scandals rock the Roman Catholic church, critics say the Diocese of Lincoln is now paying the price for its unwillingness to change and lack of transparency.

Accusers have been coming forward in recent weeks with allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by clergy in Nebraska, and the diocese is facing a potential criminal investigation and criticism that it mishandled abusive priests even as it should have been subjected to increased scrutiny after the Boston scandal.

From 2002 to 2015, leaders of the Lincoln diocese refused to participate in annual audits designed to uncover sex abuse allegations and gauge how well church officials were complying with child-protection policies. Church leaders called the audits a pointless endeavor that assumed wrongdoing by the diocese and its priests, but one of the bishops during that period knew of at least two allegations against priests, according to interviews and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The Nebraska attorney general’s office has spoken with at least two accusers and urged others to come forward about abuse in the diocese.

The scandals come amid accusations that Pope Francis was complicit in the face of sex-abuse allegations against a former high-ranking cardinal in Washington, D.C., and a grand jury investigation that identified more than 1,000 child victims in Pennsylvania.

No more snail mail: Mormons to receive mission calls online

SALT LAKE CITY – The days of young Mormons anxiously waiting for letters to arrive in the mailbox telling them where they will serve their missions are over, the latest tradition fading away under the march of technology.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that it will send the letters known as “mission calls” online instead of by traditional mail. The change will save money spent on postage and allow missionaries to find out quicker, the church said.

The news triggered melancholy among Mormons who have fond memories of the dramatic opening of the envelopes and reading the letter as friends and family watched. Mormon homes commonly have pictures of the moment, and YouTube is full of videos.

Missions are considered rites of passage for many Mormons, broadening their perspective on the world, strengthening their faith and helping prepare some for future leadership roles within the church. Men serve two years, while women go for 18 months.

The church said Mormons will receive a text or email letting them know the letter is available to read. They suggested the letter-opening tradition could continue if the prospective missionary gathers his or her family and reads it from a tablet, phone or computer.

The change will start in Utah and Idaho and be instituted around the world by end of the year for places with reliable internet access, the church said.