Americans

There are more than a hundred more Americans in Kansas. Friday morning, 149 people became U.S. citizens in a naturalization ceremony at Century II in Wichita.     For many of us, being an US citizen is something we are born into. "It's hard to say right now, said Beverly Vaughan of South Africa, "just all excited. " For the 149 people, it's been a lengthy process. "I'm really proud to be an American citizen now," said Herman Palmeiro, who is most recently of Mexico. Years of working, and worrying, and wishing, ended Friday morning with an oath.

A new CBS News poll taken before the health care reform bill passed showed that only 42 percent of Americans understood the legislation. Some say that's understandable, considering the document itself is almost three-thousand pages. It's different for those in the health care profession. Keeping up with the year-long debate has been important to Beverly White. As President of the Center for Health and Wellness, health care reform means changes for her patients, most of whom are uninsured.

Now That Congress Has Passed an Economic Recovery Bill ... USA Wonders Whether It Will Work: 34% of Americans think that a government rescue of the economy will succeed shortterm and 30% think it will succeed longterm, according to a nationwide SurveyUSA poll of 1,200 adults conducted after the US House of Representatives today joined the US Senate in passing a bill described by some as a "bailout" and by others as a "kick-start. " But: 31% of Americans think the government plan will fail shortterm and 36% say it will fail longterm.

One night after USA pounded Russia at the net, the larger Russians out muscled the Americans Saturday night at Koch Arena and dashed any chance of the Americans advancing to the FIVB World League Finals. USA won the second game, 25-22 but the night belonged to Russia, not letting the Americans reach 20 points again, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19. This loss drops USA to 8-4 and out of the contention for the final. Russia (10-2) clinches Pool C. The Russians blocked 22 American shots and 7-footer Dmitriy Muserskiy finished with 7 kills.

You may think an iPhone is expensive, wait until you see how much Americans have spent to fix iPhones that have been damaged. A new report says Americans spent nearly $6 billion fixing iPhones. This story details the most common iPhone accidents, things like phones that fell into a toilet or swimming pool, or were knocked off of a table.  Read more about it here .

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says that Americans are praying for the people of the Gulf as they deal with the catastrophic oil spill. He said in his Oval Office speech Tuesday night that the country also prays that a "hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day. " Watch a Replay of the President's Address The president said Americans' strength and resilience will help get the country through the crisis - as will "our unyielding faith that something better awaits us if we summon the courage to reach for it. "       (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.

BEIJING, China (AP) - The U.S. Olympic team stopped the pick-and-rolls - and just about everything else Greece tried. These Americans, who looked so lost two years ago in the World Championship, appear to have found their Olympic defensive way. Batting away balls or swatting shots on seemingly every possession late in the second quarter, the Americans broke open a close game and went on to a 92-69 victory Thursday night to clinch a...

BEIJING, China (AP) - Losing for the first time since 2000, the U.S. softball team was denied a chance for a fourth straight gold medal Thursday, beaten 3-1 by Japan in the sport's last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years - and maybe for good. Yukiko Ueno, Japan's remarkably resilient right-hander, shut down the Americans and handed them their first loss since Sept. 21, 2000 at the Sydney Games. The U.S. had won 22 straight since then, most of them with outrageously lopsided scores.

BEIJING, China (AP) - Lisa Leslie and the U.S. women's basketball team were once again too good for Australia at the Olympics. Leslie capped off her illustrious Olympic career with a fourth straight gold medal scoring 14 points in a 92-65 victory against Australia on Saturday night. She joined former teammate Teresa Edwards as the only basketball players ever to win four gold medals. "It's a blessing for me to be out on this floor, now participating in my fourth Olympics and walking away with a fourth gold medal," Leslie said.

  Kansas State second baseman Ross Kivett picked up his second All-America designation of the year as he was honored by Baseball America Wednesday. Kivett, who was named to the third team, also obtained All-America accolades from Collegiate Baseball following the conclusion of the regular season. The 2013 Big 12 Player of the Year, Kivett is the fourth Wildcat since 2009 to earn multiple All-America honors in the last five years as he joins pitchers A.J. Morris (2009)

Fort Hays State's Maddie Holub was named to the NFCA All-America First Team on Wednesday (May 22). Holub becomes the first-ever All-America First Team selection in Fort Hays State softball history. She is just the second All-American in the program's Division II history, following Jessika Anastos, who was a Daktronics Second Team selection in 2008. Holub was one of three pitchers named to the first team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, joining Kayla Cox from the University of Tampa (Fla.)

The 2013 Ray Miron Presidents' Cup could fall into the hands of the Allen Americans tonight. Allen is coming off a dominant 5-1 win in Game 5 and could earn its first CHL title with a win in Wichita tonight. Wichita is coming off back-to-back losses and in both games they had the lead after one period with 1-0 leads. This match up is the Thunder's first elimination game of the post-season. Tonight marks the 10th Game 6 in CHL Finals history and in those games, the home team is 7-2.  Four times the team up 3-2 won the game thus winning the Cup. Wichita's Chad Painchaud has a goal and two assists during his current three-game point streak and has four goals and seven assists in the post-season.

Email to American Family Insurance Media Relations - Brian Heap - May 2, 2013 Dear Am Fam, I am an investigative reporter for KWCH-TV in Wichita, KS.  I am working on a story about what appears to be a sudden increase in the number of Kansas homeowners being dropped by their insurance carriers. It seems several large insurers, including American Family, are reevaluating the risk level of customers with a history of filing claims and determining those customers are no longer insurable by that company.

Travis Releford scored 19 points and No. 6 Kansas hit a scorching 13 of its first 18 3-point attempts, rolling to an 89-57 victory over American University on Saturday night.     Kansas (11-1) took command with a 21-4 spree in the opening minutes and wound up with six players scoring at least nine points against the outmanned Eagles (4-9). Releford was 7 for 8 from the floor, including 5 of 6 3-pointers. Elijah Johnson had 12 points and was 4 for 5 from behind the arc as the Jayhawks finished with 15-for-24 3-point shooting.

Wichita (18-8-3) battled back to force overtime on Saturday night, but couldn't get past the Allen Americans (18-5-2) losing 3-2 at the Allen Events Center. Scotty Howes scored a power play goal with a 1:30 remaining in the extra session and gave the Americans the extra point. Kevin Young and Chad Painchaud recorded goals for the Thunder. Allen leads the season-series 1-0-1, but the Thunder remain one point ahead of Allen in first place with another meeting between the two teams coming in four days in Wichita.

Greg Brenneman has lived on a farm his whole life. "It is a business, but it's still a way of life and I guess that's what we really relish--being out here in the rural community, enjoying that way of life," Brenneman said. As a farmer, he understands the importance of loans to his business. "Your input costs are high," Brenneman said. "Just about everyone has to borrow some type of money. " Brenneman says that it's expensive equipment, like self-propelled sprayers and combines, that make loans very important to farmers.

A new study shows banks are cashing in on overdraft fees.  The report released by bank research firm Moebs shows banks have slapped customers with more than $31 billion in over draft fees so far this year.  That's up from 2011 when customers paid $29.5 billion dollars in overdraft charges.  According to Moebs, there are 144 million customer checking accounts.  Of those accounts, about 25% are frequent overdraft users. Moebs says the reason overdraft fees are on the rise is checks clear accounts faster.  People think they have time to add funds to their accounts, but instead a check they just wrote is clearing before customers realize.  A second reason comes in the form of debit cards.  Debit transactions clear accounts much faster than checks do.  In 2011, they made up for 43% of all transactions.  They are also hard to keep track of. Experts say to prevent from paying over draft fees, be more informed of your account.  You can set up text message and email alerts to notify you when your account is low. The average overdraft fee sit at about $30.

Part of Dodge City's history will be told on TV next Spring. The show 'American Ride' filed part of its fourth season in Dodge City Wednesday. The show follows former NFL player Stan Ellsworth around the country on his Harley Davidson motorcycles as he rediscovers American history. Ellsworth and his crew spent Wednesday in Dodge City at the Long Branch Saloon at the Boot Hill Museum. While he was there, Ellsworth learned about past gunfights in Dodge City. "Being on location where things actually happened, it's much more invigorating to me," said Ellsworth.

City leaders in Garden City want input on how to use an old American Legion building. The building at 125 W. Pine St. in Garden City is currently vacant. The city wants to collect comments from residents about what they think the best uses for the building would be. The city will be taking public input through Sept. 27. People can give their ideas on the city's Facebook page, or send Tweets to @CityofGCKS using the hashtag #AmLegion. They can also e-mail city engineer Steve Cottrell at steve.cottrell@gardencityks.us or call (620)