The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 1

I STAR ANGELS ARE OUT Red Sox head to the next round of the MLB playoffs SPORTS DAILY Saturday October 9 2004 VOTE 2004: PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE IN ST LOUIS SMILES THEN A SLUGFEST Track is a green light for county Speedway brings a lot to Wyandotte Growth in jobs comes up short Rise not as liigh as expected By RANDY COVITZ The Kantat City Star SHAUN HEASLEYReuters Before debate at Washington University Sen John Kerry and President Bush greeted those who would lead the candidates through a thicket of issues prodding and pressing each man ABC Charles Gibson served as moderator for the town -hall style encounter First glance Relatively weak payroll job growth continued in September The jobs report issued Friday is the last one before Election Day As is her annual custom Carol Marinovich will climb today to the roof of Kansas Speedway and gaze at the burgeoning development bordering the property It has been nearly four years since vision of a state-of-the-art NASCAR facility for Wyandotte County became a reality and transformed 1500 acres of farmland into a dynamic center for racing retail entertainment and tourist activity As centerpiece of the area at the confluence of Interstate 435 and Interstate 70 Kansas Speedway has triggered an economic resurgence starting with the adjacent 400-acre Village West development and extending throughout the county and neighboring communities "When I go up there 1 enjoy visually comparing the Village West area each year seeing more and more Marinovich said on the eve of her final NASCAR weekend as mayor Kansas Speedway and its environs have attracted officials from Seattle and Staten Island NY two areas planning NASCAR speedways in the next five years They will be on a fact-finding mission at the $250 million speedway and the $730 million Village West development that includes the top tourist attraction in the state of Kansas with 5 million annual visitors and Nebraska Furniture Mart Tom Valley director of corporate operations for International Speedway Corporation which owns Kansas Speedway recently gave a tour of the area to police chiefc from the Seattle area He purposely brought them on a nonrace weekend to demonstrate BUSH ON KERRY ON Bush and Kerry7 aggressively wnuigle over world aflairs economy health care By DIANE STAFFORD The Kantat City Star Despite I3th months of modest payroll job growth George Bush will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to face re-election with fewer payroll jobs than when he took office The final pre-Election Day jobs report issued Friday said non-farm payrolls expanded by 96000 jobs in September below what most economists had expected and the national unemployment rate stayed at 54 percent But depending on revisions based on further data from US businesses the nation now is expected to have a net loss of about 600000 payroll jobs during Bush's term Through September the net pay roll loss since Basil took office was 821000 jobs lhe US Bureau of Labor Statistics released the report early Friday just hours before Basil and challenger John Kerry' met for their St Inuis debate While the Democrats play up the overall job losses the adminis tration notes the job gains in the past year and says its tax cuts have helped the economy shake off the effects of recession and the Sept 1 1 terrorist attacks September represented the 13th straight month of net payroll job creation but the average over that period of about 137000 new jobs a month trails the 150000 a month job creation rate that economists say is necessary to handle US population growth Anything less is generally considered a relatively weak job market particularly in a period of eco nomic expansion Before September 2003 17 of the preceding 23 months recorded net job losses The post-2001 job growth record also lags behind the Bush admin own expectations for the labor market spark that was to be delivered by its tax-cut economic stimulus plan The Council of Economic Advisers had forecast gains of about 300000 jobs a month which would have been about av erage for past post recession re clude domestic affairs aftet a debate devoted solely to international affairs The questions prepared by the audience ranged from Supreme Court appointments to the environment to stem cell research The tra ditional Issues of taxes jobs and abortion also were batted around by the combative candidates But the first half of the town hall like meeting was again devoted to what may be the election's central issue the situation in Iraq and how best to protect the country in an age of terror and uncertainty On that front Kerry quickly ac cused Bush of turning the world into a more dangerous place by fighting Iraq while neglecting the threats of Iran and North Korea "We were safer before President Bush came to office" he said By STEVE KHASKE and SCOTT CANON Thr Kinui City Star ST LOUIS Asked point-blank whether he would raise taxes on the middle class John Kerry looked at America on Friday night and made a pledge: "Yes right into the camera: 1 am not going to raise Kerry said at his second presidential debate with President Bush Then he criticized Bush for steering so much of his cut to the wealthy But when it was his turn Bush scoffed "Of course going to raise your he told about 140 likely but not-quite-decided voters gathered at Washington University And then he reminded them "We cut taxes for It was the pair's first face-off to in The draft: We re not going to have a draft period An allvolunteer army is best suited to fight the new wars of the 21st century Prescription drugs: When a drug comes in from Canada I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you Middle-class taxes: He voted 98 times to raise taxes I mean these made-up figures The environment: I guess you'd say a good steward of the land The Supreme Court: I wouldn't pick a judge who said that the Pledge of Allegiance couldn't be said in a school because it had the words "under God" in it I think that's an example of a judge allowing personal opinion to enter into the decision-making process The draft: I support a draft Our Guard and Reserves have been turned into almost active duty You've got a back-door draft right now Prescription drugs: The president said I'm not blocking that Ladies and gentlemen the president just level with you right now again Middle-class taxes: I am not going to raise taxes The environment: The president I don't think is living in a world of reality with respect to the environment The Supreme Court: I don't believe we need a good conservative judge and I don't believe we need a good liberal fudge I believe we need a good judge of that kind of definition on either side See TRACK A-8 See DEBATE A ll Hostage beheaded Flash analysis of tha SOUND BITES Bush highlighting a vote from Senate record said "You can run but you can't hide" Kerry said deficits were larger than those of all presidents from Washington to Reagan combined figure" he said debate: DOING THE HOMEWORK Kerry claimed Missouri had more soldiers in Iraq than any entity other than America and Britain one of several Missouri references Bush remembered an elderly woman in Liberty when he visited a drug store to promote Medicare prescription drug cards earlier this year Islamic militants released a video Friday showing the execu tion of Kenneth Bigley who was kidnapped Sept 16 with two Americans in Baghdad A-14 ON THE WEB COMING NEXT Click on KansasCitycom for Bush and Kerry will complete debate coverage debate again at 8 pm and to participate in an Wednesday in Tempe online discussion An INSIDE STAR Reaction to the debate including what young people said and the views of area debate coaches A look at what the candidates said including debate excerpts and a review of the facts behind their statements See JOBS A 8 Graduate of Kansas college wins Nobel Peace Prize Tall grass prairies rescuers bear the stamp of Kansas By MARK W1EBE Thf Kama City Stir i now those circles are world Homan said Friday as the coDege celebrated news of the award "The message of those circles is: Let save our people and our environment Homan along with others had written to the Nobel committee to nominate Maathai for the Peace Prize She thought the 1964 gradu ate of Mount SL Scholastica had demonstrated the principles upon which the award was founded Maathai is credited with almost single-handedly leading a reform movement that focused on her native Kenya's deforestation and op pression of women She inspired other African countries to follow agreed Friday to assume the debt and try to ump-start the almost 11000 acre preserve Sebelius said she believed a state organization would be more sue cessful at fund raising than a na tional organization such as the National Park Trust which purchased the histone Bar Ranch 10 wars ago Ls the best chance for it to be developed to its full potential in the near future" Sebelius said in a statement The National Pari Trust a non profit organization has struggled to pay off a $47 million nxn-gagr See PRAIRIE A-8 By KAREN DILLON The Kanias City Star An all star cast of Kansans will try' to do something no one else could do raise enough money to save and develop the onh na tiorial preserve It may be the best chance the state has to protect the debt ridden but pn stme Kansas Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve west of Em pona It also could be its last chance some sav The bipartisan group of Kansans including Democratic Gov Kath leen Sebelius and former Repubb can Sen Nancy kassebaum Baker ATCHISON Kan The sisters in the Order of St Benedict saw some thing in Wangari Maathai when the young Kenyan girl was a student at Mount St Scholastica College here four decades ago On Friday die rest of the world got to see why as the 64-year -old environmental activist and feminist was named winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize It will be presented Dec 10 in Osk) Norway Sister Thomasita Homan on the faculty of what is now Benedictine CoBqge likened Maathai pres ence wherever she went to a peb We that sends rippling circles through a body of water FRANCESCO BROU 'FuropMn Prfphmp nenn Wangari Maathai (left) handed out grain to villager In Kenya on Friday after learning that she had won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize See NOBEL A-8 DEPARTMENTS 12SCri ve No 15 lactons High 69 Low 56 WEATHER More un Forecast 10 KnightRidder iNfOtMAllON lift.