The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 1

-v- SPORTS DAILY: Chiefs secondary Is primary eoncam B1 3iJ' A Vui'fc s' i i iUMfflgmaian ESCALATION OR ENDGAME? President announces surge ft i I Ethanol blend gets EPA kick-start Kansas OKs casino The agtncx howmr yet approve ttM higher blond for cars but might by next Juno By STEVE EVERLY T1w Kansas City Star The Environmental Protection Agency took axoiide of big step Tuesday toward put-more ethanol in our gas Developers get nod for Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway without a hotel By DAVID KLEPPER Tht Start Topaka conaspondant TOPEKA I It the Ritziest proposal tor a casino in Wyandotte County Or the biggest or the most i The agency said it was dear that raising the current limit of 10 percent ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent was needed to meet federal requirements for more ethanol production And it said based on research so Car that vehicles starting with die 2001 model year appeared able to use die IS percent blend without being But die planned Hollywood Casino had the virtue or being the only proposal left standing Tuesday after die recession forced deveppers with grander visions to drop out earlier this yeat wbei wife deep-pocketed experienced developers and a spot ovojpekiqg'th O' MORE LOCAL NEWS A4 Proposed Raymore ordinance would loosen gun rules V- hanprEet roHana ahvgetty mages LAS forces In Afghanistan Including these Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade who came underfire In Helmand province last week will soon be augmented with 30000 more troops said during his prime-time speech at the US Military Academy in West Point NY 18 months our troops'' way for a state board to unanimously approve the $386 million project it ideal? Na But we understand tiie constraints of the economic said board member Jackie ViettL "It's in the better interests of the state to move forward now" Construction is expected to begin late next year with an opening set for early 2012 The casino will be built near Thru 2 of the speedway It will include 2300 slot machines 86 table games and 28400 square feet of dining and entertainment options A second phase calls for a 250-room hoteL All told the project represents an investment of more than half a billion dollars The project is expected to create 2J000 construction jobs and 1000 permanent jobs in Wyan The EPA stopped short of appTOvingthenigher blend something ethanol trade l--groups had hoped it would do this week But the EPA said it was inclined to do so by next June pending the results of another test being conducted by the US Department of Energy on die effects of longer-term use of the 15 percent ethanol Mend Growth Energy which is seeking die approval for a higher blend sakl it would have preferred a final decision but was optimistic that the agency would eventually approve tty request basically a positive answer and a very constructive way said Wesley Clark the retired Army general who is co-chairman of Growth Energy The ethanol industry has struggled during the recession particularly getting financing and earlier this year nearly two dozen plants were idled Its proponents say that a 15 percent ethanol standard is crucial because it would guarantee producers a bigger market which in turn would make lenders more willing to finance them The higher blend also would help meet renewable-fuel ttan- SEE ETHANOL A14 11 I Dodslon to sand 30000 moro troops until 2011 hat critics on right and loft By RON FOURNIER Tha Associated Prsss WASHINGTON With echoes of George post-SUl call to arms President Barack Obama worked Tuesday night to frame his wartime address as an endgame rather than an escalation Even as voters grow impatient with eight years of war and Democrats fret about their prospects in neat year's elections Obama made the hard decision to increase the US force in Afghanistan to nearly three times as many as when he took office Harder still is explaining it have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 3ftOOO US troops to Afghanistan" Obama CHARLES DHARAPAK I THE ASSOCIATED PRESS' will bmp to come He aid not say how many troops would pull out in July 2011 or how marry would be left and for how long What is the strategy behind his exit strategy? Obama gave scant clues He pledged to improve Af-ghan security forces help improve Pakistan's ability to fight terrorists and mess Afghan President Hamid Karzai to eliminate corruption Blit nothing not even an intriguing if vague promise of an exit date changes Obama's hard bottom Hne: A lot more Americans ate going to fight and die hi a war that many Americans oppose In SEE AFGHANISTAN AJJ 3(000: Additional troops Obama plans to send to Afghanistan 100000: Number of US forces set to be in Afghanistan next summer 20 111 When troops would begin to withdraw $30 billion: Obama's estimate for how much increase would cost the military this year $1 trillion: The troop increase ensures that the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is about to exceed this number dotte County part of its As part developers sales pitch the also pledged to SEE CASINO JA14 gfKANSASClTyCObC X--K 3 rYlI in4-i I lrin f- foundation raises Sources and racial differenite- ''( 5 money to school Sudanese He fears that future wars could children and help US kids -v- bieak twt over enemy sources and: loam about Sudan pllghtr at the least the world could be di- videdevenmote starkly between the -s sy marA rose whjjams havesand have-nots sur Jhis from a man whom Kim Sides- The world future "that Gabrid Steiger whom he met at Metro- -'A' From a computer or your mobOe phone dkk on KansasOtyxomfoiU I Video of Chief coach Todd Haley plus -updates on the pied Zone btegvVv? Star r- porter Scott Canon's blog from the Antarq- dc Peninsula' '1 Photos Of Christmas v-y celebrations from 1 around the world mlf v-" Vfi AndWKkuhrtjt I lor mobile ItaJ Phone usen I Get breaking news alerts sent to your -phone 'rS '-A soy Ga- 'jh' brielKuer-was among thousands Of children -rV- forced to leave their families and walk a grae-some Jour-V: nay from Sudan to Ethiopia GARVEY SCOTT A THE KANSAS Kuer considers a possibility is not as politan Community College-Maple grim dw bookMovie "The RoadT- Woods considers with its depicted despair starvation most positive person I know He has I I and endless gray winter an incredible world view given die But it prrtty either education background he came' Eller's vision draws ujxm die bur- from rent-day honors of his native Sudan in a 20year civil war over natural re- SEE KUER IMS jV' 'J i I -f ji CITY STAR A BUSSWSS AlllOASSro BS CONKS D1(H1DEATHS aVa-17 FY1 (FOOO D1 IJU0CALA4 ILOTTERES A10 1 MOVES DS0PSWN A1S-1tPU2ZLES RTT PS Pll SPORTS DAILY til TV M2 MSI im.