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Two proposed western Kansas coal-fired plants face a challenge that no amount of political wrangling can fix: rising construction costs.

Sunflower Electric Power Corp. stands by plans to build two new coal-fired power plants in Holcomb, and hopes to receive the needed permits, said Steve Miller, senior manager of external affairs for Sunflower.

Construction costs are estimated at $3.6 billion. If the company gets its permits -- which are at the center of a political fight right now -- it will contract for another cost study.

Other companies have postponed plans for new coal plants, citing rising costs and an uncertain regulatory future. Westar Energy did so in February. Last week, Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. in Missouri opted for a natural gas plant, which could be built for less.

Both projects had price tags of about $2 billion.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. --A 28-year-old man died in a weekend street luging accident in Kansas City, Kan., police said.

The accident happened about 8 p.m. Saturday in Rosedale Park, police said.

In street luging, riders lie down on street luges, which are built on wheels and can be 5 to 8 feet long. The extreme sport, which debuted in the 1995 X Games, is also referred to as "downhill skateboarding" or "laydown downhill skateboarding."

According to police, the man was going down a road on a luge about 5 feet long when he lost control and hit a tree. He died on impact. His name has not been released.

Police said the man was wearing a helmet as well as protective leather. He was preparing for an unsanctioned event for street luging, police said.

A Dighton man was killed Saturday afternoon in a single-car accident in Lane County.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 68-year-old Kent D. McMillen was driving southbound on K-23 at around 12:45 p.m. when he lost control of his 1989 Mercury car and struck a culvert.

The accident occurred 6 miles south of Dighton, about 150 miles northwest of Wichita.

McMillen was taken to the Lane County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

-- Daniel McCoy

Convention a chance to be 'the norm' for a change

• twins really have a psychic link?

Ask any of the roughly 50 sets of twins at the Kansas State Twins Association's annual convention Sunday, and most to them will say they share an uncanny connection.

"When I was pregnant, Dianna called me up the day I gave birth and told me I was going to have my baby that day... and I did," Joanna Whitaker, 40, of Wichita said about her twin, Dianna Knoblauch.

The identical twins are as close as any two sisters can be, but they also have their differences. One loves Coke, the other loves Pepsi. One smokes, the other doesn't. "And we have totally different tastes in men," Knoblauch said.

The Wichita school board today will consider a proposal to sell the vacant Carter Elementary School building to the Wichita Catholic Diocese for $300,000 in a lease-to-own agreement.

Carter, at 4640 E. 15th St., was built in 1950 and closed in 1996 as a cost-saving measure.

The diocese wants it to house Holy Savior Academy, which leases the former Magdalen School building at Kellogg and Woodlawn from the city.

Dave Johnson, facilities division director for Wichita public schools, said the district does not have a clear title for the building because the land it sits on was donated to the district with the condition that it would remain a school or be returned to the family who donated it.

Johnson said the district plans to start condemnation proceedings to discover whether there are any living heirs to the property.