“The small towns in my district, that’s all they have.  Education is their business.  It’s an economic driver,” says longtime legislator Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell.

His 40th Senate District covers 19 northwest Kansas counties, and following redistricting, now includes Ellis County.

Ostmeyer spoke Saturday at his first “Eggs and Issues Legislative Forum” presented by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce at Fort Hays State University.

“I’m a member of the senate education committee,” he told the crowd gathered in the Robbins Center, many of whom he’d never met.

“Whether students live tiny Weskan or urban Johnson County, they should have the same opportunities.  The state should be more responsible for school funding K-12; it can’t be just the Local Option Budget,” he said.

The 2013 legislature has just finished its fifth week of work, noted Ostmeyer, “and there are lots of proposals in the state budget, but nothing is set in stone yet.”

It was a busy Saturday afternoon for Police. Hays Post spoke to officer Dan Koerner with Hays Police Department. He said that officers were called to a home in the 2700 Block of Willow. “A minor altercation had occurred.” Koerner said. “We arrested a 28 year old white male.” Additional charges may also be filed in the case.  Check back to Hays Post for additional details as they become available.

Some Kansas House members want to restrict how federal security agents frisk airline passengers at the state’s airports, saying the pat-downs are often humiliating or conducted on people who pose no danger.

The bill sponsored by 21 House members would make it illegal for Transportation Security Administration screeners to touch an airline passenger’s private areas during a search. It also would bar the agents from taking a child under the age of 18 away from a parent or guardian to conduct a search, The Kansas City Star reported Friday.

Between 100 and 110 TSA officers are stationed at seven Kansas airports, including the Hays Regional Airport.

The TSA said in a blog post that the U.S. Constitution bars states from regulating actions of the federal government.

The bill is partly in response to an incident at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport last year in which a woman complained about how screeners treated her 4-year-old daughter.

Michelle Brademeyer said security officers demanded her daughter undergo a pat-down after she initially cleared security because the girl ran to hug her grandmother, who had set off the alarm and was waiting for a pat-down. A security officer yelled at the girl, who cried, and her mother wasn’t allowed to comfort the child, she said.

TSA officials said its officers followed proper procedure and conducted a “modified” pat-down of the child.

“The theater they put us through to get on a plane is absolutely ridiculous,” said Rep. J.R. Claeys, R-Salina, one of the bill’s sponsors.

Kansas turned most of the administration of Medicaid over to three private health insurance companies in January.

Gov. Sam Brownback has said the overhauled program, known as KanCare, will deliver better-coordinated services with less cost.

“Studies showed what we were doing was unsustainable financially,” says 110th District Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady, R-Palco.  “It was time to try something new.”

Couture-Lovelady spoke Saturday morning at the “Eggs and Issues Legislative Forum” presented by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce.

“If you are aware of problems within KanCare, please let me know so we can tell the program administrators,” he said.

Hays is one of 16 locales for meetings this month about changes in the health care coverage program for Kansas Medicaid recipients.  The Hays meetings are Thursday, February 21, 1-3p.m. and 6-8p.m. at the Ramada Inn.