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Month: June 2013

Subsidized Crop Insurance in Today’s Farm Bill Debate

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Several votes are expected today on the new five-year farm bill. The proposal will cost half a trillion dollars. Lawmakers will consider 100 amendments. Among the capitol-b-4_3_r560issues is whether to cut subsidized crop insurance.

 

On Wednesday they voted to keep $2Billion in cuts to the food stamp program. The White House has already said it will veto that bill. It says the bill will leave many Americans hungry and make it more difficult to qualify for the food stamp program. Nearly 48 million people receive food stamps annually.

State Legislators to Formally Adjourn Today

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(AP) — Kansas lawmakers are returning to the Statehouse for the formal ceremonial adjournment of the 2013 session.Capitol Building - KS 001

The House and Senate were scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. with nothing on their agendas for what are typically ceremonial events. No attempts were expected on overriding Gov. Sam Brownback’s line-item vetoes in the $14.5 billion state budget.

Legislators ended the regular session June 2 after passing more cuts in personal income taxes and lowering the 6.3 percent sales tax to 6.15 percent. The sales tax had been scheduled to fall to 5.7 percent in July.

The changes in tax rates are expected to generate about $777 million in revenue over the next five years.

 

Vehicle Destroyed by Fire, Man Hospitalized in NW Kansas Crash

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A vehicle was destroyed by fire and a man was hospitalized following a Wednesday accident. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Fifty Five year old Michael KHPStepter of Miltonvale was driving a 2011 Ford westbound on K18, a mile east of Bogue in Graham County. The vehicle entered the north ditch, vaulted off a concrete culvert, struck the other side of the embankment and culvert, and landed on its right side. The vehicle caught fire and was destroyed. Stepter was taken to Graham County Hospital with serious injuries.

Kansas Regents Consider Additional Response to Budget Cuts

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(AP) — With Kansas higher education officials reeling over cuts in state funding approved by legislators, the Board of Regents could press lawmakers to undo most board of regentsof them next year.

The regents planned to discuss budget issues Thursday. Their agenda included proposals for restoring most of the funding lawmakers cut for each of the next two fiscal years, starting in July.

The reductions approved by lawmakers total $44 million over the two years. The bulk would come from universities’ budgets.

In each of the next two fiscal years, state funding would be almost 3 percent less than it is now.

The regents Wednesday increased approved tuition increases for state universities, saying most of them were needed to offset the reductions in state funding.

 

Hays Work Session Agenda

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hays ks logoHAYS CITY COMMISSION WORK SESSION
THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 – 6:00 P.M.

AGENDA

1. ITEM FOR REVIEW: June 6, 2013 Work Session Notes
DEPARTMENT HEAD RESPONSIBLE: Kim Rupp, Director of Finance

2. ITEM FOR REVIEW: Commercial Insurance Renewal – 2013/2014
DEPARTMENT HEAD RESPONSIBLE: Kim Rupp, Director of Finance

3. ITEM FOR REVIEW: 13th Street Overlay – Award of    Bid
DEPARTMENT HEAD RESPONSIBLE: I.D. Creech, Director of Public Works

4. ITEM FOR REVIEW: Presentation of Big Creek Study
PERSON RESPONSIBLE: Brian Meier, Burns & McDonnell

5. VARIOUS WATER ISSUES:
Current Status of Supply

Lowhead Dam Study

Conservation Programs in the Works for 2014 and Beyond

Demonstration Gardens/Turf Conversions of Existing Facilities

Ranch Costs

6. ITEM FOR REVIEW: Water Customers Outside the City Limits
PERSON RESPONSIBLE: Toby Dougherty, City Manager

7. ITEM FOR REVIEW: 2nd Conservation Tier
STAFF MEMBERS RESPONSIBLE: Paul Briseno, Assistant City Manager
Nick Willis, Stormwater/Water Conservation Supt.
Bernie Kitten, Director of Utilities

8. ITEM FOR REVIEW: Amendment to Water Conservation Plan – Update to Drought
Response Plan
PERSON RESPONSIBLE: Toby Dougherty, City Manager

9. OTHER ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

10. EXECUTIVE SESSION (IF REQUIRED)

11. ADJOURNMENT

ANY PERSON WITH A DISABILITY NEEDING SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS TO ATTEND THIS MEETING
SHOULD CONTACT THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE 48 HOURS PRIOR TO THE SCHEDULED M

Ellis Baseball Earns Wednesday Split

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Ellis splits with Hoisington Wednesday night in Ellis.  Ellis baseball
Hoisington 9     Ellis 10 
Hoisington 13   Ellis 11

Game 1 Ellis regained the lead with a 6th inning 3 run home run by Cadyn McCoy
Game 2 Hoisington just played better defense having only 2 errors in the night cap.

Game 1                              R H E
Hoisington 0  0  0  2  5  2  0   9  9  4
Ellis              3  2  0  0  0  5  x   10 7  2

B. Bollig 1b S. Pfeifer 1b C. Pfeifer 1b C. McCoy hr K. Ratliff 1b T. Hawkins 1b
Winning pitch Scott Pfeifer

Game 2                              R  H  E        
Hoisington 1  8  0  0  2  0  2   13  9  2
Ellis              0  0  0  6  0  2  3   11  9  6

S. Pfeifer 2b C. Mccoy 1b, hr  N. Frame 1b, W. Crabill 1b B. Parke 1b, C Frame 1b
Loss Brandon Bollig
**

Summer Theatre Class to Perform

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Screen Shot 2013-06-20 at 5.18.53 AMThe Hays Arts Council Summer Youth Theatre Class will present their showcase performances on Today at 10am at the 12th Street Auditorium. ~ There is no admission fee!

These 20 young actors (ages 8-12) will the present the short plays and scenes they have been rehearsing for the past 2 weeks. They promise a morning that will make you smile.

The Show Went On

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hays city band ellisThe show must go on.  And it did, along with the Ellis ice cream social.

Tuesday evening’s rain and flash flood warning for west-central Ellis County didn’t put a damper on the annual Hays City Band concert/Ellis P.E.O. fundraiser.  Organizers simply moved everything from in front of Washington Grade School to inside the school.

P.E.O. members and other volunteers set up their sales stand in the hallway where concert-goers could purchase an ice cream float before the music started.

Proceeds help fund scholarships for one Ellis High School senior girl each year.  Becca Ashenbrenner is this year’s $500 Leona Shepard Memorial Scholarship winner.

Regents Make a Decision on Tuition Increase

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The cost of going to college is going up.  The Kansas Board of Regents has approved tuition increases at public universities that will have some students paying Board of Regentsnearly 9 percent more this fall.

The increases approved Wednesday by the board are expected to raise an additional $34 million during the fiscal year beginning in July.

This will allow universities to increase faculty salaries and help offset cuts in state funding created by the state legislators.

Fort Hays State University students will see a 3.4% tuition increase next year for resident undergrad students.

Out-of-state graduate students at Pittsburg State University would see the biggest increase at 8.8 percent. The smallest increase, 3 percent, would be for out-of-state veterinary medical students at Kansas State University.

For undergraduates from Kansas, tuition would rise 7 percent at Kansas State and almost 5 percent at the University of Kansas.

Kite Flying Weather

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Party cloudy skies and a slight breeze. It was perfect weather to fly a kite.

Large, Colorful Kites were flying near 13th and Harvest Road in Hays on Wednesday afternoon. We’d thought you might like to see them. Photos courtesy of J.B. Burkholder.  Click on the pictures for a closer look.

Patient in Kansas Sexual Predator Unit Charged With Producing Child Porn

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A registered sex offender has been charged with producing child pornography while he was committed to a sexual predator unit at Larned State Hospital, U.S.

Christopher M. Case
Christopher M. Case

Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Christopher M. Case, 33, has been charged with two counts of producing child pornography and two counts of sending obscene material to a child. The indictment makes the following allegations:

– From Dec. 1, 2011, to Dec. 28, 2011, Case enticed a 15-year-old child to engage in a sexual act for the purpose of making a video to be transmitted on the Internet.
– From Dec. 24, 2011, to Jan. 23, 2012, Case enticed a 13-year-old child to engage in a sexual act for the purpose of making a video to be transmitted on the Internet.
– On Dec. 29, 2011, Case sent a video of himself masturbating to the 13-year-old victim
– On Dec. 31, 2011, Case sent a video of himself masturbating to the 13-year-old victim.

At the time of the crimes, Case was a registered sex offender. He was convicted in Saline County, Kan., in May 2003 on a charge of attempted aggravated indecent solicitation of a child.

If convicted on the federal charges, he faces a penalty of not less than 25 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the charges of producing child pornography; and a penalty of not less than 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the charges of sending obscene material to a child. The Wichita Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Kansas Attorney General’s office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart and Steve Karrer of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office are prosecuting.

KHAZ Country Music News: Thompson Square’s Keifer Thompson on the Road to Full Recovery from Vocal Problems

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khaz thompson square 20130218Thompson Square‘s Keifer Thompson is recovering nicely from some vocal problems that forced the duo to cancel several shows. A hemorrhage and polyp on Keifer’s vocal cords has sidelined the duo for the last few weeks, but his doctor says he’s making big strides in his recovery after two weeks of total silence.

Keifer says, “I had a really bad hemorrhage, and it’s completely healed, resolved, and the polyp is about 70 percent down, so they don’t want to do surgery now.”

His vocal problem had been mounting for the last 10 months, but Keifer ignored the pain in his throat on night after night thanks to the energy he got from the fans.  Eventually, Keifer said the pain got so bad after a full concert, it felt like someone was stabbing him in the throat after a show.

“I’ve never had any formal training or anything like that,” Keifer explains. “So, I’ve kinda just done it on what my heart felt like, and it wasn’t always right, apparently.  After doing it for so many years and so many hours and songs, it just catches up with you, you know?”

Keifer is now working on getting rid of a few bad vocal habits and learning to sing properly.

He says, “You can still sing soulfully and with power and not scream and grow polyps.”

Fortunately, Keifer had a few singing friends like Keith Urban and Gary Allan who have been through similar vocal issues.  Their advice and encouragement helped him through this rough patch, and he’s grateful to them for reaching out.

Living with Keifer while he was silent for two weeks was quite an adventure for his wife and duo partner, Shawna Thompson.  They even had a system in place in case they got separated from each other in a big place like the grocery store.

Shawna says, “He would be far away from me, and I couldn’t find him ’cause he couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t call him.  So, we had this whistle thing that we would do as we walked around the store to find each other.”

Keifer says with a laugh, “It was like Marco Polo.”

Ironing out disagreements was interesting in the two weeks Keifer was silent as well.

He explains, “What’s fun is fighting when you can’t talk.  That’s pretty funny.  You get really animated.”

Keifer expects his doctor to tell him Wednesday when he can perform again.  We’ll keep you posted when Keifer and Shawna return to the road.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

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