U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today announced the members of his 2013 Kansas Service Academy Selection Board. The 20-member board will review applications and interview candidates who are applying for admission to U.S. Service Academies. These include the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Candidates selected will enter the academies in June 2014.

Service Academy Selection Board Member Steve Harmon of Emporia said, “It is an honor to serve on the selection board.  Senator Moran is a role model on military and veterans affairs, and I appreciate the opportunity to be part of the process for selecting the future leaders of our Armed Forces.”

“Our country is fortunate to have so many intelligent, hard-working and patriotic young men and women interested in serving our country through the Armed Forces,” Sen. Moran said. “I’m certain the Selection Board will have a challenging time narrowing the field of qualified candidates, but I value their insight and thank them for their service.”

Sen. Moran accepts applications for nominations to the United States Service Academies each year. The application deadline for entry in 2014 is Sept. 6, 2013. Candidates are then required to interview with Sen. Moran’s Service Academy Selection Board.  Following interviews, the Board will make recommendations to Sen. Moran for his decision.  If nominated, applicants must then meet the individual admission requirements of each academy.  The academies will make the final decision on who will receive an appointment of admission in early 2014.

Members of the 2013 Kansas Service Academy Selection Board include:

• Katrina Lewison of Manhattan; U.S. Military Academy Graduate and Purple Heart Recipient
• Janet Nichols of Manhattan; Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Military Community Liaison
• Frank Clepper of Overland Park; U.S. Military Academy Graduate
• Ernest Garcia of Overland Park; Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent, retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel and former U.S. Selective Service System Chief of Staff
• Jill McCarthy of Overland Park; Kansas City Area Development Council Vice President of Business Development and mother of U.S. Military Academy Graduate
• Anne Emerson of Fort Scott; Southeast Kansas, Inc. Board Member
• Nicholas Falcetto of Fort Leavenworth; U.S. Army Major and U.S. Military Academy Graduate
  • Major Falcetto is the first nominee of then-Rep. Moran’s to serve on the Selection Board
• Beth Funk, Ph.D., of Fort Riley; community volunteer & wife of Fort Riley Commanding General Major General Paul Funk
• Barb Grecian of Palco; Grecian Family Farms Co-Owner and wife of U.S. Army Veteran
• Steve Hawley of Lawrence; University of Kansas Director of Engineering Physics Program and former NASA Astronaut
• Robin Jackson, Ph.D., of Hutchinson; Central Christian College Professor of Science and Mathematics
• Jean Clifford of Garden City; USD 457 Board of Education member and retired Colonel in the USAF Reserves
• Ron Lucas of Goodland; Vietnam War Veteran and served in the U.S. Army
• Wendell Maddox of Kansas City; United Way of Wyandotte County President and CEO, and served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps
• John O’Leary of Wichita; Airbus Vice President of Engineering and U.S. Naval Academy Graduate
• Paula Ripple of Dodge City; Retired Dodge City High School English instructor and mother of U.S. Air Force Academy Graduate
• Tammy Sutherland-Abbott of Liberal; USD 480 Board of Education Member and mother of U.S. Military Academy Graduate
• Samuel Turner of Leawood; retired Shawnee Mission Medical Center CEO, Vietnam War Veteran and served in the U.S. Army
• Steve Harmon of Emporia; E-Town Solutions Owner/President, Emporia City Commissioner and Kansas National Guard Member
• Ron Whitney of Emporia; American Legion Member, Veterans of Foreign Wars Member and served in U.S. Army

Beginning September 4, crews will be performing some maintenance repairs on a section of U.S. 183 in Rooks County.

The work zone is located just north of the U.S. 24 junction in Stockton. Local utility crews will be repairing a water line while KDOT crews help flag traffic within the work zone.

The northbound lanes will be closed and all traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction, utilizing the southbound lanes.  Traffic will be controlled by temporary traffic signals. Delays should not exceed five minutes; but the public should plan their travels accordingly.  The speed limit will be reduced through the construction zone. Please pay attention to the signs and workers within a construction zone and “Give ‘Em A Brake!”

Weather permitting, the highway should be re-opened to normal traffic by September 24.

For questions concerning this project, please contact KDOT Area One Superintendent Rod Bencken at (785) 543-2163 or [email protected]; or KDOT Northwest Kansas Public Affairs Manager Kristen Brands at (785) 877-3315 or [email protected] in Norton.

In an effort to encourage employment over welfare dependency, the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) announced today that it will allow a federal waiver to expire.  The waiver currently allows adults ages 18 to 49 who are capable of working but who are not employed and who do not have dependent children to receive food assistance.  Those individuals currently benefiting from the waiver will be required to meet a minimum work requirement or be enrolled in a federally-approved job training program.

“We know that employment is the most effective way to escape poverty,” DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said. “As long as federal work requirements are met, no one will lose food assistance; the law only affects those individuals who are capable of working and have no dependent children.”

Food assistance is known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The federal SNAP work requirement was initially implemented as part of the 1996 welfare reform package.  The law stated that able-bodied adults without children would be eligible for the SNAP benefits three out of every 36 months unless they met the mandated work requirement which is a minimum of 20-hours per week.

The 2009 stimulus bill allowed all states to waive work requirements for able-bodied adults with no dependents.  Since that time, states have individually been permitted to continue using the waiver if certain United States Department of Labor criteria are met. Kansas no longer meets those criteria because of its low unemployment rate.  The State was offered a 12-month look-back, meaning we could use an earlier higher unemployment rate to continue the waiver.

An estimated 20,000 Kansas adults currently benefit from the waiver, which will expire Sept. 30.  These individuals will have three months, beginning Oct. 1, to find employment to continue receiving their current food assistance.  They will be required to work no less than 20 hours per week or be enrolled in a federally-approved job training program.

Other states that do not utilize the waiver include Delaware, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming and Utah.  Oklahoma and Wisconsin have also made it known that they plan to allow the waiver to expire this month.

The Kansas Department of Commerce works closely with DCF to help individuals find employment and we will continue to collaborate to help those affected obtain jobs so that food assistance is continued or no longer needed.

“Over the past several years, Kansas has built a great business environment.  As a result, our state is enjoying strong job growth. We’re excited to help Kansans take advantage of new opportunities through KANSASWORKS and other workforce development services,” Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary Pat George said.

According to the Kansas Department of Labor, unemployment is the lowest it has been since 2008.  Kansas Department of Labor Secretary Lana Gordon said “There are many opportunities for Kansans in a wide range of fields.”

An unusual  arrest in Salina is receiving some attention.  On Friday, Police were called to the 900 Block of Buckeye Avenue where a man was threatening staff of the Atherton Vet Clinic with a snow shovel.   They arrested Adam Bowers.

He was charged with aggravated assault and unwilling to keep lawful order. Nobody was injured.

(AP) — Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo says he will vote in support of authorizing a U.S. strike on Syria.

The Republican congressman spoke Tuesday to The Associated Press by phone from Israel. Pompeo is traveling to several Middle Eastern countries this week as part of his role on the House Intelligence Committee.

The rest of the state’s all-Republican delegation is opposing a military response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria

that killed hundreds.

Pompeo says a no vote in Congress would guarantee a bad outcome. He says the Iranians are watching how Americans respond to the alleged use of chemical weapons inside of Syria on civilians.

He says the objective of any military action should be the “massive degradation” of Syria’s capacity to use chemical weapons.

(AP) — Four Wichita residents have pleaded guilty in a mortgage fraud scheme that cost lenders hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita announced Tuesday that the four defendants admitted to conspiring with another man to make false statements in prepared loan applications. That allowed money to be transferred to buy homes in Wichita.

The four are Christopher Ginyard; Henry Pearson Jr.; Janice Young and Henry Pearson Sr.

In their pleas, the four admitted to conspiring with co-defendant Manjur Alam, who prepared the loan applications.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 25. They each face a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million.