To show our appreciation to readers, Hays Post recently announced the “Push for 5,000” contest. Five of our 5,000-plus Facebook fans will be chosen at random to receive a special prize.

RYAN HOAG, Hays, is the third winner and will receive a $100 gift card or credit at any local Hays Post advertiser.

Arrow Hess of Hays was the first winner.

Gloria McCormick was the second winner.

Two more winners will be announced in the coming weeks.
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By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

At Thursday’s Hays City Commission meeting, commissioners are expected to vote on accepting the 2013 audit report from Adams, Brown Beran, and Ball.

State law requires each municipality to have an outside agency review the operating finances of each city annually. According to the memo sent to commissioners, the audit “represents an unbiased opinion of  business practices and the financial soundness of all city funds.”

Ken Beran and Melissa Romme from ABBB are scheduled to make the presentation to commissioners.

Commissioners also are scheduled to vote on using money from the city commission financial policy projects fund to help fund SkyWest Airline’s initial marketing campaign. When the city recommended the selection of SkyWest Airlines, it obligated $50,000 from the fund for marketing assistance.

The city is recommending that the commission authorize $25,000 to help with the initial marketing campaign. According to Assistant City Manager Paul Briseno, the remaining balance likely would be used to help market the commercial air service next year. Other agencies such as the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development and the Hays Convention and Visitor’s Bureau are also committing funds to help with marketing.

SkyWest is scheduled to begin air service at Hays Regional Airport on Aug. 1. The airport has been without commercial air service since this spring.

Commissioners also will consider scheduling the 2015 budget public hearing for Aug. 14.

The Hays City Commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. For a complete agenda, click HERE.

By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

With a little more than a week to go, kids at Hays Area Children’s Center are asking the community for help with their second annual Food Drive Challenge to reach their goal of raising nearly 400 cans of food for Options, a domestic and sexual violence advocacy group in northwest Kansas.

Officials from the Hays Police Department stopped by the children’s center Tuesday with boxes of non-perishable food items, toothpaste and toothbrushes to help the kids with their efforts to beat last year’s total of 345 donated items.

About 30 children from the HACC’s school-aged program welcomed the police at the door and helped distribute the goods into  various boxes.

“It’s a good thing you are doing, and we certainly appreciate it and the community does too,” Sgt. Dan Koerner told the kids.

Cpl. David Vilaysing added, “You all are doing an excellent job. I’m proud of you.”

Hays Area Children’s Center Community Relations Coordinator, Kelly O’Brien Koerner said the HACC kids are accepting donations until 9 a.m. July 31.

Items can be dropped off at HACC, 94 Lewis Drive.

For more information, contact O’Brien at (785) 625-3257 or [email protected].

The kids will deliver the donations to Options on Aug. 1.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Ellis County commissioners heard a progress update on the 2015 budget from county administrator Greg Sund during the regular meeting Monday evening.

“We’re getting closer,” Sund told commissioners following a budget meeting earlier in the afternoon. “There are still adjustments that will have to be made to this to make it work out right.”

A budget gap of $76,811 remains, and that “required pretty substantial cuts to transfers,” Sund explained, “and I just can’t work in the (employee) pay adjustments. They aren’t in there.”

“That’s a miracle that we go to that,” said commission Chairwoman Barb Wasinger.  

Sund said he expects the commission will have another budget meeting next week. Commissioners are hoping to balance the budget without a tax increase.

In other business, Mike Graf, Ellis County Public Works director, presented an update to commissioners. Following a personal visit from Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Mike King last week, Graf said KDOT is receptive to partnering with Ellis County on road projects. King toured targeted improvements for 55th, 230th and Feedlot Roads.

Graf said KDOT is interested because of the “economic benefits that could come to expanding businesses” in those areas.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Ellis County Commission Chairwoman Barb Wasinger wanted to keep holding the Ellis County Fair Commissioner’s Cookie Jar presented at the start of Monday afternoon’s commission meeting.

It was hot and humid outside, and the glass jar was refreshingly cold to the touch.

The clear one-gallon jar, filled with nine different types of cookies brightly decorated with red, white and blue designs, was still chilled after it was removed from the freezer. That’s where it had been kept for freshness since Gloria Pfannenstiel was judged the winner of the Commissioner’s Cookie Jar in the Open Class Foods project during last week’s Ellis County Fair.

The jar itself also sported red, white and blue stars with a red, white and blue lid in keeping with the theme “All-American Flair at the Ellis County Fair.”

Pfannenstiel captured the same title five years ago.

FHSU University Relations

Recognition of Fort Hays State University’s online offerings as among the best in the country have continued to come since January’s U.S. News & World Report published their rankings. Those rankings placed FHSU as the top Kansas school, and one of the elite schools in the country, for its education programs offered through the Virtual College.

Fort Hays State University’s online degrees, offered through the Virtual College, were recognized in January by U.S. News & World Report as the top online programs in Kansas and among the very best offered in the United States, have again been recognized for excellence. Most recently, FHSU ranked No. 5 nationally for Best Online Bachelor’s Programs for Veterans, No. 16 for Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs for Veterans, and No. 17 in Best Online Graduate Business Programs for Veterans.

FHSU’s Virtual College offers 27 bachelor’s degree programs and 14 master’s degree programs online. Many offer multiple concentrations so students can choose the course work that best meets their needs.

“These rankings are important independent confirmations of the excellent value — very high quality and low cost — of our Virtual College offerings here at Fort Hays State,” said Dennis King, director of the Virtual College.

“Since we invest our money to raise quality in our academic programs and to keep tuition low rather than buy a college bowl game, or buy a bus and travel the country with our name across the side of it, or spend a fortune on national media advertising, it’s wonderful to get this kind of recognition and affirmation from entities like U.S. News and the other ranking agencies.”

Another recent recognition came from the National Council on Teacher Quality, in its 2014 Teacher Prep Review. On campus as well as online, FHSU ranked No. 3 in the nation for Elementary Education and No. 12 in Secondary Education. FHSU ranked No. 1 among all schools in Kansas.

The university’s undergraduate secondary education programs were the top in the NCTQ’s Midwest Region, comprised of the 12 states from Ohio to Kansas, north to North Dakota and east to Michigan.

In yet another ranking, FHSU was named one of five colleges among the least expensive in the United States in an article in USA Today. That article listed FHSU as fifth least expensive. The USA Today report was based on affordability ratings from Online U (www.onlineu.org) and rankings of online programs by The Best Colleges (www.thebestcolleges.org).

OnlineU.org, a website created by SR Education Group, Kirkland, Wash., this month issued an expanded ranking FHSU’s early childhood education degrees No. 2 most affordable in the nation. Teaching degrees generally were ranked as No. 4 most affordable in the country. In February, OnlineU found that FHSU was the second-most popular college in Kansas based on a study written on data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Overall, FHSU is also in the top five in OnlineU’s rankings in counseling, human resources, IT and computer science, and nursing, and is among the organization’s top five in the nation overall.

TheBestSchools.org, in May recognized FHSU’s B.S. in Business Administration and the M.B.A. in Tourism and Hospitality Management as Wise Choices for affordability and quality. These degrees scored high for transferability of credits, comprehensive curriculum covering key aspects of business theories and practices and, for the M.B.A., the ability to take time off for personal reasons and come back to finish.

In March, the online M.B.A. program at FHSU (the program has 11 concentration possibilities) was ranked a “Best Buy” and placed No. 13 out of 124 colleges assessed by GetEducated.com.

On a local level, the university’s home city came in for praise from a news site published by Movoto Real Estate, a national real estate brokerage licensed in more than 30 states. Movoto listed Hays as the third-most exciting place to live in Kansas, based on nightlife, live music venues per capita, parks, outdoor activities, availability of arts and entertainment, percentage (higher is better) of restaurants that are not fast food, and percentage (higher is better) of residents age 18 to 34 (Hays came in at 37 percent). No. 1 was Manhattan, No. 2 was Lawrence.

Expect warm and dry weather today through Friday. Thunderstorm chances increase this weekend.

Today A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8am and 10am. Patchy fog between 7am and 8am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 94. East wind 7 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 69. East southeast wind 10 to 14 mph.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 99. Breezy, with a south southeast wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 18 to 23 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. South wind 11 to 16 mph.
Friday Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 100. South southwest wind 10 to 14 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.
Friday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.