HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — When the Kansas State Fair opens Friday, it will include a new museum honoring a longtime painter and fair fixture who died last year.
The fair’s new Lair White House is located on the site of the former home of J.B. Holdren, long known as Bardo the Clown. He was a clown and show painter at the fair for decades before his death in 2013.
The half-million-dollar, two-story Lair White House includes a museum on its ground floor. It was paid for with private funds.
The Hutchinson News reports the first exhibit will be “Year of the Clown,” which will showcase Holdren’s private collection of carnival artifacts including antique posters, restored carousel horses and Bardo’s clown suit from the 1930s.
The next Hays After 5 meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Rose Garden Steak Haus & Catering on East Eighth.
Dr. Anne O’Dea from Hays Medical Center’s Breast Care Center will be the special speaker, discussing women’s health and breast cancer.
Sharon Mueller from Canon City, Colo., also will speaker on “What Type of Container Are You?” Mueller will speak on breaking the cycle of dysfunction. She is a former owner of a marketing business and enjoys her adult kids and grandkids along with reading and writing poetry.
The cost for the evening is $12.50.
Hays After 5 is affiliated with Stonecraft Ministries of Kansas City, Mo.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A country superstar and her hockey-playing husband are expecting. “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood and husband, NHL player Mike Fisher, are having a baby. They each posted messages on their Twitter accounts with Underwood saying hers was in honor of Labor Day. Underwood’s publicist confirms the couple is expecting their first baby next spring. Underwood has won six Grammys. Fisher is a center for the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly economic survey index for nine Midwestern and Plains states rose slightly in August, suggesting growth is ahead.
A survey report issued Tuesday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index inched up to 57.2 last month from 57.0 in July. The index had reached a three-year high of 60.6 in June.
Looking six months ahead, the business confidence portion of the overall index climbed to 60.4 from 60.0 in July. It had hit 63.6 in June.
The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers at Creighton University say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline.
The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tough to catch the Kansas City Royals when they are leading after six innings. Greg Holland leads one of the majors’ best bullpens.
Ventura pitched into the seventh inning and three relievers shut the door in a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night.
Kansas City Royals (Chris Vleisides)
“With Ventura throwing the ball so well, it allowed to get us into the seventh inning with our big three spot with a lead,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We were in good shape from that point.”
The Big Three — Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Holland — combined for 2 2-3 hitless innings after Ventura departed. The Royals are 54-3 when taking a lead into the seventh.
“We had a chance until they brought in Herrera, Davis and Holland, three outstanding arms,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “They might be three of the best arms in baseball.”
Ventura (11-9) allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits in 6 1-3 innings. The right-hander, who was skipped on his previous turn in the rotation due to a sore back, struck out seven and walked four.
Salvador Perez homered and drove in three runs for Kansas City, which finished with 10 hits.
Holland struck out two in a perfect ninth, earning his 41st save in 43 chances. It was Holland’s third straight day of work.
“It’s kind of a double-edged sword for me,” he said. “We’re in a playoff race and you never know when you’re going to get another chance to go to the playoffs. Kansas City hasn’t been there in a while, a long time exactly.
“You want to do everything you can, but you also want to be smart about it. If I go out there at 40 or 50 percent and don’t get the job done because of it, that’s me being selfish for wanting to pitch. You’ve got to understand the situation that if you need a day, you’ve got to express that to the coaching staff.”
Perez, who had three hits, went deep in the third with Alex Gordon aboard. His two-out double in the first scored Gordon, who had singled and swiped second.
Colby Lewis (9-12) pitched seven innings for Texas, yielding four runs and nine hits. The right-hander had thrown a complete game in winning each of his previous two road starts.
“I missed with a couple of pitches early in the game but I sharpened up later,” Lewis said.
Carlos Peguero, who was just brought up from Triple-A Omaha, doubled in the fifth and scored on Mike Moustakas’ single to give the Royals a 4-0 advantage.
Texas responded with a run in the sixth on Adrian Beltre’s groundout. Tomas Telis and Michael Choice each had an RBI single in the seventh, cutting the Royals’ lead to one run.
TWO CHALLENGES
The Rangers lost a replay review and won another one. With runners on the corners in the second, Rangers catcher Tomas Telis grounded into a double play to end the inning. Washington wanted a review, believing Telis was safe, but the ruling on the field was upheld. In the seventh, Jarrod Dyson doubled for the Royals, but went over the bag. Umpire Fieldin Culbreth said Dyson got back safely. A review overruled him and Dyson was out.
UP NEXT:
Rangers: LHP Derek Holland will make his first start of the season after having knee surgery on Jan. 10. He went 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA in six rehab starts in the minors.
Royals: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-10) goes for Kansas City. Guthrie is 2-0 with a 4.29 ERA in his last three starts.
TRAINER’S ROOM:
Rangers: RHP Miles Mikolas, who was skipped his previous start with shoulder fatigue, has not progressed and may not pitch Thursday in his next scheduled start.
Royals: DH Josh Willingham has not played since Friday because of a bad back. He will try to swing the bat Tuesday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Alex Smith didn’t have much choice when he was traded from San Francisco to Kansas City last year.
He had the final say when it came to staying with the Chiefs, though.
One day after signing a four-year extension that should solidify his future through the 2018 season, Smith expressed relief at being able to focus solely on football – rather than negotiations that had been going on for months, and that were threatening to bleed into the regular season.
Smith said he made it clear to his agent, Tom Condon, he wanted an agreement done before the start of the season. Chiefs general manager John Dorsey said that was also his goal.
The Chiefs open the regular season against Tennessee on Sunday.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A new Kansas State University study finds gender affects the likelihood of young drivers being involved in different types of crashes.
For the study, a civil engineering professor and doctoral student looked at five years of Kansas accidents involving 16- to 24-year-old drivers.
Their findings include that young female drivers had more crashes at intersections and collisions with pedestrians. They also found that young male drivers had more off-road crashes and accidents at sunset.
The researchers said they hoped the study would be used to help develop more targeted educational materials.
The findings were published in the Journal of Safety Research. The research is part of a larger Kansas Department of Transportation study about improving highway safety of young drivers.
HAYS — Two people were injured in an accident just after 8 p.m. on Labor Day in Ellis County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Pontiac driven by Jenae M. Chegwidden, 18, Ellsworth, was westbound on Interstate 70 three miles west of Hays and struck a 2008 Hyundai SUV driven by Nicole M. Angulo, 23, Sugarland, Texas, from the rear.
Angulo and a passenger in the Hyundai — Steve Angulo, 55, Sugarland — were transported to Hays Medical Center. Chegwidden was not injured.
The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say a man was critically injured in a shooting following a car chase.
Sgt. John Ryan says the man was shot in his car Monday afternoon. He says a man in a silver SUV with up to four passengers fired into the man’s Ford Mustang.
The man was hit multiple times and taken to the Wesley Medical Center.
A passenger in the Mustang was not injured and called police. The passenger says the men know each other and have been feuding. Police say the vehicles chased each other through a residential neighborhood before the shooting.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has a new top assistant.
Schmidt announced last week that Jeff Chanay is the new deputy chief attorney general. Chanay previously led the office’s civil litigation division.
Chanay joined the attorney general’s staff when Schmidt took office in January 2011. He’d previously had a private law practice in Topeka for 24 years.
As chief deputy, he’ll replace John Campbell, who’d also been with Schmidt from the beginning of his tenure but stepped down for health reasons.
Campbell began working in the attorney general’s office in 1981, rising to chief deputy in 1995, under Republican Carla Stovall. He worked as the Insurance Department’s chief counsel for eight years, starting in 2003, before returning to the attorney general’s office in 2011.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is receiving nearly $350,000 in federal grants to help schools serve healthier meals and snacks.
The Kansas Department of Education says it will use the money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide training. The state also will take steps to increase participation in the school breakfast program and use gardening as a way to entice students to eat different fruits and vegetables.
Schools also will be able to apply for money to offer staff wellness programs and cooking/tasting activities in the classroom.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — When the Kansas State Fair opens Friday, it will include a new museum honoring a longtime painter and fair fixture who died last year.
