Lawrence, Kan. – Charlie Weis has been relieved of his duties as Head Football Coach at the University of Kansas, KU Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger announced Sunday. Weis was in the third year of a five-year contract.
Zenger named KU defensive coordinator Clint Bowen interim head coach.
“I normally do not favor changing coaches mid-season,” Zenger said. “But I believe we have talented coaches and players in this program, and I think this decision gives our players the best chance to begin making progress right away.
“I appreciate what Coach Weis did with several facets of our football program,” Zenger continued. “But we have not made the on-the-field progress we believe we should. I believe new leadership gives our coaches and players the best chance to make a fresh start.”
Zenger informed Weis of his decision Sunday morning, and then spoke to the rest of the coaching staff. “I am grateful for the KU fans, alumni and donors who continue to support our coaches and players.”
“As we continue to elevate the national stature of the University of Kansas, our pursuit of excellence extends beyond our research and instructional missions,” said KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. “KU alumni, students, fans and supporters expect that Kansas Football will match the other areas in which we excel as a university. After consulting with Dr. Zenger, I am in agreement that it is time for new leadership of our football program.”
After nearly 40 years of service with the Hays Fire Department, Wendy Schumacher is retiring. In the latest episode of Community Connection, Eagle’s Mike Cooper had a chance to visit with Wendy on his last day on the job.
RUSSELL — The next exhibit at the Deines Cultural Center will feature paintings by Topeka artist Barbara Waterman-Peters.
This retrospective show focuses on Waterman-Peters’ work from the last 22 years. Over time, the imagery in her Women Series has changed from the dream-like to a strange naturalism.
“I utilize archetypes to tell my story. My understanding of them has come after years of research. I tap into millennia of wisdom, mythology, proverb, fairy tale and religion,” said Waterman-Peters. “With woman as my focus, I project through a feminist lens, examining everything.”
The opening reception will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3rd. The exhibit will be on display from Oct. 3 to Nov. 14. Admission is free.
COLBY — Two people were injured in an accident just after 11 p.m. on Saturday in Thomas County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Volkswagen 4-door driven by Grant B. Spresser, 16, Gem, was eastbound on Kansas 24 twelve miles east of Colby. The vehicle went left of center and hit a westbound 2008 Dodge Ram driven by Jessica A. Kennedy, 21, Colby, in the center of westbound lane.
The Volkswagen went into a skid and continued left coming to rest facing southwest in the north ditch. The driver of the Dodge lost control, the vehicle entered the north ditch and came to rest facing southeast partly in the ditch and on the westbound lane.
Spresser and Kennedy were transported to Citizens Medical Center.
The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
The recent stretch of warm weather will continue today, with highs in the lower to middle 80s. Monday will be nearly identical to today in the daytime hours.
A change in the weather pattern can be expected next week. Early next week an upper level storm system will bring a chance of thunderstorms. A few storms Monday night may be severe with the main hazard being one inch hail and wind gusts up to 60 mph.
By late week a cold front will cross western Kansas. This will not only will bring another chance for precipitation but also cooler, more fall like, temperatures.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 84. Breezy, with a south wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 60. South southeast wind 8 to 15 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 14 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly between 1am and 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. South southeast wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9am. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 13 to 15 mph.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. To bring attention to this issue, the Women’s Leadership Project again is bringing the Red Flag Campaign to Fort Hays State University.
The public awareness campaign is designed to address domestic and dating violence and promote its prevention on college campuses. The campaign was created using a “bystander intervention” strategy, encouraging friends and other campus community members to “say something” when they see warning signs (“red flags”) for dating violence in a friend’s relationship.
Research from 2011 indicates abuse occurs in 21 percent of college dating relationships, 58 percent of college students say they don’t know how to help someone who is a victim of dating abuse, and 38 percent of college students say they would not know where to get help.
Throughout the month of October, red flags will be visible on the grounds of the university to remind everyone to address “red flags” they may see with friends, family or personally. Additionally, WLP will host several events to bring awareness to this important cause.
The Women’s Leadership Project will kick off the campaign by speaking to all freshmen classes on Oct. 1 and 2. Everyone is invited to attend our free self-defense workshop from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 4 at Cunningham Hall, Room 110.
The WLP will partner with Options and other community organizations to host the fourth annual Domestic Violence Summit at Hays Medical Center on Tuesday, Oct. 14th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Red Day will take place on Oct. 24. On this day, the campus and community are encouraged to wear red in an open commitment to “say something” when they see a relationship red flag. In addition to these events, watch for The Red Flag Campaign at multiple men’s and women’s athletic events.
For more information regarding the Red Flag Campaign, or what you can do if you see relationship red flags, contact the Women’s Leadership Project at [email protected] or (785) 628-4312.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the mistrust of law enforcement that was exposed after the fatal police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, has a corrosive effect on all of America, not just on black communities.
He says that mistrust harms places that need law enforcement the most.
He also says it makes people reluctant to go to the police and scars the hearts of all children.
The fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August sparked days of violent protests and racial unrest in predominantly black Ferguson. Brown was black and unarmed. The police officer who shot him was white.
Obama commented Saturday at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner in Washington.
He announced the expansion of a program launched this year to help make young minority men’s lives better.
TOPEKA — A plan to redistribute donor livers from areas where donor numbers are higher, like Kansas City and the South, to organ-needy coastal areas is on hold after protests from members of Congress representing the areas that would have seen transplant wait times increase.
That group included U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, a Republican who serves the Kansas City area. Yoder said last week’s meeting of the United Network for Organ Sharing’s Liver and Intestinal Organ Transplantation Committee resulted in tabling a proposal to change to the way the organs are distributed.
“It’s my understanding the result of last week’s UNOS forum was to further review the process, and no changes will be made in the immediate future,” Yoder said in an emailed statement. “I still believe the best solution moving forward is to work to increase organ donor rates across the country and ultimately save more lives. I would like to see other states replicate the processes used by Kansas organizations such as the Midwest Transplant Network and Gift of Life.”
Richard Gilroy, a University of Kansas Hospital physician who sits on the liver transplant committee, confirmed that after a series of votes the committee decided it was not ready to recommend a change to the way organs are distributed.
“What the ultimate decision was is that we are currently still looking at redistricting, but the model that was proposed in its current form isn’t moving forward,” Gilroy said.
Regional variation
There are 11 regions for organ sharing in the United States, and the amount of time a person in need of a liver transplant might wait varies widely from region to region.
In the Kansas City area, it might be a matter of months, while on the coasts wait times can run five years or longer. According to Yoder’s office, about 6,000 liver transplants are performed annually and about 12,000 Americans await a liver transplant.
According to a UNOS concept paper on the proposed reallocation, 1,523 patients died while awaiting a liver transplant in 2013 and another 1,552 were removed from the transplant eligibility lists because they had become too sick for a transplant to have a high likelihood of success.
The proposed realignment was developed through a computer-generated algorithm that projected about 500 fewer deaths per year by evening the wait times nationwide. Those who currently have short wait times could survive longer before their transplant, according to the projections, allowing those who currently have longer wait times and greater risk of death to receive organs sooner.
But Gilroy said some on the committee had serious questions about the algorithm’s limitations in predicting continued organ donation patterns.
“People change their behaviors,” Gilroy said. “The model, which is fragile, fails to predict what’s going to happen, and you could see the opposite happen. You could see more deaths.”
Gilroy said some on the committee also had concerns about the cost and risks of waiting longer for transplants and the cost and risks of transporting organs farther. When an organ has to travel by plane, the transplant teams “fly in any weather,” he said, and in recent years nine people on those teams have died in two crashes.
“So if we have three times the number of flights, we have three times the possibility of transplant teams going down,” Gilroy said.
Gilroy said the committee is looking at other organ distribution models, including one based on concentric circles or geographic radius from the donation site. But he said it would be months before it had anything to present publicly.
Proposal generated concern
Concern about the proposed computer-algorithm model caused an unusual amount of interest in UNOS. More than 300 people registered for a public forum on the liver transplant idea Sept. 16 in Chicago. Others listened online.
Before that forum and the committee meeting that followed the next day, Yoder and about 50 of his congressional colleagues took the rare step of writing a letter protesting the proposed reallocation to Mary Wakefield of the Health Resources and Services Administration. UNOS is a nonprofit, but Wakefield’s agency, under the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, administers the UNOS contract to manage the nation’s organ transplant system.
In the letter, Yoder acknowledged the “large geographic disparity in the rates of organ donation,” but said regions with high donation rates should not be punished by seeing their organs go to others.
“Kansans, and the Midwest as a whole, are historically generous organ donors and UNOS should not adopt proposals that punish successful programs and decrease access to organs where donation rates are highest,” Yoder said. “We must implement programs that raise the organ donor consent rate in the areas of the country where disparities in wait times are the greatest.”
To increase donation rates elsewhere, Yoder and others are encouraging other regions to adopt grassroots donor education programs, like one promoted by Overland Park-based Gift of Life. That nonprofit organization, with four employees, was formed by families with children in need of transplants.
KC program plays a role
Keith Anderson, executive director of Gift of Life, said its signature outreach program, Lifesavers, has reached more than 200,000 people in the Kansas City area by sending speakers to 90 area high schools and talking to students about what it means to sign up to be an organ donor when they get their driver’s licenses. The students are then encouraged to talk with their parents about organ donation.
Gift of Life uses surveys to track the effectiveness of the program, he said, and about 74 percent of the students reached say they want to become donors.
Anderson said most cities have organ transplant hospitals and an “organ procurement organization” responsible for the logistics of transporting organs from donors to those hospitals. But few have organizations like Gift of Life, dedicated solely to organ donation education.
“Those three things together are really what make it work,” Anderson said. “Most cities only have two of the three.”
Anderson said Yoder “did step up to the plate” in encouraging further review of the proposed reallocation plan, and Gilroy played a key role as a member of the UNOS liver committee.
“His message as a member of the committee has been you can look at the mathematical models, but if the other states are not doing anything for community education, they’re not doing anything to increase organ donations,” Anderson said.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The rapidly rising demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables has created a robust new market for refugees who fled violence in their home countries and found peace in farming small plots of land in several U.S. cities.
With help from a federal grant program, Lutheran Services in Iowa provides farm plots for 26 refugee families in Des Moines who are now harvesting their own produce and selling it to cooperatives and at a farmers market.
Ron Munia, who works for the federal Office of Refugee Services, says federal grants have been given to 11 refugee farm programs.
He says farming helps the refugees feel at home and integrate into a community because of the interaction with the local population and other refugees.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Harley-Davidson is recalling more than 105,000 motorcycles from the 2014 model year because their clutches may fail, causing stopped bikes to creep forward and potentially crash.
The Milwaukee company also is recalling 1,384 motorcycles made earlier this year to test for possible fuel tank leaks.
For the clutch issue, Harley-Davidson says dealers will rebuild affected clutch master cylinders for free. The company knows of 19 low-speed tip-over crashes tied to the problem, with three minor injuries reported. Bikes named in that recall include the Electra Glide Ultra Classic and the CVO Road King.
Dealers also will test fuel tanks subject to that recall and replace them for free if any leak from under their caps. No injuries, accidents or fires have been tied to that problem.
Fort Hays State University President Mirta Martin and the FHSU Alumni Association invite the FHSU Community to Lewis Field Stadium to welcome the FHSU football team back tonight. Earlier today, the Tigers beat the nationally ranked Gorillas of Pittsburg State for the first time in over thirty years. Read more about the win HERE.
The Tigers are set to arrive at Lewis Field Stadium between 11pm-12am.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Newly released numbers show enrollment has dipped at Kansas’ community colleges while it increased at technical schools and public universities.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Kansas Board of Regents released preliminary figures Friday.
According to the report, 184,403 students were enrolled in state universities, community colleges and technical schools. That is a less than 1 percent decrease from the fall of 2013.
The slight drop came as community colleges saw a 4.34 percent enrollment decrease. Meanwhile, enrollment was up 1.47 percent at the six regents’ universities and 6.32 percent at technical schools.
Kansas Board of Regents president and chief executive officer Andy Tompkins says people are heading back to work instead of seeking additional education and training at the state’s community colleges.
