Thomas More Prep-Marian
Thomas More Prep-Marian seventh-grader Sheena Zeng has been ranked fourth in preliminary rankings for the 2014 World Youth Chess Championship.
Zeng will compete in the 10 and under division in the tournament, scheduled from Sept. 20 to 29 in South Africa.
Click HERE to follow the results as the tournament progresses.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic candidate Chad Taylor has filed a petition with the Kansas Supreme Court to get his name removed from the Nov. 4 ballot in the U.S. Senate race.
Taylor filed his petition Tuesday, naming Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as the defendant. Kobach is the state’s chief elections officer and has refused to take Taylor’s name off the ballot even though Taylor has ended his campaign.
Taylor was a candidate against three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, but he announced last week he was ending his campaign in a move that boosted the chances of independent candidate Greg Orman.
Kobach ruled that Taylor failed to comply with state election laws by not stating in his withdrawal letter that he was incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Police in Olathe are seeking witnesses to a confrontation that left an officer with a broken leg.
The police department in the Kansas City suburb says officers responded to a call around 5 p.m. Monday about a man and woman involved in a disturbance at a park. Police say the man tried to leave the scene, then got into a fight with the officer who was injured.
The suspect was booked into the Johnson County Jail. The officer has been placed on medical leave.
Police said Tuesday they want to hear from anyone who saw the altercation.
DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House has voted to condemn President Barack Obama for failing to give 30-day notice to Congress about the exchange of American prisoner Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders.
The vote on Tuesday was 249-163 for the nonbinding resolution.
Democrats label the vote an election-year, partisan attack that is ill-timed considering Obama’s effort to rally support for combatting Islamic State militants.
Republicans insist that Obama clearly violated a law requiring the administration to notify Congress 30 days before transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison.
In May, five senior Taliban were released from the U.S. prison in exchange for Bergdahl, a soldier who disappeared from his post in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009.
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Officials at Fort Leavenworth are memorializing the late Missouri congressman Ike Skelton by renaming the northeast Kansas post’s library in his honor.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno is scheduled to speak Thursday morning at the naming ceremony for the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library.
Skelton, a Democrat, was elected 17 times to the U.S. House before losing in 2010 to Republican Vicky Hartzler in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. He chaired the House Armed Services Committee and was considered an astute military historian and a champion of the nation’s servicemen and women.
Skelton died last October at the age of 81.
The 320,000-volume library serves officers and civilians attending the Command and General Staff College and the Army Management Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.
CLAY CENTER, Kan. (AP) — A campaign to allow a vote on serving liquor by the drink in a north-central Kansas county has fallen short again.
The Clay Center Dispatch reports Clay County is among 13 of the state’s 105 counties that don’t allow restaurants to serve liquor by the drink.
Proponents have turned in three petitions to put the question to Clay County voters. The first two fell short of the necessary 290 signatures. The third had 316 signatures, but County Clerk Kayla Wang recently rejected it because 147 names had to be rejected for technical reasons.
The county commission has the authority to put the question on a future ballot. But Commissioner Jerry Mayo says there’s a longstanding policy to allow public votes on liquor by the drink only by petition.
MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Both sides in the gay marriage debate agree on one thing: It’s time for the Supreme Court to settle the matter.
Even a justice recently said she thinks so, too.
The emerging consensus makes it likely that the justices soon will agree to take up the question of whether the Constitution forbids states from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. A final ruling isn’t likely before June 2015, but a decision to get involved could come as soon as the end of this month.
Officials in five states in which marriage bans were struck down by federal courts have rushed their appeals to the Supreme Court. They’re trying to be in time for consideration by the justices when they meet in private on Sept. 29.
FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State’s Jordan Hester has been named the MIAA Women’s Soccer Offensive Athlete of the Week, announced Tuesday by the conference office.
Hester, a junior from Olathe, Kan., had a strong opening weekend for the Tigers, scoring three goals in 126 minutes of action. Hester had two goals in FHSU’s 4-1 win over No. 23 Southwest Minnesota State, tying a school record for goals in a game (and goals in one half), and one goal in FHSU’s 4-0 win over the University of Sioux Falls.
Against SMSU, Hester entered the scoring column at 54:35 using a cross from Kylee Loneker. Off Loneker’s assist, Hester headed the ball past the keeper into the back of the net and put Fort Hays State ahead, 3-0. Hester’s second goal of the night came just past the 71-minute mark (71:07). Kelsey Steffens crossed a pass to the back post of the goal where Hester was waiting for FHSU’s fourth and final goal of the night.
Against Sioux Falls, Hester had game winner (and first) goal of the day. Hailey Davey’s crosser tipped off the USF goalkeepers hands towards Hester, who finished from 10 yards out.
The Tigers are on the road this weekend in Colorado for matches against Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday, Sept. 12 and University of Colorado-Colorado Springs on Sunday, Sept. 14.
By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post
Hays Police officers are investigating what appears to be an overnight theft of more than $16,000 in merchandise from BOS Motorsports, 1210 E. 43rd.
BOS owner Stephanie Bainter said she came to work Tuesday morning and noticed a piece of the fence surrounding the building had been cut and a $15,000 2014 Polaris RZR-S was missing, along with an $1,800 trailer.
According to Bainter, the Polaris is white and yellow with black details.
Bainter said the process of gathering surveillance footage is underway, and she hopes the person or persons responsible can be identified in the footage.
If anyone has any information on this crime, contact the Hays Police Department at (785) 625-1030.
Talk to farmers, stockmen and ranchers – most will tell you how much they love their cows. Problem is this humble and in most cases easy-going beast rarely receives the praise associated with the noble show horse or one of the so-called smartest creatures, the squealing pig.
No one extols the virtues of this contented creature that spends her days quietly grazing and eating grass. We’ve all watched movies about horses (Trigger) and pigs (Babe), but most of the time, cows are considered boring and ignored by Hollywood, the media and the general public.
Still, cows are not whiners and they take their obscurity in stride and rarely complain about their circumstances. They spend days and nights under the stars without a tent or blanket and only their coat to keep them warm. They have to hoof it across the pasture just to get a drink of cold water.
But hey, I’m not here to say I feel sorry for the cow community. Confident and quiet, it is not their way to ask for preferential treatment.
Spend time with a herd of cows and you’ll soon discover they are indeed spiritual beings. They live their entire lives in service to mankind.
Behind that seemingly blank stare rests a knowing glint that suggests, “Go ahead. Make fun. I spend all day eating and sleeping. You’re the one with high blood pressure and cash-flow problems.”
Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, domesticated since the Stone Age. Some are raised for meat (beef cattle), dairy products (cows) or hides (both).
They are also used as draft animals and in certain sports. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle rustling, one of the earliest forms of theft.
Dairy cows are referred to as the foster mothers of the human race because they produce most of the milk that people drink. They provide 90 percent of the world’s milk supply.
The best cows may give approximately 25 gallons of milk each day. That’s 400 glasses of milk. Cows in this country give an average of 2,000 gallons of milk per year. That’s more than 30,000 glasses of milk.
Beef cattle supply more than 30 different cuts of meat including the heart, tongue and what we grew up calling mountain oysters – a male private part. You gotta’ admit, that’s meaningful giving.
Another gift from the bovine community is leather that comes from their hides. We use it for boots, belts, baseballs, suitcases, purses, wallets, easy chairs and jackets. Yes, cattle or cows make the ultimate sacrifice for human comfort.
Another place cows shine is in the rodeo arena or as spokesmammals in advertising. Who hasn’t seen the skydiving cows on their television screen?
Another cow celebrity that’s been around for eons is Borden’s Elsie the Cow.
Snorting bulls symbolize a healthy stock market and a Hereford cow pioneered space travel. Every kid knows about the cow who jumped over the moon.
Milk, ice cream, cheeseburgers or that fine leather purse – think about it. Where would we be without our cows?
On any given day a cow often does more for us than our friends, neighbors, in-laws or even our elected officials. Cows deserve a roaring round of applause and recognition for a job well done.
Anyway, I’d much rather thank a cow and wear a pair of leather boots than sport a mink coat and thank a varmint. I know I’d rather drink milk from a cow than milk from a mink.
Enough said.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two people have died after being beaten in their Kansas City home during an attack in which three others were fatally shot.
Kansas City police say Ann and George Taylor, both in their 80s, died Tuesday after spending a week on life support.
Prosecutors allege that Brandon Howell attacked the couple in the basement of their home on Sept. 2, then fatally shot three neighbors before fleeing in the Taylors’ SUV.
He’s charged with several felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of 88-year-old Alice Hurst, her son, 63-year-old Darrel Hurst, and 69-year-old Susan Choucroun.
Howell, a convicted felon with a history of violence, was arrested shortly after the killings. Police found him walking along Interstate 29 with a loaded shotgun in his pants.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say an argument between parents and a coach at a junior football league practice in Kansas escalated into a fight involving gunfire.
Police say one man complained that his son was not getting enough playing time during Monday evening’s practice at Linwood Park in Wichita. Then six men surrounded the coach and started punching him.
Police say one of the parents was armed with brass knuckles and another indicated he had a gun.
Then the coach’s wife pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the air. Police say the coach subsequently went to his car where he retrieved a second gun and threatened the men with it.
His assailants fled before officers arrived and confiscated both guns.
No one was seriously hurt and no arrests were made.
ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress says it’s considering doing more to monitor and hold accountable police departments across the United States that obtain sophisticated military equipment from the federal government.
Senior officials from the Homeland Security, Justice and Defense departments testified Tuesday at a Senate oversight hearing. It was prompted by weeks of violent conflicts between police in Ferguson, Missouri, and protesters upset about the fatal police shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old.
The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Democrat Tom Carper of Delaware, said the government gives military equipment to police for good reasons. But the senator said Congress is considering whether the types of equipment police are getting is “truly needed” to uphold local laws.
The White House had previously announced its own review of the police equipment program.
