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Month: September 2014

Police warn of scammer posing as officer

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Scam AlertSALINA, Kan. (AP) — Salina authorities are warning the public of a scammer posing as the police chief.

Capt. Mike Sweeney tells KAKE a 62-year-old man was called last week from what showed up on a caller ID as the police department number. He says the man had been conned out of $4,500 over the phone a few days earlier.

The man tells police the caller said he was the chief and threatened to arrest him if he didn’t send more money. The victim called the actual police department instead.

Sweeney says the scammer used technology that allows other numbers to appear on a caller ID.

Police believe the person called from a foreign country.

No charges in southwest Kansas nude photos case

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Cell phoneGARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — A southwest Kansas county attorney says high school students who texted nude photographs of an underage girl will not be heading to court.

Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier tells KWCH-TV she will recommend the students enter a deferral program instead of charging the teenagers. She says about 40 students were involved and that they didn’t realize the life-long implications of their actions.

Garden City High School officials notified police in January that a teenage student reported her peers were passing around nude pictures taken when she was 13 years old.

Authorities had considered charges including sexual exploitation of a child.

Prosecutors will instead hold a public forum in the coming weeks to talk about the consequences of sexting.

 

Warm, windy and a chance of showers

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Screen Shot 2014-09-09 at 5.18.36 AMWide temperature fluctuations are expected within the next week. Warm today but cool by Friday.

Today A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 4pm and 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Breezy, with a south wind 7 to 12 mph increasing to 19 to 24 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Breezy, with a south wind 8 to 13 mph becoming north 16 to 21 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Wednesday Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 68. North wind around 17 mph.
Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. North northeast wind 8 to 14 mph.
Thursday Partly sunny, with a high near 61. East northeast wind 7 to 11 mph.
Thursday Night Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Friday Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.

Winter wheat planting underway in Kansas

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wheat plantingWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas growers have begun seeding their fields for next year’s winter wheat crop.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that winter wheat planting is at 2 percent. That is about the same as last year at this time and the average for early September.

Topsoil moisture statewide is running about 66 percent adequate to surplus as wheat planting gets underway.

Kansas farmers also continued harvesting corn between thunderstorms that brought rain to much of the state last week. The agency reports 12 percent of the Kansas crop has been cut, about 3 points ahead of last year’s pace.

About 9 percent of the sorghum crop has now matured, and 11 percent of soybeans have begun dropping leaves.

 

Tigers close gap to 1 game with win over Royals

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DETROIT (AP) — Brad Ausmus called the Tigers’ series against the Kansas City Royals the biggest of the season so far.

Detroit got off to a good start.

Torii Hunter had two of his three hits in a six-run third inning and Detroit beat Kansas City 9-5 Monday to move within a game of the American League Central-leading Royals.

“I thought there was going to be more energy in our ballclub today (than in recent games), because we’re looking up at the Royals in the standings and this is our chance,” the manager said after the win.

The win was the Tigers’ 9,000th in franchise history.

Justin Verlander (13-12) allowed four runs and six hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out four for Detroit, which moved into a tie with Seattle for the second AL wild card.

“It was pretty good,” Verlander said. “They put up a couple runs in a couple innings, but even after they got those two early runs, I went back and watched the video and those were all good pitches. They’ve just got a good lineup.”

Nick Castellanos had two hits, two runs and two RBIs for the Tigers. Victor Martinez had three hits and an RBI, and Hunter scored twice and drove in a run.

Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie (10-11) allowed eight runs — six earned — and 10 hits in 2 2-3 innings. Guthrie has given up 14 earned runs in his last 6 2-3 innings against Detroit.

“We were down six and I knew we were going to battle back and make it interesting,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We had the tying runs on in the eighth.”

Lorenzo Cain hit an inside-the-park home run for the Royals in the seventh inning. Eric Hosmer had three hits with an RBI for the Royals.

Seven of Detroit’s first eight batters got his in the third, which began with Hunter’s infield single. Martinez’s infield hit drove in the first run, glancing off the glove of first baseman Hosmer toward the dirt behind second. Don Kelly’s double made it 4-2, Castellanos hit a two-run double and RBI singles by Alex Avila and Hunter boosted the lead to 8-2.

“He was one pitch away from getting out of that third inning but it just kept snowballing and he couldn’t make that pitch,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Detroit tied a season high with eight hits in the inning. The last time it happened was in the fifth inning July 10 at Kansas City, a 16-4 win. That inning was also started by Guthrie.

Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the second on a two-out, two-base error by Hosmer on Andrew Romine’s grounder with the bases-loaded. Hosmer bobbled the ball and then threw wildly to Guthrie, who was covering first. Romine wound up on second.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy, who was hurt on his first pitch Saturday, had an MRI on his sore shoulder Monday. It showed no structural damage. Yost said that Duffy should only miss one start. “He’s in Kansas City going through three or four rounds of treatment every day,” Yost said. … Closer Greg Holland, who hasn’t taken the team’s last two save opportunities because of a triceps injury, is getting closer to returning. Yost said Holland hasn’t thrown off the mound yet but did throw on the side on Monday. Yost said he is hopeful that Holland will be available on Tuesday.

Tigers: RHP Joakim Soria (left oblique strain) threw 27 pitches in a simulated game and felt good. “Big step today. Hopefully, it feels good tomorrow,” Soria said. Ausmus said Soria threw all of his pitches and that Soria looked strong. If Soria feels good on Tuesday, he will likely be activated on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Tuesday night’s starters are Jason Vargas (11-7, 3.14) for the Royals and Max Scherzer (15-5, 3.25) for the Tigers. Scherzer is 9-5 in his career against Kansas City.

SIGNALS CROSSED

Hunter, in right field, and Kelly, playing center, collided in right-centerfield on Cain’s home run in the seventh. Hunter caught the ball but it came out of his glove and rolled to the wall when he and Kelly collided. Hunter was down for a couple of minutes. But he remained in the game after being checked by a trainer.

BUSY DAY

The Tigers-Royals wasn’t the only big game in downtown Detroit on Monday. The Detroit Lions hosted the New York Giants in the NFL Monday Night Football opener at Ford Field, which is across the street from Comerica Park. The football game began at 7:10 p.m., and that’s why the start of the baseball game was moved from its original 7:08 to 4:08.

Absentee professors

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John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.
John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.

At some public universities across the nation, faculty parking lots are half empty after noon.

Good colleges and universities have traditionally had good teaching faculty. They not only taught their courses well, but they had ample office hours. Their doors were open to students who have further questions, needed extra help, or sought academic advice. Professors are salaried which means that they do not “clock in” but are paid to get the job done. Faculty parking lots were full and remained full all day long. And most students graduated knowing that some of their professors knew them and helped them succeed. Later in life, when the student has a successful career, it is this relationship that is most likely to generate alumni donations.

But walk the hallways of some of today’s public universities and you will find fewer students in those hallways. Classrooms may stand empty even at 10:00 a.m. on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Faculty office blocks may be a ghost town. Why are some faculty parking lots half empty in the afternoon?

The absentee professor problem is becoming more common as technology makes it legitimate to “phone it in.” The “telecommuting” craze started in industry about a decade ago and many businesses allowed workers to work at home where it was appropriate. That has not always worked out and many businesses are calling workers back into the on-site offices to regain that interpersonal interaction that produces creativity and loyalty. Unfortunately, this phone-it-in craze is accelerating in higher education.

The extent it has legitimacy is evident in the June 20 Chronicle of Higher Education where the title says it all: “Office Hours Are Obsolete.” If they can offer courses online, why not do everything else online as well. That author asserts that: “…other than teaching my face-to-face classes, almost everything I do as part of my job can be done from practically anywhere. Therefore, I should be able to do those things from practically anywhere if I see fit.”

When you follow up on absentee professors, you can find other excuses as well. In law and business schools, some administrators explain that private practice pays so much more that you cannot hire qualified professors if you don’t let them work on the side (during school hours). This excuse even extends to education fields such as counseling and to some applied liberal arts as well.

Such professors may only appear on campus for classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and be absent the rest of the week. So if they are only present 40 percent of the time, are they just making 40 percent of the salary? Think again.

Most universities have a standard “conflict of interest” form that they update with annual contracts to ensure that professors are not participating in activities that conflict with their work at the university in a monetary or ethical way. And that includes a “conflict of time commitment” to ensure that their full time job at the university is not eroded by extensive participation in non-university activities. However, the questionable claim that “I can work from home just as well” makes the enforcement of these legal commitments nearly impossible.

Imposing requirements that faculty have a set number of office hours outside of class is no solution; it merely turns salaried professionals into time-clock punching wage earners. Surveys of good faculty reveal that professors work an average of over 60 hours a week. Treating faculty who have integrity with work hour rules could easily reduce their presence.

The professional solution to absentee professors is to have competent departmental chairs who are given the authority to do their job, and are backed up by higher administration. Many universities need to reverse the trend and get both professor’s and student’s boots back on the ground. Students do not attend a campus to do most of their work online. If universities continue to tolerate a growing number of absentee professors today, they will pay by a decline in alumni contributions tomorrow.

Democrat in Kansas 1st having event with lawmakers

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Sherow
Sherow

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Democratic nominee in the 1st Congressional District of Kansas is preparing to have a Statehouse news conference with former and current state legislators.

Democrat Jim Sherow’s event Tuesday is outside his central and western Kansas district, which covers more than 60 counties.

His campaign did not provide details in advance of the announcement.

Sherow is a Kansas State University history professor and a former Manhattan mayor. He hopes to unseat conservative Republican congressman Tim Huelskamp in the Nov. 4 election.

Huelskamp is a former state senator who is seeking his third, two-year term in the House.

Huelskamp is favored to win, despite a tougher-than-expected primary race. Fifty-three percent of the district’s voters are registered Republicans and 19 percent are Democrats.

US to spend millions protecting and restoring farmlands and wetlands

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USDASTEVE KARNOWSKI, Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced $328 million for protecting and restoring farmlands, grasslands and wetlands across the country.

The initiative will buy conservation easements from farmers to help wildlife populations and promote outdoor recreation. The agency selected 380 projects covering 32,000 acres of prime farmland, 45,000 acres of grasslands and 52,000 acres of wetlands.

The money will come from the new Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. It consolidates three former programs into two — one protecting farmlands and grasslands and one for wetlands.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters Monday it’s a popular program. He says the USDA received more than 1,450 applications totaling $546 million covering 345,000 acres. He says the projects selected cover 129,000 acres, with 60 percent being farmland and grassland and 40 percent wetlands.

Smith Co. man pleads guilty to child porn charges

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WICHITA — A Smith County man pleaded guilty Monday to possessing and sending child pornography, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a news release. The man’s plea came after an unsuccessful effort to suppress evidence gathered by Internet service provider AOL.

Walter E. Ackerman, 56, Lebanon, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. In his plea, he admitted using AOL email to send child pornography to another user. The child pornography was detected by AOL using an automated image detection and filtering process that scans for malware, viruses and illegal images such as child pornography. AOL sent the information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which in turn notified the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in the Wichita/Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Children’s Unit.

Ackerman’s attorney moved to suppress the email evidence on the grounds that the evidence was obtained through an illegal search and seizure with AOL and NECMEC acting as government investigators without a search warrant. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren ruled that neither AOL nor NCMEC are state actors and the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure does not apply to them.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 24. He faces a penalty of not less than five years and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the distribution count and a maximum penalty of 10 years on the other count.

Grissom commended Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Wichita/Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Children’s Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.

New type of bus taking first steps at O’Loughlin Elementary

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By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

O’Loughlin Elementary School’s Walking Bus is up and running.

O’Loughlin principal Nancy Harmon and Walking Bus Coordinator Terri Tramel will  present more information on the implementation of the Walking Bus at the USD 489’s Board of Education meeting Monday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Toepfer board room at the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th Street.

The Walking Bus runs through Oct. 21 and will start up again in the spring. Adult volunteers are still needed. If interested in volunteering or adding your child to the route, contact Tramel at (785) 623-2510.

 

Boxing firm has suit against Kansas Senate hopeful

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Orman
Orman

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Court records show that independent Senate candidate Greg Orman is embroiled in a federal lawsuit in Kansas with an international boxing equipment manufacturer.

The dispute with Everlast World’s Boxing Headquarters Corp. involves $30 million worth of payments for royalties and merchandise sales that the firm claims it will be owed through 2018.

Orman hopes to unseat three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts in the Nov. 4 election.

He is one of five defendants in the lawsuit filed by Everlast, initially in 2012. It is scheduled to go to trial in October 2015.

The lawsuit alleges Orman and the others remain responsible for payments owed to Everlast by a now-bankrupt Lenexa company because they formed new firms to take over its sales. Orman and the other defendants deny those claims.

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