EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A squirrel is being blamed for an hour-long power outage in Emporia that left Emporia State University and thousands of customers temporarily in the dark.
The Emporia Gazette reports a little more than 3,000 customers of Westar Energy and Lyon-Coffey Electric lost power when a squirrel came in contact with electrical equipment on a transmission line around 9:50 a.m. Thursday.
Westar spokesman Shane Batchelder says most of the affected customers had service back by 11 a.m.
The outage happened while Ken Carter, a former basketball coach upon whom the movie “Coach Carter” is based, was giving a lecture to students. The Bonner and Bonner Diversity Lecture Series speaker paused for only a few seconds before continuing his lecture.
KNEA, community members protest at the GOP Clean Sweep Tour on Thursday.
By KARI BLURTON Hays Post
When the GOP Clean Sweep bus tour rolled into Hays on Thursday morning blaring the hit song “Happy,” it was met with around 30 unhappy protestors from the Kansas National Education Association.
The tour bus was carrying Gov. Sam Brownback and several other state Republican candidates to a rally at Thirsty’s Brew Club and Grill, 2704 Vine.
“Our children can’t vote, but we can vote for them and we need to show people in Hays we care about public schools,” KNEA Cottonwood District President and Hays teacher Kim Schneweis said. “The governor keeps saying he has added money to public schools, but here we have seen much higher class sizes, we have seen program cuts, we have lost teachers — so we are not seeing it.”
In a group meeting after the GOP rally started inside the restaurant, Kansas NEA president Mark Farr spoke to the group.
“It is time to stand up, it’s time to raise our hands for public education,” Farr said, challenging protesters to continue to gin up votes for Democratic gubernatorial challenger Paul Davis.
Most polls have Davis and Brownback in a neck-and-neck race as the finish line nears.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Shooting guard Conner Frankamp will not begin his sophomore season with the Kansas men’s basketball team. Friday morning, head coach Bill Self announced Frankamp’s decision to leave the University of Kansas.
Conner Frankamp played in 27 games as a freshman at Kansas in 2013-14. (Photo courtesy Kansas Athletics)
“I met with Conner and his father (Martin Frankamp) Wednesday to discuss his situation and opportunity this season at Kansas,” Self said. “On Thursday he informed me he was going to transfer at the end of this fall semester. From this point forward he is no longer part of this team and will not participate this semester so he can transfer after Christmas and have two-and-a-half years remaining when he becomes eligible after sitting out one full academic year.”
The all-time scoring leader in the Wichita City League from Wichita North High School, Frankamp came in and played in 27 games as a freshman in 2013-14. He was a key factor in the Jayhawks’ 2014 NCAA Tournament as he averaged 11.0 points per game and went 7-for-14 from three-point range. By the end of his rookie season, Frankamp was averaging 8.3 minutes a game and shooting over 31 percent from behind the arc.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now,” Frankamp said. “I love KU and I love the Jayhawks. I feel like I’ve improved quite a bit since I’ve been here. I love my teammates but I just don’t feel like it’s the right fit for me. We have many good guards and so many big-time players. I want to be at a place where I could play a bigger role.”
Frankamp progressed through the year, recording his best game of his career in the last game of the 2013-14 season when he scored a career-high 12 points on 4-of-7 threes vs. Stanford (3/23). In KU’s first game of the NCAA Tournament, he tallied 10 points against Eastern Kentucky (3/21). In conference play, Frankamp’s best outing was a 2-for-3 effort from three-point range at Kansas State (2/10).
“This was disappointing news to us. Conner is a fine young man, a very good basketball player and certainly part of what we had envisioned not only our future but also as an impact guy for this upcoming season,” Self said. “We still have six other very good perimeter players. We’re looking forward to all six of those guys contributing in a big way and meaningful minutes throughout the course of the year. Conner will finish this semester academically and will continue to get academic support from us. We wish him the best in his decision making of his new school and in his future basketball endeavors.”
“Coach Self has been a great coach to me, I’ve learned so much under him,” Frankamp said. “He’s not only a great coach but has been a great mentor for me. I can talk to him about almost anything.
“The Kansas fans are amazing, probably the best in the country,” Frankamp added. “I want to wish my teammates good luck. They are like family to me and I want to see them succeed. I’ll still be rooting for them to win and everything.”
No. 5 Kansas, picked to win its 11th-straight Big 12 Conference regular season title, will unofficially open the season when the Jayhawks welcome Washburn to Allen Fieldhouse for an exhibition contest on Monday, Nov. 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Halloween is fast approaching, and soon our streets will be full of ghosts and goblins. The Hays Police Department would like to offer the following safety tips for parents, children and drivers, which will help to make Halloween a safe event for all.
Adults
Welcome trick-or-treaters with your porch lights and any exterior lights on.
Report any suspicious or criminal activity to the Hays Police Department immediately.
Motorists
Exercise extreme caution when driving a vehicle. Be on the alert for excited children (whose vision may be obscured by masks) darting out into traffic.
Things Parents Should Tell Trick-Or-Treaters.
Never trick-or-treat alone. Have at least two buddies go together for the entire evening.
Set a time limit for your children to “trick-or-treat,” and designate a specific route for them to take. An adult should accompany any younger children.
Carry a flashlight or a glow stick if out after dark.
Cross only at street corners, never between parked cars, and look in all directions before crossing the street.
Do not go inside anyone’s home – wait on the porch at all times.
In addition to the above suggestions, when deciding what to wear for a Halloween costume, children and parents should consider that the costume should be easily seen if out after dark and that it does not restrict the child’s vision.
Remembering these basic safety rules this Halloween will help everybody have fun while staying SAFE!
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A finance report shows that the Kansas Democratic Party contributed $90,000 in the past week to gubernatorial nominee Paul Davis’ campaign against Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
The report filed Thursday also showed that Davis raised an additional $85,400 in contributions from individuals, businesses and political action committees after Oct. 23.
His total fundraising of $175,400 for the period far surpassed the $65,250 reported by Brownback’s campaign.
But Brownback began Oct. 24 with more than $1 million in his campaign account, thanks to a $500,000 loan from his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, and another $200,000 loan from the governor and his wife.
Davis’ report showed that the state Democratic Party contributed $50,000 to his campaign Monday, then an additional $40,000 two days later.
The Ellis County Ministerial Alliance annual Thanksgiving Day Feast is scheduled to begin at noon Nov. 27 at Rose Garden Banquet Hall, 2350 E. Eighth.
Pam Burgardt and the Rose Garden Steak Haus staff have, for the last seven years, provided the meal for the day. Since 2007, a partnership of cooperating Ellis County churches and other community volunteers helped feed those who did not have a place to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. Last year, more than 600 turkey and fixins dinners were served.
Other organizations who have in the past committed to help helped pay for the meal are Eagle Communications, the Hays Daily News, the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce, the Hays Lions Club, First Call for Help, Hays Medical Center and the United Way of Ellis County. Ellis County Abstract and Great Plains Dermatology also support the event by helping to make the ACCESS van available to pick up people who need rides. Many other service clubs, churches and individuals also help to maintain the event.
Volunteers will be collecting food from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, at both Dillons locations and Walmart. The food collected will be sacked the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and distributed Thanksgiving Day after lunch.night at 5:30 p.m. at the banquet hall and passed out on Thanksgiving day after lunch. Last year, 367 bags of food for people in need were distributed.
If you would like to contribute to this event, make your tax-deductible donations payable to ECMA, P.O. Box 173, Hays, KS 67601. Memo your checks “Thanksgiving Dinner.” Any extra proceeds will go into ECMA’s Second Mile Fund, which assists Ellis County residents in need.
More than 150 volunteers are needed for the feast. If you would like to volunteer, call First Call for Help at (785) 623-2800.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The bodies of four people who died when a small plane crashed into a flight training facility at a Kansas airport remain at the site as authorities assess what needs to be done to make the building safe to enter.
Police on Friday confirmed the identity of the pilot as Mark Goldstein, but are not yet releasing the identities of the three other people whose bodies were found inside a flight simulator in the training facility at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
Goldstein was an experienced pilot who worked as an air traffic controller for 24 years before retiring. He was working as a contract pilot at the time of the crash.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are at the scene to determine the cause of the accident.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say the “real work” will start Friday to recover the remains of four people who died when a small plane crashed into a building at a Kansas airport.
Jet fuel from the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air burned so hot after the crash Thursday morning that portions of the building at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport remained unsafe all day.
Wichita Fire Chief Ronald Blackwell says heavy equipment will arrive Friday to remove portions of the building so emergency personnel can reach the victims’ bodies. Crews are expected to be at the site for several days.
A federal investigator says the pilot reported a problem with the aircraft’s left engine soon after taking off from the airport.
Three of the dead were inside the building and the pilot was the fourth victim.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – Gregg Allman has been dropped from a lawsuit by the family of a camera assistant who was killed while working on a movie of his life.
Lawyers for the parents of Sarah Jones say they are dismissing their claims against Allman.
They say after reviewing evidence in the case, it’s clear that Allman had no involvement in the decisions that led to Jones’ death.
Allman was an executive producer for the film “Midnight Rider.”
Jones was killed during the first day of filming in February when a freight train slammed into the crew on a railroad bridge in southeast Georgia.
Jones’ parents are still suing the film’s director, railroad company CSX Transportation and the owner of the property surrounding the crash site.
The Big First Congressional District of Kansas is one of the biggest agricultural districts in the nation. Due to the farming heritage along with several small business establishments throughout western Kansas, the anti-government and anti-tax sentiments of the Republican Party have blew through the western Plains of the First for 50 consecutive years. But there could be a spoiler this year, as Democrat Jim Sherow looks to steal the seat away from Republican Tim Huelskamp, who is seeking his third two-year term in the U.S. House.
Jim Sherow, Manhattan, Democratic candidate for Kansas 1st congressional district
Sherow made a stop Thursday in Hays for a candidate forum hosted by Fort Hays State University’s Student Government Association. One of the biggest issues surrounding this year’s election is the fact that the state of Kansas no longer has a member on the House Agricultural Committee for the first time in more than a century. Huelskamp was booted from the Ag Committee in 2008 by members of the Republican leadership, which cited his inability to cooperate with others on the committee despite holding an advanced degree in agricultural policy.
“Understand that there are only 35 congressional districts in the United States whose primary economy is agriculture,” Sherow said. “The First District has the third largest agricultural industry out of any of those. … If we do not have a voice on the Ag Committee, we are crippling our economic development in this district.
“My opponent found himself removed from the Agricultural and Budget committees by his own party leadership. So we have somebody here who doesn’t work well with his own party, he can’t work with members of the other party, which leaves us without a member on the Agricultural Committee.”
Sherow also told the crowd of about 100 that job creation is one of the biggest issues America needs to face, along with tax policy, in order to reduce poverty. He noted that “trickle-down economics simply aren’t working.”
“I have seen how middle income levels have remained flat and been eaten into by inflation and higher taxes for those of us in the middle class,” Sherow said. “Out of the economic prosperity that has occurred slowly since 2008, 90 percent of it has gone to the top 1 percent. That is not trickling down to the rest of us, and it hasn’t been a good job creator.”
Sherow continued to talk to the crowd about immigration reform, specifically about children who come to the United States from Central America without their parents.
“There is currently a bill in the house that improves border security and creates a path to citizenship,” Sherow said. “If you’re talking about children, that’s where amnesty should occur. Those kids who are brought here by their parents are young and they aren’t making those decisions on their own.”
TOPEKA — A once-obscure effort by a group of states to get out from under federal health care regulations has become an issue in the final days of the Kansas governor’s race.
On Wednesday, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Jill Docking teamed with Republican Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger at a Wichita news conference to criticize Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for signing a bill authorizing Kansas’ membership in a multi-state health care compact. Docking, Democrat Paul Davis’ running mate, said the compact could put the “Medicare benefits of Kansas seniors at risk.”
If the compact is approved by Congress, its nine member states could suspend federal health care regulations within their borders and take over several programs now administered by the federal government.
Docking, Praeger and other critics of the compact charge that it opens the door to a possible state takeover of Medicare, the health care program that serves approximately 450,000 Kansas seniors.
“Supporters of the (compact) bill may tell you it does not affect Medicare, but that is just false,” Praeger said. “It would be a serious mistake to turn Medicare over to state control.”
The issue has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, partially because of an effort by legislative supporters of the compact to stifle a Johnson County advisory group’s effort to publish their concerns about it in a newsletter mailed to country residents.
On Thursday, State Budget Director Shawn Sullivan entered the fray. In a column sent to Kansas media outlets from Gov. Sam Brownback’s office, Sullivan, a former nursing home administrator, sought to address what he called “the considerable misinformation” coming from critics of the compact.
“Many politicians and editorial board writers have tried to frighten our seniors by saying the compact would privatize the Medicare system in Kansas. That’s just not true,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who served as secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services before taking the budget director’s post in May, said Brownback signed the bill to exempt the state from requirements of the Affordable Care Act. He said the governor has “no desire to take over the Medicare program.”
Even so, some conservative legislators who voted for the compact have said the state should have the option of running Medicare if the cash-strapped federal government can’t manage it.
“Does anybody believe that the federal government is not going to make wholesale, major cuts to all programs?” said Rep. Jerry Lunn, a Republican from Overland Park. “This (Medicare) would be included. We’re trying to do something to get out ahead of that because this is going to come back to the states to try to manage and fix this mess.”
Lunn made the comments during one of the September meetings attended by legislators and members of a group that advises the Johnson County Area Agency on Aging.
The compact also is an issue in the race for Kansas insurance commissioner. Democrat Dennis Anderson has called it a “terrible idea” because of its potential impact on Medicare. Republican Ken Selzer, who is leading in the polls, supports the compact as a way to bring decision-making to the state level but recently has tried to distance himself from the controversy by saying it’s “a legislative issue, not an insurance commissioner issue.”
Jim McLean is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
With more than 20 trips to China under his belt, Keith Campbell of Fort Hays State University, visits with Mike Cooper on his work on social change in rural China.
DENVER (AP) — A Denver radio station that sponsored a heavy-metal Halloween ball is pleading for the return of a bust of John Denver that went missing during the party.
Someone at KBPI-FM’s Saints and Sinners ball Tuesday night pried the bronze bust off its base at the 1st Bank Center in the Denver suburb of Broomfield. The station is asking whoever took the bust to return it undamaged to its studios, no questions asked.
The statue belongs to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. It was donated by Denver’s family when he became its first inductee in 2011. Director G. Brown says concertgoers often pose with the bust or pat it on the head as they pass by.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A squirrel is being blamed for an hour-long power outage in Emporia that left Emporia State University and thousands of customers temporarily in the dark.
