OREGON, Mo- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in Holt County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Ford Focus driven by Celia Miranda, 61, Abilene, was eastbound on U.S. 59, just east of Oregon. The vehicle traveled off the south side of the road and overturned.
Miranda was transported to Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph.
The MSHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Sprint Corp. says it has cut 452 jobs from its Overland Park headquarters as part of a previously announced cost-cutting effort.
The Kansas City Star reports that the layoffs were disclosed Friday in a notice that the nation’s third-biggest cellphone carrier filed with the Kansas Department of Commerce. The report doesn’t cover any job losses outside the headquarters campus, although they are believed to be happening too.
The company said earlier this month in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was cutting an unspecified number of jobs to reduce costs. The filing said the company would book a $160 million charge in its fiscal second quarter to cover this round of layoffs.
Another 477 Sprint employees in Overland Park were laid off earlier this year.
SALINA- Dustin James Gordon, 24, was booked into the Saline County Jail Saturday on two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson.
Law enforcement made the arrest in connection with Friday night’s Flamingo motel fire.
According to a release by Fire Marshal Roger Williams, investigators from the Salina fire and police departments determined the cause of the fire and an individual was taken into custody.
At approximately 8:30 p.m. on Friday, the Salina Fire Department was dispatched to 500 E. Pacific Avenue in response to a commercial structure on fire. Upon arrival, crews found heavy fire and smoke coming from the west side of the structure.
The intense amount of fire present caused the department to go to multiple alarms. This four-alarm fire required call back off duty fire personnel and mutual aide response from Rural Fire District 5 and 2. The structure did have active utilities to various sectioons of the complex, Kansas Gas and Westar Energy were requested to respond to the scene to isolate and secure them. Assistance from the American Red Cross was also received.
Fire crews were diligent in trying to contain and extinguish the fire however, the rapid growth and spread of the fire forced crews to change operations to a defensive tactic. The fire was contained, exposures were protected, and the fire was allowed to burn itself down.
The resident that lived on property, was able to safely evacuate herself from the apartment without injury. The resident did have several pets including a dog and three cats, the dog and one cat were retrieved it is not know if the other two cats made it out.
Crews remained on scene throughout the night and into the morning; with the vast amount of structural collapse, crews were there to extinguish any hot spots and/or flare-ups. The structure was significantly damaged and dollar loss estimates have not yet been determined.
FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State women’s cross country finished fifth out of 17 teams at the FHSU Tiger Open on Saturday (Oct. 18) at the Sand Plum Nature Trail, just outside Victoria, Kan. Micki Krzesinski led the way for the Tigers in 24th individually.
The Tigers competed in the Gold Division race, which had 143 competitors. The 5K course was very fast on a beautiful sunny morning. The women’s course record was shattered by 26 seconds with Jenna Thurman of Adams State running a time of 17:14, averaging 5:32 per mile. That topped the mark of 17:40 set by Brittany Poole of Northwest Missouri State in 2012.
The Tigers were topped by four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, three of which are nationally ranked. The rankings held true as No. 2 Adams State won the race with 33 points, No. 4 Western State finished with 83, and No. 10 UC-Colorado Springs finished with 116. Colorado Mines was fourth with 128 and FHSU was fifth with 159.
Krzesinski covered the course in 18:19, scoring 21 team points. Chelsea Jackson was right with her, finishing 25th overall in 18:20 and scored 22 team points. Alex Keehn was 37th overall in a time of 18:37, scoring 34 points. Ramsey McCarter finished 44th in a time of 18:43, scoring 40, and Amanda Morgan was 46th in 18:47, scoring 42.
Winning the Black Division race as a team was Dodge City Community College. Grasiela Navarro of Pratt Community College won the Black Division individually in a time of 18:38.
FHSU men finish 11th
The Fort Hays State men’s cross country finished 11th at its home meet, the FHSU Tiger Open, on Saturday (Oct. 18) at the Sand Plum Nature Trail, just outside of Victoria, Kan. Ryan Hopkins led the way for FHSU in 45th overall as an individual.
The Tigers competed in the Gold Division race, which had 201 competitors. The course was very fast on a beautiful sunny morning. The men’s course record was shattered by 45 seconds with Ian Butler of Western State running a time of 23:33, averaging 4:44 per mile. That topped the mark of 24:18 set by Naseem Haje of Adams State in 2013.
Hopkins covered the 8K course in a time of 24:53, scoring 32 points in the team standings. Troy Wineinger was 78th overall in 25:31, but scored 49 team points. Seth Parres was 107th in a time of 26:04, scoring 68 team points. Isaac Williams finished 116th in 26:11 and scored 74 team points. Brock Elgin was 125th in a time of 26:17, scoring 82 team points.
Colorado Mines won the Gold Division with a team score of 33. Western State finished second with 45 and Nebraska-Kearney was third with 110. Fort Hays State scored 305 points as a team.
Winning the Black Division race as a team was Allen County Community College. Unattached runner Josh Eberly won individually with a time of 24:11.
Velma Barrett, age 100, of Quinter, passed away Friday, October 17, 2014, at Gove County Medical Center, Long Term Care.
Services are pending with Schmitt Funeral Home of Quinter.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The challenge of recruiting math and science teachers is expected to increase in Kansas as more of them approach retirement and demand for the courses they teach rises.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that job growth is strong in the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. That’s led to an enrollment surge.
The head of the University of Kansas’ Center for STEM Learning and a colleague analyzed six years of data on the state’s middle- and high-school math and science teachers. They found that nearly 20 percent will become eligible to retire in three more years.
Experts say there aren’t enough new teachers being recruited to take their place. As of Aug. 1, Kansas’ secondary schools were still seeking at least 36 math and science teachers.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Bipartisan grassroots political organizations have been gaining strength across Kansas in recent months.
Political experts say the movement is partly why the races for governor and U.S. Senate that were believed a year ago to be near-walkovers for Republicans are now close.
Two groups of current and former moderate Republican officials have endorsed Democratic candidates. Dozens of advocacy groups with diverse agendas have formed coalitions to work together to reach dissatisfied voters. Activists have turned to social media to counter massive campaign money flooding into Kansas.
Political scientist Bob Beatty says in past elections, grassroots campaigns came from the right, mainly from anti-abortion forces.
That same tactic of grassroots organizing is happening now, but it is happening from the center and the left.
FHSU University Relations
“Immunizations to Prevent and Eradicate Diseases” is the next Science Café at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at Gella’s Diner, 117 E. 11 Street, Hays.
Bevra Brinkman, infection prevention officer; Dr. Ellen Squire, pediatrician; and Kimberly Koerner, associate health nurse, will lead the discussion on the role of immunizations in the prevention and eradication of diseases.
The program is free and open to the public.The Fort Hays State University Science and Mathematics Education Institute sponsors the monthly Science Café.
For more information on Science Cafés, contact Dr. Paul Adams at [email protected] or call (785) 628-4538.
NASHVILLE (AP) – Sara Evans will make a guest appearance on the ABC show “Nashville.” She will play herself on the October 29 episode. She will perform her new single, “Put My Heart Down.”
Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry
DEERFIELD, Kan.- A Kansas man died in an accident just before 5 a.m. on Saturday in Kearny County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Chevy truck driven by Gerardo Gonzalez-Rivera, 21, Garden City, was traveling eastbound on U.S. 50 one mile west of Deerfield.
The truck left the left side of the roadway. The driver overcorrected and swerved across both lanes of travel and went into the ditch on the south side of the highway.
The truck went into the front yard of a home, exited the yard and went into a field.
The vehicle went sideways, went airborne, touched down 4 different places and the driver was ejected from the vehicle.
Gonzalez-Rivera was transported to Kearny County Hospital where he died.
The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing Pediatric Center Physicians; Dr. Michelle J. Pope and Dr. Ellen Squire at HaysMed, by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
At both national and state levels, politicians on both sides of the aisle are treating teachers as assembly line workers. Kansas was the second state to lose due process (“tenure”). These first two efforts were driven by mean-spirited conservatives whose behind-the-scenes motivation was clearly “fire ‘em.”
A month later, California was the third state where teachers lost tenure. But this time, it was by court ruling, and the pressure came from the left as liberals argued that students in poor schools suffered because it was impossible to fire incompetent teachers. This same attack on due process is now being made in New York—and again from the political left.
Before 1965, education was not a political issue. The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare merely kept national statistics. Then as a part of his “War on Poverty,” President Lyndon Johnson established the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide funding, mostly in block grants, for equal access to education. However, the E.S.E.A. did not force states to follow a national education policy. Indeed, it includes wording that forbids the establishment of a national curriculum.
That changed in 2001 when the E.S.E.A. was re-authorized as the No Child Left Behind Act. While it was named and developed by President George W. Bush, it had bipartisan support including Senator Ted Kennedy as co-sponsor. Because there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution providing the federal government with jurisdiction in schooling, and public schooling is mostly funded by states, the only way the federal government can extort state compliance with federal education initiatives is by making receipt of federal E.S.E.A. money dependent on meeting federal educational policy, requirements that now drive teaching-to-the-test and standardizing curricula. Unfortunately, both political parties are so addicted to this federal money that neither is willing to stand up for teacher professionalism.
After eight terrible years of No Child Left Behind tyranny, teachers welcomed the election of President Obama in hopes that N.C.L.B would finally bite the dust. Instead, our President put Education Secretary Duncan in the role of Coach-in-Chief and we ended up with “N.C.L.B. on steroids”—to quote Chester Finn, President Bush’s architect of accountability.
Ironically, today’s political right forgets that President Bush was the main promoter of the federal education mandate. They oppose the “core curriculum” as a national forced curriculum and equate “Obama Core” with “Obamacare.”
The political left responds with a knee jerk reaction to conservative proposals against standardized education and shutting down the U.S. Department of Education with little more reasoning than: if they are ‘agin it, we are for it. Look at the liberal position statements on education at national or state levels and you will discover empty words but no support for teacher professionalism. I envision the late Mister Rogers saying “Children, can you say ‘platitude’?”
It takes a competent administrator to fire an incompetent teacher. But just where is that administrator going to find a supply of competent teachers to fill that vacancy? Just how I am supposed to recruit new young teachers when they had best rent all of their life and will be treated with disrespect?
When are we going to get a candidate who will end the external standardized testing and let teachers teach different student populations differently? Rural Kansas is not urban Chicago nor California.
Where is the candidate who will consider looking at giving back the federal money that allows Washington, D.C., to dictate educational policy in our schools? Yes, there will be a cost to educational freedom.
Students come to us as unique individuals and should graduate as unique individuals. Where is the candidate who will let teachers promote creativity and imagination rather than memorization and standardization?
The anti-teacher actions of the current governor and legislature are clear. Kansas teachers clearly have many candidates to vote against. But where are the candidates teachers can vote for?
K-State News and Editorial Services
MANHATTAN – Farmers are faced with some of the most important decisions of their working lives under the 2014 Farm Bill. To help them make informed decisions, K-State Research and Extension is teaming with several sponsors to bring 15 educational meetings to Kansans in January and February.
“USDA has stated that farmers have at least until March 31 to elect one of the commodity programs,” said Art Barnaby, agricultural economist with K-State Research and Extension. “Once a commodity program is elected, that farm serial number is locked in for the next five years, so these are important decisions.”
Starting in January 2015, Barnaby and K-State agricultural economist Mykel Taylor will travel the state to provide information on commodity programs and the economic tradeoffs between the options, as well as major changes to crop insurance. Representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency also will discuss commodity program procedures.
The half-day meetings will cover decision aid tools that were funded by the USDA, as well as a new Excel-based tool developed by Oklahoma State University and K-State, designed to help agricultural producers make decisions as they examine their options.
Besides K-State, major sponsors include Ag Risk Solutions, ARMtech Insurance Services, Farm Credit Associations of Kansas and ProAg.
Farm Bill meeting dates and locations include:
Jan. 12 – Wichita
Jan. 13 – Pittsburg
Jan. 14 – Emporia
Jan. 15 – Ottawa
Jan. 20 – Salina
Jan. 21 – McPherson
Jan. 22 – Pratt
Jan. 26 – Goodland
Jan. 27 – Scott City
Jan. 28 – Liberal
Jan. 29 – Dodge City
Feb. 10 – Phillipsburg
Feb. 11 – Hays
Feb. 12 – Marysville
Feb. 13 – Atchison
More detailed information, including how to register at a preferred location and details about supporting sponsorships, is available at https://www.agmanager.info/events/FarmBill/. Further information also is available by contacting Rich Llewelyn at [email protected].
