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Extension will offer ranch management seminar next month

LA CROSSE — The 2015 Winter Ranch Management Seminar, an offering of the Walnut Creek Extension District, will be from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at the La Crosse Livestock Market.

RSVPs are requested by Jan. 2 by calling (785) 222-2710

Any and all beef cattle producers are invited. Topics will include best management and selection practices to build high value replacement heifers; nutrition, sire selection; AI/estrus synchronization; market outlook; and overview of the Sunflower Supreme Replacement Heifer Program.

SkyWest alters flight plan to and from Hays Regional Airport

By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

Beginning in February, SkyWest’s scheduled flights to and from the Denver airport will change. The new times are due to the fact that SkyWest plans to move to an all-jet fleet by 2015, and the company is unable to change each plane on a one-for-one basis. Due to the decision, each city where a plane has an overnight stay now has to “double up” with another airport, where one city will get an overnight stay and and one city won’t.

SkyWest has been the commercial carrier at Hays Regional Airport since this summer. While there still will be 12 weekly flights to and from Denver International Airport, the times will change significantly in 2015.

Beginning in February, the first flight out of Hays will be at around 2 p.m. after it arrives from Denver at around 1:30 p.m. That flight will then arrive in Denver at around 2:20 p.m. MST. The plane will then depart from Denver at around 3:45 p.m. MST and arrive in Hays at around 6 p.m. CST for the final flight back to Denver, which will leave at around 6:30 p.m. CST.

“If you’re going out to the West Coast you can still get out and do something but if you’re flying east, either you’re going to get in really late or have to stay overnight,” City Manager Toby Dougherty said at last week’s Hays City Commission meeting.

The schedule will change again in March. After arriving in Hays at around 10:40 a.m., the first flight will load and depart at around 11 a.m. It will then depart Denver at around 3 p.m. and arrive in Hays at approximately 5 p.m. and leave Hays for a final time at around 6 p.m..

“This is the best SkyWest could offer us,” Dougherty said. “It was a financial decision for them, and they acknowledged that they anticipated higher numbers, and I explained the issues we had with (Great Lakes).

“When it came time to decide a pecking order … we we’re on the lower end of that pecking order,” he added.

Dougherty said the city will “continue to fight” for a better schedule, noting there is no timetable for when SkyWest will have an all-jet fleet.

Arrest made in officer-involved shooting UPDATE

wpid-download-1.png.pngUPDATE:  CLAY COUNTY, Mo. -Law enforcement authorities in Missouri say an arrest has been made in connection with the Saturday night shooting of a Pleasant Valley, Missouri police officer.

Two suspects were taken into custody on Sunday morning. The shooting remains under investigation. The injured officer remains hospitalized in serious condition.

 

 

——-

CLAY COUNTY, Mo. — Law enforcement officers in Kansas and Missouri are involved in the search for a suspect who shot a police officer in Missouri on Saturday night just after 11:30 p.m.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported in a media release a Pleasant Valley Missouri Police Officer initiated a traffic stop on a passenger vehicle on southbound Interstate 35 just north of Interstate 435.

When the suspect vehicle pulled to the shoulder the driver immediately exited his vehicle and began shooting towards the Pleasant Valley officer.

The officer was struck in the face from one of the rounds. The suspect then fled the scene in his vehicle. The vehicle is described as a green Honda Accord, bearing Tennessee registration M1863K.

The highway patrol is currently looking for the vehicle and is asking anyone who has seen it to contact the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop A Headquarters at 816-622-0800.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control are investigating the officer involved shooting at the request of the Pleasant Valley Police Department.

Bake ahead and freeze for the holidays

Linda Beech
Linda Beech

The holidays may mean lots of extra baking for gifts or serving to guests. But rather than staying up until dawn to finish the last batch of cookies before your party, do some of your baking now and freeze for the festivities later.

Freezing baked goods is a great way to spread out the cooking duties of the holidays and minimize the “kitchen stress” that can build before a big holiday meal.

I’m not the only one thinking about baking ahead. I received several calls before Thanksgiving asking about freezing baked goods, and I’ve already had a couple of calls last week inquiring about baking and freezing holiday treats.

Many baked goods freeze and thaw beautifully. But the key to doing it successfully is following recommended procedures.

The first rule is to cool baked goods completely before wrapping for the freezer. This will prevent moisture condensation from the warm food making it soggy after thawing.

When cool, package the baked goods carefully to maintain the quality or freshness of the food. Use heavy-duty foil, airtight freezer bags, freezer paper or air-tight containers.

Cakes and cupcakes should be cooled, wrapped and frozen without fillings which make the cake soggy. Some frostings will not freeze well either, but confectioneries sugar and fudge frostings may be frozen satisfactorily. Place the frosted cake in the freezer to harden the frosting before covering. Thaw frosted cakes overnight in the refrigerator, unfrosted cakes may be thawed at room temperature.

Cookies seem to have the edge over cakes or cupcakes when it come to freezing ease. Cookies can be frozen either baked or unbaked. You can shape dough in a roll, wrap and freeze, or chill dough in the refrigerator, then slice and freeze.

Drop-cookie dough may be frozen in freezer containers. Before baking, thaw dough in the refrigerator until it is soft enough to drop with a spoon. Another option is to drop cookie dough in mounds onto a tray covered with wax paper and freeze solid. Pack into a container or freezer bag when firm. Bake cookie mounds without thawing at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Baked cookies may be cooled, packaged in rigid container to prevent breakage and frozen.

Yeast bread and rolls should be cooled completely, then wrapped in tightly sealed packaging. Bread baked at a temperature of 400 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes is less crumbly and more desirable for freezing than bread baked at a lower temperature.

Most baked quick breads freeze well, too. Follow the basic guidelines for cooling and packaging tightly.

You may also freeze baked pecan pies and baked or unbaked fruit pies. The crust of an unbaked fruit pie may absorb juices from the filling and become soggy. However, unbaked pies retain a fresher fruit flavor.

Baked pies also should be completely cooled. Place them unwrapped in the freezer and freeze until firm. Pies are easier to wrap and there is less breakage of the crust after they are frozen.

To bake unbaked frozen pies, unwrap, cut slits in the top pastry and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking for 45 to 60 minutes or until the center becomes bubbly.

If your pie is already baked, allow it to stand at room temperature for a short time, then pop it in a 325 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until just warm.

Custard pies, cream pies and pies with meringue topping do not freeze well.

There is some disagreement on the success of freezing pumpkin pies. One of my references suggests freezing baked pumpkin pies but not unbaked ones, another says either will work. Another reference says that pumpkin pies should not be frozen at all. Based on the conflicting recommendations, I think it may be safer to freeze the fruit and pecan pies ahead and bake the pumpkin pies fresh to avoid problems.

For specific advice on freezing other baked goods, ask for the Extension fact sheet on “Freezing Baked Goods” at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays, or find it on our website at www.ellis.ksu.edu.

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Gary Robert Tomanek

Gary_Tomanek crop

Gary Robert Tomanek, age 73, passed away Thursday, December 11, 2014 at the Hays Medical Center, Hays, Kansas surrounded by family. Gary was born November 20, 1941 in Quinter, Gove County, Kansas to William ‘Bill’ and Ada Belle (Jones) Tomanek. Gary was the eldest of four sons. He grew up in the village of Collyer and graduated from Collyer High School in 1959. He was active in baseball and basketball at CHS. He was awarded an athletic scholarship to Fort Hays State College (now Fort Hays State University).

Gary met the love of his life, Nancy J. Coleman, and they married at the Collyer Methodist Church on November 20, 1960. At Thanksgiving this year, they celebrated 54 years of marriage. To this union were born three children: Roxanne Marie, Michelle Rene and Eric William. With the support of both sets of grandparents, Gary and Nancy successfully raised three respectful and educated adults.

Gary pursued employment with the Kansas Department of Transportation Engineering Department starting in the WaKeeney office in 1962 then transferring in 1976 to the Hays office. He retired from KDOT in Hays in 2003 as the Senior Engineering Technician. Gary then continued his employment with Penco Engineering of Plainville, KS. He enjoyed continuing to work with many old friends from multiple agencies. Gary enjoyed the opportunity to work with and assist younger engineers learn from real life out in the field experiences.

Gary was a Boy Scout leader and spending time with youth. He enjoyed helping guide and mold young people to become productive young adults. Gary and Nancy enjoyed working with both the Boy and Girl Scouts in WaKeeney. Many good times were held at Cedar Bluff Lake including camping and boating.

Family was important to Gary. Even when busy inspecting roadways with the state, he made time to support his kids in sports, music or to gather for a family meal. Many weekends and summers were spent in Cove 3 at Cedar Bluff Lake learning to ski and other water based activities continuing the Coleman family traditions. Gary even started a new tradition with his little family; water skiing on Easter Sunday with Gary driving the boat. Realize that some Easter’s were warmer than others!

Also important to Gary was music. Gary played the piano and the base guitar. He played in a band in the early years. He shared the joy of music with his children then later with his grandchildren. Singing and playing music remains important to his family.

Gary had a talent being a cartoonist in the early 1970 and also photographer. He had many talents but was not sure what areas to pursue so he excelled at being a parent. He enjoyed taking photographs at the local race track out of turn three for a number of years after being involved in a small racing team. He also supported his three kids as they operated a t-shirt printing business through their high school career. He enjoyed seeing his kids whether his biological or his extended scouting kids pursue a positive impact on his community.

Later in life Gary found that he had a calling to share the word of the Lord. He became a local lay speaker of the WaKeeney United Methodist Church and Prairie Home Churches in 1989. He enjoyed being involved in the annual conference of the Kansas West UM church. He became a Certified Speaker and spoke at Methodist churches in Ellis, Gove, Grinnell, Seldon, Quinter, Palco, Arnold, Ransom, Brownell, Utica,Winona, Hill City, Bogue, Hoxie, McGraw, Almena, Norcatur, Norton, Clayton, Oakley, WaKeeney, LaCrosse,
McCracken, and Prairie Home. He even preached at a funeral. Gary had a talent for connecting with the common folks in the pews and sent you home thinking about God’s word.

Gary was very involved in his community. He served as a Trego County representative to the Selective Service Board. Gary was a representative to the Trego County Recreation Board and the Trego County Senior Citizen Board. He even drove the Senior Citizen’s bus. Gary was a past Noble Grand of the IOOF Oddfellows Lodge of WaKeeney. He was a member of the WaKeeney United Methodist Church and served on the Administrative Board in many capacities. Gary served on Hays District UMC board. Gary was very proud to be appointed by the Trego County Commissioners to serve on the Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital Board and served until ill health caused him to resign.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy of the home, son, Eric and Barbara Tomanek, Fort Collins, CO, daughters; Roxanne and Greg Wendt of Melvern, and Michelle (Shelly)and Ed Rauch of WaKeeney, KS. Grandchildren: Amanda Tomanek of Tsurugashima, Japan, Tyler Wade, Lawrence, KS, Kody Wade, Topeka, KS, Clayton Rauch, WaKeeney, KS, Libby and Fulin Tomanek of Fort Collins, Colorado. He is proceeded in death by his parents, brother, Dennis, and parents-in-law, Everett and Eva (Morton) Coleman, and sister-in-law, Betty (Coleman) Norton.

Schmitt Funeral Home of WaKeeney is in charge of services. A Celebration of Life will be held 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at the Quinter United Methodist Church. The family will be greeting friends on Monday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Schmitt Funeral Home, WaKeeney. A private interment will occur at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Ellis, KS in the Coleman family plot.

Memorial contributions are suggested to Hays Medical Center Cancer Care Unit in his name.
Checks made to the organization may be sent in care of the Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.

Anna Marie Geschwentner

geschwentner pic

Anna Marie Geschwentner was born on January 24, 1920 in rural Ellis County to Carl and Mary Ann (Schuster) Reitmeyer.  She passed away on December 12, 2014 at the age of 94 years and 11 months.  As a child, she attended rural schools in Trego County.

On January 24, 1935, she married Frank Geschwentner at St. Mary Catholic Church in Ellis.  Frank passed away October 5, 1993.  To this union there were six children born:  Tillie Ann, Mary Jane, Helen, Frances, Joe E., and Glen James.  Anna was a wife, mother and homemaker.  She danced with the WaKeeney Line Dancers.  She always had a garden and flowers.  Anna canned vegetables and fruit that she had grown.  She was very active until falling and breaking her hip, and needed to go live in Long Term Care for five years.

Survivors include sons, Joe E. (Dorothy) of Quinter and Glen James “Jimmy” of Russell;  thirteen grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; three sisters Minnie Pfannenstiel of Colorado, Betty (Jerry) Dietz of Hays, and Jenny Dreher of Texas.  She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; children, Tillie Ann Geschwentner, Mary Jane Augustine, Helen Moos and Frances Oberle; sisters Frances Mai, Josephine Pfannenstiel, Matilda Williams, and Mary Roberts; brothers, Johnny Reitmeyer, and Frankie Reitmeyer; grandson Terry Oberle.

Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 17, 2014 at Schmitt Funeral Home, WaKeeney.  Burial will be in the WaKeeney City Cemetery.

Visitation will be Wednesday, from 9:00 a.m. to service time at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions are suggested to Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas.  Checks made to the organization may be sent in care of Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS  67672.

Condolences www.schmittfuneral.com.

Congress sends Obama $1.1 trillion spending bill

United State SenateWASHINGTON (AP) — A $1.1 trillion spending bill is on its way to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Senate voted 56-40 on Saturday for the long-term funding bill, the main item left on Congress’ year-end agenda.

Senator Moran voted against the measure. Senator Roberts voted in favor of the bill.

The measure provides money for nearly the entire government through the Sept. 30 end of the current budget year.

The sole exception is the Department of Homeland Security, which is funded only until Feb. 27. Republicans intend to try then to force the president to roll back a new immigration policy that removes the threat of deportation from millions of immigrants living in the country illegally.

The compromise bill had faced opposition from Democratic liberals upset about the repeal of a banking regulation and Republican conservatives unhappy that it failed to challenge Obama’s immigration moves.

Graduating on-campus FHSU international students recognized

FHSU INTL STUDENTS
FHSU on-campus international students fall graduation December 11, 2014

FHSU UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

Nineteen on-campus international students graduating this semester were recognized by Fort Hays State University President Mirta M. Martin at a special commencement reception Thursday night.

“These students are not able to stay in the United States now that they have graduated and would not have had the opportunity to have their diplomas handed to them,” said President Martin.

“Having them be part of a ceremony that is such a milestone in their lives is important to them and very important to me,” she said. “It’s the right thing to do for them.”

A photo gallery is on FHSU’s Division of Student Affairs Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FHSUISS

The students who attended the reception and were recognized are listed alphabetically with their hometowns and degrees.

Mohammed Alfraih, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Science in business education.
Omar Alhamdan, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Science in information networking and telecommunications.
Faisal Mohammed Alnoghaither, Alduwadmi, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Science in information networking and telecommunications.
Amro Abdulfattah Aloufi, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Science in information networking and telecommunications.
Saeed M. Alrufaidi, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Science in information networking and telecommunications.
Mohammed Saud Alshabanat, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Science in computer science.
Abdullah Ali Alsolmi, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Arts in political science.
Christophe Cheroret, Courbevoie, France, a Master of Science in Education in English for speakers of other languages.
Guoyan Dai, Puer, China, a Master of Liberal Studies with an emphasis in global studies.
Zhizhe “Candice” Han, Xinzheng, China, a Master of Business Administration in business administration.
Xiaomeng “Lexie” Lin, Anyang, China, Master of Business Administration in business administration.
Ruisheng “Mark” Ma, Nanyang, China, M.L.S.
Zhao Qin, Zhengzhou, China, a Master of Liberal Studies.
Dongya Qu, Zhengzhou, China, a Master of Liberal Studies.
Ya “Mark” Shen, Xinzheng, China, a Master of Business Administration in business administration.
Yun-Ju Tai, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, a Bachelor of Arts in music.
Hsing-Yu “Joe” Wu, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, a Bachelor of Arts in music.
Boqian “Alexander” Yuan, Xinzheng, China, a Master of Professional Studies.
Xiaohang “Hattie” Yuan, Xinzheng, China, a Master of Business Administration in business administration.

WaKeeney man graduates Marine boot camp

Private Kristian Tuttle, WaKeeney
Private Kristian Tuttle, WaKeeney

WAKEENEY–Private Kristian Tuttle, WaKeeney, returned home after successfully completing 13 weeks of recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California.

Tuttle will be on 10 days of leave before reporting for additional training at Camp Pendleton, California for his Military Occupation Speciality as an Infantryman.

Private Tuttle is a 2012 graduate of Trego Community High School in WaKeeney. He is the son of Heidi Tuttle.

Making the human condition computable

computer broadband  internetBy Eric Whitney for Kaiser Health News

For centuries, the central challenge in health care was ignorance. There simply wasn’t enough information to know what was making a person sick, or what to do to cure the patient.

Now, health care is being flooded with information. Advances in computing technology mean that gathering, storing and analyzing health information is relatively cheap, and it’s getting cheaper by the day. As computers continue to fall in price, the cost of sequencing a single person’s genome is tumbling, too.

Entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is working on wearable, real-time monitors to give doctors the ability to “interrogate” a person’s individual blood cells “all the way down to the atom level” to see how a given drug works or why it fails.

Information from patients around the globe could then be compared, in theory. Computers could ultimately help doctors match specific treatments at the molecular level to the people for whom they would work best. Software might also detect patterns in data that would suggest new uses for existing drugs.

Collecting biochemical and genomic data on billions of people around the world is just the tip of the data iceberg that a few dozen health information technology experts described recently in New York at a gathering sponsored by Forbes magazine.

“You now have all of health care digitized, which is pretty cool,” said Paul Black, president of the electronic health records company Allscripts.

But it’s still unclear how to make sense of all the digital information on a big-picture scale. “There’s different approaches in the marketplace to how you would make this all be actually valuable to people,” Black said.

Some doctors are finding it valuable to “see the community information, versus just the campus information,” he said. Meaning: If they know where their patients are going for health care beyond their hospital or office, and whether they’re actually filling all the prescriptions they’ve been given, doctors make different treatment decisions nearly 70 percent of the time, Black said.

Companies like Castlight Health are betting that they can come up with ways to analyze seemingly unrelated data about how and why people use health care to improve health and save corporations money.

Castlight’s Dr. Dena Bravata said, “We can now actually marry information from [corporate human resources] systems — Are you a high performer in your company? What’s your absenteeism been? — with medical claims to really understand that, among our high performers, we’re having a lot of absenteeism because their kids’ asthma is not well controlled.”

There are concerns about privacy and data security. Blackberry CEO John Chen pitched his company’s mobile devices as secure enough to meet federal medical privacy laws. But the Forbes event was more focused on the potential benefits in the new Big Data world.

There’s a lot of optimism that having a more complete picture of people’s health and how they use the health care system will save insurance companies money and drive health care premiums down. Kevin Nazemi, co-CEO of Oscar Insurance, believes that a new generation of wearable wireless sensors will soon help doctors detect health problems early enough to prevent expensive treatments.

But, Nazemi said, it’s still hard for insurance companies to justify investing up front in data systems when “the value is reaped in year four or five in a market where [people switch insurance] on average every three years. You know, dollar in, 25 cents back. How do you think of that?”

David Goldhill, who runs a cable TV network and is the author of the book “Catastrophic Care,” is skeptical that technological breakthroughs, even if they make people healthier, will ever tame health care spending.

“We didn’t go from 4 percent to 17 percent of GDP on health care spending because Americans got a lot less healthy,” he said. “The increase in spending in health care isn’t because, ‘Oh my God, we’re sick and if we can just cure ourselves, it’s going to go away,’” he said. “It’s a business model issue, it’s the way we subsidize and manage demand.”

Some see a future when wirelessly enabled skin patches are cheap, common and accumulating personal health data on a massive scale, and all that information leads to better cures and detects health problems before they blossom into expensive diagnoses. Others predict an era where every minute abnormality, dangerous or not, is identified and money is spent needlessly treating it.

Yale School of Medicine cardiologist and Shots contributor Harlan Krumholz is optimistic about medicine’s ability to reel in meaningful insights in that vast sea of data. But, he says, it’s going to require a major shift in culture in clinics and hospitals. He says it’s still the norm for doctors to rely on their memories to determine whether a given drug is right for a particular patient, “as if nobody’s walking with a computer on their holster.”

 

Eric Whitney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

Obama: US must remain vigilant in Ebola fight

Ebola ObamaNEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. must remain vigilant in the Ebola fight even though there have been no recent domestic transmissions.

Obama says as long as the disease is spreading in West Africa, it’s likely to come back to the United States. He said, “This is not a problem that’s going to go away any time soon.”

Obama made the remarks at the White House as he met with his national security and public health teams to receive an update on the Ebola response.

Obama praised doctors and nurses fighting the spread in Africa. He says he was very pleased earlier this week to see Time Magazine make those health workers its Person of the Year. He says the courage, skill and professionalism they display makes him proud.

Study: Gay canvassers sway voters on gay marriage

Gay rainbow flagDAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

For years, backers of same-sex marriage have said more voters would support it if only they could hear directly from gay people with a personal stake in the issue. A new academic study bears out that hunch.

In an article released this month by Science magazine, researchers from Columbia University and the University of California-Los Angeles detail a study which found that openly gay canvassers were far more effective than straight canvassers in shifting voters’ views toward support for same-sex marriage.

According to the study, opinion changes produced by the straight canvassers tended to fade within a few weeks and those voters reverted to their previous views. Changes produced by the gay canvassers persisted nine months later, and the attitude changes often spread to other members of the voters’ households.

Kan. man hospitalized after crash with semi

Screen Shot 2014-07-03 at 5.13.15 AMBELLEVILLE – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 6 p.m. on Saturday in Republic County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Ford pickup driven by Lucas L. Ball, 20, Belleville, was westbound on 23rd Street in Bellville. The driver failed to yield at U.S. 81 and struck a semi driven by Luis M. Montoya, 51, Junction City, that was northbound on U.S. 81.

Ball was transported to Republic County Hospital. Montoya was not injured.

The KHP reported Ball was not wearing a seat belt.

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