The Society of Friends of Historic Fort Hays will give away a reproduction of a Winchester 1866 “Yellowboy” Sporting Rifle and a Red, White and Blue Quilt featuring photos of Fort Hays Buildings taken in 1873.
The fundraising drawings will take place during Historic Fort Hays’ Christmas Past Event, December 5 and 6. Winners do not have to be present to win. The prizes can be viewed at Historic Fort Hays, where tickets are also available.
The Winchester is a faithful reproduction that features a walnut stock/fore-end, blued 24.24-inch octagonal barrel, brass frame and buttplate, and case-hardened lever. It is bored and chambered for a .38 Special cartridge.
The blanket is 60-by-72-inch and machine-quilted. It was assembled by the Ellis High School home economics class, and blocks are reproduced from 1873 photos of Historic Fort Hays.
For more information on the Society of Friends of Historic Fort Hays, click HERE.
The Ellis County Commission will discuss the possibility of placing a hiring freeze on all departments within the county.
At the previous commission meeting, Commission Chairwoman Barb Wasinger approached the idea of a hiring freeze while the county completes the current wage and benefit study.
County Administrator Greg Sund recommended establishing the freeze in his memo to the commission but said it is unlikely it would be a total freeze.
Instead, anytime there is an opening, the department head would have to explain the need to hire someone new.
In other action:
The commission will also hear a presentation from John Braun, assistant director of the city of Hays Public Works Departments, John Braun about road classification. The city of Hays is working with the Kansas Department of Transportation to update their functional road classifications that are impacted by urban development, and some of those roads fall outside of city limits.
Joel Younger is scheduled to go before the commission to discuss reconstructing Bison Road. Younger has proposed using his own equipment, with some dump truck help from the county, to upgrade the road.
The architects on the Emergency Services Building are also scheduled to update the commission on the construction process.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Monday at the courthouse. Click HERE for a complete agenda.
It’s show time! Enjoy the magic of the holidays with your favorite stars on “CMA Country Christmas” hosted by Jennifer Nettles TONIGHT at 8|7c on ABC. See performances by Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes, Idina Menzel, Alan Jackson, Steven Tyler with Brad Paisley, and MORE! Full lineup at CMAchristmas.com.
Kansas junior Perry Ellis has been named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week, by a media panel which covers the league, the conference announced Monday.
Kansas won four games last week, including the championship of the Orlando Classic, with Ellis leading the way for the Jayhawks. The Wichita, Kansas, forward scored at least 17 points in every outing on the week, averaging 18.8 points and 7.5 rebounds. Ellis’ top performance came against Tennessee, as he finished with a season-high 24 points and 13 boards, marking his second double-double of the year and eighth of his career. Ellis shot 48.9 percent (23-of-47) from the field and 71.1 percent (27-of-38) from the free throw line in the four contests. Ellis was also named the Orlando Classic Most Valuable Player.
This is the third time Ellis has been named Big 12 Player of the Week with the other two during the 2013-14 season. The last Jayhawk to be named Big 12 Player of the Week three times for his career was Jeff Withey, with all three selections during the 2012-13 season.
Kansas will play host to Florida in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Friday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. (Central) on ESPN.
GREAT BEND – Police in Great Bend are investigating an armed robbery at a convenience store.
Authorities say officers were dispatched to Cerv’s, 1000 Main, on Saturday. The store clerk reported an unknown subject came into the store, pointed a handgun and demanded money from the cash drawer. The clerk complied and was unharmed.
Police say the suspect was between 5’ 5”- 5’-9” tall, wore a gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants and a dark colored bandanna to cover their face.
The gender and the race of the suspect are unknown.
A bevy of rock musicians, including Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Twisted Sister’s Eddie Ojeda and current Thin Lizzy frontman Rick Warwick, have teamed up to launch an IndieGoGo campaign to fund a film called The Bridge.
The movie will star the aforementioned rockers, along with and Ministry’s Al Jourgensen and Sin Quirin, Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago and former T.S.O.L.drummer Tiny Biuso.
“The Bridge is a rock & roll feature film about the rise of small town music prodigy, Luke Weaver, who faces the decision to choose life or continue down his steadfast path to self-destruction,” reads the film’s official description. You can watch a video for the campaign on YouTube.
Perks for contributors to the project include various pieces of autographed merchandise, VIP tickets and personal experiences with the rockers featured in the film.
Among the incentives are a DVD and a guitar strap signed by Elliott and the chance to build a custom Fender guitar with Ojeda.
A portion of the campaign’s proceeds will be donated to the Fender Music Foundation, which provides instruments to music education programs.
The Bridge campaign has a goal of $300,000, and is scheduled to close on January 1.
Last month, Iggy Pop launched a similar campaign to fund a horror film called The Sandman starring himself and directed by Italian horror legend Dario Argento.
That initiative will close this Tuesday, December 2.
MANHATTAN — Two Kansas State University faculty members have been named 2014 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, the world’s largest scientific society.
C Michael Smith
The following Kansas State University faculty members were selected as fellows:
• C. Michael Smith, professor of entomology, for distinguished contributions to entomological sciences, particularly in the fields of plant-insect interactions and plant resistance to insects.
• Christopher Sorensen, Cortelyou-Rust university distinguished professor of physics and university distinguished teaching scholar, for pioneering contributions in soft matter physics, disperse particulate systems and light scattering; teaching curriculum development and outreach; and service to the scientific community.
Smith and Sorensen are among 401 fellows chosen this year. Their selection follows a vote by their peers in the association, who looked at potential fellow’s distinguished efforts to advance science.
The professors will be recognized at a certificate and pinning ceremony at the association’s annual meeting Feb. 14, 2015, in San Jose, California.
“We’re proud of our newest fellows in the AAAS and congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition,” said Kirk Schulz, university president. “Dr. Smith and Dr. Sorensen have repeatedly demonstrated their dedication to the advancement of science, research and education. Our distinguished researchers and their recognitions will help Kansas State University become a Top 50 public research university by 2025.”
The 2014 fellows will be announced in the AAAS News and Notes section of the journal Science on Nov. 28.
Smith has spent more than 30 years conducting research on plant resistance to arthropods. Before joining Kansas State University, he studied the allelochemical basis of resistance in soybean and rice as well as cereal gene expression in response to aphids and mites. He has helped characterize a gene cluster in wheat responsible for creating resistance to the Russian wheat aphid as well as identified factors affecting the expression of R genes in this cluster.
Christopher Sorensen
As a 2002 Fulbright scholar, he collaborated with European and African scientists to identify the first Russian wheat aphid biotypes in North Africa and South America. He is currently developing biotype-sensitive molecular markers. Additionally, collaborations with entomology, plant pathology and agronomy researchers have identified wheat genotypes with multiple resistances to wheat curl mite and several viruses transmitted by the mite.
Smith’s research has been supported by more than $4.7 million in funding, and he has published three books, 17 book chapters and more than 103 refereed journal articles. He has mentored 20 graduate-level students. He also was named a fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 2006.
Sorensen devotes his time to both teaching and research. His research interests are diverse. He performs experimental and theoretical studies of light scattering by particles of arbitrary shape, which is related to how aerosol particles affect global warming. He uses chemical methods to synthesize nanoparticles and then studies their solution and self-assembly behavior. He has developed a novel method for the large-scale production of graphene, and he studies gelation and aggregation kinetics in aerosols and colloids. His service to science includes a term as president of the American Association for Aerosol Research. Sorensen has authored more than 280 technical publications and holds six patents, with three more pending.
His teaching interests are equally diverse as he has taught at all levels. He conceived and developed hands-on studio instruction in physics, applying it broadly. He has won multiple teaching awards, including being named the 2007 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year.
He has given more than 100 invited lectures in the U.S. and abroad, including five lectures on a Scientific American Bright Horizons cruise around Cape Horn.
Kansas State University currently has 20 faculty members who are AAAS fellows.
Fort Hays State head women’s golf coach Rich Guffey announced four signings for the 2015-16 season. Joining the women’s golf team next year will be Hannah Perkins, Hannah Karasiuk, Kelsey McCarthy, and Kylie McCarthy.
Perkins, currently a senior at Kapaun Mount Carmel High School in Wichita, Kan., was the Kansas Class 5A State Champion individually in 2014 and helped her team to a second-straight state title. She shot a 5-over par 75 in the state championship, held at the Salina Municipal Golf Course. Perkins was a four-time qualifier for the state tournament and finished fourth individually with an 82 in 2013 to lead her team to a state championship at Tex Consolver Golf Course in Wichita. As a sophomore, she finished 11th individually at state and helped her team to a runner-up finish in Class 5A.
Karasiuk, currently a senior at Andover High School in Andover, Kan., led her team to a fourth-place finish at state in Class 5A for 2014. She finished 10th overall by shooting 84. She gives FHSU a pair of top-10 individual finishers from Class 5A in 2014. Karasiuk moved from Victoria, Texas to Andover prior to her senior year, but she was also a standout player in high school in Texas. A left-hander, Karasiuk is well traveled as she moved from Canada to the United States prior to high school and transitioned from playing hockey in her native country to golf.
Kelsey and Kylie McCarthy are twin sisters from Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kan. Each are four-time state qualifiers in Kansas Class 6A. In 2014, the sisters tied for 10th overall, each shooting 86 at the Topeka Country Club. They led Manhattan to a fifth-place finish as a team. In 2013, Kylie finished ninth at state and Kelsey was 33rd, but in 2012, Kelsey tied for 16th overall and Kylie finished 40th. Both finished in the top 40 at state as freshmen.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lame-duck lawmakers are returning to Washington where they face a stacked agenda and not much time to get it all done.
Their to-do list includes keeping the government running into the new year, renewing expired tax breaks for individuals and businesses and approving a defense policy measure that has passed for more than 50 years in a row. They hope to get it done in two weeks without stumbling into a government shutdown.
Also pending are President Barack Obama’s requests for money to combat Islamic State militants, battle Ebola and deal with unaccompanied Central American children who have crossed into the U.S.
On the agenda, too, are renewing the government’s terrorism risk insurance program and extending the ban on state and federal taxes on access to the Internet.
HERRINGTON – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 7 a.m. on Monday in Morris County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Chevy Camaro driven by Kimberly L. Coover, 43, Wilsey, was westbound on U.S. 56 approaching 3100 Road two miles east of Herrington.
The Camaro stuck a semi that was southbound on 3100 Road and attempting a left hand turn onto U.S. 56.
The semi stopped in the intersection because the turn was too sharp.
Coover was transported to Herrington Hospital. The semi truck driver from Chicago was not injured.
The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WESTFALL – Officials believe a welder or a cutting torch started a grass fire Friday in portions of Ellsworth and Lincoln counties.
Ellsworth Fire Chief Bob Kepka said the fire started just after 3 p.m. near Avenue A and Kansas 14 just north of Interstate 70.
Crews from Ellsworth, Lincoln, Wilson, Kanopolis, Holyrood, Westfall and Salina District 3 spent four hours Friday to bring the fire under control. Crews were also on the scene for several hours Saturday to clean up.
The fire burned an area approximately a mile by 3/8 of a mile wide. The majority of the property burned was in Lincoln County, according to Kepka.
