The Heartland Community Foundation is sponsoring a new event to promote local nonprofit organizations and fundraising to increase their endowments.
More than 10 nonprofit organizations based in Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties will be participating on March 10 to build their endowments with donations that will be matched by the Heartland Community Foundation.
“Match Madness is going to be a fun event for us to help nonprofits who do charitable work locally,” said Brandon Prough, chairman of the Heartland board of directors. “We budgeted $9,000 to match contributions that come in on March 10 either to one of four reporting locations or through online giving at our website heartlandcommunityfoundation.org.”
Donors can make contributions in person on March 10 at four locations in the area from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Checks and cash donations can be earmarked for one or more of the participating charities and accepted at: The Welcome Center, 2700 Vine St., Hays; Heritage Insurance Group, 416 Main St., Stockton; First State Bank, 120 W. Mill St., Plainville and at Dietz Insurance, 120 N. Main St., WaKeeney.
Contributions can also be made online on March 10 at heartlandcommunityfoundation.org. Processing fees will apply to the online contributions.
“Local charitable organizations who have endowed funds with the Heartland Community Foundation will be working with potential donors, board members, staff and volunteers to spread the word about the Match Madness event,” said Heartland executive director Tammy McClellan. “This is a great opportunity to help local groups that you support already and to make your contribution go even farther.”
The Heartland Community Foundation was established in 2007 and is one of 12 affiliates of the Greater Salina Community Foundation. All endowed contributions made to Heartland in 2015 will qualify for additional matching contributions from the Kansas Health Foundation.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) Wednesday questioned the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget.
In light of Secretary Burwell’s refusal to answer questions about the future of Obamacare in the shadow of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the latest challenge to the law, King v Burwell, on March 4, 2015, Senator Roberts focused his questions on the potential for rationing in the President’s healthcare law.
View the Senator’s exchange with the HHS Secretary here
Senator Roberts specifically noted the contradiction in Secretary Burwell’s testimony on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) in her confirmation hearing and the request made to increase IPAB’s targeted savings for Medicare in the President’s FY 2016 Budget.
Created in Obamacare, IPAB is responsible for cost cutting decisions in Medicare and Medicaid should the rate of Medicare spending growth reach a certain target. Roberts remains concerned IPAB will amount to rationing of care for our seniors by unelected bureaucrats.
“During your confirmation hearing we talked a lot about the Affordable Care Act’s Independent Payment Advisory Board – the IPAB,” Senator Roberts said. “You said, and I’ll paraphrase here, that you were hopeful that IPAB never needs to be used…You were hopeful that we can make sure that IPAB never gets triggered, and we all agreed.”
“But, here we are again with a budget request where you’re asking to expand this authority to find savings. How can you explain to me how you went from hoping it never had to be used to now doubling down on IPAB and expanding the savings it must find?” Roberts asked.
During the debate on Obamacare, Senator Roberts offered amendments to prohibit the use of comparative effectiveness research and to eliminate IPAB. He voted against Obamacare in both Committees and on the Senate floor.
Senator Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance and is a member of its Subcommittee on Health Care. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and is co-chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.
In honor of Black History Month, the library will be hosting a program called “The Nicodemus Connection to a Vice President” on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 3:30 p.m.
The presentation explores the lives of two former slaves who worked for Vice President Richard Johnson prior to homesteading as free men in Nicodemus.
Nicodemus resident and historian Angela Bates will deliver the presentation. This program will be held in the Schmidt Gallery and is free to the public.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The owner of a troubled Kansas racing facility has released a tentative 2015 schedule that includes hosting a National Hot Rod Association drag racing event in May.
Heartland Park Topeka owner Raymond Irwin says it would be irresponsible for him to not have a schedule in place for the new track operator, drivers and fans.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports a Kansas Court of Appeals panel is to hear oral arguments on Feb. 26 from Irwin’s company, Jayhawk Racing, the city of Topeka and petitioner Chris Imming.
The city wants to issue $5 million in STAR bonds to buy Heartland Park, but Imming initiated a petition drive seeking to put the purchase to a vote. The city challenged the legality of the petition, which a Shawnee County judge ruled invalid.
As legendary baseball manager and Kansas City native Casey Stengel put it, watching his hapless New York Mets, “Been in this game one hundred years, but I see new ways to lose ‘em I never knew existed before.” He could have been talking about our Topeka pols.
Burdett Loomis
Last week, as legislators tried to find ways to patch $716 million in revenue leaks over the next 18 months, we learned that Kansas revenues fell $47 million sort of estimates for January. And that’s after estimates were drastically cut last year, in April and November. Thus, after two major reductions in anticipated revenues, the state still collected $47 million less than anticipated, for just one month.
That’s staggering.
While we might place some blame on the Consensus Estimating Group, these economists and administrators have been operating in uncharted territory. What’s deeply disturbing is that most Topeka decision-makers don’t know what to do and, more disturbingly, don’t care.
There is an unbelievable lack of seriousness in the governor’s office, within his administration, and among the far right legislators that dominate the capitol. Thus, Speaker Ray Merrick, Representative J.R. Claeys, and Senator Tom Arpke, among many others, can declare that Kansas has a “spending problem,” not a revenue problem.
So, $760 million in cuts by June 2016 should solve everything, right? That’s about 15 percent of current state spending – on real things, like teachers’ salaries, road maintenance, Medicaid costs, state highway troopers, prisons, Department of Commerce programs, and a hundred other items.
But getting to required cuts, the state must pay its mid-February bills. Just a modest cash-flow problem, eh? That’s what second-term representative, and Appropriations Committee chair, Ron Ryckman, Jr., before the immense January shortfall was reported.
This past week Ryckman and other lawmakers scrambled to shuffle funds around to cover February payments, which may come up short. But what’s a million or so among friends? As Andover GOP Senator Ty Masterson said, “The thing about budgeting is that the horse is never all of the way out of the barn.”
Apparently, state government is judged successful if it can juggle funds to meet immediate obligations, and maybe keep the horse in the barn.
There are three policy-making tracks here. First comes scapegoating. The Governor’s excuses are remarkable. The Kansas economy is in trouble because of Obama (of course), the Affordable Health Care Act (even though the state gets $58 million in revenue from ACA rebates), the Legislature, overspending by past legislatures, etc.
The second track is to throw random proposals at the wall, seeing what sticks. Exhibit A is Brownback’s “sin tax” initiative, raising alcohol taxes and almost tripling cigarette taxes, even though we live next to Missouri, whose taxes on these products are among the lowest in the nation. Result? A perfect plan to drive spending and business out of the state, in our most populous area.
Third, and most problematic, the governor and his legislative allies are systematically working to cut education spending, without admitting their intent. The “block grant” proposal falls into this category, as does current Senate bill 71 to rewrite the school funding formula, even as the state faces a $500 million judgment against its unconstitutional underfunding of the current formula.
Thus, we have a revenue crisis and a budget crisis, but no serious attempts to address them. In fact, we have a governing crisis, induced by ideological policies and plummeting revenues and exacerbated by a remarkable lack of competence under the capitol dome.
Which gets us back to Casey Stengel. After observing the foibles of his expansion-team Mets, the “old professor” asked, rhetorically, “Can’t anyone here play this game?”
In Topeka, that question is anything but rhetorical, and the answer is “No.”
Burdett Loomis is a professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.
The school won’t say anything until it’s officially approved by the school board at its Feb. 16 meeting, but Randall Rath has been tabbed as the next head football coach at Hays High School. Several media outlets and Cimarron High School have confirmed that Rath will be leaving at the end of the year.
Rath, who was a finalist for the position last year, becomes the third head coach in three years at HHS. He replaces Bo Black, who announced his resignation last month after one season to take the head coaching job at Shawnee Mission Northwest.
Rath was the coach at Oakley High School for nearly 30 years before taking over at Cimarron last season.
Elinor Ann Wilson, age 83, of Quinter, passed away Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at Gove County Medical Center, Quinter. She was born November 9, 1931, in Quinter, to Clifford and Ethel (Johnson) Bland.
Until recent years, Elinor lived in Gove. She graduated from Gove High School. On August 19, 1951, Elinor was united in marriage to Lawrence Elmer Wilson in Gove. They enjoyed 57 years of marriage together. Lawrence passed away February 28, 2009. She was very active with the Gove Community Bible Church Womens’ Group, having generously volunteered her time and talents. She loved quilting and gardening. Elinor also enjoyed reading a good book, or simply spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She will be missed by many.
Survivors include a son, Cliff and wife Sharon of Edmond, Oklahoma; two daughters, Lisa and husband Butch Minium of Hoxie and Jeanne Daniels of Gove; three grandchildren, Cody Minium of Colby, Ashley Minium of Overland Park, and Jonathan Daniels of Denver; two great-grandchildren, Tori Daniels and Alexis Daniels, both of Overland Park; one brother, Don Bland of McPherson; one sister, Marie Beesley of Quinter; and one sister-in-law, Barbara Bland of New Hampshire. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; son, Bruce Wilson; grandson, Justin Daniels; brothers, Clifford and wife Dora, Kenneth and wife Mae, and Wayne; brother-in-law, Gail Beesley; and sister-in-law, Berneice Bland.
Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, February 7, 2015 at Gove Community Bible Church, Gove. Burial will be in the Gove Cemetery.
Visitation will be Friday, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home in Quinter.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Gove Community Bible Church or the Gove City Library. Checks made to the organization may be sent in care of Schmitt Funeral Home, 901 South Main, Quinter, KS 67752.
Condolences may be sent online at www.schmittfuneral.com.
TOPEKA – The Senate Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice introduced a bill Wednesday that would prevent schools from promoting sexual materials some say can be harmful to minors.
Senate Bill 56 would remove affirmative defense for promoting “harmful material” to minors. Affirmative defense allows defendants to concede the committed alleged acts if there was no illegal intention.
The bill stems from a incident in 2014 when a poster on a Kansas middle school classroom door listed how people expressed their sexual feelings.
“The poster was a big mistake,” said Phillip Cosby of American Family Association of Kansas and Missouri. “We need to protect our kids.”
Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee) said state laws should safeguard the rights of parents to protect their children from harmful material, especially in schools.
“Pornography and obscene materials are becoming more and more prevalent in our society,” Pilcher-Cook said. “It’s all too common to hear of cases where children are not being protected from the harm it inflicts.”
Last year, Pilcher-Cook pushed for a House bill that would require districts to collect signed consent forms from parents if they wanted their child to learn about sexual education. The same sexual feelings poster also instigated that bill.
In 2014, a 13-year-old girl at Hocker Grove Middle School in Shwanee saw the poster on the back of a science classroom door and was “disturbed by it.” The poster listed sexual acts ranging from kissing to vaginal intercourse.
Opponents of the bill introduced Wednesday were not present in the hearing but provided written testimonies. Elise Higgins of Planned Parenthood, in her written testimony said that teachers should not be criminalized for doing their jobs of educating students on sexual health.
Other opponents of SB 56 said the bill is a solution looking for a problem.
“The affirmative defense is not a free pass to break the law and provide harmful materials to minors,” said David Schauner, General Counsel for the Kansas National Education Association. “It is, however, a protection against baseless claims attacking legitimate education programs and curriculum.”
Pilcher-Cook said educators of K-12 children should exercise thoughtful judgment on materials that could be considered offensive. Cosby said that in Kansas, minors lose their protective potency to obscene material the moment a kindergartner enters the school building.
“Times are different now,” Cosby said in his testimony. “We need to have better protection for our kids. Adults have more protection (from obscene material) than kindergartners.”
In response, committee ranking minority member Sen. Pat Pettey (D-Kansas City) said she didn’t agree with Cosby’s statements, then asked how kindergartners have less protection to obscene material than adults. Cosby responded they aren’t doing enough to protect children but did not elaborate.
The committee will continue discussion on SB 56 in mid-February.
Tomas Hoppough is a senior at the University of Kansas from Fairbanks Alaska, and is majoring in journalism.
Anna Jean Marx Ford, 99, Hays, died Tuesday, February3, 2015 at the Sterling House in Hays.
She was born December 3, 1915 in Columbia, Missouri, the daughter of Harry S. and Regina (Thompson) Marx.
She was raised in Montana, Canada, California, Great Bend and Ellis. After graduation from Ellis High School she attended Kansas State University and then returned to the Ellis Telephone Company as operator and bookkeeper. It was there that she met her husband, who came to do an audit of the company.
On August 20, 1939, she married Gerald J. “Jerry” Ford in Ellis, Kansas, and soon moved to Hays. He died April 6, 1998. She was a homemaker and a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the PEO, and the DAR. She loved to sew, cross stitch, needlepoint, and was an excellent cook.
Survivors include a son, James E. Ford and wife Pat of Santa Maria, CA, a son-in-law Floyd Klein of Victoria, KS, seven grandchildren and twenty one great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her step mother Florence Sheets Marx, an infant child, a daughter Susan Ford Klein, and a half-brother Edward Marx.
Funeral services will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday, February 7, 2015 at the First Presbyterian Church, Hays. Burial will follow in the Mt. Allen Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1:00 pm until service time on Saturday at the church. Memorials are suggested to the First Presbyterian Church in memory of Anna Jean.
Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
The Hays Police Department conducted 15 traffic stops and received 6 animal calls on Wednesday, 02/04/15, according to the HPD activity log.
Criminal Transport–Wakeeney; 7:14 AM
Abandoned Vehicle–1700 block Western Plains Dr, Hays; 8:57 AM
Contempt of Court/Fail to Pay–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 09/13/2007; 1:43 AM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–10o block W 12th St, Hays; 12/12/2013; 11:37 AM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 11/15/2014; 1:07 AM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 06/19/2013; 8:57 PM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 11/23/2013; 8:42 PM
Criminal Threat–200 block E 7th St, Hays; 10:42 AM
Criminal Threat–1400 block E 29th St, Hays; 10:56 AM
Abandoned Vehicle–1700 block Golden Belt Dr, Hays; 11:09 AM
Animal Cruelty/Neglect–500 block E 8th St, Hays; 11:48 AM
Civil Transport–200 block E 7th St, Hays; 12:18 PM
Credit Card Violations–500 block E 16th St, Hays; 01/29/2015; 8:57 PM
Forgery–Hays; 2:38 PM
Drug Offenses–700 block E 6th St, Hays; 3:34 PM
Drug Offenses–200 block W 5th St, Hays; 04:46 PM
Lost Animals–1600 block Elm St, Hays; 4:57 PM
Disturbance – General–100 block W 36th St, Hays; 8:29 PM
Domestic Disturbance–1200 block Milner St, Hays; 8:37 PM
Drug Offenses–3600 block Vine St, Hays; 10:04 PM
Assist – Other (not MV)–3000 block New Way, Hays; 11:50 PM
Theft (general)–300 block W 9th St, Hays; 09/18/2014 07:00 PM; 09/18/2014 10:00 PM
Organizers of TEDxFHSU have received confirmation that a local version of the popular TED conference will be offered on Friday, April 24, on the campus of Fort Hays State University. The independently produced event, operated under license from TED, is set for 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Eagle Communications Hall at the Robbins Center on the FHSU campus.
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading.
The TEDxFHSU conference will address global challenges, which include population, resource management, technology, information and knowledge, economics, security, and governance. The current generation of students in college will be greatly impacted by these challenges. TEDxFHSU will be used as a platform to educate students about change that will not only directly affect them once they leave college, but currently.
The FHSU students who organized TEDxFHSU are Brandon Taylor, Greensburg senior, Brenna Johnson, Beloit senior, Saul Sanchez, Dodge City graduate student, Korby Boswell, Onaga graduate student, and Michaela Sasse, Gaylord senior. They are bringing in speakers who once attended or received an award from the university to address the global concerns, explaining that current Tigers would identify with people who have ties to FHSU and may have had similar collegiate experiences.
They said the mixture of speakers and the TEDx platform would be the perfect blend for a memorable discussion of ideas worth spreading. Admission is free but is limited to 100 participants. To acquire a ticket, students should bring two non-perishable food items and their Tiger ID to the Student Service Center in the Memorial Union from 3 to 6 p.m. on March 11.
For more information on this event, please visit www.tedxfhsu.com, the Twitter account @TEDxFHSU, and “like” the Facebook page, TEDxFHSU.
About TEDx (x = independently organized event)In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized, subject to certain rules and regulations.
About TED
TED was founded in 1984. The acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. The annual TED conference brings together some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED created TEDx. TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 30 years ago, TED has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes or less. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.
The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast event in nearby Whistler. The annual TEDGlobal conference will be held this October in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self-organized TED-style events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. Follow TED on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TEDTalks or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TED.