MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University is researching how to use drones to detect invasive insects and emerging diseases in wheat fields.

The $1.74 million three-year project will initially target the Russian wheat aphid and wheat stripe rust, also commonly referred to as “yellow rust.” The research partners are Australia’s Queensland University of Technology, the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, and the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Kansas State says flights will be conducted in fields around Kansas. Researchers in Australia are conducting complementary flights to collect supporting data.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee is considering a proposed $15.5 billion state budget that wouldn’t balance without tax increases.

The Ways and Means Committee’s scheduled debate Thursday was part of a crowded agenda for state lawmakers. The Senate Commerce Committee expected to vote on a bill limiting collective bargaining between state agencies and public employee unions.

Lawmakers must close a projected budget deficit of nearly $600 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The shortfall arose after the Republican-dominated Legislature aggressively cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee’s proposed budget trims overall spending slightly for the fiscal year beginning July 1 but still would require tax increases of more than $200 million.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Ethanol producers say a proposed excise tax in Kansas would harm the industry and put some plants out of business.

The House Taxation Committee held a hearing on a bill Wednesday that would impose a 4.33 percent tax on ethanol products and electricity from renewable sources.

Farmers, ethanol producers and representatives of the renewable energy industry testified to the committee that the tax would hurt rural economies and cause plant closures.

Only conservative think tank Kansas Policy Institute testified in favor of the bill, saying in written testimony the move would eliminate unneeded protections from the industry.

The Kansas Legislature also is considering measures to remove the property tax exemption for renewable power plants and freeze mandates requiring utilities to include increasing portions of renewable energy in the electrical grid.

By Andy Marso

Several dozen legislators and lobbyists filed into a committee room Monday for a video presentation, toting slices of pizza and cans of soda.

The lunch was sponsored in part by Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA and other tobacco sellers. The presentation was courtesy of Rich Marianos, a former agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who told those gathered that when states increase tobacco taxes well above their neighbors’ rates, it opens up an enticing black market.

“When there is that tax discrepancy, it creates a world for criminals and smugglers,” said Marianos, who works as a consultant for Altria. Tobacco companies have largely avoided trying to directly influence the Kansas Legislature’s ongoing debate over whether to raise cigarette taxes by $1.50 per pack to cover a portion of the general fund’s projected $650 million budget hole.

But groups and individuals funded by the industry have filled that role, warning legislators about what they say would be the consequences of the tax hike. Marianos is one of the headliners — a 27-year ATF veteran who speaks of the history of cigarette smuggling from low-tax states like North Carolina to high-tax states like New York from the position of someone who has been on the front lines investigating it. “New York is just out of control,” Marianos said.

“It’s $14 for a pack of cigarettes, it’s $140 for a carton. So some of the less-taxed states make it extremely lucrative for criminals in New York.” Tracy Russell, representing the anti-tobacco coalition Kansans for a Healthy Future, questioned whether the tobacco companies Altria represents are truly concerned that tobacco taxes increase smuggling, because they get paid no matter in which state the cigarettes are purchased.

Russell said she thinks the companies’ real concern might be that increased tobacco taxes are proven to reduce smoking rates, thereby reducing profits for the industry. She said there’s little evidence that tobacco smuggling is a “widespread problem” throughout the country, which is why the industry tends to point to the Northeast corridor.

“The industry focuses mainly on areas that have a much higher tobacco tax than what is being proposed in Kansas and does not present an accurate comparison of what could happen in Kansas,” Russell said.

Marianos said smuggling is also a problem in the Midwest. But he said the force behind it in the middle of the country is not necessarily that cigarette taxes in some Midwestern states are too high, but that the tax in Missouri — the lowest in the country at 17 cents per pack — is too low. “Missouri’s doing no favors for anybody,” Marianos said. The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank with documented ties to the tobacco industry, also is weighing in on the Kansas tax proposal. The institute’s

John Nothdurft has composed a webpage that states the tobacco tax will fall disproportionately on low-income Kansans, harm businesses that rely on tobacco taxes and fail to bring in the revenue expected as customers quit or buy from neighboring states.

“Tobacco taxes rarely bring in the revenues their proponents say they will,” Northdruft writes. The page provides a series of links to other documents questioning the effectiveness and wisdom of tobacco taxes. A disclaimer at the bottom of the page warns

“Nothing in this Research & Commentary is intended to influence the passage of legislation” but also says the institute can make experts available to testify or speak to a legislative caucus. The institute’s position that cigarette taxes are not a reliable source of revenue runs counter to research presented to legislators earlier this month by Frank Chaloupka, an economics professor from the University of Chicago.

Chaloupka, whose research on the proposed Kansas increase was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, said he has studied tobacco tax increases in many states for more than a decade. His research shows that states that raise the tax bring in new revenue while also saving on health care costs because some residents will quit, but not in numbers large enough to offset the tax revenue gain from those who continue smoking.

Russell said those should be the driving factors that legislators consider when looking at the tax increase. She added that smuggling can be minimized with the use of high-tech tax stamps and better enforcement. “Not enacting a tobacco tax increase is an extreme answer to a minor concern for which there are other remedies,” Russell said. “It is time to increase the only tax that comes with health benefits.”

Each spring, a nationwide, high-school arts competition is sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Artistic Discovery Contest is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the artistic talent across the U.S. as well as in each congressional district.

The contest is open to all high school students in the 1st District. The overall winner of the 1^st District competition will be displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol. The national exhibit in Washington also will include artwork from other winners nationwide.

The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982 to provide an opportunity for members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents. Since then, more than 650,000 high school students have been involved with the nationwide competition.

All entries must be submitted digitally to [email protected] by March 20^th, 2015. Judges will then select 1^st and 2^nd place winners in each of the seven categories that will be displayed at The First Congressional District High School Art Competition Exhibit & Awards Ceremony.

See guidelines below:

All entries must be original in concept, design and execution.

Each high school is allowed to enter FOUR original pieces. Art works entered in the contest may be up to 28 inches by 28 inches (including frame) and may be up to 4 inches in depth. The art work may be

• Paintings – including oil, acrylics, and watercolor
• Drawings – including pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, and markers
• Collage
• Prints – including lithographs, silkscreen, and block prints
• Mixed Media
• Computer Generated Art
• Photography

 

Upload options for image files

• File format: JPEG only
• File dimensions: No smaller than 1920 pixels on the longest side
• File resolution: 72 ppi/dpi (standard web resolution)
• File size: 5 MB maximum

 

The First Congressional District High School Art Competition Exhibit & Awards Ceremony will be held in April 2015—exact date and location TBA.

 

If you would like more information on the annual Congressional District Art Competition please contact Ashley Howard in the Salina office at 785-309-0572 or[email protected].

 

WINDOM – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday in McPherson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Toyota passenger car drive by Lois C. Creed, 86, Windom, was stationary on the right side of U.S. 56 one mile south of Windom with a blinker on. The vehicle made a left turn into the side of a truck traveling in the eastbound lane.

Creed was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.

The truck driver from Oklahoma was not injured.

The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has endorsed a bill making it easier for state agencies to move jobs out of the civil service.

The 9-7 vote Wednesday by the Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee sends the bill to the House for debate.

The measure incorporates a proposal from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration.

Civil service workers have more job security than non-civil service workers. The state has about 13,000 civil service employees.

Department of Administration spokesman John Milburn said in an email that the bill gives agencies more flexibility in hiring. He said even if the measure is enacted, many jobs will stay in the civil service.

Critics are skeptical that the civil service system will remain intact and say favoritism will play a bigger role in employment decisions.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON — The Reno County Sheriff’s office is investigating the burglary and criminal damage of the Prosperity Grade School building north of Hutchinson.

The Sheriff’s office reported an individual interested in purchasing the property noticed water running, that shouldn’t have been, when they visited over the weekend.

School Superintendent Mike Berblinger said that a couple of drinking fountains were damaged and it caused water to leak throughout the school.

There was also damage to fire extinguishers and paint cans used to cause additional damage.

Officials say damage could be in the thousands of dollars. However, Berblinger says they only have early estimates.

Obee Grade School was also broken into over the weekend, but the juveniles were caught in the act according to Berblinger.

He says the damage there was minimal with only a window broken.

Both grade schools were closed by the Buhler School District after the new Plum Creek Elementary School was opened.

The district has been trying to sell the buildings now that they’re no longer needed as school facilities.