TOPEKA–The Kansas Department of Commerce will continue to accept nominations for the 2015 Business Appreciation Month awards until March 20. The awards recognize successful Kansas companies that create jobs, support their local communities and enhance the quality of life in Kansas.
Regional finalists are recognized in June during the Team Kansas awards banquet, with the top nominee receiving the Governor’s Award of Excellence, the highest award given to a business by the state. The 2014 winner was Galaxy Technologies of Winfield.
Nominations are accepted from chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, small business development centers, organizations and individuals. Companies may also nominate themselves.
Nominations will be accepted through 5 p.m., Friday, March 20. Regional winners will be selected in the manufacturing/distribution, service, retail and hospital/non-profit sectors. Regional winners will then give presentations about their companies and community involvement to a panel of judges. The recipient of the Governor’s Award of Excellence will be announced at the Team Kansas awards ceremony. Late nominations cannot be accepted.
Award qualifications include:
· Business expansion in Kansas.
· Successful employee retention and recruitment practices.
· Employee training/educational programs.
· Capital investment in Kansas.
· Support of local activities including school activities, community events, economic development and leadership programs.
BOYS Class 6A – Wichita
Lawrence 78, SM North 64
Wichita East 59, Olathe East 52 Class 5A – Topeka
Maze South 53, Bishop Carroll 46 Class 4A Division I – Salina
Basehor-Linwood 51, Ottawa 44
McPherson 79, Bishop Miege 68 Class 4A Division II – Park City Holcomb 77, Osawatomie 60
Rock Creek 86, Wichita Trinity 71 Class 3A – Hutchinson Scott City 63, Wellsville 55
Wichita Collegiate 70, Sabetha 54 Class 2A – Manhattan Central Plains 69, Olpe 44
St. John 71, Washington County 53 Class 1A Division I – Emporia Doniphan West 46, Stockton 31
Hanover 67, Hartford 35 Class 1A Division II – Dodge City St. John’s Beloit-Tipton 64, Hutchinson Central Christian 51
Wallace County 78, Caldwell 60 GIRLS Class 6A – Wichita Maize 37, SM Northwest 27
Wichita South 44, Washburn Rural 19 Class 5A – Topeka Blue Valley Southwest 42, St. Thomas Aquinas 31
Leavenworth 45, Kapaun Mount Carmel 35 Class 4A Division I – Salina Bishop Miege 53, Topeka Hayden 44
Paola 70, Buhler 62 Class 4A Division II – Park City Baldwin 67, Concordia 42
Hugoton 55, Clay Center 36 Class 3A – Hutchinson Cimarron 68, Silver Lake 53
Hesston 53, Sabetha 28 Class 2A – Manhattan Central Plains 64, Meade 51
Moundridge 56, Valley Falls 48 Class 1A Division I – Emporia Centralia 48, St. Paul 31
Hoxie 64, Centre 37 Class 1A Division II – Dodge City Moscow 48, Wheatland-Grinnell 46
St. John’s Beloit-Tipton 26, Norwich 24
LENEXA – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Jackson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 International Box Truck driven by Robert J. Johnson, 21, Kansas City was westbound on Kansas 10 at Interstate 435 in Lenexa.
The vehicle was exiting too fast, dropped off the shoulder and rolled.
Johnson was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
DALLAS (AP) — Officials at a Wichita, Kansas, hospital say five people who fell ill with listeriosis after consuming a Blue Bell ice cream product became sick while patients in their hospital. Three of the people died.
A spokeswoman for Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita says five patients became ill with listeriosis during their hospitalizations for unrelated causes between December 2013 and January 2015.
Spokeswoman Maria Loving says hospital officials were unaware that some items produced on one of the 25 production lines at Blue Bell’s Central Texas creamery had been contaminated with listeria bacteria. She said all Blue Bell Creameries products were immediately removed from all Via Christi Health facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma once the potential contamination was discovered.
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TOPEKA, Kan.—The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported in a media release on Friday that they are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to investigate an outbreak of listeriosis cases in five adult Kansas residents linked to ice cream consumed from Blue Bell Creameries. Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.
Five people in Kansas have become ill as part of this outbreak and three deaths have been reported. Patients became ill with listeriosis after hospitalizations for unrelated causes at the same hospital. They became ill between January 2014 and January 2015 after a majority were known to have consumed Blue Bell Creameries ice cream at the hospital. The hospital was not aware of the listeriosis contamination. The outbreak was recently discovered after two patients were identified with the same strain of listeriosis. Further investigation identified three other patients with listeriosis who had been hospitalized for unrelated causes before the onset of listeriosis.
Today, the FDA warned consumers about the potential contamination in Blue Bell Creameries’ products. Kansas health officials are warning consumers who have purchased the following Blue Bell Creameries novelty items and have not consumed the items to discard them:
Chocolate Chip Country Cookie
Great Divide Bar
Sour Pop Green Apple Bar
Cotton Candy Bar
Scoops
Vanilla Stick Slices
Almond Bar
No Sugar Added Mooo Bar (regular Mooo Bars are not included)
Potentially contaminated items have been pulled from retail locations by Blue Bell Creameries and are no longer available for purchase. At this time, no other products from Blue Bell Creameries have been linked to this outbreak.
The disease primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems. Symptoms of listeriosis include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions. Symptoms begin from three to 70 days after consuming the bacteria. In 2014, five cases of listeriosis were reported in Kansas.
Anyone who believes they may have become ill with listeriosis should contact their health care provider.
More information about listeriosis can be found on the CDC website www.cdc.gov/listeria. More information about this outbreak can be found on the FDA website https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm438104.htm.
MANHATTAN -A grass fire estimated to be in excess of 120-acres in Riley County near the Riley, Geary, Wabaunsee County line occurred on Friday afternoon.
The rural fire chief for Geary County, Garry Berges, said the blaze was down in pasture land where there are a lot of trees. “Also that’s where oil fields are right there along the interstate,” he said. Approximately 15-20 large hay bales burned. A house was threatened but the fire did not reach it.
Berges reported that an electrical problem beside, or at one of the pumps started the grass on fire, and then it spread before anyone knew about it.
Berges noted Geary County had two fire units, two command vehicles, and ten firefighters on the scene battling the blaze. They were called to the scene about 2:30 p.m. He said wind was a problem, and a portion of the fire was down in a woody ravine area where it was impossible to reach.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Wayne Selden Jr. scored 20 points and ninth-ranked Kansas turned up its suffocating defense to beat No. 16 Baylor 62-52 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Friday night.
Perry Ellis returned from an injury to add 11 points for the top-seeded Jayhawks (26-7), though their leading scorer limped off the floor after getting tangled up late. Ellis never went back into the game after trainers checked on his right knee.
Still, his return combined with the inspired play of Selden helped push a mercurial Kansas team into Saturday night’s title game for the 11th time. The Jayhawks will face the winner of the other semifinal between second-seeded Iowa State and No. 3 seed Oklahoma.
Rico Gathers had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Kenny Chery added 20 points for the fourth-seeded Bears (24-9), who should still feel quite secure heading into Selection Sunday.
No. 6 The Fort Hays State overcame a slow start to rally past Minnesota State 74-57 Friday night at Gross Coliseum for their first ever NCAA II tournament win, advancing to Saturday’s semifinals. The Lady Tigers improve to 29-3 while the Mavericks end their season with a 21-10 mark. FHSU will face Wayne State (Neb.) at 7:30pm Saturday. The Wildcats score the final seven points in an 87-80 win over Harding (Ark.). Pittsburg State and Emporia State meet in the first semifinal at 5pm.
FHSU Postgame Press Conference
Game Highlights
The Lady Tigers hit just one of their first 11 shots and fell behind by 13, but a 7-0 run to close the half pulled them within two at the break. A steal and layup by Nikola Kacperska pulled FHSU within one at 39-38. Jill Faxon hit a top of the key 3-pointers to give the Lady Tigers their first lead of the game with 14:04 to play. The 12-0 run put FHSU up six. A 10-2 run later in the half pushed the lead to double-figures.
Chelsea Mason led Fort Hays State with 21 points on 8-of-21 shooting including 4-for-14 from 3-point range. Kate Lehman, who shot only once and didn’t score in the first half, finished with 12 and eight rebounds. Minnesota State was led by Jamie Bresnahan who tallied 12.
The Tigers shoot 53-percent in the second half and finish 40-percent for the game. FHSU outrebounded the Mavericks by eight and scored 18 points off 17 MSU turnovers.
By DAN MARGOLIES
An Overland Park business has been ensnared in a crackdown on compounding pharmacies that make products containing a drug used to boost lactation in breastfeeding women.
The Food and Drug Administration last month issued a warning letter to Perry Drug Inc. citing it for compounding drug products containing domperidone, a drug not approved by the FDA.
Although domperidone is approved in several countries to treat gastric disorders, it is not approved anywhere to enhance breast milk production.
Perry Drug’s president, Dena K. Perry, referred inquiries to the company’s Washington, D.C., attorney, Karla L. Palmer, who said the company had stopped dispensing domperidone and would no longer do so without notice to the FDA.
“Hundreds of compounding pharmacies have received these types of letters from FDA since 2012,” Palmer said. “Dena Perry’s pharmacy is no different from those. Other than the fact that she has not been compounding sterile drug products for quite some time, FDA never tested the products and nobody to the best of our knowledge reported an adverse event as the result of any Perry Drug products.”
Marc Willis, an FDA spokesman, said the agency’s investigation of Perry Drug was still considered an open case.
“A follow-up inspection is the usual means for FDA to verify the corrective actions made by a firm as a result of a Warning Letter,” Willis said in an email. “FDA normally completes a follow-up inspection of the company within six months of the date on the warning letter.”
Once the FDA confirms that the company has corrected the violations, he said, it will issue a close-out letter.
Records on file with the Kansas Secretary of State show Perry Drug was incorporated in 2008. The compounding pharmacy is housed in an office building next to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
Compounding pharmacies combine drugs or drug ingredients to create medications tailored to the needs of individual patients.
Since 2004, the FDA has been warning compounding pharmacies not to make domperidone, citing concerns about serious health risks associated with the drug, including arrhythmias, cardiac arrest and sudden death.
In its warning letter to Perry Drug, the FDA also said its investigator observed “serious deficiencies” in its practices for producing sterile drug products, “which put patients at risk.”
Palmer said Perry had taken the FDA’s concerns seriously and “responded in all respects appropriately to the letter.”
“She looks forward to continuing to compound drug products that are non-sterile to meet her patients’ needs,” Palmer said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on March 12 to include the comments of an FDA spokesman.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
109th Dist. State Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill
March 13, 2015
Troy L. Waymaster, State Representative
Kansas House district, 109
The Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success Act
A great deal of time was spent listening, debating and reviewing the components of House Substitute for Senate Bill 7, Creating the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success Act (CLASS) also known as the block grant funding bill for K-12 education.
The most critical aspect of this bill is that K-12 education would be financed by the state to the school districts by a block grant for the same funding amount as the 2014-2015 school year instead of by the current school finance formula that has been the mechanism for education finance since 1992.
A breakdown of those amounts would be determined by the amount of dollars that each district received in 2014-2015 for General State Aid, Capital Outlay State Aid, Virtual School State Aid, the amount of tax proceeds collected by the school district for Ancillary School Facilities Tax Levy, Cost-of-Living Tax Levy, Declining Enrollment Tax Levy, and the amount of KPERS employer obligations. In the block grant idea, the following components would be removed when determining the funding: the Ancillary School Facilities weighting, the Cost-of-Living weighting, and the Declining Enrollment Weighting.
There are additional important provisions to the bill.
One of those other provisions would be the creation of an extraordinary need fund. This fund would start with a balance of $4 million in the school year of 2014-2015, then for school years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 four percent added would be added from the state general fund. The purpose of this fund is to help school districts with any unforeseen hardships during the time of the block grants.
Other provisions are that local school districts could authorize special local tax levies that meet current laws and they could adopt a local option budget and levy an amount that does not exceed the limit already set in place by statute, which would occur through the authorization of a local vote.
While we worked the bill in Appropriations Committee, many amendments were added to the initial piece of legislation. A sunset date amendment that I proposed passed. A specific sunset date on the legislation was needed to force the Legislature to create a new school finance formula. That date, as reflected in the amendment, is June 30, 2017.
On Thursday, this major piece of legislation was debated and amended by the entire House of Representatives. There were many in the House the opposed the change of funding K-12 education in Kansas, and there were those that applauded the notion of retiring the existing school finance formula and go to the block grant funding so a new formula could be created.
Although I agree that there may need to be changes to the existing formula, there is uncertainty of not knowing what the formula created would be and how that would impact our rural schools. In order to retire or change the existing formula, we need more time to address the concerns of how a new formula would affect our schools in Kansas. The bill did pass out of the House 64-57 on Friday morning and now goes to the Kansas Senate.
KDOT Hay Harvesting
The Kansas Department of Transportation announced that permits will be issued to landowners wanting to harvest hay on Kansas highway right of way.
Those with land adjacent to the right of way will be given permit priority from January 1 until March 31. After March 31, permits to harvest will be issued in the order in which they are received. The permits will expire September 30.
Hay harvesting on right of way along state and federal highways without a permit is illegal and is trespassing, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Permits can be canceled at any time by either party and all operations shall be in accord with requirements and guidelines set by KDOT. Any person, firm or corporation wanting to mow or bale hay needs to submit a permit application to the KDOT office in his area. No hay harvesting will take place along interstates, and access to any right of way shall be determined by KDOT.
For additional information, contact the local KDOT office or by calling the KDOT Bureau of Maintenance in Topeka at (785) 296-3576.
Visitors and Contact Information
On Tuesday, March 10, the Kansas Small Business Development Center held its annual award ceremony for small businesses throughout the state of Kansas. It was my pleasure to stand with Senator Elaine Bowers, Marty and Rhett Kingsbury from Kingsbury Service in Smith Center as they were honored as an emerging business of the year in the Rotunda of the State Capitol.
On Wednesday, March 11, El Dean and Kathy Holthus, Smith Center, and I testified in the House Transportation Committee to support the renaming of K-8 as the “Home on the Range” Highway. Also on Wednesday, Jewell County Farm Bureau and several Rock Hills High School students visited the statehouse.
It is an honor to serve the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, concerns and questions. I appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas.
Troy L. Waymaster,
State Representative
109th Kansas House
300 SW 10th
Topeka, KS 66612
Thomas More Prep-Marian is pleased to announce Chad Meitner of Dodge City as principal beginning this summer. Meitner will be taking over for Kathy Taylor, who has filled the role for the past two academic years as interim principal.
Meitner is a 1997 graduate of Friends University and received his MS in Education from the University of Kansas in 2001. He currently serves as principal of Sacred Heart Cathedral Catholic School (PK-8) in Dodge City, a position he has held since 2010. Prior to that, Meitner served as a world language instructor and coach at Sacred Heart Jr./Sr. High School in Salina. Meitner has also taught in Orange County, Fla., and McLouth, north of Lawrence.
“My vision for every Catholic school is that it thrives and passes on its irreplaceable style of education to future leaders in our Church and community. We are stewards of this great trust and blessed to carry out its mission,” said Meitner.
TMP-Marian is an inter-parochial, Catholic, co-educational school offering grades 7-12. Located in Hays, the school was first established by Capuchin Franciscan priests in 1908. The school has undergone many changes during the last century, but has always maintained its central philosophy of a Christ-centered education.
Now under the direction of the Salina Diocese and the Heartland Parishes of Hays, Antonino, Catharine, Munjor and Schoenchen, TMP-Marian stands as the largest Catholic Jr/Sr High school in the diocese and is the only one in western Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is at odds with Google and privacy groups over the government’s push to make it easier to locate and hack into computers in criminal investigations.
Federal prosecutors say better tools are needed to track down computer users who hide their locations while committing crimes on the Internet. Civil libertarians fear that the proposal would grant the government expansive new powers to reach into computers across the country.
The proposal would change existing rules of criminal procedure that generally permit judges to approve warrants for property searches in districts where they serve. The government says those rules are outdated in an era when criminals can mask their whereabouts.
The proposal is drawing concern from civil liberties groups, who say it’s vague and overly broad.
JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press
JOSH HOFFNER, Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — President Barack Obama says there’s still work to do to fix problems in the Veterans Affairs Department.
Obama is making his first visit to the veterans’ hospital in Phoenix. That’s where treatment delays triggered a national examination last year into health care services for veterans.
Obama says everyone knows there have been significant problems at the Phoenix facility. He says VA Secretary Robert McDonald is “chipping away” at the problems.
Obama says he joins Arizona’s senators in their concern that information isn’t getting out to veterans. He’s also pointing to mental health and suicide prevention as areas that still need work.
Obama says trust can be lost quickly. He’s promoting the need to restore trust and confidence in the VA system.
HALSTEAD — A Kansas man died hours after being burned in a grass fire on Thursday afternoon in Harvey County.
Halstead Fire Chief Jim Vanschaick said Fred Rodenberg, 81, was burning limbs and boards when the grass caught fire.
“It was a controlled burn at a rural location one mile north and one mile east of town. He tried to stomp out the flames and it caught his pants on fire,” he said
Rodenberg suffered severe burns to 50 percent of his body. Halstead firefighters were able extinguish the fire.
EMS transported Rodenburg to St Francis Regional Medical Center where he died.
TOPEKA–The Kansas Department of Commerce will continue to accept nominations for the 2015 Business Appreciation Month awards until March 20. The awards recognize successful Kansas companies that create jobs, support their local communities and enhance the quality of life in Kansas.
