Gov. Brownback signed the welfare reform bill on Thursday.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A woman that Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has frequently held up as a success story in his efforts to connect welfare recipients with jobs is a temporary state employee.
The Republican governor mentioned Valerie Cahill, of Kansas City, Kansas, in his State of the State address. She also spoke at the signing ceremony of a bill creating additional restrictions on those receiving cash assistance.
Cahill is listed on the state employee database as an employee of the agency that crafted the welfare reforms and administers the job training program.
A Department for Children and Families spokeswoman said in an email to The Wichita Eagle that Cahill is a full-time temporary employee of the department working in a program helping needy families with energy expenses.
Emporia State starter Travis Hendry improved to 8-1 allowing just two runs runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings as the Hornets take game one of their four game series with the Fort Hays State Tigers 4-2 at Larks Park Saturday afternoon. Closer Shawn Talkington recorded the final five outs including a 1-2-3 seventh for his seventh save.
The Tigers only runs came on solo home runs from Nick Hammeke and Kevin Czarnecki. Starting pitcher Tiger starter Gabe Cook (1-3) went the distance, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Just one pitch was thrown in the second game before rain suspended play. That game will resume at 1pm Sunday with a second seven-inning game to follow. The series will wrap up with a single game at a yet to be determined time Monday.
Barbara Nell (Berry) Torres died April 17, 2015 at the Rhode Island Suites, Ransom, Kansas. She was born on July 28, 1941 in Aurora, Colorado the daughter of Johnnie and Minnie Wagner Berry.
She grew up and graduated from high school in WaKeeney, Kansas where she was known by the nickname, “Bab-O”. She married Jim Yaeger, they were divorced and she eventually moved to Lubbock, Texas where she worked retail. She married Andy Torres on December 28, 1984 in Hurst, Texas. She later returned to Ransom, where she worked in the kitchen at the Grisell Memorial Hospital Long Term Care unit.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Andy Torres, her father, Johnnie Berry, her mother, Minnie Willour, and her older sister Pat Breeden. She is survived by her brothers, Mike Berry and his wife Kathy of Canton, Kansas, and Stan Berry and his wife Cindy of Ransom, numerous nieces and nephews.
In accordance with her wishes, no funeral services will be held. Cremation has taken place. Contributions may be given to Rhode Island Suites in memory of Barbara.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have put closer Greg Holland on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right pectoral muscle.
The Royals made the move before Saturday night’s game against Oakland.
Holland has four saves this season and has not allowed a hit in four scoreless innings. He has been an All-Star the last two years.
Holland had 46 saves last year in the regular season, then earned seven more in the postseason for the AL champions.
The Royals recalled right-hander Yohan Pino from Triple-A Omaha. He pitched seven scoreless innings and allowed one hit with no walks and six strikeouts last Sunday at New Orleans.
The 31-year-old Pino was 2-5 with a 5.07 ERA in 11 starts last season with the Minnesota Twins.
Kathryn L. Hoffman, 92, Hays, died Friday, April 17, 2015 at the Hays Good Samaritan Society.
She was born May 1, 1922 the daughter of Carl and Pauline (Schmidt) Staab. On June 12, 1945 she married Conrad P. “Connie” Hoffman in Victoria. He died June 8, 2000. She was a farmwife and homemaker and a member of the Daughters of Isabella and St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church. She enjoyed dancing, gardening, sewing, baking cookies, and reading to her grandchildren. Her Sunday dinners of fried chicken and butterscotch meringue pie were loved by her husband and family. She loved her morning coffee and making snacks and spending time with her grandchildren.
Survivors include three sons, Bill Hoffman and wife Jody, Robert Hoffman and wife Renee, and Curt Hoffman and wife Kaye, all of Hays, three daughters, Connie Grant and husband Robert of Hays, Bette Slepicka and husband Robert of Loveland, CO, and Luanne Theleman and husband Gene of Natoma, Kansas, seventeen grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two brothers Aloysius “Al” Staab, and Alphonse “Kelly” Staab, and nine sisters, Sister Paulita Staab, CSA, Sister Carlita Staab, CSA, Lydia Brungardt and husband Ed, Bertha Mader and husband August, Lexie Keberlein and husband Isadore, Irene Staab, Edna McColl and husband Robert, Viola Emery and husband Louis, and Pauline Ehler and husband Glenn.
Funeral services will be at 10:00 am on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at the St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church. Burial will be in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 until 8:00 pm on Monday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 on Tuesday, all at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine. A Daughters of Isabella rosary will be at 6:00 followed by a parish vigil service at 6:30, both on Monday at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to Hospice of Hays Medical Center, St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church, or to masses, in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com
Munsch shows a few of the tools utilized in his Birdhouse Project workshops, a Rubick’s Cube and Pick-Up Sticks – both symbolize how people living with grief tend to want to “pick up all the sticks” and present a “fake face” to the world while inside they may feel “chaos.”
Kris Munsch, Hays, presented his own project-based grief healing toolkit — The Birdhouse Project — to a new audience Saturday at the “Healing after Suicide” conference in Atlanta.
Munsch created The Birdhouse Project in 2009, based on his own years of self-discovery and “rebuilding” himself after his 16-year-old son, Blake, died in a car accident Dec. 23, 2005.
Munsch is used to talking to grieving parents and military families who have lost a loved one, as he has been asked to present the workshop locally and at conferences across the country for years.
However, he said the subject of suicide is not something he ever experienced, admitting he was a little hesitant when first invited to the conference.
“(Suicide) is kind of out of my expertise because I have never been there. I have never walked in those shoes,” Munsch said, adding he does believe the The Birdhouse Project is designed to help people overcome many different types of tragedies.
“What the Birdhouse does is you have life experiences and I have life experiences and they are very different. … I have never walked in your shoes and you have never walked in mine … (but) when you put the pieces of the birdhouses between us, we have commonality and we can talk about the parts,” he said.
Previous Birdhouse Projects displayed at Munsch’s home.
The idea of the Birdhouse project eventually developed after Blake died, when Munsch said he immediately wanted to pick up all the pieces and pretend everything was OK, but said to himself,“ ‘I’m not going to do that, I’m going to let those pieces lie on the floor and leave them,” he said. “I knew I needed to sort my life out, figure out who I am.”
The process of letting the “sticks lie,” Munsch said, led to years of self-discovery and even living in a car and traveling the country for a while. But he walked away with a new foundation — a goal to help others.
“In my mind, when we start to stand for something, it can make people uncomfortable and they tend to want to push us off our foundation,” he said. “They want you go back to the person you were and, in reality, you can’t when you have seen the other side.”
Munch said the power of The Birdhouse Project is participants work to build their own individual birdhouse. Each piece of the birdhouse has a question attached to it, and participants are asked to write on the piece and finish the project with the goal of learning to self-focus.
The Birdhouse Project book and workshop toolkit, written and created by Kris Munsch.
“(The project) takes what is bouncing around in their minds and it actually gives it a place. It makes grief tangible,” Munsch said.
“When I ask you ‘Who are you now in this moment?’ We can both answer that question. It takes the past out of it — maybe a specific experience of a suicide or my son dying in a car accident or a child dying from cancer,” he said. “It takes that element out … because (the project) is not really about the tragedy per se. … It’s about how can we move forward after the tragedy.”
Munsch is taking his Birdhouse Project to the annual grief support organization Compassionate Friends Conference in Dallas in July where he will also be the keynote speaker before an audience of 3,000 people.
Visit the The Birdhouse Project website for more information.
Munsch is also assistant professor of construction management at Fort Hays State University and host of Eagle Communication’s home improvement show House 2 Home, where each episode ends with an inspirational segment from Kris.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas architecture students have transformed a blighted camping vehicle into a classroom on wheels.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the renovated 1972 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht is called the KU Mobile Collaboratory. It features storage carts that can be pulled out of their spots along the edge and unfolded into tables. Benches double as storage. And countertops fold down to hold displays or up to get out of the way.
The School of Architecture, Design and Planning hopes to establish borrowing procedures so researchers and faculty can tow it around the state for public-interest projects. Possible uses for it include science lab, a dining room, an elementary classroom, a conference space and art gallery.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Whether fantasy sports leagues are predominantly won by skill or luck is taking on new meaning in Kansas as the state’s attorney general investigates their legality.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt could determine them to be primarily games of chance, and therefore illegal under the Kansas constitution. The constitution only allows the state to administer games that fit a broad definition of lottery.
Players compete in fantasy leagues by drafting digital teams using data from real athletes, and then tracking their performance during real games. Leagues and fantasy sports websites often give cash prizes to the best performing teams.
Republican Rep. Mark Kahrs from Wichita has asked the attorney general to weigh on the categorization as a bill defining fantasy sports as legal games of skill moves through the Legislature.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a Missouri police officer who was indicted in the nonfatal shooting of a suspect during an arrest last summer.
The Jackson County prosecutor’s office announced the decision to drop the case against 31-year-old Jacob Ramsey in a news release late Friday. Ramsey was indicted in February on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the June 24 shooting of 37-year-old Anthony Contreras. Police had gone to Contreras’ home to serve an arrest warrant.
His family and friends insisted at the time that he was unarmed.
However, the prosecutor’s office says that upon further investigation, the evidence no longer supported the pursuit of those charges.
Police Chief Darryl Forté said in a statement that the “right outcome” was reached.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – The home of the Dallas Cowboys will be the home to the 50th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. The 50th Annual edition of the awards event is set for Sunday night at AT&T Stadium. In the running for Entertainer of the Year are Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Florida Georgia Line. Lady Antebellum is up for vocal group of the year – competing against Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band. Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan will co-host the event, which will air on CBS.
The Fort Hays State football team wrapped up their spring drills with the annual Spring Game Saturday morning at Lewis Field. The Tigers ran 60 plays in a controlled scrimmage which did not include full tackling.
Returning quarterback Treveon Albert led the offense with a 40 yard touchdown pass to Garrett Holle on the first possession. Albert scrambled for 14 yards to keep their third possession alive. He connected with Tyler Bacon on a 21 yard pass to set up his seven-yard TD run. Albert also had a 17 yard completion to Holle which set up a Drew O’Brien field goal later in the scrimmage.
Freshman John Wilson picked off a Jacob Mezera pass near mid field and returned it for a touchdown to highlight the defense which had several starters from last year out.
Head coach Chris Brown
Quarterback Treveon Albert
The Tigers were without several returning starters on both sides of the ball. Offensive lineman Matt Erbert sat out the entire spring due to semesters. Wide receiver Isaiah Maxi was also out recovering from injury. The offense was also without quarterback Kevin Spain (hand) and running back Kenneth Iheme (leg) due to injuries suffered during practice. Junior offensive lineman Jarred Stindt and transfer running back TJ Thomas both went down with knee injuries during the scrimmage.
Defensive lineman Johnny Hubbard and Noah Debben were also held out due to injury and Daniel Lindsey did not practice this spring.
WASHINGTON, D.C.– This week, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) and Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) called on the VA Heartland Network Director raising serious concerns about the support the Network is receiving from the VA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., to resolve the ongoing issues with the operation of the emergency room at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka, Kan.
Congresswoman Jenkins and Sen. Moran first raised these concerns with then-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki in August 2013. Now – in April 2015 – the situation remains unclear due to a lack of transparency from the VA Headquarters regarding the status of the emergency room.
“We can all agree that our veterans deserve the highest quality of care possible, yet more than a year has passed and veterans are still not able to receive emergency care from Colmery-O’Neil,” Congresswoman Jenkins. “This situation is unacceptable and must be resolved immediately. Rather than more excuses and inaction from leaders at the VA in Washington, our veterans deserve results and care that is worthy of their service to our nation.”
“Veterans who have served our nation with duty and honor deserve access to quality health care when they need it,” Sen. Moran said. “Because Kansas is a rural state, many of our veterans are already forced to travel long distances to visit a VA hospital. For more than a year, Topeka veterans have been without the emergency care services they could need at any moment. We will continue to press VA leadership in Washington for answers to make certain veterans in Kansas and across the country get the care they earned.”
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing CardioVascular Surgeon Dr. Elizabeth Ashworth; and Cardiologist Dr. Rashmi Thapa, from from the DeBakey Heart Institute at HaysMed, by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
