Wrapping up its 2014-15 theatre season, the Department of Music and Theatre at Fort Hays State University will perform Charles Morey’s “Figaro” from Thursday to Sunday, April 23 to April 26, in the Felten-Start Theatre in Malloy Hall.
Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m.
“Figaro” is freely adapted from Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’s late-18th-century comedy “The Marriage of Figaro.” The title scamp is getting married in the morning, but with everyone scheming to come between him and his bride, Figaro needs help making it down the aisle. He turns to the audience to help him with his mischievous plans.
Tickets for individual theatre performances are $15 for the public and $10 for senior citizens and FHSU students with valid ID.
To purchase tickets ahead of time, contact the Department of Music and Theatre at 785-628-4533. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.
KANSAS CITY – A Kansas City man pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of taking part in five bank robberies in Kansas and Missouri according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.
Dale Williamson, 35, Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to five counts of bank robbery. In his plea, he admitted driving a getaway car in the following bank robberies.
April 24, 2014, UMB Bank, 6252 Raytown Road, Raytown, Mo.
May 12, 2014, First Bank of Missouri, 7001 North Oak Trafficway, Gladstone, Mo.
May 22, 2014, Bank of America, 15811 Metcalf Ave. Overland Park, Kan.
May 30, 2014, Commerce Bank, 9501 Antioch Road, Overland Park, Kan.
May 30, 2014, Commerce Bank, 3606 Frederick Ave., St. Joseph, Mo.
Sentencing is set for July 6. Both parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 55 months in federal prison. Grissom commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.
Seven Fort Hays State University students were arrested on Wednesday following an investigation by the Ellis County Drug Enforcement Unit, Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, Hays Police Department and University Police Department.
“We do not condone these activities by a few of our students, and their activities do not define who we are,” Dr. Mirta M. Martin, FHSU president, said in the wake of the arrests. “Our students are hard working and ethical. They act with integrity.”
The five-month long investigation resulted in the arrests on suspicion of distribution of marijuana, cocaine, prescription pills, LSD and “Mollies,” a form of MDMA drug.
The names were withheld pending charges by Ellis County Attorney Tom Drees.
“Fort Hays State will continue to strive for excellence, and we will continue to ensure our students have access to a superb education. The activities of a few students do not reflect the values of the other nearly 14,000 students, faculty or staff,” President Martin said.
University policy states that all laws — local, state and federal — concerning the possession or use of illegal drugs by any student, faculty or staff member will be strictly enforced on the campus and at any FHSU-sponsored event. In addition, the university does not permit or condone the consumption of alcoholic beverages by any individual under the age of 21 and has long recognized that an academic community is harmed in many ways by the abuse of alcohol and the use of other drugs.
The official policy states: “This high-risk behavior is exemplified by decreased productivity of members of the community, mental health problems, strained social interactions as well as forms of vandalism. Problems associated with the illicit use and abuse of substances have a pervasive impact upon our academic community and are not associated with a singular socioeconomic group or age level. The processes of education and learning are especially impaired by alcohol abuse and the use of illegal drugs.”
Fort Hays State provides education for the purpose of preventing alcohol and other drug abuses as well as educating members of the university family about the use of legal drugs in ways that are not harmful to self or others. The university provides for a reasonable level of care for alcohol and drug abusers through counseling, treatment and referral.
“We are committed to creating an environment that promotes and reinforces healthy, responsible living; respect for community laws; campus standards and regulations; the individual’s responsibility within the community; and the intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual or ethical and physical well being of its community,” President Martin said.
Good Samaritan Society – Adult Day Services at the Hadley Center, 220 E. Eighth St., Hays
On-site physical therapy has been added to the list of services provided at Good Samaritan Society Adult Day Services at the Hadley Center, 220 E. Eighth.
According to Adult Day Service Coordinator Sharon Leuenberger, the addition of physical therapy along with existing services, such as speech and occupational therapy, gives clients, their families and caregivers more options.
“Physical therapy is a great benefit. … It takes a load off the caregiver if they are having to go to physical therapy during the day, where if they are already at the day center, they can just have their therapy while they are here,” she said.
Luenberger has 10 years of experience in long-term care and recently was hired to oversee and develop the adult day care service’s daily operations.
“I think (the day services program) is a needed service in our community that expands long-term care options for seniors so they can remain in their homes longer,” she said.
Leuenberger said the facility provides a variety of care options for seniors in need of services, ranging from health monitoring, exercise, planned activities and social opportunities.
The center also provides transitional care and short-term rehabilitation for those recently discharged from the hospital.
For more information, call (785) 621-4726 or email [email protected].
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Board of Education delayed a vote on a proposal to allow unlicensed teachers in six of the state’s school districts including Concordia; Hugoton; McPherson; Kansas City, Kansas, and Blue Valley in Johnson County.
The board planned to vote on a proposal to permit unlicensed personnel to teach in six districts known as innovative districts, which operate under reduced state education regulations. The districts were created in 2013 to allow new approaches to education, mostly in rural areas that struggle to attract teachers.
More than a dozen people spoke against the proposal Thursday. They argued the plan would lower professionalism in teaching and hurt students.
Supporters say the changes would allow innovation in education. But they said they were getting more input from members of the Board of Regents and deans of colleges of educations before going forward with the proposal.
Last summer, amid startling news reports of manipulation, mismanagement and possibly death caused by failures at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Congress came together and passed legislation to overhaul veterans’ access to health care. I was proud to sponsor the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (the Choice Act), and deliver good news to veterans: They would have a choice when it comes to accessing health care they deserve, and many would have the option of seeing their local physician.
A mere six months after the Choice Act was signed into law, and only three months after veterans began to receive their Choice Cards, thousands of veterans are still struggling to access the care they were promised through the new law. This is because of the VA’s flawed implementation of the Choice Program and foolish interpretation of the 40-mile rule in the distance criteria.
When Congress passed the Choice Act, the intent was to allow veterans to access local health care if they cannot receive the VA care they need within 40 miles of their home, or their wait time for an appointment is more than 30 days.
Unfortunately, the VA decided to narrow the interpretation of the 40-mile rule, choosing to take into account only the distance of a VA medical facility from a veteran’s home and not whether the VA facility can actually provide the services the veteran needs. Veterans are being told they cannot use their Choice Cards because they live within 40 miles of a VA facility, even though that facility does not offer the care they require. The VA is denying access the law was intended to provide and forcing veterans – especially rural veterans – to choose between traveling hours to a VA medical facility, paying out of pocket or going without care altogether.
In Hays, for example, a veteran is forced to drive 200 miles several times a month for routine cortisone shots because the VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) just 25 miles from his home does not offer the shots he needs. One would think this veteran could use his Choice Card to visit a local physician or local hospital to get treatment – but the VA is denying access to this care. Thousands of veterans across the country are facing this same frustration.
Why is common sense not prevailing at the VA? Why is the VA not bending over backwards to take care of veterans?
In the absence of VA action, I am working in the Senate to make certain veterans are not dismissed or forgotten just because of where they live – and we are making progress. In a rare 100-to-0 vote on the Senate Floor on March 26, 2015, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed my amendment (#356) to the Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 11) calling on the VA to provide veterans access to non-VA health care when the nearest VA medical facility within 40 miles drive time from a veteran’s home is incapable of offering the care sought by the veteran.
This amendment mirrors bipartisan legislation I’ve introduced called the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 (S. 207), which is cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 19 Senators. The bill has been endorsed by numerous veterans’ organizations including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Guard Association of the United States, as well as the National Rural Health Association.
I am hopeful the strong support conveyed by the Senate’s recent passage of Amendment #356 will encourage consideration of S. 207 by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and a vote on the Senate Floor in the very near future.
As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I have questioned VA Secretary Bob McDonald and other VA officials for months in hearings, personal meetings, phone calls and correspondence about the VA’s flawed interpretation of the 40-mile rule and what can be done to fix the problem. For some reason, the VA refuses to use the authority Congress gave it and put the best interest of veterans first.
Enough is enough. This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democrat issue. This is an American issue that mostly calls for common sense.
When Congress passed the Choice Act, we called on the VA to live up to its commitment to care for those who have sacrificed for our country – I will not back down. We ought to always err on the side of what is best for the veteran, not what is best for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., is a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
A lineman injured by an electrical shock Wednesday in south Hays has been released from Via Christi in Wichita.
“We expect he will have a full recovery,” Midwest Energy said in a statement Friday. “Thank you to everyone who offered thoughts, prayers and words of support. It is sincerely appreciated!”
The incident occurred at approximately 11:15 a.m. Wednesday when a four-man crew was working on a pad mount transformer in Countrywide Estates. The name of the lineman was not released by Midwest.
“Person-centered care” is the topic of the Full Circle Aging Expo training conference for professionals, and tomorrow is the deadline to register to take advantage of up to 7 CEU’s of continuing education credit.
The Full Circle training track for professionals is a joint project of K-State Research and Extension, the Northwest Kansas Area Agency on Aging and the Department of Health and Human Performance at Fort Hays State University. The professional conference will be held on Friday, April 24, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Colby Community College student union.
The cost for the all-day professional training conference is $85 if registered or postmarked by April 17th. Late registration after April 17 is an additional $20. Half-day registration options are also available. Conference registration includes CEU costs.
Continuing education credits are pre-approved for administrators, dental, dietitians, resident care, and pending for nurses and social workers.
The full program brochure and registration information is available online at www.northwest.ksu.edu/fullcircle. Interested professionals may also request a program brochure at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays. A minimum and maximum attendance policy is in place for this training session, so pre-registration is required.
The Full Circle professional training will provide in-depth programs geared for those actively working with the elderly. Sessions are designed to provide participants with information and tools that they can take back to the workplace and implement immediately.
Regardless of the patient’s cognitive ability, person-centered care is the current trend in providing healthcare. Person-centered care promotes choice, purpose and meaning in daily life. This focus honors the importance of keeping the person at the center of the care planning and decision-making process.
Speakers for the Full Circle professional conference come from varied backgrounds and professional arenas. Sessions will cover PEAK 2.0, palliative care, assessing depression in the elderly, resident choice for home environment and meaningful life, stress management in the workplace for professional caregivers, and how to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue.
Plan to attend this unique educational and networking experience. Professionals will leave the event with cutting-edge information, resources and tools to use in aging services.
To register or for questions, contact the K-State Research and Extension Northwest Area Office (http://www.northwest.ksu.edu/fullcircle) for registration, program and CEU information at (785) 462-6281.
Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
We are giving away the Chicken Soup for the Soul book “Be The Best You Can Be.”
Listen to Theresa Trapp April 13- 17 for chances to call 785-628-2995 to win. Random callers will win a copy of the book instantly. No age requirement to win.
Winners will need to pick up their book at the KZ Country Studio, 2300 Hall, Hays, KS within 30 days of winning.
Remember, one win per person per contest in 30 days.
Winner 4/13/15: Maria Rohr!
Winner 4/14/15: Peggy Klaus!
Winner 4/15/15: Kim Zeman!
Winner 4/16/15: Judy Arnold!
Winner 4/17/15: Monty Brown!
Self-esteem, tolerance, good values – these are gifts that will last children a lifetime and help them become successful adults. These stories, great for kids to discuss with parents and teachers, help them be the best they can be.
This collection shows kids positive role models to follow in its stories about making good choices, having confidence, and doing the right thing. Parents and grandparents will enjoy discussing the stories with children, making it a family event. Great for teachers to share with students, too.
This book harnesses the power of storytelling to inspire and teach kids, while also entertaining them. Key issues such as bullying, tolerance, and values are addressed in stories selected from Chicken Soup for the Soul’s vast library and represent the best on these topics from the company’s 22-year history.
This book is a joint project of Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Boniuk Foundation, which are working together to promote tolerance, respect, and compassion, inspiring young people and adults to embrace their differences, reject stereotypes, and make good choices. It’s part of a larger effort that includes additional books for teens, college students, parents, and grandparents, as well as a family television show every Saturday morning starting in October.
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) — Like many farmers, the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame struggles to hold on from one year to the next.
After being closed last year except for special events, the 50-year-old hall in Bonner Springs will reopen this weekend, thanks to a financial windfall, volunteers and a new executive director.
Board president Clausie Smith says this will be a pivotal year for the center, which opened in 1965 and has struggled financially for years. He says the board will work on a strategic plan that will be the basis for a campaign to bring in new exhibits and increased programming.
The Kansas City Star reports the sale of 5 acres last year allowed the organization to pay off some of its debts and provide cash sufficient to reopen.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signs a welfare reform measure that takes effect July 1. CREDIT JIM MCLEAN / HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
By DAVE RANNEY
Approximately 350 low-income families will be dropped from the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program after a new welfare reform measure takes effect July 1, state officials said Thursday.
The measure, signed into law Thursday by Gov. Sam Brownback, lowers families’ lifetime eligibility for TANF from 48 months to 36.
Families that have reached or exceeded the 36-month threshold when the law takes effect will be cut from the program. They will remain eligible for food stamps but will lose their cash assistance.
“This means people are going to have to find someplace else to make up for the resources they’ll be losing, things like rent and utilities,” said Richard Jackson, executive director at the East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corporation, a nine-county anti-poverty program based in Ottawa.
“We’ll help them all that we can, but our resources are limited — just like they’re limited in every community across the state,” Jackson said. “By no stretch of the imagination can programs like ours be expected to make up for what’s being lost here.”
Jackson called the new law “mean-spirited.”
Brownback and Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Phyllis Gilmore disagreed. The new law, they said, is meant to encourage families to wean themselves from government welfare programs.
“The goal is to end families’ dependence on government,” Gilmore said, adding that she thought it was “insulting” for critics of the new law to imply that families on TANF could not be “empowered to take control of their lives by encouraging work.”
Brownback said that welfare programs “fail the poor by keeping them in cycles of dependency.”
TANF recipients are prohibited from spending their cash assistance on alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, pornography, lingerie, tattoos, body piercings, fortune-telling sessions or cruises.
ATM withdrawals from cash assistance accounts are limited to $25 a day.
While on TANF, able-bodied parents are required to work at least 20 hours a week, apply for jobs or participate in job-training programs. Those who don’t will be dropped from the program.
Adults who fail to meet the work requirements will lose both their TANF eligibility and their food stamps.
Adults who are found to have committed welfare fraud will be banned from TANF for the rest of their lives.
Adults convicted of two drug felonies will be permanently ineligible for food stamps.
New mothers are expected to return to work three months after their babies are born.
Gilmore said that while denying food stamps for someone who’s addicted to drugs “may seem harsh to some,” she was confident that “felons can work, they can get jobs; there are other ways to get food.”
DCF, she said, will monitor the effects of the $25-a-day limit on cash assistance withdrawal and, if warranted, propose changes in the law before next year’s legislative session.
Advocates for the poor have said the limit will interfere with some families’ abilities to pay their rent and utilities, which many pay in cash or with money orders purchased with cash withdrawn from their assistance accounts.
“This creates an additional barrier for low-income families that are already trying to balance lives on a very limited amount of money,” said Karen Wulfkuhle, executive director at United Community Services of Johnson County. “It’s just going to make already difficult lives that much more difficult.”
According to DCF reports, the average per-person cash assistance benefit is $114 per month and the average food stamp benefit is $113 per month.
Brownback said the primary objective of the law is to get people off welfare and into “well-paying jobs” or job training. He said Kansas families shouldn’t rely on the “pittance” they can get from the government.
When Brownback took office, Gilmore said, state programs that help welfare recipients get jobs were languishing.
“It was minimal,” she said. “It had not had focus. But we just built it up with our staff.”
Last year, Gilmore said, the revitalized program helped approximately 6,000 welfare recipients get jobs.
Gilmore said the work requirements in the law will serve to motivate Kansans receiving assistance to become self-sufficient.
“A person has the right to refuse to work, but the taxpayer also has a right to not support that person,” she said. “We have an obligation to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. And these are policies that help everyone win.”
Other states, Gilmore said, are likely to follow Kansas’ lead.
“(This) bill represents the most comprehensive welfare reform legislation passed by any state,” she said. “We encourage other states to look to Kansas on how to help end government dependency.”
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Funeral services for former Weskan, Kansas, resident Irena Swartz, 88, will be held Saturday, April 18, 10:00 AM MT at Weskan Bible Church in Weskan, Kansas.
Friends may share respects Saturday prior to the service at the church.
Interment will be Tuesday, April 21, 10:00 AM CT at Ransom Cemetery in Ransom, Kansas.
Memorials to American Cancer Society may be left at the services or mailed to Koons Funeral Home, 211 North Main, Goodland, KS 67735-1555.
FHSU University Relations
