WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former information systems director has admitted stealing more than $1.2 million from a company which owns assisted living centers in Kansas and Missouri.
A court filing Thursday shows Brent Shryock of Augusta pleaded guilty Wednesday to mail fraud in a deal with prosecutors for a proposed 36-month prison sentence. He also agreed to forfeit real estate, vehicles and other property. His sentencing is Aug. 6.
His wife, Lori Shryock, is scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing May 22.
The indictment alleges the crimes were committed while Brent Shryock was employed as information systems director for Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America. He was in charge of purchasing equipment.
Prosecutors say the couple created four fictitious companies to submit fraudulent invoices. Among them was LGR Technologies, which stood for Let’s Get Rich Technology.
Since Sam Brownback was elected governor in 2010, the model state for Kansas has been Texas. No surprise there. Texas has made a no-income-tax model work for some time, and Brownback’s close personal friendship with former Texas Gov. Rick Perry means the two share plenty of ideas.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
But “Brownback’s Bros” is a trio instead of a duo. Louisiana’s governor, Bobby Jindal, makes the third member of the low-tax party. If we look to Texas for guidance, we should also look to Louisiana as a cautionary tale.
Two years before Brownback took Cedar Crest, Jindal won the Governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Jindal proposed the biggest tax cut in the state’s history. Jindal’s rallying cry was a bit different than Brownback’s mostly because Louisiana was flush with oil revenue and that flow of cash promised to offset the tax cuts. But a sluggish recovery and dropping oil prices have put the brakes on Jindal’s economic supercharger. Now Louisiana faces a $1.6 billion shortfall.
Jindal refuses to consider any sort of revenue enhancements, and two weeks ago publicly vowed to veto the entire state budget if any tax increases were included. Jindal wants to cut, and is doing so with zeal. Higher education will bear the cruelest brunt of the cuts, to the tune of nearly $300 million, and state flagship Louisiana State University will take the hardest hit of them all with roughly eighty percent of their state funding being lost under Jindal’s plan. In anticipation of the draconian cuts, LSU has drafted a plan for financial exigency, which allows it to bypass due process mechanisms and make deep cuts to salaried employee rolls. Fewer professors, larger classes, less student interaction. In other words, will the last one out the door please leave a steak for Mike the Tiger?
If “The Ballad of Bobby Jindal” sounds familiar it may be because its second act is playing out here. Governor Brownback’s plan was remarkably similar to Jindal’s. Jindal got a head start, but Brownback is catching up quickly. Kansas is not in Louisiana’s hole yet, but a roughly $800 million revenue gap since the income tax rate started dropping is no reason to issue a self-congratulatory press release. Louisiana whistles while Rome burns. Kansas knows the house is already on fire.
But will we look at the charred ashes of Louisiana’s experiment and decide to tread a different path, or now go headlong into the breach knowing what is coming? If LSU can be cut eighty percent by the state, then Kansas might be forced to do the same, or even extend drastic cuts to K-12 education. Will we heed the warnings from Bayou country?
Governor Brownback has an opportunity to be a hero now. The plan to attract new business and residents to Kansas was laudable, but the tax cuts did not leave enough money to fund education. The Governor has tried to paper over the cracks with block grants, but shuffling how money is distributed doesn’t add money.
New revenues are needed. Low taxes are beneficial, when feasible. Legislators in Topeka are working on tax plans that would bring some revenue in to cover the shortfall. Sales taxes seem to be the default strategy in the legislature, and interestingly enough Governor Brownback’s initial draft of the Glide Path to Zero included sales tax make-goods for the revenue reduction off of lower income taxes.
If Governor Brownback wants to avoid the disastrous legacy being left by his friend Jindal, he must be willing to sign the new taxes put forth by the state legislature. If so, he can fulfill his commitment to schools and his promise to lower taxes. If not, he could wreak the same kind of havoc here that Jindal has done to Louisiana.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — The mayor of Manhattan says she supports adding sexual orientation as a protected class to the city’s anti-discrimination hiring policy.
Mayor Karen McCulloh told the city commission this week that adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes would be a positive for many citizens.
The Manhattan Mercury reports Commissioner Usha Reddi noted other major groups in Manhattan, such as Fort Riley, the Manhattan-Ogden School District and Kansas State University already have sexual orientation as a protected class in their hiring policies.
Commissioner Mike Dodson said he wants to know more about any potential legal ramifications before amending the policy.
And Commissioner Wynn Butler said he would like to see evidence that a problem existed.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Passengers will be able to board larger airplanes on some flights out of Manhattan Regional Airport beginning in September.
Airport Director Peter Van Kuren told the Manhattan City Commission Tuesday that American Airlines will begin using planes with 65 seats or more on Sept. 9. The planes will be used on at least 25 of its 90 monthly round-trip flights out of Manhattan.
The Manhattan Mercury reports construction on the second phase of an airport terminal expansion project should begin in June. The first phase was essentially completed in February. The project will more than triple the size of the old terminal once it is finished.
Phase two will include a space for people waiting for arriving passengers, a restaurant, a gift shop and a baggage claim area.
Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute.
Legal battles over when and where to draw the church-state line on school endorsement of religion can be a nightmare for administrators, a headache for judges and a payday for lawyers.
Consider the recent lawsuit in Lubbock, Texas over an advertisement a company called Little Pencil wanted to display during the football games played at the local high school.
The ad featured a depiction of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns with words like “outcast,” “addicted” and “jealous” tattooed across his upper body (symbolizing the belief that Jesus took on the sins of the world).
The owner of Little Pencil, David Miller, figured that if you want to reach kids with a biblical message, the jumbotron in the local high school football stadium is probably an effective place to advertise — especially in the state of Texas where religious fervor can reach fever pitch on Friday nights.
But school officials rejected Miller’s ad, worried that the religious message would be perceived as being endorsed by the school in violation of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. Administrators also argued that the image contradicted the school’s policy banning students from having visible tattoos.
Miller sued, claiming that school officials had violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. In March, Miller lost his case when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision in favor of the school district. (Little Pencil, LLC v. Lubbock Independent School District)
The court ruled that it was reasonable for the district to worry about the appearance of crossing the line separating church and state if the tattooed Jesus was displayed on the jumbotron.
Meanwhile in California, a state court of appeals handed down a decision in Sedlock v. Baird, another case involving the appearance of school endorsement of religion — with a very different result.
At issue in Sedlock were yoga classes taught in the Encinitas, California school district. A group of parents sued, charging that teaching yoga in public schools is unconstitutional state promotion of religion.
To avoid any appearance of school endorsement of religion, Encinitas school officials had stripped the yoga courses of Sanskrit terms and eliminated all references to the religious origins and meanings of yoga postures.
Although the objecting parents argued that yoga is inherently religious and cannot be separated from its Hindu roots, the court sided with school officials. Yoga as practiced in the school, the court ruled, is secular in purpose and effect — and therefore doesn’t rise to the level of state establishment of religion.
Whatever you think of the result in these two cases — and reasonable people can disagree about what constitutes school endorsement of religion — you can take comfort in the fact that school officials in both communities appear to be trying hard not to take sides in religion.
That’s good news because government neutrality toward religion is an essential condition of religious freedom — especially in public schools where impressionable young people are a captive audience.
For better and for worse, messy, wacky cases about tattoos and yoga postures are a necessary and inevitable part of upholding the First Amendment in our pluralistic democracy.
Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Newseum Institute and executive director of the Religious Freedom Center. [email protected]
The property, at the intersection of 43rd and Vine, will be the home of a retail outlet being development by Tebo Properties. The only public business signed on to operate at the location is Pasta Jay’s, an Italian restaurant that also operates in Colorado and Utah.
City staff is recommending approval of the final plat.
Click HERE for a complete agenda, including maps and information about the Tebo project.
Photo by Andy Marso Rep. Dennis Hedke, chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee, speaks at a news conference about an agreement between the wind industry and opponents of the state’s renewable energy standards. At left is Gov. Sam Brownback, and at right are Sen. Susan Wagle and Kimberly Svaty, a lobbyist for the wind coalition.
By ANDY MARSO
When Gov. Sam Brownback announced an agreement last week between the wind industry and opponents of the state’s renewable energy standards, most of the attention focused on the renewable energy mandate becoming a voluntary “goal.”
But rolling back the renewable energy standards largely was a symbolic win for opponents of the standards. The buildup of wind power has most of the state’s utility companies already past the final requirement of 20 percent of peak capacity from renewable sources by 2020.
From a policy standpoint, the more consequential part of the pact is the wind industry agreeing to a 10-year cap on property tax exemptions for devices that generate renewable energy. That change would go into effect Jan. 1, 2017, if the bill, which was in a conference committee Tuesday, passes the Senate.
Under current law, the exemption is good for as long as the device generates energy. Rep. John Carmichael, a Democrat from Wichita, said the Dec. 31, 2016, deadline for the full exemption could set up Kansas for a temporary turbine-building boom.
“There may be a window here where the wind industry could put some substantial assets and growth into Kansas real quick in order to take care of a lifetime of the project tax exemption,” Carmichael said. But Kimberly Svaty, a lobbyist for the wind coalition, cautioned against expecting too much of a boom — or the resulting bust afterward.
The Dec. 31, 2016, date was put into place largely to protect seven wind projects already in process. The developers on those projects signed purchase agreements with public utilities to buy wind energy at a fixed price for 20 years and expect the lifetime exemption.
Other new projects would have to secure a permit from their county or complete a filing with the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals to qualify. Neither is quick or easy, Svaty said, making it unlikely there will be a rush of new builds in the next 18 months.
“Might there be one or two projects that will come under that? Potentially,” Svaty said. “But they will be well-vetted projects and projects that are moving forward. More than likely, anyway.”
An $8 billion force
Svaty said the lifetime property tax exemption was enacted when few expected the state’s wind industry to become its current $8 billion force.
The 10-year tax abatement brings it more in line with what other energy sources enjoy, removing one more grievance for those who say state officials have distorted the market by favoring renewable energy sources over fossil fuels.
Those grievances were voiced frequently at the Statehouse by lobbying groups like the Kansas Chamber and Americans for Prosperity and shared by influential lawmakers like Rep. Dennis Hedke, chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee, and Sen. Rob Olson, chairman of the Senate Utilities Committee.
The near-annual attempts to repeal the renewable energy standards worried investors as they decided whether to put their capital into Kansas wind projects. But what really spooked them, Svaty said, was when legislators introduced a bill this session to levy a 4.33 percent excise tax on renewable energy.
Facing a budget crisis, legislators are likely to put together a tax increase package and vote on it with little warning. In that atmosphere of uncertainty, Svaty said, the hearing on the renewable energy excise tax bill had the effect of “completely destabilizing the investment environment.” “Developers and investors, where they had been concerned before, were getting very seriously concerned,” Svaty said.
So in exchange for assurances that the excise tax would not be enacted, wind industry advocates agreed to soften the renewable energy standards and cap the property tax exemption at 10 years. After 10 years, renewable energy devices will be taxed as commercial property, which is a lower rate than public utilities.
Hedke said the 10-year limit is meant to bring renewable sources more in line with fossil fuels with regards to property taxes. The threat of an excise tax played a minimal role in the talks, he said. “Excise tax never really got very far, so I don’t see it as a major component of the agreement,” Hedke said. “I think the balancing of the property tax world was the main driver.”
‘Fabulous growth’
At a news conference last week, Brownback — flanked by Svaty on one side and Olson, Hedke and lobbyists for Americans for Prosperity and Koch Industries on the other — hailed it as a major compromise that would help the wind industry continue to grow. “It’s been fabulous growth, it’s been a tremendous investment in the state of Kansas in renewable energy and more to come,” Brownback said. “This agreement … further solidifies and stabilizes the policy environment so that the investment can move on forward in the state of Kansas.”
During a House debate a few days later, Rep. Boog Highberger, a Democrat from Lawrence, likened the agreement to the kind of compromise that happens when someone is mugged at gunpoint. “You get your life, and they get your money,” he said. “It’s kind of a compromise, I guess.”
Environmental advocacy groups also panned the deal, saying the wind industry capitulated on measurable policy gains in exchange for promises that may not be kept. When the hosts of the news conference were asked what assurances the bill gives that the excise tax won’t be proposed again next year if the state has budget problems, there was a lengthy pause. “We’re not going to have budget problems next year,”
Brownback said. Jeff Deyette is a senior energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that favors renewable energy as a way to ameliorate the effects of global climate change. If the bill keeps the excise tax off the table, Deyette said, then the Kansas wind industry made a decent deal.
The renewable energy standards, while a symbol the industry wanted to keep, were largely symbolic, he said. And limiting the property tax exemption to 10 years should not kill a wind industry that has gained an $8 billion foothold in Kansas. “While it’s a step backward for the industry in terms of what they have now, a 10-year grace period is still significant,” Deyette said. “It’s still going to provide long- term certainty.
It’s not going to change the economics of a long-term wind project that substantially.” Deyette said the 10-year limit was more likely to have a profound effect on less established industries, like solar. “If that doesn’t get extended, that would be the real point where you’d see more of the bust cycle — if there’s going to be one — in any solar activity,” he said. Highberger put it in more stark terms.
“This is potentially devastating to the residential solar industry,” he said.
Solar struggles
Darlene Redden, owner of Azimuth Solar Energy in Kingman, said most states offer a permanent property tax exemption for solar energy — and some offer other incentives as well. “We are barely, as an industry in this state, hanging on by a thread,” Redden said.
“The costs have come down, but it’s still extraordinarily expensive, and because there’s no other incentives in the state, we’re struggling. If they take away the one thing that keeps us level with the nation, we’re in trouble, and big trouble at that.”
Hedke said he had not studied solar issues thoroughly but was aware that Kansas gets a lot of sunshine compared to other states. “Maybe individual people will be thinking harder about that investment with this legislation,” said Hedke, a contract geophysicist who has worked for oil and natural gas companies.
“But again I think the big picture is, it is unfair to the consumer out there to carve out (renewable energy sources) and not have a relatively level playing field on a tax basis.”
Annual reports from the Kansas Corporation Commission have found the renewable energy standards responsible for about 2 percent of rate increases since they went into effect in 2010. Travis Creswell, owner of Ozark Energy Services in Joplin, Mo., said demand for solar installations remains fairly reliant on incentives.
For example, he’s ramping up the solar side of his business right now because a local utility company is offering a rebate for customers who install solar. Creswell said those kind of rebates are more important incentives than property tax relief. The bill under consideration in Kansas isn’t likely to hurt his bottom line, he said, because his company doesn’t do much business in the state.
Redden said she wants to be part of a solar revolution in Kansas. With lots of sunshine, even during cold days when solar works more efficiently, Kansas has the fifth-best solar energy potential of any state. Redden lived in the state most of her life before moving to Colorado to get an associate’s degree in solar energy technology.
After graduating she spent two years working in Colorado, where she enjoyed rebates and incentives that supported the solar industry. But the pull of home was too strong, so she moved back to Kansas. For the last two years Redden has tried to build a residential solar business in the area west of Wichita, where the state has some of its strongest solar power potential.
While she said the move wasn’t a smart move from a business perspective, she still believes solar could be a new source of jobs and clean energy for Kansas. “We’ve got everything,” Redden said. “But the state (government) is not friendly, and that’s kind of heartbreaking.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Rehabilitation of the crosswind runway at the Hays Regional Airport will be reviewed by Hays City Commissioners during their meeting tonight.
City staff is recommending the low bid from National Sealant & Concrete, Wisconsin, for $651,672. It is contingent upon Federal Aviation Administration grant funding.
According to Hays Assistant City Manager Paul Briseno, approximately 90 percent of the cost would be reimbursed by the FAA, with the city responsible for the remaining 10 percent.
All the National Sealant & Concrete bids are below the engineer’s estimates.
Other agenda items include an extension of allowable watering hours for newly seeded warm season lawns, which requires a permit, and a resolution authorizing the sale of general obligation bonds for completed improvements in the Golden Belt Estates 5th Addition and the 46th Street 2nd Addition.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight in Hays City Hall.
TOKYO (AP) — Honda Motor Co. is recalling an additional 4.89 million vehicles around the world for a new type of problem in Takata air bag inflators, for which Japanese rivals Toyota and Nissan have already carried out recalls.
Honda also announced a global recall for 47,800 Acura and other model vehicles for a defect in the radar system designed to make cars safer to drive by stopping automatically before crashes.
With Thursday’s announcement, the recalls over the Takata Corp. air bag inflator problems have ballooned to 19.6 million vehicles for Honda.
In the latest problem, a leak can happen while the vehicle is in use, causing a rupture, and the air bag could explode, according to Honda. The earlier recalls were for exploding inflators in air bags.
MANHATTAN — The Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship at Kansas State University has selected 14 high-potential startup ventures for participation in the university’s second Launch a Business program, powered by KS State Bank.
The selected businesses will take part in a five-session summer program, receiving much-needed resources, including faculty-led courses, hands-on student research teams and access to the university’s world-class alumni mentor network. The Launch a Business, or LAB, program is specifically intended for early-stage companies and will provide the building blocks for turning a concept into a successful venture.
The LAB program will take place from May 28 to June 25. Program organizers invite all alumni and supporters of the university and the regional startup ecosystem to a closing celebration on June 25 at the K-State Alumni Center. The event will feature presentations from all program participants and the public will be asked to vote for an overall winner of the program.
“K-State LAB is designed to support promising entrepreneurs with the university’s unique resources to help advance their business concept and ultimately create jobs in Kansas,” said Chad Jackson, director of the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship. “I was thrilled with the overwhelming support and interest we received in the program’s first year, and I look forward to working with these entrepreneurs and making year No. 2 even better.”
Criteria for selection included identifying a real problem and an innovative solution, demonstrating the drive to succeed and ability to incorporate feedback, and showing commitment to the idea and the Launch a Business program.
The following 14 startup ventures were chosen for the 2015 class:
• F3 Enterprises, Colby, strives to provide organic fish and vegetables grown in a symbiotic, recirculating ecosystem.
• Spray Mark, Colby, offers a commercial sprayer that has a patented foam marking system and a regulator valve that can be used in many applications, including lawn service, golf courses, school districts and farm use among many other possibilities.
• Harvest Homes, El Dorado, a dementia-specific home that will give residents a familylike atmosphere to age in peace.
• Obermeyer Heritage Farms, Gypsum, a natural farming and gardening business that will use only heirloom types of vegetables and heritage breeds of livestock. Their mission is to raise awareness of these varieties, help people eat healthier and become more self-sufficient by means of workshops, literature and one-on-one assistance.
• America’s Best Steaks, Hill City, was founded by beefeaters, for beefeaters. The company produces naturally tender beef steak at a reasonable price by using grandpa’s technique of dry-aging that is combined with modern technology.
• Acre Designs, Kansas City, is reinventing the American home to be sustainable, smart and affordable. Its designs, processes and technology are focused on delivering more value to homeowners, while streamlining operations for its network of builders.
• Eck Fabrication, Kingman, a metal fabrication company that uses manufacturing capabilities to develop new and innovative products.
• Can-Coctions, Manhattan, combines recreation and innovation with its’ product, the Can-Panion Cup Holder, which allows you to take your favorite beverage along in any sit-inside kayak or canoe that comes with or without a cup holder.
• Liquid Art Winery and Estate, Manhattan, will consist of a full production winery, vineyard, tasting room and event center to hold up to 375 guests. Liquid Art will be the first to solely produce vitis vinifera grapes in the Midwest, and will be coming to the Manhattan area in 2015.
• Vapor Works, Manhattan, is entering the drone industry, building electronic controls for different types of remotely piloted aircraft.
• Kitchen4Hire, Salina, is a shared-use licensed commercial kitchen that will provide an incubator environment for food entrepreneurs growing their business and for community partners who provide food preparation and preservation education.
• AEGLE Health, Shawnee, is the inventor and producer of the NattoBar, an organic superfood and health bar. NattoBar is a registered trademark.
• Alvoru Clothing, Shawnee, is designed for women who want feminine, classic and comfortable clothes that provide balance with challenges of hormonal fluctuations that cause hot flashes and night sweats.
• Vigilias Telemedicine, Wichita, plans to improve medical services and access to care in rural communities by making tertiary-level consultants and medical providers available through telemedicine.
John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.
Professor Bill Brett was a wonderful lecturer. He filled the blackboard with meaningful and organized notes. Then, while erasing the board, he asked us questions.
Somehow he could always detect who had not paid attention or who did not understand.
Since I was a “field kid” growing up, I knew a lot of biology. So I never got called on!
One day he was explaining clam shells and bone tissue. He got to the end of the blackboard and asked “Where would I find an example of calcium carbonate?” as he began erasing.
So, I diverted my eyes downward and avoided his gaze as he scanned the class.
“Mr. Schrock”—he called on me!
“The chalk in your hand, sir,” I crisply replied.
The immediacy of my reply caught Dr. Brett off guard. For a moment, he stopped erasing.
“You did that to me,” he smiled.
“Yes, sir,” I confessed.
The rest of the class did not have the least idea what we were talking about. I had baited him to call on me.
Have you ever wondered how teachers can always pick out the student in class who does not know the answer?
Yes, it is the eyes.
Today, when I visit student teachers, I do not sit at the back of class to watch them. And I don’t want a videotape of them teaching. I sit forward enough in class that I can look back and see what the teacher is responding to. How many kids are getting “Ah ha’s” in their eyes, as they now understand something that they formerly did not. How many students eyes show they are totally lost. “Huh?” is also obvious in their eyes? And do my student teachers then use this information to adjust their explanation on the spot. Perhaps they call upon a student whose eyes show that they do know, to re-explain for those who do not?
Teachers can “read eyes” back five or six seats in each row. That is what makes a regular classroom very efficient. But students sitting in a large lecture hall beyond those first five rows might as well not be there. Unable to see the students’ eyes, the teacher cannot adjust the message to be sure those distant students understand the message.
Distance learning? Same problem. Not enough resolution. When time-consuming feedback mechanisms have to be used, the efficient flow of the message and the group train of thought are lost.
There is science behind this skill. Fifty years ago, in the April 1965 Scientific American, Eckhard Hess described how pupil size revealed ongoing mental activity in “Attitude and Pupil Size.” Using the technology of that time, his experiments measured how pupil response “is a measure of interest, emotion, thought processes and attitudes.” Just airbrushing the pupils on a girl’s photo made a dramatic difference in male’s judgements; large pupils revealing interest while small pupils meant no date tonight.
They extended this to spelling and math problems. Recite a simple math problem to a person—a problem they can do in a few seconds in their mind—and watch their eyes. Their pupils dilate as they work it out and the split second they arrive at the answer but just before they say it, the pupils constrict.
As Aristotle said millennia ago, the eyes are the windows to the mind.
I describe this art of teaching and the instantaneous reading of students’ eyes because there are new digital education fads that claim to be a breakthrough in evaluating whether students are learning. Similar to most digital distractions, they ignore current good teaching practices and offer a poor substitute at many times the cost.
Customized online evaluation systems are now being hawked to universities and public schools to provide feedback from students. But it is a day late and costs dollars more.
But any parent who wants to really know their child’s understanding has always been able to determine that in a few seconds, and for free.
Similar to good teachers, they just say: “Look me in the eye and tell me.”
