June 2015 – Page 81 – Hays Post Archive

Victoria woman hospitalized after Jeep reportedly runs stop sign

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

VICTORIA — A woman from Victoria was injured in an accident just before 12:30 p.m. Thursday in Ellis County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Joan I. Ostmeyer, 63, Hays, was on the Interstate 70 eastbound exit 168 off-ramp.

The KHP reported the vehicle failed to yield at a stop sign and struck a 2013 Chevy Equinox driven by Elizabeth M. Haynes, 33, Victoria, that was northbound on Kansas 255.

Haynes, Ostmeyer and three children in the Jeep were not injured.

A passenger in the Jeep, Mary K. Tranco, 58, Victoria, was transported to Hays Medical Center.

All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

New plan emerges for raising taxes to balance Kansas budget

Posted on June 4, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislative negotiators have drafted a proposal for balancing the state budget by increasing the sales tax and suspending the state’s “march to zero” on income taxes.

Three senators and three House members agreed Thursday on a plan that would raise the sales tax to 6.65 percent from 6.15 percent in July but drop the rate on food in January to 5.9 percent. Tobacco taxes also would rise.

The House could vote on the measure later Thursday.

The plan would raise $432 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1 to close a budget shortfall that arose after lawmakers cut income taxes in 2012 and 2013. Legislators also committed to eventually phasing out income taxes.

The plan would allow income tax cuts in 2019 and 2020 but not after that.

Storm does damage in Central Kansas UPDATE

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

Storm damage on the Chad Brummer farm west of Tipton -photos Troy Brummer

The National Weather Service has confirmed at least three tornadoes touched down in North Central Kansas on Wednesday night. Two of those hit the Tipton area in Mitchell County.

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OSBORNE COUNTY -A strong storm surprised residents just after 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday in eastern Osborne County.

The storm caused damage to four or five rural homes just west of Tipton according to Osborne County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Knouf.

“A lot of trees and several outbuildings were twisted and a couple of semis overturned along 181 highway,” Knouf said.

The storm knocked out power to the Chad and Candace Brummer residence and many others along the Osborne Mitchell County line. “We were fortunate,” said Candace Brummer. “Our electricity was out until just after noon Thursday but our home and all of our animals are fine,” she said.

There were no injuries reported and no confirmation that it was a tornado.

EPA releases draft assessment on potential impacts to drinking water resources from fracking

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

$fracking-happening$ WASHINGTON–The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing a draft assessment today on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water resources in the United States.

The assessment, done at the request of Congress, shows that while hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources, there are potential vulnerabilities in the water lifecycle that could impact drinking water.

The assessment follows the water used for hydraulic fracturing from water acquisition, chemical mixing at the well pad site, well injection of fracking fluids, the collection of hydraulic fracturing wastewater (including flowback and produced water), and wastewater treatment and disposal [https://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/hydraulic-fracturing-water-cycle].

“EPA’s draft assessment will give state regulators, tribes and local communities and industry around the country a critical resource to identify how best to protect public health and their drinking water resources,” said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, EPA’s Science Advisor and Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “It is the most complete compilation of scientific data to date, including over 950 sources of information, published papers, numerous technical reports, information from stakeholders and peer-reviewed EPA scientific reports.”

EPA’s review of data sources available to the agency found specific instances where well integrity and waste water management related to hydraulic fracturing activities impacted drinking water resources, but they were small compared to the large number of hydraulically fractured wells across the country. The report provides valuable information about potential vulnerabilities, some of which are not unique to hydraulic fracturing, to drinking water resources, but was not designed to be a list of documented impacts.

These vulnerabilities to drinking water resources include:

water withdrawals in areas with low water availability
hydraulic fracturing conducted directly into formations containing drinking water resources
inadequately cased or cemented wells resulting in below ground migration of gases and liquids
inadequately treated wastewater discharged into drinking water resources
spills of hydraulic fluids and hydraulic fracturing wastewater, including flowback and produced water

Also released today were nine peer-reviewed EPA scientific reports. These reports were a part of EPA’s overall hydraulic fracturing drinking water study and contributed to the findings outlined in the draft assessment. Over 20 peer-reviewed articles or reports were published as part of this study [https://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/published-scientific-papers].

States play a primary role in regulating most natural gas and oil development. EPA’s authority is limited by statutory or regulatory exemptions under the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Where EPA’s exemptions exist, states may have authority to regulate unconventional oil and gas extraction activities under their own state laws.

EPA’s draft assessment benefited from extensive stakeholder engagement conducted across the country with states, tribes, industry, non-governmental organizations, the scientific community and the public to ensure that the draft assessment reflects current practices in hydraulic fracturing and utilizes all data and information available to the agency.

The study will be finalized after review by the Science Advisory Board and public review and comment. The Federal Register Notice with information on the SAB review and how to comment on the draft assessment will be published on Friday June 5, 2015.

For a copy of the study, visit www.epa.gov/hfstudy.

To submit comments on the report, see https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/HF%20Drinking%20Water%20Assessment?OpenDocument

United Way announces new executive director

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

The United Way of Ellis County announced Thursday in a press release that Sherry Dryden will be the organization’s next executive director, effective June 29.

Dryden will be leaving Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, where she has been for the past nine and a half years. She has worked for nonprofit organizations for most of her professional career. She and her family have been a part of the Hays community since 1981.

Prior to her official start date, Dryden will be meeting the UWEC board of directors, establishing a team partnership with UWEC Office Manager Erica Burgess, and attending the Pacesetter luncheon.

“I have been involved with nonprofits throughout my professional career and as a volunteer,” she said. “This opportunity allows me to continue my professional growth and still remain involved with the many wonderful agencies in our county. I am anxious to get started working at UWEC and with everyone in the communities of Ellis County.”

The United Way of Ellis County has a partnership with 15 agencies and will begin the 2015 campaign in August.

Dryden will replace Jason Rauch, who resigned in April.

Feds seek to block Kansas’ lawsuit against tribe over casino

Posted on June 4, 2015

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The specter of a possible furlough of state government workers is affecting the lawsuit filed by Kansas against an Oklahoma tribe over a proposed casino.

Kansas sued the Quapaw tribe to keep it from expanding its casino into southeastern Kansas, arguing it would harm that state’s current efforts to build its own casino in the area. Also named as a defendant is the U.S. Department of Interior.

But Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has now asked the court to extend next week’s looming deadline to answer a Justice Department motion seeking to dismiss the state’s lawsuit.

The state told the court in a filing Tuesday it needs more time to conduct extensive legal research and says its attorneys face a possible work furlough due to legislative conflict over the budget.

KHAZ Country Music News: Kip Moore Planning to Build Skateparks

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

NASHVILLE (AP) – Kip Moore is planning to build skateparks in four cities. Moore’s “Comeback Kid Skatepark Project” will oversee the building of skateparks in Nashville; Boston; San Marcos, Texas; and Annapolis, Maryland. Moore says the project is a dream of his to provide kids in inner cities and smaller towns a safe outlet. Moore plans to have the parks opened by the fall. He says he’s starting with these four cities but he plans to expand the project.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

Nominations sought for outstanding minority and women owned businesses

Posted on June 4, 2015June 29, 2015

Kansas Department of Commerce

TOPEKA–The Kansas Department of Commerce Office of Minority and Women Business Development will continue to accept nominations for Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week awards through July 17. The Department is accepting nominations for Kansas minority and/or women owned businesses, advocates, young entrepreneurs and corporations. Nominees will be recognized at the annual Kansas Minority and Women Business Awards Luncheon to be held on Oct. 13 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka.

The deadline to nominate a business or individual is Friday, July 17. Online nomination forms can be accessed at KansasCommerce.com/MEDweek. To request a hard copy of the form, please contact Rhonda Harris at [email protected] or (785) 296-3425. All forms submitted by mail must be postmarked by July 17. Forms can be mailed to Rhonda Harris, Office of Minority and Women Business Development, Kansas Department of Commerce, 1000 S.W. Jackson St., Suite 100, Topeka, KS 66612; faxed to (785) 296-3490; or emailed to [email protected].

The Office of Minority and Women Business Development provides assistance in business management, identifying resources for financing and establishing contacts in the public and private sectors. The office is responsible for certifying minority- and women-owned businesses as small disadvantaged businesses for procurement and subcontracting opportunities.

(A list of 2014 winners follows.)

2014 Women-Owned Businesses of the Year
· RFB Construction Co. Inc. – Pittsburg (Construction Firm)

· Global Aviation Technologies, LLC – Wichita (Manufacturing Firm)

· New Birth Company, LLC – Overland Park (Professional Service Firm)

· Prairiebrooke Arts – Overland Park (Retail Firm)

· R Wilson Chiropractic Center, PA – El Dorado (Service Industry Firm)

· Premier Promotions, LLC – Leawood (Supplier/Distributor Firm)

2014 Minority-Owned Businesses of the Year
· Agua Fina Irrigation & Landscape, LLC – Kansas City (Construction Firm)

· MASS Medical Storage, LLC – Lenexa (Manufacturing Firm)

· Chelsoft Solutions Co. – Olathe (Professional Service Firm)

· Tequilas Mexican Grill – Garden City (Retail Firm)

· God’s Distribution Enterprises, LLC dba Goin’ Postal – Kansas City (Service Industry Firm)

· Evolv Solutions, LLC – Overland Park (Supplier/Distributor Firm)

2014 Women Business Advocate
· Bonnie Fullinwider, Beechcraft Corporation – Wichita

2014 Minority Business Advocate
· Carol Wei, Mid-America Asian Culture Association – Olathe

2014 Young Entrepreneur
· Daryl Bugner, Design Brilliance, LLC – Lawrence

2014 Corporation of the Year
· KCP&L – Kansas City

After cell phone check, Kan. man faces additional sex charges

Posted on June 4, 2015

SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating additional charges against a man arrested Monday for inappropriate sexual contact with a teenage girl.

Police Captain Chris Trocheck said Holdman M. Hartman, 21, Salina, faces charges of promoting obscenity and sexual exploration, after a check of his cell phone records indicate he sent pictures of himself to a 16-year-old girl in May of 2014, and obscene pictures of himself to another 16-year-old girl in February.

Hartman was arrested Monday on charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and criminal sodomy, involving a girl in late 2014.

Ellis man hospitalized after accidental shooting Wednesday

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

ELLIS — An Ellis man was hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself in the leg Wednesday morning.

According to Ellis Police Chief Taft Yates, officers were called to the 400 block of Washington at 9:53 a.m. Wednesday for the report of a man with a gunshot to his leg.

Yates said the 50-year-old man had a small .380 Derringer-type pistol in his pants pocket, and the gun accidentally went off while the man was in the restroom.

The bullet hit the man in the calf and, according to Yates, the injury did not appear to be life threatening. He was taken to Hays Medical Center. No other information on his condition was available.

INSIGHT KANSAS: An obvious solution — undo the tax policy

Posted on June 4, 2015

In all the hubbub of the overtime Kansas legislative session, the obvious solution to crippling state financial problems gets little traction. In fact, the governor threatens a veto if it would pass.

Why not undo the tax policy that created the problem? Steep income tax cuts directly caused a massive revenue loss–$700 million in one year. Before embarking on the infamous fiscal experiment in 2012, Kansas had a stable tax system that most people considered fair. If tax policy had been left alone, our state sales tax rate would now be 5.7 percent instead of 6.15 percent, and the state could easily pay expenses with adequate reserves left at the end of the year. Our state highway fund would be healthy, our bond rating up, and the legislative session long over.

Kansans hold contradictory notions. If given a choice, we prefer not to pay taxes. Yet we value good services—smooth roads, high-quality education, a social safety net—things that cost money. We are not unusual in that outlook. It’s normal. Human nature.

Our governor and lawmakers must find a reasonable, fiscally-responsible balance between those competing desires. That’s their key task in every legislative session. For example, going on a spending spree without regard to available resources takes the state out of balance and upsets the citizenry. Likewise, a tax-cutting binge that fails to account for the costs of basic services and bills that must be paid also unhinges the system.

In Kansas, we currently suffer from the latter irresponsible affliction. Income tax cuts that disproportionally benefit the wealthiest Kansans have destabilized state finances.

What happens when income tax rates are cut, and many businesses are entirely exempted from paying? Revenue goes down! That should not come as a surprise, but it appears to have stunned the governor and many Kansas lawmakers. For two years they have tried to tell us everything is fine while they used up the state’s savings account and raided the highway fund to cover up the now-massive budget problem that the income tax cuts have created.

But it’s no surprise any more. Reality has arrived. The state budget imbalance has become so serious that either taxes have to go up sharply or spending on education and other state programs must drop to an unacceptably damaging level.

What to do? Lawmakers don’t know. As this column is written they are mired in day 105 of what was supposed to be a 90-day legislative session. The governor and legislative leaders have dithered and weakly allowed the budget process to drift into chaos. Many proposals have been flying. More tax on cigarettes and gasoline. Higher property tax. Raise the sales tax rate to one of the highest in the nation. Eliminate the sales tax exemption on Girl Scout cookies. One proposal would even have the government tax its own purchases, though exactly how that could realistically raise money is unclear.

Instead of doing the obvious thing, lawmakers have been whacking away at programs and trying to add taxes that hit average working Kansans the hardest.

Raising regressive taxes to cover up a past mistake isn’t going to be popular. Most Kansans would rather not pay any taxes, but are willing to pay for quality services if the system is fair. Kansans know by now that forking over higher sales and property taxes or enduring service cuts to pay for a failed policy experiment doesn’t pass muster.

Duane Goossen is a Senior Fellow at the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and formerly served 12 years as Kansas Budget Director.

Kan. semi driver hospitalized after truck hits cows, rolls

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

BURRTON– A semi driver was injured in an accident just after 3 a.m. on Thursday in Reno County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 201o Mack semi driven by Ralph D. Oakes, 62, Emporia, was westbound on U.S. 50 four miles west of Burrton.

The vehicle struck two cows in the roadway, veered to the right, left the roadway and rolled.

Oakes was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.

The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

Kansas Senate may not debate budget to fill shortfall UPDATE

Posted on June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate is unsure whether it will debate a budget proposal on the 104th day of the legislative session.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce said Thursday the chamber’s leadership is still weighing the two proposals before it.

Bruce had said earlier the Senate would consider a proposal to impose a 5.9 percent across-the-board cut to all government spending except debt payments. He now says the final language of the proposal was still being drafted.

Kansas faces a projected shortfall of about $800 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. A budget passed Wednesday by the House would cut that roughly in half but would require tax increases to balance. Bruce says Senate leadership had not yet decided whether to consider that measure.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate is set to debate a budget proposal that would cut roughly $400 million from state agencies, public schools and public safety programs.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce said the chamber will take up the measure Thursday. It would impose a 5.9 percent across-the-board cut to all government spending except debt payments. Bruce said the final language of the proposal was still being drafted Wednesday.

Kansas initially faced a projected shortfall of about $800 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. A proposed budget passed Wednesday by the House would cut that roughly in half but would require tax increases to balance.

Republican Sen. Ty Masterson leads the Senate Ways and Means Committee and said GOP conservatives would like to see an option with more spending cuts.