KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The woman at the head of the Kansas City, Kansas, school district has been named the state’s top superintendent.
The Kansas School Superintendents Association announced Thursday that peers of Cynthia Lane picked her as 2016 Superintendent of the Year. Since 2010, Lane has led the 22,000-student district. Lane said in a written statement that she was “humbled and honored.” The district has been pushing its students to graduate with college credits or technical training.
Association executive director G.A. Buie said in a statement that Lane is “a passionate advocate not only in her district, but for students across Kansas.”
Lane will now be considered for National Superintendent of the Year. The association also provides a $1,000 scholarship to a high school senior to be selected by the Kansas winner.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has sent a message criticizing government dependence and touting his welfare reforms to his supporters.
The email was sent Wednesday night by governor’s office spokeswoman, Melika Willoughby. The Wichita Eagle reports that Brownback’s office regularly has sent out emails lauding his policies since he was re-elected.
In the email, the Republican governor accuses Democrats of trying to “increase the number of Americans who are dependent on the government.” A bill Brownback signed in April that solidified a work requirement for able-bodied welfare recipients without dependents also was praised in the email.
The email sparked backlash on social media, with critics pointing out that Brownback hasn’t fulfilled his promise to create more jobs.
WAMEGO – A Kansas woman died in an accident just after 10p.m. on Thursday in Pottawatomie County.
The Pottawatomie County Sheriff reported a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer driven by Pamela A. Parker, 40, Wamego, was westbound on Kansas 24 at Deer Haven Lane when it left the north side of the road and rolled.
She was ejected from the vehicle and later pronounced dead at the scene. The accident is under investigation.
October 15 thru December 7 is Medicare (Part D) open enrollment. Linda Beech and special guest, Jamie Rathbun, explain what Medicare and Medicare (Part B) is and how you can benefit.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Court of Appeals says the University of Kansas can’t expel a student for offensive tweets he sent from off campus.
The court ruled Friday that Navid Yeasin must be reinstated. Yeasin was expelled in 2013 after posting several tweets about his ex-girlfriend. The university said the tweets violated a no-contact order it had issued prohibiting Yeasin from having any contact, including electronic or written communication, with the woman.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the university argued it had to extend its student code of conduct to off-campus behavior to comply with federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex, including sexual harassment, at educational institutions.
The court rejected the argument, saying it was “obvious” the university can control student conduct only on campus or at university-sponsored events.
TOPEKA — Preliminary fall enrollment figures released today by the Kansas Board of Regents show a slight decline in systemwide enrollment, but growth at 15 of the state’s 32 public higher education institutions.
Across the six state universities, there was an increase in enrollment at Fort Hays State University (385 students; 2.78%) and the University of Kansas (108 students; 0.39%), but overall there was a decrease of 890 students (-0.94%) compared to the preliminary census day count in 2014. Kansas State University realized a decrease in the number of enrollments (620 students; -2.5%), as did Wichita State University (508 students; -3.39%), and Pittsburg State University (235 students; -3.14%). There was nearly flat enrollment at both Emporia State University (decreasing by 20 students; -0.33%) and Washburn University, the state’s municipal university (increasing by 6 students; 0.08%).
Click HERE for detailed preliminary fall enrollment figures for each institution.
In the two-year sector, enrollment was down across the state’s 19 community colleges with a reported decrease of 2,165 students (-2.90%). Enrollment increased across the state’s technical colleges, where an additional 433 students (6.33%) are enrolled this fall compared to the preliminary census day count in 2014.
In total, the 2015 fall semester enrollment total is 182,101 students as of census day at each institution, a preliminary headcount of students enrolled on the 20th day of class. While the number of students enrolled on a given day during the fall semester is no longer the indicator for total enrollment that it once was, this number has been recorded for over fifty years and so continues to be reported.
However, academic year enrollment more accurately captures total systemwide participation. In 2014-2015, the total systemwide enrollment is estimated to have been approximately 250,000. Based on current enrollment numbers, the Kansas Board of Regents projects enrollment for the 2015-2016 year will remain relatively flat.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp hopes to eventually regain a seat on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee now that Speaker John Boehner has announced plans to resign.
But Huelskamp said Friday that he’s focusing first on fellow Republicans picking a replacement for Boehner. Huelskamp clashed with the Ohio Republican, and Boehner stripped him of an Agriculture Committee seat late in 2012.
Huelskamp said Republicans need new leaders and that voters are tired of the political establishment. The western Kansas congressman said GOP House members returned to Washington after their latest recess tired of defending Boehner back home.
Other Kansas Republicans were complimentary of Boehner, including former presidential nominee and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
Dole said Boehner had been plagued by, in his words, a group of Republican naysayers.
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Representative Tim Huelskamp and House Speaker John Boehner, who announced today he was going to step down at the end of October, have had their differences.
In 2012, Boehner removed Huelskamp from the House Budget and Agriculture Committees
The first time in more than 50 years that Kansas’ 1st Congressional District representative wasn’t on the House Ag Committee.
Huelskamp responded to the resignation on social media.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. and China have made significant progress on how to work together to stem cyberthefts from U.S. corporations, but that words now must be followed by actions.
The President says the United States and China have struck an agreement not to conduct or knowingly support cybertheft of trade secrets or competitive economic information.
Obama announced the agreement during a joint news conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Obama describes it as a common understanding of the way forward.
Obama also says the U.S. will go after cyber criminals with all the tools in its arsenal.
Xi said China has more than 600 million Internet users. He says China strongly opposes and combats the theft of commercial secrets and other kinds of hacking attacks. He says cooperation between the two nations will benefit both countries while confrontation will lead to losses on both sides.
Agra resident Betty E. Gower passed away, Thursday, September 24, 2015 at the Logan Manor in Logan at the age of 65.
Betty was born April 3, 1950 in Phillipsburg, Kansas the daughter of Ray A. & Norma (Smedley) Gower.
Survivors include her brother, John Gower & wife, Penny of Seal Beach, California; sister, Annette Gower of Springfield, Missouri; and a nephew, Kyle Gower.
Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday, September 28, 2015 at the Heartland Worship Center, Agra, KS, with Pastor Jonathan Gibson officiating. Burial will follow in the Agra Cemetery, Agra.
Miss Gower will lie in state from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and from Noon until 9 p.m. Sunday at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg. The family will receive friends Sunday evening from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. for visitation at the funeral chapel.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Heartland Worship Center or the F. Lee Doctor Library.
Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, 1115 2nd Street, Phillipsburg, KS 67661, is in charge of arrangements Online condolences to www.ollliffboeve.com.
A new marketing campaign highlighting the convenience, affordability and reliability of passenger service at the Hays Regional Airport will ramp up this fall and continue through January.
A total of $50,000 has been earmarked for the effort–$25,000 from the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and $25,000 from the City Commission Financial Policy Projects fund.
The advertising will be done by the Hays CVB with input from Sixel Consulting Group, an airport marketing specialist.
“Potential passengers are operating on assumptions based on second-hand accounts and misinformation,” according to City Manager Toby Dougherty. “I’ve challenged my staff to download Google Flights on their smart phones so they can talk to people about why they should check Hays first.”
Starting with billboards, Dougherty said the “targeted audience will be those customers who never came back after Great Lakes left and those who left due to the SkyWest schedule blip in January through March” when the early morning flight was cancelled and then returned in March with an 11 a.m. departure.
SkyWest service in Hays started August 1, 2014, with a 6:50 a.m. departure to Denver.
A jet now leaves the Hays airport for Denver at 10:15 a.m., arriving at DIA about 40 minutes later. The previous carrier, Great Lakes, ended service at the end of March 2014, leaving the Hays airport without commercial service for four months.
Dougherty told commissioners he is in “constant communication with SkyWest” and explained why “other options for passenger service in Hays are not viable.”
There are 12 non-stop flights weekly from Hays to Denver.
“A lot of cities would kill for this (SkyWest service and schedule),” Dougherty added.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association has released high school classifications based on enrollment figures of ninth, tenth, 11th, and 12th grades. Football enrollment figures are based on ninth, tenth and 11th grades only. The football classifications will be for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Enrollment figures are as of September 21, 2015.
Click on the links below to see all of the state’s classifications
Hays High remains 4A Division I in all sports including football. The Indians are the fourth largest school in the classification and the third largest in football.
TMP-Marian will move from 4A Division I to 3A effective immediately. The Monarchs are already 3A in football and will remain that way in 2016 and 2017.
Some of the football only changes for next year from the area includes Victoria moving up to 1A Division I starting next year. Stockton drops from Division I to Division II. Phillipsburg moves back up to 3A from 2-1A.
In January, Rush launched a yearlong vinyl reissue campaign celebration of its 40th anniversary, and the Canadian power trio now has announced plans to release high-quality vinyl editions of six more of its albums in the coming months.
Six of the band’s albums that were issued on Atlantic Records between the late 1980s and the 2000s will be made available on audiophile-quality, 200-gram vinyl, with two titles arriving in October, November and January.
1989’s Presto and 1991’s Roll the Bones will be released on October 23, 1993’s Counterparts and 1996’s Test for Echo will hit stores on November 6, and the 2004 covers EP Feedbackand 2007’s Snakes & Arrows are due out on January 15, 2016. Each vinyl disc will come with a code giving access to a high-def digital download of the album.
The Counterparts, Test for Echo and Snakes & Arrows reissues will be sold as two-LPs sets. In addition, theCounterparts and Test for Echo collections will feature special etched designs on side D of each album. All six albums can be pre-ordered now at Rush.com.
As previously announced, several of the albums Rush put out on the Mercury label also are scheduled to be reissued on high-quality vinyl between now and the end of 2015.
Here is the full list of Rush’s upcoming reissues and their release dates:
9/25 — Exit…Stage Left (1981)
10/9 — Signals (1982)
10/23 — Presto (1989), Roll the Bones (1991)
11/6 — Counterparts (1993), Test for Echo (1996)
12/4 — Grace Under Pressure (1984), Power Windows (1985)
12/11 — Hold Your Fire (1987), A Show of Hands (1989)
1/15 — Feedback (2004), Snakes & Arrows (2007)
