OLATHE – A Kansas woman and child were injured in an accident just before 9a.m. on Thursday in Johnson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Chevy truck driven by Kyle P. Carpenter, 21, Lawrence, was southbound on Interstate 35 at 119th Street in Olathe.
The vehicle veered to the right and struck a 2000 Chevy Suburban that was legally parked on the right shoulder.
Two pedestrians near the Suburban Sonia L. Barnes, 48, Olathe, and 2-year old, Gonziya Duvergel, Kansas City, were transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
Carpenter was properly restrained at the time of accident and possibly injured, according to the KHP.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is trying to rally hundreds of thousands of eBay sellers to get behind a proposed trade deal between the U.S. and 11 other countries.
Obama intends to sign the deal, but he could face a tough task in getting Congress to ratify it.
Obama says the Trans Pacific Partnership will help preserve a free and open Internet. The growth among Internet users is greatest in developing regions like Southeast Asia and Obama says “they’re looking to connect and buy from sellers like you.”
He says one chapter in the agreement is dedicated to e-commerce. It establishes rules that ensure companies and consumers can access and move data freely without facing arbitrary blocking of their websites.
Obama’s message is being emailed to more than 600,000 eBay members.
Photo by Susie Fagan Rep. Susan Concannon of Beloit was one of three Republicans removed from the House Health and Human Services Committee. Concannon was vice chairwoman of the committee
Three Republicans will not be returning to the House Health and Human Services Committee next year.
The reason: Their support for Medicaid expansion.
House Speaker Ray Merrick, a conservative Republican from Stilwell, has removed Rep. Susan Concannon of Beloit, Rep. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills and Rep. Don Hill of Emporia from the panel and given them new assignments. All three are
moderate Republicans.
“It’s heartbreaking because these are smart, well-versed in health issues, hard-working members of the committee,” said Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita, the ranking Democrat on the health committee.
Ward called the purge “a desperate attempt to try to stop a vote on Medicaid expansion.”
Concannon, the former director of the Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation, is the committee’s vice chairwoman and was former committee chairman David Crum’s preferred replacement when he retired from the Legislature in 2014.
Hill is a pharmacist and Bollier is a retired physician.
The changes will reduce the health care expertise on the committee, Bollier said.
“I really believe that as governments legislate health care policy that experts with experience should be at the table helping to shape that policy,” she said. “We will still be actively participating to the best of our ability, but we won’t be able to contribute to committee discussions.”
The changes appeared to be part of a major shake-up of committee assignments ahead of the upcoming session and 2016 elections in which all 165 seats in the House and Senate will be contested.
In a statement issued through his spokesperson late Wednesday, Merrick confirmed that the reorganization of the health panel was tied to the expansion issue.
“Kansans oppose expanding Obamacare, a program that has busted budget after budget in states that have expanded it,” Merrick said. “I will continue to fight to protect Kansans from the disastrous effects of Obamacare.”
Polls conducted by the Kansas Hospital Association have consistently shown that a majority of Kansans favor expanding KanCare, the name given to Kansas’ Medicaid program when it was privatized in 2013. The most recent, conducted in April, showed that 64 percent of likely Kansas voters supported expanding KanCare eligibility, including 58 percent of the Republicans surveyed.
Support increased to 69 percent when respondents were told that expansion would attract more than $2 billion in additional federal funding to the state. Support declined to 58 percent when surveyors made it clear expansion was a part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
While it’s the “speaker’s prerogative” to make committee assignments, Bollier said the politics underlying the changes made to the health committee should concern voters.
“From the people’s perspective, when you try to silence voices a red flag should be raised about democracy and what it means,” she said. “This is my sixth year in the Legislature, and I have never seen upheaval like this.”
The recent closure of Mercy Hospital in Independence has intensified the expansion debate and prompted some legislative opponents to reconsider their positions. Senate Vice President Jeff King, a Republican whose southeast Kansas district includes Independence, is now urging consideration of the kind of conservative expansion plan adopted in Indiana, another so-called “red state” with a conservative governor and Legislature.
“Saying ‘no’ to everything has to stop being a viable political option because there are real lives being affected,” King said at a recent KanCare expansion forum in Wichita.
Expansion would extend KanCare coverage to non-disabled adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level: annually $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four. Currently adults are eligible for coverage only if they have dependent children and earn less than 33 percent of FPL: $7,870 for a family of four.
Most of the approximately 425,000 Kansans now covered by KanCare are low-income children, new mothers, people with disabilities or elderly adults needing long-term care who have exhausted their personal resources.
Editor’s note: The KanCare expansion forum in Wichita was sponsored in part by the Kansas Health Foundation, which provides funding to the Kansas Health Institute, the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Norma Lee (Berschauer) Cunningham passed away Sunday, November 8, 2015 at her home in WaKeeney, Kansas at the age of 79. She was born June 25, 1936 in WaKeeney to the late William and Mollie (Deines) Berschauer. She grew up in WaKeeney and graduated from Trego Community High School. She was baptized and confirmed at Bethlehem Lutheran Church where she remained a lifetime member. On December 27, 1957 Norma married Bill Cunningham in Lawton, Oklahoma. They were blessed with five children, Rick, Becky, Terry, Janet and William. On their 55th Wedding Anniversary, Norma and Bill renewed their vows in the church.
Norma worked for 42 years at the Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital and Long Term Care, first as a Certified Nurse’s Aide and later as the Activities Director. She truly enjoyed vegetable and flower gardening along with baking and cooking family dinners. She was especially known for her amazing bierocks. She liked vacationing and traveling with her family, an occasional trip to the casino and spending time with her grandchildren.
A member of the Trego County Hospital Auxiliary and Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Norma’s greatest love were the people in her life. Whether it was family, friends, neighbors or patients, she was always more concerned about the welfare of others than of herself. Giving wasn’t just a good idea, it was how she lived every day of her life, even leaving a legacy of future giving through her death by donating her body for medical and science research.
Norma is survived by her husband Bill Cunningham of the home in WaKeeney; sons Rick Cunningham and wife Nancy of Ellis, Terry Cunningham and wife Kim of WaKeeney, and William Cunningham of Ellis; daughters Becky Oller and husband Paul of WaKeeney, and Janet Durheim and husband Steve of Ellis; brother Bill Berschauer and wife Lila of Albert; sister Merna Ellertson and husband Dave of Salina; grandchildren Jena Stunkel and husband David, Briana Towner and husband Michael, Travis Elder and wife Harlea, Sara Cunningham, Eric Cunningham, Matthew Cunningham, Jamie Durheim, Emily Hiss and husband Michael, Derek Kvasnicka, and Sierra Cunningham; great-grandchildren Odin Reif, Kyliee Towner and Lola Stunkel.
She was preceded in death by her parents William and Mollie Berschauer.
The Lord Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We are so blessed because of all that Norma gave to each and every one of us, but now she is even more blessed as she hears the words of her Heavenly Father, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your father.”
Larry Eugene Thummel left his earthly home for his heavenly home on Monday, November 2, 2015 in Hutchinson. Larry was born April 6, 1950 to Lawrence and Mildred (Huelsman) Thummel in Hoxie.
He attended Hoxie High School. Larry met the love of his life (his high school sweetheart), Marilyn Kropp, of Colby. They were united in marriage on August 31, 1968, and had 47 wonderful years together. She survives of the family home. To this union was born, two children. Larry loved and lived for these kids; they meant the world to him. Larry was a hard worker all his life. He enjoyed working in his yard, and working with his son. He also loved to spend time with his brother, Bernard, and friend, Marty.
Larry is survived by his wife; a daughter, Jennifer Thummel, and her three daughters, Brooke, Amber, and Kaylee, of WaKeeney; a son, J.D. Thummel, and his children, Cody, Trisha, and Kayla, of Quinter; two great-grandchildren, John and Janessa; four brothers, Leon and wife Carol, of Wichita , Bernard and wife Sharon, of Hoxie, Mike and wife Marylou, of Wichita, and Jon, of Hoxie; two sisters, Jane and husband John McDougal, of Colby, and Charlotte and husband Dean Wolf, of Grinnell; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; and a brother, Jerry. Larry will be dearly missed by his family and friends. Rest in peace, Larry. You’ve earned it!
Memorial services will be 3:00 p.m., Saturday, November 14, 2015 at Schmitt Funeral Home, Quinter.
There will be no visitation as Larry’s wishes were to be cremated.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Larry Thummel Memorial Fund. Checks made directly to the fund may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 901 South Main, Quinter, KS 67752.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is holding hearings on proposed changes to how how disabled Kansans receive services.
The Wichita Eagle reports the state is holding hearings Thursday and Monday to provide an update and answer questions about the proposed system.
Kansans with disabilities now receive medical care, residential and day services, as well as other help through Medicaid. People with disabilities receive services from seven Medicaid waivers, which are divided based on disability type. The state wants to combine the seven waivers into one universal waiver.
Hearings are being held in Wichita, Kansas City, Pittsburg and in Hays on Monday at the Ambassador Hotel, 3603 Vine Street.
The meetings for providers are scheduled from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and a meeting for consumers and families from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Big Creek Crossing and the United Way of Ellis County are coming together this Friday night for a Night of Giving.
The evening’s events will feature a wine tasting and appetizers, exclusive stores discounts and a chance to win prizes.
According to Sherry Dryden, executive director of the United Way of Ellis County, with the purchase of the $20 ticket participants will get to take part in all of the night’s activities, plus they will get a card to take to participating stores to get punched that enters them into a contest to win prizes.
Dryden said for every punch a person receives on their ticket they are entered to win one of the three prizes – a Diamond Ring from Riddle’s Jewelry, a one-year fitness membership to Munsch Fitness and a large gift basket from various Big Creek Crossing retailers.
The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. inside Big Creek Crossing. All proceeds from the event go to the United Way of Ellis County.
Tickets can be purchased at the United Way office, at 205 East 7th located inside the Hadley Center, Big Creek Crossing at the management office and the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Fort Hays State Weekly Football Press Conference
November 11, 2015
Fort Hays State head football coach Chris Brown along with select players met with members of the media on Wednesday. The Tigers 7-3 after beating Missouri Southern 42-31 in Joplin. They try to match the school record for wins, and lock up a spot in the Mineral Water Bowl, when they close out the regular season at home against No. 20 Central Missouri this Saturday. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. with the Auto World Pregame Show at 1:30 p.m. on KJLS.
Hays city commissioners will be looking ahead to 2016 during their meeting tonight.
Agenda items include adoption of the 2016 Employee Pay Plan and Job Classification–the 2016 budget contains the recommended $2,050 annual pay increase–along with health insurance for next year.
Human Resources Director Erin Giebler has also recommended adding $1,050 to the bottom of the pay range.
City staff, with the approval of the Wage and Benefit Committee, recommends providing employees with a dual option health insurance plan through Aetna. The base plan will be provided to employees and their families at no cost. Employees enrolling in the premium plan would pay 8.3 percent of the premiums.
Although the Aetna premium plan is comparable to the city’s current plan with United Health, it is approximately $150,000 over budget, necessitating the employee premium contribution.
Commissioners will also conduct a public hearing about vacating a portion of a drainage dedication in the Golden Belt Estates 3rd Addition, at 4500 Van Buren Drive, and will consider a contract for auditing services with Adams, Brown,Beran and Ball for the 2015 audit year, with the option to renew the four subsequent fiscal years.
The complete Nov. 12, 2015, meeting agenda can be seen here.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Many grocery stores have eliminated tainted beef from suppliers that used products from an Omaha meat-processing facility.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t listed any E. coli outbreaks in Nebraska or Kansas this week. The newspaper says local health departments weren’t available for comment Wednesday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a nationwide recall last week for more than 167,000 pounds of All American Meats Inc. ground beef products for possible E. coli contamination. The bacteria can cause death or illness.
Retailers across Kansas are included on a USDA-issued list of locations that might have tainted meat on their shelves.
The ground beef items were produced on Oct. 16, 2015. The following products are subject to recall:
80-lb. (approximate weight) boxes of “Ground Beef 80% Lean 20% Fat (Fine Grind)” with Sell By Date 11-03-2015 and case code 62100.
80-lb. (approximate weight) boxes of “Ground Beef 73% Lean 27% Fat (Fine Grind)” with Sell By Date 11-03-2015 and case code 60100.
60-lb. (approximate weight) boxes of “Ground Beef Round 85% Lean 15% Fat (Fine Grind)” with Sell By Date 11-03-2015 and case code 68560.
60-lb. (approximate weight) boxes of “Ground Beef Chuck 81% Lean 19% Fat (Fine Grind)” with Sell By Date 11-03-2015 and case code 68160.
60-lb. (approximate weight) boxes of “Ground Beef Chuck 81% Lean 19% Fat (Fine Grind)” with Sell By Date 11-03-2015 and case code 63130.
80-lb. (approximate weight) boxes of “Ground Beef Chuck 81% Lean 19% Fat (Fine Grind)” with Sell By Date 11-03-2015 and case code 63100.
Homemade foods make thoughtful holiday gifts. But, extra baking and cooking can compound the time crunch of an already busy holiday season.
Gifts of home canned foods are also thoughtful kitchen gifts, but with a big advantage– they can be made weeks or months in advance and then wait patiently on a shelf in a cool, dry place until the holiday season.
Extension food preservation workshops have been popular this fall, and our next canning class focuses on gifts from the kitchen.
A multi-county food preservation workshop on “Homemade for the Holidays: Jams and Jellies for Holiday Giving” will be held on Tuesday, November 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the McKenna Youth and Activity Center on Main Street in Palco, KS. The $10.00 registration fee includes a simple supper and class expenses.
The purpose of this workshop is to help participants learn or review safe techniques for preserving top-quality jams, jellies and sweet spreads. Participants will work together to make jelly from commercial juice, savory jam for a holiday appetizer and a low-sugar freezer jam. Participants will take home at least one product at the conclusion of the workshop.
Instructors are a team of three Extension Family and Consumer Sciences agents: Linda Beech, Ellis County; Karen Shepard, Graham County; and Anna Schremmer, Phillips-Rooks District.
Pre-register and pay fees no later than November 10 at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays, 785-628-9430. A minimum of ten and a maximum of 15 participants is necessary to hold this workshop. Registration is taken on a first come- first served basis; registration is complete when fees are paid.
Making homemade sweet spreads is a great way for beginners to learn basic food preservation techniques.
Freezer jams are the easiest– chop or mash clean fresh fruit, then mix with sugar and pectin, and spoon into sterilized containers. The process is also family-friendly so that children can help make gifts to give at the holidays time.
If freezer storage doesn’t suit your gift-giving needs, cooked sweet spreads can be preserved quickly and easily in a boiling water bath canner. The glistening jars of jams and jellies can wait on a shelf in a cool, dry place until needed for gifts.
Food science experts at K-State Research and Extension offer these additional tips for jam and jelly making:
* Follow a research-tested recipe from a reliable source or use the instruction insert that comes with canning products. Recipes that are packaged with products such as pectin or jelly jars have been tested by family and consumer science professionals who understand how ingredients interact. Extension and USDA sources are tested and trustworthy, too. Be cautious of online canning information from sites where recipes are shared by individuals and not tested or verified for accuracy or safety.
* Follow a tested recipe precisely and do not double the batch, or the spreads may not set. Dry powdered pectin and liquid pectin are not interchangeable, so substituting one for the other in recipes may also cause runny jams and jellies.
* Seal all sweet spreads with proper processing in a boiling water bath canner. Old-fashioned treatments such as inverting jars or sealing with a layer of paraffin wax do not stand up to food safety testing and are no longer recommended.
* Use standard canning jars and new, fresh lids for every batch of homemade sweet spreads.
* Increase processing time at higher altitudes. Jams and jellies preserved above sea level require longer processing in the boiling water bath canner to ensure safety. Since most Ellis County locations are at an elevation of about 2000 ft, make sure your recipe includes extra processing time for higher altitudes.
Homemade jams and jellies extend fresh-fruit flavors into the fall and winter months. They take relatively little time to prepare, and, when used as gifts, can save time and money and reduce stress during the busy holiday season.
For more information on making homemade jams and jellies or to register for the jam and jelly canning workshop on November 17 in Palco, contact the Ellis County Extension Office at 601 Main Street in Hays, 785-628-9430.
Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute
Not one, not two, but fourteen world records. That is an amazing accomplishment by one man. All of these records have to do with basketball free throws, and they were all set by a man from rural Kansas.
Bob Fisher is the man who set these world records. He grew up at Vermillion in northeast Kansas and moved to Centralia. After living in Dallas for six years, he moved back to Centralia where he and his wife Connie live today. Bob is a technician for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. He also serves as a shooting coach for basketball players.
“Twenty-seven years ago, I got the advice to become a true expert in something,” Bob said. He decided to become an expert in shooting a basketball.
Bob had been a basketball player in high school. “I loved the game but I wasn’t athletic enough to go higher with it,” he said. “In track, I was always just ahead of the guy who finished dead last.”
Years later while looking for a hobby, he thought about basketball – specifically, shooting. He read all he could from all kinds of sources and studied from the gurus of basketball. Then in 2007, he read a book which totally changed his approach to the game.
“Dr. John Fontanella’s book ‘The Physics of Basketball’ had a profound influence on my thinking,” Bob said. This book dealt with the science of the basketball moving through the air. It applied the theories of physics to the challenge of directing a sphere to a specific spot.
“Professor Fontanella applied physics to the flight of the ball and calculated the exact launch angle of the free throw for players of different heights,” Bob said. Bob studied the science of shooting, including the biomechanics of the hand and arm. “What’s really important is where the force is being applied to the ball at the moment of release.”
His scientific study resulted in changing his release method for shooting. “After two months, I made 246 free throws in a row, missed one, and made 200 more,” Bob said. He now coaches others. As a shooting coach, he’s served customers from California to Detroit.
Since Bob had accomplished great accuracy in his shooting, his next challenge was speed.
“The Guiness Book of World Records said that some guy in Sweden had made 48 free throws in one minute, so I set out to beat it,” Bob said. In January 2010, he made 50 in one minute. He continued to set all different kinds of free throw records.
Today, Bob Fisher holds the following world records for free throws made: 33 in 30 seconds, 50 in one minute, 92 in two minutes, 448 in ten minutes, and 2,371 in one hour. Furthermore, he holds the world records for most free throws in one minute and in two minutes while alternating shooting hands, in one minute underhanded, and in one minute and two minutes while shooting blindfolded, plus in one minute while standing on one leg. On top of that, he holds several records with partners: Most free throws made in one minute by a pair of people, most made in one minute by a pair using two balls, and most made in one minute by a coed pair.
One of his records was set in Los Angeles at the NBA All-Star Jam Session. He’s appeared on the Tonight show and is writing a chapter about shooting for a book to be published by an international shooting coach.
All this is amazing for a man born in the rural community of Vermillion, population 104 people. Now, that’s rural. It’s also worth noting that he was age 52 when he set his first world record.
“Connie has been a huge part of my success,” Bob said of his wife, who documents his records and works with Guinness to get them approved.
Not one, not two, but 14 world records. That’s the accomplishment of Bob Fisher, who is making a difference by understanding and teaching the science of free throw shooting. Like a well shot free throw, this project is good.
OLATHE – A Kansas woman and child were injured in an accident just before 9a.m. on Thursday in Johnson County.
The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. inside Big Creek Crossing. All proceeds from the event go to the United Way of Ellis County.
