TOPEKA–The Kansas Department of Commerce is accepting nominations for the 2016 Governor’s Exporter of the Year Award, which is presented to a single Kansas business for excellence in international trade and marketing. The winner of the 28th annual installment of the award will be announced in June of 2016 during Business Appreciation Month.
Nominated companies will be evaluated on the totality of their international efforts. Qualifications include:
· Number and/or percentage increase in jobs due to international activities.
· Innovations in global marketing.
· Number of countries exported to.
· Effective use of international distributors.
· Long-range international strategies and prospects for future growth.
· Commitment to the state and local community.
“This award is an opportunity for Kansas to recognize businesses and their employees that contribute to the economic development of the state through international trade,” said Kansas Commerce Interim Secretary Michael Copeland. “It’s important for our community and business leaders to have this opportunity to acknowledge the businesses in Kansas that have achieved excellence in exporting.”
Businesses can nominate themselves or be nominated by other organizations or individuals. Visit KansasCommerce.com/Exporter to learn more about the Governor’s Exporter of the Year Award and to download nomination forms. Completed nominations can be emailed, mailed or faxed no later than Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, to April Chiang at:
Kansas International Trade Coordinating Council
c/o Kansas Department of Commerce, April Chiang
1000 S.W. Jackson Street, Suite 100
Topeka, KS 66612-1354 [email protected]
Phone: (785) 296-5473
Fax: (785) 296-3490
TTY (Hearing Impaired):711
CONWAY SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas teacher will return to work Monday after being on leave for showing a controversial anti-bullying film to his students.
Conway Springs school officials said Friday that Tom Leahy will be allowed back in the classroom with some safeguards in place. The Wichita Eagle reports Superintendent Clay Murphy would not discuss details of the safeguards and said the district would have no further comment on the matter.
Leahy is a social studies teacher at Conway Springs Middle School. He was placed on leave in mid-October after he showed students “Love Is All You Need,” a short film that depicts a fictional world in which heterosexual children are bullied by homosexual classmates.
Leahy also told the Eagle that he would no longer comment on the controversy.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Three environmental groups want Lawrence to reduce the use of plastic grocery bags by imposing a ban or fining shoppers who use them.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Sustainability Action Network, the Sierra Wakarusa Group and the Lawrence Environmental Teams United for Sustainability are taking their proposal to a city advisory board next week.
California and cities and counties across the nation have already instituted plastic bag bans. Some Kansas communities have considered the issue, although no bans have been instituted so far.
Thad Holcombe, of the Sierra group, says it’s time to stop talking about the issue and discuss some actions.
The item is on the advisory board’s agenda for its Wednesday meeting.
JOPLIN, Mo. – Fort Hays State scored on three of their four possessions to start the second half, building a 25-point lead and hold on for a 42-31 win over Missouri Southern Saturday at Fred Hughes Stadium. The Tigers improve to 7-3, matching last season’s win total.
Chris Brown Postgame Interview
Alex Schmidtberger / Evan Jennings Postgame Interview
Game Highlights
Shaquille Cooper rushed for 99 yards and had five receptions for 68 yards including a 29-yard screen pass for a touchdown. Quarterback Treveon Albert ran for 71 yards and a touchdown while completing 13 of 23 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns.
Doyin Jibowu returned a fumble eight-yards on Missouri Southern’s first offensive play to give the Tigers the early lead they would never relinquish. FHSU led 42-17 in the fourth quarter before MSSU scored a couple of late touchdowns for the final score.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas school administrators want lawmakers to again consider raising the cap on the amount retired workers can earn to help alleviate staffing shortages.
Lawmakers during the last legislative session changed a program called Working After Retirement. It gives limited authority for employers in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System to hire retired workers who are drawing a pension if younger workers cannot fill certain jobs.
Under the bill enacted this year, the earnings cap was raised to $25,000 starting July 1, 2016.
Two groups of Kansas school administrators told the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Pensions, Investments and Benefits Wednesday that some districts, particularly in rural areas, continue to struggle to recruit qualified teachers.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the administrators say the cap should be raised beyond $25,000.
HAYS, Kan. – After falling in a five-set match with Missouri Western on Friday, the Tigers bounced back with a win in another five-set match with Northwest Missouri State. The Tigers took the first and third sets before winning the decisive set 15-10. FHSU moved to 19-12 overall, 8-8 in the MIAA and pulled within a half game of NWMSU in the conference standings.
The match was fairly even, FHSU with 72 kills and NWMSU with 66. The Bearcats edged the Tigers in hitting percentage .250 to .241 and the teams were dead even in digs with 76 each. Each team had higher hitting percentages than the other in each set they won.
FHSU built a big lead in the first set and eventually won 25-19. In the second, FHSU had a 20-18 lead but NWMSU ended the set on a 7-1 run to even the match. The Tigers used a late 6-3 burst after a 19-19 tie to take the third 25-22. The Bearcats scored three of the final four points of the fourth set to force the decisive set with a 25-23 win. FHSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth, which included a pair of service aces by Mallory Flagor. The Bearcats never caught the Tigers from that point as the Tigers won the final set by five.
Crystal Whitten led the Tigers with 20 kills and she added 19 digs for a double-double. Rebekah Spainhour had 15 kills, while adding a team-best five blocks. Flagor also had a double-double with 14 kills and 18 digs. Megan Anderson also reached double figures in kills with 11 and Sydney Dixon had nine with four blocks. Hannah Wagy matched her assist total from Friday night with 61. Ari Jacobson led the Tigers in digs with 23.
Maddy Bruder led the Bearcats in kills with 14, while Jackie Becker and Sofia Schleppenbach each had 11. Bruder finished with a double-double, adding 13 digs. Jordan Trimble and Megan Stilmock split setting duties, Trimble with 33 assists and Stilmock with 20. Aarika Wittenburg led NWMSU in digs with 22.
The Tigers close out the regular season schedule next weekend at home with matches against Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist.
The Victoria Knights advanced to the sub-state round of the 8-Man Division 2 playoffs Saturday with a 46-0 win over the Minneola Wildcats.
Courtesy of Victoria High School
Victoria scored on their first two possessions of the game; scoring on a four-yard touchdown run by Lane Kisner and Joe Dortland added a one-yard run to put the Knights up 16-0 after the first quarter.
The Knights offense struggled toward the end of the first quarter and into the second allowing a sack and a fumble. But late in the second quarter Joe Dortland scored his second rushing touchdown of the first half, an 11-yard run to put Victoria up 22-0.
Then after forcing the Wildcats to punt with just over one minute to play in the first half the Knights drew up a double-pass from Dortland to Brady Dinkel who hit Parker Riedel for a 60-yard touchdown catch to give the Knights a 30-0 halftime lead.
Victoria got the opening kickoff of the second half and Collin Kisner returned the kick 60 yards for a touchdown, putting the Knights up 38-0. On their second possession of the third quarter they went to the bag of tricks again with Dinkel hitting Grant Weber on a 29-yard touchdown on a halfback pass. The two point conversion gave the Knights the win with 8:43 left in the third quarter.
Dinkel was 2-for-2 passing for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Dortland finished with 34 yard and two rushing touchdowns.
The Knights move to 10-0 and for a second straight season Victoria advances to the sub-state championship round of the playoffs. They will face the winner of Ingalls and Wallace County.
TOPEKA–The current signup period for Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans is a time when Kansas seniors should be especially alert to potential scams, according to Ken Selzer, CPA, Kansas Commissioner of Insurance.
“Kansans seeking Medicare Part D prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage supplemental plans should work with trusted agents and counselors to find their best options,” Commissioner Selzer said. “Too many times unscrupulous sales people take advantage of seniors who have good intentions in shopping for their best choices.“
The open enrollment period for Part D and Medicare Advantage plans began Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7, with coverage to begin Jan. 1, 2016.
Commissioner Selzer offers these tips for protecting seniors from scammers intent on taking advantage of open enrollment:
• Beware of door-to-door salespeople. Agents cannot solicit business for either Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage Plans at your home without an appointment. Do not let uninvited agents into your home. Also, Medicare has no official sales representatives. Beware of any salesperson who says that he/she is a Medicare representative.
• Check with us at the Kansas Insurance Department (KID) to make sure the salesperson is a licensed agent. Call 800-432-2484 to speak with a KID Consumer Assistance representative.
• Realize no marketing is allowed in educational or care settings. Federal regulations prohibit the marketing of Medicare products in places where health care is delivered, or at an educational event.
• Understand that no free lunches are allowed, either. Federal regulations prohibit offers of free meals for listening to a sales presentation for a Medicare product or for signing up for a particular plan.
• Do not give out personal information, such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers to anyone not verified as a licensed agent. Also, a bill must be sent to the beneficiary; no Internet or phone payments can be made.
• Verify that the plan chosen is an approved Medicare plan. All of the approved plans are available at www.medicare.gov under the “Finding Plans” section, or by calling 800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227).
• Read and understand the plan. Be sure that the chosen plan matches the beneficiary’s needs and that the beneficiary can continue to see his or her current health care providers if desired.
“Consumers need to arm themselves with all the information they can,” Commissioner Selzer said. “Educating yourselves is very important in fighting potential fraud and illegal sales.”
Kansas Medicare beneficiaries can also contact the Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK) for information about Medicare issues. The state help line is 1-800-860-5260.
Dr. Jean Gleichsner, associate professor of agriculture at Fort Hays State University, presented two posters about service learning projects at Campus Compact Heartland Conference in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 29-30.
The conference brings together individuals from Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma to explore service learning programs and practices.
The posters featured the SWIPE Out Hunger Food Packaging event, in which students packaged food for people in third-world countries, and Camp Pawnee (Larned) Landscape Improvements, in which students assisted in planting trees and setting up playground equipment. Each poster included information about how the projects were conducted and survey responses from students.
“Service learning is a great opportunity for students to use what they learn in class for the community and see how it applies to real world action,” Gleichsner said.
The posters hung the entire conference, allowing attendees to read them before an open session with the authors of all the posters.
Also attending were Dr. Krisztina Benze, assistant professor of chemistry; Dr. Rosa Castaneda, assistant professor of modern languages; and Dr. Pauline Scott, professor of English. The trip was funded by the Office of the Provost.
Gifford Woodrow Spaugh, 100, Lenexa, formerly of Hays, died Tuesday, November 3, 2015 at Lakeview Village Care Center in Lenexa, KS.
He was born May 19, 1915 in Martinsville, IL, the son of Louis and Della (Keeran) Spaugh. Gifford came to Kansas as a young man and met his future wife, Elfrieda (Anschutz) in Wilson, Kansas. They married October 7, 1939 in Wilson. He found work in the oilfield in Kansas and worked for Texaco, Inc. for 48 years. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Hays, Masonic Lodge, and Eastern Star. He enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and was an avid gardener.
He is survived by a sister Doris Johnson of Corona, CA, a son Roger Spaugh and partner Vicky Cronin of Carbondale, IL, a daughter Nancy Potter of Shawnee, KS, and 3 granddaughters, Renee Potter of Merriam, KS, Lisa Potter of Columbia, MO, and Debbie Potter of Seattle, WA, along with many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister Rosella O’Dell, a brother Gerald Spaugh who died as a sailor in WW II, his wife of 72 years, Elfrieda (Anschutz) Spaugh, and his son-in-law Robert Lewis Potter.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 am on Saturday, November 14, 2015 at the First United Methodist Church, 305 W. 7th Street, Hays. Masonic services will follow. Graveside services will be at 2:00 pm at the Wilson City Cemetery in Wilson, KS. Visitation will be at the church from 9:30 am until service time.
Memorials are suggested to the First United Methodist Church, in care of the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine Street, Hays, KS 67601. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University in Manhattan has been designated the first bicycle friendly university in Kansas by the League of American Bicyclists, according to a media release from KSU.
The university has received the bicycle organization’s Bronze-Level Bicycle Friendly University award. In all, the league awarded or renewed bicycle friendly status to 49 universities in 31 states this year, bringing the total of designated bicycle friendly universities and colleges to 127 in the nation.
The Bicycle Friendly University program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bikable campus for students, staff and visitors. The program provides the road map and technical assistance to create great campuses for cycling.
“Being designated as a bike friendly campus is something to be proud of,” said Derek Jackson, director of Kansas State University’s Housing and Dining Services. “Students and staff are biking more and more for both transportation needs as well as for recreational wellness. Having infrastructure that supports biking is important to our campus and community.”
Kansas State University encourages bicycling as an easy option for transportation and continues to improve the bicycle friendly nature of campus as called for in the university’s 2025 strategic plan.
According to Mark Taussig, associate director for campus planning who will serve as the university’s contact for the Bicycle Friendly University program, some of the steps the university has taken to be more bike friendly include developing master plan guidelines and standards for pedestrians and bicyclists; improving lighting, especially at intersections and crosswalks; adding appropriate pavement markings at crosswalks, on streets and on sidewalks; creating 3.3 miles of shared pedestrian/bicycling paths around the campus on Kimball, Denison, North Manhattan and College avenues; adding bike lanes and bike routes on city streets, including on North Manhattan and Denison avenues; and adding hundreds of new bike parking spaces on campus.
Increased awareness and enforcement of pedestrian and bicycle regulations have been priorities, as well as realigning some key intersections for improved safety, Taussig said. In addition, the university is taking out streets and replacing them with wide walkways, or malls, for pedestrians and bicyclists. One of the malls was built this year on a quarter-mile section of 17th Street on campus, with another mall planned in 2016 that will cover mile on Mid-Campus Drive.
Doug May, transportation planning intern for the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization and master’s student in regional and community planning, spent several months collecting data and preparing the application for the Bicycle Friendly University designation.
“Using the knowledge and skills I learned in the planning program at K-State, and through my internship with the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization, I was able to prepare the comprehensive Bicycle Friendly University application,” May said. “I’m looking forward to the future of K-State as it continues to grow and move even more toward a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly environment.”
With the designation, the university will have access to a variety of free tools and technical assistance from the League of American Bicyclists to become even more bicycle friendly.
To learn more about the multimodal efforts underway at Kansas State University, the surrounding community or in the region, contact the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization at [email protected] or 855- 785-3472. To learn more about the Bicycle Friendly University program, visit bikeleague.org/BFA.
NEW YORK (AP) — Honda is recalling more than 25,000 cars in the U.S. to replace the rear grab rail brackets, which it says could interfere with the deployment of a side curtain air bag.
The carmaker says no such instances have been reported and that it discovered the faulty design during internal testing.
The company says owners of affected vehicles should go to authorized dealers once they receive notification of the recall. It says notifications will be mailed to customers starting in early December.
The recall affects 25,367 of the Fit LX vehicles, model year 2015-2016.
Owners can also determine if their cars will need repair by going to www.recalls.honda.com or by calling (888) 234-2138.
(Front left to right: Governor Brownback; Jose Wooge; Jenesis Wooge. Back left to right: Cory Rathbun, VP Foster Care Reintegration; Ashley Lang, DCF Foster Care Program Manager; Patricia Long, DCF Permanency Program Administrator; Gail Cozadd, KSCL East Region Director; Natalie Gorman, KVC Adoption Specialist; Michael Myers, DCF Prevention and Protection Services Director; Erin Wooge; Stephanie Wooge; Grace Wooge; Dave Wooge; Destiney Wooge)
Kansas Department for Children and Families
TOPEKA–When you’ve taken more than 130 children into your home as foster parents, most would think they’ve done more than enough to help others. But for Dave and Stephanie Wooge of Franklin County, adopting a few of those who needed a permanent home was just the next logical step.
For the past 17 years, the Wooges have taken placements of many children with various levels of behavioral issues, developmental needs, mental health issues, educational needs, medical diagnoses, physical challenges, various cultures, and histories of abuse.
But when the opportunity presented itself to make some of those children a part of their family, the Wooges, who live in a rural home outside of Ottawa, decided it was the right thing to do. They have adopted or taken guardianship of seven children, with the last three being a sibling set.
Stephanie Wooge said she and her husband first became interested in foster care when a relative served as a foster parent to a child. Once aware of the need, they began incorporating foster children into their own home, where they also have parented two biological children.
“We realized if we don’t do it, who will?” Stephanie said. “All children deserve to have a home, to experience family life.”
The Wooge family met with Governor Sam Brownback on Oct. 30, to participate in the official proclamation signing of November 2015 as Adoption Month in Kansas. During the month, the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), its contractors and community partners are taking part in a series of events to call attention to the need for more adoptive and foster families.
“It hasn’t been difficult integrating the adopted children into our family,” Stephanie said. “It’s been that way for our biological children ever since the oldest was two years old. The biggest reward is watching the kids grow and learn how to be a part of a family. But that can also be a challenge for our adopted children learning how our family works.”
DCF contracts with KVC and Saint Francis Community Services to provide foster care and adoption services for Kansas. DCF and its partners hope more families like the Wooges will recognize the need for adoptive families during November. Currently, there are approximately 350 children available for adoption in Kansas.
“Every child deserves to know the love and stability that a healthy family can offer,” DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said. “When returning home is not a safe option, we want children to have choices when it comes to both temporary and permanent care.”
Most children available for adoption have experienced abuse and or neglect. Every attempt is made to maintain a child’s connection to his/her relatives, culture and community. Relatives are given first consideration as a placement option. Although many children have an adoption resource identified, hundreds wait for a loving family to pick them.
The Wooges are one of eight families nominated for the Kathy Reilly Adoptive Family Award, an annual honor given by KVC to one of their adoptive families “who has risen above and beyond with regards to adoption.” The award will be announced during KVCs National Adoption Day celebration in Olathe on Nov. 20.
I’m so glad the State is celebrating Adoption Month, because there are so many more kids in the system who need a family,” Destiny Wooge said, the oldest of the three siblings recently adopted into the Wooge family. “Hopefully by raising awareness, a lot more children will get to experience the love and affection of a family.”
Nov. 21 is National Adoption Day this year. In several locations across Kansas, judges will finalize adoptions that have been coordinated by KVC and St. Francis. As the final step of the adoption process, these events are often emotional culminations of months of effort. Celebrations at Shawnee County Courthouse (9 a.m.) and Johnson County Courthouse (10 a.m.) will be open to the public and to media. On Nov. 20, a similar celebration of adoptions will be held at Wyandotte County Courthouse (1 p.m.).
Numerous other events will occur statewide to celebrate and promote adoption. Churches across the state will recognize Adoption Sunday on Nov. 8.
Kansas Department of Commerce
