Widely scattered showers and a few thunderstorms may develop by early afternoon across southwest Kansas, but the more significant threat of severe thunderstorms will occur during the late afternoon near a dryline just east of the Colorado border. A small number of supercells may produce large hail, torrential rain and damaging winds. A brief tornado is possible. The area of thunderstorms will move east during the evening but should weaken before midnight.
Today: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before noon. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 23 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 8pm. Increasing clouds, with a low around 61. Windy, with a south southeast wind 20 to 25 mph decreasing to 13 to 18 mph after midnight.
Monday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 82. West wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3am. Mostly clear during the early evening, then becoming mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph becoming south southeast after midnight.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 87. South wind 8 to 11 mph.
The Hays Beautification Committee in conjunction with the City of Hays is sponsoring a Water $mart Landscape Award program for 2016 with categories for both Residential and Commercial landscapes.
A Water $mart Landscape is a sustainable and drought-tolerant landscape with low-water use plants and turf to maximize water efficiency.
The goal of the award program is to increase awareness of water conservation in the Hays community by promoting creative low-water (Water $mart) Landscaping.
The Water $mart Landscape Award may be presented to a residential and a commercial Hays water customer with a Water $mart Landscape that exemplifies superior design and follows the seven principles of water smart landscape:
Planning and design
Low-water use plants
Practical turf areas
Efficient irrigation
Soil amendment
Mulches
Maintenance
1. Planning and design includes proper plant groupings and size. Slopes, exposure, soil amendments and water needs must also be taken into consideration.
2. Low-water use plants: Plants materials used should be the correct type for the Hays area.
3. Practical turf areas: Turf areas are to be properly laid out with warm season grasses being used in lieu of fescue/bluegrass.
4. Efficient irrigation: Does the landscape use driplines, high efficiency nozzles or subterranean irrigation.
5. Soil amendment: Soil was amended or tested in the proper manner to provide healthy establishment and healthy growth of drought-tolerant landscape and turf.
6. Mulches: Does the landscape plan have proper use of wood mulches and proper use of rock and gravel outside the planting zones.
7. Maintenance: Was the Water $mart Landscape properly maintained during establishment. At appropriate times, pruning, mowing, fertilizing, watering and insect/disease were completed to maintain a healthy Water $mart Landscape.
Requirements for nomination include that the nominee landscape area is within the city limits of Hays, the selected Water $mart Landscape must be visible to the public, and the Water $mart Landscape must have been installed at least one year prior to the nomination to demonstrate healthy establishment and proper care.
All are encouraged to submit nominations by June 1 to the Hays Parks Department or contact them at (785) 628-7375.
Nominations will be judged by the Hays Beautification Committee. Finalists will be contacted to schedule an on-site visit.
One winner will be chosen from each category, commercial and residential. Winners will be notified by June 30 and will receive an award and a certificate identifying them as a Water $mart Landscape winner. The winners will be presented their award during a regular scheduled Hays city commission meeting in July.
Photo by Jim McLean/KHI News Service Conservative Republican Sen. Forrest Knox faces voters during a “listening tour” stop in Gridley. After the event, Knox said, “The people of Kansas will decide the direction we go: Whether we continue down (the path of) reining in the unsustainable growth in state government, making our state attractive to business, or whether we go back to a faith in government and thinking that we can grow government and solve all of our problems.”
The 2016 election could be a tough one for some Kansas lawmakers hoping to return to the Statehouse.
Polls, editorials and reader comments on news websites indicate that voters are paying attention to what’s happening in Topeka, and many don’t like what they’re seeing.
They’re frustrated by the inability of Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators to solve persistent budget problems that have triggered a downgrade in the state’s credit rating, delayed major highway projects and forced cuts in university budgets and reimbursements to health care providers who participate in KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program.
Some Kansas voters are also embarrassed. The budget problems and culture-war debates over welfare restrictions, guns and a dress code for women working in or visiting the Statehouse have made the state a popular punching bag for comedians and television talk show hosts.
The level of dissatisfaction was reflected in a poll released last week that ranked Brownback the least popular governor in the nation. The Morning Consult poll, for which 66,000 voters nationwide and 650 in Kansas were surveyed, showed Brownback with a 26 percent job approval rating, six percentage points below Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican who has come under withering criticism for his handling of the water crisis in Flint.
The Brownback effect
Practically, the poll numbers may not mean much to Brownback, who won a narrow re-election victory two years ago and isn’t on the 2016 ballot. But they could signal trouble for legislative incumbents who supported the 2012 income tax cuts, which many believe are largely responsible for the budget mess.
Sen. Forrest Knox, a conservative Republican from Altoona, recently was on the receiving end of some voter anger. At a “listening tour” stop in Gridley, a small ranching and farming community in southeast Kansas, he was peppered with questions about the budget problems and his support of the tax cuts.
Jim Ochs, a rancher and retired public school principal, listened politely as Knox talked about the spending cuts and bookkeeping “gimmicks” being used to patch holes in the budget created by continuing revenue shortfalls. Several minutes in, Ochs interrupted.
“The people of Kansas are dissatisfied with our governor, and we’re not happy with what’s going on,” he said. “We’re angry and I think you’re sensing that.” When Knox attempted to respond, Ochs cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it,” he said. “Let me vent and maybe I’ll leave here feeling better.”
After the meeting, Ochs, a lifelong Republican, said he wanted Knox to understand why he was upset about the tax cuts, the persistent budget problems and what he called the “attack on public education.” “I don’t understand why our legislators aren’t listening,” he said. “They seem to be getting different feedback from these meetings than what I hear when I talk to people. Truthfully, I haven’t talked to one person who believes that Governor Brownback is doing a good job. I’m not exaggerating.”
Voters at recent legislative briefings in Topeka and Overland Park expressed similar concerns.
“At some point it’s going to get bad enough that, yeah, we’ll throw the bums out,” said Jim Frost, a moderate Republican who attended a legislative coffee at the Johnson County Library in Overland Park the Saturday after lawmakers adjourned without balancing the budget.
Jan Mach, a Topeka Democrat who attended a legislative event at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, said she was “beyond angry” about the income tax cuts and the damage the resulting revenue declines are doing to public schools and universities. Mach scoffed at Brownback’s claim that the tax cuts will jump-start the Kansas economy if given time to work.
“What business or corporation would move to Kansas just on the basis of low taxes when there is crumbling infrastructure and poor schools?” she asked.
Statehouse shake-up
In an interview after the Gridley meeting, Knox agreed that voters seem more agitated this year. If that persists, he said, it could threaten the majorities that conservative Republicans now hold in both the House and Senate.
“That is the question before us,” Knox said. “The people of Kansas will decide the direction we go: Whether we continue down (the path of) reining in the unsustainable growth in state government, making our state attractive to business, or whether we go back to a faith in government and thinking that we can grow government and solve all of our problems.”
Bruce Givens, of El Dorado, an assistant director of the Butler County Special Education Cooperative, has filed to run against Knox in the Republican primary.
Despite the grilling he got in Gridley, Knox said he doesn’t think that voters will punish him for supporting both the 2012 income tax cuts and large increases in sales and tobacco taxes passed in the final hours of the marathon 2015 session.
“If we can communicate reality and the truth — we being the conservative side — I think we’re fine,” Knox said. “I think my average constituent is solid with my point of view.”
Photo by Amy Jeffries/KCUR Democratic Rep. Nancy Lusk, left, and moderate Republican Rep. Stephanie Clayton deliver a legislative update at the Johnson County Library in Overland Park.
Rep. Stephanie Clayton, a moderate Republican from Overland Park, said she wants end to the dysfunctional politics that has put the state in an unwelcome national spotlight Clayton, one of several moderate Republicans who bested conservative challengers in the 2014 primary, said Kansas did better when it was considered a boring but stable and safe place to live, work and raise a family.
“If I could make a whole campaign theme, I’d say, ‘Let’s return to boring,’” she said. “It’s not really going to get people out to the polls. But honestly, we need to stay off the news. We need to stay in the black. We need government to be just so functional that it rolls along without you guys even knowing that we’re there.”
Noting that a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans almost had the votes to reject the budget proposed by Brownback and legislative leaders, Clayton said changes in a handful of seats could shift the balance of power in the Legislature.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
With more than 6,600 children in foster care in Kansas, there is a constant need to ensure loving foster families are ready and willing to care for children in need. A large number of the youth in the State’s care have special physical, emotional and/or behavioral needs. An event earlier this month at the State Capitol Building, Topeka, highlighted stories of hope for youth in foster care and celebrated those who provide care for youth with special needs.
First Lady Mary Brownback joined the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) and community partners at the Statehouse to celebrate Foster Care Month. The event included a news conference, more than a dozen booths on foster care services, a lunch provided by DCF’s foster care contractors, KVC and Saint Francis Community Services, and music from the Topeka High School jazz band.
Manhattan High School senior Peyton Peterson, who has been in foster care since he was seven, plans to hit campus at Kansas State University, his wheelchair not holding him back from big dreams.
“I plan to become a biochemist, because I want to make a difference in the world,” said Peterson. “The opportunity I have wouldn’t have been there for me without the foster care system. Foster care has helped many people I know who would have otherwise just been left.”
Topekans Derek and Stephanie Sharp have parented several youth in foster care over the past 13 years, including some with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“Being a foster parent is like a bridge, because the giving goes both ways,” said Derek Sharp. “We have been able to provide things for the kids that they wouldn’t have otherwise had, but they have brought to our family amazing things too. Our biological children have grown so much from the experience, and they will be better people because of it.”
The First Lady discussed how members of the community can impact the lives of youth in foster care through the HOPE Mentoring program, which this summer will add a youth mentoring component to the recently launched program for adults who receive financial assistance.
“There is a great need in the foster care system, and there are many roles to play,” said the First Lady. “We want every child to have a loving environment to grow up in, but we also want to help every youth aging out of the system to be able to have a mentor who will help them as they transition into adulthood.”
Informational booths and tables were sponsored by stakeholder groups including: KVC, St. Francis Community Services, Children’s Alliance, DCCCA, Ember Hope, GO Project, Lifeline, Shelter, KCSL, KFAN, KFAPA, KYAC and TFI.
Foster Care Statistics:
· There are currently 6,685 children in foster care in Kansas.
· Approximately 2,750 family foster homes are licensed in Kansas.
· Approximately 350 children are available for adoption in the state.
· Approximately 94 percent of children in foster care are placed in a family-like setting.
· The average age of a child in foster care is eight.
· 57 percent of children in foster care have a case plan goal of reintegration.
· 33 percent of children in foster care are placed with a relative.
To be a foster parent you must:
· Be at least 21
· Pass background checks
· Have sufficient income
· Participate in a family assessment
· Complete training
· Obtain sponsorship
· Complete first aid training
· Be licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Protesters will come to Wichita this summer for the 25th anniversary of the tumultuous anti-abortion event called the Summer of Mercy.
But since 1991, the broader anti-abortion movement has splintered into disaffected factions and its strategies have evolved with the shifting political and legal landscape.
Growing restrictions placed by state legislatures on abortion clinics culminated this week with an Oklahoma bill that would have effectively banned abortions, though it was vetoed. And a thwarted move in Congress to strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood has spawned similar efforts in conservative states.
The current leader of Operation Rescue, which organized the 1991 event, says the group is distancing itself from the July 16-23 event because of the rhetoric that other anti-abortion groups use. Troy Newman also says that the group has accomplished more with politics than protests.
Wayne Charles Haver, age 67, of Ellis, passed away Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at Hays Medical Center. He was born December 12, 1948 in Kingston, NY to Joseph and Florence (Croswall) Haver. He was a 1967 graduate of Onteora High School in Boiceville, NY. He married Vera Dinkel on May 1, 1971.
His working career consisted of service in the U.S. Army where he retired after 25 years with the rank of Captain. He was also the owner of H & H Sentimentals antique shop. Wayne was a great handyman and was always willing to try his hand at anything that was put before him. When not installing garage doors or fixing a porch roof, Wayne spent time working at Fischer Liquor Store where he enjoyed visiting with people. He currently worked at Golden Belt Coop.
Wayne loved his community and has served on the Ellis City Council and was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves on the Ellis Housing Authority Board.
He is survived by his wife, Vera Haver of Ellis; a son, Craig Haver (Bridget) of Black River Fall, WI; a daughter, Anne Haver of Ellis; three sisters, Betty Ann Miller of New York; Darlene Johnson of Georgia; and Kathy Taylor of North Carolina; six grandchildren, Megan Haver, Alex & Ali Haver, Josh & Aiden Johnson, and Charli Arnold.
He is preceded in death by his parents and an infant son, Gregg.
Memorial services will be 10:30 AM Monday, May 23, 2016 at the Kansas State Veterans’ Cemetery at WaKeeney.
Visitation will be Sunday 6 PM – 8 PM at Keithley Funeral Chapel 400 E 17th Ellis, KS 67637.
Memorials are suggested to the Ellis Food Pantry in care of Keithley Funeral Services.
Condolences may be left by guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or emailed to [email protected].
A signing ceremony of House Bill 2610 by Gov. Sam Brownback at 9 a.m. June 1 will officially designate the interchange of Interstate 70 and Commerce Parkway in Hays as Chief Warrant 5 David Carter Memorial Interchange.
The interchange will serve as a memorial to Carter, who was the co-pilot of a Chinook helicopter – Extortion 17 – that was shot down on Aug. 6, 2011, killing 30 American soldiers during Operation Enduring Freedom.
The interchange of I-70 and U.S. 183 in Hays was previously designated the CW2 Bryan J Nichols Fallen Veterans Memorial Interchange in honor of Nichols, the pilot-in-command during the flight.
“It’s an amazing coincidence that two boys from Hays, Kansas, one a TMP grad, one a Hays High grad were in the same helicopter on that same expedition,” said Sue Boldra, Republican Representative for the 111 District. “I even had him when I was teaching at the junior high. He went through Hays Junior High, Hays High School and then Fort Hays State.”
The bill originated on Feb. 3 in the Kansas House, to designate the interchange, but before being approved by Brownback three other designations for memorials had been added.
“Since we started this, there were several other similar bills that were identifying other roads and so our bill has probably three or four different ones, but we were the start,” Boldra said.
The other memorials include:
• US-400 in Labette County, between Queens Road and Udall Road near Parsons, as the John Troy, Pete Hughes and Earl Seifert Highway, to honor gentlemen who were instrumental in the effort to have US-160 redesignated as US-400.
• The junction of I-235 and Central Avenue in Sedgwick County, as the Captain Chris Norgren Memorial Interchange, to honor a pilot who died in Nepal while delivering relief supplies in 2015.
• K-148 from the intersection with 23rd Road in Washington County north to the Nebraska state line, as the SGT Lavern W. Tegtmeier Memorial Highway, to honor the first soldier from Washington County to die in the Vietnam War, in 1968.
The bill also authorized the Kansas Secretary of Transportation to increase speed limits on some Kansas highways to 70 mph.
“I guess it has to do with transportation and roads so they figure anything was fair game when they start bundling,” Boldra said.
Now that the bill has passed, funds must be raised to cover the cost of the signs that will be placed at the interchange.
The estimated cost of the project is $15,750.
Boldra is now working to help secure funding for the project, contacting people from the Veterans Association and the U.S. Army, with the assistance of Operation Hawkeye – a group started by Virgina schoolboy Will Thomas – that works to raise awareness for fallen Special Operations Forces and their families. The group was formed as a way to honor the victims of the Extortion 17 attack.
“Obviously, the people of Hays will want to have a buy-in also, but they will also hook us up with some people and some organizations,” she said.
Fundraising for the Nichols interchange took over a year, Boldra said, but hopes securing funding for this newer memorial will be faster.
“We’re seeking donations. Nothing is too large or too small,” she said.
One of the worst droughts in the state’s history began in the summer of 2010. The drought fluctuated but as late as April 12, 97 percent of Kansas showed some drought conditions.
Rains in April and May helped wipe out the last of the drought — at least for now. Rainfall amounts in those months included more than 4 inches in Salina and Garden City and 7.46 inches in Hays.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the 2011 and 2012 droughts cost farmers nearly $5 billion in crop losses.
Russell/Victoria is the No. 4 seed and will open with fifth seeded Goodland Thursday at 5:45 p.m. at the 4A-D2 state baseball tournament in Emporia. Russell/Victoria is 17-5 and Goodland is 17-5.
HARPER COUNTY –A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 1:30p.m. on Saturday in Harper County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Ford Ranger driven by Faith T. Denwalt, 23, Anthony, was eastbound on Kansas 44 just east of Southeast 60 Road.
The driver swerved to miss a rabbit. She lost control of the pickup and it overturned in the ditch.
Denwalt was transported to the hospital in Anthony. She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
David Kwiatkowski, a traveling medical technician accused of causing a hepatitis C outbreak at over 18 hospitals across the country including Hays
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Exeter Hospital has filed another lawsuit in hopes of getting others to pay for settlements it reached after a traveling medical technician infected patients with hepatitis C.
David Kwiatkowski is serving 39 years in prison for stealing painkillers and replacing them with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood. Despite being fired repeatedly over drug allegations, he had worked as a cardiac technologist in Kansas and six other states before being hired in New Hampshire in 2011.
He worked at the Hays Medical Center catheterization lab between May and September, 2010.
Since then, Exeter Hospital has settled dozens of lawsuits with infected patients and nearly 200 people who were not infected but claimed some harm from the outbreak. It sued a medical staffing agency and an accreditation organization two years ago, and earlier this month, filed a new lawsuit against a company that connects hospitals to staffing agencies.
photo Kansas Dept. of Wildlife Parks and Tourism -Wardens
SUMNER COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Sumner County worked together to locate a suspect who had fled into a wooded area, according to a social media report.
On Friday night, Game Warden K-9 Ruby and Game Warden/K-9 Handler Stout with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism were called to assist the Sumner County Sheriff’s Department and Wellington Police Department with a search for a suspect.
Within 5 minutes of arriving on scene K-9 Ruby tracked the suspect to a dumpster where the suspect was hiding.
Ruby also located the suspect’s clothes he had changed out of inside the dumpster.
Details on what prompted the search and name of the suspect have not been released.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have activated third baseman Mike Moustakas off the 15-day disabled list.
The Royals optioned Cheslor Cuthbert to Triple-A Omaha on Saturday after he hit .255 in 13 starts in place of Moustakas.
Moustakas was hitting .258 with seven home runs before a left thumb injury sidelined him this month. He went 2 for 8 with three strikeouts in two rehab games for Double-A Northwest Arkansas and rejoined the Royals on Friday.
Moustakas hit 22 homers in 2015 when he was an All-Star for the first time.
Widely scattered showers and a few thunderstorms may develop by early afternoon across southwest Kansas, but the more significant threat of severe thunderstorms will occur during the late afternoon near a dryline just east of the Colorado border. A small number of supercells may produce large hail, torrential rain and damaging winds. A brief tornado is possible. The area of thunderstorms will move east during the evening but should weaken before midnight.
Submitted
KDCF
Wayne Charles Haver, age 67, of Ellis, passed away Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at Hays Medical Center. He was born December 12, 1948 in Kingston, NY to Joseph and Florence (Croswall) Haver. He was a 1967 graduate of Onteora High School in Boiceville, NY. He married Vera Dinkel on May 1, 1971.
