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Washburn men’s basketball coach announces retirement at end of season

WSUSports.com
TOPEKA, Kan. — Washburn head basketball coach Bob Chipman has announced on Tuesday, July 12, his 41st season and his 38th as head coach will be his final one on the Ichabod sidelines as he will retire at the end of the 2016-17 season. A press conference will be held on Wednesday, July 13, at 11 a.m. in the McPherson Booster Room overlooking Lee Arena.

“I am excited for the upcoming season with the team we have coming back and competing for a championship in my final season,” Chipman said. “We will have what I believe will be a really good team coming back this season and they will be a good group to go out with. The timing is right for me and my family for this season to be my last and I really can’t wait to get started when our team arrives in August.”

Chipman has been a mainstay on the Washburn sidelines since becoming an assistant coach for three seasons starting during the 1976-77 season and then was promoted to head coach for the start of the 1979-80 season. From that point on Chipman has led the Ichabods to unparalleled success with 788 wins during that stretch. He is the all-time winningest MIAA basketball coach in victories with 549 since the 1990-91 season when the Ichabods moved to the NCAA ranks.

“You think Washburn basketball and you think of Bob Chipman,” Washburn athletic director Loren Ferré said. “He has been a fixture on the Ichabod bench for 41 years and no one wants to win more than he does. I am looking forward to one more run from coach Chipman and the Ichabods in his quest for not only 800 wins, but to add another championship banner in the arena in his final season as our head coach.”

At Washburn he led the Ichabods to the 1987 NAIA National Championship in Kansas City as well as to 12 conference titles with 10 coming in the MIAA. He has also coached Washburn to an MIAA-record five MIAA Tournament Championships.

“Bob Chipman has been a great influence on generations of young men who have come to Washburn University as student athletes,” said Dr. Jerry Farley, president of Washburn. “We look forward to celebrating with him this year as he closes out his career.”

Under Chipman, the Ichabods have made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances including a national finals appearance in 2001 and back-to-back Elite Eight runs in 1993 and 1994.

Chipman’s 788 wins ranks third among NCAA Division II coaches and sixth all-time in NCAA Division II history. Among all NCAA levels, his win total is 17th. With an overall record of 788-343, his .697 winning percentage is 19th in NCAA Division II active coaches.

Individually, he has coached 23 All-Americans, 25 all-region selections, eight MIAA most valuable players, 17 all-MIAA first-team selections and 64 all-MIAA honorees since joining the NCAA ranks.

Chipman has guided his teams to 23 20-win seasons, including seven in a row from 1983-84 to 1989-90, four in a row from 1991-92 to 1994-95 and seven in a row from 1998-99 to 2004-05. Chipman’s teams have made 16 national tournament appearances, 12 in the NCAA and four in the NAIA. His teams have averaged 22 wins a year and he has coached 23 of the 25 20-win seasons in Washburn history.

In addition to the coaching awards obtained after the 1986-87 NAIA Championship season, Chipman was named MIAA Coach of the Year following the 1992, 1993 and 2004 seasons. He was named Kodak District coach of the year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in 1993 and the men’s four-year coach of the year by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association (KBCA) in 1994 and 2001.

His success at the collegiate level has brought Chipman the opportunity to coach on an international level as well. He served a second stint as an assistant coach for the United State’s entry in the Pan American Games during the summer of 1991, earning a bronze medal. In 1983, he was an assistant to the team that won the gold medal. He helped coach the U.S. entry in the World University Games to a gold medal in 1989. In 1985, he was an assistant coach for the Amateur Basketball Association/USA Jones Cup Team that won a silver medal.

Chipman has also taken the Washburn team on international trips, most recently visiting the Baltic Sea in the summer of 2012. Other trips included tours in China, France and the former Yugoslavia.

Chipman has always looked to Kansas basketball players first to wear an Ichabod uniform, as evident from the 12 Kansas players on this year’s roster. In his 38 years as the Icha¬bods’ head coach, his program has spent more than $1 million in scholarship money for basketball players from the Sun¬flower State.

Chipman holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kansas State University. The 1973 graduate earned two letters as a guard while playing for Wildcat coaching legend Jack Hartman. He played at Mott Com¬munity Junior Coll¬ege in his hometown of Flint, Mich., prior to transferring to Kansas State.

Chipman and his wife, Carol, live in Topeka. Their daughter Kelsey was a four-year letterwinner on the Kansas State volleyball team and Bobby was a four-year member of the Ichabod basketball team.

Rodeo Royalty 2016 to be announced at Ellis County Fair

el co rodeo pageant cowboy hatBy BECKY KISER
Hays Post

They’ve done their best and now they wait.

Saturday, July 9, was a busy day for the contestants in the 2016 Ellis Co. Rodeo Pageant.  Winners will be announced Tue., July 19, during the first of two nights of KPRA Rodeo action at the Ellis County Fair.

Every rodeo queen should know her horsemanship, of course, and the young women and their horses performed early in the morning before the day’s heat kicked in.  The Queen and Princess candidates were required to take their horses through a specific pattern, the Queen’s Run and the Flag Run in the Ellis County Fairgrounds Rodeo Arena.

The remainder of the pageant, Talent/Speech/Modeling and Impromptu Question, Personal Interview, and  Written Test on Rodeo Knowledge, took place in the the air-conditioned auditorium at the K-State Agricultural Research Center. Taking on the tough job as judges were Dixie Balman and Brenda Meder, Hays, and Scott “Bronc” Barrows, WaKeeney.

(L to R) Cadence Dickey-2015 Ellis Co. Rodeo Princess, Leigh-Anne Poe-2015 El-Kan Western Riders Princess, Lauren Rumbaugh-2016 Miss Rodeo Kansas (with black hat), Callie Betts-2016 LIttle Miss Ambassador, Jaylinn Pfeifer-Ellis Co. Rodeo Queen contestant, Codmee Wertj-2016 Little Miss Ambassador, Jaelyn Himmelberg-Ellis Co. Rodeo Princess contestant, Payton Welsh-2016 Miss Rodeo Teen Kansas, Kelli Buxton-2015 Ellis Co. Rodeo Queen holding Ava Cunningham-2016 Little Miss Ambassador
(L to R) Cadence Dickey-2015 Ellis Co. Rodeo Princess, Leigh-Anne Poe-2015 El-Kan Western Riders Princess, Lauren Rumbaugh-2016 Miss Rodeo Kansas (with black hat), Callie Betts-2016 LIttle Miss Ambassador, Jaylinn Pfeifer-Ellis Co. Rodeo Queen contestant, Codmee Wertj-2016 Little Miss Ambassador, Jaelyn Himmelberg-Ellis Co. Rodeo Princess contestant, Payton Welsh-2016 Miss Rodeo Teen Kansas, Kelli Buxton-2015 Ellis Co. Rodeo Queen holding Ava Cunningham-2016 Little Miss Ambassador

Competing this year were Rodeo Queen contestants Hailey Fisher – Plainville, 15, and Jaylinn Pfeifer – Ellis, 15, and Rodeo Princess candidate Jaelyn Himmelberg  – Lawrence, Neb., 10.  Little Miss participants were Callie BettsEllis, 7, Ava CunninghamEllis, 2, and  Cidnee Werth – Munjor, 5.

The Rodeo Queen will be awarded prizes including her choice of a $500 scholarship or a trophy saddle, the Queen tiara and sash, belt buckle, trailer decal and publicity photos.  The Queen Runner-up will receive a trophy bridle bag. A trophy halter will be awarded for Queen Horsemanship with a leather padfolio for Queen Public Performance.

The Rodeo Princess will get a trophy breast collar for her horse, the Princess tiara and sash, belt buckle, trailer decal and publicity photos.

Awards will also be given as determined by contestants, judges and the pageant committee for Most Photogenic, Miss Best Hair, Miss Best Horse, Miss Best Boots, Miss Congeniality, and Miss Best Dressed.  Each contest received an event participation package.

The outgoing rodeo royalty are 2015 Ellis Co. Rodeo Queen Kelli Buxton and 2015 Ellis Co. Rodeo Princess Cadence Dickey, who were at Saturday’s pageant.

Also in attendance at the pageant were Lauren Rumbaugh, 2016 Miss Rodeo Kansas, and Payton Welsh, 2016 Miss Rodeo Teen Kansas,  both who will also be at the July 19 rodeo performance.

The 2016 Ellis Co. Rodeo Pageant committee members are Becky Pokorny, Stephanie Eckroat, Chantelle Arnold, Chelsea Dickey, Edna Hansen, Michele Springer, Kelli Buxton, Lakin Eckroat, and Cadence Dickey.

(Photos courtesy April Pfeifer)

Obama: We ask police to do too much

President Obama during Tuesday's internal service for fallen officers in Dallas
President Obama during Tuesday’s internal service for fallen officers in Dallas

DALLAS (AP) — The Latest on the recent police-involved shootings around the United States (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

President Barack Obama says Americans can’t dismiss protesters who call attention to racial issues 50 years after the Civil Rights Act as troublemakers.

The Democrat said Tuesday at a memorial service for the five officers who were fatally shot last week that Americans know that bigotry remains, some are affected by it more than others and that none of us “are entirely innocent.”

He also said that the country asks police “to do too much” and that we do “too little ourselves.”

The five who died were shot during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

___

2:10 p.m.

President Barack Obama says the shootings of five Dallas police officers would appear to have exposed the “the deepest fault line of our democracy” but that Americans must reject such despair.

Obama spoke Tuesday at the memorial service for the five, honoring the work of law enforcement officers, saying they answer a call that at any moment, even in the briefest of interactions, may put their life in harm’s way.

He said fewer people are being mourned at the service because of the brave actions of the officers killed.

Obama attended the memorial along with first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden.

The five who died were shot during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

___

 

From Tuesday Interfaith Service in Dallas
From Tuesday Interfaith Service in Dallas

1:45 p.m.

The Dallas police chief has recited lyrics from Stevie Wonder’s song “As” to the families of the five officers who were fatally shot last week.

Chief David Brown said Tuesday at a memorial service for the five officers who were fatally shot in Dallas last week that he often would find himself at a loss for words as a young man trying to get dates, and would use lyrics to express himself.

That’s what he did at the service for the families of those who died.

Brown said, among other lyrics: “Just as hate knows love’s the cure, you can rest your mind assure that I’ll be loving you always.”

Brown received a long, loud standing ovation from those in attendance.

The five who died were shot during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

___

1:35 p.m.

Former President George W. Bush says that Americans should “remember their shared commitments for common ideals” as a means of bridging divisions.

Bush said Tuesday at a memorial service for the five officers who were fatally shot in Dallas last week that Americans know we have one country and don’t want the unity of grief and fear, but hope.

Bush also said of the five officers: “With their deaths, we have lost so much.”

President Barack Obama is also slated to speak at the service.

The five who died were shot during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

___

1:30 p.m.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn says that in times of darkness, it’s important to remember that the officers who died and were injured in Dallas last week were “not overcome by evil.”

The Texas Republican said Tuesday at a memorial service for the five officers who were fatally shot in Dallas last week that the officers overcame evil by running toward gunfire, shielding citizens and sacrificing their own lives.

Cornyn also praised Dallas Police Chief David Brown for his simple statement this week that “Dallas loves.”

President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush also are slated to speak at the service.

The five who died were shot during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

___

1:20 p.m.

A law enforcement official says the gunman who killed five police officers during a Dallas protest had a pistol, a handgun and a rifle on him at the time of the attack.

The official says Micah Johnson had a Glock 19 Gen4 pistol, a Fraser .25-caliber handgun and a semi-automatic Izhmash Saiga assault-style rifle on him when he was killed by a robot-delivered bomb after the Thursday night shootings and that the guns were purchased legally.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has said the 25-year-old Johnson was wearing a bulletproof vest during the attack. The three specific weapons were first reported by CNN.

___

1:10 p.m.

Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings says the dignitaries are at the memorial service because we have a “common disease,” which is violence on the streets.

Rawlings said Tuesday at a memorial service that the five seats that are empty are for the five officers who died last week in Dallas, saying “we love you, we will never forget you.”

Rawlings also said that the service should be about unity.

The five who died were shot during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

President Barack Obama, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn and former President George W. Bush are slated to speak at the service.

___

1:05 p.m.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have arrived at the memorial service for the five officers who were shot and killed last week in Dallas.

Obama, Michelle Obama, Biden, Jill Biden and several members of Congress, including Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, flew to Dallas on Tuesday. The Obamas, Bidens and former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, are seated on stage.

Obama, Cornyn and Bush are all slated to speak at the service, where five seats have been kept empty to honor the five who died during a protest against the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

___

Teen sentenced for conspiracy threat at Kansas high school

Hutchinson High School
Hutchinson High School

HUTCHINSON –A Kansas teen who entered a plea to a single count of conspiracy to commit capital murder at Hutchinson High School will serve three years and nine months in a juvenile detention center.

Ayrton “Alex” Marroquin, 14, and 15-year-old Carson Cabral are both pled guilty of making threats against officials at Hutch High before the cases could go to a bench trial.

The state wanted Marroquin in a juvenile detention facility until he’s 22 and a half years old with six months of aftercare.

The defense wanted him placed on community corrections, noting that he had already been in custody 128 days.

Judge Patty Macke Dick, although sympathetic and believing he made a bad decision, said all decisions have consequences.

The judge split the difference in ordering the nearly four years in juvenile detention.

Prior to the sentence being handed down, the parents, both emotional as they spoke, asked that she not sentence him to the maximum. His mother questioned whether it’s fair to require him to stay in detention when the defendants in similar cases were not. His father says he still expects great things for his son.

Hutchinson High School Principal Ron Reems sought the maximum, saying he caused a lot of fear and anxiety at the school.

Marroquin acknowledged what he did was wrong and apologized to the teachers and other staff at the school. He says he knew when he was first taken into custody that he needed to change. He also welcomed any psychiatric counseling the court might order.

The two teens were arrested after several students came forward to express concerns about a threat.

Several search warrants were issued, which turned up plans for making pipe bombs, as well as sketches and plans of where certain teachers and staff would be so they could be targeted. Police also recovered items that could be used to build explosive devices.

Kansas drowning victim’s body recovered from Oklahoma Lake

Search crews on the lake -photo courtesy KOTV
Search crews on the lake -photo courtesy KOTV

SKIATOOK, Okla. (AP) — Crews have recovered the body of a Kansas man who disappeared while swimming in Lake Skiatook on the Fourth of July.

Tulsa television station KOTV reports that 36-year-old Chance Humble of Coffeyville, Kansas, disappeared at a swimming area at the lake in Osage County in northeastern Oklahoma. Witnesses say Humble jumped off a boat to go swimming, resurfaced, threw his hat onto the sundeck of the boat then went under again and did not come back up.

Authorities say Humble’s body was found about 200 yards down the lake shore from that area around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Officials say the area where the victim disappeared is between 35 and 60 feet deep, with bluffs below the surface that make the search challenging.

Jacklyn Jean ‘Jackie’ Gabel

Jacklyn Gabel 001Jacklyn Jean “Jackie” Gabel, 57, Hays, went to be with Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior on July 11, 2016 at the Hays Medical Center.

She was born January 5, 1959, in Oberlin, Kansas, the daughter of Melvin and Darlene (Stephens) Petrasek.

She graduated from Hoxie High School and attended college at Fort Hays State University. She married Arlen Gabel in 1984. She worked as a ward secretary for thirteen years at Hadley Hospital, for four and a half years in the Urology office of Werth/McDonald, for three and a half years at the Ellis County Clerks office, and for thirteen years at the DeBakey Center at Hays Medical Center as a Health Coordinator. She was then diagnosed with liver cancer and after treatment was blessed with a liver transplant. For the next five years she took care of her five wonderful grandchildren.

She was a member of High Plains Baptist Church of Hays, deeply enjoyed decorating for every holiday and season, and loved sending her family and friends greeting cards for every occasion. She saw the best in everyone she met and anyone who knew her was blessed by her love and kindness.

She is survived by her husband, Arlen, of the home in Hays, her daughter Lindsay Leiker of Hays, her son Clayton Gabel of Hays, five grandchildren; Kali, Danika, Emersyn, Brantlee, and Ryder, three sisters; Conni Baker and husband Gary of Richmond, MO, Pam Bedore and husband Chris of Wamego, KS, and Beckie Best and husband Todd of Hoxie, KS, her father in law Wayne G. Gabel of Hays, brother in law Alan Gabel and wife Dawn of Shawnee, KS, sister in law Aggie McDonald and husband Don of Wentworth, MO, and many loved nephews, nieces, great nephews and great nieces.

She was preceded in death by her parents, mother in law Marie Gabel, grandparents William and Anna Petrasek, Levi and Blanche Stephens, Nick and Katie Gabel, and Celestine and Philomena Pfannenstiel.

A celebration of Jackie’s life will be at 11:00 am on Thursday, July 14, 2016 at the North Oak Community Church, 3000 Oak Street, Hays. Cremation will follow the services. Visitation will be from 5:00 until 8:00 pm on Wednesday at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home and from 10:00 am until service time on Thursday at the church.

Memorials are suggested in Jackie’s memory to the KU Transplant Center or to High Plains Baptist 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.

W. Kan. family attends FHSU’s High Plains Music Camp for 5 decades, 3 generations

fhsu band camp
Clint and Jeanette Raynes, Scott City, with their daughter Amy France, and their granddaughter, Delaney France,  are part of a three-generation family that has participated at FHSU’s High Plains Music Camp during the past 50 years.

By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
FHSU University Relations and Marketing

It’s been more than 50 years since Clint Raynes first attended the High Plains Music Camp at Fort Hays State University.

They just keep getting better and better, says Raynes, a retired high school band director who attended his first music camp as a high school saxophonist back in 1965.

The 2016 camp — the 69th annual which got underway Sunday with about 280 campers arriving on campus — promises to be an especially enjoyable time for Raynes and his wife, Jeannette.

Clint and Jeannette made the trip to Hays from their home in Scott City early Sunday morning to accompany their daughter, Amy France, and their 11-year-old granddaughter, Delaney France.

Amy, who attended the event several times as a camper, is in her first year as a camp counselor. This is Delaney’s first time participating at the music camp, making the young clarinet player a third-generation camper.

Delaney got her first look at the music camp last year when the Raynes family came to Hays to present a $250 scholarship to a camper in honor of the Raynes’ middle son, Jeremy, who died in a vehicle accident when he was 16.

Jeremy, his young sister Amy and older brother Jeff were regulars at the music camp during their middle school and high school days when both their parents taught music in several schools across Kansas.

Amy wanted to do something to honor her brother and came up with the idea of a music camp scholarship.

“Music was a huge part of our growing up, and this was a place that the three of us loved so much,” Amy said. “Last year, when we were here for the scholarship presentation, all the memories came back.”

So there was no doubt that Amy wanted to send her oldest daughter to camp this year — and work as a counselor herself.

Delaney said she was excited and nervous at the same time, but her mom assured her daughter she is in for a treat.

“I have a lifetime of friendships I’ve made at this camp,” Amy said. “There are so many connections you make.”

Amy told Delaney she needn’t be worried about Sunday afternoon’s auditions, which determine what level of ensembles the campers practice with throughout the week.

“I have told her not to worry about the auditions,” Amy said. “(The faculty) are going to set you up where you’re going to be successful.”

Delaney, who will enter sixth grade this fall, was homeschooled the past two years, so Grandpa Raynes started her in band last year.

Clint and Jeannette settled in Scott City in retirement because they wanted to be near their grandchildren. Amy and her husband, Clint France, are farmers/ranchers in adjoining Wichita County and the parents of three children.

Clint started the family tradition of music when he came to what was then called the High Plains Band Camp just before his senior year at Great Bend High School.

When Jeannette graduated from high school in Holly, Colo., where her dad was serving as a Presbyterian minister, she said she checked out colleges and chose Fort Hays State “because I got the most financial aid here.”

So she came to Kansas to major in vocal music and met her future husband at FHSU, where they both played in the legendary Lyle Dilley bands. Following graduation, they spent their careers as music teachers at levels ranging from elementary school to college — and passing on their passion for music to their three children.

Clint served as band director at Hays High School from 1973-82, and both he and his wife continued to help out at FHSU’s summer music camp.

Now, they are both looking forward to being involved in the camp once again, this time from a different perspective.

Clint and Jeannette plan to return for tonight’s concert by Allen Vizzutti, an international trumpeter and jazz clinician from Seattle.

But they but won’t be back again until Saturday’s student concerts because even in retirement, the Raynes couple remains actively involved in music. Clint is the director of the Garden City Municipal Band, where Jeannette plays the flute and piccolo. During the summer months, the band practices on Thursday evenings for a Friday night concert each week.

But Jeannette said she knows they will continue coming to the music camp for several more years. Delaney’s younger sister, 10-year-old Calli, will be old enough to participate next year. And they have a younger brother, Jury, who is 4.

“Oh, I’m sure he will be interested in coming,” said Jeannette, who gives music an A-plus grade for “giving children such a unique team experience.”

“There’s no bench in music,” she said in reference to other groups of multiple participants such as athletics. “In music, everybody participates, and everybody contributes to the success of the group.”

Disability advocates want federal action on Kansas Medicaid backlog

By ANDY MARSO

Rocky Nichols, head of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, says the organization has filed an open records request to examine whether the state is complying with federal requirements for Medicaid applicants stuck in an application backlog.
Rocky Nichols, head of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, says the organization has filed an open records request to examine whether the state is complying with federal requirements for Medicaid applicants stuck in an application backlog.

The Disability Rights Center of Kansas is seeking more information from the state about its backlog of Medicaid applications to determine whether Kansas is breaking federal rules.

Rocky Nichols, the center’s executive director, said the organization has filed an open records request to examine whether the state is doing what the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires for Medicaid applicants stuck in the backlog.

“We are concerned that the state is not informing Kansas Medicaid applicants of their right to a fair hearing if their application is not processed within 45 days,” Nichols said via email. “We are also concerned that they are not enrolling people who fell through the cracks or providing them retroactive benefits.  Thus far, the state has produced no tangible evidence that they are complying with these aspects of federal law.”

KHI News Service, a partner of Heartland Health Monitor, has requested comment from a state spokeswoman on the center’s filing.

The backlog began last year when the state and a contractor, Accenture, rolled out a new computer system for determining Medicaid eligibility.

The system, which took longer to build than promised, did not meet accuracy or timeliness guidelines set when Accenture won the contract years earlier.

Download the Disability Rights Center of Kansas Letter to CMS

Download the Disability Rights Center of Kansas Open Records Request to KDHE

A Jan. 1 administrative change that funneled all applications through one state agency — the Kansas Department of Health and Environment — created a bottleneck in the middle of the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period, which worsened the backlog.

Federal officials with CMS began requesting twice-monthly updates on the situation in February.

Those updates had shown the backlog being steadily whittled down. But last month KDHE Secretary Susan Mosier sent a letter to CMS, informing the federal agency that previous updates were erroneous and the backlog was almost 12,000 applications higher.

She and other state officials blamed Accenture for the error. Accenture officials said they had correctly given the state the data it requested and state officials had subsequently changed their request.

In addition to filing the request under the Kansas Open Records Act, Nichols said his organization has sent a letter to CMS.

“The letter to CMS is about engaging them to have CMS use its powers under federal law, which are significant,” Nichols said, “in order to hold the state accountable for these compliance issues.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso

Kansas thrift store evacuated after cannonball found

DAV Thrift Store in Salina-google image
DAV Thrift Store in Salina-google image

SALINE COUNTY – Police and fire crews were called to the DAV Thrift store, 901 West Crawford in Salina on Monday after someone found an old, eight pound cannonball.

Just after 1:30 p.m., the building was evacuated until officers investigated and the Fort Riley bomb disposal squad arrived to take it away, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney

The cannonball was discovered by employees in a box of miscellaneous items donated to the store.

There were no injuries reported.

Oakley PD transitioning from concealed vests to visible vests

oakley pd new vest 1
OPD officers will wear several attachments on the new vest.
oakley pd new vest 2
The Oakley Police Department is changing from a concealed vest for officers to this new visible vest. (Pictures courtesy Dustin Shellito)

OPD

OAKLEY–The Oakley Police Department is changing to a different type duty vest. Chief Dustin Shellito explained the advantages in a post Monday on the Oakley PD Facebook page.

Shellito’s information is below.

“In case you missed the newspaper article, in the next few days the Police Department will be transitioning to an outer vest carrier instead of a concealed vest. The vest pictured does not have some of the attachments on it that we will have on when working. I would like to extend some explanation into this change.

First, and most important, this allows a majority of the weight that is currently on the duty belt to be distributed to the vest to reduce pain and discomfort in the lower back. Law enforcement, along with technology and tools used in today’s law enforcement, has changed drastically and officers are generally carrying approximately 25 pounds of extra weight while in full uniform. A majority of this weight is on a duty belt and creates pressure on the hips and lower back.

I think it is important to point out that this is not a specialized vest. We will be using the same ballistic panels as currently worn, but it will be in an outer shell instead of concealed under a shirt. The officer’s name and badge will be clearly visible on the front of the vest and Oakley PD will be visible from the back of the vest.

This will also reduce call out time when an officer is needed for back up assistance. They will be able to throw the vest on and be ready to go. In this profession, seconds can make a huge difference in the outcome of a situation.

Finally, during the summer months, an outer vest carrier is much cooler than a concealed vest. It allows for air to flow between the vest and body where a concealed vest there is little to no air flow between the vest and body under the shirt. Also, as an example, if an officer is working a major accident or crime scene in the heat of the day for an extended period of time, they will be able to come to the office afterward and simply take the vest off and cool down.

These will be the same officers that have served you in the past and this change will not affect how we do our jobs. We will maintain our current uniforms for parades, public functions, special occasions, etc. If you have any questions feel free to contact myself or if you see an officer out on patrol do not hesitate to ask them questions.

Thank you.”

Dustin R. Shellito, Oakley Chief of Police

Chelsea Manning tweets from Kan. prison following suicide attempt

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Chelsea Manning has tweeted that she’s OK following her hospitalization for a suicide attempt last week.

The 28-year-old transgender soldier imprisoned for sending classified information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks also posted on her Twitter account Monday night, “I’m glad to be alive.” Manning doesn’t have internet access behind bars at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, but wrote last year that she dictates her tweets to someone who puts them online.


Manning’s attorneys say the suicide attempt happened at the prison early on July 5.

Manning was convicted as Bradley Manning in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years. She’s appealing the criminal case, arguing her sentence is unfair and her actions were those of a naive, troubled soldier.

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