CCSS Alternate Assessment – Dynamic Learning Maps works with students in these states- DLM image
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Representatives from a consortium of states are reconsidering a decision that would greatly increase the costs for some smaller population states, including Kansas and Vermont, of testing students who have significant cognitive disabilities.
The move comes after Vermont Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe wrote a letter Sept. 8 to the governing board of the Dynamic Learning Maps assessment.
Vermont’s congressional delegation also this week complained that the pricing structure will shift the cost of rising prices onto small states like Vermont, which would see a more than 1000 percent price increase from $39 to an estimated $459 per test.
The director of the Achievement & Assessment Institute at the University of Kansas said Tuesday that there’s a very good chance that the governing board will change the cost allocation method.
The Kansas Department of Transportation has reopened I-70 at Goodland as of 3 p.m.
For up-to-date information on road closures, call 511 in Kansas or 866-511-5368 outside of Kansas, or check travel information online at www.kandrive.org.
Fort Hays State Weekly Football Press Conference
September 20, 2016
Fort Hays State head football coach Chris Brown along with select players met with members of the media on Tuesday afternoon at Lewis Field.
The Tigers (2-1) are coming off a 34-20 home win over Central Oklahoma this past Saturday. Fort Hays State hits the road this Saturday afternoon to face Northeastern State (1-2) who’s coming off an overtime loss at Pittsburg State. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Doc Wadley Stadium.
WaKeeney – Lloyd Eugene Nilhas, 91 died Sunday, September 18, 2016 at the Trego County Long Term Care Facility in WaKeeney. Lloyd was born February 21, 1925 in rural Hodgeman County, the son of Frank and Hattie (Hendrickson) Nilhas. He was a farmer/rancher in Gove County until 1961 at which time he moved to Trego County to farm and ranch. He was baptized as a boy in the Church of Christ and later became a member of the Ogallah Christian Church.
On August 6, 1955 he married Ruth Ann Biehler at the First Methodist Church in Collyer, KS. He leaves behind Ruth Ann, his wife of 61 years. Other survivors include 2 sons, Steve Nilhas and wife Elena, Littleton, New Hampshire; John Nilhas and wife Vae, WaKeeney, Kansas; and 1 daughter Jill McReynolds and husband Jeff of Hays, Kansas; 6 grandchildren, Amy Lewis and husband Mike, Tyrel Nilhas and wife Breanne, Blake Nilhas and wife Erin, Aaron Nilhas and fiance Sara Miller, Kaitlyn McReynolds and husband Lance Sauer, and Morgan Nilhas; 2 step grandchildren, Paula and Sofia Mendez-Sanchez; and 5 great grandchildren, Brenna Flax, Braden and Ryann Lewis, Adalyn and Aubree Nilhas. He was preceded in death by his parents; 3 sisters, Mabel Nilhas, Jessie Hunt, Mae Rasmussen; and 2 brothers Merle Nilhas and Ray Nilhas.
Lloyd was active in the Trego County community serving on numerous boards including the Trego County Board of Commissioners, Kansas Livestock Association, Farm Bureau, and Ogallah School District Number 9. He was also active in his support of 4-H and FFA, and he was generous in his participation with many other community organizations. As a lifelong farmer and rancher, he was a visionary being one of the first area ranchers to introduce cross breeding, artificial insemination, and performance testing of his stock. He took great pride in his cow herd and could often be seen working on improving and upgrading their quality.
While his health prevented him from serving in World War II, he was a patriot in every sense of the word. He supported the war effort by leaving formal education after the 8th grade in order to work on his family’s farm while his brothers were sent into the war. Lloyd could always be counted on to lend a helping hand to his neighbors, friends, and complete strangers. He was a role model for his family as he worked to instill the values of honesty, hard work, and generosity. He was proud of the contributions he made to improve his community and enrich the lives of others. He lived the last years of his life at the Trego County Long Term Care Facility and was known for brightening the lives of the many residents and staff there with whom he shared bingo games, singing, and other activities. He will be greatly missed by all.
Family hosted memorial service will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, September 24, 2016, at Ogallah Christian Church. Inurnment will be in the Ogallah Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday evening, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home in WaKeeney. Cremation was chosen. The family suggests, IN LIEU OF FLOWERS, memorials be made to the Trego County Long Term Care Facility (TCLMH-LTC) or to the Ogallah Christian Church. Donations made to the organization may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas farmers are planting winter wheat and harvesting their fall crops in parts of the state where fields are dry enough to do so.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that winter wheat planting is 9 percent complete. That is about the same amount as last year and the five-year average.
Corn harvest is 17 percent finished in the state. Usually 29 percent is done on average by this time.
The condition of corn still out in Kansas fields is rated as 11 percent excellent, 55 percent good and 26 percent pair. About 8 percent is in poor to very poor condition.
About 5 percent of the Kansas sorghum has also been cut.
As part of Oktoberfest weekend in Hays, the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia–Kansas Round-Up of Chapters will hold its 34th annual meeting Saturday, Oct. 1, hosted by the Hays Sunflower Chapter. The day-long event, featuring speakers and programs about the history, folklore and genealogy of Germans from Russia, will be held at Whiskey Creek Restaurant, 3203 Vine Street, beginning at 8 a.m.
Dr. Tatjana Schell, North Dakota State University Dept. of English
Keynote speaker is Dr. Tatjana Schell who was born and raised in Russia. Her family is originally from the Volga German village of Seewald, where they lived until September 1941, when the entire village population was deported to the Omsk region in western Siberia. After 25 years in Siberia, the family returned to their Volga homeland and settled in the village of Frank. In the late 1990s, Schell and her family left Russia for Germany. In 2010, she moved to Fargo, North Dakota to pursue further academic education while she teaches at North Dakota State University.
Two presentations will be made by Hays residents. Dr. Yuri Yerastov, Fort Hays State University Assistant Professor and Director of Composition and Director of the Writing Center, will discuss digitization of Volga German text. He is working on a project through the Kansas Humanities Council in conjunction with the Sunflower Chapter using a local Volga German family’s letters that were received from Russia.
Guy Windholz will talk about the use of limestone by Volga Germans on the treeless Great Plains. The Volga Germans were known for the buildings they crafted from the region’s limestone. Windholz will give an overview on how this was done and show many area landmarks.
Sunflower Chapter members will present “Weihnachtzeit Im Oktober,” Volga German customs of Christmas, including some still practiced and others that have been nearly forgotten.
A newly produced video from AHSGR–“Norka: Passage in Time”–will be shown. The video features film shot in 1921 in the Volga German village of Norka.
LINDSBORG – The Lindsborg city council voted unanimously on Monday to
adopt Resolution 14-16 in support of the values of diversity and inclusion after a racist and hateful comments were written in chalk on the sidewalks at Bethany College and directed at the school president Will Jones and his family, according to a social media report.
The resolution also supported Bethany College
Mayor Bill Taylor signed the Resolution and Jones was in attendance.
Prior to the meeting, Jones wrote of the incident on social media
The Jones family at school picnic- courtesy photo Bethany College
“What do you do when a white supremacist writes racist and hateful messages directed at your children and at the students you work to serve? Seriously, what should a person do who desires to follow Christ? What should a college and community do to respond to such hate? These are questions I’ve been wrestling with as a professional and parent for the past two weeks.
Two weekends ago, three to five people claiming to be associated with a hateful organization wrote racially offensive messages with chalk on a few of the Bethany College campus sidewalks. These messages were disgusting and are completely contrary to our core values and intellectual identity. The messages included a chalk outline of a dead body with “rest in peace my friend” and “make Lindsborg white again.”
A few days after the incident a man who is not a student at Bethany and does not even live in Lindsborg (I’m not going to share his name or hateful organization), called my office at the college and stated that he and four other people committed this despicable act. He refused to disclose who his companions were, and no others have admitted to participating. He stated that the chalk messages were written in response to the make-up of my family (I have two adopted, biracial children), to some of the things that have been written and posted online and in the press about my work at the college, and in response to the students of color that Bethany College is recruiting.
That’s right. Think about it. A man called my office to tell me that messages like the outline of a dead body and “make Lindsborg white again” were directed at my family–the love of my life and my sweet children, ages seven to 14 years old. Let it sink into your mind and heart. Dead body outline. Children. Hate. As a parent, how would you feel?
And, the messages were directed at college students who are working to better their lives by getting an education. Bethany students help to produce tens of millions of dollars of economic impact in our community. Students who provide thousands of hours of service in our community, work as student teachers, provide fine arts performances, and they gift us the joy of cheering them on through athletic competition. Our graduates make the world a better place to live. Ponder the messages. Imagine you are the parent of one of our students, working a double shift to help pay for your daughter’s education, and you hear about this. If you were the parent of one of our students of color, what would you think?
This week, this man called again. This time to relish in his “activism,” to threaten to instigate the forces of his “movement” to close our college, and to try and clear the name of his “dear friend.” You see, our college is on probation, primarily for financial issues. This man hopes to gather other bigoted people to keep friends and alumni from supporting our college unless we comply with his demands. He says things to me like “this is what’s going to happen” and “you will” do X and Y during his brief and troubling calls. I am not worried by his threats. His “facts” are wrong. More importantly, I know how much our alumni and friends care for Bethany College.
None of the racist perpetrators of the event on campus know my children. They don’t know my adopted, biracial son, or care how he struggles with a rare, life-threatening kidney disease on a daily basis. Nor do they really care about my youngest daughter who is white. She loves her siblings, all of them (all!), adores pink shirts, and is too scared of flies to hurt one. No, this man doesn’t care about any of those things. He took this deplorable action against my family and me because my family doesn’t have the same skin color.
And the people involved certainly don’t care if their actions have caused fear to creep into my wife’s daily life since this incident. This man doesn’t understand how a parent might feel, especially a mom, when her children are targeted with hate by strangers. He and his small band of troublemakers just write racially offensive and frightening messages in the middle of the night and go on their hateful way.
Even if he reads this, he still will not care. He will think and repeat some of his well-rehearsed, brain-washed lines. You can’t debate such hatred. He and his followers use racist sources like they are scientific studies, or they take bits and pieces and parts of the things we treasure, like holy scripture, as proof of their point of view. They don’t care to look at the overarching message of scripture – God is love, God made all of us from one blood, and Jesus instructed us to love God and each other.
So, who am I writing to? I’m writing to you. What are we (you and I) to do?
As President of Bethany College, I worked with the college’s leadership team and our attorney to ban this man and three others that might have been sympathetic to his cause from our campus. We worked to protect our students. Within 24 hours, we informed our students, faculty, and staff of the incident and our actions. Our campus held a prayer service for a time of reflection. I spoke with our coaches to educate them on the incident and discussed the protection of our students. I met groups of students to discuss the incident. The police are making extra patrols of our area. In addition, we are adding additional layers of security. As President (and as dad of the Jones children), I am working with the authorities.
As a parent, I am writing this to you. Please challenge racism wherever you encounter it. Hurtful, racist actions are not “activism.” Hate language is not blunt talk. Get to know people of other races and cultures. Think about what you post or share online or the jokes you tolerate. Use your imagination to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, kicks, or sandals. Do the simple thing and treat all people the way you want to be treated.
As a Christian, I must turn my anger into love. Jesus wants me to love my enemies (even the ones I didn’t pick, but picked me). Make no mistake, the love I am writing about is not the same affection you feel towards friends or family. Rather, it is the love that allows us to decide to see the people who would seek to hurt us through God’s eyes. It is undeserved love. It is the love that we are taught, as Christians, to show to our fellow human beings. I’m praying that I will find it. And, I’m praying that God will help this man and other racist people to see how sinful they are being and that they will turn away from evil.
As a community member, I hope you will join me. Please pray for my children and wife. Please pray for Bethany College and for protection against those who would hurt us. Please pray that our wonderful town, Lindsborg, doesn’t allow the hate of a couple of people to infect our community. Please pray for emotional and spiritual healing for this man and for anyone who has been corrupted by his hate. Please pray that the organization he has “affiliated” with will fail. And, make time (not excuses) to join with worship services or efforts that promote love, kindness, service, understanding, and community.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The League of Women Voters says Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has discarded as of August the registrations of about 6,570 prospective voters under a rule that allows him to toss them after 90 days because they did not prove citizenship.
Those prospective voters likely registered at some place other than a motor vehicle office without providing citizenship documents, so their voting rights are not protected by recent court orders. They would need to register again to vote in November. Kansas requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.
The Secretary of State’s office says it could not immediately confirm the number.
The League purchased copies of the Kansas voter suspense list in March and in August, and compared them to calculate the number of missing registrations.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Court documents allege that a man’s blood-alcohol level was double Kansas’ legal threshold when he caused a crash that killed a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy.
The Kansas City Star reports Adrian Espinosa-Flores’ blood-alcohol content measured .160 after the Sept. 11 crash.
Espinosa-Flores is charged with involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatality traffic crash in connection with the accident that killed Master Deputy Brandon Collins.
Collins was conducting a traffic stop on U.S. 69 in Overland Park when authorities say a pickup truck driven by Espinosa-Flores ran into Collins’ parked patrol vehicle from behind.
Adrian Espinosa-Flores told police he had been drinking beer at a friend’s house before the crash and that he was in the country illegally.
His public defender hasn’t returned messages seeking comment.
ELLSWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Federal workplace safety officials are investigating a Kansas grain bin accident in which a worker’s leg got caught in a running auger and was later amputated.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that the 28-year-old Ellsworth Co-op worker had his left leg surgically removed Monday after the accident.
OSHA says in a statement that the unidentified worker stepped into an open auger well inside a steel grain bin while the auger was operational.
As OSHA’s regional chief in Wichita, Judy Freeman says workers should never enter such bins when an auger is running.
The co-op’s general manager and president, Larry Sheridan, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that OSHA investigators haven’t been to that site since the accident and that he had no comment.
PRATT –– A Pratt man was convicted on Monday of attempted murder in the second degree of a law enforcement officer, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
A Pratt County jury found Bradley Grant Verstraete, 46, guilty of attempted murder in the second degree of Pratt Police Officer Kenneth Wright.
Verstraete also was found guilty of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer concerning Pratt Police Sergeant James Ferbert. Judge Francis E. Meisenheimer presided over the trial. Sentencing is scheduled for November 14 in Pratt County District Court.
The crimes were committed in January 2015. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Deputy Attorney General Victor Braden and Assistant Attorney General Steve Wilhoft from Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case.
Auditions for the Hays Community Theatre winter production, “HCT Presents a Christmas Spectacular!,” will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the theater, 118 E. 11th.
The group is auditioning for actors/singers/dancers of all ages. Show dates Dec. 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. and Dec 4 at 2 p.m. in 12th Street Auditorium.
The show will include dialogue, dance and songs from shows such as “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Frozen,” “Anastasia,” “White Christmas” and others, and will conclude with a Living Nativity. Actors will also sing and portray nuns, Dolly Parton and Elvis.
Fort Hays State head football coach Chris Brown along with select players met with members of the media on Tuesday afternoon at Lewis Field.
By BECKY KISER
