UNDATED (AP) – The 10 schools that make up the Big 12 are bound together by a deal committing their television rights to the conference through the 2024-25 school year.
Expansion wasn’t going to change that, so the Big 12 declined yesterday to add two schools from a group of 11 that included BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and Connecticut. The conference’s leaders then tried their best to put forth a unified front and positive outlook for the future.
In spite of yesterday’s decision, the Big 12 still has much to figure out in the near and long-term. For one, the conference must decide how best to implement its football championship game, which is slated to return next year. Almost all available solutions are square-peg-round-hole proposals, but the conference thinks it needs the game to better its chances at the College Football Playoff and raise more revenue.
The Big 12 paid out $30.2 million to each of its members this year, a record amount and third most among Power Five conferences. Still, long-term projections have the Big Ten and SEC pulling away in the revenue race from the Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC over the coming years.
Bowlsby said figuring new ways to generate more is one of the conference’s top priorities.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A 24-year-old man has been charged in the drug overdose death of a suburban Kansas City man.
The Kansas City Star reports that Michael Christopher Bickley of Kansas City, Kansas, made his first court appearance Monday in Johnson County District Court. He said he planned to hire his own attorney.
Bickley is charged with the distribution of drugs resulting in the death in February of a 27-year-old Overland Park man. Bickley also is charged with possession of heroin, possession of oxycodone and possession of Xanax.
He is jailed on $250,000 bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 27.
Elections of the Ellis County Extension Council will Thursday.
Any Ellis County resident 18 years of age and older is eligible to vote. Voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main, and from 5 to 7 p.m. at Big Creek Crossing during the Chamber of Commerce Ag Appreciation Event.
Three members will be elected to the Program Development Committees representing the following areas of Agriculture, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H Youth Development and Community Development. For a list of candidates and more information, visit www.ellis.ksu.edu.
The Hays Community Theatre is reviving the Haunted Hays City Historic Tours for another year. Tours take place Oct. 27 to 30, starting at the theater, 118 E. 11th, and runing every 15 minutes from 7 to 10:30 p.m.
This year’s tour was written by the Ink Spots, a group of local writers and historians, and features questionable characters, haunting figures, farm animals, horseback riders, a cowboy camp, snake oil salesmen — and even gunfights.
“(The tour is) based on actual people who lived here, and actual things that happened,” said Pamela Grizzell, head of the HCT venue and fundraising committee. “If there was a shootout, we re-enact it close to where it actually happened.”
All money raised during the tour goes toward helping build the community theater. Last year’s tours were so successful, the theater was able to put in public restrooms.
“Last year, with the help of Glassman Plumbing, we raised enough money to finance and put in our bathroom,” Grizzell said. “There was just such a positive response, we figured we’d bring it back.”
The tour is not recommended for small children and those with mobility or heart problems. The use of strollers is also discouraged.
Tickets for the tour are $10 each, and there are 18 available spots per tour.
Tour organizers are also looking for a few extras to fill minor roles.
For more information or to buy tickets, visit the HCT website.
Three architecture firms offered presentations to the Hays USD 489 Board of Education during Monday night’s special board meeting.
All are vying for the position as the creative force behind getting a bond issue to pass for USD 489.
Last year’s bond was soundly defeated by voters, which lead the BOE to bring in the firms of Hollis and Miller; Schaefer, Johnson, Cox, Frey; and DLR Group for the presentations.
All three firms emphasized how community involvement — and involvement with everyone in the district ranging from kitchen staff to students – is critical in a successful bond issue.
“This is the fun process. This is how they get passed, getting the community behind it, getting the staff involved. That’s how you get a bond issue to be successful,” said Kirk Horner, president of educational planning for Hollis and Miller.
All firms that presented had Hays ties.
Kevin Nelson, client leader for Hollis and Miller, is a 1985 Hays High School graduate, Amber Beverlin, principal for DRL Group has family in Hays, and SJCF mentioned people in their firm also have Hays ties.
“We would love to travel back and meet the people and the area we know,” Dana Taylor, SJCF, said.
Hollis and Miller focused on their process-oriented nature and was the only firm that was 100 percent focused on education.
Hollis and Miller breaks its firm down into three sectors — Public K-12, Private K-12 and High Education.
“Each group has its own team that specializes in that type of work, so you know you are getting the best,” Horner said.
Hollis and Miller had the longest presentation on the evening, as they broke down different steps for each process they go through to make a bond successful.
“We are very process-rich,” Horner said.
Each process presented had seven steps, which Hollis and Miller use to build the community and client trust to make sure both the community and client know the plan is in-depth.
“We want to work with you every step of the way to make sure you the client and us the designer can make something we can both be proud of,” said Michelle Chavey, Client Leader for Hollis and Miller.
One of the processes touched on was their credibility and financial responsibility.
“Here at Hollis and Miller, we are about long-range planning, to make sure you are set up properly and the foundation is laid,” Nelson said.
Before Superintendent John Thissen joined USD 489, he was the superintendent at USD 487 Herington and hired Hollis and Miller for a successful bond campaign after the previous election failed.
“That was one of our most rewarding projects for our firm,” Horner said.
Hollis and Miller touted the firm’s track record in getting bond issues to pass for educational purposes.
According to Horner, the firm of Hollis and Miller has done over 1,600 projects.
SJCF honed in on family in what was the quickest presentation on the night.
“Our clients are an extension of our family,” Taylor said.
SJCF spoke on collaboration from the whole community is key to getting a bond issues to pass.
“You need collaboration from all aspects of Hays life,” Taylor said. “Community engagement is the difference.”
SJCF is a diversified firm that does many projects outside of school bond elections, but still has helped pass 26 bond elections in the last 10 years.
The final firm to present was DLR Group.
“No one you spoke to tonight as passed a bond issues west of Salina for more than $50 million, but us,” Troy Wade, Expertise said. “Western Kansas, we have a 100 percent success rate.”
DLR Group presented a three-step process of data-driven community, customized vision of Hays, and examples of their proven bond election success.
Jim French, Senior Principal and Global K-12 Leader of DRL Group, has led the design of more than $1.5 billion in educational facilities and is a part of a group that is considered No. 1 firm in the United States, according to the America Institute of Architects.
“We run a lot of bonds and the firm is No. 1 in the world, but this team here has done bonds all over Kansas,” John Fuller, Chief Marketing Officer said.
Recently, DLR Group completed award-winning work on the bond election in Garden City.
Perhaps the most significant part of their presentation was their explanation how the June bond election failed.
Put on display for members of the board and administration was a map of Hays that showed which houses voted and what they voted for — proprietary information DLR said would be crucial for the next bond issue.
“Think about the power of this gives you towards your potential voter,” Wade said.
All three firms are expected to make one more presentation to the district.
Dr. Joan Dreiling, a Fort Hays State University graduate, will present her research at a seminar at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, in Tomanek Hall, room 106.
Dreiling is a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.
She was chosen to attend the Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and also invited to present her research at technical physics conferences in both the U.S. and Europe.
Dreiling graduated summa cum laude from FHSU in 2008 with bachelor’s of science degrees in physics and mathematics. She was also the Torch Award winner in her class.
She earned her Ph.D. in experimental atomic, molecular and optical physics at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Her dissertation, “Asymmetric Interaction between Spin-Polarized Electrons,” won the Folsom Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award.
Learn the basic principles of safe home food preservation in a basic canning class hosted by Ellis County Extension on Monday, Nov. 7, 5:30 to 9 p.m., at the Hays High School FCS room.
This hands-on workshop will teach the proper procedures for canning vegetables in a pressure canner and fruit in a boiling water bath canner. The $10 registration fee includes a simple supper and door prizes. Take home a jar of each product at the conclusion of the class. Instructors are Extension agents Linda Beech, Ellis County, Karen Shepard, Graham County, and Anna Schremmer, Phillips-Rooks District.
A minimum of 10 and maximum of 21 participants are allowed, so pre-register and pay fees at the Ellis County Extension Office, 785-628-9430, 601 Main Street in Hays.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security recipients and federal retirees will get a monthly increase in benefits of just 0.3 percent next year, the fifth year in a row that older Americans will have to settle for historically low raises.
There was no increase this year. Next year’s benefit hike will be small because inflation is low, driven in part by lower fuel prices.
The federal government announced the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, Tuesday morning. By law, the COLA is based on a government measure of consumer prices.
The average monthly Social Security payment is $1,238. That translates into a monthly increase of less than $4 a month.
The COLA affects more than 70 million people — about 1 in 5 Americans.
Timothy “Tim” M. Nickel, age 60, died on October 14, 2016 at his residence in Garden City, Kansas. He was born in Scott City, Kansas the son of Harold and Eva Nickel.
He worked as a truck driver for many years and loved bowling and watching Nascar.
Survivors include:
One Sister Sue Nickel of Scott City, Kansas
Wife Elizabeth Alyene Moore Frazier
Five Stepchildren Christopher Conner
Shanon Woods
Amanda Conner
Lisa Nguyen
Bobbie Gutierrez
He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Ruby Marie Nickel.
Memorial Service will be held on Friday, October 21, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Scott City, Kansas.
There will be no calling times.
Inurnment will be held immediately following the funeral service at the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas.
Memorials in lieu of flowers may be made to: Timothy Nickel Memorial Fund
% of Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City, Kansas
Want to stump that candidate for the House or Senate who shows up on your doorstop while you’re trying to finish dinner in time for “Dancing with the Stars” or hustling to get the hopefully last-of-the-season lawn mowing done?
Might try asking that legislative hopeful one or two questions about labor law in Kansas.
Key, of course, is that Kansas is a state where employment is important for the general economy, and your town in particular.
Those questions? Try: “Where are you on ban the box and/or E-Verify?”
Ban the box is that campaign under way in several states—and which has been rejected by the Kansas Legislature—to ban that little check box on employment applications that asks “do you have a criminal record?”
If there’s one question on an employment application that virtually assures that for those who have a criminal record—and because they’re filling out an employment application have likely completed the sentence or penalty for whatever they’ve done—the application goes into the trash, it’s probably that box.
The issue goes a couple ways. That box might be checked for some juvenile mistake or a crime for which the applicant has paid his/her price, learned his/her lesson and is ready to become a productive member of society.
That checkbox virtually eliminates an interview in which an employer can ask in person about a criminal record, what it deals with, how it was handled and what skills the job candidate has. It’s still the employer’s decision, but at least it can be based on a face-to-face interview and assessment of whether that criminal record presents any problems with employing a former check-kiter to roof houses or cook or assemble trailers.
Interesting question? Learn something about a candidate by his/her answer to the question? Probably. Nope, it’s not taxes or highways or the death penalty, but it might tell you something about what experience the candidate has in real life—because, after all, that candidate is applying for your vote.
That second question? Might try E-Verify. That’s the federal program that Kansas doesn’t mandate that employers use but which in many states and for some types of contracts requires that an employer verify that a job applicant or employee is legally eligible to work in the United States.
Now, here’s your chance to get the candidate off his standard pitch for votes and maybe get a little feel for whether the candidate is fairly broad-based in his/her thoughts on issues that aren’t so simple.
Employers, or at least many of them, don’t use E-verify, asserting that the federal data isn’t always accurate and that it puts them in the position of sometimes having to go through some extra steps to make sure that the worker is here legally. An immigration deal? Maybe, because U.S. citizens—and Kansans—are competing for jobs with foreign workers (anyone had a roof replaced or a tree trimmed recently?) who maybe shouldn’t be working here.
Whatever you feel about the issue, would you care what your representative or senator feels on the issue?
These last couple weeks provide the chance to see whether a candidate knows issues, responds to questions, answers the phone, and may or may not be the candidate for you.
Because, remember, that candidate is essentially a job-seeker.
The “ban the box” issue probably doesn’t apply to him/her, unless you ask or for some reason the candidate offers, but politically would you want to automatically deny a candidate your vote for some little infraction years ago? Probably not.
Oh, and the E-verify issue is easier. They’ve already been confirmed—not to work anywhere in the U.S.—but at least they’ve been vetted that they live in your House or Senate district, so consider them “verified.”
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com.
For the second straight year, the Ellis County Relay for Life will be held on the Fort Hays State University campus inside Gross Memorial Coliseum, from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22.
“It works better at the coliseum, because because we don’t have to worry about the weather with it being inside,” Diana Staley said.
Relay for Life celebrates cancer survivors and raises money for research for the cure.
This year’s event is full of firsts as attendance numbers have dropped, according to Staley. So, for the first time, vendors will be present at the location along with the Hays Fire Department.
“Attendance has been dropping, so we wanted to give people a chance to do some shopping in an attempt to bring more people in,” she said.
To reel in businesses, the Ellis County Relay for Life was promoted during the Home Based Business Fair on Oct. 1 and on various social media sites.
List of vendors that will be present:
Wild Feather Crafting
Avon
Premier Jewelry
It Works/Paparazzi
Lularoe
Nex-Tech Wireless
K&L Kreations
Roman & Fields/Pampered Chef
Usborne Books
Young Living Essential Oils
FHSU Nursing
Scentsy
Ulrich’s Crafts
A Beautiful You
Thirty-One Gifts
Robert Alvarez Wood Works
Sassy Sam’s
Level/Thrive
Norwex
Memory Lockets by Erika, Rodan, and Fields
Personalize it by Rhiannon
The Hays Fire Department is present this year for the first time to appeal to a younger audience.
“The younger generation is our future to keep this going,” Staley said.
The Hays Fire Department will be on site from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A raffle booth will be set up as the event begins. Raffle tickets are $1 each or six for $5. Several items and gift baskets will be available to bid on — and winners need not be present to win.
Aside from the raffle drawings, an auction will also be taking place for a basketball goal, which was donated by the Meehan Family.
Taco Shop will be present at the beginning of the event, giving out free tacos while supplies last.
Once registration is complete, Deacon Dave Kisner will lead an opening prayer followed by the presentation of the flag and the national anthem, performed by Carson Klaus.
After Fort Hays State’ University President Dr. Mirta Martin’s opening remarks, the walking will begin.
The walking will start with the survivor lap followed by the caregiver lap.
The luminary ceremony walk is planned at 4 p.m. with games, entertainment, the auction and raffle drawings happening before.
All proceeds from the event go to cancer research.
“Relay for Life is important because the money raised goes to cancer research and, without the money, we can’t do the research for finding the cure,” Staley said.
“I dug through the data and I have different data than you have…What I understand from my visit and the documents I reviewed is…there was nothing in his file that suggested that this was a risk.” –U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald, September 2016
Several years ago, our nation was appalled to learn that Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees were encouraged to create secret waiting lists that stood between veterans and the care they deserved. Veterans died waiting for care because of deceptive practices at the VA, and at that point, I called for the resignation of then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. At the time, I didn’t think things at the agency could get any worse. But, I now know I was wrong.
Unfortunately, what took place at the VA’s Leavenworth, Kansas-based Eastern Kansas Health Care System is one of the worst examples of how the VA has failed veterans. In this instance, the VA hired physician assistant Mark Wisner, who was previously convicted of a lewd act, continued credentialing him for patient care every two years, and kept him on their payroll for more than a month after he admitted to preying on, assaulting and abusing vulnerable veterans. While the VA regrets what occurred, I’m frustrated now-VA Secretary Bob McDonald doesn’t seem to share my sense of urgency about investigating this situation to make certain this never happens again.
When I learned of the accusations of misconduct against Mr. Wisner, I immediately got in touch with local VA leadership to get answers. On Sept. 2, 2016, I took my concerns all the way up the ladder to Secretary McDonald requesting answers to 22 pointed questions. I sent him publicly available court filings that include sworn testimony from the VA Office of Inspector General’s special agent who interviewed Mr. Wisner. The next week, I asked one of the VA’s top health officials several of the same questions during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Hearing. In the first instance, all of the “different data” my office has collected was shared with the VA and, in the second, my concerns were clearly and publicly articulated to Sec. McDonald’s staff. And yet on Sept. 14, 2016, when I had an opportunity to publicly question the secretary about this case, I was dismayed to hear him say that “nothing in [Wisner’s] file suggested that this was a risk.” Now, more than a month later, I hope the secretary will respond to the questions that I and many veterans have about this case.
The failures aren’t limited to what VA ought to have known prior to hiring Wisner – they extend to how they handled what they did know. Even a cursory examination of the case reveals that more than a month passed between when Wisner admitted his crimes and when he voluntarily resigned. The moment a VA employee admits to abusing a patient, a client, or a coworker should be the moment their paycheck ends. Grounds for immediate termination clearly existed and yet Mr. Wisner remained a VA employee another 37 days. Only when Wisner tendered his own resignation did he cease work at the VA.
I do not doubt Sec. McDonald’s claim that he had “different data” than me and others following the case; but, what is so troublesome is that he felt the data they had was sufficient – that the VA had thoroughly investigated the situation and there was no risk. The VA’s top executive was unable to answer any questions with substance and put the minds of veterans at ease. His inability to address this situation gives little confidence to Congress and more importantly to veterans who are being asked to trust the agency that failed to protect them.
And, if I am working with all possible channels to gather information as to how this could have happened, shouldn’t we be able to reasonably expect the VA to do the same? It is unacceptable that Wisner’s criminal past – a glaring red flag – was missed. When the consequences of that mistake are as grave as these violent crimes, how can we tolerate it again and again?
Veterans are upset. Firing this individual could have brought a small measure of justice for his victims – and yet the VA failed to do even that. Although Wisner is beyond the VA’s reach, he is not beyond the reach of Congress. I have introduced legislation that would reduce the pension of employees who are convicted of a violent crime against a veteran. Why should an individual who sexually abused veterans receive the same benefits as the thousands of VA employees who honorably serve them?
The VA’s lack of urgency and interest in addressing this situation shortchanges our nation’s heroes and the hardworking men and women who serve them every day at the VA. I encourage any veteran who has had an experience they would like to share confidentially to contact my Olathe office at (913) 393-0711.
