A premier business magazine in the Kansas City area – Ingram’s – recently released it’s list of “50 Kansans You Should Know,” highlighting some of the most notable people in the state.
Out of the group of movers and shakers in the state, only one person from Hays was recognized — Ness City native, Fort Hays State University instructor, renovation expert and business owner Kris Munsch.
To read the entry for Munsch, or to see the full list follow the link here.
Last week’s inspection results from the Kansas Department of Agriculture:
Bingo Haus 1218 Canterbury, Hays – June 26
A routine inspection found one violation.
Days Inn 3205 Vine, Hays – June 23
A first operational inspection after licensing found one violation.
Golden Griddle 230 W. Ninth, Hays – June 23
A routine inspection found six violations.
Hampton Inn 4002 General Hays, Hays – June 23
A routine inspection found five violations.
Jump Start Health and Fitness 1301 Main, Hays – June 22
A routine inspection found two violations.
Breathe Coffee House 703 B Main, Hays – June 21
A first operational inspection after licensing found one violation.
Osaki Japanese Restaurant 2522 Vine, Hays – June 21
A first operational inspection after licensing found five violations.
Toby Jugs 104 E. Seventh, Hays – June 21
A routine inspection found one violation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Sen. Bob Dole is using his new Twitter account to take a swipe at a Republican congressman who’s facing a primary challenge in his home state of Kansas.
Dole started tweeting Monday. The 92-year-old World War II veteran’s first message was: “I’m proof that it’s never too late to join Twitter.”
A few hours later, Dole used his verified account to weigh in on the closely contested race for the Republican nomination in Kansas’ 1st District. Dole criticized Rep. Tim Huelskamp for what he called “misleading attacks” on his challenger in the Aug. 2 primary, obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Roger Marshall.
— Senator Bob Dole (@SenatorDole) June 27, 2016
Dole represented the 1st District before moving to the Senate in 1968. He won the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 but lost to Bill Clinton.
Submitted
Eber Phelps, candidate for 111th State Representative, greeted a large crowd of supporters at the home of former Senator Janis Lee, in Hays, with news about the upcoming campaign, at a gathering on Sunday.
Phelps, who is seeking the 111th seat – composed of Hays, Victoria and rural Ellis County – spoke to a group including Republicans, Democrats and Independents from Ellis County. He was introduced by the guest of honor, Paul Davis, the Democratic candidate for Governor in a close race against incumbent Sam Brownback in 2014. Davis reminded those present that the “incumbent 111th Representative, Sue Ellen
Davis reminded those present that the “incumbent 111th Representative, Sue Ellen Boldra and Brownback worked with other far right Representatives and Senators to implement unwise tax policies and reckless spending which has left the State of Kansas reeling financially while neighboring States have reaped the benefits of Kansas’s failures,” Davis said. “While Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma and Nebraska have had healthy gains in jobs, Kansas has fallen woefully short of Brownback’s and Boldra’s promise of 30,000 new jobs.”
“I served in the Kansas House with both Eber Phelps and Sue Boldra and I can tell you that Boldra is incapable of telling Brownback and his handlers ‘No’ for the remaining two years of Brownback’s term. Eber will fight for his constituents, not for a deluded Governor and his failed experiment,” Davis said. “Boldra and others spent the last few elections running with Sam Brownback and now I expect to see them run from Sam Brownback, but Kansans are smarter than that and I believe that we have turned a corner. The pendulum is swinging and it needs to sweep fickle office-holders like Boldra out of the Statehouse,” Davis said.
Phelps told the gathering that he is proud of having voted against Brownback’s tax “experiment” and that he will have no problem joining with moderate Republicans and Democrats in restoring fairness to the tax code and bolstering education at the local and state levels. He said he will seek the advice of Duane Goossen, the Budget Director for the three Governors preceding Brownback, in crafting immediate solutions to the crucial funding of highways and education and programs for the elderly.
“I had no intention of running for this office until I saw the deliberate sabotage of our State’s finances by Boldra and others when they were given a clear opportunity to start fixing the problem at the end of the 73 day session. When I saw them pass a law that turned the problem right back to the creator of it, Sam Brownback, I knew that things won’t change in Topeka unless we change our representation there. My service on the City Commission has reminded me that it is important to keep our infrastructure maintained and to use a balanced tax system to do that. Brownback and his followers, including my opponent, have stripped us of the ability to fix our streets and highways and have taken needed money from our universities, including Fort Hays State. They have put a band aid on the unconstitutional funding system foisted off on the taxpayers. She had numerous chances to do the right thing for us but instead waited to see how the political winds were blowing to cast “safe” votes when they didn’t hurt Brownback’s foolish policies and voted the other way when Brownback told her he needed her vote,” Phelps said. “Neither Ellis County, Hays ,Victoria, nor the State can afford those kinds of games in these serious times,” he said. “We definitely cannot afford two more years of Brownback and Boldra.”
Phelps announced that he has selected a Treasurer and that he considered all in attendance at the event to be among his policy advisers and asked that his supporters help him wage a grassroots campaign.
“I anticipate that Ms. Boldra will once again rely on campaign money from Brownback and others who have unfairly benefited from the shift of taxes from large corporations to people at the grocery store and while I can’t expect to raise that kind of money from Ellis County, I can outwork them, with your help,” Phelps told the group.
FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Wichita Area Technical College will be the newest partner with Fort Hays State University in the university’s Technology Leadership Program when WATC President Sheree Utash and FHSU President Mirta M. Martin sign a transfer agreement at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 30, in the main lobby of the Gateway Administration Center of WATC’s National Center for Aviation Training Campus, 4004 N. Webb Road, Wichita.
The applied technology to technology leadership program is a 121-hour, interdisciplinary program built on the Associate of Applied Science degree that a student earns from WATC. Under the agreement, up to 60 hours of credit will transfer to FHSU toward the Bachelor of Science in Technology Leadership. The transferred credits can include up to 40 hours of applied technology credits among the required general education credits.
At FHSU, students will complete a minimum 60 hours, which includes 45 hours of upper division courses, of which 33 are the core degree requirements.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 36-year-old Kansas man convicted of mistaken-identity killing has been resentenced to a shorter prison term.
Charles Christopher Logsdon was sentenced Monday to life without the possibility of parole for 25 years for the 2011 killing of 27-year-old Jennifer Heckel. He also was sentenced to another 23 years for four other crimes.
Intruders entered Heckel’s home by mistake and shot her twice as her young son watched television in an adjoining room. Their real target was a drug dealer. Logsdon insisted he didn’t kill Heckel.
Under Logsdon’s original sentence, he would have to serve a half century for the killing before becoming eligible for parole. The Supreme Court ordered the resentencing because a jury, not a judge, must make a “Hard 50” determination.
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee are faulting the Obama administration in a report Tuesday on the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
Kansas 4th district congressman Mike Pompeo is a member of the Committee. See more here.
Our #BenghaziReport proves that @POTUS and his Secretary of State @HillaryClinton put politics ahead of American lives.
— Mike Pompeo (@RepMikePompeo) June 28, 2016
The panel accuses the Obama administration of stonewalling important documents and witnesses. Democrats say the panel’s primary goal is to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.
Clinton was secretary of state during the attacks, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Democrats released a report Monday stating that Clinton never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional security at the U.S. outpost in Benghazi. Democrats said after a two-year investigation that the military could not have done anything differently that night to save the lives of four Americans killed in Libya.
Democrats’ release of their own report heightened the partisanship of the inquiry, which has been marked by finger-pointing on both sides.
-The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The Hays Police Department responded to 7 animal calls and 13 traffic stops Mon., June 27, 2016, according to the HPD Activity Log.
Suspicious Person–500 block W 7th St, Hays; 3:50 AM; 4:05 AM
Found/Lost Property–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 9:04 AM
Animal At Large–200 block W 22nd St, Hays; 10:17 AM
Harassment (All Other)–100 block E 5th St, Hays; 12:47 PM
Traffic Stop–3900 block Vine St, Hays; 2:10 PM
Water Use Violation–3800 block Post Rd, Hays; 2:34 PM
Dangerous Animal–1100 block Cody Ave, Hays; 3:10 PM
Found/Lost Property–2200 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 6/22 12 AM; 6/23 11:59 PM
Civil Dispute–1000 block Reservation Rd, Hays; 6/1/15; 6/27/16
MV Accident-Private Property–1300 block W Walnut St, Hays; 4:02 PM
Abandoned Vehicle–Colonial and Englewood, Hays; 4:09 PM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–2000 block E 8th St, Hays; 7:28 PM
Animal At Large–2500 block Marjorie Dr, Hays; 7:29 PM
Drug Offenses–183 Alt. and Vine, Hays; 10:21 PM
PRATT – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 46 years for aggravated criminal sodomy of a person under 14 years of age, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Dashaun Ray Howling, 29, was sentenced in Pratt County District Court by Judge Francis J. Meisenheimer.
In addition to the life sentence, Howling was sentenced to lifetime parole with electronic monitoring. Howling was found guilty in May by a Pratt County jury of aggravated criminal sodomy.
The conviction stemmed from a crime that occurred in June 2015. The crime falls under Jessica’s Law, because the victim was under 14 years of age.
The case was investigated by the Pratt Police Department. Assistant Attorney General Melissa Johnson of Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case.
After a two-day special legislative session which adjourned in the dusk of Friday, we need to see just who won what, or at least who claims credit for what leading into the election season.
Did the Kansas Supreme Court win by using its power—essentially the threat to close schools—to force lawmakers to provide equal support for all school districts that have property tax-supported Local Option Budgets? Yes.
So, the court forced legislators to provide equal state support for school districts with those local option budgets by threatening to close schools. It cost about $38 million to provide that equal support and the majority of that money won’t be spent to hire teachers or buy textbooks or even purchase playground equipment, but will instead allow school districts to cut their property taxes for patrons or at least not increase them.
That’s not exactly like rescuing children from a burning barn, is it?
The concept, the state treating all districts equally, sounds good and makes sense, doesn’t it? It loses a little of that glow when most of the additional money spent will allow districts to lower property taxes, but well, this is government. Probably, we could stop a dab short of asserting that the court forced the Legislature to “save the children.”
But that school-closing threat clearly forced the Legislature’s hand, and those spooky black-robed justices loomed large during the session, extorting that $38 million that provides equal treatment of school districts from legislators and their constituents that probably the Legislature should have provided without the threat.
You probably want to stop a little short of saying that the court forced the Legislature to do the right thing and had to use the extraordinary school-closing threat to accomplish that goal. Not sure how far short of that point you want to stop, because it’s doubtful that without that threat, there wouldn’t have been a special session and equalizing what amounts to less than one percent of the total state aid to schools wouldn’t have been done.
Let’s wait a minute to see who takes credit for what.
Lawmakers prevented that school closing, or threat of school closing. How much credit do they get? Did they prevent the courts from closing schools, or did lawmakers—116-6 in the House and 38-1 in the Senate—just follow the constitution? We’ll see how they portray the effort, and we already have an idea how it may play out. If you put one less ice cube in your highball, can you claim that somehow you’ve saved a polar bear?
And the court can take credit — and maintain its assertion that it is ensuring even-handed constitutional treatment of public education — for forcing that change in school finance law that probably shouldn’t have ever been necessary if legislators had read the constitution. But, that’s a little like asserting that by not buying that Donald Trump tie, you’ve saved a panda somewhere in China next to the tie factory.
There’s little chance that descriptions of the special session, the wheedling about where the money comes from in the state budget for that $38 million fix to equalize support for those LOB districts, will come down to just abiding by the constitution which requires the state to make sure that with relatively equal local property tax effort, all children get access to relatively uniform educational opportunities.
And, don’t forget that the governor will claim credit for the fix, too. Because nobody isn’t for equal educational opportunity, and he was the one who thought up the idea of bringing the Legislature back to town Thursday for the special session, understanding that most legislators didn’t want to spend the weekend off the campaign trail—and unable to accept campaign contributions—for more than two days.
The winner? It’s probably up to voters to decide…
Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit www.hawvernews.com.
By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Danny Duffy matched a career best with eight sharp innings, the Royals kept swinging hot bats and Kansas City routed the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Monday night to open a four-game, two-city series.
Kendrys Morales went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs, and Eric Hosmer also had a pair of RBIs as the Royals roughed up Adam Wainwright (6-5) to snap a four-game losing streak to their cross-state rival.
Duffy (3-1) served up a two-run homer to Matt Holliday in the first before settling into a nice rhythm, keeping the Cardinals off balance with pinpoint control. The left-hander struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter while breezing through a lineup that scored 11 runs the previous day against Seattle.
Now that gardens across Kansas are bearing vegetables, it’s time to taste, enjoy and appreciate the fruits of our labor.
Just a few short weeks ago, many folks walked out to their machine sheds or garage and plucked a spade out of one of the dark corners or cranked up the turf tiller and headed for the garden. Springtime on the farm or in town always means preparing the soil, planting seeds and growing food.
Going into the first week of July, most Kansans are experiencing the dog-days of summer – you know blistering heat, strong southerly winds and little, if any, moisture. And this summer is no different. In eastern Kansas, dryland corn has already experienced extreme heat, especially for June. By the afternoon, leaves sport that blue cast that signals stress and a need for rain. Soybeans continue to hang in there.
Some areas in southwestern Kansas are bogged down in wheat harvest because of too much moisture. Just depends on where you live.
Still for those Kansans lucky enough to toil in their own gardens, some are already picking tomatoes and cucumbers by the armfuls. Lettuce and radishes remain in the mix as well.
Growing up in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, fresh produce wasn’t as abundant in the grocery store as it is today. Knox Market, located on old Highway 24 on the west edge of Hoxie, did boast cantaloupes and watermelons trucked in from western Colorado and New Mexico.
During this period, most families grew their own. Many couldn’t afford to go to the store and buy their fresh fruits and vegetables.
Today, while most people can afford to buy their produce from the local grocery store, some still prefer to grow their own.
You just can’t beat a fresh ear of corn, picked in the early morning and served slathered with butter for lunch or dinner. The kernels taste as sweet as candy. Yep, tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupes and watermelons all taste better when they’re “fresh picked.”
Also, there is nothing more satisfying than to walk out to your own garden, pick a couple of tomatoes and head for the kitchen. Once inside, wash and cut the red delight, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper. Umm they’re so good.
People are discovering once again, or in most cases for the first time, how good foods taste fresh right out of the soil.
If you don’t believe me, just bite into a fresh carrot, radish or slice up a cool, refreshing cucumber and slip it into your mouth. The proof is in the tasting.
Some of us were born with a sweet tooth. I’m one of them. Fresh fruit, ice cream and chocolates are my favorites. If you’ve ever picked fresh strawberries and sprinkled them on a heaping bowl of vanilla ice cream, you know you’ve just experienced a little bit of heaven right here on earth. Sometimes popping a few fresh ones right from the vine and into your mouth is even better.
For those concerned about saving energy, eating fruits and vegetables fresh off the tree or out of the garden could be another option. Once you acquire a taste for fresh produce, you may never go back to cooking fruits and vegetables again.
So the next time you’re out working in your garden this summer and the sweat begins to drip down your face and into your eyes, think about all those wonderful fresh strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers you’ll soon eat on your own dinner table. When you harvest the fruits of your labor, you’ll know it is worth it.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
GREAT BEND, Kan. – The Hays Monarchs Jr. American Legion baseball team rallied for five runs in the final two innings to beat Great Bend 5-2 in game one of their doubleheader Monday night at the Great Bend Sports Complex. They built a 10-0 lead in the second game then held on for an 11-7 victory and the sweep.
Adam Gottschalk’s double scored Karl Rack with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning of the opener. Eston Brown added an RBI single and Gavin Schumacher drove in a run with his second triple of the game.
Cole Zimmerman struck out eight and allowed one earned run on five hits with three walks in the complete game win.
The Monarchs scored four in the second and five in the fourth in the second game before the Chiefs rallied with a six-run fifth.
Carlos Schwindt gave up six runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings and picks up the win.
The Monarchs (16-4) , who have won three straight and seven of their last eight, travel to Dodge City for two games with the Rangers on Wednesday.
