Albertina Clara “Tina” Rome, 82, Hays, died Friday, June 3, 2016 at her daughter’s house in Wichita.
She was born June 8, 1933 in Victoria, Kansas, the daughter of John and Catherine (Schmidtberger) Rupp. She worked in Housekeeping at Fort Hays State University until her retirement.
She loved dogs, played harmonica by ear, and enjoyed playing solitaire. She was an excellent cook, preparing delicious German food for family and friends, and loved family time with her children and grandchildren.
Survivors include her son; Lawrence Rome and wife Kathy of Hays, three daughters; MaryAnn Frank and Diane Janssen, both of Wichita, and Marie Davis and husband Eugene of Baltimore, MD, a sister Alice Wasinger of Hutchinson, five grandchildren; Joshua Rome of New York City, Nicole Rome of Columbus, OH, James Murrow and wife Kristin of Georgetown, KY, Lisa Murrow and Danny Cates of Wichita, and Abigail Davis of Baltimore, MD, four great grandchildren; Addison Murrow, Danielle Cates, Ava Cates, and Dagen Cates, and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, a son; Clarence Rome, Jr., and eleven brothers and sisters.
Funeral services will be at 10:00 am on Monday, June 6, 2016 at St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church, 2901 E. 13th, Hays. Burial will follow in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5:00 until 8:00 pm on Sunday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 on Monday, all at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine Street. A parish vigil service and rosary will be at 6:30 pm on Sunday at the funeral home.
Memorials are suggested in Tina’s memory to the Humane Society of the High Plains, in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
HUTCHINSON -A Kansas woman entered a guilty plea to intentional second-degree murder on Friday in the strangulation death of 38-year-old Mary Ann Arnett in June of last year.
Jamie Hatfield, 27, Hutchinson, enter the plea to the single count while all other charges were dismissed by the District Attorney.
Arnett’s body was found in a dry creek bed near Nickerson.
An autopsy showed she had been strangled by a cell phone cord and extension cord.
Prosecutors say Hatfield and Jonathan Perser-Wilson were involved in Arnett’s death.
PerserWilson was shot and killed by police during a confrontation the day after Arnett’s body was found.
Arnett and Hatfield had previously dated but when Arnett’s body was found, Hatfield was in a relationship with Wilson.
The overview map on this page depicts the route of the Grain Belt Express Clean Line in Kansas- Image Clean Line Energy Partners.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A group representing Missouri municipal utilities has signed up for space on a transmission line that would carry wind power from western Kansas across Missouri and further east.
The Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission said Thursday it signed an agreement for up to 200 megawatts of transmission space on the Grain Belt Express. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the commission represents municipal utilities that pool their resources to buy power.
The Missouri Public Service Commission blocked the transmission line last summer after strong opposition from landowners along the line’s proposed route.
Texas-based Clean Line Energy, which is proposing the transmission line, says the agreement proves that there are customers for the line in Missouri.
Grain Belt Express has already won approval from Kansas, Indiana and Illinois regulators.
ELLIS — The Community Foundation of Ellis will be providing summer meals for community children in the Ellis area starting Monday and running through Aug. 29.
Any community child, age 2 to 18, who is food-insecure during the summer months is eligible.
Each Monday, from 5 to 6 p.m., the Ellis Food Pantry will be open to pick up weekly meals and shelf milk. Parents can assist in the pickup. This is the second summer the foundation has provided Food4Kids, Summer! Food That’s In When School is Out program.
BOURBON COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 7:30a.m. on Friday in Bourbon County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Chevy Equinox driven by Christel Jean Goodell, 40, Pittsburg, was south bound in the rain on U.S. 69 four miles south of Kansas 7.
The vehicle hydroplaned and slid off the road into the east ditch
Goodell was transported to Mercy Hospital.
She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Hays, Kansas – Agnes D. Alexander, age 97, died Thursday, June 2, 2016, at Via Christi Village Care Center, Hays, Kansas.
She was born January 26, 1919, on the farm west of Victoria, Kansas, to John A. and Catherine Margaret (Vonfeldt) Goetz. She married Earl Alexander on July 5, 1937. He died in 1976.
She owned and operated the Towne Beauty Salon in Hays and was a hairdresser for over 55 years. She attended grade school\high school in Victoria and attended the Wichita Beauty School. Agnes was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Christian Mothers and V.F.W. Post # 9076 all of Hays. She enjoyed playing cards, traveling, her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Agnes was devoted to her clients.
Survivors include one son, Dale Alexander and wife, Joyce, Aurora, CO; three grandchildren, Todd Alexander, Milissa Alexander, Toby Alexander and wife, Karen, all of Hays, former daughter-in-law, Michele Alexander, Hays, KS; four great grandchildren, Monica Alexander, Jacob Alexander, Shelby Alexander, Easton Alexander; and one great great grandson, Julius Alexander.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, five brothers, Raymond Goetz and wife, Lioba; Simon Goetz and wife, Ida; Dan Goetz and wife Josephine; Bill Goetz and wife, Helen; Dave Goetz and wife, Bonnie; three sisters, Sr. Verda Goetz C.S.A.; Tillie Brown and husband, Celly; Annie Sander and husband, Tony; two infant brothers, David Goetz and Hubert Goetz.
Services are at 10:00 A.M. Wednesday, June 8, 2016, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Hays. Kansas. Burial in St. Fidelis Cemetery, Victoria, Kansas.
Visitation is from 9:00 to 10:00 A.M. Wednesday, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Hays, Kansas.
Memorial to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Cline’s Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601 is in charge of arrangements.
Condolences can be sent via e-mail to [email protected].
TOPEKA–For the first time since April, 2011, all Kansas counties are declared to be drought free. Following long awaited rains, counties saw improvement in conditions which led Governor Sam Brownback to update the Drought Declaration for Kansas counties with Executive Order 16-02 on Friday, June 3, 2016.
“We are thankful the recent rains helped remove all counties from a drought designation,” said Governor Brownback in a news release. “Agriculture plays a key role in the Kansas economy, and this is particularly good news for our farmers and ranchers. Water is a precious resource and the fact that Kansas is officially drought free for the first time in more than five years, is excellent news.”
Tracy Streeter, Director of the Kansas Water Office and Chair of the Governor’s Drought Response Team requested the drought-free declaration based on numerous factors. The Drought Response Team considers not only the Drought Monitor but many other factors when evaluating county designations such as: precipitation, reservoir and public water supply conditions, stream flow, soil moisture, climate, and vegetation, etc.
“Drought response over the past several years as well as all water resource management has been a collective effort of all Kansas citizens and county and state officials,” said Tracy Streeter. “This break in drought now gives the Response Team an opportunity to evaluate how we did in drought mitigation and prepare for the next drought, which we know will come. We encourage cities and rural water districts to also evaluate conservation and drought response plans to improve on lessons learned.”
The Kansas Water Vision implementation will provide a more reliable source of supply for future generations. Kansas citizens are encouraged to find ways they can implement conservation measures and daily habits to lessen the impacts of the next drought.
This Executive Order shall rescind drought from all counties with Executive Order 16-02 and remain in effect until rescinded by a subsequent Executive Order revising the drought stage status of Kansas counties.
The Governor’s Drought Response Team will continue to watch if drought conditions return.
The full text of Executive Order 16-02 can be found here.
For more detailed information about current conditions, see the Kansas Climate Summary and Drought Report on the Kansas Water Office website at: www.kwo.org
Funding requests from outside groups presented Thursday will be brought back to the Hays city commission during the 2017 budget process later this summer.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Representatives of seven non-profit agencies presented their requests for funding from the city of Hays in 2017 during Thursday night’s city commission work session.
The local groups provide social services, economic development and quality of life to Hays residents.
Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development–$87,550
Fort Hays State University–$125,000 ($25,000 increase from 2016)
Wild West Festival, Inc.–$9,550
CARE Council–Social Services/Special Alcohol Tax–$164,000
Downtown Hays Development Corporation–$53,655
Ellis County Historical Society–$23,000 ($12,000 increase from 2016)
Hays Arts Council, Inc.–$12,000 ($818 increase from 2016)
Together, they requested a total of $474,705 in 2017. Each of the past three years the city has funded outside agencies a total of $437,508.
Mayor Eber Phelps reiterated the presentations were for informational purposes only and the requests will be reviewed within the 2017 budget process later this summer.
MANHATTAN – Investigators in Riley County continue to investigate a Thursday morning structure fire at a Manhattan apartment building under construction.
There is a high probability that the fire at 801 Moro Street was set intentionally by an unknown subject(s), according to a media release from Riley County Police.
Just after 5 a.m., on Thursday, the Manhattan Fire Department was dispatched to the intersection of 8th and Moro Street and found a three-story apartment building under construction with fire showing from multiple floors, according to a media release.
The fire reached a second alarm before it was contained within approximately one hour.
The building was an approximately 8,000-square-foot, three-story apartment building under construction.
When finished, the building would contain 6 apartments with 17 bedrooms with an estimated value of more than $1 million.
The owner is listed as Fieldhouse Development Inc. and RF Benchmark Construction is the general contractor.
Investigators from the Manhattan Fire Department, the Riley County Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives, and the Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal conducted the origin and cause investigation.
Officials are now investigating this fire as arson.
Officers ask that anyone with information on these crimes contact the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers by phone at 785-539-7777 or online at www.ManhattanRileyCountyCrimeStoppers.com.
PRATT – Habitat First is a new program developed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism’s (KDWPT) Wildlife Division for private landowners interested in developing or enhancing wildlife habitat on their land. Under the program, district wildlife biologists will deliver the following services to interested landowners:
-Technical assistance: planning, land management support, and habitat development tools
-Financial assistance: cost-share and sign-on incentives for habitat improvements
-Equipment loans: native grass drills, tree planters, fabric machines, prescribed burn equipment, and root plows
-USDA programs: assistance with Environmental Quality Incentive Program applications benefiting wildlife, Conservation Reserve Program enrollment, and management
Standardized practices and rates make the program easy to explain and understand. Habitat management plans can be tailored to the property and to landowner preferences.
A $3.3 million cut to the Kansas Children’s Cabinet budget means grant reductions across the state. The Coffeyville school district faces a $140,000 cut just before it intends to open four new classrooms to offer all-day preschool to more children. COURTESY COFFEYVILLE USD 445
Children’s programs across the state are scrambling to deal with grant cuts that take effect at the start of July.
The cuts come from a $3.3 million reduction in funding for the Kansas Children’s Cabinet, which uses the state’s share of the 1998 master settlement agreement with large tobacco companies to provide grants through the Children’s Initiatives Fund for programs for children and families.
The timing for a budget cut to early childhood programs couldn’t be much worse, Coffeyville USD 445 Superintendent Craig Correll said.
The district faces a $140,000 cut just before it intends to open new rooms in its preschool building to offer all-day preschool to more children, Correll said. The challenge is even greater because the district has only about one month to reduce expenses or find additional revenue, he said.
The Coffeyville school district will have to make cuts by July 1, when the new fiscal year starts, Correll said. It isn’t clear if the district will be able to hire additional teachers to staff the new classrooms, though cutting teachers would be a “last resort,” he said.
“I think (the cut) will be devastating to our kiddos and our community,” he said. The preschool program “was a step to moving our kids out of poverty. It’s a major step backward.”
Some programs exempt
The $3.3 million cut comes out to about 8 percent of the Children’s Cabinet budget for fiscal year 2017 of $42 million, but it won’t be divided equally among the more than 100 programs receiving funds from the tobacco settlement.
Janice Smith, executive director of the Children’s Cabinet, said the Brownback administration told her that programs using the money as a match for federal dollars would be exempt. If the matching funds were cut, those programs also would lose at least some of their federal funds.
The upshot is that instead of all programs absorbing an 8 percent cut, some are held harmless, while others now face a 14 percent cut.
The Children’s Cabinet funds more than 100 programs dealing with early childhood, Smith said, and it intends to spread the cuts equally among groups that aren’t exempt.
“Traditionally, the cabinet, in the name of fairness, has made the same reduction” for all funded organizations, she said.
Annie McKay, a member of the Children’s Cabinet and incoming president and CEO of Kansas Action for Children, said she found the decision to exempt some organizations inconsistent with the administration’s refusal to take federal money for other programs, such as Medicaid expansion.
“That’s not about maximizing what’s best for families and kids, it’s about maximizing federal drawdown,” she said.
Eileen Hawley, a spokesperson for Brownback’s office, said the administration’s policies have benefited low-income families.
“Governor Brownback continues to invest in helping families move from poverty to prosperity through a wide range of programs including the Reading Roadmap, child abuse prevention, technical education and Jobs for America’s Graduates,” she said. “In addition, fiscal year 2017 funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant is approximately $6 million more than the previous year.”
The short time frame will make it particularly difficult for affected nonprofits, McKay said.
“Those programs have 30 days to figure out where that’s going to come from before the next fiscal year,” she said. “That’s going to have an immediate impact, and these are programs serving some of Kansas’ most vulnerable kids.”
‘Not the way you want to do it’
Officials with several grantees said they weren’t sure how they would handle the cuts.
Cornelia Stevens, executive director of TOP Early Learning Centers in Wichita, said the Children’s Cabinet grant helps pay for services like mental health care for children and parenting classes for their families. About 600 children used the learning centers this year, she said, but it isn’t yet clear how many children they may be able to serve after the cuts.
“We just found out the news,” she said. “I do know that it means fewer children are going to receive services.”
Miriam Krehbiel, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Topeka, said it partners with multiple organizations that provide children’s mental health, services for kids with developmental delays and quality child care options. The United Way won’t dictate which organizations take cuts but will bring them together to discuss who can absorb them with the least effect on children, she said.
They aren’t likely to find another grant or private donors to replace the Children’s Cabinet funds by the end of June, Krehbiel said.
A “14 percent (cut) on a $2.1 million grant is a lot of money,” she said. “It’s not like we can turn around and just find 200-some thousand dollars lying around.”
Pat Hanrahan, president and CEO of the United Way of the Plains in Wichita, said it plans to take a similar approach to making $97,000 in cuts with its seven agency partners. The United Way has faced budget cuts before, but making additional reductions is a concern, particularly in a community that wants to increase the number of children growing up to be skilled workers, he said.
“When you’ve got multiple programs that are affecting people and you have to do it (make cuts) in a short time, that’s not the way you want to do it,” he said.
Rich Minder, collaborative projects coordinator for the Success by 6 Coalition of Douglas County, said the cuts put organizations in the difficult position of having to balance meeting low-income families’ immediate needs and making long-term investments, such as improving the quality of available child care, Minder said.
The task has become even more difficult because the state has tightened access to programs like cash assistance and subsidized child care, leaving low-income families with fewer options, he said.
“The state of Kansas’ investment in families with young children has dwindled to almost nothing in the general fund,” he said. “It’s looking pretty grim here.”
Megan Hart is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach her on Twitter @meganhartMC
RUSSELL — For three weekends each July, the Ad Astra Music Festival colors central Kansas with classical music by integrating emerging young artists, community members, and professional musicians. Audiences have come to expect fresh, new music alongside ebullient performances of history’s richest musical works of art under the artistic direction of Kansas native Alex Underwood and John Irving.
The 2016 festival runs July 15 to 31 with the exciting additions of a Young Artist String Quartet, a high school honor choir, a co-artistic director, and a fresh season of music: Handel Jephtha, Bach Cantata 94, Byrd Mass for 3 voices, Duruflé Requiem, Carissimi Jonas, and more.
Click HERE for a list of shows and locations this summer.
Founder and Artistic Director Alex Underwood is thrilled with this summer’s program.
Underwood
“The festival has grown yet again and the caliber of musicians coming in to work and perform in Russell continues to surprise and inspire me. Our musicians have been trained at the country’s best institutions; Juilliard, Yale, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, University of North Texas, University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois, with some of the country’s finest companies including; the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Trinity Church Wall Street, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. These musicians will collaborate with one another and with local musicians from Russell and the surrounding areas for three weekends of performances. They also interface with our undergraduate Young Artists, who are in residence for the month of July, and are at the core of the festival. There truly is nothing else like this in Western Kansas.”
Underwood is a choral conductor and music educator originally from Russell. He conducts the University Women’s Chorus at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where he is in his second year as a doctoral candidate in Choral Music studying with Andrew Megill. Alex completed a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting degree at Westminster Choir College in 2014, where he studied with Joe Miller and James Jordan, and an undergraduate degree from Sterling College (KS) in music education and voice performance.
Irving
Artistic Director John Irving is conducting associate of the A Cappella Choir and teaches undergraduate conducting as a doctoral student in choral conducting at the University of North Texas. He also serves as interim conductor of the Denton Bach Society. John recently completed a master’s degree in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College where he served as graduate assistant conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Texas at Austin.
RUSSELL–There are several contested races in Russell County for the August 2, 2016, primary election according to County Clerk Mary Nuss.
BOURBON COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 7:30a.m. on Friday in Bourbon County.
KS GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
KDWPT
