Dry conditions remain in the forecast across the area for this weekend, with mostly sunny skies both today and Sunday. The high temperature for today is expected to climb into the mid to upper 60s, with mid to upper 70s forecast for Sunday.
Breezy conditions are forecast for Sunday, with west to northwest winds between 15 and 25 mph. A Fire Weather Watch has been posted for Sunday afternoon for areas near and east of Dodge City, due to strong winds and low relative humidities.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 68. North northwest wind 11 to 15 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 40. Northwest wind around 9 mph becoming south southwest after midnight.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 79. Southwest wind 9 to 14 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 42. North northwest wind 7 to 11 mph.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 74. North wind 8 to 11 mph becoming east southeast in the afternoon.
Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli gives his opening remarks during the 35th Infantry Division Change of Command Ceremony at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., on March 6- photo Kan. National Guard
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA – Even with further military budget cuts to the National Guard, strong partnerships and resources are in place to safeguard the state’s citizens, the adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard said.
Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli last week gave his annual report to lawmakers on changes and improvements being made to his office, which manages the National Guard, the Division of Emergency Management, and Kansas Homeland Security. Over a 10-year period, about $1.2 trillion were taken out of the state’s emergency/security budget, making it tougher to provide maximum public safety to the state, Tafanelli said. But the “very tight” relationship among the National Guard, Kansas Homeland Security, the state’s emergency management division, and federal government agencies – as well as improved local facilities – ensures that the agencies will continue to meet high security standards, Tafanelli said.
“The governor asked us to really take a good hard look at our security that we have at our facilities (and) the security that we have for our soldiers and our airmen,” Tafanelli said. “We’ve taken a number of actions to harden the facilities that we have across the state.”
Some of those actions include video monitoring of doorways, putting film on glass to keep it from shattering, and arming soldiers at the facilities to provide greater safety and security as they go about their regular duties. It’s been an “ongoing process” to make improvements and to assess security threats from across the country, Tafanelli told lawmakers.
The Intelligence Fusion Center, located in Topeka, is a resource unique to Kansas. Homeland security analysts there are dedicated to meet the classified and unclassified needs of the state, including processing information from the Pentagon, according to the center’s annual report. Seventeen states have been interested in Kansas’ ability to bring in federal resources, Tafanelli told lawmakers
“What we’re really trying to focus on is how far (ahead of) an event, before something bad happens, can we detect something and then feed that information back up into the Intel committee and take the appropriate measures to kind of (remove) those threats out of the state,” he said.
With the pressure to cut budgets, the department is looking to increase its partnerships. Last year, the National Guard teamed up with the University of Kansas School of Business to try and market to 18 through 24-year-olds the fields of emergency management, homeland security, or military service. Only about 23 percent of all 18- to 24-year-olds are eligible for military service; individuals can be disqualified because of a criminal record or health issues, Tafanelli said.
As director of both Kansas Homeland Security and Kansas Emergency Management, as well as responsibilities for oversite of the Kansas Army and the Air National Guards, Tafanelli fears security threats will continue to grow in the next few years, whether they’re from ISIS, Afghanistan, China, or Korea.
“We find ourselves when we’re downsizing that the operation requirements continue to go up and the threats continue to increase,” Tafanelli said.
Other threats have become more prevalent including cyber attacks, and with the links the state and country have globally, Tafanelli said, cyber threats are a clear and present danger in Kansas every day. The department also looks at emerging health issues, such as Ebola, and what measures it needs to take.
Tafanelli remained hopeful that the state agencies will continue to take appropriate measures to ensure public safety despite past and future budgetary cuts. Under Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration, state grown has fallen to 1.8 percent, from 9.1 percent growth in the period 1966 to 2010.
In a recent press release, Brownback outlined his priorities in balancing the state’s budget and said “there are difficult decisions to be made.”
“I will not support or call for a tax increase on small businesses in Kansas,” Brownback said. “My focus is on managing spending, not on raising taxes. Our goal is not to fund the growth of state government; it is to help the Kansas economy grow.”
Golden Years Senior Care Center in Hutchinson faces fines under a bill passed by the Legislature that could threaten its survival. GOLDEN YEARS SENIOR CARE CENTER
By ANDY MARSO
Word that the Kansas Legislature has passed a bill allowing the state to fine adult care facilities that aren’t paying into a statewide medical liability protection fund brought Marie Jenks to tears.
For Jenks, the owner and operator of Golden Years Senior Care Center in Hutchinson, Thursday’s news was the last straw in what has been a series of difficult months.
The small facility she has owned for 30 years lost its coverage after a storm damaged the roof, and she’s been unable to secure a new plan that will satisfy the requirements of the Health Care Stabilization Fund.
“We have been trying to find anyone to insure us,” Jenks said. “I don’t know who everyone else is getting insurance with. … I don’t really understand what a person is supposed to do when no one will write a policy.”
The Health Care Stabilization Fund is intended to back up Kansas medical providers if a malpractice claim exceeds their primary insurance coverage.
Doctors, hospitals and other medical providers have been required to participate in the fund for decades by purchasing primary insurance plans from a list of carriers that pay into the fund.
Adult care facilities were added to the fund last year — a move the state’s largest nursing home lobbying groups supported. Most facilities had fund-compliant plans within months.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 55, if approved by Gov. Sam Brownback, would allow the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to send correction orders to the few facilities not in compliance. If the facilities fail to respond to those orders, KDADS could impose $500 daily fines for up to five days.
Last year four facilities — Golden Years Senior Care Center, Country Club Estates in Paola, Westview Manor in Derby and Indian Creek Health Care Center in Overland Park — failed to comply with the insurance requirements.
Administrators from Country Club Estates and Westview Manor said Thursday that they have purchased compliant plans this year.
An administrator at Indian Creek Health Center requested information on where the facility could purchase fund-compliant plans.
Jenks requested the list as well but said she had more pressing problems due to the state’s failure to process Medicaid claims applications and renewals on time — an issue that has strained adult care facilities across the state.
Golden Years has nine beds, eight of which are occupied by residents who pay through Medicaid.
“I felt like they were just trying to close our doors,” Jenks said of the Medicaid delays. “I could fax you papers (that show) in one week alone $5,000 worth of checks that should have came. … We’re such a small home that when you hold $5,000 from us, that’s massive.”
Jenks said Golden Years operates on a “skeleton crew.” When she answered the phone Thursday, she was in the middle of cooking lunch for the residents.
“We are absolutely on our last month without the money,” Jenks said.
She said local hospitals and physicians know Golden Years as a place they can send people who have limited financial means. She charges residents a $650 per month base rate.
She broke down in sobs as she described the weight of trying to find other care options for her residents if she is unable to keep the doors open.
“Where are they going to go?” Jenks said. “Who’s going to take these people? Everywhere I call, they charge more than that. They don’t have more than that.”
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
Chambers of commerce from Osborne and Downs are teaming up to put on the second Yellow Brick Run — a 13.1-mile half marathon. The event will be April 23.
Run, walk or bike from Downs to Osborne. Individual or 2 to 4 man relay teams. Live music and hamburger meal following run in downtown Osborne. Proceeds go toward Downs Jr. Chamber Scholarships, Osborne and Downs Chamber, and Solomon Valley Transportation. .
In my last letter to the editor, I said my head was spinning over the wall-to-wall media coverage of U.S. presidential candidates.
My head is still spinning but for a very different reason. Millions of people, even people I know will vote no matter who it is as long as there is a “D” in front of his or her name. What in the world are people thinking?
If you want to believe some polls, Hillary Clinton beats Donald Trump by a big margin! What? That’s insanity! That’s unbelievable if true and I will tell readers why.
Hillary’s negatives are a mile long. I had other letters criticizing Hillary but did not present all of her negatives as I do here.
Let’s start with her four years as Secretary of State. I dare anybody to show me and other readers how any accomplishments she might have had override the major failures. The most prevalent failure would be the explosion of turmoil in the Middle East. Obama’s policies in the region, supported by Hillary as his Secretary of State, has led to the enormous growth of radical Islamic terrorism, particularly by ISIS. Pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq prematurely and doing nothing to President Assad in Syria has led to a world wide threat not seen in history for a very long time. We have Obama and Hillary to blame for the spread of radical Islamic terrorism and that is a fact.
What are Hillary’s other negatives? How about polls indicating, by whopping margins, she’s not trustworthy? She’s not even likeable, according to polls. It’s possible she has health issues at her age. Her flip flops on major issues can’t be ignored. What about a trail a mile long that she’s in bed with big donors, especially Wall Street? Americans are clearly fed up with establishment politicians bought and paid for by big money. Hillary is establishment with a capital “E.”
Hillary even lies about lying! Jokingly, I say her picture appears next to the word “lie” in the dictionary – but that’s not really funny considering she may get enough votes to be our next president and that’s why my head is still spinning.
She lied about Benghazi, a huge scandal still being investigated, that caused four Americans to die. She lied to the survivors of the four great Americans and that’s just the half of it.
Hillary lied all over the place about her private emails. Surely everybody knows her email scandal has led to an FBI investigation that, without any doubt whatsoever, would lead to indictment and probably prosecution of anybody else. This case is huge! It will determine two things for this country. If she has broken the law and not held accountable, is there equal justice under the law for everybody or does it depend who you are? The other is the question about the rule of law. Are we a country of laws or not?
Obama ignores our laws on immigration and promotes open borders. Hillary will do the same.
Do we as voters want to go down the same path with Hillary as with Obama the past seven plus years? Do we want more debt, coddling Islamic terrorists, making the rich richer, more people living in poverty, more drugs and violence with open borders, cop killing agendas, more people out of the labor force, more on food stamps, more on government doles, Iranian nukes, trade deficits, further erosion of religious liberties, continued government corruption, etc.
Yes, Hillary’s negatives are non ending. How did the Clintons become multimillionaires in the few short years she was Secretary of State? A first grader could figure that one out, and it is big money paying her off to have favors if she becomes president.
Are voters insane wanting Bill back in the White House, let alone Hillary? That possibility would make any and all informed and common sense voters’ heads spin like a top.
All candidates have negatives but nothing like Hillary’s.
At this point in American history, it is obvious there are two Americas as we look at how voters see this country. The divide among voters is huge!
If Cruz or Trump wins the White House we could get back to being one America. That will not happen with Hillary. How could it? She’s an Obama clone and he’s been the most divisive president in American history.
HUTCHINSON -A Kansas man wanted by police is now in custody.
Law enforcement authorities located and arrested Jeremy Frischenmeyer, 34, Hutchinson, at a home in the 500 Block of East C Avenue on Friday, according to Hutchinson Police.
He is being held on a $25,000 bond.
Frischenmeyer was wanted on a warrant through Reno County District Court for violating his terms of release stemming from felony drug charges. He was also arrested for a warrant through Hutchinson Municipal Court and warrants through Saline County and Gray County. He also has a suspended driver’s license.
Frischenmeyer recently eluded local law enforcement both on foot and by vehicle.
HAYS, Kan. – D.J. Carr overcame a sluggish start to throw his third complete game of the season and help Fort Hays State to a 10-7 comeback win over Northeastern State Friday night at Larks Park. The Tigers (14-15, 8-10 MIAA) have now won five of their last six games while the RiverHawks (15-13, 9-9 MIAA) have dropped four of their last five.
Steve Johnson Postgame Interview
Game Highlights
Carr (3-3) gave up seven runs, five earned, through the first four innings then settled down and allowed only three hits the rest of the game. He struck out six and walked two while throwing 143 pitches in his second straight complete game victory.
The Tigers trailed 7-2 before Alex King started the comeback with a leadoff home run in the fourth. Austin Unrein added a three-run blast later in the frame to cut the margin to 7-6. Jace Bowman tied the game on a groundout in the fifth. He then gave the Tigers the lead on a double in the seventh.
Connor Ross and Caleb Cherryholmes both had three of the Tigers 17 hits. Cherryholmes hit a two-run homer in the first inning which gave Fort Hays State a brief 2-1 lead. Ross made a diving catch in center field in the third then a leaping catch on the warning track in straight away center field with a runner at first for the second out of the ninth.
Zach Poehl (1-1) allowed three runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings of relief and suffered the loss for the RiverHawks.
The two teams play game two of the three-game series Saturday at 2 pm.
CDC image click to Expand Maps have been updated from a variety of sources. These maps represent CDC’s best estimate of the potential range of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in the United States. Maps are not meant to represent risk for spread of disease.
MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA (AP) — The government is urging health officials around the country to prepare now for any possible outbreaks of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the U.S. this summer. See CDC response to Zika here
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted about 300 state and local officials at a “Zika Summit” on Friday at the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta.
A Zika epidemic has been sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean. Officials think it’s likely some small clusters of Zika will occur in the U.S. when mosquito numbers boom.
The virus causes only a mild and brief illness, at worst, in most people. But infections in pregnant women have been linked to a brain defect and fetal deaths.
There have been about 300 cases of Zika in the U.S. — all linked to travel to outbreak areas.
HAYS, Kan. – The TMP-Marian baseball team scored 17 run on nine hits to beat Abilene 17-2 in game two of their doubleheader Friday at the TMP-Marian Sports Complex. The Cowboys broke a 3-3 tie with a run in the fifth then added three in the sixth to win the opener 7-3.
Ricky Hockett struck out five and walked none in the second game to pick up the win in the four inning run-rule victory. He went 2-for-2 with with two triples and two walks at the plate with three RBI’s and four runs scored. Chase Romme and Gavin Schumacher add two hits each/
The Monarchs committed six errors in the first game with all of the Cowboys runs unearned. Ryan Ruder suffered the loss allowing seven unearned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
Ricky Hockett had two of TMP’s five hits with a double and an RBI.
GALENA, Kan. (AP) — A city attorney in southeast Kansas is resigning after his second drunken driving arrest in two years.
Galena Mayor Dale Oglesby says the resignation of 52-year-old Kevin Cure takes effect Friday. The Joplin Globe reports that Cure was charged Thursday with a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated. Cure didn’t immediately return a phone message that The Associated Press left at his law office.
Police say Cure was arrested Tuesday in the parking lot of a Joplin, Missouri, restaurant. A passenger faces an obstruction charge over accusations that she refused to remain in the car and that she tried to involve herself with the field sobriety tests.
Cure has been Galena’s city attorney since 2004. In March 2014, he was arrested in Joplin on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Expansion plans are on hold for a historic Lawrence hotel that stands on the site of one destroyed in 1856 and again in 1863 by pro-slavery forces.
Eldridge Hotel general manager Nancy Longhurst says in an email that the owners have made the decision not to proceed with the project for now. The Lawrence Journal-World
courtesy photo
reports that plans had called for an approximately 50-room expansion of the hotel. The structures that preceded it were targeted for destruction when Lawrence was an Abolitionist stronghold before the Civil War.
Longhurst didn’t explain why the ownership group decided to cancel the expansion plans, which also called for more restaurant and banquet space.
She says the owners “look forward to investing in this project in the future.” But she didn’t provide a timeline.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has ordered a new sentencing for a man initially ordered to spend a half century in prison for a 2011 killing involving mistaken identity.
The state’s high court made the ruling Friday while upholding Charles Christopher Logsdon’s conviction.
Prosecutors contend Logsdon and at least one other man meant to rob a woman of drugs and money but drove to the wrong home and shot Jennifer Heckel while her 5-year-old son was in the house. The boy wasn’t injured.
Logsdon originally was sentenced by a judge to the “Hard 50,” meaning he would have to serve a half century before becoming eligible for parole.
The Supreme Court ordered the resentencing because a jury must determine if a “Hard 50” should be imposed, not a judge.
Dry conditions remain in the forecast across the area for this weekend, with mostly sunny skies both today and Sunday. The high temperature for today is expected to climb into the mid to upper 60s, with mid to upper 70s forecast for Sunday.
