CRESCENT, Okla. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a pair of strong earthquakes hit central Oklahoma in the overnight hours.
The USGS says a 4.2 magnitude quake struck late Monday in Logan County. The quake was centered 3 miles north-northeast of Crescent, and the USGS says it was felt as far north as Wichita, Kansas.
earthquake has been rated at a 4.2 magnitude by the @USGS Centered 11 miles NW of Guthrie at 1153 pm. #okwx#okquake
A 4.1 magnitude earthquake hit the same area shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. The USGS says that temblor had an epicenter 4 miles north of Crescent, or about 37 miles north of Oklahoma City. An earlier earthquake with a 2.9 magnitude hit near Enid around 10:30 p.m. Monday.
On Monday, the USGS released a survey that found Oklahoma has a 1 in 8 chance of damaging quakes in 2016, surpassing California as the state with the highest probability.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City woman charged with embezzling from the engineering firm Black & Veatch is being investigated after $1.2 million was embezzled from navigation device maker Garmin.
The Kansas City Star reports that 43-year-old Patricia Webb, of Lee’s Summit, was charged this month with embezzling more than $300,000 from Black and Veatch. She worked there as a payroll manager after a stint as a payroll team leader for Kansas-based Garmin.
Federal prosecutors say in court documents that the investigation into the Black & Veatch thefts led to the FBI discovering larger thefts from Garmin. No charges have been filed in connection with the Garmin case.
Her attorney, John O’Connor, didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A 25-year-old man has pleaded guilty in an Overland Park traffic crash in suburban Kansas City that killed a part-time police officer.
The Kansas City Star reports that Dana Patton pleaded guilty Monday to reckless second-degree murder in the death of 58-year-old David M. Stubbs. Patton also pleaded guilty to six counts of aggravated battery for injuries suffered by others involved in the crash last October, and aggravated burglary.
Police say Stubbs was killed at an intersection when a car driven by Patton ran a red light. Authorities say Patton ran away from the scene of the crash, but was arrested after breaking into a nearby apartment.
MANHATTAN–Firefighters, aided by rain and snow in the region, have made significant headway in controlling the Anderson Creek Fire in Barber and Comanche counties. Farm, ranch and industry organizations including Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association are focusing their efforts on how to assist farmers and ranchers who have been affected by the largest wildfire in Kansas history.
The fire has burned approximately 300,000 acres in southcentral Kansas, taking numerous homes, outbuildings, many miles of fence and an unknown number of cattle. Most fences were destroyed in the fire, leaving wire lying on the ground where wooden posts were burned. Ranchers in the area continue tending to the feed and health needs of surviving cattle, many of whom are suffering from respiratory problems due to smoke inhalation, according to producers and veterinarians. Some were directly injured by fire.
Kansas Farm Bureau has created a fire relief site for those impacted and those willing to help. The site, www.kfb.org/firerelief, will connect those donating supplies like fencing, building materials and labor to those in need. This site will enable Farm Bureau to help ensure the resources can be implemented efficiently. Local contacts include Jennifer Theurer in Comanche County, who can be reached at 620-440-9059, and Zel Polf in Barber County, whose contact number is (620) 886-3316. Contacts at Kansas Farm Bureau include Nancy Brown, (785) 587-6111, and Serita Blankenship, (785( 587-6150.
Anyone wishing to make direct contributions to the Kansas Farm Bureau Foundation may send them to Kansas Farm Bureau, 2627 KFB Plaza, Manhattan, KS 66503, with “fire relief efforts” noted in the memo. All funds collected will be split between impacted counties as directed by county Farm Bureaus.
The Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) has also been working to assist in relief efforts. Donations to the Kansas Livestock Foundation (KLF) will help to meet the needs of ranchers affected by the wildfire. Funds generated will be used for fencing supplies, animal health efforts and other needs identified by KLA leadership in Barber and Comanche counties. Donations are tax deductible and can be sent to KLF at 6031 S.W. 37th, Topeka, KS 66614. Specify the check is for “disaster relief” in the memo line. Online contributions can be made at https://www.kla.org/donationform.aspx.
Several members are generously donating proceeds from the sale of animals to KLF for disaster relief. A heifer donated by KLA President Elect David Clawson and Clawson Ranch Partnership will be sold Thursday (3/31) at Pratt Livestock to generate funds for the relief effort through KLF. The heifer will be re-sold several times. In addition, KW Cattle Company will donate proceeds to KLF from the sale of lot 21, an Angus bull. The bull will sell Tuesday (3/29) at the KW sale near Fort Scott. For more information on the bull, go to www.kwcattle.com.
GARDEN CITY–The Kansas Department of Commerce is partnering with Tatro Plumbing Company, Inc. and Davis Electric, Inc. to launch a short-term training program focused on upskilling participants with construction industry skills. This project connects economic and workforce development under the new Workforce AID (Aligned with Industry Demand) initiative—Right Training. Right Job. NOW.
“Programming through workforce development, Garden City Community College, and industry partners brings this community together,” said President of Tatro Plumbing, Justin Sanchez. “Western Kansas has great people who are willing to work hard, but might not have the skills we need in the construction industry. Through teamwork and partnerships, this program grows hard working people so they are immediately employable following graduation.”
The training will be delivered by Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kansas. Participants will receive eight college credit hours, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10 certificate, OSHA Forklift Certification, National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) Millwright Certification, NCCER Core Certification, and a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certificate. Participants will have preliminary interviews with either Tatro Plumbing or Davis prior to being accepted into the program. Successful applicants will be hired by the companies, contingent upon successful completion of the training.
“Our goal at GCCC is to provide the necessary training for employees entering the workforce, as well as prepare students to transfer to four-year institutions. Participants will have the luxury of spending a week in our new state-of-the-art welding facility for portions of this training,” said Director of Workforce Development at Garden City Community College, Jerrad Webb. “We are excited to be able to offer this opportunity to the citizens of our communities and look forward to continuing to provide high quality training to prepare students to enter the workforce.”
Workforce AID supports Kansas’ strategic plan for economic development, keeping Kansas businesses competitive and promoting a more robust economy. To fill the skills gap in our workforce, the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Kansas Board of Regents are working in partnership with Kansas companies to find, train and deliver skilled and certified workers.
“Workforce development continues to be one of our primary focuses at FCEDC. To support a growing economy, we must have a long-term, sustainable pipeline of qualified employees,” said President of the Finney County Economic Development Corporation (FCEDC), Lona DuVall. “Garden City Community College plays a big role in providing the up-to-date training that our employers require to compete and meet demand in our active economy. Meeting with the needs of employers ‘at the speed of business’ is an absolute must and we at FCEDC are proud to partner with GCCC to help meet the workforce demands of the region.”
Space is limited for the training. Call Kansas WorkforceOne at (620) 276-2339 to apply and schedule your assessment.
This project is in collaboration with Kansas WorkforceOne, Finney County Economic Development Corporation, Finney County Workforce Connection, Garden City Community College, and is made possible with generous support from CoBank and Hays-based Midwest Energy, Inc.
Students at a diversity forum at KU in November 2015
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Recently released Kansas Board of Regents data shows that the percentage of minority students enrolled at the state’s public colleges and universities increased 1.4 percent from the 2013-2014 academic year to the 2014-2015 academic year.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Board of Regents heard and discussed highlights from the latest systemwide enrollment report Wednesday.
The largest minority groups across the Regents system are black and Hispanic students. The percentage of Hispanic students enrolled in higher education is smaller than the percentage of Hispanic residents in Kansas, while the percentage of black students is larger than the percentage of black Kansas residents.
Although the percentage of minority students increased, there are still significant differences in the percentages of certain minorities at four-year universities compared with technical and community colleges.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Concerns are mounting over freeze damage to winter wheat crops that had broken dormancy weeks before temperatures plummeted in recent days.
Agricultural meteorologist Kyle Tapley of MDA Weather Services said Monday that most of the concern steps from freezing temperatures that hit the weekend of March 19-20. He says most of the impact is likely in the western Kansas, Oklahoma and northern Texas.
Unseasonably hot temperatures in February caused the wheat to come out of dormancy weeks earlier than normal, making the crop more vulnerable to cold weather.
Clearwater farmer Scott Van Allen says the freeze damage began showing up this past week in his fields south of Wichita. He says one out of every 10 to 15 wheat heads that he examined had been frozen.
MANHATTAN – A Kansas man was sentenced on Monday for the March 2015 shooting death of a Riley County man.
Tierre Wall, 26, Fort Riley, plead no contest to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempted aggravated assault in the death of Casey Lindley, 27, Ogden,
Police found Lindley suffering from a gunshot wound in Ogden. He was transported to a Topeka hospital where he died of his injuries.
Wall was arrested after turning himself in at a police station in Georgia.
Wall was sentenced to 61 months for the charge of voluntary manslaughter and 7 months for attempted aggravated assault.
He will also have post-release supervision for 36 months following his incarceration.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The director of the Kansas City Sports Commission says the city could lose more than $50 million if voters approve a constitutional amendment that would allow Missouri business owners to cite their religious beliefs when refusing services for same-sex weddings.
Kathy Nelson, commission president and CEO, says the “religious freedom” amendment could hurt Kansas City for at least the next 10 years.
The amendment that would create legal protections for religious business owners who refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings. It has passed the state Senate. If approved by the House, it would be on the ballot later this year.
The Kansas City Star reports the NCAA has expressed concerns about the proposed amendment and suggested it could cost Missouri future opportunities to host athletic events.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal scientists say the chance of damaging earthquakes hitting east of the Rockies has increased significantly, much of it a man-made byproduct of drilling for energy. Oklahoma now has a 1 in 8 chance of damaging quakes in 2016, surpassing California as the state with the highest probability.
In a first-of-its-kind effort, U.S. Geological Survey Monday released a map for damaging quakes in the current year.
USGS seismologists said 7 million people live in areas where the risk has dramatically jumped for earthquakes caused by disposal of wastewater, a byproduct of drilling for oil and gas. That is mostly concentrated in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Arkansas.
Natural earthquake risk also increased around the New Madrid fault in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Illinois.
The Rooks County Commission voted Monday to approve a resolution banning all outdoor burning in the county.
According to the resolution “extremely dry and windy weather conditions have created an extreme fire hazard in the grassland and cropland of Rooks County.”
Under the resolution the following acts are prohibited:
Careless use of smoking materials, including cigarettes, cigars and smoking pipes
Building, maintaining, attending or using any open fire or campfire except in permanent stoves or fireplaces, or barbeque grills in developed recreational sites or residential areas
Prescribed burning of all fence rows, fields, wild lands ravines, trash and debris
Outdoor use of all other fires and devices, including fireworks, for any reason.
A violation of the order is a class A misdemeanor.
The ban is in place for seven days, until April 4th, 2016 unless terminated or renewed by the county commission.
Every Western movie worth watching features at least one full-blown bar room brawl. Such tumultuous scenes are chock full of good guys, bad guys, flying fists and whiskey bottles.
Smack-dab in the middle of all this mayhem there’s always one unlucky cowpoke crawling under the tables toward the swinging doors and safety. After dodging falling bodies, busted-up furniture and shattering glass he crawls into the dirt street where he checks himself for holes, stands up, dusts himself off and skedaddles down an alley.
And so it is with many of us veterans who toil in the word vineyard. Like the cowpoke, some of us have escaped into the street of social media with our finely-honed writing skills intact.
I’d say that’s one heck’uva accomplishment, although one rarely recognized or valued. With each passing day it seems less and less emphasis is placed on the written word, grammar and punctuation.
We’re all too busy. Not enough time.
Include greetings or salutations in Facebook, texts or e-mails?
What are they?
Where’s the personal touch?
Whatever happened to etiquette in written communication?
Writing is the art of second thought. What first springs to mind is seldom good enough.
The skill of writing lies not in a ready gush of words, but in sifting through them carefully. Sometimes this process is swift. Other times it takes a bit longer.
A letter, e-mail or text should be clear, precise, succinct and expressive. Few can decipher one or two letters, hacked-up phrases and excessive punctuation.
Choose the best word to say what you want to convey. Never settle for meaningless exclamation points, bold-faced or underlined words.
Select strong sentences. Use the active tense. Avoid passive tense and words that end in ing. Whenever possible, pick short, one-syllable words.
Write with small words – good ones – that say all you want to say, quite as well as the big ones.
As I discovered many years ago when I read Joseph A. Ecclesine in Printer’s Ink,
There is not much, in all truth that small words will not say – and say quite well.
Small words can be crisp, brief, and terse – to the point like a knife. They dance, twist, turn, sing. Like sparks in the night they light the way for the eyes of those who read.
They are the graceful notes of prose. You know what they say the way you know a day is bright and fair – at first sight…Small words are gay. And they can catch large thoughts and hold them up for all to see, like rare stones in rings of gold, or joy in the eyes of a child.
Some make you feel, as well as see: the cold, deep, dark of night…the hot, salt sting of tears.
In case you didn’t realize it, Ecclesine’s words above were all one syllable – no punctuation, except periods.
Vary the length of your sentences. This will give your paragraphs rhythm. Short sentences are likely to be clearer than long ones and easier to read.
Keep an average sentence to a length of 12 words or less.
Good luck. Write soon.
Sincerely, (formal)
Later, (informal)
John Schlageck
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
KDA
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