LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Kansas has dismissed cornerback Eric Rivers and suspended linebacker Kendall Duckworth after both were arrested early Monday in connection with an alleged robbery over the weekend.
Rivers has also been accused of sexual battery and criminal restraint in a separate incident.
Jayhawks coach David Beatty said in a statement that he is still gathering information related to the cases. But he told the Lawrence Journal-World that Rivers is no longer with the team.
Duckworth, a 6-foot-1 linebacker from Naples, Florida, made three tackles in seven games during his freshman season. Rivers, a 5-9 cornerback from Arlington, Texas, redshirted last season.
Obama says the detention center is counterproductive in the fight against terrorism because it’s used as propaganda to recruit terrorists and drains military resources.
The White House released Obama’s plan to close the facility on Tuesday, but the plan faces stiff opposition from the GOP-led Congress.
The plan calls for transferring remaining detainees to the United States and seeks up to $475 million in construction costs that would ultimately be offset by as much as $180 million per year in operating cost savings. It does not specify where in the U.S. the detainees would go.
ELLIS–Despite two votes and two executive sessions Friday, the city of Ellis still has not hired a police officer candidate recommended by Police Chief Taft Yates and the hiring committee.
The minutes of the Feb. 19, 2016, Special Meeting follow.
ELLIS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Minutes February 19, 2016
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor David McDaniel called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Present were Council members Holly Aschenbrenner, Gary Luea, Heather Luea, Jolene Niernberger, Bob Redger, and John Walz. Also present were Assistant City Clerk Charlene Weber, Police Chief Taft Yates, and City Prosecutor Cassy Zeigler. City Clerk Amy Burton and City Attorney Olavee Raub were absent.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
AMENDMENTS TO THE AGENDA
None
PUBLIC PRESENT
None
PURPOSE OF SPECIAL MEETING
Mayor David McDaniel stated the purpose of the special meeting is to consider approval of Police Department hire, including any executive sessions, if necessary.
Personnel: Entry
Police Chief Taft Yates stated that his investigation, as requested by Council, leads him to request approval of the candidate presented for hire. Council member Jolene Niernberger moved and Council member Gary Luea seconded a motion to approve the hiring of the Police Department candidate. Council member Holly Aschenbrenner questioned the need for an executive session prior to consideration of a vote. Upon a call for the vote, the motion failed 3-4, with Council members Jolene Niernberger, Bob Redger, and John Walz voting in favor of the motion, and Council members Holly Aschenbrenner, Gary Luea, and Heather Luea voting opposed. Mayor David McDaniel broke the tie by voting against the motion to allow for an executive session.
Executive Session
Mayor David McDaniel called for an executive session for personnel matters of non-elected personnel. A 10-minute executive session was proposed starting at 6:03 p.m. Mayor David McDaniel asked for a motion to recess. Council member Gary Luea moved and Council member Holly Aschenbrenner seconded a motion to recess to executive session for personnel matters of non-elected personnel with Police Chief Taft Yates and City Prosecutor Cassy Zeigler present. The motion carried 6-0. The Council returned to open session at 6:13 p.m. No action was taken in executive session.
Post Executive Session
Council member Gary Luea asked Chief Yates why the candidate chosen was the best candidate for the position. Chief Yates responded the interview board consisted of six individuals including an officer, the Mayor, a Sheriff’s deputy, a Highway Patrol officer, and two teachers. Chief Yates was present during the interviews but was not involved in the decision on which candidate to select. Mr. Luea then re-directed his question to Mayor McDaniel. Mayor McDaniel explained the interview process which involves a written test, a physical fitness test and then an interview before the hiring committee. Council member Heather Luea stated she didn’t have confidence in the process.
Executive Session
Council member Holly Aschenbrenner moved and Council member Bob Redger seconded a motion to recess to executive session for personnel matters of non-elected personnel for 15-minutes with the Police Chief and City Prosecutor present. The motion failed 2-4, with Council members Holly Aschenbrenner and Bob Redger voting in favor of the motion, and Council members Gary Luea, Heather Luea, Jolene Niernberger, and John Walz voting opposed.
Personnel: Entry
Council member Bob Redger moved and Council member John Walz seconded a motion to approve the hiring of the Police Department candidate. Council member Heather Luea stated she would like more discussion before consideration of a vote. Upon a call for the vote, the motion failed 3-4, with Council members Jolene Niernberger, Bob Redger, and John Walz voting in favor of the motion, and Council members Holly Aschenbrenner, Gary Luea, and Heather Luea voting opposed. Mayor McDaniel broke the tie by voting opposed to the motion for purposes of further discussion.
Executive Session
Council member Holly Aschenbrenner moved and Council member Heather Luea seconded a motion to recess for 15-minutes for personnel matters of non-elected personnel with the Police Chief and City Prosecutor present. The motion carried 5-1, with Council member Gary Luea opposed. The executive session started at 6:19 p.m. The Council returned to open session at 6:34 p.m. No action was taken in executive session.
ADJOURNMENT
Council member John Walz moved and Council member Holly Aschenbrenner seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 6-0. The meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m.
Planned Parenthood’s midtown Kansas City clinic, pictured here, will begin offering an expanded array of health services later this year. MATT HODAPP / HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
by Matt Hodapp
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri is planning to expand into three new health service areas this year, including pre- and post-menopausal care, transgender care, and PrEp care, a preventative that lowers the chance of contracting HIV for patients who have a high risk of infection.
Planned Parenthood President and CEO Laura McQuade says the moves are about adapting in a changing health care landscape in the wake of the Affordable Care Act.
“There are many, many more insured patients than there were previously,” McQuade says. “We need to provide an environment and an understanding that they can now use their health care insurance with Planned Parenthood.”
Although many people view Planned Parenthood as a safety net provider, it actually has a roughly even split between insured and uninsured patients, according to McQuade.
“We’re not talking about cutting that out,” she says. “We really want to make it a both/and story so we can provide care to a full spectrum of patients.”
Pre- and post-menopausal care and PrEp will be available at Planned Parenthood’s Patty Brous Center in midtown Kansas City sometime before the middle of the year. Transgender care will only be available at Planned Parenthood’s Northland Health Center in Gladstone, MO.
Matt Hodapp produces Statehouse Blend for KCUR a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police have identified a Wichita shooting victim as a 26-year-old man.
Wichita police Lt. Todd Ojile says JaRon V. Sanders was shot once in the head early Sunday morning as he stood in the street in front of his house. The Wichita Eagle reports that he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ojile says Sanders had hosted a party at his house earlier on Saturday. He was shot after he and a person in the street began arguing.
Police believe there were several witnesses to the shooting. Anyone with information is urged to come forward.
TOPEKA – Legislators from western Kansas believe they bring a unique perspective to Capitol politics.
The difference between rural western Kansas and urban eastern Kansas leads western citizens to push for particular issues, and legislators strive to get their constituents’ voices heard.
“Many of my constituents’ main concern is simply not wanting to be attacked by Topeka,” said Sen. Garrett Love, R-Montezuma, who serves as Senate majority whip.
With the Capitol set so far east, it can sometimes be hard for lawmakers to see firsthand what the people of western Kansas need. For example, agriculture is a strong part of western Kansas’s economy, and constituents urge legislators to protect their farmers.
“We are opposed to proposals to drastically increase property taxes on agricultural land, which would be devastating to our farmers and rangers across the state. … Many people forget that agriculture is still our state’s top industry,” Love said.
Additionally, legislation that affects education and medicine can have more drastic impacts on those in the west. With smaller populations and larger distances between towns, every resource is vital, lawmakers said.
“We have to worry about losing our hospitals and even our only doctor … and when legislation affects schools, many rural legislators will have four or five school districts that are all affected differently,” said Rep. Shannon Francis, R-Liberal.
However, there is some common ground between rural and urban areas.
“The needs of the citizens of western Kansas can be the same as those from the rest of the state,” Francis said. “We want good schools, good roads and strong communities to raise our families in.”
Because they understand the similarities and differences between rural and urban Kansas, western legislators say this dichotomy helps them realistically understand the state’s larger needs
“Because of the diversity we represent, I believe we tend to be more pragmatic than ideological,” Francis said. “I believe it’s easier for a rural legislator to understand the diversity of Kansas.”
While the ability to be in both rural and urban areas of Kansas is beneficial, the traveling does have its downsides.
Staying connected with constituents while in Topeka is important, but making a trip across the state can be hard.
“It can be a grind during session when we make the five hour drive home Friday evenings, hold town halls all day Saturday, driving several hours across the district to go to church on Sunday morning, and then making the five-hour drive back to Topeka on Sunday afternoon,” Sen. Love said.
Try as they might, other aspects of life tend to be neglected when legislators are making the back-and-forth trips.
“It can be really hard to be 350 miles from home. … I miss many of my son’s events at school. Financially, it is a real problem, and work suffers,” said Francis, who is a developer. “I am lucky to have a great support group between my wife, family, and co-workers.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former state district magistrate judge in southeast Kansas has pleaded guilty to charges accusing him of embezzling about $24,000.
The office of the U.S. Attorney for Kansas says in a release that Bill W. Lyerla of Galena pleaded guilty Monday to six counts of wire fraud.
Lyerla was a magistrate judge for the state’s Eleventh Judicial District from 1991 until he resigned in 2014.
The prosecutor’s office says Lyerla admitted that he embezzled the money from the Kansas District Magistrate Judges Association while he was that organization’s elected treasurer.
He faces up to 30 years in prison when he’s sentenced in July. He could also be fined up to $1 million on each count.
The dream of many young farm boys and girls is to ride on a tractor. For a youngster growing up on a farm, operating mammoth farm machines epitomizes raw power, responsibility and coming of age.
Nothing is more exciting to farm kids than the belch of diesel smoke, the roar of engines and rubber wheels on powerful tractors, combines or silage cutters. They draw children like a moth to a flame and, like fire, can be dangerous. Such equipment can cut, crush or trap children. It can harm the ones we want to protect the most – our children.
Livestock accidents and drowning rank closely behind machinery as potential safety hazards on the farm and ranch.
Without question rural living provides children a unique environment in which to live, play, work and grow up while learning the values of independence, self-sufficiency and responsibility. Still safety experts label agriculture one of the most hazardous occupations, and farm children are routinely exposed to the same perils as their parents.
Each year, hundreds of children are killed, and thousands more are injured in farm-related incidents, according to National Safety Council statistics.
Ag Safety Awareness Week is slated for March 6-12. This year’s theme is “Caution – Safety is No Accident.”
Brushing up on some of the potential hazards of farming can make it safer for parents and their children.
Stress that youngsters must stay away from machinery. Never let them play or hide under or around machinery like tractors.
Describe to children how horses can be fun to ride – with a helmet. Talk about how lambs and baby calves can be pleasurable to pet or feed.
Remind them that while animals are fun to be around they can also bite, trample and stomp.
Discuss with your youngsters the signs that show an animal may be dangerous. Some of them include pawing the ground, snorting, raised hair and ears laid back.
Animals – even friendly ones – can be unpredictable. Have your children stay away from large ones. Emphasize they stay away from animals with newborn or young. Tell them to remain calm, speak quietly and move slowly when around animals.
While barns, grain handling facilities and big buildings can be fun to play in, children may fall or be exposed to harmful substances like chemicals and electricity.
Wide-open spaces make ideal playgrounds. However, this isolation may lead to difficulty finding help in the event of an emergency.
Explain the dangers associated with stored grain. Stress the principles that grain can entrap a person almost immediately. Children should never play around, or in grain that is stored in bins, trucks or wagons. Emphasize that it is difficult, or can be impossible, to pull even a child out of grain if he or she becomes trapped.
As a youth, my dad always warned us again and again about swimming in ponds or rivers. Remember to warn your children about the dangers of water, especially for youngsters who may not be able to swim.
Ponds and rivers can be deep. When you first step in, the water may be up to your knees the first couple steps and the next – over your head.
There are no lifeguards on the farm or ranch. Fencing off ponds may help. Warning signs also may serve as a deterrent, but kids always find a way into the water.
Warn children about such potential hazards. Then warn them again. Saving one child’s life is worth the effort. Advise them often because they forget.
Lead by example and remember that as a parent you have been entrusted with safeguarding your children’s wellbeing. Childhood remains a special time and youngsters need to play.
Children are treasures. Take care of them. Cherish them and keep them safe.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
Last week’s inspection results from the Kansas Department of Agriculture:
Holy Family Elementary School 1800 Milner, Hays – Feb. 19
A routine inspection found no violations.
Roosevelt Elementary School 2000 Macarthur, Hays – Feb. 19
A routine inspection found no violations.
Thomas More Prep-Marian High School 1701 Hall, Hays – Feb. 19
A routine inspection found no violations.
Lincoln Elementary School 1906 Ash, Hays – Feb. 18
A routine inspection found no violations.
Tryyaki 2814 Vine, Hays – Feb. 18
An inspection following a complaint found six violations.
Handwashing instructions were not posted at handsink.
Test strip for chlorine sanitizer were not provided.
Frozen raw beef and chicken were thawing at room temperature in the kitchen.
In the kitchen a pan of thawing raw chicken was stored on the floor under the prep table.
Pans and utensils were just being washed with no sanitizing step.
Boxes of single use cups, etc. were stored directly on floor of the storeroom.
Washington Elementary 305 Main, Hays – Feb. 18
A routine inspection found no violations.
Arby’s 3501 Vine, Hays – FEb. 17
A routine inspection found two violations.
Nacho cheese, at drive thru window, 125. As said by the manager product was placed in machine 2 hour prior to temp check, Cheese hot hold machine was at 150.
Several cutting boards with scratches and scouring in the food contact surface.
Fort Hays State University 600 Park, Hays – Feb. 17
A routine inspection found two violations.
Bottle of Bleach as stated on the container, stored next to foam drink cups on a shelf in CS #3.
Pop corn machine tables in both CS #2 and #3 have a build up of grim on the top portion of the tables.
Jimmy John’s 1104 East 27th, Hays – Feb. 17
A routine inspection found three violations.
To go food tray lids stored with where they can be contaminated.
All of the plastic cutting boards, that are used on both prep tables, have scratches and scouring in the food contact surface.
No hand washing signs posted at an hand sink in the building.
A flourish in music is an embellishment, something a little extra that brings life to a piece of music. The same might be said about Allison Lint, a nationally recognized violist, who recently set up a studio in Hays.
“I had been here a few times for various visits, and there was something about this town that really stuck with me,” Lint said. “I think the people are wonderful, friendly, welcoming and inviting, and they’re excited to have me here, which says a lot.”
Part of the appeal of Hays for Lint, is the size of the town.
Lint preformed throughout the Emerald Ball festivities in Hays last November.
”Everyone calls it a small town, but I find it to be very comfortable. It’s a good size. It has everything we need,” she said.
A thriving art community was also a draw to the area.
“As far as the arts are concerned the arts community here is so wonderful, it is incredibly culturally oriented,” she said.
“The combination of music, theater and dance that is in this town – that I have seen only in the few weeks of being here – has been astounding. That’s something that I want to be a part of, and that’s something I’ve found people are willing to let me be a part of.”
Prior to her arrival in Hays, Lint has made music an almost lifelong pursuit and was especially drawn to the violin.
“I’ve essentially been a musician my whole life,” she said. “I started playing violin when I was 7, I picked up piano at 8 and a little bit later also started on viola and cello, so I consider myself pretty proficient at those four instruments and that’s also what I teach.”
Lint graduated from the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory with a bachelor’s degree and continued her education at the University of Akron earning a master’s degree in music. But even before school, Lint was surrounded by music through a family of musicians.
“I’ve had a lot of music in my family,” she said. “My father is a guitarist and his mother was a church organist, so we have a lot of music generations back.”
With the musical family and the fondness for string instruments, the scene was set for a young Lint to become enamored with the violin. After seeing a violin performance, Lint’s direction in life was forever changed.
“When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my dad took me to see a woman to see a women named Leila Josefowicz, who to this day remains my favorite virtuoso performer,” Lint said “She is wonderful. I try to emulate her in my playing.
“She’s the one who made me realize that’s what I want to do. I saw her on stage, and I loved everything about her.”
After college, Lint focused on freelance performing, but a unique opportunity changed the young musician’s path.
She auditioned for the Akron Symphony and won a seat in the second violin section. This year marks her third with the group.
“Through the symphony came a lot of other avenues,” Lint said, but the symphony “has been the bedrock of my performance over the last few years.”
On top of performing and teaching, Lint is an advocate for a little-known disease, one that she has worked to overcome herself.
“When I’m not performing or teaching, the other thing I do is run a nonprofit called Violin for Vasculitis, through that I’m traveling to every state in the country, to raise awareness of vasculitis, which is a rare autoimmune disease,” she said. “That as also really boosted my performance career, traveling nationwide to bring music to lots of different places and lots of different audiences.”
Not only did her advocacy boost her performance opportunities, she garnered national attention when CNN made her the subject of a piece in 2014. That piece can be viewed by clicking here.
ON MAKING IT IN HAYS
“I know that Hays already has a lot to offer, in the area of music and arts, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I chose this place out of anywhere in the country I could have gone. If I can come in and establish myself and become a part of what’s already happening, that would be wonderful,” Lint said. “There’s something about the community that’s more important to me.”
While a successful studio is important, she said, “it’s more important that I take root here, then reach out and make connections with parts of the community — the arts, dance, theater and certainly the college.”
“That’s another really neat thing I found about Hays, is that everybody I’ve talked to about Hays, loves it and is excited to be here. That creates this kind of energy in the town,” she said. “Everybody likes where they are. Everybody likes being a part of it. Everybody likes what they do and they want to do more. They want to continue to build what’s already happening in Hays. That’s what I wanted to be a part of.”
Lint offers flexible lessons Monday through Wednesday in her studio in the Hadley Center, 205 E. Seventh, Ste. 124. For more information, visit allisonlint.com or on Facebook at allisonlintmusic.
