Month: March 2017
🎥 Extras from the Extension: Linda Beech – Freezer Meals
With summer’s busy activities, it becomes harder and harder to have a home-cooked meal with the family. Linda Beech shows shows us how to save time on those busy nights.
SCHROCK: Upper limit to genuine college graduates
Presidents, governors, the Lumina Foundation and other higher education agencies continue to call for an increase in the percentage of American high school graduates attending college. College-going rates are being used nationwide as indicators of K–12 success. To some education visionaries, the perfect society would be one where every high school student attended and graduated from a four-year college.
Indeed, we are now hearing of state governing boards and national groups setting short term goals of 60 or 70 percent college attendance. These goals are unrealistic. They threaten to undermine our public university system and devalue the degree of bonafide college graduates.
Foreign universities provide good lessons.
Hong Kong was the first in Asia to overbuild university capacity. By the late 1990s, this ex-colony of 7 million found it had more university seats than capable high school graduates to fill them. Rather than lower its entrance standards, Hong Kong admitted students from the China mainland where there was a surplus of college-able students.
A decade ago, Taiwan also found itself with too many university seats. Similar to Hong Kong, Taiwan uses high school exit exams to measure academic skills and had no intention of admitting sub-standard students and watering down their academics. Taiwan has been scaling back and merging its universities. Korea likewise expanded its university capacity—and hit a ceiling.
China started from a very low university capacity. When I was at East China Normal University in 1993, only the very top scorers on their high school exit exam got to attend their few colleges. Higher education was free. I watched as they all crowded to the lunch cafeteria with their eating utensils and thermos bottles. The students were all A+ brilliant—but poor. By the late 1990s, China doubled its university capacity and began charging tuition. By 2004 they doubled again. And then again by 2008. Now with 20 times the university capacity, China’s university growth is leveling off because they are producing enough academic talent to serve their future. And they want to maintain academic quality.
That is a lesson that American education policy-makers are ignoring. Not all of our secondary graduates are college-able. Nor do some very capable students desire to pursue an academic career. There is nothing wrong with desiring to be an auto-mechanic, farmer, electrician or plumber. We desperately need those professionals.
But American boards and education gurus do a great disservice when they set arbitrary goals for college-going, or use college attendance as a metric in nation-to-nation competition. This places public institutions under pressure to raise college admissions, retention and graduation rates by any means possible.
When public high schools were put under pressure to raise graduation rates, they did (in many cases by finding methods to graduate every student with a heartbeat).
The pressure on universities comes not only from unrealistic goals from above, but also from the fact that public universities have become more dependent on tuition dollars as states decrease their support.
Across the nation, more schools are advising students into easy courses the first semesters so that marginal students will persist a few semesters longer and pay more tuition before failing. Front-loading of the general education courses delays the more difficult major-field courses. This then makes it difficult to complete the pre-requisite sequences in their major in the remaining two years. That costs the student a fifth year, but provides more tuition to the college.
Although university teachers are supposed to have academic freedom, it is becoming increasingly common for faculty with higher D/W/F rates to be called in and asked by higher administrators “what are you going to do about this?” The main driver in some public universities is now becoming retention and graduation rates. The losers are students and the value of a public university degree—when a good student walks across stage to receive a degree at graduation, only to be followed by several who did very little work to receive the same degree.
Kan. Lawmakers Working To Reverse Brownback Medicaid Cuts
BY JIM MCLEAN
With all of the talk in recent years about Kansas’ budget problems, it can be hard to keep track of what programs have been cut and by how much.
So, some Kansans may not remember that last summer Gov. Sam Brownback ordered more than $56 million in cuts to KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. Including the amount of federal matching funds lost, the cuts amounted to $128 million.
Kansas lawmakers remember the cuts, and they are taking steps to reverse them.
“It’s certainly a priority for me,” said Sen. Vicki Schmidt, a Topeka Republican who chairs the Public Health and Welfare Committee.
On Thursday, the Senate took a first step by passing a bill that would raise fees that insurance companies classified as health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, pay to do business in the state. That includes the three managed care organizations that administer KanCare.
The bill would not restore all the cuts. Instead, it would reverse a $47 million reduction in reimbursements paid to hospitals, safety net clinics, nursing homes and community mental health centers for providing care to the approximately 425,000 low-income, disabled and elderly Kansans enrolled in KanCare.
As originally written, the bill would have imposed the HMO fee increase retroactive to Jan. 1. But the Senate changed the implementation date to July 1. That means the state will not have the money to reverse the cuts until Jan. 1, 2018, according to the Kansas Hospital Association.
Still, Tom Bell, the hospital association’s president, said his members are encouraged by the Senate’s approval of the bill on a 27-13 vote.
“We are pleased that the Kansas Senate has taken an important step toward reversing a policy that has been harmful to health care access in Kansas,” Bell said.
The effort to reverse the cuts could get more complicated in the House, where some members are backing a bill that in addition to raising the HMO fee would increase a state assessment on hospitals known as the “provider tax.”
The hospital association and groups representing doctors, mental health centers and safety net clinics strongly oppose the House bill, arguing in testimony Thursday to the House Health and Human Services Committee that it “harms the providers it is intended to help.”
The House bill is thought to have the backing of the Brownback administration because the governor and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer want to use some of the additional money it would generate to provide grants to struggling rural hospitals, create more residency slots for graduating physicians and help establish a private osteopathic medical school.
Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
Summer internships offered at Kansas Historical Society
KHS
TOPEKA—Undergraduate and graduate students interested in Kansas history can apply for full-time paid summer internships. The deadline for these two internships is April 15, 2017.
The John Ripley Internship is named for a Topeka businessman who has a deep interest in local history. The internship is 40 hours per week, for eight weeks, and provides a $2,500 stipend. Undergraduate and graduate students studying in a related field must meet at least one of the following requirements are eligible for this internship: enrolled at Washburn University; graduate of a high school in Shawnee County, Kansas; or resident of Shawnee County, Kansas. More information and an application are available at kshs.org/11406.
The Marylouise Meder Internship, named for a life member of the Kansas Historical Society who had a long career in library science. She later teaching at Emporia State University. The internship is a graduate student with strong interests in archival studies, digital collections, and Kansas history. These internships are offered in odd years. More information and an application are available at kshs.org/17633.
Wrong way driver dies after I-70, head-on semi crash, fire
GOVE COUNTY – A man died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. on Friday in Gove County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Kia Sportage driven by Karl Dennis Grose, 63, Crestone, CO., was traveling westbound in the eastbound lane of Interstate 70 one mile east of Grainfield.
The Kia struck a semi head on, caught fire and the driver was ejected.
Grose was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Schmitt Funeral Home Quinter, KS
The semi driver David William Farris, 49, Midvale, UT., was transported to the hospital in Quinter. A passenger in the semi was not injured.
Cincinnati beats Kansas State in South Region
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Troy Caupain scored 23 points, Kyle Washington added 16 and defensive-minded Cincinnati shot it way past Kansas State 75-61 Friday night in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament.
Cincinnati (30-5) was knocked out the first round a year ago and No. 6 seeds were 0-3 before the Bearcats took the floor, with Maryland, Creighton and SMU all losing to No. 11 seeds.
The Bearcats took care of their business and the No. 6 jinx with an impressive shooting display, shooting 62 percent. Cincinnati is known for its defense and did that, too, preventing Kansas State (21-14) from making much of a run after building a 17-point lead.
The Bearcats now move on to play the winner between No. 3 seed UCLA and No. 14 Kent State on Sunday.
Wesley Iwundu led Kansas State with 19 points.
Shockers clamp down on Dayton in NCAA Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Wichita State’s high-flying offense didn’t get off the ground until the closing minutes, when the Shockers played like the more tournament-experienced team and pulled away to a 64-58 victory over Dayton on Friday night.
The 10th-seeded Shockers (31-4) won their 16th in a row — the second-longest streak in school history — by clamping down on defense and swatting away shots down the stretch. Wichita State blocked eight shots and held the seventh-seeded Flyers (24-8) to a season-low 31 percent from the field.
Zach Brown’s 3-pointer put Wichita State up 51-45 with 5:38 left, the biggest lead by either team up to that point, and Dayton never threatened again. Landry Shamet had 13 points.
Dayton had the experienced lineup, playing in its fourth straight NCAA Tournament with three senior starters. Point guard Scoochie Smith had 25 points.
Kansas man accused of illegal radioactive material storage
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — The former owner and operator of a Kansas City-area lab is accused in a federal indictment of illegally storing radioactive material that tainted a building at an industrial park, costing U.S. taxpayers $760,000 to clean up.
The indictment returned Thursday alleges 61-year-old Ahmed el-Sherif’s Beta Chem Laboratory in Lenexa, Kansas, was licensed by Kansas to use radioactive Carbon-14 and solvents. But he eventually lost that permission after an inspection found extensive radioactive contamination in the lab.
After the state seized the lab, federal environmental investigators in 2014 found containers with hazardous wastes and tainted with radiation.
The indictment alleges el-Sherif submitted bogus tax returns as part of the government’s efforts to assess his ability to pay for cleanup costs.
Online court records don’t show whether el-Sheriff has an attorney.
No. 15 Hornets too much for Tigers in series opener
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State dropped the first game of a three-game weekend series on Friday to 15th-ranked Emporia State by a score of 15-1. The run-rule ended the game after the eighth inning. ESU improved to 17-4 overall, 6-1 in the MIAA, while FHSU went to 7-15 overall, 1-9 in the MIAA.
Tiger starting pitcher Ben Ramberg fought control issues throughout the game and managed to escape the first two innings unharmed after walking four batters in that span. However, he could not avoid damage in the third as two more walks led to three runs in the inning. The Tigers looked as though they were going to allow just one run in the inning, but a throwing error by catcher Trevor Hughes after a swinging strike in the dirt led to two unearned runs. ESU led 3-0 after three innings.
Ramberg ran out of gas in the fifth due to a high pitch count. BJ Dean hit a two-run homer for ESU to make it 5-1 and then a single chased Ramberg from the hill and the Tigers went on to use five relievers in the game. Ramberg’s final line had six runs allowed (four earned) on five hits and seven walks. But, he was effectively wild in the game and struck out six. The Hornets went on to score six runs in the fifth to take a commanding 9-1 lead. They tacked on a run in the seventh and then five in the eighth to make the final margin of 14 runs.
Fort Hays State’s only run came in the fourth on a balk with runners at first and third. Clayton Basgall came in to score on the pitcher’s mistake.
Seth Holman threw six strong innings for ESU, allowing one run on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts. He is now 5-1 on the season.
The Tigers and Hornets meet in the second game of the series on Saturday at 1 pm.
Mason, Jackson spark top-seeded Kansas past UC Davis
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Frank Mason III scored 22 points and had eight assists as top-seeded Kansas won its opening game of the NCAA Tournament for an 11th straight year with a 100-62 victory over UC Davis on Friday night.
Freshman Josh Jackson, making his return after a one-game suspension for an accumulation of embarrassing incidents, added 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting for the Jayhawks (29-5).
The win ensures top seeds will remain perfect since the tournament expanded, with the schools now 132-0 against No. 16 seeds.
Five players finished in double figures for Kansas, with Svi Mykhailiuk and Devonte’ Graham adding 16 points each and Landen Lucas 13.
Chima Moneke scored 20 points to lead the 16th-seeded Aggies (23-13), who were in their first NCAA Tournament. Brynton Lemar added 17 and Siler Schneider 10 in the loss.
Tiger softball splits on day 1 of MWSU Hy-Vee Classic
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Fort Hays State Softball split its first two games at the MWSU Hy-Vee Classic on Friday. The Tigers fell to Upper Iowa in the first game 6-1 before taking their second game of the day 1-0 over University of Mary. The Tigers moved to 9-13 overall on the season.
Upper Iowa 6, Fort Hays State 1
Upper Iowa picked up single runs in the first, third, and fifth innings to take a 3-0 lead and Fort Hays State’s bats struggled against pitcher Emily Kisch. The Tigers had just two hits through the first five innings and collected two more in the sixth inning when they generated their only run of the game.
Lily Sale and Bailey Kennedy executed a double steal for the only Tiger run. Kennedy led off the sixth with a double and moved to third on a bunt single by Sale. That set up the double steal situation at first and third as the Tigers cut the Peacock lead to 3-1.
Upper Iowa interrupted the potential comeback with three runs in the top of the seventh. All came on a two-out rally with the bases loaded. Sammy Garrett and Erin Drahozal each had two RBI in the game for Upper Iowa.
Kisch threw a complete game for the Peacocks, allowing just four hits and a walk in her complete game effort. She struck out six batters. Hailey Chapman registered a season-high 10 strikeouts in the loss for FHSU, despite allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks. She is now 5-8.
Fort Hays State 1, Mary 0
Fort Hays State scored a run in the second and it was enough for Carrie Clarke who threw her first complete game shutout of the season. Clarke allowed just five hits and struck out one to move to 4-2 on the season.
Collette West’s first RBI of the season was the game decider in the second inning. She drove home Candace Bollig, who led off the inning with a single.
Taylor Lara threw all six innings for Mary, allowing just four hits and two walks. She struck out one, but took the loss and moved to 2-7 overall.
Kansas criminal threat suspect found hiding in library bathroom
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect on criminal threat charges.
Just after 5 p.m. Thursday, police were called to the 500 Block of Kirwin Avenue in Salina for report of an intoxicated man attempting to enter a co-worker’s home, according to Police Capt. Paul Forrester.
When the man identified as Jason Duffy, 31, Salina, wasn’t allowed to enter the home, he allegedly smashed a drinking glass on the front porch and threatened to kill the residents.
He fled the scene just before police arrived. Officers ultimately found him hiding nearby in a bathroom in the library on the campus of Kansas Wesleyan University.
Police arrested Duffy and he faces possible charges of criminal threat; cause terror, evacuation or disruption.