The Northwest Kansas Area Agency on Aging will have an Information Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday,. May 5, at Big Creek Crossing in Hays.
The event will be in the former Fashion Bug location and feature information booths, speakers, refreshments and door prizes.
Speaker topics include support groups; healthy food choices for seniors; warning signs of Alzheimer’s; Social Security; Medicare; senior legal issues; and fall prevention.
Click the image above for more details.
10:30AM: I-70 has been closed West of Hays due to winter weather conditions.
7:30 AM: I-70 Westbound & Eastbound has been CLOSED West of WaKeeney due to reduced visibility & winter-like weather conditions
See road conditions here
FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Arianne Fisher, a Fort Hays State University graduate student in clinical psychology, received first-place in the recent graduate student research competition of the Southwestern Psychological Association.
The award was announced at the association’s annual conference, in San Antonio, Texas.
Fisher is a 2012 Plainville High School graduate.
Hays Post
Hays students were awarded prizes for the annual water conservation and water quality poster contest at April 13’s Hays City Commission meeting.
The city is required to provide educational offerings to the community on the value of improving water quality. In partnership with Kansas State University Watersheds, a poster contest was staged for school children and young adults in grades pre-kindergarten to college.
This year’s theme was “Picture Your H2O Protected” (water quality) for children in grades pre-kindergarten-second and sixth-eighth and “Make Every Drop Count” (water conservation) for children in grades third-fifth. High School and Fort Hays State University students could select either topic. Entries were judged on their water conservation/quality message, visual effectiveness, originality and universal appeal.
The posters will be displayed at the Ellis County Fair this summer.
The winners are as follows:
Kindergarten
Lily Dickman—first place—kindergarten—Wilson Elementary School
Aady Sharma—second place—kindergarten—SPARK program—O’Loughlin Elementary School
Evie Dietz—third place—kindergarten—SPARK program—O’Loughlin Elementary School
First grade
Janae Ross-first place-first grade-Ellis County Home School Network
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Joshua Meier-second place-first grade-Ellis County Home School Network
Owen St. Peter-third place-first grade-Ellis County Home School Network
Second
Joshua Conner-first place-second grade-Ellis County Home School Network
Sadie Melhaft—second place-second grade-Ellis County Home School Network
Third
Delia Dixon—first place—third grade—SPARK program—Lincoln Elementary School
Zipora Morgan—second place—third grade—SPARK program—Wilson Elementary School
Addison Neuberger—third place tie—third grade—SPARK program—Lincoln Elementary School
Madeleine Meier—third place tie—third grade—Ellis County Home School Network
Fourth grade
Marisa Wasinger—first place—fourth grade—O’Loughlin Elementary School
Jessica Seirer—second place—fourth grade—O’Loughlin Elementary School
Taevian Maupin-Dabney—third place—fourth grade—O’Loughlin Elementary School
Fifth grade
Joanna Mendoza—first place—fifth grade—Wilson Elementary School
Brenlynn Albers—second place—fifth grade—O’Loughlin Elementary School
Brynn Kinderknecht—third place—fifth grade—Wilson Elementary School
Sixth grade
Lily Stivers—first place—sixth grade—Hays Middle School
Kamree Brin—second place—sixth grade—Hays Middle School
Katie Dinkel—third place—sixth grade—Hays Middle School
Seventh grade
Elizabeth Clingan—first place—seventh grade—Ellis County Home School Network
Kiersten Goertzen—second place—seventh grade-Ellis County Home School Network
Eighth grade
Alisara Arial—first place—eighth grade—Hays Middle School
Landri Dotts—second place—eighth grade—Hays Middle School
Cooper Eiland—third place—eighth grade—Hays Middle School
Overall junior High winners
Alisara Arial—first place—Hays Middle School
Cooper Eiland—second place—Hays Middle School
Landri Dotts—third place—Hays Middle School
Overall high school winners
Leanne Rack—first place—TMP
Paris Wolf—second place—TMP
Carmen Brull-third place—TMP
Overall FHSU winners
Summer Lunsford—first place
Brittany Duer—second place
Mandy Deines—third place
Ellis County Landfill/Transfer Station
Beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 4, and continuing all day Friday, May 5, and all day Saturday, May 6, the Ellis County Transfer Station will be closed for maintenance activities particularly the rebuilding of the hopper used to load municipal waste (household trash) for transportation and disposal in Garden City, Kansas.
All types of municipal waste (household trash) that are disposed of through our transfer station will not be accepted during the time frame listed above. We apologize in advance for this inconvenience but the repairs are necessary to be able to continue our transfer station operating capabilities.
The remaining aspects of our operations including the receiving of construction/demolition waste, trees & brush, metal, appliances, waste tire disposal, clean rubble, e-waste & household hazardous waste will be available during our normal hours of operations when the transfer station is closed.
We expect to be able to re-open the transfer station for regular municipal waste (household trash) disposal activities on Monday, May 08, 2017 at 8:00 a.m.
If you have any questions or concerns on this matter please contact the Ellis County Landfill/Transfer Station at (785)-628-9460 or the Ellis County Public Works office at (785)-628-9455. Your cooperation on this matter is truly appreciated.
Today
Rain before 7am, then snow. Some thunder is also possible. High near 36. Very windy, with a north wind 22 to 27 mph increasing to 28 to 33 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Tonight
A 50 percent chance of snow, mainly before midnight. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 33. Windy, with a west northwest wind 24 to 29 mph decreasing to 17 to 22 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Monday
Sunny, with a high near 58. West northwest wind around 15 mph.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 38. West wind 7 to 10 mph.
Tuesday
Partly sunny, with a high near 61. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming north northeast in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night
A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42.
Wednesday
A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.
Thursday
Sunny, with a high near 68.
By STEPHEN KORANDA
Gov. Sam Brownback kicked off the Kansas legislative session by drawing lines in the sand on taxes, spending and Medicaid expansion, and he has defended those positions with his veto pen.
The question when lawmakers return Monday to Topeka is whether those vetoes will hold up.
In January Brownback stood before Kansas lawmakers packed into the House chamber for the State of the State address. He took a preemptive strike against Medicaid expansion, saying the Obama-era health care law was in trouble.
“It would be foolish to endorse Obamacare expansion of Medicaid now, akin to airlifting onto the Titanic,” he said. “Kansas was right. We should stay the course.”
On taxes, Brownback defended his income tax exemption for businesses, saying it had grown jobs. His budget plan would keep it.
“The days of ‘tax first, cut never’ have come to an end,” the governor said.
Fast forward a month, and lawmakers were stepping across the line Brownback had drawn in the sand. They voted to roll back many of the 2012 tax cuts.
Brownback fired back during a Kansas Chamber of Commerce dinner.
“I won’t sign it. I will veto this bill. This is bad policy,” Brownback said to a cheering crowd of business officials.
A veto override attempt fell three votes short in the Senate.
‘Tired Of Giving’
Republican Sen. Barbara Bollier said lawmakers may come back with another plan to raise revenues, this time with more supporters.
“For me it looks more that we’re going to have to go to an override, which means some people are going to have to change their position,” she said.
Bollier, a moderate Republican from Mission Hills, admits that in recent years it has been moderates who have given in to the will of conservatives like the governor. Will they again?
“The answer is hell no. We’re not giving. We’re tired of giving,” Bollier said. “We’ve given and given and given; we’ve had cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts. We have to be the ones to stand up and save the state.”
The top Democrat in the Senate, Anthony Hensley of Topeka, is making a pitch to get lawmakers on board for veto overrides. On taxes, he said anything the governor will agree to won’t be enough to fix the projected budget shortfall, which amounts to almost $900 million over the next two fiscal years.
“I don’t think we want him to be relevant to this process. Up until now, he really hasn’t brought much to the table in the way of tax reform,” Hensley said.
But not everyone is pushing back against Brownback’s use of his veto pen.
“That’s a normal part of the process. He’s elected statewide and he has that right,” said Republican Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita.
Wagle has been negotiating with the governor on a new tax plan. Republican Rep. Dan Hawkins of Wichita would like those talks to be productive. If legislators must go for a veto override, he said, maybe that means they haven’t found the best solution.
“If we continually are looking at nothing more than veto overrides, what are we doing?” Hawkins asked. “We’re really not trying to put something together that will work for the state. We’re trying to put something together that will work for that faction that has the control.”
Downplaying Tension
Last year’s election put more legislative control in the hands of Democrats and moderate Republicans. Brandi Fisher, of the Mainstream Coalition, told a group of voters in Leawood recently that they should be calling the shots.
“The one holdup that we’re having is this governor’s veto. What that tells us is that we need a new governor,” Fisher said.
Among those at the Leawood meeting was physician Bill Jennings, who said he was disappointed by the governor’s veto of Medicaid expansion. To Jennings, it’s an issue of health and economics.
“If patients don’t have coverage for their care, they will get care in emergencies and those who have insurance are going to pay for that,” he said.
The governor has downplayed the tension surrounding his vetoes. He said the back-and-forth so far is normal on a tough issue like taxes.
“We’ll keep doing it. That’s part of the process,” Brownback said. “The last few years, any time you talk about taxes, the normal process is you end up with 100 runs before you find one that they’re comfortable enough with to vote for.”
Brownback said recently that he might accept a repeal of the business tax exemption under certain conditions, showing he may be willing to be flexible as lawmakers work to approve a budget and end the session.
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner with kcur.org in the Kansas News Service.
I saw a study recently by Media Research Center where 89% of the news on TV networks was negative toward our President Donald Trump. Liberal media raises its ugly head trashing Trump non-stop. When Obama became president, the percentages were in reverse — proof there is bias and those percentages on both sides are totally unrealistic.
Don’t expect me to apologize for again criticizing liberals as with my previous letters. For every one writing critical of the left like mine, there are 10 critical of the right. There is no shortage of Trump haters, even in local media.
Rush Limbaugh has been claiming recently it’s not media that is an arm of the Democrat Party. No, it is the Democrat Party that is an arm of liberal media. Media, in other words, puts out the narrative that the Dems need to run with. Liberal media controls the Dem Party apparently.
Liberals don’t live in the real world. Their master is like the Pied Piper and chooses what they are to believe. Most is fake news. Most is not reality, lacking in facts, logic and even common sense at times. Those Obama lovers and “never Trumpers” live in a bubble.
Take Trump’s collusion with Russia to win the election for example. There is no evidence to support that claim, but it is impossible to debate most liberals on this issue. There are no facts to back up collusion but that makes no difference.
Try telling a liberal Obama’s eight years of failed agendas led to Democrats losing some 1,200 elections nationally and in states. Obama was a failure, but to a liberal, he was one of the best presidents ever in spite of increased poverty, racial animus, people out of work, international disaster, etc. And, let’s not forget the top 1% got richer during his presidency. No intellectually nonpartisan historian can possibly give the man positive marks.
Obama’s marquee legislation called Obamacare is imploding, yet liberals claim it is as popular as ever. Facts don’t matter to those on the left.
“Hands up, don’t shoot” of Black Lives Matter did not happen. Period. However, law enforcement throughout the country was given a black eye on just another liberal false narrative. Pun intended.
How in the world can anybody justify harboring illegals in what are called sanctuary cities. Defying federal law by these cities is insanity. At the expense of endangering their constituents, the powers to be, prefer harboring illegals (criminals included) as do most liberals. Common sense takes a hike.
How do open borders make us better as a country? The negatives (drugs, crime, jobs, dependency, etc.) far outweigh positives. Liberals claim we need to have compassion but in reality it’s to transform America having little or nothing to do with compassion. Just another example of losing touch with reality.
Try telling a liberal the massive migration of Muslim refugees is not good for this country. Muslims don’t assimilate and prefer Sharia law to our Constitution. Invasion within is their goal politically, culturally and religiously.
What about the disastrous Iranian nuclear treaty? Socialism versus capitalism? An overreaching government versus a less invasive one? Handouts versus a hand up? More versus fewer taxes? Man causes climate change. Please!
Who in their right mind believes liberals when they consistently call Republicans racists, bigots, homophobes, islamophobes and misogynists?
The height of liberal delusion was a recent column in which Leonard Pitts says: “The 12 weeks since Jan. 20 have seen more scandal, international incidents, incompetence, instability, lies and jaw-dropping embarrassments than the previous 12 years combined.” Pitts needs to see a shrink. He’s lost it and proves the whole point of my letter to the editor.
The list of “pie in the sky” and “off the wall” liberal untruths is endless and the differences between the left and grassroots Americans (especially rural Americans) are as big as it can possibly get. Never, since the Civil War, have we been this divided.
Personally, I maintain we can’t possibly make America great again with make-believe liberalism back in control of our government, and it’s clear why.
Les Knoll lives in Victoria and Gilbert, Ariz.
ELLIS COUNTY – Two people were injured in an accident just after 8p.m. Saturday in Ellis County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Ford Mustang driven by Jenna N. Bonetti, 25, Burlington, was westbound on Interstate 70 four miles west of Hays.
The driver lost control due to the wet roadway. The vehicle entered the north ditch and hit the KDOT fence.
Bonetti and a passenger Christopher Y. Vasquez, 5, Burlington, were transported to Hays Medical Center.
The child was in a seat belt, no safety seat, according to the KHP.
KDADS
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) is seeking proposals for offering mental health education and training in Medicaid and/or Medicare-certified Nursing Facilities for Mental Health (NFMH) in Kansas.
NFMH provide residential care for persons experiencing severe symptoms of mental illness. They provide round-the-clock supervision and care for persons with mental illness needing this level of service. There are currently 9 NFMH in Kansas.
The funding for this training is being provided from civil money penalties collected by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from Kansas nursing facilities participating in Medicaid and/or Medicare.
KDADS is seeking proposals that will provide training and education for staff that care for these individuals.
“Enhanced training will prepare NFMH staff to better recognize and identify the underlying causes of difficult behavior, how to best care for individuals with mental illness and how to manage their own feelings about problem behaviors they may encounter,” said Codi Thurness, KDADS Commissioner for Survey, Certification and Credentialing.
The program proposals are required to include:
· Program objectives and deliverables
· Program outline with timeframe for each deliverable
· Strategies for accomplishing objectives
· Qualification for individual who will be conducting the program
· Methods for evaluating effectiveness of the program
· Copies of any materials used in the program
· Number of participants for each program (to include attendants and NFMH facilities)
· Itemized budget for anticipated costs of the programs.
Grant applicants must submit an original application and three copies. The application is available online at: https://www.kdads.ks.gov/commissions/scc/nursingfacilitymentalhealtheducationgrant.gov
Grant proposals must be submitted to KDADS by close of business June 9, 2017. The grant period shall be between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018, but may be extended or shortened based on specific program objectives.
Grant proposals should be submitted to the attention of:
Tina Lewis
KDADS
612 S. Kansas Avenue
Topeka, KS 66603
Questions? Please call (785) 296-1260 or email [email protected].
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Leavenworth woman has pleaded not guilty to in the death of her mother.
Victoria Smith entered the plea Friday and will go to trial July 17. She is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2016 death of her 85-year-old mother, Anna Higgins.
The Leavenworth Times reports Higgins died at Smith’s home. A probable cause statement alleges Smith told police she hit her mother with a hammer.
Police said they went to Smith’s home after receiving several 911 calls.
Smith remains in custody at the Leavenworth County Jail.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Three western Kansas men accused of plotting to attack Somali immigrants in Garden City are asking for a delay in their federal trial.
Attorneys for Curtis Wayne Allen, Patrick Eugene Stein and Gavin Wayne Wright jointly filed the motion Friday. Federal prosecutors joined in the request.
The Hutchinson News reports (https://bit.ly/2pshW8F ) U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren did not immediately act on the motion. The trial is currently scheduled to begin June 13.
The three men, all members of a small regional militia group, are accused of conspiring to detonate truck bombs at an apartment complex where about 120 Somali immigrants live in Garden City.
The motion notes the case is complex, one of the defendants was recently appointed a new attorney and the large amount of evidence to be reviewed.
KDWPT
PRATT – Kansas Archery in the Schools (KAS) hosted the 8th Annual State Archery Tournament, Saturday, April 8, 2017 at Clearwater High School. A record 435 students (199 girls and 236 boys) from 15 schools aimed for the state title and a chance to compete nationally. The top 10 male and female competitors from each grade division at the state tournament qualified to compete at the 2017 National Archery in the Schools Tournament in Louisville, Ky., May 11-13.
The 15 schools represented at the Kansas state tournament included: Chapman, Chaparral (Anthony/Harper), Clearwater, Cunningham, Dodge City, Erie Arrows (Erie), Greeley County Schools (Tribune), Heritage Academy (McCune), Jackson Heights (Holton), Neosho Heights (Oswego), Pittsburg, Riverton, Rose Hill, Service Valley Charter Academy (Parsons), and Straight Up Archery (Clay Center).
Divisions include Elementary School (grades 4-5), Middle School (grades 6-8), and High School (grades 9-12). Each competitor shot 30 arrows over two rounds. Rounds consist of fifteen arrows from 10 meters and fifteen arrows from 15 meters. A bullseye scores 10 points, so a perfect score would be 300. A team is made up of 12-24 shooters, and the team score is the sum of the top 12 scores.
Team standings by division:
Elementary School
1st – Clearwater Team #1: 2,746
2nd – Service Valley Charter Academy Team #1: 2,054
3rd – Clearwater Team #2: 1,882
Middle School
1st – Chapman Team #1: 3,219
2nd – Clearwater Team #1: 3,200
3rd – Service Valley Charter Academy Team #1: 3,079
High School
1st – Chapman Team #1: 3,227
2nd – Pittsburg Team #1: 3,192
3rd – Dodge City Team #1: 3,094
Individual standings by division and gender:
GIRLS
Elementary – Courtney Schoonover, Erie Arrows: 256
Middle School – Alex Hutchinson, Clearwater: 275
High School – Amelia Burton, Erie Arrows: 279 *Top girls score
BOYS
Elementary – Josiah Guinn, Clearwater: 256
Middle School – Trey Adams, Chapman: 290 *Top boys score, top overall score
High School – Kevin Mills, Chapman: 288
Twenty-three of the participating student archers were recognized for their academic excellence through the new Academic Archer program.
Operating under the umbrella of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) and the National Archery in the Schools (NASP) program, the KAS program promotes international-style target archery among students in grades 4-12. NASP introduces archery to young people, teaching a life skill that is fun and safe. The program improves students’ self-confidence, focus and concentration; changing lives one arrow at a time!
For more information, visit ksoutdoors.com or email Aaron Austin at [email protected]
