The horses were swept away in last weeks flooding- photo courtesy KCTV
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City-area woman is hoping to locate two horses she says went missing after last week’s storm-related flooding.
Sherra Schuck tells The Kansas City Star that a chestnut quarterhorse named Agapey and a white Arabian called Lytia were kept in an open barn and pasture on a friend’s property in Overland Park, Kansas.
They disappeared after storms pounded the region Thursday and inundated the barn with water. Shuck surmises one of the horses got spooked, and the other went along.
Schuck says the horses are ages 17 and 31, that she’s had them “since they were babies,” and that she wants them back, “dead or alive.”
Leo Hernandez, 12, solders as stained glass hot air balloon during a Hays Arts Council summer art class.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
The Hays Arts Council rounded out its series of art classes for children and adults last week and has already set a slate full of activities for fall.
One of the last classes offered this summer ran July 11-20. Youth participated in a stained glass course with the help of Mitch Sommers.
The students made small hot air balloons and birds using a Tiffany process, which includes soldering glass pieces together.
For all of the six students in the class, this was their first time making stained glass pieces.
The students learned how to cut and grind the glass as well as solder the pieces in place.
“I really like it. There is a lot more steps to it than I thought,” said Leo Hernandez, 12, Hays. “You have to cut the glass and clean it, then grind it, then clean it and then add the copper and then clean it and then solder it and polish it and then clean it some more.”
Sommers said the work is much like putting puzzle pieces together.
Stained glass is unique in its interaction with light.
“It lets light through, but it has its own shape and color,” he said. “It is like looking at a painting itself.”
Canon Meder, 11, said “My grandma said it would be a fun class. Most of the time I listen to her, because she says some things in life that are good.”
Avery Johnson, 11, wasn’t sure she would like the class, but took to her stain glass project.
Summer classes concluded July 27 with Art & Imagination, which explored drawing, collage, painting, printmaking and sculpture for children ages 5 to 12.
Brenda Meder, executive director of the Hays Arts Council, said she is currently working on a slate of activities for this fall.
The annual fall art walk is set for Friday, Aug. 25.
Sept. 25-29 Jay and Leslie Katie, an improv duo, will perform in Hays. The Katies perform a science assembly called “Juggling The Earth’s Resources.”
“We use juggling balls to illustrate how atoms combine to make molecules like H2O and CO2. We examine the carbon dioxide cycle and how the buildup of greenhouse gasses can cause global warming,” the couple said on their website.
Their presentation concludes with an introduction to recycling.
On Oct. 14, the arts council will celebrate its 50th anniversary with its annual meeting and a special screening of a Swedish film made about Hays in April 1976 called “A Quiet America.”
The arts council is hoping to have the narrative of the film translated into English.
The video takes the viewer inside a local wedding, into the old KAYS radio studio and into downtown churches. It also includes interviews with important Hays residents, such as Pete Felten.
“It is an incredible Valentine card to Hays in video,” Meder said.
On Friday, Nov. 17, the Dallas Theatre Company will perform “How I Became a Pirate.”
Meder said about 900 school-age children will see the performance.
On Dec. 1, The Hays Arts Council will host the Winter Art Walk.
The Fort Hays State University chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management recently received an Outstanding Student Chapter Award from the national organization.
FHSU was one of 20 schools to receive the honor, which is earned by completing a variety of activities to earn points. Activities include chapter operations, fundraising, legislative advocacy, hosting and attending seminars and conferences, interacting with other SHRM chapters and participating in internships.
SHRM is the world’s largest human resource professional society, representing 285,000 members in more than 165 countries. The society provides resources serving the needs of HR professionals and advancing the practice of human resource management.
Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday touted his credentials and passion for helping the Trump administration mitigate religious persecution around the globe.
The prospective ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom said he does not know how long it might take for the U.S. Senate to consider his nomination by President Donald Trump, and he hasn’t yet decided when to turn over the reins to his lieutenant governor, Jeff Colyer.
Gov. Sam Brownback discussed his signature tax policy and other key issues during his years as governor during a news conference Thursday at the Statehouse. SUSIE FAGAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
In a 35-minute Statehouse news conference, Brownback also reflected on his years at the helm of Kansas. He stood by his signature 2012 tax cuts, which the Legislature scuttled last month.
That the tax cuts didn’t pan out as expected was due to the price of commodities like wheat and oil, he said.
“We were in recession — a commodity-driven recession,” he said, “and you’re seeing multiple states wrestle with that set of issues.”
Brownback said the tax plan had led to the formation of record numbers of small businesses, but he added that it probably should have included a cap on tax exemptions for those companies.
The two-term governor’s chops as a social conservative also were on display. He touted his efforts to restrict abortion in Kansas and reiterated his belief that traditional family structure is declining, which he described as a critical challenge for the state.
On his potential move to the U.S. State Department, where he would head the Office of International Religious Freedom, he said the work is urgent. While in the U.S. Senate, Brownback voted for the 1998 bill, known as the International Religious Freedom Act, that created the office.
“We passed a bill in 1998 and the situation hasn’t improved,” he said. “You could easily argue it’s gotten worse.”
Kansas’ 46th governor, a Catholic, said the role of faith in his own life informs his concern for others around the world. He struggled with his emotions as he described attending church earlier in the day and knowing that people in some parts of the world risk their lives to do so.
“I went and I did something that is simple and done by millions of Americans every day,” he said, “and some have faced death for doing it. I took communion.”
Brownback said persecution affects all faiths.
Asked about accusations that the Trump administration has engaged in religious discrimination with its design of a travel ban targeting several majority Muslim countries, Brownback said the administration has its eye on protecting religious rights for all.
“I know they’re interested in the issues of religious liberty and religious freedom — that’s been clearly communicated,” he said. “And it’s for all faiths. It’s freedom of religion for all faiths.”
Brownback’s potential departure had been the focus of speculation for months, with multiple news outlets reporting on signs of an impending decision by the Trump administration.
Trump revealed Wednesday he would nominate Brownback — who is more than halfway through his second four-year term — for the State Department position, which includes monitoring and responding to attacks on religious freedom around the globe.
Brownback declined to say how long he had been in talks with the Trump administration about the position.
In an interview published earlier Thursday by WORLD Magazine, Brownback said he and Vice President Mike Pence spoke about the post as early as last year, after the presidential election but before Trump and Pence took office.
Brownback’s time as governor became increasingly embattled in recent years. In his first term, conservative allies swept legislative elections, winning enough seats to collaborate with him on overhauling the state’s tax structures in 2012 and 2013.
The massive tax cuts, which included exemptions for owners of more than 330,000 farms and small businesses, were billed as “a shot of adrenaline” for the Kansas economy.
But year after year, state revenues didn’t perform as hoped, leading the governor and Legislature to cut into budgets for state agencies, universities and schools, at times mid-fiscal year.
The instability fed public angst about the quality of education, roads and other government services, and the ensuing political backlash helped Democrats and moderate Republicans wrest legislative seats from conservatives in 2016.
At the end of its 2017 session, the Legislature scuttled Brownback’s signature tax cuts — and then overrode his veto of the effort.
Colyer led the Brownback administration’s effort to privatize Medicaid, creating the system now called KanCare.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
PRATT – Taking Hunter Education has never been more convenient thanks to Internet-assisted courses designed to allow students to complete their classwork at home. After a student completes their Internet work, they can attend a field day to complete their final test and certification. Field days typically include live-fire, a trail-walk and safe gun handing exercises. Students must register for an Internet-assisted course (field day) before completing the online portion.
The easiest way to find a class that meets your schedule is to visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Hunting,” then “Hunter Education.” Students must be 11 or older to be certified. However, hunters 15 or younger may hunt without hunter education certification provided they are under the direct supervision of an adult 18 or older. Otherwise, anyone born on or after July 1, 1957 must be certified by an approved course before they can hunt in Kansas.
Those who prefer to learn in a classroom setting may sign up for a traditional hunter education course. Traditional courses are usually held over two to three days, totaling 10 hours of class time. To access a list of traditional courses currently being offered, visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Hunting,” then “Hunter Education.”
Classes fill up quickly, so register early and make sure you’re Hunter Ed certified before fall seasons start!
BOSTON (AP) — Sandy Leon slid into home plate and avoided catcher Drew Butera’s tag on Eduardo Nunez’s ground out in the 10th inning Saturday night, lifting the Boston Red Sox past Kansas City 9-8 to end the Royals’ nine-game winning streak.
Nunez also hit two solo homers over the Green Monster for the Red Sox. He’s 5 for 9 in two games since being acquired from San Francisco earlier in the week.
Lorenzo Cain hooked a three-run homer around the right-field pole and Whit Merrifield had a career-best four hits — all singles — for the Royals, who were looking to match their longest win streak since June 2014.
The Red Sox remained a half game behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
Matt Barnes (6-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.
Boston tied it on Betts’ sacrifice fly in the eighth.
EL DORADO, Kan. – Just when it seemed like the East All-Stars had done just enough to capture a third consecutive win in the Kansas Shrine Bowl, the West found a way.
The West All-Stars claimed a dramatic 22-21 victory when Zach Helbing (Mulvane) and Tanner Orand (Goddard-Eisenhower) combined to tackle East QB Brandon Mlekus (Frontenac) in the end zone for a safety. Mlekus scrambled to get out of the end zone after trying to recover from an errant snap.
The victory gives the West a 27-16-1 all-time advantage in the series.
On a night headlined by turnovers and sloppy play, the East had multiple opportunities to make a 21-20 lead stand up.
The East was handed a golden opportunity to extend its one-point lead in the fourth quarter when the West mishandled a punt giving the East a first-and-goal. But a 15-yard chop-block penalty moved the East back, and eventually a fourth-down pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
The West took over with less than three minutes to go, trailing 21-20, and without a timeout.
On their first play, West QB Jacob Murray (Great Bend) heaved a long pass downfield that looked to be intercepted by Emporia’s Bryce Crouch, but Crouch couldn’t hold on for his second interception of the game. The next play, Murray hit Kaden Davis (Ellsworth) on a long catch-and-run to the East 30.
The West appeared to be poised to get even closer. Murray hit Dylan Foos (Dighton) on a short pass with room to run, but he was stripped by Nick Bulleigh (St. Thomas Aquinas) and the East recovered essentially sealing the game.
Or so we thought.
The East was called for two unsportsmanlike penalties after the play, moving the ball back half-the-distance, twice, inside their own 5-yard line and setting up the decisive defensive play.
The West almost forced a safety on the first snap, but the East was ruled to have advanced the ball just over the goaline and inside the 1-yard line. On second play, the snap sailed wide left of Mlekus.
Trailing by a touchdown at halftime, the East scored on their first offensive play of the third quarter as J.J. Letcher (KC Piper) raced 73 yards untouched on a jet sweep to tie the game at 14.
The East took a 21-14 lead later on a Mlekus touchdown run. But the West responded shortly after as Zach Esau (Hesston) hit Foos on a short touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed leaving the East lead at one point.
The West seemingly dominated a turnover-plagued first half until the final minute when Dalton Cowan (Topeka Seaman) hit Cuttar Huss (Troy) on an 18-yard touchdown pass to pull within 14-7. The two teams combined for seven first-half turnovers (5 for the West).
The West built a 14-0 lead on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Murray to Davis, and a 1-yard run by Esau.
The MVPs of the 44th annual Shrine Bowl were Lechter from the East and Helbing from the West.
Gavin Schumacher drove in three runs and Ryan Ruder tossed six solid innings as the Hays Monarchs beat Iola 7-4 Saturday to advance to the AA State American Legion Championship game.
The Monarchs took an early lead, in the second inning, on a two-run single by Eston Brown. Hays added two more runs on an error by the shortstop taking a 4-0 lead through two.
Iola got a run back in the top of the third and with Hays leading 5-1 Iola scored three runs in the top of the fifth cut the score to 5-4.
Schumacher added a pair of insurance runs in the Monarchs half of the sixth giving Hays a 7-4 lead and they would go on to win by that score.
Ryan Post
Schumacher, for the second game in-a-row drove in three runs and Eston Brown finished 1-for-3 with two RBI’s.
Ryan Ruder earned the win for the Monarchs. He allowed four runs, two earned, on seven hits and struck out 12 over six innings.
The Monarchs are 23-10 on the summer and will play the winner of loser’s bracket at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting his boss outside the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, has been ordered to spend life in prison.
The Kansas City Star reports that 48-year-old Willie E. Parker was sentenced Friday in Wyandotte County. That’s where he was convicted in June of first-degree murder in the July 2015 death of Michel Ziade.
Parker worked for 54-year-old Ziade of Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Ziade owned First Class Medical Transportation, which provided non-emergency medical transport.
The shooting occurred in a parking lot near the hospital.
Parker was arrested about a week later in Missouri after a five-hour standoff with police.
RENO COUNTY – A Small earthquake shook south-central Kansas Saturday.
The quake at 7:13 p.m. measured a magnitude 3.0 and was centered approximately five miles southwest of South Hutchinson, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It is the seventh quake in Kansas this month and the first since a 2.7 magnitude quake south of Coldwater, Kansas Thursday evening.
The USGS reported 18 Kansas earthquakes in June, 9 in May, a dozen in April, 7 in March and 6 in February.
There are no reports of damage or injury from Saturday’s quake, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the latest disturbance at a maximum-security Kansas prison (all times local):
A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections says it has found no evidence of a significant episode of unrest at a state prison reported earlier by a union for state workers.
Department spokesman Todd Fertig said Saturday it investigated whether a group of inmates refused to follow orders Friday evening and did not find that such an incident occurred.
The report that such an incident occurred came from the Kansas Organization of State Employees in a tweet Friday evening. Executive Director Robert Choromanski said the information came from an employee monitoring emergency communications.
Choromanski said Saturday that the incident appeared to be resolved within a half hour.
Fertig did report that there were two separate inmate-on-inmate altercations Friday, each resulting in an inmate injury.
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1:15 p.m.
The warden a maximum-security Kansas prison that’s had four reported disturbances in recent months took a new job within the state Department of Corrections before the latest incident.
Department spokesman Todd Fertig confirmed Saturday that James Heimgartner left his job as warden of the El Dorado prison Thursday. Fertig had no further information about Heimgartner’s new position in the department.
He did not comment on what led to the change.
The new acting warden at El Dorado is Dan Schnurr. He is warden at a maximum-security prison in Hutchinson, about 60 miles to the northwest. Fertig said Schnurr will keep his duties at Hutchinson while the department looks for a permanent warden for El Dorado.
The latest El Dorado incident occurred Friday evening and was reported to have been resolved quickly.
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12:40 p.m.
A union official says the latest disturbance at a maximum-security prison in southern Kansas was controlled quickly.
Robert Choromanski, who heads the Kansas Organization of State Employees, said Saturday that the Friday evening incident at the El Dorado prison appeared to be resolved within a half hour. He says he obtained information from a prison employee who was monitoring emergency communications.
Choromanski says a special security team was called to the prison Friday evening after 30 inmates refused to stand down. No other information was available.
It was the fourth reported disturbance within three months.
Department of Corrections spokesman Todd Fertig declined to comment on the incident.
He says two inmates were wounded at El Dorado earlier Friday in an altercation and one had puncture wounds, but no employees were injured.
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A senior union official says there has been another inmate disturbance at the troubled El Dorado prison in Kansas, the fourth incident in three months.
Robert Choromanski, Kansas Organization of State Employees executive director, says that a Special Security Team was called to the prison on Friday evening after 30 inmates refused to stand down. He says the information came from a prison employee who was monitoring emergency communications. No other information was immediately available.
Todd Fertig, Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman, could not be reached for comment. He told the Kansas City Star that two inmates were wounded at El Dorado earlier Friday, one with “several puncture wounds.” He says no employees were injured. He did not respond to a question from the Star about the reported evening disturbance.
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