Beach Family Foundation, Derby, has awarded Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas (DSNWK) a $24,760 grant for technology upgrades and improvements.
This grant will be used in the areas of human resource management, communication, and training and learning opportunities. The new technology will impact programs and services for both persons served with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and for staff who are the primary resource in serving this population in rural northwest Kansas.
DSNWK will purchase 53 tablets for educational purposes in DSNWK’s College for Living program, and for staff training and improved human resources performance. DSNWK will also purchase 4 Chromeboxes which will be used for virtual meetings, saving on travel time and expenses.
DSNWK would like to thank the Beach Family Foundation for their generosity and support of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in northwest Kansas.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
“Giving back.” It is a simple but powerful concept. Today we’ll meet a Kansas entrepreneur with small town roots who created a remarkable marketing organization that assists independent insurance agents and financial advisors across the nation. They also emphasize the importance of giving back to their community.
Cody Foster is co-founder of Advisors Excel, an industry-leading financial and insurance marketing organization in Topeka. Cody grew up in Stockton. His grandparents owned the café in town, but when he was in the fifth grade, his grandma had to run the café by herself. “As the oldest grandchild, I worked with my grandma a lot,” Cody said.
Cody Foster
When he finished high school, Cody found that a former citizen of Stockton had endowed a college scholarship which enabled Cody to go to Washburn University. “I was the first person in my family to go to college or graduate,” he said.
But while a junior in college, Cody got distressing news: The café had failed financially, and Grandma lost the café. “I was headed for a career in PR and sports marketing, but after what happened to my grandmother, I figured I better learn something about finance,” Cody said.
He took a job as a bank teller and later worked at a bank call center while finishing his degree. He still thought about his grandmother. “I wanted to be in a position where people I cared for wouldn’t have to go through something like that again,” he said.
Through his college roommate, he got a job with an insurance brokerage service. After several years, he and the roommate became financial advisors on their own. They found that no one was providing the services necessary to support financial advisors. Along with another Washburn grad, in 2005 they decided to create a company to do just that.
What should this company be named? They might have hired a consultant and spent thousands of dollars on market research, but they didn’t. “One of the guys said, `We want to be a place where advisors excel,’” Cody said. The name stuck. Advisors Excel became the name of the company.
Today, Advisors Excel serves customers across the nation in virtually all 50 states. “Our clients are independent financial advisors, who are mostly focused on helping people with retirement and retirement income planning,” Cody said. The company offers annuities and life insurance, representing some 40 major companies; is a registered broker dealer; and has a new service that is an SEC-registered investment advisory firm called AE Wealth Management. The new service has boomed, growing to nearly $3 billion in assets in less than two years.
Advisors Excel began with the three co-founders and now employs 500 people. The company has an in-house ad agency that produces websites and more than 115 radio programs on finance each week.
Cody and his cofounders believe strongly in community service. Advisors Excel exemplifies giving back. Teams of AE employees regularly volunteer with various charities, from neighborhood cleanups to the rescue mission. “It’s estimated that we’ve donated a million dollars and 5,500 man hours of community service,” Cody said. Perhaps this reflects his small-town community values. Stockton is a rural community of 1,329 people. Now, that’s rural.
What is his advice to entrepreneurs? “The business that provides most value will ultimately prevail,” Cody said. “We’re constantly asking how we can add value. Every interaction (with a customer) is an experience, and we want it to be a positive one. And, you’re only as good as the people you have around you.”
Seven years ago, Cody took another step. He started a college scholarship program at his old high school in Stockton, named after two long-time teachers there. “It was the right thing to do,” Cody said. “If it hadn’t been for the man who endowed the scholarship that I used years ago, I don’t know where I’d be.”
Giving back. We commend Cody Foster and the people of Advisors Excel for making a difference by giving back to their community and providing exceptional value to their customers.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Media Services unit. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm. Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds,
DECORAH, Iowa – Luther College Nordic Choir, one of the top college choirs in the nation, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at St. Fidelis Catholic Church, 900 Cathedral Ave., Victoria, Kansas.
The performance by the 73-member Nordic Choir is open to the public. A freewill donation will be taken at the door.
The 2018 Nordic Choir tour program includes selections from the following: “Ye Were Sometimes Darkness” by Randall Thompson, “Exsultate Deo” by Hans Leo Hassler, “Hail, Gladdening Light” by Charles Woods, “Neither Angels, Nor Demons, Nor Powers” by Timothy Takach, “Mangisondele Nkosi Yam” by Michael Barrett, as well as hymn-arrangements, spirituals and the traditional Nordic Choir closing piece “O Lord God” by Pavel Chesnokov.
The concert is part of Nordic Choir’s 2018 tour of the Midwest and Colorado. The choir tours annually and has performed around the world, appearing in Norway, England, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Baltic countries, Mexico and the Caribbean. Nordic Choir has also appeared throughout the United States, performing in such well-known concert halls as Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Most recently, the choir traveled to Italy and performed in Rome, Florence and Venice.
Nordic Choir, founded in 1946, enjoys national and international acclaim as a premier collegiate choral ensemble in the United States. This tour marks the first year of the Nordic Choir under the baton of Andrew Last, Luther alumnus of 1997. Last was preceded by the leadership of Allen Hightower, Craig Arnold and the 57-year tenure of Weston Noble.
Luther is home to one of the largest collegiate music programs in the world with six choirs, three bands, three orchestras, two jazz bands and numerous chamber ensembles, totaling more than 800 student musicians. Luther’s students perform in large ensembles, faculty-coached chamber groups, private lessons and master classes. Nearly 275 music majors study music theory/ear training, history, education, composition, church music and performance.
A simple pat on the shoulder would not bother most people, but for a child who has experienced abuse, it might trigger a feeling of intense fear. They might yell or hit or run away.
The Hays USD 489 school district has formed a committee to make schools better adapted for children who have experienced trauma. Instead of punishing children for acting out, they are trying to respond to children in positive ways and give them coping skills to deal with fear and stress.
Childhood trauma can come in many forms. Some of these include sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect—physical and emotional, household dysfunction, domestic violence, a parent or guardian with severe mental illness, domestic violence (especially against a mother), divorce, an incarcerated relative, substance abuse and death of a close family member.
School psychologist Kyle Carlin described what a child who has been traumatized may experience.
“In a child who has experienced trauma, a neutral stimulus now is something that creates this fear response in them that they now act out. With a fear response, you might see that fight, flight or freeze, or they might act out, they might try to run away, they might become more aggressive either verbally or physically or they might completely withdraw within themselves and have trouble interacting within the classroom and with everything else that is happening around them.
“Those triggers can be things that we normally would not think would make someone upset, but it is because it brings back that traumatic experience. They go into this re-experience of it and are trying to cope with this scary situation for them.”
Raj Sharma, director of special education, said children who experience abuse at home might re-enact that behavior at school.
“If they are seeing that abuse over and over in the family, seeing their dad or mom involved in the violence. … Our children model what we do at home. They are going to be modeling that in the school. They might see that as a norm. That might not be a norm in our community or society,” Sharma said.
Trauma-informed education is not only a new effort at USD 489, but it is a movement occurring in school districts across the country and is being studied at major universities, Sharma said.
He said an estimated 5 percent to 10 percent of a school’s student population likely has suffered at least one traumatic event. Statistically, that would be one to two children in each Hays classroom.
Some children might have experienced more than one of these experiences, which not only hinders their ability to perform well at school, but also can affect them into adulthood.
A long-term study of 17,000 people who experienced trauma as children demonstrated the connection between childhood trauma exposure and high-risk behaviors (e.g., smoking, unprotected sex), chronic illness such as heart disease and cancer, and early death, according to the National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network.
“If they have any type of trauma — physical or sexual abuse or neglect — that affects their whole life,” Sharma said.
Instead of punishing children who have experienced trauma for their behaviors, new policies seek to help children deal with the intense emotions they feel.
“They don’t require punishment. They require teaching on how to cope with the stress,” Sharma said. “We know now that brain functioning is impacted and this person needs help with how to cope with the stress level. If we punish them, they are going to have more stress.”
Carlin described several techniques he and others teach kids who are dealing with trauma. The child can draw a square on his or her palm. He or she inhales with the first line of the square and exhales with the second line and repeats for the third and fourth lines. Carlin also might ask a child to focus on a sound in the room, such as the whir of a fan.
He said it helps ground the children so they are not so overwhelmed by their thoughts and their body’s physical response to stress.
Some programs are exploring meditation for children who have experienced trauma — in-school meditation instead of in-school suspension, Sharma said. He said meditation programs have been inked to increased math scores, it is believed because it helps students be calmer, more relaxed and more focused.
Establishing routines and clear expectations help children who have experienced trauma. Carlin said the district began to implement new positive behavior programs last semester for all children known as Foundations on the school level and CHAMPS on the classroom level.
Carlin gave an example of how the system works. Instead of reprimanding a student for running in the hallway and saying, “Don’t run,” the teacher would ask the student to walk. They might also ask the student to return to the other end of the hallway and practice walking.
Sharma said building positive relationship with students is key.
“If you have that relation and you provide that positive environment in the school, that is the only way they can overcome from the situation,” Sharma said.
The district has conducted two trauma-informed schools trainings for teachers and staff. It will continue to not only work with individual students, but also a committee is working on district-wide policies.
The district is using a Trauma Sensitive School Checklist that was developed by the Lesley University Center for Special Education, Massachusetts Advocates for Children and the Legal Services Center for the Harvard School of Law. There are 26 criteria on the checklist, dealing with school-wide policies and practices and classroom strategies as well as how the school interacts with mental health services, families and the community.
Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen and Patrick Stein are charged with domestic terrorism
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Attorneys for three men accused of plotting to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somali refugees urged a federal judge on Wednesday to include prospective jurors from rural western Kansas because they are more likely to have voted for President Donald Trump.
But the government countered that granting the request would as a matter of policy “wreak havoc,” saying the defense is seeking to pick a jury pool based on ideology while “opening a dangerous door” to similar requests in other cases.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren took the matter under consideration after a hearing in U.S. District Court in Kansas, saying he would try to rule quickly. The trial begins March 19 in Wichita.
Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights for allegedly planning to detonate truck bombs in the meatpacking town of Garden City the day after the November 2016 election. Wright also faces a charge of lying to the FBI.
The three men, who were indicted in October 2016, have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have argued the men formed a splinter group of the militia Kansas Security Force that came to be known as “the Crusaders.” Wright is quoted in a wiretap transcript as saying he hoped the attack on the Somalis would “wake people up” and inspire others to take similar action against Muslims.
The defense contends the case will require jurors to weigh whether the alleged conduct constitutes a crime or whether it is constitutionally protected speech and assembly and the right to bear arms.
Defense attorneys had argued that court plans to only summon citizens in the more urban counties closest to the federal courthouse in Wichita is a discriminatory practice that excludes rural and conservative jurors. But the judge during the hearing noted several counties surrounding the federal courthouse in Wichita already used to draw potential jurors are rural counties.
Kansas voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the 2016 election, and Melgren mused during the hearing that he does not see a material difference between picking a jury pool from a group that voted two-thirds for Trump as compared to a group that voted three-fourths for Trump. During the campaign Trump called for a crackdown on immigration and a ban on Muslims entering the country.
But attorney Kari Schmidt, who represents Wright in the case, told the judge there is a difference in the belief systems between people in rural southwest Kansas where the crimes allegedly occurred and people in the other rural counties near Wichita that the judge cited in making his comparison.
“I don’t think I can say it’s legally recognizable, but factually recognizable,” she said.
The government cited legal cases finding that groups of prospective jurors defined by geographical location are not “distinctive” groups for purposes of a constitutional attack on a prospective jury pool. By contrast, women and racial groups are considered distinctive groups for such purposes. Prosecutors contended the defense request would set a “dangerous precedent.”
“At its core, it is seeking to stack the deck,” Justice Department attorney Risa Berkower said.
The city of Hays Water Resources Department has contracted Infra Track to conduct sewer line cleaning and inspections at the locations described and shown on the maps.
On Thursday, January 4, 2018 crews will continue working in the following areas:
Between 13th St. and Commerce Parkway west to 13th and Harvest Road south.
Door hanger notices will be placed on homes and businesses affected before the cleaning.
Performing this preventative maintenance by cleaning the sanitary sewer will improve the sewer’s performance and significantly reduce the chance for future sewer backups and related problems.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at the Water Resources Office at 785-628-7380 or via email [email protected].
Today Sunny, with a high near 46. East southeast wind 5 to 11 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 16. South southwest wind 6 to 8 mph becoming north after midnight.
Friday Mostly sunny, with a high near 35. East northeast wind 5 to 8 mph.
Friday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 13. Wind chill values as low as 5. East northeast wind 5 to 7 mph.
Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 41. East southeast wind 6 to 13 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29.
Sunday A chance of rain and snow before 10am, then a chance of rain between 10am and noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Kansas Sec. of State Kobach at meeting of President Donald Trump’s commission on election fraud
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is disbanding his controversial voter fraud commission amid infighting, lawsuits and state officials’ refusal to cooperate.
Trump convened the commission to investigate the 2016 presidential election, after alleging repeatedly and without evidence that voting fraud cost him the popular vote. Trump won the Electoral College.
The White House blamed the decision to end the panel on more than a dozen states that have refused to comply with the commission’s demand for reams of personal voter data, including names, partial Social Security numbers, voting histories and party affiliations.
“Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission, and he has asked the Department of Homeland Security to review its initial findings and determine next courses of action,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday.
Critics saw the commission as part of a conservative campaign to make it harder for poor people and minority voters to access the ballot box, and to justify Trump’s claims of voter fraud.
Trump has repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election, delivering the popular vote to his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Clinton received more than 2.8 million more votes than Trump nationwide.
While there have been isolated cases of voter fraud in the U.S., past studies have found it to be exceptionally rare.
Critics also viewed the commission as part of an attempt to distract from the ongoing investigations into Russian election meddling and potential collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign aides. The intelligence community concluded that the Russian government mounted a campaign to help Trump win, hacking email accounts and spreading false stories.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a conservative Republican and the commission’s vice chairman, characterized the decision to dissolve the bipartisan group as a “tactical change” and argued DHS can pursue an investigation of election fraud more quickly and efficiently.
“The Democrats, both on and off the commission, made very clear that they were not interested in determining the scope and extent of voter fraud and, indeed, they were trying to stop the commission in its tracks,” Kobach said. “The Democrats lost their opportunity, lost their seat at the table, by stonewalling.”
Kobach, a vocal supporter of tough voter ID laws, alleged Democrats wanted no investigation. “Their motto is, ‘Nothing to see here,'” he said.
One of the members of the commission, Democratic Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, sued the commission in federal court, alleging it had violated federal law by refusing to provide him documents available to other members, among other charges.
Dunlap on Wednesday said Kobach and his allies “were the ones that were stonewalling,” saying they had “very definite ideas of what they wanted this commission to come up with.”
Three Democratic senators — Michael Bennet of Colorado, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — had also asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate the commission, which it agreed to do in October.
Kobach said he intends to work closely with DHS and the White House and expects the bulk of the DHS investigation to be done by midsummer.
More than a dozen states, as well as the District of Columbia, had rebuffed the commission’s request for voter data, citing privacy concerns and a fear that complying would legitimize the idea that voter fraud is widespread.
While there have been isolated cases of people voting illegally, and many voter rolls contain outdated data, there is no evidence voter fraud is a widespread problem in the United States or has affected election results.
A study by a Loyola Law School professor found that out of 1 billion votes cast in all American elections between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 known cases of impersonation fraud.
During the commission’s first meeting, Trump had questioned the motives of states that refused to comply with the commission’s request, suggesting they had something to hide.
Voter advocacy groups and Democrats applauded Wednesday’s decision.
“It is no surprise that a commission founded on a lie of widespread voter fraud proved to be a fraud itself,” said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat, who had refused to comply with the commission’s request for voter data. “No taxpayer dollars should have been wasted on Mr. Trump’s voter suppression crusade.”
Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, accused the commission of engaging in “a wild-goose chase for voter fraud, demonizing the very American voters whom we should all be helping to participate — with the not-so-secret goal of making voting harder with unnecessary barriers.
“President Trump has tried and failed to spread his own fake news about voter fraud,” Ho said.
Police reported Samantha Riggs and Matthew Riggs have been located safe in Riley County. They released no additional details.
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WICHITA — Law enforcement authorities are asking the public for help to locate a missing woman and her son.
Just after 10am Sunday, Samantha Riggs, 23, Wichita became upset and walked away from her family home with her one-year-old son Mathew Riggs, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Matthew was wearing only a pair of white pajamas with multicolored dinosaurs. The mother was wearing black tights with a grey tee shirt and grey hoody. A citizen gave them a ride to the QT at Pawnee and Meridian.
The citizen left and returned with a child’s black Old Navy coat with a yellow stripe down each sleeve and gave it to the mother. She mentioned to the citizen that they were waiting for a ride to Manhattan, Kansas.
Riggs-photo Wichita PD
According to the family the mother is mentally challenged and is not capable of taking care of her child without supervision. If you see them or have any information please call 911. The picture is the pajamas the child was last seen wearing.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Court records say a Kansas City man stole a Jeep with a toddler inside before driving up to an officer about an hour later, admitting to the theft and asking for directions.
Prosecutors announced Tuesday that 37-year-old Kenneth Alexander is charged with child kidnapping and motor vehicle theft. It wasn’t known if he had an attorney. Bond is set at $75,000.
The Jeep was stolen after a mother left her four children in it Sunday while she went inside a store. Surveillance shows a man force three children from the vehicle before speeding away with a 20-month-old inside.
Police say Alexander was apparently under the influence of drugs when he was arrested in nearby Belton. Alexander told police the boy, who wasn’t harmed, was his stepson and named “Johnny Cash.”
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tracking statistics from the moving company United Van Lines indicate that Americans are still heading west, while parts of the Northeast and Midwest are losing people.
When looking at the percentage of people moving, Kansas ranks among the worst in the nation.
“Interestingly enough, these retirees are leaving at such a fast pace that the movement of millennials to urban areas in the Midwest and Northeast is being overshadowed,” Michael Stoll, economist, professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles said.
The suburban St. Louis-based moving company on Tuesday released its 41st annual National Movers Study, which tracks customers’ state-to-state migration patterns.
Three of the top four destination states are in the West: Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. The outlier is Vermont, a Northeast state that had the highest percentage of inbound migration in 2017. About 68 percent of state-to-state moves in Vermont were inbound last year.
FRANKLIN COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 9a.m. Wednesday in Franklin County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Kenworth semi driven by Duayne Scott Powell, 58, Waverly, was northbound on Interstate 35 near the intersection of Shawnee Road and Vermont Road.
The truck drifted off roadway and into a field
Powell was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
First responders on the scene of December 20, car fire-photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a car fire and have released the identity of the body found in the vehicle.
Just after 2.a.m. on December 20, Topeka Fire and Police personnel were dispatched to the area of SE 15th and SE Hudson for a report of a vehicle on fire, according to Lt. Colleen Stuart.
While extinguishing the fire, crews noticed a person was inside the vehicle. The individual inside was found deceased.
On Wednesday, arson investigators ruled the vehicle fire incendiary in nature, intentionally set. The Shawnee County Coroners’ office has ruled the death a homicide.
The victim has been positively identified as Arnulfo Garcia, 30, of Lawrence.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Topeka Police Department Detectives at 368-9400.
By STEVE KEIL
