The Heartland Community Foundation, which serves Ellis, Rooks and Trego Counties, recently awarded over $217,000 in spring grants to area organizations across the three counties.

Grants were funded through the foundation’s Heartland Area Action Fund, Dane G. Hansen Community Action Fund, Heartland Healthy Living Fund, Kansas Health Foundation Fund and the Legacy Funds for Ellis, Rooks and Trego Counties.

The following organizations received funding:

Ellis County – 

• United Way of Ellis County, $6,980 to digitize and distribute the Ellis County Community Resource Directory.
• Dialogue Ministries/Breathe Coffee House, $5,945 for The Neighbor Project of Ellis County.
• High Plains Mental Health Center, $5,838 to host a local mental health awareness event in Hays, featuring suicide survivor and mental health advocate Kevin Hines.
• Jana’s Campaign, Inc., $5,000 for teen dating violence prevention programs in Ellis County. 
• Hays Symphony Orchestra Guild, $5,000 for Hays Symphony Orchestra Children’s Halloween Concert.
• Grow Hays, $5,000 for to redesign and rebrand the Ellis County Development Corp website. 
• Nex-Generation Round Up for Youth, Inc., $4,440 for Young AmeriTowne of Kansas, which offers area students hands-on lessons in free enterprise and economics.
• Learning Cross Preschool, $4,000 for a program in which Learning Cross students will share musical playlists with their grandfriends.
• First Call for Help of Ellis County, Inc., $4,000 for Meals on Wheels volunteer stipends.
• USD 489, $3,710 to provide the first PREPaRE crisis training workshops for staff in Ellis, Rooks and Rush counties.  
• First United Methodist Church, $2,895 to purchase an AED device and training.
• Hays Community Theatre, $2,760 to install new compliant bathrooms.
• NCK Tech Hays Campus, $2,600 to provide mental health first aid training on campus. 
• Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, $2,200 to replace the front door and sidelight and install an electronic handicap button and keyless entry lock at the Employment Connections Facility. 
• Thomas More Prep-Marian Biology Club, $400 to conduct a multi-county water quality research project.

Rooks County –

• Rooks County Healthcare Foundation, $7,000 to upgrade patient beds at Rooks County Health Center. 
• USD 271-Stockton Grade School, $6,290 to convert computer lab space into a learning studio where students can explore, create and learn individually or in small groups.
• City of Stockton dba Solomon Valley Manor, $5,000 to enhance the outdoor living space with new furniture, shade and a raised garden planter. 
• Rooks County Free Fair, $5,000 to purchase new sound system equipment.
• Sacred Heart Parish-Plainville Food Pantry, $5,000 to provide healthy meals for low income families and senior citizens.
• Plainville Community Foundation, $5,000 to market “shop local” programs to Rooks County citizens.
• USD 270 Plainville, $4,750 for a student ACT prep workshop and a professional development session for teachers.
• Nex-Generation Round Up for Youth, Inc., $4,140 for Young AmeriTowne of Kansas, which offers area students hands-on lessons in free enterprise and economics.
• Damar Community Historical Foundation/City of Damar, $3,860 to purchase a commercial power washer for the Damar Volunteer Fire Department. 
• Hays Arts Council, Inc., $3,500 to support professional youth theatre production of “Your Alien” and a residency by the author of the book, Ellis County native Tammi Sauer. 
• Plainville United Methodist Church, $3,000 to purchase and install three sets of entry doors.
• Plainville Community Foundation, $2,810 to purchase a picnic table with a flag table top and detailed military banners to mount next to existing light poles.
• City of Stockton, $2,250 for city pool furniture.
• Fusion Christian Youth Center, $2,119 for for a weekly youth summer ministry program.
• Stockton Swim Club, $1,708 for to help with swim club costs.

Trego County –

• USD 208, $39,857 for an IP Electronic Access Control system to meet the security needs for facilities and grounds.
• USD 208 – Trego Community High School, $7,160 to purchase eight Frog Fitness Multi Function Exercise machines for use by the elementary, junior high and high schools.
• Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas, $6,000 to support Catholic Charities Mobile Outreach-WaKeeney, which provides clothes, hygiene kits, food kits, clothing, other essentials, financial assistance and case management services.
• Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital, $5,315 to purchase three electric exam tables for the medical clinic. 
• American Legion Moore Post 197, $5,000 to replace the floor.
• WaKeeney VFW, $5,000 to install handicap accessible bathrooms.
• Western Kansas Veterans Patriot Center, $5,000 to replace, repair and restore the Avenue of Flags.
• Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital, $5,000 for the Trego County Health Fair.
• Trego County Historical Society, $4,689 to install LED lighting in the museum and add UV filtering film to avoid damage to historical artifacts.
• Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital, $3,445 to create a handicap accessible outdoor seating area.  
• USD 208, $3,052 to purchase wooden blocks, storage units, and wooden block vehicles for the Trego Grade School Preschool classroom.
• Trego Arts Council, $2,000 for the Wichita Children’s Theatre project.
• Nex-Generation Round Up for Youth, Inc., $1,980 for Young AmeriTowne of Kansas, which offers area students hands-on lessons in free enterprise and economics.
• Christ the King Catholic Church, $1,622 to purchase an AED for the parish center and training to use it.

Applications to the foundation’s next grant cycle will open on September 15, 2018. Visit www.heartlandcommunityfoundation.org for more information.

— Submitted

Today Sunny and hot, with a high near 101. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.

Highs today will range from 100 to 103. Stay safe in the heat! Drink plenty of water. Work outdoors early or very late in the day. #kswx pic.twitter.com/UvkdElB0IH

— NWS Dodge City (@NWSDodgeCity) June 27, 2018

Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 73. South wind 8 to 10 mph.

Thursday Sunny and hot, with a high near 102. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.

Thursday NightMostly clear, with a low around 76. South wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

FridaySunny, with a high near 99. Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph.

Friday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 75. Breezy.
SaturdayMostly sunny, with a high near 94.

THOMAS COUNTY — Seven people were injured in an accident just after 2p.m. Tuesday in Thomas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Ford Explorer driven by Any Garcia, 20, Charlotte, NC., was eastbound on Interstate 70 five miles east of the Kansas 25 Junction.

The driver swerved to avoid a tire tread in the roadway. The SUV entered the median and the driver lost control. The SUV re-entered the east bound lanes, overturned and rolled into the south ditch.

Garcia and a passenger Jissele Garcia, 11, Charlotte, NC., were transported to the hospital in Colby.

Passengers Eliazin Bahena Garcia, 23, Concord, NC., and Betuel Garcia, 44, Charlotte, NC,. were transported to a hospital in Wichita.

Passengers Guadalupe Garcia, 43, and Theresa Popaca, (age not reported), both of Charlotte, NC., were transported to Swedish Medical Center in Denver.

Passenger Rey Mendiola, 46, Charlotte, NC., was transported to St. Anthony Hospital in Denver.

The driver and passenger Eliazin Bahena Garcia were the only occupants wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Hays school district hopes to use additional state money to improve salaries and hire more personnel, Superintendent John Thissen said Tuesday.

The Kansas Legislature approved more than $500 million more for school funding to be phased in over five years. The state has been dealing with the Gannon v. Kansas lawsuit filed in 2010 that argued the amount of money going to Kansas schools was not equitable or adequate.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Monday the state’s funding formula was equitable to poor districts, but the Legislature still had not dedicated enough money to the school funding formula. The Supreme Court gave the state until June 2019 to increase school funding further.

See related story: Court: State still must add more money for schools, but not until next year

School districts across the state, including Hays, have been in a holding pattern, waiting for the court’s decision before finalizing their budgets for the 2018-19 school year.

District officials statewide will gather for budget meetings during the second week of July, which is much later than normal. A final budget has to be to county clerks by Aug. 24, which means the school boards will have first review of the budget at their Aug. 6 meetings and final approval of their budgets on Aug. 20.

Tracy Kaiser, Hays director of finance, said the district has been working on the budget for months based on the assumption schools would at least receive the amount the Legislature approved in the spring.

The increase will mean $404,816 more in the general fund for Hays for the next school year, and $242,553 more for USD 489 in special education funds. However, Kaiser noted the district is losing $241,650 from the sate in declining enrollment funding.

In an interview on the KAYS Radio Morning Show, Thissen said the additional funds the district will receive will be used to increase salaries and add certified and classified staff.

Kaiser said the district has faced so many cuts since 2008, it is trying to increase staffing levels to where they were before the recession.

Some of the hires will be for more teachers aides at the elementary level and a least one teacher who will work as a career specialist in the new JAG-K program. JAG-K works with students, who might be at risk of not graduating high school, to achieve academic and career goals.

The district is in the midst of teacher negotiations right now. The board met in executive session to discuss negotiations Monday night, and district officials are set to meet with the Hays NEA negotiations team again on Thursday. Kaiser said she hoped the negotiations would be resolved soon and would not have to go well into the school year as it has in years past.

Kaiser reported at the school board meeting Monday the district was 8 percent under budget as of May. The district’s budget year concludes June 30.

The board approved a transfer of $300,000 to its contingency fund at the meeting Monday. Thissen noted this was budgeted. With the addition of the $300,000, the district will have $961,828 in its contingency account. However, the Kansas Department of Education recommended districts have two months of salary in contingency. For Hays that would be $4.8 million. Thissen said the district’s contingency fund is still short of where it needs to be.

The Hays school board Monday also briefly touched on the capital outlay fund. Board member Greg Schwartz asked the administration to re-evaluate its busing system and look for ways to decrease costs. Several years ago, the district restricted bus routes to those students living 2.5 miles or more from school. This is the requirement for reimbursement from the state for transportation.

Thissen also reported repairs to a water main that failed this spring will cost less than expected. The bid for the repairs came in at $19,000. Thissen told the board preciously he thought the repairs would cost more than $20,000.