JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A proposal for a high-voltage power line carrying wind energy across the Midwest has received a jolt of new life after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that regulators wrongly rejected it.
The overview map on this page depicts the route of the Grain Belt Express Clean Line in Kansas- Image Clean Line Energy Partners.- click to expand
The court ruling Tuesday means that Missouri must re-evaluate whether Clean Line Energy Partners deserve approval for a $2.3 billion project that would build one of the longest electric transmission lines in the U.S.
Plans call for the line to run from wind farms in western Kansas across Missouri and Illinois before hooking into a power grid in Indiana that serves the eastern U.S.
Clean Line has been working on the so-called Grain Belt Express power line since 2010 but hasn’t been able to start construction because of regulatory hurdles.
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on attempted murder charges and questioning an uncooperative victim.
Valles-Leyva -photo Finney Co.
Just before 5:30a.m. Sunday, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to 2515 West Jones, Garden City in reference to a shooting, according to Sheriff Kevin Bascue.
Three sheriff’s deputies responded and upon arrival were advised that a man identified as 35-year-old Daniel Martinez, Midland, TX, had been shot in the stomach. EMS transported Martinez to St.
Catherine’s Hospital.
While on scene, Deputies were advised by witnesses who the suspect was and vehicle description. As deputies were on the scene, the suspect vehicle passed by and a deputy attempted to conduct a traffic. The vehicle did not stop and the deputy continued west on Jones Avenue from the location of the shooting.
Approximately one mile west of Holcomb, the suspect began shooting out his back window at the pursuing Deputy. Multiple rounds were fired. The suspect vehicle continued west to Holcomb, south on Main Street and west on River Road.
The suspect then drove off the south side of the roadway in the 10,000 Block of West River Road through pastures and fields. The Deputy continued to follow the suspect vehicle from River
Road until the suspect vehicle came to a stop on the east side of the Klotz Sand Pit. The suspect fled his vehicle into the sand pit.
Deputies with assistance from Garden City Police Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, and the Kearney County Sheriff’s Office set up a perimeter around the sand pit.
Just after 2:15p.m., a KHP Swat team arrested Jeovany Valles-Leyva, 37, Garden City.
Jones, was taken into custody by the KHP SWAT team.
He is being held in the Finney County Jail on requested charges of Attempted Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer and for
earlier shooting of Martinez.
A second gunshot victim from the shooting identified as 35-year-old Carolina Calvario,Garden City, arrived at St. Catherines Hospital sometime on Sunday with a gunshot wound to her leg. Calvario has been uncooperative to law enforcement’s investigation, according to Sheriff Bascue.
Pictured, Front Row: Russell County Economic Development and CVB Executive Director Janae Talbott, US Representative Roger Marshall’s Congressional District Director Katie Sawyer, Klema’s Manager Rick Webb, SHPTV Interim General Manager Larry Calvery and Kansas Department of Commerce North Central Region Manager Dan Steffen. Back Row: State Representative Troy Waymaster, Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary Co-Owner Don Varner, and Russell County Commissioners Aaron Steinert, Don Boxberger and Alan Kuntzsch.
SHPTV
BUNKER HILL – Smoky Hills Public Television received an award from the Kansas Department of Commerce at the Russell County Commission meeting on July 16, 2018. The award is part of the Commerce Department’s Business Appreciation Month.
Smoky Hills Public Television received the Northwest Kansas Regional Award in the category of Non-Profit. The station was nominated for the award by Russell County Economic Development and CVB.
A news release from Russell County Economic Development and CVB Executive Director Janae Talbott stated:
“Congratulations to Larry Calvery, interim General Manager, and the entire team at Smoky Hill Public TV that provide a variety of public service(s) to our community and state. Smoky Hills Public TV offers services from children’s programming, local state news and sports, do it yourself shows, medical and legislative call in programs, and much more. Smoky Hills Public TV is housed in the heart of central Kansas and has always been committed to rural communities and families. Congratulations to the entire team at Smoky Hills Public TV and thank you for providing a unique and quality service to our community and state.”
“The staff at Smoky Hills Public Television is grateful to Janae Talbott at Russell County Economic Development for nominating us for this award and we are thankful to the Kansas Department of Commerce for recognizing Smoky Hills Public Television’s contribution to the State of Kansas,” said Larry Calvery, interim General Manager.
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
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and two U.S. senators enter the room. That sounds like a description of a Washington, D.C. hearing room, but in this case, it refers to what happened recently in the stone barn of a leading farm family in rural Kansas.
Last week we learned about longtime agricultural leaders Jeanne and Harold Mertz of River Creek Farms near Manhattan. Today, River Creek Farms is owned by two of their sons, Joe and Bob, and their wives Kim and Mary, respectively. The Mertz farm recently hosted the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for a meeting with Kansas farm leaders.
As the name River Creek Farm suggests, their farm ground is situated near a river. That means it is good fertile bottomland with water nearby, but it also can be risky during flooding. During the 1951 flood, floodwaters devastated downtown Manhattan and struck the Mertz farm and others. Jeanne and her one-month-old baby son Joe were evacuated from the farm by boat.
After the floodwaters receded, the Mertzes returned to the farm. They built a diversified crop and livestock operation, situated between the rural communities of Zeandale and Wabaunsee, population 517 people. Now, that’s rural.
Harold and Jeanne raised five children: Joe, Tom, Bob, Jon, and sister Jane. Tom is CEO and owner of a company in Gardner. Jon works at the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan, and Jane Mertz Garcia is a faculty member at K-State.
Joe came back to the farm after graduating from K-State in agriculture and serving on the livestock judging team. His judging experience and studies in the animal sciences department at K-State led him to suggest to his father that they try something new: He suggested that he would artificially inseminate their Polled Hereford cows with semen from Simmental bulls. His parents agreed and the resulting hybrid vigor was excellent.
Meanwhile, Joe met and married Kim Newell. His parents moved to a neighboring house, so Joe and Kim began their married life in the same house that Joe’s father and grandfather had begun their married lives. Joe and Kim went on to raise four kids on the farm: Asher, Lincoln, Malia and Abram.
In 1985, the Mertzs began offering purebred Simmental bulls for sale by private treaty. They later branched into Simmental-Angus cross bulls and offer a bull sale annually.
Joe’s younger brother Bob also went to K-State and competed on the livestock judging team. After graduation, Bob went to work for the National Livestock and Meat Board in Chicago for six years. Here he met a young lady named Mary. They married and also returned to the farm. Bob and Mary had two children, Lisa and David. Harold and Jeanne were proud that all six of their grandchildren got undergrad and/or post-graduate degrees from K-State.
Today, Joe manages the livestock while Bob has responsibility for the crops. River Creek Farms includes 3,600 acres of crop production which Bob has advanced technologically and sustainably. The Mertzs also have what has been described as one of the premier Simmental and SimAngus herds in the country. As the farm website says: “Our guiding principles throughout have remained the same: calving ease and disposition, a sincere focus on end-product value and harnessing the benefits of hybrid vigor. These cornerstones remain in place to this day and characterize every bull we sell, even if much has changed over the past 125 years.”
In 2018, Senator Pat Roberts, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, was looking for a farm to host the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for a meeting with Kansas farm leaders. The location they chose was River Creek Farms, owned by the Mertz family.
It’s time to leave this meeting of the USDA Secretary and the senators, held on a family farm in a rural valley near Manhattan, Kansas. We commend Joe and Kim and Bob and Mary Mertz and their families for making a difference in Kansas agriculture.
And there’s more. Another generation of the Mertz family is making its mark in the livestock industry in another innovative way. We’ll learn about that next week.
Returning from the summer meeting for presidents of state colleges and universities, I am renewed and reaffirmed in my faith in the mission and effectiveness of Fort Hays State University. We provide accessible, quality education to Kansas, the nation and the world through an innovative community of teacher-scholars and professionals who develop engaged global citizen-leaders.
I am particularly proud of our accessibility; our 17 consecutive years of growth; and the numerous awards, rankings, accreditations and recognitions driven by dedicated and talented faculty – indicative of a high quality education.
FHSU is not, and has never been, about being average. Our grit, innovation, and caring nature have served us well. These characteristics form the essence of our institutional DNA. We aim higher and work harder – especially when it comes to our students. Most importantly, we recognize that behind every enrollment, retention, and graduation statistic is a student, a real person to whom we have an obligation to guide and encourage.
This is why we continue to invest in award-winning programs such as the Hispanic College Institute; work hard to be a vibrant, forward-thinking partner with our community and technical colleges through proactive and creative articulation agreements; “meet students where they are” by providing educational opportunities in multiple formats such as engaging distance learning and community-based education whereby we send faculty to several sites throughout Western Kansas and the world; offer high-achieving high school students the unique opportunity to live on campus, engage in research with Ph.D. faculty, and enroll in 60 credit hours of college study all while completing their junior and senior year of high school; and provide multiple pathways for student engagement from living and learning communities to internships to study abroad opportunities.
We also recognize that we still have work to do in taking more students all the way to the finish line. Not every student who leaves FHSU early is a stop out, however. Some may be enrolled in our pre-engineering program specifically designed for transfer to engineering schools around the country. Others may enroll with a specific goal to complete general education requirements and then transfer to a higher cost college with different majors as a cost saving strategy. But there are students who are not graduating and for whom we need to find more effective ways of helping. That is why we continue to adopt new strategies and evaluate and refine current practices. Our faculty and staff devote an enormous amount of time and energy to getting better at supporting our students.
At FHSU, we have the courage to be introspective and innovative. Universities are called to think deeply and to differentiate between where students fail and where the university fails students – to adopt an “it’s on us” posture rather than simply blame students for not putting forth the effort to succeed. Researcher Robert Pace has long demonstrated that what the institution does can profoundly shape student effort and positively impact success. Even newer research by Robert Putnam indicates that students who are not as well prepared for college often do not lack in intelligence but in savvy. Our outreach and support of students is more critical than we sometimes realize. This is why our new Center for Student Success, which will become a reality in 2021 thanks in part to the generosity of Richard and the late Delores Fischli, will be a particularly exciting addition to our campus.
New research from Gallup indicates that hope is critical to college student success. This makes sense when you think about it. Ever tried to lose weight and got negative feedback from the scale? Motivated to eat more fruits and vegetables? Feel like weighing in the next day? Discouragement steals hope. Encouragement fuels hope, which results in success. I know that when my personal trainer gives me information, shows me what to do, monitors my progress, and continues to encourage me, I am hopeful, focused, excited, and successful. Each week I get stronger and can do more. My trainer reminds me not of what I cannot yet do but of the progress I have made and how much closer I am to accomplishing my fitness goals.
The conference reminded me of how important it is to tell our students every day how great they are, to encourage their hopes and dreams, to instill in them the importance of perseverance, to refuse to accept failure, and to love them to success. After all, this is how we create world class athletes, and it is how we should be creating world class students.
And the best news – this relentless focus on hope and student support – is a virtue alive and well at FHSU. I am renewed and brimming with optimism as August quickly approaches and brings with it the excitement of a new academic year.
RUSSELL – The Ad Astra Music Festival colors central Kansas with classical music during the month of July.
Bringing over 60 artists from all around the country, Ad Astra is a unique music festival, spanning three weekends in July and integrating emerging young artists, community members, and professional musicians.
The second weekend of performances includes The Elementson July 20, Cannonballs Fly on July 21, and Semiconsciousness and Bach Cantata 70on July 22.
2018 Young Artists Victoria Lawal, Alexandra Galla, Logan Barat and Cooper McGuire, who is a Kansas State University senior.
The Elements features the 2018 Young Artists and captures the essence of Franz Schubert’s music with selections about wind, earth, fire, and water. The recital will also feature local Kansans’ art to accompany the music of Schubert.
Cannonballs Fly explores pieces about war and peace, featuring the 2018 String Quartet. Notably, “Black Angels,” by George Crumb, is one of the most terrifying string quartets of all time, depicting the brutal violence and political unrest at the height of the Vietnam War.
Semiconsciousness, a concert comprised of only music composed in the last decade, wrestles with dreams, memory, and inner monologue. Brilliant New York-based soprano Madeline Healey will join Yale voice teacher Gene Stenger and San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellow in collaborative piano César Cañón in this daring and thrilling concert.
To close the weekend, the Sunday Evening Series presents Bach Cantata 70, bringing the music of the Lutheran home to St. John Lutheran Church in Russell. To learn more about our performances, please visit adastramusicfestival.org/calendar.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has told Donald Trump Jr. at a fundraising event that he wants to do for Kansas what the president has done for the country’s blue-collar workers.
The president’s son arrived nearly two hours late for a Wichita fundraiser for Kobach’s campaign for governor after weather delayed his flight. The two sat down for friendly public chat before more than 250 supporters.
Kobach used the occasion to claim the American Civil Liberties Union had sent mailers supporting Gov. Jeff Colyer in the race — something both the ACLU and Colyer’s campaign vehemently denied.
The ACLU does not endorse candidates and says its mission is to educate voters on candidate positions on civil liberties issues.
Colyer’s campaign has called Kobach’s claim “dirty tricks.”
Today A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. East southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
In addition to locally heavy rain chances late this afternoon and evening, a few thunderstorms could produce large hail and damaging winds. pic.twitter.com/i2abBIhNoa
TOPEKA – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to nine years and two months in federal prison for escaping from federal custody and robbing a bank before he was recaptured, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Dukewits-photo Shawnee Co.
Daniel Lee Dukewits, 40, Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of escape from custody and one count of bank robbery. In 2010, Duke was sentenced to 125 months in federal prison for armed robbery. In 2017, he was living at the Mirror Inc. residential re-entry center in Topeka where the Bureau of Prisons had placed him. On Nov. 4, 2017, he turned up missing and his GPS tracking device was found in a trash can in his room.
On Nov. 15, 2017, Dukewits went into the Azura Credit Union at 3623 SE 29th Street in Topeka and demanded money. He was arrested within minutes of the robbery after a pursuit during which he rammed a police car.
Girl Scouts today reveals 30 new badges now available exclusively for girls ages 5–18 that not only enhance the one-of-a-kind Girl Scout experience, but also address some of society’s most pressing needs, such as cybersecurity, environmental advocacy, mechanical engineering, robotics, computer science, and space exploration. (PRNewsfoto/Girl Scouts of the USA)
GSUSA
NEW YORK— Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) today reveals 30 new badges now available exclusively for girls ages 5–18 that not only enhance the one-of-a-kind Girl Scout experience, but also address some of society’s most pressing needs, such as cybersecurity, environmental advocacy, mechanical engineering, robotics, computer science, and space exploration.
In a safe all-girl space, Girl Scouts develop important soft skills, including confidence and perseverance, as well as hard skills, setting them up for success and preparing them to take action for a better world.
Today’s youth are more vocal than ever about the change they want to see, and Girl Scouts are the most equipped with the skills needed to make a real impact. The results are proven: girls who participate in Girl Scouts are more than twice as likely to exhibit community problem-solving skills than girls who don’t (57 percent versus 28 percent).
The unique Girl Scout environment provides fun, exciting, and essential experiences that carry into girls’ future careers and life success; the KPMG Women’s Leadership Study of more than 3,000 professional and college women shows that early exposure to leadership has a significant impact on a woman’s perceptions of her ability to lead. Additionally, 76 percent of women today wish they had learned more about leadership and had more leadership opportunities while growing up, demonstrating how imperative it is for girls and volunteers to join Girl Scouts.
The new programming for girls in grades 6–12 includes:
Environmental Stewardship badges, GSUSA’s first-ever badge series focused on environmental advocacy. Girls in grades 6–12 prepare for outdoor experiences and take action on environmental issues. Although Girl Scouts have been advocating for the environment since the organization’s founding 106 years ago, these badges are the first to specifically prepare girls to be environmental advocates who address problems, find solutions, and protect the natural world (funded by the Elliott Wildlife Values Project).
Badges that teach girls how to program, design, and showcase robots, completing the suite of Robotics badges GSUSA first introduced for grades K–5 last year.
The College Knowledge badge for Girl Scouts in grades 11 and 12, the first badge completely dedicated to college exploration. By showing girls how to research the admissions process, financial aid, and other factors, the badge fills a specific need that girls asked for—and that many do not have support for outside Girl Scouts.
Two Girl Scout Leadership Journeys: Think Like a Programmer (funded by Raytheon) provides a strong foundation in computational thinking and the framework for Girl Scouts’ first ever national Cyber Challenge, coming in 2019. The Think Like an Engineer Journey exposes girls to design thinking to understand how engineers solve problems. As with all Leadership Journeys, girls complete hands-on activities and use their newly honed skills to take action on a problem in their community. The programming aims to prepare girls to pursue careers in fields such as cybersecurity, computer science, and robotics.
Girls in grades K–5 can now earn badges in:
Environmental Stewardship, through which girls learn how to respect the outdoors and take action to protect the natural world (funded by the Elliott Wildlife Values Project).
Cybersecurity, introducing girls to age-appropriate online safety and privacy principles, information on how the internet works, and how to spot and investigate cybercrime (funded by Palo Alto Networks).
Space Science, enabling girls to channel their inner NASA scientist as they learn about objects in space and how astronomers conduct investigations (funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and led by the SETI Institute).
Mechanical Engineering for Girl Scout Juniors, through which girls in grades 4 and 5 design paddle boats, cranes, and balloon-powered cars, learning about buoyancy, potential and kinetic energy, machines, and jet propulsion. Following last year’s introduction of Mechanical Engineering badges for girls in grades K–3, the addition of these badges for Girl Scout Juniors means that all Girl Scouts in elementary school can now have hands-on engineering experiences.
“Across the country, people are having powerful conversations about the increasingly strong voice of young people who want to change the world and the lack of women in leadership positions in the United States—two topics Girl Scouts is uniquely positioned to address,” said GSUSA CEO Sylvia Acevedo. “Whether they are fighting cybercrime, exploring how engineers solve problems, or advocating for issues affecting their community, Girl Scouts are learning how to proactively address some of the foremost challenges of today while also building skills that will set them up for a lifetime of leadership. I am so proud that our new programming continues to push girls to be forward-thinking and equips them with the skills they need to make the world a better place. We believe in the power of all girls, and we invite them to strengthen their unique abilities by joining Girl Scouts.”
GSUSA works with top organizations in fields that interest today’s girls. Combined with Girl Scouts’ expertise in girl leadership, these organizations and specialists advise and inform on content to provide the most cutting-edge programming available to girls. Content collaborators include Code.org, the Cyber Innovation Center, robotics educator and author Kathy Ceceri, the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, the Museum of Science, Boston, and WGBH’s Design Squad Global. Girl Scouts themselves also rigorously tested some of the new offerings, including the Think Like a Programmer activities and the Space Science and Cybersecurity badges, which were announced last year and are now available for girls around the country to earn.
Prepare your girl to unleash her inner strength. To join or volunteer, visit www.girlscouts.org/join.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — The former director of the Emporia State University’s early childhood center has been granted diversion for failing to report suspected child abuse or neglect at the center.
Keely Persinger -photo ESU
Keely Persinger’s record will be cleared if she successfully completes the plea agreement.
A pretrial conference for Kimberly Schneider, a former teacher at the center, was continued to Aug. 20. She is charged with five counts of child endangerment.
Teacher’s aides and parents have said they reported their concerns to the state that a teacher was not treating the children correctly. Persinger was charged with not investigating the complaints or filing necessary documentation.
Four families have sued Emporia State and the center, claiming Schneider physically and emotionally abused four children.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is distributing $5 million in state grants for security features to improve the safety of children and staff in school buildings operated by more than 150 districts.
The state Department of Education began distributing the grants Monday for new doors, windows, security cameras, intercoms and other safety features at schools. The appropriations authorized by lawmakers must be matched by districts submitting requests to the state Board of Education.
A total of 153 public school districts have sought $13 million in grants, with a formula devised to bring grant awards within budget.
Two districts originally proposed part of their funding be used to buy firearms, but an Education Department spokeswoman says those requests were removed after representatives from partnering agencies rejected the idea.
After averaging 8.1 points per game as a sophomore and helping guide the Fort Hays State women’s basketball team to an NCAA tournament appearance in 2017-18, Taylor Rolfs – Fort Hays State has been selected as a member of the USA D-2 Women’s Basketball Team that will tour Brazil in early August.
Rolfs, an upcoming junior guard for the Tigers, was among ten NCAA Division II athletes to earn a spot on the USA roster. Members of the team have been recognized at the national, regional and conference levels due to their performance on the court. Rolfs is the only player from FHSU on the team that features four other players from the MIAA. Nine of the ten on the roster are from schools in the Central Region of NCAA Division II.
Rolfs and the team will head to Orlando, Florida for their orientation on July 30th. From there, the athletes begin their Brazilian tour, which runs through August 8th. The team will begin their trek in Sao Paulo, Brazil where they play their first contest on August 1st in the city of Jundiai against the U22 Club Team. From there, Team USA will travel to the city of Osasco to compete against its top club team. On August 3rd, the team will fly to Rio de Janeiro for the remainder of their competition until their departure on August 8th.
Besides basketball, the trip to Brazil will include educational, cultural and social aspects through city, school and sports club visits.
Defending national champion Central Missouri brings has three players on the team, along with head coach Dave Slifer and assistant Tammy Slifer. Rolfs reunites on the floor with Washburn’s Reagan Phelan. The pair played prep basketball together at Central Plains High School in Claflin, Kansas.
Below is the roster for the 2018 USA Basketball DII Team.
Sydney Crockett – Central Missouri
Morgan Fleming – Central Missouri
Megan Hintz – Minnesota State-Moorhead
Sammy Kozlowski – Minnesota-Duluth
Brianna Kusler – Northern State
Reagan Phelan – Washburn
Lynsey Prosser – Augustana Taylor Rolfs – Fort Hays State
Megan Skaggs – Central Missouri
Katie Speegle – Alabama-Huntsville
Tentative Game Schedule Wednesday, August 1
USA D-2 Women vs. Jundiai Thursday, August 2
USA D-2 Women vs. Osasco Saturday, August 4
USA D-2 Women vs. Mangueira Monday, August 6
USA D-2 Women vs. Fluminense
