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Month: August 2018

FHSU signs understandings with 2 community colleges on transfer agreements

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FHSU University Relations

Fort Hays State University signed two memoranda of understanding today to ensure smooth transfers from Garden City Community College and Dodge City Community College in a variety of majors.

Articulation agreements are a roadmap for course work that helps to ensure a seamless transition of course credits from the community college to the university.

The Garden City agreement covers:
•        Accounting (B.B.A.)
•        Agricultural business (B.S.)
•        Biology and secondary education (B.S.)
•        Computer science (B.S.)
•        Criminal justice (B.S.)
•        Early childhood unified education (B.S.)
•        Elementary education (B.S.)
•        Finance (B.B.A.) with concentration options in:
Banking
Economics
or Financial planning
•        Health studies (B.S.) with concentration options in:
Gerontology
Grant writing and social entrepreneurship
Health promotion
Leadership
or Sociology of medicine and aging
•        International business and economics (B.B.A.)
•        Management (B.B.A.) with concentration options in:
Entrepreneurship
Human resource management
or Operations management
•        Marketing (B.B.A.) with concentration options in:
Business development and sales
or Digital marketing
•        Mathematics and secondary education (B.S.)
•        Nursing (RN to B.S.N.)
•        Psychology (B.S.)
•        Social work (B.S.W.)
•        Social work – Garden City cohort (B.S.W.)
•        Technology leadership (B.S.) with concentration options in:
Business and industry
or Career and technical education

Garden City CC is on the Web at www.gcccks.edu.

The agreement with Dodge City CC covers:
•        Accounting (B.B.A.)
•        Agricultural business (B.S.)
•        Biology and secondary education (B.S.)
•        Computer science (B.S.)
•        Criminal justice (B.S.)
•        Early childhood unified education (B.S.)
•        Elementary education (B.S.)
•        Finance (B.B.A.) with concentration options in:
Banking
Economics
or Financial planning
•        Finance (B.B.A.), banking concentration
•        International business and economics (B.B.A.)
•        Management (B.B.A.) with concentration options in:
Entrepreneurship
Human resource management
or Operations management
•        Management Information Systems (B.B.A.)
•        Marketing (B.B.A.) with concentration options in:
Business development and sales
or Digital marketing
•        Mathematics and secondary education (B.S.)
•        Nursing – RN to B.S.N.
•        Psychology (B.S.)
•        Social work (B.S.W.)
•        Social Work – Dodge City Cohort (B.S.W).
•        Technology leadership (B.S.) with concentration options in:
Business and industry
or Career and technical education

Dodge City Community College is on the Web at https://dc3.edu.

Police: Speed, drugs a factor in crash that killed Kan. woman

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SEDGWICK COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 1:30a.m. Thursday in Sedgwick County.

Fatal Thursday morning crash -photo courtesy KWCH

The Wichita Police Department reported a 2000 Ford Contour driven by a 23-year-old man was northbound on Longford Street at the intersection of Longlake Road in Wichita.  The driver lost control of the car and hit a tree.

The driver, a woman in the front passenger seat identified as Tiana Thomas, 24, Wichita and a 23-year-old man in the back seat were transported to an area hospital for medical treatment where Thomas died.

The driver and the rear seat passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Speed and drugs are believed to be contributing factors in the accident, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Police have not released the name of the two men in the car.

Water leak repaired, work continues at Vine and 22nd

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A water leak in the area of Vine and 22nd streets that caused water service to be shut down and snarled traffic Thursday morning has been repaired, according to the city of Hays.

A repair is now being made to the sewer that serves the VFW and, once that is complete, sand will be brought in to cover the water line.

Service could be restored later Thursday or Friday morning. One lane of traffic will be shut down overnight in the area of the work.

Website workshop offered by FHSU Management Development Center

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The Management Development Center at Fort Hays State University will kick off its fall 2018 Workshop Series with a new workshop, “Your Website: The Foundation of a First-Rate Marketing Strategy.”

This workshop will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, in the university’s Hansen Entrepreneurship Hall.

Dr. Mary Martin, professor of applied business studies at FHSU, will facilitate. Participants will learn how to effectively utilize their website as part of an overall marketing strategy. Topics will include the must-have components for an ideal website, designing a conversion path, and making website content more shareable. Participants will also learn how to optimize social media to improve search rank and drive traffic.

Each person who completes a workshop will receive a completion certificate and will earn 4.0 continuing education units.

The cost for registration is $119. A 15-percent discount applies for all Hays Area Chamber of Commerce Members on single session cost.

Registration is available online through the Registration link in the sidebar on the center’s home page at www.fhsu.edu/mdc. To learn more about this workshop or additional upcoming trainings, contact Hannah Hilker by phone at 785-628-4121 or by email at [email protected].

Court: Feds owe Kansas $142 million for Obamacare miscue

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TOPEKA – Over several years, the federal government illegally collected an Obamacare fee from Kansas and now must repay the state more than $142 million, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

According to a media release, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and five other states sued the federal government, arguing that the Health Insurance Provider (HIP) Fee – one of the numerous taxes and fees imposed by the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” – was being illegally collected from their state treasuries. Federal law expressly prohibits the imposition of the HIP fee on states, but in states like Kansas that contract with private managed care organizations (MCOs) to operate their Medicaid programs, the federal government imposed the fee on the MCOs, then adopted a regulation requiring the MCOs to pass the cost of the HIP fee through to the state.

“The whole scheme was a two-step sleight-of-hand that had the effect of forcing states like Kansas to tax its citizens and then send the proceeds to the federal government,” Schmidt said. “We’ve thought from the beginning this was one of the illegal provisions of Obamacare, and yesterday the federal court agreed.”

Federal District Judge Reed O’Connor had previously ruled in March that the regulation mandating the MCOs pass the cost of the HIP fee through to the states was illegal, but at that time he declined to order the federal government to refund to the states the money it had illegally collected.

Kansas and the other states asked Judge O’Connor to reconsider, and yesterday he did. His revised ruling requires, as a matter of equity, that the federal government disgorge the ill-gotten proceeds from the illegally collected tax by returning the wrongly collected money to the states that paid it.

In total, the order requires that more than $839 million be returned to the six states that brought the lawsuit. The Kansas share of that is $142,121,776, which reflects the total amount Kansas taxpayers paid because of the illegal HIP Fee pass-through for 2013-2015.

Yesterday’s ruling is likely to be appealed by the federal government.

“This lawsuit is ongoing,” Schmidt said. “Kansas budgeters should not bank on this money just yet. But yesterday’s ruling is well-reasoned and puts us in a much stronger position as our case goes up on appeal.”

The next stop for the case likely will be the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. In addition to Kansas, the states that brought this lawsuit are Texas, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The case is Texas v. United States, No. 15-cv-151 (N.D. Tex.). The ruling is available here. 

Police: Possible parvo outbreak at Wichita Animal Shelter

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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Officials are investigating a reported Parvo outbreak at the Wichita Animal Shelter, 3303 North Hillside in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson with the Wichita Police Department.

Wichita Animal Shelter -photo Wichita PD

The shelter was closed until early afternoon Thursday, while the staff did a thorough cleaning to deal with the potential contagious disease outbreak.

Possible affected dogs were removed by rescues as a precaution, according to Davidson.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, “Canine parvovirus is a highly contagious virus that can affect all dogs, but unvaccinated dogs and puppies younger than four months old are the most at risk.”

Mid-Kansas Electric Co. celebrates Harper-to-Milan transmission project

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138 kV transmission project located in Kingman, Harper and Sumner counties

Mid-Kansas Electric Co. Inc. (Mid-Kansas) celebrated the energization of its high voltage transmission project with a luncheon and remarks at the Westview Lodge Conference Center in Harper on Thursday. Company officials, member-owners met to applaud the efforts of many in bringing its 138 kV Harper-to-Milan Transmission Project to fruition. The project, which was placed in service on May 25 is located in Kingman, Harper and Sumner counties.
Local leaders, including county commissioners, Kansas legislators, and city and business leaders were invited to participate in the celebration.

Mid-Kansas provides wholesale generation and transmission services to its six member-owners, one of which is Wheatland Electric Cooperative Inc., the electric distribution cooperative that serves the area. Operated on the cooperative business model, the mission of Mid-Kansas is to provide reliable service to its member-owners at the lowest possible cost.

“This project was identified by the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the regional transmission organization to which Mid-Kansas belongs, to support growing demands on the transmission grid,” said Bruce W. Mueller, CEO of Wheatland. “We strongly supported the project as the existing infrastructure was not adequate to serve Wheatland’s cooperative members at the level of reliability that we aim to deliver and they should expect.”

The three-year project includes 58.9 miles of new line from Harper to Milan, 12.6 miles of new line from Harper to Rago, 5.8 miles of rebuilt line between Milan and the Viola tie, and the new connection to Westar’s Viola Substation. The $65 million project also includes the new Bluff Creek Substation and modifications to the Harper and Milan substations. This infrastructure not only improves electric service in area and region, but it is also large enough to handle electric growth in Wheatland’s south central service territory.

POWER Engineers Inc. provided technical services, including routing, siting and permitting support and engineering for the transmission lines and substations. POWER also provided material procurement, construction contracting, and construction management of the project. As part of POWER’s team, Land Services Inc. performed the right-of-way acquisition for the project.

HPD Activity Log Aug. 22

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The Hays Police Department responded to 4 animal calls and conducted 18 traffic stops Wed., Aug. 22, 2018, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–2900 block Vine St, Hays; 12 AM; 12:03 AM
Water Use Violation–2200 block Main St, Hays; 12:43 AM
Prowler–100 block W 4th St, Hays; 6:32 AM
Mental Health Call–1400 block E 29th St, Hays; 6:36 AM
Suspicious Person–3300 block Skyline Dr, Hays; 7:12 AM
Burglary/vehicle–600 block E 15th St, Hays; 8/21 6:30 PM; 8/22 7:15 AM
Domestic Disturbance–1700 block Volga Dr, Hays; 8:27 AM
Animal At Large–2300 block E 13th St, Hays; 8:29 AM
Lost Animals ONLY–100 block Ash St, Hays; 11:29 AM
Civil Dispute–2200 block Marjorie Dr, Hays; 12:34 PM
Domestic Disturbance–1600 block E 27th St, Hays; 1:03 PM
Theft (general)–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 2:53 PM; 2:59 PM
MV Accident-Private Property–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 3:43 PM; 3:45 PM
Drug Offenses–2800 block Canal Blvd, Hays; 5:26 PM; 7 PM
Found/Lost Property–200 block W 6th St, Hays; 5:32 PM
Custody Dispute–2500 block Sherman Ave, Hays; 5:30 PM
Drug Offenses–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 5:49 PM
Disturbance – Noise–400 block W 7th St, Hays; 10:30 PM; 11 PM

USGS: 2nd earthquake this week reported near Plainville

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ROOKS COUNTY —A second earthquake in two days shook northwest Kansas Thursday.

Location of Thursday’s quake -image courtesy Kansas Geological Survey

The quake at 9:42a .m. measured a magnitude 2.6 and was centered three miles south of Laton in Rooks County, according to the Kansas Geological Survey or approximately 15 miles northeast of Plainville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

On Wednesday the USGS reported a 3.7 magnitude quake in approximately the same area.

There were no reports of damage or injury, according to the Rooks County Sheriff’s Department.

Police: Search continues for Kan. man in drug investigation

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SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on numerous drug charges, have made an arrest and asking the public for help to find a second suspect.

Moten -photo Shawnee Co.

Just after 11a.m. Wednesday, Narcotics Unit officers served search warrants on two separate houses in the 1100 block of SW Clay in Topeka relating to narcotics distribution, according to Lt. Robert Simmons. Items seized from the residences include methamphetamine, crack cocaine, marijuana, PCP and cash.

Police took Lawrence L. Carter, 42, into custody in reference this investigation.

Several charges are being sent to the District Attorney’s office for a second suspect involved. Jerahn Mandell Moten, 35, who was not there at the time the warrants were served. Police are actively looking for Moten as part of the investigation.

Moten has previous convictions for aggravated battery, violation of the offender registration, aggravated assault and drugs.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police

Loretta Mae Sandmeyer

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Loretta Mae Sandmeyer, 87, passed away peacefully at her home on Monday, August 20, 2018.

Arrangements are under the care of Dighton-Marler Funeral Home of Stillwater. There are no services at this time.

Loretta was born on June 23, 1931 in Hays, Kansas, to John and Mary (Colahan) Jacobs. She grew up in Hays, Kansas, and graduated from the Girls Catholic High School in 1949. She married the love of her life, Robert Sandmeyer, on August 5, 1950, in at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in San Francisco, California.

She is preceded in death by her parents, John and Mary Jacobs.

She is survived by her husband, Robert Sandmeyer of the home, children, Karen Hunter, Bridgit Wall, Barbara Sandmeyer and Bobby Sandmeyer. She is also survived by one brother, John Jacobs, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions can be made in her name to Judith Karman Legacy Hospice c/o Dighton Marler Funeral Home, 5106 N. Washington St., Stillwater, Oklahoma 74075.

Condolences may be sent to the family via an online guestbook at www.dightonmarler.com.

Man awaiting trial for murder of former Hays woman dies in custody

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Williams, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — An inmate awaiting trial in an Arapahoe County cold case homicide has died, according to authorities.

Robert Williams, 70, was suffering from a chronic illness when he was arrested in 2017, according to a news release from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. He was receiving end-of-life care in the week before he died late Saturday, Aug. 18.

Bartee, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office

Williams was arrested on Aug. 17, 2017, on suspicion of killing Rebecca Bartee. Bartee, a deputy district attorney, was found dead in her apartment on June 7, 1999. Williams and Bartee lived in the same apartment building at the time, and Williams still resided there when he was arrested.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is not seeking any other suspects and Rebecca Bartee’s homicide case has now been closed.

Bartee, who was 41 at the time of her death, was formerly of Hays and worked as a prosecutor in Hays.

RELATED: Arrest made in cold-case 1999 killing of former Hays woman

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