TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ new Democratic governor-elect said Thursday that she will look to block enforcement of a new adoption law that she and LGBT-rights activists consider discriminatory, a sharp break with the state’s two previous conservative Republican governors.
Laura Kelly during Thursday’s press conference – courtesy Governor-elect Kelly
Gov.-elect Laura Kelly said she will have her staff review how far the state can go to avoid enforcing the law. It was designed to provide legal protections to adoption agencies that cite faith-based reasons for refusing to place children in homes that violate their religious beliefs.
The debate over the law centered on agencies that won’t place children in LGBT foster homes. The agencies handle those adoptions of abused and neglected children for the state Department for Children and Families. Supporters saw it as a religious liberties measure.
Kelly, a veteran state senator from Topeka, voted against what she called “the adoption discrimination” measure when the Republican-controlled Legislature approved it in May. In the governor’s race, she defeated conservative Republican Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, and was endorsed by Equality Kansas, the state’s most influential LGBT-rights group.
“If there is way to direct the agency to not implement that, then I will do that,” Kelly said during a Statehouse news conference, her first since winning the election.
Chuck Weber, the Catholic Conference’s executive director, said supporters of the law will fight to see that it’s fully enforced.
“This is not a surprise, that Gov.-elect Kelly would try to circumvent the will of the people of Kansas to advance her own radical agenda,” said Weber, a former Kansas House member.
The law says the state can’t force an adoption agency to make placements in homes that violate its religious beliefs. An adoption agency cannot be denied a license or state reimbursement for a placement, or blocked from participating in DCF programs, solely because of its beliefs.
Tom Witt, Equality Kansas’ executive director, said the law so clearly allows adoption agencies to engage in discrimination while receiving tax dollars that the state shouldn’t enforce it.
“There are a number of unconstitutional laws on the books that aren’t being enforced,” Witt said. “The (state’s same-sex) marriage ban comes to mind.”
But Weber said: “We were very careful in drafting that bill, in dotting i’s and crossing t’s and making sure that this would pass constitutional muster.”
Departing Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer signed the measure, and his DCF secretary backed it as a way to encourage more groups to do adoptions.
Colyer took office in January when GOP Gov. Sam Brownback resigned to become U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom. In 2015, Brownback rescinded a previous executive order from Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius barring anti-LGBT bias in state hiring and employment decisions, saying such a policy should be set by the Legislature.
Kelly told reporters Thursday that she will have a new order reinstating such protections drafted before she takes office so that it can be issued as quickly as possible.
The Casper J Middlekauff American Legion Auxiliary Unit 173, Hays, will host the Poppy Patch Craft & Gift Fair on Saturday, Nov. 10, at the National Guard Armory, 200 Main. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will feature 17 different artisans, a bake sale, concessions with green bean and dumpling soup and sloppy joes.
The American Legion Auxiliary is the world’s largest women’s patriotic service organization. Its purpose is to provide support to active military servicemen, their families, veterans and the communities that support them. The proceeds from this event will go to projects such as: Scholarships, Girls State, Action Alerts asking for home comforts that are sent overseas, the Fort Dodge Old Soldiers Home Christmas Shop, and art programs at veteran centers across Kansas. The group also supports area programs such as: The Community Assistance Center and Ellis County Salvation Army.
Matt Friess, Electrical instructor with NCK Tech’s Beloit campus has been selected to receive the 2018 Kansas Council for Workforce Education Outstanding New Teacher Award. The award is designed to recognize a faculty member who has less than five years’ teaching experience and demonstrates outstanding teaching ability in the areas of career and technical education.
Friess has transformed his teaching style from lecture based to technology based. His commitment to embrace the use of technology to engage students both in the classroom and lab have provided students with an enriched learning experience. He has also converted nearly 100% of his courses to a digital platform.
“Matt learned from his first year experience and began a journey of digital curriculum transformation during his second year,” said Corey Isbell, Dean of Instruction at NCK Tech. “Now, in his third year, he is seeing the fruits of his labor and his student are getting a much more enriched experience.”
The presentation of this award took place at the KCWE Fall Conference in El Dorado. For more information on NCK Tech, visit www.ncktc.edu.
CornelsenFormer Hays High School football coach Ryan Cornelsen has led Gardner-Edgerton — a team that was without a win in 2017 — to an unblemished season.
Cornelsen’s team will face 2017 state champ Blue Valley North on Friday.
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
“Our fitness center – is getting nearer – use it often – you’ll love your mirror.” That’s a message on a series of roadside signs in sequence – Burma Shave style – that one sees on the way to the fitness center in Netawaka, Kansas. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.
Roy and Bobbi Reiman are major donors who helped build this wonderful family fitness center in Netawaka. Bobbi is from Netawaka and graduated from high school there. In fact, she was valedictorian – of a class of 9. Her parents ran the Snappy Inn Café in Netawaka.
Bobbi went to work in Topeka. She became executive secretary to the editor of Capper’s Farmer newspaper. There she met a young man named Roy Reiman. Roy had grown up on a farm in Iowa and graduated from Iowa State before taking the job in Topeka. The two married and began a long life and career together.
Roy’s career took them to Milwaukee. He worked in a business which produced magazines for various companies. One day he came home and announced he was quitting his job to do freelance work. “We had four kids and were expecting a fifth,” Roy said. “My wife was very brave and supportive.” He put a typewriter on a TV tray in the basement and started working.
Roy went to an ag editor’s meeting in Chicago where it was announced that a 1.3 million-circulation farm magazine was dropping its women’s section. “I thought to myself, `That’s more than a million jilted farm women,’” he said.
He set out to create a magazine targeted to the interests of those farm women. What’s more, he had the radical idea of supporting the magazine entirely through subscriptions, with no advertising. The magazine was called Farm Wife News, and it was an immediate success. Eventually it was renamed Country Woman.
That was the beginning of a whole series of Reiman Publications magazines such as Farm and Ranch Living, Country magazine, and Reminisce. At one point, Reiman Publications had 14 national magazines, 16.3 million subscribers, and 640 employees. “Every eighth home in America got one of our magazines,” Roy said.
The Reimans sold the business in 2000 and established a foundation. When Bobbi heard about the plans for a fitness center in her hometown of Netawaka, they became major donors. “We’ve always believed in giving back,” Bobbi said. “We hope this center can help revitalize the whole area.”
There had been interest in a health clinic in the area. With the increased emphasis on wellness, the plans evolved into a fitness center which could serve the entire region.
In September 2013, the Netawaka Fitness Center opened its doors. This beautiful 30,000-square-foot facility includes a fully-equipped weight room, cardio and fitness equipment, a full-size basketball court, an indoor sports training turf room, aerobics, dance, health and wellness classes, event space, childcare facilities, and an 8,000-square-foot heated swimming pool with wheelchair access. The event space and concessions area is named Snappy Inn Café after Bobbi’s family restaurant, complete with historic photos of the community. A physical and respiratory therapy service is based in the facility as well.
“We’ve had some really gratifying experiences,” Bobbi said. They were told about a wheelchair-bound woman who said, after therapy in the pool, “It’s the first time I’ve been out of pain in two years.”
Today the Netawaka Family & Fitness Center has 700 members and is seeking more. The facility has become a community gathering place, especially popular with retirees from the surrounding area who use the indoor walking track and like the opportunity it provides to make new friends.
Burma Shave-style signs with humorous messages are posted around the community to promote the center. The center is a huge asset for the rural town of Netawaka, population 143 people. Now, that’s rural.
We commend Roy and Bobbi Reiman and the board and staff of Netawaka Family & Fitness Center for making a difference by building health and fitness in this way. As the signs said: “If getting fit – is what you oughta – then bring your bod – to Netawaka.”
PRATT – The 20th Annual Kansas ECO-Meet State Finals competition was held at the Rock Springs 4-H Center, near Junction City, on Thursday, November 1, 2018. More than $2,500 in scholarship money was awarded to top competitors, who competed in quiz bowl-type games that require knowledge of Kansas plants and animals. The state 2018 meet included four events: a test on Kansas woodland ecosystems; a test on reptiles and amphibians (herpetology); a scavenger hunt, where student teams looked for plants found in the area and prove their identification skills; and an interpretive event – where teams put together informative, yet entertaining, skits to relay their knowledge of animal/plant species to a team of judges and their peers.
Nine regional qualifying competitions – attracting more than 500 students – were held in late September through October to qualify 25 teams for the state finals.
Nineteen schools sent teams consisting of 93 students, and seven individual qualifiers competed at the state event. High schools represented included: Blue Valley North, Crest of Colony, Dodge City, Eisenhower of Goddard, Goddard, Goodland, Inman, Macksville, Manhattan, Palco, Pike Valley, Pratt, Riley County, Salina Central, Salina South, Shawnee Mission South, St. John’s of Beloit, St. Mary’s-Colgan of Pittsburg, Smoky Valley of Lindsborg, Tescott, Tonganoxie, and Wilson. Wilbur Middle School of Wichita also competed.
The competition proved to be an exciting, hard-fought contest, with the following results:
Overall Team:
1st – Shawnee Mission South, Team A with members August Chowning, Claire Elscott, Harper Peck, Cheyenne Town and coach PJ Born. Each student received a $300 scholarship.
2nd – Tonganoxie with members Laura Heskett, Sofia Romero, Jasmine Sejnoha, and coach John Tollefson. Each student received a $200 scholarship.
3rd – Shawnee Mission South, Team B with members Mason Fitzmaurice, Alexis Hoover, Carley Leal and coach PJ Born. Each student received a $100 scholarship.
Individual Events:
Herpetology
1st – Jaclyn Perry, Blue Valley North, received a $200 scholarship.
2nd – Gavin Jones, Salina South, received a $100 scholarship.
Woodland Ecosystems
1st – August Chowning, Shawnee Mission South, received a $200 scholarship.
2nd – Christopher Kywe, Blue Valley North, received a $100 scholarship.
The competition and scholarships are only possible with the support of sponsors, which include Kansas Wildscape Foundation, Barton Community College, Chickadee Checkoff program, Friends of Cheyenne Bottoms, Friends of Milford Nature Center, Friends of Great Plains Nature Center, Geary County CVB, Kansas Herpetological Society, Kansas Ornithological Society, Kansas Native Plant Society, Lakewood Discovery Center and City of Salina, Goodwin Sporting Goods, Manweiler Chevrolet, Mid-America Awards, Kansas Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Riley County Conservation District, and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) Education Section staff in Pratt.
Assistance in putting on the state finals competition came from K-State Extension, Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education, Great Plains Nature Center, Dillon Nature Center, Lakewood Discovery Center, Kansas Wetlands Education Center, Southeast Kansas Nature Center, Milford Nature Center, NRCS and Riley County Conservation District, Russell County Conservation District, Wilson State Park, and KDWPT Education Section staff in Pratt. Many other private citizens also volunteered their time, helping make this event a huge success.
For questions, to view all regional and state competition results, and to find out how your school can get involved, visit www.kansasecomeet.org or contact Mike Rader at [email protected] or (620) 672-0708.
“Shark Tank” star and FUBU founder Daymond John speaks at Fort Hays State University Wednesday night.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Daymond John, the creator of FUBU and star of ABC’s “Shark Tank” told a packed crowd at Fort Hays State University on Wednesday the story of how he rose from a waiter at Red Lobster to the CEO of a $6 billion company.
In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed John a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, a position focused on promoting the power and importance of entrepreneurship on a global scale. “Shark Tank” has won four Emmy Awards. John is also the author of the books, “The Power of Broke” and “Rise and Grind.”
John, 49, grew up in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens. His parents divorced when he was 10. He was raised by his mother who worked three jobs to put food on the table. At times, the family did not have electricity or gas, because they had no money to pay the bills.
“I didn’t want to see my mother work that hard,” he said. “Who would want to see their mother work that hard?”
John started working before he finished high school to help support his family. His first job was standing outside handing out flyers for the local mall for $2.25 an hour.
As he put his money into the family cookie jar for bills, his mother told him, “Responsibility is something that is taken, it is not given. You know that, and you will be successful.”
As John was growing up in Queens, there were two kinds of people who he saw driving fancy cars, drug dealers and the new hip hop artists.
Hip hop gave a voice to his generation. They would pull the power cords out of the street lights to play music and maybe 100 kids would dance in the streets until 3 a.m.
In 1986, John attended a hip hop concert in Philadelphia with a crowd of 18,000 people. The kids at that concert where wearing a uniform — the same Adidas or Reebok shoes as the rappers. This was a time before cellphones and the Internet.
“I was thinking, ‘Who sent the memo?’ ” he said.
“Every single one of us has a time where we come to a decision in our lives,” John said. “Mine came to me in 1 second, and I went from black-and-white to Technicolor.”
Set goals
He started to set goals, which he says is the first in his key SHARK points to success. He wanted to find a way to make money off of hip hop. He wanted to meet Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali and attend a Prince concert.
He knew he wanted to be a part of the hip hop culture, but he had no musical talent. He was also working as a waiter at Red Lobster to make ends meet. He thought, “There has to be a better way.”
FUBU started humbly in 1989 when John’s mother taught him how to sew so he could make wool ski hats similar to one he had seen a local rapper wear. He sold the hats for $10 each, making $800 in an hour.
Unfortunately, he was so excited as he drove home that he rear-ended another car. He had to pay all his newly won earnings to fix the other person’s car.
His mother urged him to take stock of his personal assets. John, who never attended college and was dyslexic, started to bring in friends to build his business who had skills he did not.
Spokesperson
He and his friends created screen-printed T-shirts and sold them in local stores on consignment.
He went to 300 local stores in New York and New Jersey and offered to paint their front metal security gates with the FUBU logo and words “authorized dealer.” Not all of these stores were clothing stores. It could be a Chinese food restaurant, but the signs gained him premium ad space that was visible during the morning and evening rush hours. Some of these painted gates are still visible today. He estimates that spray paint campaign earned him $3 million in free advertising.
He then took 10 FUBU shirts and convinced local rap stars to wear them in videos. He didn’t have the inventory to give the shirts to the rappers, so after they were used in the videos, he took the shirts back and gave them to other rappers to wear. He later concluded he had received $15 million in free advertising by doing that.
Finally he enlisted the help of Queens rapper LL Cool J to serve as a spokesperson for the product. LL Cool J had just been picked up to star in the show “In the House.”
He was fielding contract requests from big-name clothing companies to endorse their products, so he was initially reluctant to allow young John and his friends to use him in any advertising. He finally relented and allowed John to take a single photo of him wearing a FUBU shirt.
Homework
After doing some research, he determined all of the big clothing retailers gathered annually in Las Vegas for the MAGIC trade show. They couldn’t afford a booth at the show, nor could they get tickets to get into the show. They set up their clothing in a hotel room and snuck into the trade show armed with flyers of LL Cool J wearing the FUBU shirt.
They came home from the show with $300,000 in orders, but had no way to produce that much inventory. John sought capital, but was turned down by 27 banks.
His mother agreed to mortgage their home for $100,000, and John turned their house into a manufacturing hub for FUBU.
But the money ran out before the stores paid off their orders. The family was in danger of losing the house. He scrapped up $2,000 from working shifts at Red Lobster, and his mother used that money to put an ad in the New York Times looking for capital.
Based on the ad, Samsung Textiles reached out and offered the cash needed to keep FUBU going.
Samsung wanted the brand to make $5 million in three years in order for FUBU to pay back their investment. John’s company took off and did $30 million in three months.
Amor
Things started to happen for John. His dreams were coming true. He met Michael Jackson. He had the opportunity to work with Muhammad Ali. He played air guitar on stage with Prince.
However, he was losing touch with things that were important to him — his wife and his two young daughters.
His wife was from the neighborhood just like John, and she could not relate to her new rich neighbors. She also felt separated from her friends back in Queens. John was spending a lot of time away from home and even out of the country.
She finally left and took the girls with her. John realized he needed to find a balance between work and home.
Remember you are the brand
In 2009, Mark Burnett came calling for John to be a part of “Shark Tank.” He told Burnett he had to honor an obligation to appear on the Kardashians. Burnett would not allow this, so John initially turned him down. He said he had to keep his prior obligation. The Kardashians canceled his appearance, so that freed him up to do “Shark Tank.”
On “Shark Tank,” he said he invests in people, not products. He reminded young people in the crowd to be careful of what they post on social media. He said he has rejected applications from otherwise qualified candidates for jobs at his company based on their posts on social media.
Keep swimming
Before closing his speech, John related his story of battling cancer. He had a tumor removed from his thyroid in 2017.
He encouraged the audience to love and really embrace life. He said the last thing he thought of before he went under anesthesia was his youngest daughter.
“I really felt like I was put on the planet for her,” he said.
He urged others to stay on top of their health screenings. His cancer was caught early, and he is cancer free today.
MCPHERSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities and officials with USD 418 are investigating a reported school threat.
A student discovered the threatening message written on a wall at McPherson High School, according to a media release from police. The threat is unsubstantiated but has prompted an increase in law enforcement presence at the school.
There was an increased law enforcement presence at the school Thursday and there will also be an increased police presence on Friday to provide additional security and peace of mind, according to the release.
Due to the nature of the investigation, police released no additional details.
Anyone with information on the reported threat is encouraged to contact McPherson Police.
Today Sunny, with a high near 31. Blustery, with a west wind 7 to 12 mph becoming north 16 to 21 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph.
Tonight Clear, with a low around 17. Northeast wind 5 to 11 mph becoming south southeast after midnight.
Saturday Sunny, with a high near 49. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 20 mph.
Saturday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. South southeast wind 5 to 9 mph becoming north in the evening.
Veterans DayA 30 percent chance of rain after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 40. North wind 8 to 11 mph.
Sunday Night A chance of rain and snow before 8pm, then a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge in Montana has blocked construction of the $8 billion Keystone XL Pipeline to allow more time to study the project’s potential environmental impact.
The Great Falls Tribune reports U.S. District Judge Brian Morris’ order on Thursday came as Calgary-based TransCanada was preparing to build the first stages of the oil pipeline in northern Montana. Environmental groups had sued TransCanada and The U.S. Department of State in federal court in Great Falls.
Morris says the government’s analysis didn’t fully study the cumulative effects of greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of current oil prices on the pipeline’s viability or include updated modeling of potential oil spills.
The 1,184-mile pipeline would transport up to 830,000 barrels of crude a day from Alberta, Canada and Montana to facilities in Nebraska.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas father whose toddler was fatally shot by another toddler has been sentenced to probation for leaving a loaded semi-automatic handgun within the children’s reach.
33-year-old Chance Smith, of Lawrence, is barred from having guns while on probation under the sentence ordered Wednesday. He pleaded no contest in September to two counts of aggravated child endangerment. Prosecutors dropped an involuntary manslaughter charge as part of the plea.
Smith’s daughter, Autumn Grace Smith, was a week away from her second birthday when she was shot in September 2017. Smith told police that he was outside for five or 10 minutes and didn’t hear a gunshot. When he returned, he found a 2-year-old boy crying and Autumn upstairs, shot. Gunpowder was found on the boy’s hands.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been ordered to stand trial in a deadly Topeka shooting.
Foster -photo Shawnee County
33-year-old Tony Lee Foster was bound over for trial during a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the death of 35-year-old David William Payne.
Officers responded in July to a report of a shooting at a home in the northern part of the city. Payne was rushed to a hospital, where he later died.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University Police Department has concluded its investigation into a note using a racial slur posted on a door in the Jardine Apartment Complex.
Jardine Apartments photo courtesy K-State
On Monday, K-State Police received a report of the note, according to a media release.
Upon questioning, the person who reported the incident admitted to creating and posting the note to their own door.
The matter will be addressed in accordance with applicable disciplinary procedures.
