The Hays Fire Department will be inspecting and flow testing fire hydrants on Monday, April 15, 2019 in the area of Hall St. to Fort St. between 27th St. and 16th St. and also from Main St. to Vine St. between 21st St. and 12th St.
This is part of a coordinated effort by the city of Hays to inspect all fire hydrants in the city and flush all water mains annually.
Inspecting fire hydrants ensures that the valves operate properly and that there is no damage or obstructions that will prevent or interfere with the prompt use of fire hydrants in an emergency. Firefighters are also checking the pressure and volume of water mains in each neighborhood for firefighting purposes.
A news release distributed Friday contained incorrect information on student admission for the Fort Hays State University Rodeo the weekend of April 19 and April 20.
Admission this year is $5 for Fort Hays State students with Tiger ID, which is a change from past practice.
Public performances begin at 7 p.m. both Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20. The Cowboy Church service, ordinarily held on Sunday morning of the rodeo weekend, is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday this year to accommodate Easter celebrations.
Events for the nearly 500 competitors from 22 schools in the Central Plains Region are: bareback bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, cowgirls barrel racing, cowgirls breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping and tie-down roping.
Tickets can be purchased at the Student Service Center in FHSU’s Memorial Union; Orscheln Farm & Home, 2900 Broadway Ave.; and Vanderbilt’s, 2704 Vine. Advance ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for children. Prices at the gate will be $12 (adults) and $8 (children).
Join Eagle Radio of Hays for a trip to Branson, MO, during a beautiful time to visit the Ozarks and see some of the best shows Branson has to offer. All times listed are start times of the show.
Monday, September 9th, 2019
5:30 AM Leave Hays
Casino Stop for couple hours and lunch
6PM Dinner at Lambert’s—(If you go away hungry that’s your own fault 😊)
Arrive in Branson-Check into hotel.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
10:00 AM Clay Cooper’s Country Music Show
Lunch on your own at Branson Landing
03:30 PM Curling Vine Winery Tour
05:30 PM Montana Mikes 76 Plated Dinner
07:30 PM Haygoods Show at Clay Cooper Theater
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
9:00 AM Shopping at Tanger Outlet Mall (optional for you to go)
12:00 PM Showboat Branson Belle Lunch, Show & Cruise
03:30 PM Samson at Sight & Sound Theater
06:30 PM Paradise Grill Buffet Dinner
08:00 PM Amazing Acrobats of Shanghai at Grand Shanghai Theater
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Leave Branson and travel home with stops at Osceola Cheese & Russell Stover’s enroute. Arrive back in Hays approximately 7pm.
We will be staying at the beautiful Grand Plaza Hotel in Branson, MO. It is a wonder hotel with great amenities such as a full hot breakfast daily served from 6:30 AM to 9:30 AM, elevators, indoor corridors, pool, hot tub, sun deck, game room, fitness center, Plaza View Restaurant and Lounge.
All noted times are when the shows starts we are usually asked to be at the venue approximately an hour before the show starts.
This trip includes 3 nights lodging, baggage handling, roundtrip bus transportation, breakfast, 7 meals, 5 shows, 1 wine tour, all taxes, bus driver tip, and gratuities on the above items. Lunch on the way down to Branson and back home will be on you own. Single $889, Double $798, Triple $725, and $699 Quad Occupancy.
Thirteen-year-old Cael Austin and his dad Jason were hunting northwest of McPherson on the opening evening of Kansas youth turkey season, and had set up along one of several wheat fields, calling every few minutes hoping to attract the attention of roaming gobblers.
After a time, they moved, sat awhile and called some more, repeating that strategy twice more before finally hearing and spotting a small group of turkeys in a field of wheat and corn stalks. Slinking slowly through the trees surrounding the field, they eased into position, but the turkeys disappeared ahead of them and a dozen-and-a-half deer flooded onto the field instead (now where were they during deer season?) They called again, trying to convince the gobblers that some lonely little hen required their attention, and sure enough, as the deer spooked and ran for the trees, out came the small group of turkeys they had spotted before, consisting of a few hens and 2 strutting toms.
The hunters had a Scoot-N-Shoot turkey decoy, a very lifelike looking decoy that holds a real turkey fan for a tail and has wings that fold open, allowing a hunter to hold the decoy in front of them and actually move toward a group of turkeys. On hands and knees with the decoy in front of him, Cael inched across the stalks toward the 2 strutting toms, figuring they would be nervous about the new “intruder.”
Things changed in an instant though as both gobblers headed for Cael and the decoy on a dead run like a pair of linebackers rushing the quarterback. As he attempted to pull himself into a shooting position, the sling on his shotgun caught on his boot. So there he was, crouched behind the decoy with 2 angry gobblers bearing down on the decoy, probably intent on giving it a good thrashing, and unable to get his shotgun into shooting position. A final tug loosed the sling from his boot and he swung the shotgun into position to stop the biggest tom at about 5 yards as his buddy raced for cover.
Cael had 2 tags, so a week later, they were out again, this time northeast of McPherson. They parked on a mud road and after carefully navigating through a ravine filled with junk washers, dryers and rusting old car hulks, they again situated themselves along a cornstalk field. After a couple hours of calling and moving, the 2 hunters ended up behind a stack of irrigation pipe. While his dad sat there and called, Cael set out by himself and after another long walk, happened upon a lone gobbler munching on a pile of deer corn below him in a ravine along the river.
He tried placing the decoy on the ridge to get the gobblers attention so he could slip around beside him, a trick his brother Jared had shown him, but the wise old bird busted him and headed for a nearby stand of cottonwood trees. He watched the turkey disappear among the trees, and noticed a couple smaller saplings that had bent and grown across each other, forming a “cross” shape a couple feet above the ground. As he pondered the odd tree formation, the bright red head of the tom turkey that had just run from him suddenly appeared in the upper notch formed by the trees, much like a shooting game on the state fair midway.
Figuring it was now-or-never, he shot the turkey through the notch in the trees and again won his prize. As a side note to this adventure, when they got home they noticed the gobblers beard, a turkey hunters trophy as revered as a buck deer’s antlers was missing completely. The next day Cael’s dad and a friend searched over their lunch hour and found the missing 10 inch long beard at a place they had stopped for a rest on their way back to the truck. Evidently Cael had stood on it when hoisting the bird over his shoulder and unknowingly pulled the beard clean off the turkey. A successful father – son hunting trip, great adventures and fresh roasted wild turkey breast; what better ways to Explore Kansas Outdoors!
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
JOHNSON COUNTY — A 14-year-old Kansas girl injure after she was hit by a vehicle while walking home from school Friday near 123rd and Switzer in Overland Park has died.
Alexandra “Alex” Rumple was walking home when a vehicle traveling northbound on Switzer left the road and hit her on the sidewalk, according to a media release from Overland Park Police. She was transported to a local hospital and died on Sunday, according to the release.
Hundreds gathered Sunday at a vigil to remember Alex as an athletic, art-loving, straight-A student. Students talked about how she wanted everyone to feel included. Her principal encouraged her classmates to wear flannel Monday because it was Alex’s favorite material.
The Blue Valley School District will have counselors available for students this week.
The Overland Park Police Department Traffic Safety Unit continues their investigation of the crash and asks that anyone with information on the incident contact police.
Police haven’t released the driver’s name. It isn’t yet known what caused the car to leave the road.
We grab our phones and tablets and brace ourselves for the hoaxes sure to be lurking behind every tap or click.
We wish every day could be like April Fools’ Day. Why?
Think about it. We awake on April 1, grab our phones and tablets and brace ourselves for the hoaxes sure to be lurking behind every tap or click. Determined not to be duped, we look at every post, email and text with a healthy dose of skepticism. Where is the evidence? What’s the source of this alleged scoop? Is this premise believable? “They won’t fool me into sharing false news,” we think and brag about all the clickbait we outwit.
Then 24 hours later, it’s back to business as usual. We let down our guard. We stop thinking critically about the content we encounter online and in our social media feeds. We indulge in bad habits and don’t ask questions. The media literacy superhero puts away the cape until next year.
It’s no secret that news consumers have developed some bad habits. We gravitate to platforms that only share news we want to hear, share stories after only reading their headlines and get sucked into content that outrages or entertains us.
The blame isn’t entirely consumers’, though. News producers may feed into the appetite for biased content and aggregators use mysterious algorithms that boost questionable content. But given all these imperfections in the media landscape, how do we encourage good daily habits? How do we restore trust in journalism, the unofficial fourth estate working daily on our behalf?
If we can’t make every day April Fools’, then from our vantage point, the answer is media literacy education.
Media literacy education is not new, but the recent intensified interest in building up these essential skills has cast light on some holes in traditional approaches. While media literacy teaches students how to analyze, evaluate and even make their own content, it often fails to instill an understanding of why these skills are so important and why they’re necessary in the first place — every day, not just on April Fools’. Without laying this foundation — the reasons to beware and the reasons to care — it can be too easy for media literacy training to breed hardened cynicism. This type of disillusionment can widen societal divisions and amplify the very echo chamber effect that media literacy should combat.
Because of our First Amendment mission, we’ve always approached media literacy differently. We marry the analytical aspects — such as separating fact from fiction and identifying bias — with active free expression and productive social engagement. For example, consider the need to confront and counter confirmation bias, the tendency to selectively search for and consider information that confirms one’s own beliefs.
Where traditional media literacy might focus on how to find diverse information sources and assess competing claims, we broaden the approach to also look at how confirmation bias can affect the ways we express ideas and engage with pressing issues as individuals and as a society. This marriage of free expression and analytical skill is what we call First Amendment media literacy.
How do we get these vital tools and habits? How do we hone the skills all citizens need to navigate the information universe? In our work, we partner with other educators who have the skills, existing relationships and community trust, helping us deliver content that engages and resonates with everyone from students to seniors.
But educators can’t do it alone. We need the help of news producers, aggregators, technologists and everyone involved in the production and distribution of news and information. In particular, journalists can lead the charge for accurate, fair, clear reporting on issues that are important to consumers. We all can celebrate the successes of the unofficial Fourth Estate, working daily on behalf of consumers and consistently providing reliable places for trustworthy news in all communities.
Technologists can take a more proactive approach to curtailing the spread of disinformation by developing algorithms and mechanisms that prevent this type of content from seeing the light of day.
We can all support each other as we develop the stamina to maintain a healthy skepticism throughout the entire year, not just on April 1 — and that’s no joke.
Contributing to this column were Pierce McManus, NewseumED’s digital communications and outreach director, and Kirsti Kenneth, NewseumED’s curriculum developer. Anna Kassinger, NewseumED’s director of curriculum and Barbara McCormack, NewseumED’s vice president of education, can be reached for media inquiries at [email protected].
WICHITA, Kan. – It’s finally time to say farewell. Demolition of the old Mid-Continent Airport terminal begins Monday.
photo courtesy Wichita, Eisenhower National Airport
Officials say tearing down the structure, which houses the building maintenance division in the basement, is delicate work.
According to a media release, workers are wrapping up the final stages of the interior demolition. This consisted of asbestos mitigation, electrical relocation, mechanical work, and East Data Center relocation. Servers, hardware, conduit, and fiber from the East Data Center are all being transferred from the old terminal building to another secured site on airport property.
The old building consists of two components, the main terminal and the concourse. Demolition of the east and west concourses was completed at the tail end of the new terminal project. Still remaining is the main terminal building, which included ticketing, baggage claim, retail food and beverage, security and rental car counters.
The section with the ticketing wing will remain and will be renovated to house airport operations, store airport vehicles and serve utility functions.
Conco Construction was selected as the general contractor to complete the demolition. Bradburn Wrecking Company was selected to do the demolition along with several sub-contractors.
Bradburn will begin the demo on the southeast end of the structure, using demolition equipment such as a wrecking ball, track hoe, and front-end loaders to knock down and remove the old structures.
This process is expected to take roughly six months.
In mid-to-late August, they will begin back-filling. This process will ultimately fill the hole in the ground that will be left once the structure is gone.
The total cost of the entire project is $8.8 million and is funded with airport revenue.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon wanted on a felony warrant for burglary who escaped a traffic stop.
Just after 3a.m. Sunday, deputies conducted a traffic stop in the 4500 block of SE Oak Bend Drive in Shawnee County, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.
Thompson -photo Shawnee Co.
The driver Tanner James Thompson, 24, was taken into custody for a felony warrant for Burglary as well as traffic related charges.
During the course of deputies investigating Thompson’s vehicle and circumstances of the incident, Thompson escaped custody. An extensive search continued early Sunday afternoon with a heavy law enforcement presence in the SE part of Shawnee County looking for Thompson.
He is described as 6-foot tall, 175 pounds and was last seen wearing a blue shirt and black pants. He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
From 78 degrees on Tuesday to snow on Wednesday? Swings like this aren’t unusual in the central United States, where weather can quickly shift from one extreme to another. That’s especially true in the springtime, when conditions turn into a roller coaster, with balmy spring days followed by abrupt returns to winter.
These wild swings have been on full display this spring, with a record-setting cyclone on March 13-14 and a second system this month bringing very heavy snow and intense winds to a broad area from Colorado to Minnesota. For researchers like me, this region is a fascinating, and sometimes frustrating, place to study weather and climate. It’s no accident that places like Colorado and Oklahoma are among the world’s hubs for atmospheric science.
Across much of the western Plains, it’s not unusual to have significant snowfall occur after spring-like weather. Brian Brettschneider
Where the winds meet the mountains
What generates such “big weather” on the Great Plains? It starts with geography.
As you travel west across the central United States, the Plains gradually slope upward. Then, in central Colorado, the terrain quickly rises into the Rocky Mountains, creating big changes in elevation, along with more subtle ridges and river valleys. This topography sets the stage for our region’s complex weather systems.
Southeastern Colorado and the bordering panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma form a breeding ground for extratropical cyclones – the large, low-pressure systems that routinely move across the country, bringing rain, snow, thunderstorms and strong winds. As troughs of low pressure aloft move from west to east over the Rocky Mountains and then emerge on the other side, the columns of air are “stretched” vertically. This makes them spin at increasing rates, just as figure skaters do when they draw their arms in.
These features interact with the usual south-to-north gradient in temperature that exists east of the mountains – that is, warmer in the south and colder in the north – kicking off a process in which strong cold and warm fronts develop, and a cyclone can rapidly intensify. Along those fronts, widespread precipitation forms, including everything from heavy snow to severe thunderstorms.
National Weather Service forecasters in Norman, Okla., explain the challenges of predicting a winter storm on the southern Plains.
So the day or two before the cyclone develops, temperatures are often well above average, only to quickly plummet as the strong cold front associated with the cyclone blasts through. In other words, the rapid changes in temperature that we see east of the Rockies are not just an interesting aspect of these storms – they are key to their development and intensification.
When these cyclones develop in the fall and spring, they can generate many forms of unusual and hazardous weather, sometimes just a few counties apart. Visitors in eastern Colorado are often surprised to hear warnings for wildfires, tornadoes and a blizzard at the same time. As climatologist Brian Brettschneider has shown, much of the Great Plains region averages well over a foot of snow – after the first day 70-degree day of the year! And Colorado is the only state in the nation where every month of the year is the average wettest month of the year in some part of the state.
This November 2015 forecast shows simultaneous warnings in eastern Colorado for wildfires, tornadoes and a blizzard.
Forecasting challenges
There is much at stake during major storms in the central U.S. This region has a history of deadly flooding, and droughts, wildfires, tornadoes and hailstorms here can cause billions of dollars in losses and damage.
Thanks to dedicated research and increasing computer power, weather forecasts continue to improve steadily. The National Weather Service’s forecasts for this year’s March and April cyclones were spot-on. But forecasting more localized snowstorms and thunderstorms is still very challenging given this region’s complex terrain. This is a subject of continued research.
There also remain important questions about the effects of climate change on the northern and southern Great Plains, thanks to the huge variability in the weather. We have seen a clear warming trend, as in most parts of the nation, but it is hard to pin down how this warming is influencing factors such as droughts, severe weather and snowstorms.
After severe droughts in many areas in 2018, 2019 thus far has been one of the wettest years on record. Is this just a reflection of our naturally highly variable climate, or part of a long-term trend associated with the overall warming of the planet?
Despite these challenges, meteorologists and climatologists are passionate about figuring out how the atmosphere works, making better predictions of its behavior and communicating that information to decision makers and the public. Events like this spring’s major storms remind us that we all need to be weather-ready, year-round.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 37-year-old man whose wife returned a rental vehicle with nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine in the trunk has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.
Milton Tyron McGrude-Missouri sex offender registry
Milton Tyron McGruder was sentenced Thursday for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Employees at Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Columbia found a bag in the vehicle in August 2017. Prosecutors say it contained a Ziploc bag with about 934 grams of meth.
Employees didn’t initially see the bag in the spare tire compartment but searched again when the wife called and said a bag with $700 inside was left in the car. She asked if she could rent the vehicle again but was told it had already been rented.
McGruder was arrested when he returned to the business.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pinch-runner extraordinaire Terrance Gore stole a base and then scored on Hunter Dozier’s single in the ninth inning, lifting the Kansas City Royals over the Cleveland Indians 9-8 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the AL Central favorites.
Ryan O’Hearn led off the ninth with a walk against Brad Hand (0-1) and was replaced by Gore. The speedster swiped second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Roberto Perez. Dozier then singled to left for Kansas City’s first walk-off win of the season.
Gore has 31 stolen bases over six major league seasons, despite just 25 at-bats.
The Indians had not been swept in a road series of at least three games since May 4-6, 2018, at Yankee Stadium.
The Royals roughed up two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, who allowed 11 of his 18 batters to reach base safely. He gave up six runs, six hits and a career-most five walks in just 2 2/3 innings. The five walks doubled Kluber’s season total — he didn’t walk more than three batters in any game in 2018.
Royals starter Jakob Junis gave up five runs and eight hits through 6 1/3 innings.
Lucas Duda, Whit Merrifield and Jorge Soler homered for Kansas City. Duda had two hits and four RBIs.
Leonys Martin hit his second leadoff homer in five days for Cleveland during a three-run first inning. Martin had three hits, and Jake Bauers had two hits, including a tying two-run single to cap a three-run rally in the seventh.
Wily Peralta (1-1) pitched the top of the ninth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: SS Francisco Lindor is likely to join Triple-A Columbus in Louisville. Francona said Cleveland wanted to “give him one more day of back-to-back-to-back. If everything checks out, he might get on a flight this afternoon and go to Louisville.” Lindor has not played this season, due to a right calf strain and a left ankle sprain.
Royals: CF Billy Hamilton was not in the starting lineup, but manager Ned Yost said he “absolutely would be available” to play defense if necessary, but probably not to pinch run. He has a mild MCL sprain and a bone bruise on his left knee suffered when he crashed into the wall Thursday. Hamilton did not play.
ROSTER NEWS
The Indians selected the contract of OF Carlos Gonzalez from Triple-A Columbus. In a corresponding move, RHP Jefry Rodriguez was optioned to Columbus.
Gonzalez hit .348 with a home run and three RBIs in six games at Columbus. The Indians won’t need a fifth starter until April 24, but Francona said Rodriguez definitely earned another look with a solid outing Saturday.
UP NEXT
Indians RHP Trevor Bauer (1-1, 2.29 ERA) will face Seattle’s Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 4.15 ERA) when the Indians open a three-game series.
Royals RHP Heath Fillmyer (0-0, 15.00 ERA) will pitch as the Royals open a three-game series against the White Sox in Chicago. Former Royal Ervin Santana (0-1, 17.18 ERA) will take the mound for the White Sox.
