Abbie Hayes makes a play on the ball at the Black and Gold Scrimmage (Courtesy FHSU Sports Information / Allie Schweizer)
The Fort Hays State volleyball head their annual Black and Gold Scrimmage Tuesday as they prepare for the start of their season. Second year head coach Jessica Wood-Atkins has seven freshman, four sophomores and only one senior on her roster.
The Tigers finished 8-22 a year ago and were only 2-16 in MIAA play and lost their final seven to close out the season.
The Tigers will host Friends in an exhibition Monday before opening their season on September 6th at the Eagle Classic hosted by Chadron State.
They will host their own Tiger Classic September 13-14.
Hundreds of students from Fort Hays State University, Hays Academy of Hair Design and NCK Tech gathered at the FHSU quad Tuesday night for the annual March to Main.
School officials and faculty as well as elected officials joined the students in the annual parade.
The Press catered a free meal, and students were entered to win $3,000 in prizes. During the next two weeks, students can complete activities downtown to win even more prizes.
The event seeks to welcome students to Hays and connect them with businesses in the city’s core. It is sponsored by the Downtown Hays Development Corp., Hays Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the three participating schools.
By GLENN BRUNKOW Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher
There are very few constants in life but the one thing that remained constant for me growing up and into adulthood was the morning show on WIBW with ag programing brought to our house by Kelly Lenz. I grew up eating breakfast while learning about the latest in ag news and notes, not just occasionally but every morning. He was almost like one of the family.
That was why I paused for a moment last week when Kelly announced he was retiring after 41 years on the radio. That was four decades of farm crisis, weather, embargoes, tariffs and a few good times mixed in, all described by the warm, familiar voice coming across the radio on our counter. Mornings meant coffee, eggs and Kelly.
When I was an Extension agriculture agent, one of my best moments came the first time Kelly asked me to be on “Ag Issues.” I felt like I had arrived. The truth of the matter was Kelly was a huge supporter of Extension, and he was always willing to help promote meetings or get timely information out to our producers. I also had the privilege of hosting several meetings with Kelly, and I always felt like my time with him was like being at the feet of a guru.
When I left Extension to farm, I wondered if he would remember who I was. After all, he met so many people over the years and most were far more memorable or important than me. Much to my surprise the first time I saw him after my career change not only did he know me, but he cared about what I had been up to. That never changed over time.
The secret to Kelly’s success was that he was one of us – a farm boy from Iowa – and that was something he never forgot. He knew what it was like to get up way before dawn on a bitter cold morning to milk cows or to sit on a tractor seat in the blistering August heat. He understood pouring your heart and soul into the farm because that is what he did every morning in his studio. I have known few who were as knowledgeable about such a wide array of topics involving agriculture. Farmers and ranchers were his audience and he kept us informed.
It’s going to be hard for me to imagine the airwaves without Kelly. No one outside of a dairy farmer has more richly earned the right to sleep late. Although like most retired dairy farmers, I suspect Kelly will still wake up long before the sun each morning out of habit. My friend I hope you understand just how much you have contributed and improved agriculture in Kansas and, more importantly, how much we appreciated it. I hope you enjoy a long, happy retirement; it is well deserved.
“Insight” is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.
Richard John Proksch, 84, passed away Tuesday August 27, 2019, at Hutchinson Regional Hospital. Richard was born February 21, 1935, in Hoisington, the son of William and Ida (Goscha) Proksch.
He was united in marriage to Pat Schremmer on April 24, 1957, in Hoisington.
Richard was born and raised in Hoisington. Richard and his family moved to Colorado and spent 45 years there, in 2000 they moved back to Hoisington. He was a manager of sanitation for Dawn Food Products. He enjoyed bowling, hunting, and horseshoes.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Pat Proksch; two sons, Brad Proksch and wife Lisa of Hudson, Colorado, and Brent Proksch and wife Anne of Montgomery Texas; a granddaughter, Shannon Proksch of Vermillion South Dakota; two grandsons, Brian Proksch of Montgomery, Texas and Austin Proksch of Hudson, Colorado; a brother Bill Proksch and wife Rita of Thornton, Colorado; and a sister, Sue Hickel of Larned.
He was preceded in death by a son Brian and a sister Virginia Kaiser.
Friends may call 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday with family to receive friends from 6-8 p.m. with Knights of Columbus Rosary will begin 7 p.m., all at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m., Friday, August 30, 2019, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, celebrated by Father Anselm Eke. Burial will follow in St. John Church Cemetery, Hoisington, with military honors.
Memorials may be made to St. John Cemetery Fund or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.
Dr. Chris Jochum, chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Fort Hays State University, was recently appointed to a position on the board of directors for a new organization designed to support and develop clinical practice in teacher preparation.
The National Center for Clinical Practice in Educator Preparation will work jointly with public schools and university teacher preparation programs throughout the United States.
The center was officially launched in June of this year. With the national prominence of the teacher education program at FHSU, Jochum had the opportunity to be a part of an organization that will have an impact on teacher preparation on a local, state and national level.
Jochum’s primary role will be to work with rural clinical practice, including internships and student teaching.
With many rural communities experiencing population decline, schools continue to be the center of the community and there is a high need for educators who are willing to teach and put roots down in rural America.
Growing up, Jochum attended a small school district in rural Nebraska. He said his desire to become a teacher stemmed from the educators and coaches who impacted him while he was growing up.
Jochum hopes to show future educators the “value and benefits” of teaching in these areas to help with the “revitalization and sustainability of rural communities.”
“I think this is a unique trait among our rural communities and schools,” said Jochum. “Teachers are truly an integrated part of the students’ lives, both inside and outside of the classroom.”
With educators in rural communities being so involved, it can mean they are held to higher standards in the classroom and the community at large.
Ensuring a quality student teaching or observation experience is key to keeping young educators in rural Kansas, he said.
“My goal is to strengthen and enhance clinical practice partnerships with rural schools so that we are not only serving these schools and communities but, hopefully, sending them students who will stay there and teach,” said Jochum.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and asking the public for help to locate a suspect.
Donald Jackson, Jr. photo Topeka Police
Just after 11:00 p.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to the 2500 Block of SW Clay in Topeka after report of a shooting, according to Lt. Aaron Jones.
Upon arrival, officers located a woman who was suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the leg. AMR transported her to a local hospital for treatment.
Information gathered has led investigators to issue an attempt to locate for Donald Jackson Jr, 44 of Topeka. He was last seen leaving the area in a small, red, two door vehicle, according to Jones.
Police advised the public not approach Jackson and notify law enforcement if you see him.
Jackson has numerous convictions that include arson, criminal threat, obstruction and for drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was released from prison August 15.
JEFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — After a year of devasting flooding, several Midwestern states are joining together to try to identify bottlenecks along the Missouri River that can cause waters to back up and worsen flooding in certain areas.
Flood Recovery Advisory group met Tuesday photo courtesy Missouri Dpt. of Agriculture
Officials in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska teamed up to submit a draft study proposal Tuesday to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages dams and helps design many of the major levees in the Missouri River basin, said Dru Buntin, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The analysis, which could take up to six months to complete, would identify constriction points such as levees, roads or bridge embankments that can increase the river’s chances of flooding. Federal, state and local officials then could come up with alternatives as part of a regional approach to reducing the damage from future floods, Buntin said.
“We’re not going to go back to the years in the past, where all of the sudden once the flood’s over we go back to the same practices, the same ways that we have always done things,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said. “It’s time to make changes.”
The plan was announced at the first meeting of a Missouri flood recovery task force. Other states and cities also are rethinking the way they rebuild from floods, which some experts contend are becoming more likely due to climate change. Some officials from Midwestern states also have blamed the Corps’ river management practices for contributing to the floods.
The Missouri meeting was attended by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders from district offices in Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha, Nebraska, and Rock Island, Illinois.
Col. John Hudson, commander of the Corp’s Omaha District, cautioned that fixing pinch points along the river is not a long-term solution because new problem spots could emerge elsewhere. The bigger challenge, he said, is the overall care and capacity of the Missouri River system, which includes six major dams in South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana.
The Corps has estimated that it could cost more than $1 billion to repair levees damaged by this year’s flooding in the Missouri River basin. Flooding and severe storms have caused an estimated $1.2 billion of additional damage to public infrastructure in about two dozen states, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Those figures don’t include damage to homes, businesses and farms. In Missouri alone, an estimated 1.2 million acres (0.49 million hectares) of farmland were flooded and more than $100 million of crop insurance already has been paid to more than 12,000 claimants, federal and state officials said Tuesday.
Officials hoping to fix flood bottlenecks pointed to Iowa Highway 2 as one example. The four-lane road was flooded and washed out along its approach to a Missouri River bridge that connects with Nebraska. Highway engineers say part of the problem rests with a levee that juts closer to the river at that point, creating a narrow passageway for raging floodwaters.
The Iowa Department of Transportation has approved a $34 million project to re-align the levee and build a pair of 1,000-foot-long (305-meter-long) bridges before the road reaches the main Missouri River bridge. By widening the path for flood waters, studies indicate the upstream water level could drop by as much as 1 foot during a major flood, said Charlie Purcell, director of the project delivery division at the Iowa Department of Transportation.
“It basically reduces the amount of water that kind of piles up upstream of the bridge location,” Purcell said. “It will lessen the likelihood of levee overtopping.”
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Kansas felon is in more trouble after his alleged involvement in a case of domestic violence.
Pina photo KDOC
Arthur Pina Jr., 31, Hutchinson, is charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated domestic battery, possession of methamphetamine and felony interference.
Police were called to a Hutchinson home on the report of a disturbance and tried to make contact with Pina. He refused to open the door, so officers had to break a window to gain entry. Once inside, they found Pina on top of the victim. He refused to follow their commands and was eventually placed into custody.
According to the criminal complaint, he may have choked the victim and at some point as he held her down.
He has ten previous convictions that include intent or reckless cause/permit a child less than 18 to be injured/endangered, criminal restraint, domestic battery and for drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. He had been out of prison since April 2018.
With the criminal charges filed, Pina is expected back in court next month.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on a subpoena seeking an Iowa journalist’s notes from a book on a lottery scandal (all times local):
Tipton – Iowa Dept. of Corrections
Lawyers are withdrawing a subpoena that sought the interview notes of an Iowa journalist who wrote a book about a lottery insider who rigged jackpots in several states.
Perry Beeman received the subpoena last week from lawyers for Larry Dawson, an Iowa jackpot winner who contends that the rigging reduced his prize by millions of dollars.
Beeman co-wrote a recent book, “The $80 billion Gamble,” with former Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich. It tells the story of how now-imprisoned lottery security contractor Eddie Tipton altered number-picking programs on computers to win jackpots in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The subpoena ordered Beeman to turn over his correspondence with Rich since January 2018, including notes related to four interviews conducted last year.
But on Tuesday, hours after The Associated Press published a story about the request, Dawson’s legal team decided to withdraw the subpoena after speaking with Beeman.
Beeman says he’s happy with that decision.
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10:40 a.m.
An Iowa journalist who wrote a book about the lottery insider who rigged jackpots in several states has been subpoenaed to turn over notes related to his reporting.
Perry Beeman received the subpoena last week from lawyers for Larry Dawson, an Iowa jackpot winner who contends that the rigging reduced his prize by millions of dollars.
Beeman co-wrote the recent book “The $80 billion Gamble” with former Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich. It tells the story of how now-imprisoned lottery security contractor Eddie Tipton altered number-picking programs on computers to win jackpots in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The subpoena orders Beeman to turn over his correspondence with Rich since January 2018, including notes related to four interviews they conducted last year.
Beeman says he is considering his options for responding to the request. He says he has objected to subpoenas previously because they have “a chilling effect on the reporting process.”
The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that reporter’s sources, unpublished information and notes are privileged material and may be subject to disclosure only in limited circumstances.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Two people familiar with the situation tell The Associated Press that the ownership of the Kansas City Royals is open to the possibility of selling the franchise if the right buyer is found.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sale.
The Athletic reported Tuesday that team owner David Glass was in discussions with a group led by Kansas City native and Cleveland Indians vice chairman John Sherman. But the depth of those discussions is unclear, and one person told the AP that the club has been open to offers for some time.
The Royals declined in a statement to address any speculation about a potential sale.
Glass, the former president and CEO of Wal-Mart, was appointed interim chairman of the club in 1993 after the death of its founder, Ewing Kauffman. The Glass family bought the team for $96 million in April 2000 with the understanding that the Royals would remain in Kansas City.
Earlier this year, Forbes calculated the franchise value at $1 billion.
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with an explosive device in Garden City.
Dortch photo Finney County
Just after 8a.m. Monday police responded to report of criminal damage in the 1300 Block of North 8th Street in Garden City, according to Sgt. Lana Urteaga.
At the scene, officers located a suspicious package that was a believed to be an explosive device. Officers secured the area and closed the 1200 to 1400 Block of 8th street for over 6 hours. They also notified officials with nearby Abe Hubert Elementary School of the situation. The school chose to go do an exterior lockdown during the investigation, according to Urteaga.
Police and the Kansas Highway Patrol determined the device was fireworks put together not for their intended purposes and used to make an explosive device, according to Urteaga. They also arrested 22-year-old Tristen Dortch of Garden City.
He is being held on a $25,0000 bond of on requested charges that include criminal use of an explosive device, criminal threat and criminal damage to property, according to the Finney County Jail.
