Although there is a slight chance of snow today, the official “Weather Guy” for Hays, Joe Becker at the K-State Ag Research Center south of town, has declared the winter season over.
“Let’s say there will be no additional snow today, ” he says.
Therefore, “the official snowfall amount for the 2012-13 winter season is 33.90 inches.”
Vine Street business owners between 13th and 22nd Streets met with Hays and KDOT officials Tuesday night about reconstruction of the heavily traveled street.
Assistant Hays Public Works Director John Braun says there will be only one lane of traffic in each direction, and left turns will not be allowed in the construction zone.
Work is scheduled to begin next Wednesday, April 3, and continue through July.
One of the new initiatives for the city of Hays to use water more efficiently kicked off Tuesday night.
The first in the “Water Smart Landscape Series” drew a number of homeowners to the K-State Ag Research Center where they learned about soil health, fertilizer and pesticides.
The remaining three presentations will address how to choose the right plants for this climate and putting the plants in the right place; how to use water wisely; and how to convert lawns to warm season grasses which use less water.
The free series is sponsored by the Ellis County Extension Office, Ellis County Master Gardeners, the city of Hays, and the KSU Big Creek Middle Smoky Hill River Watersheds.
There was something even more exciting than video of tornadoes during National Weather Service Spotter Training in Russell Tuesday night.
Recently retired Russell Fire Chief Sam Schmidt was honored as the 2013 Emergency Worker/Volunteer of the Year.
The annual award is made by the Russell/Ellsworth County Emergency Management and the Russell 911 Communications Advisory Board.
Schmidt started as a Russell volunteer firefighter in 1982 and retired as chief earlier this month.
He’s also served as Secretary of the District 2 Fire Chiefs Association since its inception and has been a committee chairperson for the Kansas State Firefighters Association.
The “weather guy” at K-State Ag Research Center-Hays, Joe Becker, added a little trivia note to his official report today.
“Tonight, (Wednesday) enjoy viewing the full Worm Moon! According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the native tribes of what is now the northern and eastern U.S. named this the Worm Moon after the earthworm casts (excrement) that appear as the ground thaws.
“We can only hope!”
We at Hays Post feel certain Becker is hoping for a ground thaw, and not piles of casts.
Ellis County EMS has outgrown its Hays headquarters in a building purchased in 1990.“With Rural Fire we can share one facility with a dedicated training room, which would reduce costs to taxpayers,” McCue says.
EMS Training Director Lillian Slater constantly shifts around the training equipment. “Some of it is cluttering our lobby, some of it is kept at Hays Medical Center, and I even store some in my house and garage, ” she says. “All that back and forth is hard on the equipment.”
McCue invites the public to tour the current facility and see the “crowded conditions” and “safety issues” for themselves.
“This new building is not a Taj Mahal. It is what we need, ” he says.
Watch Eagle Local News ECTV Channel 14 tonight/tomorrow as Becky Kiser tours EMS headquarters with McCue.
Two winners of the 2012 Great Plains Book Award and alumni of Fort Hays State University will be in Hays to discuss their book, The Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory.
Dr. James Leiker and Dr. Ramon Powers will present the Fort Hays State Department of History and the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society Clio Lecture Tuesday, April 2, from 7:00 – 8:00 pm at the FHSU Robbins Center.
The public is invited to attend. A book signing with the authors will follow the lecture.
Dr. Leiker is the director of Johnson County Community College’s Kansas Studies Program and the 2002 co-winner of the Fehrenbach Award for best book in Texas history.
Dr. Powers is the former director of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Both historians have presented and published extensively on the history of Kansas, the Great Plains, and the American West.
“Continued reinvention of our product.”
That’s what news media professionals and journalism educators are doing, and that’s what a symposium panel Tuesday night recommended to Fort Hays State University which is seeking a new direction for campus news media.
The last issue of the campus newspaper, The Leader, was published January 31, as a result of decreased revenues, although there is still an online version.
“‘MoJo.’ Students today need to be taught how to be ‘mobile journalists,'” said Laura York Guy, one of the five panel members, a media instructor at Garden City Community College and National Scholastic Press Association board member. “Journalism faculty need to teach how to use social media in producing relevant news.”
“Media is merging,” said Gary Shorman, CEO/President of Eagle Communications, Inc. headquartered in Hays. “Relevant news and information has to get somewhere quickly today, and the delivery method will continue to change.”
In the wake of the student newspaper suspension, a Task Force on Dissemination of News and Information has been appointed by FHSU president Dr. Ed Hammond to create a new model for student media. The university also has a campus television station and radio station.
The FHSU Task Force will host a town hall meeting next Tuesday evening for public input about dissemination of student-produced news and information.
Opening remarks of the Hays City Commission candidates at Monday night’s forum at Fort Hays State University.
There are five candidates for three open positions:
Shaun Musil, Dominic Pianalto, Eber Phelps, Todd Gabel and Ron Mellick.
The entire Hays City Commission Candidates Forum will air on Eagle Community TV, Channel 14 this Saturday and Sunday at 2 & 7p.m., and Sunday at 1p.m.
The election is Tuesday, April 2.
More Kansas newspapers are now online at the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, according to the Kansas Historical Society.
The newspapers were digitized with funding received from the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
The most recent additions include issues from Atchison, Emporia, Goodland, Hays, Hutchinson, Kinsley, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Liberal, Meade, Phillipsburg, Prairie City, Topeka and White Cloud.
Under this project, the Historical Society will digitize an additional 100,000 pages of Kansas newspapers by September 2013.
The following additional Kansas newspapers are now available on the Chronicling America website:
Kansas Weekly Herald (Leavenworth, issues from 1854-1855)
The Kansas Herald of Freedom (Lawrence, issues from 1854-1859)
Squatter Sovereign (Atchison, issues from 1855-1857)
White Cloud Kansas Chief (White Cloud issues from 1857-1860)
The Kanzas News (Emporia, issues from 1857-1859)
Freeman’s Champion (Prairie City, issues from 1857-1858)
The Goodland Republic (Goodland, issues from 1891-1907)
The Emporia News (Emporia, issues from 1859-1881)
The Emporia Weekly News (Emporia, issues from 1881-1889)
Phillipsburg Herald (Phillipsburg, issues from 1882-1905)
Hutchinson Gazette (Hutchinson, issues from 1895-1902)
Free Press (Hays, issues from 1899-1908)
The Hays Free Press (Hays, issues from 1908-1922)
Kinsley Graphic (Kinsley, issues from 1890-1904)
The Liberal Democrat (Liberal, issues from 1911-1922)
Meade County News (Meade, issues from 1900-1918)
These particular newspapers were chosen because of their coverage of events in state and national history including the Kansas Territorial era, the Civil War, and Populism.
Opening remarks from Monday night’s forum at Fort Hays State University of USD 489 candidates Richard Kraemer, Lance Bickle, Josh Waddell, and Kathleen Fischer.
Danielle Robben was unable to attend.
There are five candidates for three open positions.
To see the entire USD 489 Candidates Forum, watch Eagle Community TV Channel 14, Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 7p.m., and Monday at 1p.m.
Election Day is Tuesday, April 2.
Water released from Cedar Bluff Reservoir has reached well fields for the cities of Hays and Russell.
Hays called for 1,247 acre-feet, the entire amount from an artificial recharge pool maintained by the Kansas Water Office (KWO).
The lake level is already 20 feet below normal and has dropped another 4 inches after the Hays release which started March 4. It took less than a week for the flow along the Smoky Hill River to reach the city’s Schoenchen well field.
Water bound for the city of Russell’s well field near Pfeifer started down the Smoky Hill River last Thursday. Public Works Director Arlyn Unrein said the release should be between 1,000 and 1,500 acre-feet.
Russell owns the rights to 2,000 acre-feet of water from Cedar Bluff. Hays has no water rights at Cedar Bluff, and was given permission from the KWO to use the artificial recharge pool.
The city of Hays uses an average 1.8 million gallons of water every day. During the summer, daily water use has shot as high as 3.8 million gallons.
Most of that extra 2 million gallons of water is going on lawns and gardens, according Director of Parks Jeff Boyle.
The city has begun new initiatives demonstrating how to use water more efficiently. “The ‘Water $mart Landscape Series’ kicks off Tuesday 
night,” says Boyle, “and the programs are free and open to the public.”
“We’ll have information about soil testing, plant location and species best to grow in our area, efficient landscape watering and healthy lawn care tips.”
Each program begins at 6:30p.m. at the KSU Agricultural Research Center, 1232 240th Avenue.
The series is sponsored by K-State Research and Extension-Ellis County, City of Hays, Ellis County Extension Master Gardeners, and KSU Big Creek Middle Smoky Hill River Watersheds.
