From the City of  Hays:

The National Weather Service is forecasting significant snow fall through Friday for the City of Hays. This notice is to remind you that if you live/work on or are adjacent to an Emergency Snow Route, the City Manager can declare a winter storm traffic emergency “whenever snow has accumulated or there is a possibility that snow will accumulate to such a depth that snow clearing/removal operations will be required…” When this occurs, it will be “unlawful to park a vehicle on any street designated as an Emergency Snow Route.”

Citizens are asked to plan now, before the snow falls, to locate an alternate site to park vehicles off the street. By City Ordinance, if a winter storm traffic emergency is declared and vehicles are not moved, the vehicles will be towed away at the owner’s expense.

The public’s cooperation is greatly appreciated. If there are questions, please contact the Hays Police Department at 625-1011 or the Hays Public Works Department at 628-7350.

Emergency Snow Routes Map

Don Scheibler
Chief of Police

I.D. Creech
Director of Public Works

Dodge City National Weather Service issues WINTER STORM WARNING valid at Feb 20, 6:00 AM CST for Barber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Kiowa, Lane, Meade, Ness, Pawnee, Pratt, Rush, Scott, Stafford, Trego [KS] till Feb 21, 6:00 PM CST

A major winter storm will impact southwest, west central, and south central Kansas Wednesday and Thursday.

Significant accumulations of sleet and snow are expected. 8 to 12 inches of snow are now forecast north of a Garden City to Dodge City to Saint John line with the forecast storm track adjusted slightly southward.

The storm is also forecast to move across at a slightly slower forward speed, so moderate to heavy precipitation is expected to persist longer Wednesday Night into early Thursday.

Some areas north of Highway 96 will see over a foot of snow.

There is still a significant challenge in the precipitation type south of the Arkansas River as a warm layer aloft moves northward with the low.

Sleet and  freezing rain will be possible especially from Ashland to Pratt and points southeast.

Following an executive session during Monday night’s USD 489 board meeting, members approved one-year contracts for principals and directors.

Current salaries are:

* Hays High School — Michael Hester, principal, $106,487; Martin Straub, vice principal, $90,835; Tom Albers, vice principal, $88,834; and Clint Albers, vice principal/athletic director $87,546. Hester is retiring at the end of the school year, and Straub has been named HHS principal.

* Hays Middle School — Craig Pallister, principal $98,403; Shanna Dinkel, vice principal, $82,102.

* Elementary schools — Lee Keffer, Roosevelt principal, $90,664; Elaine Rohleder, Lincoln principal, $85,001; Nancy Harman, O’Loughlin principal, $85,001; Allen Park, Washington principal, $85,001; Tom Meagher, Wilson principal, $85,001.

* The Learning Center — Anita Scheve, director, $73,082.

* Early Childhood Connections — Donna Hudson-Hamilton, director, $84,093.

* Nutrition Services — Shiela Brening, director, $72,283.

* Transportation — Russ Henningsen, director, $50,008.

* Board of Education — Cheryl Shubert, clerk/director of accounting, $50,000.

Each of these employees also receives a single health insurance benefit at a cost of $7,636.32, according to Assistant Superintendent Richard Cain.

“The small towns in my district, that’s all they have.  Education is their business.  It’s an economic driver,” says longtime legislator Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell.

His 40th Senate District covers 19 northwest Kansas counties, and following redistricting, now includes Ellis County.

Ostmeyer spoke Saturday at his first “Eggs and Issues Legislative Forum” presented by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce at Fort Hays State University.

“I’m a member of the senate education committee,” he told the crowd gathered in the Robbins Center, many of whom he’d never met.

“Whether students live tiny Weskan or urban Johnson County, they should have the same opportunities.  The state should be more responsible for school funding K-12; it can’t be just the Local Option Budget,” he said.

The 2013 legislature has just finished its fifth week of work, noted Ostmeyer, “and there are lots of proposals in the state budget, but nothing is set in stone yet.”

Some Kansas House members want to restrict how federal security agents frisk airline passengers at the state’s airports, saying the pat-downs are often humiliating or conducted on people who pose no danger.

The bill sponsored by 21 House members would make it illegal for Transportation Security Administration screeners to touch an airline passenger’s private areas during a search. It also would bar the agents from taking a child under the age of 18 away from a parent or guardian to conduct a search, The Kansas City Star reported Friday.

Between 100 and 110 TSA officers are stationed at seven Kansas airports, including the Hays Regional Airport.

The TSA said in a blog post that the U.S. Constitution bars states from regulating actions of the federal government.

The bill is partly in response to an incident at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport last year in which a woman complained about how screeners treated her 4-year-old daughter.

Michelle Brademeyer said security officers demanded her daughter undergo a pat-down after she initially cleared security because the girl ran to hug her grandmother, who had set off the alarm and was waiting for a pat-down. A security officer yelled at the girl, who cried, and her mother wasn’t allowed to comfort the child, she said.

TSA officials said its officers followed proper procedure and conducted a “modified” pat-down of the child.

“The theater they put us through to get on a plane is absolutely ridiculous,” said Rep. J.R. Claeys, R-Salina, one of the bill’s sponsors.

Kansas turned most of the administration of Medicaid over to three private health insurance companies in January.

Gov. Sam Brownback has said the overhauled program, known as KanCare, will deliver better-coordinated services with less cost.

“Studies showed what we were doing was unsustainable financially,” says 110th District Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady, R-Palco.  “It was time to try something new.”

Couture-Lovelady spoke Saturday morning at the “Eggs and Issues Legislative Forum” presented by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce.

“If you are aware of problems within KanCare, please let me know so we can tell the program administrators,” he said.

Hays is one of 16 locales for meetings this month about changes in the health care coverage program for Kansas Medicaid recipients.  The Hays meetings are Thursday, February 21, 1-3p.m. and 6-8p.m. at the Ramada Inn.

The first “Eggs and Issues” of the 2013 session presented Saturday by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce was also a first for all three Kansas legislators.

111th District Rep. Sue Boldra, R- Hays, and 110th  District Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady, R-Palco, are freshmen.  Longtime legislator  Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell, now has the city of Hays in his 40th District, following redistricting.

Audience members in the Fort Hays  State University Robbins Center had lots of questions for the trio following their opening remarks.

Rep. Boldra is a member of the House Utilities and Telecommunications Committee.    A bill that supporters say would continue the deregulation of telecommunication companies in Kansas sailed through initial passage in the House Friday with bi-partisan support.  House Bill 2201 will be considered for a final vote Monday.

“Fewer and fewer of us have ‘landlines,'” said Boldra, “and this bill is intended to modernize existing regulations, which are used to provide support for technological investment. These dollars will be shifted to fund newer broadband technologies and other advanced services, further connecting Kansans.”

“It’s moving telecommunications towards more of a utility,” she explained.

The measure would reduce funding requirements of the Kansas Universal Service Fund, thus reducing consumer telephone bills.

Opponents say the Kansas Corporation Commission would no longer would be able to assist customers when their phone service quality is unacceptable, and telecommunication companies would no longer be required to participate in the Kansas Lifeline Service Program, which provides discounts for basic telephone service for low-income Kansans.

The Hays Fire Department is testing fire hydrants on the Fort Hays State University campus today.

The university recently made improvements to its water system, and the city fire department is determining how much water is available for firefighting on campus.

Firefighter Justin Choitz says results of the hydrant tests will be provided to various entities.

Slight discoloration of the water supply might be encountered, although there are no health risks to the consumer.  Drivers are asked to avoid driving through water discharging from a fire hydrant during the short flushing period.

During a recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lou and Harriet Caplan participated in StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide Americans  with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.

The Hays couple’s story of  “late in life love” was selected to air Friday morning on National Public Radio and will be archived in the Library of Congress.

They were married in 1995;  Lou was 56 years old and Harriet was 48.

Lou taught physics at Fort Hays State and acted as Chair of the Physics Department, Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Studies.

Harriet joined the faculty at FHSU after marrying Lou, first as Affirmative Action Officer, and then taught law for the College of Business.

Both Caplans retired from Fort Hays State University in the summer of 2011.