Volunteer firefighters training with the Hays Fire Department Wednesday night got to experience the real thing.

A call came in at 9:05p.m. about a building fire in the in the 300 block of West 8th Street.  The six on-duty firefighters and three volunteer firefighters on-duty for training immediately responded with two fire trucks.

Fire Chief Gary Brown says a fire was burning in the electrical equipment at the rear of Convenience Xpress, 335 West 8th Street.   Shortly after crews arrived,  a safety device on the nearby Midwest Energy power pole activated to cut power to the burning equipment.

Firefighters also used heat detecting equipment to ensure the fire did not extend into the building.   Midwest Energy responded to make sure the power was off and their equipment was safe.

The last fire crews left the scene at 10:16 PM.

A third Hays Medical Center patient has tested positive for Hepatitis C which may have come from a former contract employee at the hospital.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced updated test results Tuesday.

David Kwiatkowski worked in the HaysMed cardiac catheterization laboratory  from May 24 to Sept. 22, 2010. He was arrested July 19 in New Hampshire and is accused of contaminating syringes used on patients in several states.

At least 32 people nationwide have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C he carries.

The number of patients possibly exposed at HaysMed is 474.  As of Monday, there have been 334 negative test results and three positive results.

Russell City Manager Ralph Wise announced his resignation during Tuesday’s Russell City Council meeting.

His last day on the job will be October 1.   Council members have not yet announced plans for a  replacement or interim manager.

Wise was hired as the Russell City Manager March 31, 2008, replacing Gary Hobbie.

Prior to working for Russell, Wise was Director of the Property Management and Marketing Division of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County.

BASEHOR, Kan. (AP) — The city of Basehor will pay $200,000 to  former city administrator Mark Loughry who was fired last year.

Loughry was hired in August 2009 as the Basehor City Administrator after working for the city of Hays for nine years.

The Basehor City Council on Monday also formally apologized to  Loughry for allegations of wrongdoing made by some council members when he was fired. The allegations were found to be false.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the settlement comes after Loughry said he planned to sue the city for defamation, breach of contract and due-process violations.

None of the council members who voted to fire Loughry in September 2011 are on the council. Voters recalled two of them, along with Mayor Terry Hill. A third council member resigned after the recall.

Loughry was hired last year as the finance director for Raytown, Mo. Basehor has not hired a replacement for Loughry.

While in Hays , Loughry worked as assistant city manager, city clerk, finance director, and information technology director during 2000-2009.

An outstanding collection of Winchester Model 70 bolt-action rifles recently benefited the Fort Hays State University Shooting Club by a total of $25,000.

One hundred tickets were sold at $100 apiece, and at a drawing held at Joe Bob Outfitters, Hays, Rob McClure, Tescott, won the four Winchester Model 70s in “The ‘Nearly Perfect’ Rifle Battery,” commissioned from Winchester by Larry and Brenda Potterfield of MidwayUSA, a catalog and Internet retailer, and the MidwayUSA Foundation, Columbia, Mo., which encourages and supports shooting teams at universities and colleges.

The rifles were all Super Grade Model 70s, which retail from about $1,300 to more than $1,500 individually. The Varmint Rifle was chambered in .22-.250 Remington; the Deer & Antelope Rifle was chambered in .270 Winchester; the Elk & Moose Rifle was in .300 Winchester magnum; and the Dangerous Game Rifle was in .375 H&H magnum. Each rifle had its name engraved on the magazine floorplate.

“The Potterfields have made a real commitment to youth shooting and they have dedicated a lot of financial resources to promoting youth shooting in the United States,” said Dr. Duane Shepherd, associate professor of health and human performance and Shooting Club sponsor. “There are a lot of people benefitting from it nationwide, not just at FHSU.”

MidwayUSA commissioned 100 of the sets from Winchester and offered them to schools willing to commit to raising $10,000.

FHSU’s first competition in the 2012-2013 Scholastic Clay Target Program will be in North Platte, Neb. The FHSU team is technically the sponsor of that meet, but Hays does not have the facilities to host it.

Tiger shooters will compete until October, when the season takes a break until starting up again in February or March.

The MidwayUSA Foundation provided the rifles for the drawing. The $10,000 in ticket money was divided two ways. The team received $5,000 directly, and the remaining $5,000 was deposited into the team’s Scholastic Shooting Trust with MidwayUSA. Midway matches that money, and all other funds raised by the FHSU Shooting Club, at a 3-to-1 ratio, in this case, another $15,000.

The Potterfields, through the foundation, established this program for scholastic shooting teams across America in 2008.

The $5,000 that went directly to the club, said Shepherd, will go to equip another skeet field at the Hays City Sportsmen’s Club range.

From Joe Becker, official weather guy at K-State Ag Research Center -Hays, the official weather reporting station for Hays:

Date: August 17, 2012

Day: Friday

Air Temperatures

High: 76° (yesterday)

Low: 51° *NEW record (54: 1919, 1920)

Overnight Low: 51°

Union Pacific Railroad is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its creation with a steam locomotive tour through the area.

Although it sped through Hays Thursday morning,  legendary steam locomotive No. 844 did stop about 10a.m. in Russell and in WaKeeney at noon. Other western Kansas stops were scheduled for Oakley and Sharon Springs.

Union Pacific Railroad was created when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act July 1, 1862.  President Lincoln’s vision was to create a transcontinental railroad.

The steam engine train is making a loop staring in Cheyenne, Wyoming through Nebraska and Iowa and then back to Kansas.