U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary and former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius will be back in the Sunflower State Friday.

Sebelius and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are special guests at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Visitors Center dedication.  Both attended the groundbreaking in 2010.

Prairie tours and activities will be available from 3-6p.m. The dedication ceremony begins at 7p.m. followed by tours of the new  Visitors Center.

The public is invited to attend. All events are free.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, west of Strong City in Chase County, is a partnership between the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy. Both work together to preserve and protect the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, while educating the public about its importance.

Tallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres of North America. Within a generation the vast majority was developed and plowed under. Today less than 4% remains, mostly in the Kansas Flint Hills.

The Big Easel is coming down Wednesday, July 11 in Goodland.

Canadian artist Cameron Cross will  “Repaint…Repair…Relaunch” the iconic van Gogh sunflower painting in Goodland.

The painting, 24 feet x 32 feet, which rests on a 80 feet high easel, will be cut down, repaired and repainted on the ground and then relaunched when the work is done.  It was constructed in 2000-2001.

You can find out more about the Big Easel project on Cameron Cross’ web site: The Big Easel Project.

Gove County Medical Center physician, Dr. Doug Gruenbacher of Quinter, carried the  Olympic Flame through the streets of Ascot, England Tuesday at about 11:30a.m. Kansas time.

He joins more than 8,000 torchbearers as they carry the Olympic Flame through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages for 70 days leading up to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 27.

Gruenbacher was nominated by the  state chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the KAFP, and chosen at the national level to represent the organization.

Accompanying Gruenbacher are his wife Shelly, also a Quinter family doctor, and their two oldest children.

Shelly Gruenbacher is writing a great blog about the entire experience, complete with pictures: You can access at this link: https://dougtorch.wordpress.com/

LAWRENCE — Donald Rumsfeld, two-time secretary of defense, will speak at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas this month. Rumsfeld will be featured in a Dole Forum event scheduled at 4 p.m. July 26. This event is free, open to the public and contains a book sale and signing.

“Few people have had the opportunity to work as a cabinet member under three different White House administrations,” said Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute. “We look forward to hearing first-hand accounts of the secretary’s extensive career during some of the most infamous and pivotal moments in U.S. history.”

Rumsfeld served as the 13th secretary of defense, 1975-1977, under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st secretary of defense, 2001-2006, under President George W. Bush. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a four-term congressman from Illinois, 1962-1969, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, 1969-1970, counselor to the President,1969-1973, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, 1973–1974, and White House chief of staff, 1974-1975.

Rumsfeld may be best-known for his time as secretary of defense under President George W. Bush during and after the attacks by al-Qaida on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.