The 2012 Kansas Legislature adjourned May 20 in Topeka after 99 full days of what 36th District Sen. Allen Schmidt (D-Hays) calls “contentious” debate.

The wrap-up session was the longest in Kansas history.

An ambitious agenda set by Governor Brownback left important bills until the waning hours, including school funding, KPERS, Medicaid, and the state budget.

The Legislature failed to pass a redistricting map and the issue was sent to the courts.

Sen. Schmidt and 111th District Rep. Eber Phelps (D-Hays) reflect back to the session on the Eagle Community Television Legislative Wrap, airing at 4 and 8p.m. Friday-Tuesday on Channel 14.

TOPEKA — Three federal judges set new political boundaries for Kansas, approving changes to congressional districts that many Republican legislators have opposed.

The judges drew new boundaries for congressional, state House, state Senate and State Board of Education districts — adjustments needed to account for population shifts over the past decade — after a bitter feud between conservative and moderate Republicans in the Legislature prevented them from reaching a consensus.

“As a result, the court has regretfully resorted to the painstaking task of drawing its own plans,” the judges said in the more than 200-page long unsigned order released late Thursday night.

A key change in the state’s congressional map expands the 1st District of western and central Kansas to include Manhattan, home to Kansas State University. Many Republicans wanted the city to stay in the 2nd District of eastern Kansas.

Manhattan-area officials also wanted to stay in the 2nd District, arguing that their community had more in common with eastern Kansas. That prompted legislators to consider proposals that split major eastern Kansas communities — Kansas city, Topeka and Lawrence — so that part of each would have been lumped into the 1st District with farming communities 400 miles or more away.

Many GOP lawmakers were willing to do that because moving Manhattan to the 1st District created a slightly more Democratic district for U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, the senior member of the state’s all GOP delegation in the U.S. House.

The plan also unites all of Lawrence in the 2nd District; the city had been split between the 2nd and the 3rd districts. The 3rd District is centered on the Kansas City area.

The fight over state Senate districts was the most bitter. Conservative Republicans hoped to oust the chamber’s moderate GOP leaders and accused them of trying to draw district boundaries to thwart primary challengers.

The judges considered multiple proposals for redrawing Kansas Senate districts, some submitted by key figures in the legislative stalemate.

“Most of the interveners have unabashedly political reasons for intervening, and they seek to advance their respective political agendas,” the judges wrote.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, said he would have preferred to keep the Manhattan-area in the 2nd District, but that proposals that would have done that clearly violated redistricting guidelines.

“The map does at least preserve the core of the existing district,” said Davis, one of the interveners in the case.

Senate President Steve Morris, a moderate Republican from Hugoton, said the proposal approved by the court was reasonable except for the placement of Manhattan. “It’s not surprising,” he said.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach said he was reviewing the ruling Thursday night. Kobach was named as the original defendant because he oversees elections in the state.

Golfers hit the links Friday morning for the annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life tournament at the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course.

All proceeds are donated to the Ellis County RFL.

Thirty-two teams are participating in the event sponsored by Hays Eagle Radio.

Look closely.   That’s Brayden Zimmer sitting up high in the cab of that green John Deere tractor.

Brayden and his family are enjoying Go Truck Go, a free annual event sponsored by Early Childhood Connections of Hays.  Kids and families are invited to come see and even climb into the big rigs in the Hays High School parking lot.

Tractors, fire trucks, police cars and dump trucks.  They’re all appealing, especially the ones with bright lights and sirens.

Go Truck Go includes a family fair inside the school gym, with information about early childhood development and parenting tips.

A flight change schedule at the Hays Regional Airport will benefit business travelers wanting a mid-morning
departure time from Hays or return flight from Denver.
Effective June 1, Great Lakes Airlines Flight 7279 departs Denver at 8:00 a.m. arriving in Hays at 10:16 a.m.
Monday-Friday. The flight departs Hays at 10:26 a.m. arriving in Denver at 10:51 a.m.

The schedule replaces a current late morning flight and offers more convenient travel times and connections for commercial travelers.

TOPEKA — Ellis County District Judge Ed Bouker is among two Kansas Court of Appeals judges and three district court judges appointed to hear a disciplinary case against former Attorney General Phill Kline.

The judges appointed Monday will sit with two state Supreme Court justices to review the case. The high court’s five other justices removed themselves last month, citing their previous knowledge of the allegations.

An ethics complaint accuses Kline and former subordinates of misleading other officials to further investigations of abortion providers. Kline strongly disputes the allegations.

Supreme Court Justice Dan Biles, one of the two remaining to hear the case, named the replacements.

In addition to Bouker, the judges are Court of Appeals Judges Karen Arnold-Burger and Henry W. Green Jr. and district judges Bruce Gatterman, Pawnee County, and Michael Malone, Douglas County.

Twenty teams participated in the annual Ellis County American Cancer Society Relay for Life, six more than last year.

Co-chairman Lonnie Claycamp attributes the increase to shortening the event to just 5 hours, instead of the usual 12.

“People are busy and have a hard time committing to an overnight camping event on the weekend, so we changed to 7p.m.-12 midnight, instead of the 7p.m.-7a.m. as in years past,” he said.

As usual, teams gathered Friday night at 7 o’clock around Felten Middle School in Hays, with a survivors lap kicking off the event.

Featured speaker Dr. Anne O’Dea of the Hays Med Dreiling-Schmidt Cancer Center updated current cancer research projects which have been funded by the American Cancer Society.  Four grants totaling more than $2.4 million are currently in place in Kansas.

More than $50-thousand was raised Friday night.  The RFL Committee has a goal of $70-thousand dollars, which Claycamp says is within reach with another two events this weekend–Friday’s SACS Relay for Life Golf Tournament and the Stars and Stripes Breakfast at the Hays VFW Sunday morning.

See more from the 2012 Relay for Life later this week on Street Beat Eagle Community TV Channel 14.

Rachel Wentling has been chosen to fill the recent vacancy at Holy Family Elementary School in Hays created when Principal Jana Simon announced her retirement two weeks ago.

Wentling will be leaving her position of the past 12 years as assistant principal of academic affairs at Thomas More Prep-Marian High School in Hays.

Wentling is a graduate of St. Joseph Grade School, HFE’s predecessor institution, and TMP-Marian.  She has a Master of Science in Educational Administration.

Volunteers with the Gemini Juniors 4-H Club were busy assembling luminaries for Friday night’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Hays at the Felten Middle School track.

Each luminary is a tribute to someone who’s fought cancer.

This year’s event was shortened, starting at 7p.m. and concluding at 12 midnight instead of 7a.m. the next morning.  Co-chair Lonnie Claycamp says the change allows more people to participate, when they’ve previously been unable to commit to an overnight camp out.

Featured speaker was Medical Oncologist Dr. Ann O’Dea of the HaysMed Breast Care Center.