RUSSELL – The Ad Astra Music Festival colors central Kansas with classical music during the month of July.

Bringing over 60 artists from all around the country, Ad Astra is a unique music festival, spanning three weekends in July and integrating emerging young artists, community members, and professional musicians.

The third weekend of performances includes the famous Bach’s St. Matthew Passion on July 28, and Compline by Candlelight on July 29.

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion will take audiences immersively through modern stations of the cross. The Russell Community Choir will sing parts of the work, while visiting artists will perform the bulk of the piece in a style close to what would have been heard in Bach’s time. Contemporary selections highlighting grief will be woven into the 1727 sacred oratorio.

Compline by Candlelight is a foreboding meditation on Psalm 51, Have mercy on me, O God.  An octet of unconducted singers lead this 30-minute service, illuminated only by the candlelight of congregants in the Basilica of St. Fidelis, Victoria.

To learn more about our performances, please visit adastramusicfestival.org/calendar.

– SUBMITTED –

MANHATTAN — Innovative technology is rapidly changing the Kansas agriculture industry, and the Kansas Department of Agriculture has partnered with Northwest Kansas Technical College, the Kansas Water Office and the Kansas Ag Research & Technology Association to host the first Ag Tech Expo on Wednesday, August 29, in Goodland. The Ag Tech Expo is an effort to bring new technology into the hands of all levels of producers and showcase the latest agriculture technology products and services.

The Ag Tech Expo will be held at Northwest Tech from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in conjunction with the Water Tech Farm Field Day. Participants will have the opportunity to hear current updates from the Kansas Water Office and an overview of the technology farm at Northwest Kansas Technical College, as well as talk to producers who have implemented new technologies at different levels in their operation. In the afternoon, activities will be held at the technology farm to allow participants to see some of the technologies in use.

Experts from the agriculture technology industry and students from the precision agriculture technology program at Northwest Tech will be available to answer questions about the technology in use. The day will conclude with a benefit auction hosted by BigIron, with proceeds going to local FFA programs and the precision ag tech program at Northwest Tech.

For more information on this event, visit agriculture.ks.gov/AgTechExpo18 or contact Russell Plaschka, KDA agribusiness development program manager at 785-564-7466 or [email protected].

DSNWK

ELLIS — Developmental Services of Northwestern Kansas is hosting the eighth annual Esther McMurtrie Memorial Golf Tournament at 8 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 3, at the Ellis Golf Club, 301 Spruce, Ellis.  

This tournament is a four-person scramble with raffle prizes and giveaways.

Teams are currently full, but hole sponsors are still needed.  A hole sponsorship is $300 and includes a sponsorship sign with name on a tee box.

To register, contact Steve Keil at 785-621-5335 or [email protected]. Online registration is also available by clicking the banner on the homepage of www.dsnwk.org.

Like most parents of children with intellectual or developmental disabilities, Esther wanted the best for her daughter. It was Esther’s wish that after she was gone her daughter Jamie would be taken care of in a beautiful home. After Esther’s battle against cancer ended in 2008, Vaughn McMurtrie and his friends created a golf tournament to support the construction of Esther’s Place — the DSNWK group home where Jamie and six others live.

“When it originally started, it was to raise money to build Esther’s Place. Now that it’s built, the money raised from the tournament will be going toward other eight group homes in Ellis County,” said Sami Montgomery, event organizer for DSNWK. “The remodels and other things that need done will be what the money goes toward.”

Kansas Rural Center

TOPEKA – Kansans are encouraged to attend the upcoming Western Kansas “Voting for the Future: Dinner & Dialogue” forums, a free dinner and program organized by the Kansas Rural Center. The forums will take place on Tuesday, August 14th, at the newly renovated Heaton Building located at 107 S. State Street in Norton and August 15^th at the Senior Center located at 221 S Main Street in Cimarron. 

At both events, a complementary dinner featuring locally sourced ingredients will be available starting at 5:00 pm with the program following. Registration is required in order to ensure an accurate count for dinner. Please register no later than Friday, August 10 at https://kansasruralcenter.org/community-food-solutions-civic-agriculture-for-civic-health/voting-for-the-future-dinner-and-dialogue/.

State and local experts will provide Kansans with information on federal and state level food and farm policy and action within the broader context of state budget and revenue issues.  Along with others, Scott Sproul, Executive Director of the Northwest Kansas Economic Innovation Center will help share at the Norton forum local and regional level efforts to strengthen community access to food, resources for farmers, and other critical efforts.  In Cimarron, Kendal Carswell with the Kearny County Hospital and Lona Duvall with Finney County Economic Development are a few of those working locally to address regional challenges like food access and engaging the immigrant and migrant communities and will be on hand to share their efforts. 

The forums will also provide the opportunity for round table dialogue to reach deeper into food and farm system issues, learn about the questions important to ask candidates this summer and fall, how to mobilize your community to vote, and other common interest topics critical to an election year.

“Being informed is critical to the choices we make. KRC wants Kansans to be informed and equipped to make the best decisions possible on food and farming, health and education, and other issues this election year. Taking time to listen and to share with others about your community needs and public policy decisions is important. These dinner and dialogue opportunities offer you a great chance to do just that. These are your town hall meetings – they are not candidate forums, so local citizens have a chance to discuss with each other what they need and want, and what to ask candidates about,” says Mary Fund, Executive Director of the Kansas Rural Center.

The forums will be the first two in KRC’s “Voting for the Future: Dinner & Dialogue” series of four across the state. Each forum will be a little different but each will offer the opportunity to learn more about how to amplify your voice during this important election year.

Other upcoming “Voting for the Future: Dinner & Dialogue” forums will be held in Girard, Tuesday, August 28 and Concordia, Thursday, August 30. 

There is no cost to attend, but registration is required to ensure a meal. Please register no later than Friday, August 10. To register, please visit https://kansasruralcenter.org/community-food-solutions-civic-agriculture-for-civic-health/voting-for-the-future-dinner-and-dialogue/, or contact Caryl Hale at [email protected] or call 866-579-5469.

These forums are part of KRC’s “Community Food Solutions for a Healthier Kansas” initiative and Integrated Voter Engagement project, which aims to improve economy, community, environment, and health in Kansas by strengthening civic engagement and public policy support that better incorporates Kansas farms and communities into the state’s healthy food supply chain. 

The mission of KRC, founded in 1979, is to promote the long-term health of the land and its people through community-based research, education, and advocacy that advances an economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just food and farming system in Kansas. For more information, visit kansasruralcenter.org.

The Certified Public Accounting firm of Brungardt Hower Ward Elliott & Pfeifer, L.C. announced the promotions of Jamie Dreher and Whitney Brown to Partner.

Both CPA’s practice in the firm’s Hays office and are also credentialed in business valuation as Certified Valuation Analysts. Both are members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Kansas Society of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts. Each of them has extensive experience in tax planning and compliance for individuals, businesses, and trusts. Their areas of industry practice include oil and gas, agribusiness, not-for-profit organizations, medical practices and estate and gift taxation. 

Dreher is a 2003 graduate of Fort Hays State University and a native of Baileyville, Kansas. Jamie’s community involvement includes coaching various youth sports and teaching faith formation classes in her parish, St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church.  She served eleven years as an Ambassador for the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Dustin, have four children.

Brown is a 2003 graduate of Fort Hays State University and is originally from Hoxie, Kansas. Whitney is a member of the Hays First United Methodist Church and the Hays Sunrise Rotary Club. He currently serves as an Ambassador for the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce and is a past member of the Hays Area Young Professionals group. He also coaches youth sports for the Hays Recreation Commission. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children.

Brungardt Hower, with offices in Hays, Garden City, and Johnson, serves clients throughout Central and Western Kansas. The firm offers tax planning, tax preparation, audit and attest services, bookkeeping, payroll filings, sales tax filings, financial statement preparation, new business and management consulting, estate and gift tax consulting and preparation, and business valuation services.  Brungardt Hower’s client base includes financial institutions, not-for-profit organizations, agriculture, oil and gas, real estate, construction, restaurants, retail, medical practices, professional service practices, and employee benefit plans.  Brungardt Hower has served the area for over 60 years. Additional firm information is available at www.bhcpa.com.

Today A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. North wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. North northeast wind 6 to 9 mph.

Tuesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. Northeast wind around 7 mph becoming east southeast in the afternoon.

Tuesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 66. East southeast wind 5 to 8 mph.

Wednesday A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92.

Wednesday Night Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

ThursdayA 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 82.

THOMAS COUNTY — Five people were injured in an accident just before 6p.m. Sunday in Thomas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Suzuki SLT driven by Rebecca Sexton, 66, Canton, OH., was northbound on U.S. 83 just north of the Interstate 70 Oakley exit.

The driver did not see a Kenworth semi driven by Jared Lewis, Mount Juliet, 39, TN, coming from behind.  The Suzuki made a U-Turn and ran into the side of the semi.

Sexton and passengers Alexandria Sexton, 22; Derek Sexton, 15; Anabel Sexton, 6; Audreanna Sexton, 15; all of Canton, OH., were transported to the Logan County Hospital.

Lewis and a 14-year-old in the Suzuki were not injured. All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.