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Author: Hays Post
Lehman retires from Midwest Energy
Earnie Lehman, President of Midwest Energy, retired from the company Feb. 1 after 15 years of service.
During Lehman’s tenure, Midwest Energy’s sales grew considerably, and he guided the company to complete the acquisitions of several smaller electric and natural gas systems. Similarly, he grew Midwest Energy’s percentage of energy derived from Kansas wind from just a few megawatts, to more than 100 megawatts, or nearly one-third of the company’s retail sales.
“Earnie has contributed much to the success of Midwest Energy in keeping down member rates by enhancing our power supply with renewable energy, investing in our owned generation at Goodman Energy Center, and implementing automated meters throughout the Midwest service territory,” said Juanita Stecklein, Board Chair for Midwest Energy’s Board of Directors.
His formal retirement is the culmination of a six-month long transition process, with WaKeeney native Pat Parke assuming the new title of the company’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Earnie has assembled a great team, challenging them to be forward-looking” Parke said. “Through his leadership, we are well positioned as the electric and natural gas industries evolve for the future,” he added.
For his part, Lehman was reflective when looking back on his four-decades long career in the energy industry, which included executive positions with companies in Kansas and Texas, as well as a time serving as a federal regulator.
“Leading Midwest Energy has been the greatest honor of my career,” Lehman said. “Over and over I witnessed the dedication and perseverance of our employees, who deserve full credit for the fine service provided and great reputation enjoyed by Midwest Energy. Most of all, I appreciated the opportunity to get to know and work with so many of the wonderful people we serve across central and western Kansas.”
Game wardens hold Fallen Officers Memorial Blood Drive
KDWPT
TOPEKA – Wednesday, game wardens in northeast Kansas, along with other Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) law enforcement officers and agency staff participated in the Second Annual Fallen Officers Memorial Blood Drive for the American Red Cross.
Members of the Washburn University Police Department also generously volunteered their time and blood.
The blood drive was held at the KDWPT Region 2 Office at 300 SW Wanamaker in Topeka. Twenty-nine volunteers were scheduled to donate.
The Game Warden Honor Guard conducted a flag ceremony honoring fallen officers to open the drive.
The fallen officers and their dates of death are:
- John H. Cox, Game Warden, December 6, 1916; Shot and killed trying to arrest a person suspected of hunting illegally
- F.W. Tierney, Game Warden, January 1925; Shot and killed by two men suspected of poaching
- Elmer L. Nonnast, Game Warden, May 8, 1974; Died of a heart attack during a foot pursuit of men suspected of poaching fish on the Arkansas River
- Luke D. Nihart, Park Ranger, June 26, 2010
The family of Luke Nihart attended the flag ceremony. Nihart, age 32 and the father of two children, died in an ATV accident at Tuttle Creek State Park while working at Country Stampede.
According to Susan Faler, Account Manager for American Red Cross Blood Services, the holidays, cold weather and widespread illness this winter have combined to greatly reduce the number of people who have volunteered to give blood. “I want to thank Captain Dan Melson, the KDWPT staff and the Washburn University Police Department for doing such a tremendous job in organizing today’s blood drive.”
“This is our way of giving life-saving help to those in need and, at the same time, honor our fellow officers who gave their lives in the line of duty,” said Captain Melson, supervising game warden for northeast Kansas who organized the event.
🎥 ECTV Forum: Ovid Seifers; Hays Regional Airport Manager
🎥 PHELPS: Legislative Update Week 4
Sponsored by Glassman, Bird, Brown and Powell LLP — a full-service law firm serving Hays and Northwest Kansas.
You can also watch the weekly reports from Topeka on Eagle TV Channels 14 and 614.
Just got engaged? Be sure to talk about insurance.
KID
TOPEKA – Nearly 40 percent of engagements occur between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. Then, the planning begins, not only for the wedding but for married life in general.
One not-so-exciting – but just as important – factor that engaged couples should discuss is what to do about insurance needs. That may not be as fun as sampling cakes, but getting married can certainly have an impact on insurance coverage.
Our Kansas Insurance Department (KID) staff and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have some insurance tips for couples who are about to say “I do.”
Wedding insurance
Insurance to protect against weather, illness or even “cold feet” is increasing, according to insurance companies. Since the average cost of a wedding in the United States is reportedly at $26,000, and an estimated 2 million-plus weddings occur annually in the U.S., couples might want to check with an insurance agent to see if this could be useful for their situation.
Homeowners and Renter’s Insurance
There are several things to consider when deciding where you and your spouse will live. Location, size of the dwelling and construction type are all factors that determine your insurance premium.
Combining households also means combining your belongings. Make a home inventory of all your belongings to determine how much coverage you will need. It will also make filing a claim easier in the event of a loss or disaster. The NAIC offers a free smartphone home inventory app that makes your information and photos available at your fingertips. You can also print off the KID Personal Home Inventory by going to www.ksinsurance.org.
Auto Insurance
Married couples have the option of combining their auto insurance policies, but most newlyweds do not discuss their spouse’s driving record before getting married. A poor driving record could increase the cost of your premiums, so you might want to have that conversation.
As a newlywed, you may be eligible for discounts. Some insurance companies consider married couples a lower risk, which could result in lower rates. Also, if you combine your auto policies or buy auto coverage from the same company that carries your homeowners or renters policy, you may be eligible for additional discounts.
Health Insurance
When deciding about your health insurance needs as a couple, evaluate your current and future health care. Review the provisions of your policies with those needs and coverages in mind. You will also want to compare the cost of adding your spouse to your policy against keeping your own health insurance.
For individual plans, contact your insurance agent for specific enrollment requirements for spouses. You will need your spouse’s Social Security Number and income information to add him/her to your plan.
Life Insurance
It is not easy to talk about something such as life insurance during a happy time, but life insurance may help secure your family’s financial future. Unfortunately, current reports indicate that many marrying-age millennials see life insurance as unneeded.
But for future family planning, it can be a must. To calculate your needs, consider future income, the cost of raising children and any large outstanding debts such as school loans or mortgage payments.
If either or both of you have life insurance, check with your insurance agent about updating your beneficiary information. Remember to check with your employer about any life insurance benefits offered through work.
Not Sure Where to Start?
To help couples get smart about insurance, the NAIC created a special section in its www.insureuonline.org website under “Weddings” in “Life Events.” This guide encourages couples to ask the tough questions early.
As always, you can always call the Kansas Insurance Department’s Consumer Assistance Hotline at 800-432-2484.
Submit your nomination for Hays Post’s Teacher of the Month honor!
Hays Post and Eagle Communications seeking nominations for the next Teacher of the Month!
From October through April, Hays Post will solicit nominations from through the area from parents, students and colleagues. Fill out the form below to nominate your favorite educator!
This recognition is made possible by the support of Midwest Energy, Diamond R Jewelry, Top Notch Cleaners, Hickok’s Steakhouse and Ultimate Massage.
The winning teacher will receive a gift certificate, courtesy of Hickok’s Steakhouse! Submissions will be accepted through 5 p.m. Monday.
[contact-form to=”[email protected]” subject=”Teacher of the Month”][contact-field label=”Your name” type=”name” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Your email” type=”email” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Teacher’s name” type=”text” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Teacher’s school and grade” type=”text” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Tell us why you are nominating this teacher” type=”text” required=”1″][/contact-form]
Kansas Sales Tax Cut On Food Popular, But Perhaps Elusive
By STEPHEN KORANDA
FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Lowering the Kansas sales tax on food is as popular as it is difficult in a state scrounging for every nickel to balance its budget.
On Thursday, supporters of a plan to cut taxes on groceries sounded off at the Kansas Statehouse with a plea to a Senate committee to advance a constitutional amendment that would reduce the rate.
The current state sales tax rate stands at 6.5 percent. Local sales taxes bring the total to more than 11 percent in some parts of Kansas. Under the proposal, the state sales tax on food would drop to 4 percent in 2019 and 2 percent in 2020. Local sales tax decisions would still remain the business of city and county politicians.
Staff from the Department of Revenue said such tax cuts would lower collections for the state’s general fund by $128 million in the first year and $246 million in the second year.
Casey Cordts is a pediatrician at Stormont Vail Health in Topeka. He told the Senate committee that the state’s sales tax makes it harder for low-income Kansans to buy healthy foods instead of cheaper, less-nutritious options.
He remembers one example where a child was dealing with significant weight issues. His family worked on a diet plan, but the boy’s mother said the family couldn’t afford the extra vegetables.
“A dollar or two back can be a couple extra vegetables a week,” Cordts said. “That can make a huge impact on a kid’s life.”
Brenda Johnson owns a small grocery store called Hometown Market in Bird City, a town of 400 in northwest Kansas. She told lawmakers that grocery stores near the state’s borders struggle to compete with stores in neighboring states that charge a lower tax rate.
She recently ran into someone preparing to head across the Nebraska border for a large grocery purchase.
“Just because it was minus that sales tax,” Johnson said. “They’re at zero percent.”
She said the sales tax on food makes small stores like hers less competitive and that losing grocery stores in small communities can leave people without a local option to buy necessities.
“For a grocery store to leave the town,” Johnson said, “it makes it even harder to survive as a town.”
Lowering the sales tax on food appeals to lawmakers across ideological lines, but the problem is balancing the budget.
Unless it’s part of a larger tax proposal, cutting the sales tax on food would also mean a sizable cut into state revenues. That challenge has led to similar proposals faltering in recent years.
If state revenues fell, that could jeopardize funding for state services such as education.
Rob Gilligan, with the Kansas Association of School Boards, did not urge lawmakers to defeat the proposal. But he said reducing the food sales tax should be part of a larger tax overhaul “where you looked at an appropriate taxation policy for the funding of all government services.”
Gov. Jeff Colyer said he likes lowering taxes but doubts there will be much action on the tax front after the major overhaul last year.
“I’ll look at anything the Legislature sends my way,” Colyer said. “But right now, I don’t see the Legislature passing a different tax proposal.”
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.
OPINION: Encourage Kansas legislators to support clean energy bills
The Senate Utilities Committee has scheduled hearings Tuesday and Wednesday, February 6-7, on two bills important to Kansas clean energy advocates.
Supporters can come Tuesday to the Statehouse to testify or can submit written testimony on the bills: one would protect Kansans with solar power from new utility charges and the other would encourage energy efficiency through yearly goals for utilities.
Senate Bill 322 would nullify changes made in 2014 to the Net Metering and Easy Connection Act, which applies only to investor-owned utilities.
The bill returns reasonable size limits (25kw for residential customers and 200kw for commercial and industrial customers, plus schools, cities, and churches) and gives customers one-to-one credit for the generation they create and use annually.
SB 322 also keeps the 1% net meter cap to protect utilities and returns protection to customers from being charged additional fees just because they self-generate some of their electricity. This bill is good for growing solar and other distributed generation systems in Kansas.
Read more about the changes in SB 322 on the Climate + Energy Project website.
Senate Bill 347 would establish energy-efficiency goals for Kansas utilities, including annual reductions in electricity and natural gas use.
Kansas ranks 48th for energy efficiency, so the potential for effective policies that encourage energy efficiency is great.
The committee will hear testimony from supporters at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 6, in Room 548 South of the Kansas Statehouse. Opponents are scheduled to testify at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 7.
The Climate + Energy Project (CEP) is a Hutchinson-based non-partisan 501c(3) organization working to reduce emissions through greater energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. Located in America’s Heartland, CEP collaborates with diverse partners across the nation to find practical solutions for a clean energy future that provides jobs, prosperity and energy security.
Warm, breezy Saturday
Today
Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. South southwest wind 11 to 16 mph becoming north northwest in the afternoon.
Tonight
A 20 percent chance of snow after 3am. Patchy freezing fog after 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23. North northwest wind 6 to 14 mph.
Sunday
A 30 percent chance of snow, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 18 by 2pm. Wind chill values as low as 4. Blustery, with a north northeast wind 16 to 21 mph decreasing to 8 to 13 mph in the afternoon.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 16. Wind chill values as low as 4. Northeast wind 5 to 13 mph becoming south after midnight.
Monday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. South wind 8 to 17 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.
Monday Night
A 30 percent chance of snow after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.
Tuesday
Snow likely, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 26. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 11.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 43.
KHP: 4 hospitalized after 3-vehicle Interstate crash
SALINE COUNTY — Four people were injured in an accident just before 9p.m. Friday in Saline County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Dodge Ram driven by Brett M. Bartlett, 37, Rattan, OK., was northbound on Interstate I35 just south of Magnolia in the driving lane and struck
The vehicle rear-ended a 2001 Honda CRV driven by Bailey M. Stenger, 21, Abilene, as it merged onto I135 Northbound in the driving lane.
Then the Dodge traveled across the center line and the median into the southbound lanes of Interstate 135 striking a 2016 Cadillac CTS driven by Curtis H. Jurgensen, 69, Valley Center, and continued off the road.
Bartlett, Stenger, Jurgensen and a passenger in the Cadillac Linda A. Jurgensen, 63, Valley Center, were transported to the hospital in Salina. All four were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Applications accepted for roster of Kansas-based touring companies and artists
KCAIC
TOPEKA — To help promote Kansas-based performing artists, The Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission (KCAIC) maintains an approved Touring Roster of Kansas-based touring companies and artists. The roster enables those looking to book performers to identify acts available for bookings. The KCAIC is now accepting applications for inclusion on the roster.
“If you are an artist, becoming a Kansas Touring Performer helps you to be found by presenters and allows you to be considered for increased grant amounts in both the KCAIC AIP-Visiting Artist program and the Mid-America Arts Alliance Regional Touring Program,” said Peter Jasso, Director of the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission.
In this program, the artist or artist’s management sets the fee and negotiates the booking. To be eligible for inclusion, applicants:
- Can come from any artistic discipline (including, but not limited to: music, theater, dance, visual arts, literary, comedy, graphic novels, film, podcasting, etc.).
- Should be either a Kansas-based nonprofit, individual artist, university, or unincorporated/for-profit group providing arts performances and experiences.
- Must have a history of touring and maintain a reasonable fee range.
- Are required to perform outside their community regularly.
- Must offer single performances or exhibitions as well as complementary services that may include workshops, master classes, lecture-demonstrations, arts education components, residencies, or short performances.
The fact that an artist is approved to the roster does not imply or guarantee that the artist will receive bookings in the coming year.
The deadline for consideration this round is Feb. 23, 2018. The review panel will convene in early March.
All applications must be submitted via an online form: https://kansascaic.submittable.com
Applicants will provide the following information:
- Biographical information
- Brief description of the artist’s programs
- Contact information including website
- Program fees
Support Materials may include:
- Performances/Programs: Panelists will limit their review to 3-5 minute segments. Video of a staged performance or public program offering is preferred to a video production.
- Marketing: brochure; sample program; sample news release; reviews; artist/presenter contract,
- Reviews, previous presenters, audience, and noteworthy individuals (cite source).
- Resume(s) of artists/touring manager (2 pages maximum per person)
- Letters of Recommendation (3 maximum)
REVIEW CRITERIA
Applications will be evaluated on the following:
- Artistic Quality: The Artistic merit of the applicant and quality of services. This is the primary consideration for inclusion in the roster.
- Capability and Experience: Evidence of experience and reliability. Ability of applicant for effective implementation, management, and promotion of programs
- Impact: Ability of the applicant to impact teaching and learning in, about and through the arts and/or innovative integration of an arts discipline into a non-arts curriculum or content areas. The quality of complementary activities will be considered.
- The performance fee indicates the cost of presenting a program an average distance from the artist’s home area and includes transportation and lodging unless otherwise noted. Factors affecting the performance fee include: number and type of performances at a specific location; size and type of audience expected; actual distance traveled; block booking arrangements; and equipment required. All fees listed are negotiable and subject to change.
KCAIC does not serve as a booking agent for artists listed, nor does a listing guarantee employment. The most successful artists use this as a tool to help promote themselves to potential booking agents. Eligible organizations may request funding from KCAIC through the AIP-Visiting Artists program to present artists on this roster to their community for an increased grant amount. Roster artists are also eligible for an increased grant amount through the Mid-America Arts Alliance Regional Touring Program.
VISITING ARTISTS GRANTS FEATURING ROSTER ARTISTS
- Visiting Artists grants featuring roster artists will be accepted and reviewed year round. Applicants can apply at any time up to 30 days prior to the start of proposed activities. These grants will be reviewed for compliance with general policies and approved by staff.
- Visiting Artist grants featuring non-roster artists must go through the panel review process held during scheduled grant rounds.
- Applications can be submitted online at https://kansascaic.submittable.com
For more on the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission go to KansasCommerce.gov/caic.
From the Land of Kansas annual meeting to be held in Manhattan
KDA
MANHATTAN. — The From the Land of Kansas Annual Meeting and Farmers’ Market Conference will be held March 1-2, 2018, at the Bluemont Hotel in Manhattan. The conference includes the annual meeting for members, partners and farmers’ markets. It also will feature general sessions, specialized workshops and the opportunity to network with Kansas-based businesses.
“As we celebrate 40 years of Kansas’ trademark program, we are pleased to provide this opportunity to network with other Kansas entrepreneurs in the ag industry,” said Jackie McClaskey, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture. “The speakers and breakout sessions will promote continued learning and growth for the members of From the Land of Kansas.”
The keynote speaker will be Jolene Brown, farmer, author and professional speaker, whose presentation will focus on seeing your business through the eyes of a customer. Participants in the conference will also be able to hear from other experts in the agriculture, marketing and food industries. Topics which will be featured in sessions and workshops include:
- Small business marketing and funding
- Successfully coordinating, managing and sustaining a farmers’ market
- Food industry updates
- Grant writing for business
The cost to attend the event is $95 for both days or $75 for one day, and a block of rooms is available at the Bluemont Hotel through Feb. 16. To register or see the conference agenda, visit the website at FromtheLandofKansas.com/FMconference. This event is sponsored by Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism; Kansas Association of Conservation Districts; Hy-Vee; and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.
From the Land of Kansas is the state’s agriculture trademark program in the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The program works to promote and support Kansas farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses that grow, raise or manufacture agriculture products or products for agriculture use. KDA is committed to its mission to help make Kansas businesses more successful, grow rural communities and expand markets for Kansas agricultural products.
For more information, contact Janelle Dobbins, From the Land of Kansas marketing manager, at 785-564-6759 or [email protected]. To learn more about From the Land of Kansas, become a From the Land of Kansas member, or find local Kansas food, products or services, visitFromtheLandofKansas.com.