Jerry Moran on the Senate floor during the vote to limit debate on the Brownback nomination Wednesday -image CSPAN
WASHINGTON — During a Wednesday afternoon session, the United State Senate approved Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s bid to be ambassador for international religious freedom in the Trump administration.
For the second time on Wednesday, Republicans needed a deciding vote from Vice President Mike Pence to determine the outcome. Senators voted along party lines, 50-49. Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee were absent.
Thank you to @POTUS, @VP, and all the Senators who supported my nomination. I’m looking forward to starting my new position as Ambassador and working hard for the American people and religious freedom around the world. #ksleg
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — A medical plane has been replaced after a gear-up landing at a southwest Kansas airport earlier this month.
A pilot and two crew members were on the EagleMed plane at the time of the Jan. 17 belly landing. A report from the Federal Aviation administration says there were no injuries.
The plane was taking off from Garden City Regional Airport to pick up a patient when the emergency landing occurred. EagleMed immediately sent an aircraft from Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport to pick up the patient instead.
A spokesman for EagleMed says a backup replacement aircraft was in service within a day.
SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a reported costly email scam.
In mid-January, Occupational Performance Corporation located at 917 E. Prescott Road in Salina received several emails claiming to be from the CEO of the organization requesting money transfers that ranged from $37,000, $70,000, and $90,000, according to police captain James Feldman.
The company became suspicious and did not transfer the third request for $90,000 and notified police. Once the emails were proven to be fraudulent, the bank did stop the transfer of $37,000. Authorities are working to recover the $70,000 transaction, according to Feldman.
Police have no suspects at this time.
Occupational Performance provides post offer employment testing system matching employees’ physical abilities to their new job, according to the company web site.
ATWOOD – Nathan Franklin of Atwood recently placed in the 2017 National Corn Growers Association’s Corn Yield Contest. Franklin won state first place in the No-Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated division with Pioneer P1197AMTM brand corn, which yielded 325.4639 bushels per acre.
DuPont Pioneer growers took home nearly 50 percent of the state awards. Pioneer brand products continue to shine throughout the nation.
“Our 2017 NCGA winners demonstrate the value of our continued investment in germplasm and trait packages. When coupled with the best management practices of today’s American farmer, amazing things happen,” said Ryan Myers, U.S. Corn Category Lead, DuPont Pioneer.
The NCGA Corn Yield Contest is an annual U.S. competition among corn growers with the goal of capitalizing on the high genetic yield potential of today’s corn hybrids. It also encourages the development of sustainable, new and innovative management practices that result in higher yield potential. Growers compete in six corn production classes: two for non-irrigated, two for no-till/strip till non-irrigated, one for no-till/strip till irrigated and one for irrigated acres.
For a complete list of national winners, state winners, yield totals and products, visit pioneer.com/ncga. To learn more about the National Corn Growers Association, visit ncga.com.
TIPTON — The Waconda Lake Archers, a north-central Kansas shooting sports archery club, will host a Rinehart R100 3D archery shoot on May 19 and 20.
The shoot starts at 7:30 a.m. There will be more than 100 life-size animal targets set up along trails at Ringneck Ranch, located in Mitchell County.
“This will be the first time hosting this event for our club, but it has been in Kansas at least three times in the past 10 years,” said Tyson Seirer of the Waconda Lake Archers.
The shoot will include both an African range and a North American range.
The club will use this shoot as a fundraiser for their club’s expenses such as targets and trips throughout the year. The Waconda Lake Archers is a new club and is hoping for a good turnout.
The targets will be shot out over the two-day period.
“I am looking forward to putting on a once-in-a-lifetime shoot for people who are new to archery,” Seirer said.
The club is hoping to get new members and bring out folks to the area in central Kansas.
The shoot is family friendly and non-shooters area also allowed to walk along the path. To register for the event, go to www.R100.org.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man suspected of robbing a Kansas bank has been arrested at a Missouri casino.
Timothy Karpovich, 39, Kansas City, Missouri, was charged in federal court Tuesday. Prosecutors say he fled Monday from KCB Bank in Bonner Springs, Kansas, with about $1,050 in cash after handing a teller a handwritten robbery note. Police later received a tip that he gambled regularly at Harrah’s Casino in North Kansas City, Missouri, where an employee identified him from a surveillance image. Investigators found that serial numbers from bills used at the casino matched those of bills from the bank heist.
Court records say Karpovich admitted to the robbery. The FBI says no weapon was shown during the robbery and no injuries were reported.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Police say the death of the 22-year-old grandson of Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder has been ruled a suicide.
A Riley County Police Department report obtained through an open records request says Matthew Snyder died last week of asphyxiation at his home in Manhattan.
The police document says Riley County police responded to an emergency call made by his father, Sean Snyder, who is Kansas State’s special teams coach. No one else was injured and no foul play is suspected.
The Snyder family is requesting that only family and friends attend the funeral on Thursday at a Manhattan church. Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor said in a statement last week that the Snyder family is “greatly appreciative of the outpouring of support.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Toys R Us, squeezed by Amazon.com and huge chains like Walmart, will close 180 stores, or about 20 percent of its U.S. locations, within months.
Hobbled by $5 billion in debt, the company that once dominated toy sales in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
Chairman and CEO Dave Brandon said in a letter Wednesday that tough decisions are required to save Toys R Us.
The list of stores closing includes locations in Wichita and Overland Park. Toys R Us operates about 900 stores in the U.S.
The store closings will begin in February and the majority of the targeted locations will go dark by mid-April. At some other locations, the retailer is combining its Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.
Toys R Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, has struggled with debt since private-equity firms Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust took it private in a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005. The plan had been to take the company public again, but weak sales have prevented that from happening.
While its numbers have been shrinking, Toys R Us still sells about 20 percent of the toys bought in the U.S. according to Stephanie Wissink, an analyst at Jefferies LLC.
Competitive pressures will force the company to take a close look at all of its stores, and more will likely be shuttered over the next year or two, Wissink said.
Toys R Us reigned supreme in the 1980s and early 1990s, when it was one of the first of the “category killers” — a store totally devoted to one thing: toys. Its scale gave it leverage with toy sellers and it disrupted general merchandise stores and mom-and-pop shops.
Now Toys R Us and other category killers like the now-defunct Sports Authority, Borders and Circuit City, are being upended by a new force: Amazon.com.
GlobalData Retail estimates that about 13.7 percent of toy sales were made online in 2016, up from 6.5 percent five years ago.
Toys R Us has been hurt by a shift to mobile devices as well, which take up more and more play time.
About three dozen retailers sought bankruptcy protection last year due in large part to a radical shift in consumer behavior, both in where they shop, and what they buy.
Toys R Us closed its flagship store in Manhattan’s Times Square, a huge tourist destination, about two years ago.
The struggles of Toys R Us have rippled outward and rumors continue to swirl around the possibility of a merger between Mattel and Hasbro, the nation’s largest toy makers.
Wissink estimates that Toys R Us accounts for about 11 percent of Mattel’s annual sales and about 9 percent of Hasbro’s annual volume. Shares of both Mattel Inc. and Hasbro Inc. slipped in early trading.
Brandon said Wednesday that the company made some missteps during the critical holiday shopping season.
“As the leader of this company, I want you to know that we can and will address the gaps in the experience that you may have had when shopping this holiday,” Brandon said. “My team is already hard at work to make the improvements necessary to ensure that we have the products you want, when, where and how you want them.”
Jack Jewell, age 90, passed away on Monday, January 22, 2018 at his home in Scott County, Kansas. He was born on June 12, 1927 in Scott City, Kansas, the son of Leo & Alice Goertz Jewell. A lifetime resident of Scott County, Kansas, he was a farmer.
On June 30, 1951 he married Alma Lamoine Hager in Scott City, Kansas. She survives.
Survivors include his Wife – Alma Jewell of Scott City, Kansas, One Son – David Jewell of Wichita, Kansas, Three Daughters – Cindy Barnes of Dodge City, Kansas, Diana Yost of Holcomb, Kansas, Linda Leger of Scott City, Kansas, One Sister – Donna Dee Carpenter of Scott City, Kansas, Eight Grandchildren and Six Great Grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his Parents, 1 Brother and 2 Sisters.
Funeral Services will be held at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City, Kansas at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, January 27, 2018 with the Rev. Robert Nuckolls presiding. Memorials may be given to the Jack Jewell Memorial Fund % Price & Sons Funeral Home. Interment will be in the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas. Visitation will be from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Thursday, 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Friday and 10:00 until 2:00 p.m. Saturday at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City, Kansas.
The Heartland Community Foundation, a charitable foundation serving Ellis, Rooks and Trego Counties, has an opportunity through the generosity of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to earn up to $50,000 for HCF’s granting-making endowment targeted to Ellis County. The Hansen Foundation will match any gifts that the public makes to the Ellis County fund dollar for dollar up to $5,000 per donor, and up to $50,000 total for each of the three counties in HCF’s service area, including Ellis County. The Hansen Foundation will truly make these charitable, tax-deductible donations TWICE AS NICE by doubling them in size through the month of February.
Through the generosity of the City of Hays and of Ellis County, in the form of Leadership gifts to the Twice as Nice Campaign, the Ellis County Field of Interest Fund was jump-started with $10,000.00.
“Hansen has given HCF and all of our communities an opportunity to create a grant-making fund for each county that will make an immediate impact,“ stated HCF Executive Director Sandy Jacobs. “All money raised during the month of February will go to an endowment for each county to help improve quality of life now and in the future. By matching these gifts so quickly, each of our counties will have an immediately available fund for annual grants that help right in the counties where your donations are given. The Leadership Gifts of the City of Hays and of Ellis County got us off to a great start!”
In recent years, HCF has partnered with the Hansen Foundation to fund many grant requests in all three counties, including Ellis County grants for fire-fighting equipment for the Victoria Fire Department, equipment at the Hays Area Children’s Center to assist the families of young children with disabilities, interactive technology for students at TMP-Marian High School, and an outdoor learning pavilion at Lincoln Elementary School in Hays.
No donation is too small, and by making the tax-deductible donation during the month of February, you can double its impact. To help make a brighter future for Ellis County, make a donation, or ask questions, contact Sandy Jacobs at the Heartland Community Foundation by email at [email protected] or calling 785-621-4090.
John Schlageck writes for the Kansas Farm Bureau.When I think about the perils associated with winter travel, I think about my dad’s simple, but sound advice, “Stay off the roads.”
Dad lived by this creed for more than 70 years in northwestern Kansas. He’d seen his share of blowing and drifting snow. When he talked about western Kansas blizzards, the years of ’31 and ’57 come to mind.
The ’31 blizzard hit on April Fool’s Day and killed hundreds of cattle, Dad said. One of his neighbors lost 80 head of cattle in a pasture less than a mile west of the small community of Seguin in Sheridan County.
When I was a youngster, I experienced the blizzard of ’57. Snow drifted as high as the roof on my friend, Vernon Rietcheck’s two-story home. We sledded down the drifts and played in the snow all day.
Our parents weren’t so lucky. There were roads to open and cattle to feed and water. Our homes were without electricity for five days.
My father and those hearty souls who lived on the High Plains learned from these storms. They learned to travel only when necessary – to feed, water and care for livestock.
They rarely traveled anywhere in their pickups without several pairs of gloves, a scoop shovel, a log chain as well as chains for the rear tires. Four-wheel drive vehicles in the ‘50s and ‘60s were uncommon in those days.
Dad always wore a cap with ear protection and carried a couple extra on the front seat of his pickup in the winter. The trunk of our car also had extras. He knew a person couldn’t last long outside in freezing weather with all your body heat escaping through the top of a bare head.
If we traveled anywhere during the winter months, the trunk of the family car was always packed with extra warm clothes, blankets, overalls, gloves, a flashlight, fresh batteries, chains and a shovel to clear the snow from in front or back of the tires.
Dad had been stuck in snow many times. He’d heard of, and known of a neighbor who was stranded and froze to death in one of the fierce northwestern Kansas blizzards. Before every winter season began, and often throughout, he’d remind us of these stories.
My father always topped off his fuel tanks for winter travel as well. He believed a full tank provided extra weight on the rear wheels.
“Besides, it runs better on the top half (of the tank),” he always said.
Although Dad never carried sand bags in the back of his car or trucks, he did carry extra weight during the winter. He always lugged around tractor tire weights while some of his neighbors preferred sand and sprinkled the gritty stuff in front of their tires for extra traction in snow and ice.
If someone absolutely had to go out during a winter storm, Dad preached extra time and patience.
“If you’re frightened or overly concerned about weather conditions – don’t drive,” he’d always say. “Wait the storm out.”
Dad’s advice was sound then and it’s sound today. Remember, it takes a while to find your “driving legs” each new winter season, he’d say.
Relax. Sit back in the seat. From time to time take deep breaths. Don’t grip the wheel until your knuckles turn white.
Try to anticipate what other drivers intend to do. At the same time, keep an eye on them as well.
Let them speed, spin, slip and slide. Allow at least twice as long to reach your destination. Concentrate on the road ahead, behind and on your right and left.
While driving during hazardous weather brings out the worst in some drivers, it can also bring out the best in others. Some welcome the chance to brave the elements. To drive safely under such conditions can provide a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Drive safely and know your limitations. Remember, if you must take a chance that could result in an accident or worse, “Stay off the road.”
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
