By CORRINE BOYER
Kansas News Service

GARDEN CITY —

A welding torch caused August’s fire at a Tyson meatpacking plant in western Kansas.

The Garden City Fire Department investigated the fire at the Holcomb plant and completed a report on Oct. 13, saying the fire was unintentional and likely started because a welding torch produced a “spark, ember or flame.”

Tyson spokeswoman Liz Croston said the company “will not be releasing an update on the cause of the fire.”

The Garden City Fire Department investigated the cause of the fire. Garden City Communications Manager Jamie Stewart said the city won’t release any further updates about the fire.

The Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office does not investigate fires unless requested by local fire departments, according to spokeswoman Jill Bronaugh. And because no injuries were reported, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t investigate.

The plant stopped production after the fire, though it returned to limited production a few weeks later. The Tyson plant processed around 5% of beef in the U.S., and beef prices spiked after the fire. It prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate pricing margins. The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for an update on that investigation.

Holcomb Fire Chief Bill Knight remembers seeing black smoke inside the Tyson building on the night of the fire, which he said kept firefighters at the plant from 8:30 p.m. Aug. 9 to about 10 p.m. the next day.

Knight said he could smell burning cattle carcasses, which had been slaughtered prior to the fire.

“Now, you’ve got a hundred and some head of livestock hanging there upside down, and when they catch fire they melt and all that fat, grease … turns to a flammable liquid,” Knight said.

Knight said Tyson’s safety crew helped the firefighters find the electrical switches and valves on the scene. He also noted that some tanks of anhydrous ammonia had minor leaks during the fire, but said it was “nothing big.”

“And, like I say, the Tyson people were on top of that,” Knight said.

Corinne Boyer covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @corinne_boyer or or email [email protected]. The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on the health and well-being of Kansans, their communities and civic life.

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY — The Kansas Highway Patrol has identified the victim in an accident that occurred just after 3p.m. Thursday in Leavenworth County.

According to the KHP,  a 2001 Ford F250 driven by Hunter Ford, 22, Tonganoxie, was eastbound at 25687 U.S. 24 Highway in Tonganoxie.

The pickup crossed the center line and struck a 2018 Kia Soul driven by Jawuan Smoot, 21, Lawrence, and rolled. The Kia overturned and left the road to the right. 

Smoot was pronounced dead at the scene. Despite not wearing a seat belt, Ford had minor injuries and was not transported for treatment, according to the KHP.

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LEAVENWORTH COUNTY —The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal Thursday afternoon crash in Leavenworth County.

Just after 3p.m. Thursday, a vehicle eastbound on U.S. 24 Highway in Tonganoxie crossed the center line, struck a westbound vehicle rolled and exited the roadway to the left.

Authorities had not released details or names of the victims early Friday.

GARDEN CITY –  A former police officer in Garden City has been convicted of two child sex crime-related charges, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Douglas Heit, 50, Garden City, pleaded no contest in Finney County District Court Thursday to two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

Judge Michael Quint accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for December 19 at 1 p.m. The charges fall under Jessica’s Law because the victim was under 14 years of age.

The crimes were committed in August 2018. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Garden City Police Department.

Heit began work as a police officer in Garden City in 2003 and left the department in 2018.

By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post

Junior water rights holders in the area of the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge will not have their water usage drastically restricted in Fiscal Year 2020.

That’s the word from U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, who spoke about the agreement during a stop in Salina Friday afternoon.

According to Moran, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has senior water rights to many irrigators in central Kansas.

“The demands for that water are significant, and there’s always more demand than there is water. It’s been a circumstance on and off throughout Kansas’ history,” Moran said.

“We’ve had conversations within the last week with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife leadership. We have gotten an agreement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They will make no demands for water for Quivira for the next year. And in the meantime they will work with irrigators — farmers and ranchers in central Kansas — to come up with a solution to the needs for water in the future,” he said.

The wetter than normal weather in the area over the past year played a favorable role in getting the agreement in place, Moran said.

While the agreement is a direct benefit to the irrigators, it also benefits the area economy, he added.

“In the absence of this agreement, in the absence of the pause for a year, the junior rights water holders would have generally had their allocation reduced dramatically, so that would mean a lot less farming, a lot less economic activity, and certainly damage to the economy of the communities Great Bend, Pratt, St. John, Stafford, Kinsley, that part of Kansas,” Moran explained.

The one-year pause gives irrigators time to negotiate an agreement for future water use, he said.

“From my perspective, this really is a state issue. It is the Division of Water Resources within the Kansas Department of Agriculture that manages those water rights, but they have said that as long as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t make the demand for water, they will not then force those farmers to reduce their use of water and give those farmers a time to negotiate a deal,” he said.

According to Moran, central Kansas irrigators will need to work hard to develop a plan for the future, as there is more demand for water than there is water.

“And so this doesn’t mean that the problems are solved, it means that there is an opportunity to try to solve them,” Moran said.

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) — Striking General Motors factory workers will put down their picket signs after approving a new contract that will end a 40-day strike that paralyzed the company’s U.S. production.

The United Auto Workers union said in a statement Friday that workers had approved the new four-year deal. But no vote totals were given. The union says it will announce shortly whether it will bargain next with Ford or Fiat Chrysler.

Good news in United Auto Workers and General Motors coming to terms on a new contract, which means getting people back to work at GM's Fairfax Assembly Plant. Thanks to all who worked diligently to end the strike.

— Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) October 25, 2019

Picket lines were to come down immediately, and skilled trades workers will begin restarting factories that were shuttered when 49,000 workers walked out on Sept. 16. Some production workers could return as early as Friday night.

The deal includes a mix of wage increases and lump-sum payments and an $11,000 signing bonus. But GM will close three U.S. factories that make slow-selling cars and transmissions. Analysts estimate the strike cost GM more than $2 billion.

The five-week walkout was big enough to help push down September U.S. durable goods orders by 1.1%, the largest drop in four months.

Trades workers such as machinists and electricians likely will enter the plants quickly, restarting boilers and preparing paint shops, robots and other equipment to restart production.

On the picket line at a transmission plant in Romulus, Michigan, worker Tricia Pruitt said the wage gains were worth staying off the job for more than five weeks, but she’s ready to return to work.

Pruitt, a 15-year GM employee, was happy that the contract brings workers hired after 2007 up to the same wage as older workers in four years.

She’ll be glad not to be on the picket line if the strike ends. “Look at us now. We’re in coats,” she said on a gray, chilly Friday afternoon near Detroit. “We’d have been out here in the rain.”

Although GM dealers had stocked up on vehicles before the strike and many still have decent supplies, analysts say GM won’t be able to make up for the lost production. Had the strike been shorter, GM could have increased assembly line speeds and worked the plants on overtime to catch up and refill its stock. But many of the plants that make popular SUVs and pickup trucks already were working around the clock to keep up with demand before the strike began.

Also, companies that supply parts to the factories and halted production during the strike will need time to restart, although GM has some parts in stock.

Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of the consulting firm LMC Automotive, estimates that GM has lost production of 300,000 vehicles, and he said maybe only a quarter of it can be made up.

“You can’t add days to the week and you can’t add hours to the day,” he said.

Some production losses will help thin inventory, especially of cars, Schuster said. But in late October and early November, GM will likely run short of colors and models of trucks and SUVs that are in high demand until stocks are replenished, he said. Although truck and SUV buyers generally are loyal to a brand, customers in a hurry for a new vehicle could go elsewhere, Schuster said.

“There are definitely going to be some limitations on choice, and that is a risk,” Schuster said. “Consumers can opt to wait, or they can go down the street to their competitor.”

Now the union will move on to bargain with either Ford or Fiat Chrysler, using the GM deal as a template. A decision on which company is next could come Friday. It’s not clear yet if there will be another strike, but neither Ford nor FCA will be happy about being stuck with the GM terms.

GM traded the ability to close the three factories in Lordstown, Ohio; Warren, Michigan; and near Baltimore for higher labor costs, David Kudla, chief investment strategist for Mainstay Capital Management of Grand Blanc, Michigan, wrote in a note to investors. The contract maintains worker health benefits with low premiums, something that both Ford and FCA wanted to change when negotiations began.

“Ford and FCA didn’t have three factories that they wanted to close, but will have to work around this new framework for higher wages and unchanged health care that the UAW and GM have set,” wrote Kudla, whose firm manages investments for many auto industry workers.

Workers at factories that GM will close have been transferred to plants across the nation, and they campaigned against the deal, which was reached Oct. 16. Workers in Lordstown, for instance, voted 412-61 against it, with 88% of production workers voting “no.”

In the end, economic gains and a $7.7 billion GM investment pledge for U.S. factories were too much to turn down.