PRATT COUNTY — Two teenagers were injured Thursday in an ATV accident in Pratt County.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a John Deere Gator driven by 16-year old Carson Thomas of Clearwater was driving the Gator on Southeast 1st Street just West of 70th Avenue in Pratt County at around 3:00 p.m. when he lost control and entered the north shoulder and overturned.

Thomas and a passenger, 19-year old Jake Thomas of Wichita were thrown from the Gator and sustained injuries and were transported to Pratt Regional Medical Center.

NEW YORK (AP) — Joanna Gaines, known for her cozy-yet-cool designs including open-concept floor plans, farmhouse sinks and sliding barn doors, admits having to scale back on the vision of her own home in Waco, Texas, to allow her children to add personality to their own spaces.

“In the past it was hard,” she said recently in an interview, having to shift her thinking to, “This is their space. This is what makes them come alive, I need to encourage that.”

Gaines says this principle especially applies to her two oldest children, son Drake, 13, and daughter Ella, 11.

“In the main spaces I get to do my thing and incorporate some things that they love but for their rooms, especially this year, there’s stuff they’re wanting in their room that I wouldn’t put in there originally, but now it’s fun to watch their room evolve into their personality and give them the freedom to do it.”

She remembers that she, too, had her own flair growing up.

“I was into cats. I had cat posters everywhere and my mom let me do it,” she said.

She and her husband, Chip, are planning on a return to TV. The couple confirms they are in discussions with Discovery about creating a lifestyle-focused network.

In the meantime, Gaines writes about how she makes a house a home in her new book, “Homebody” (Harper Design), sharing examples from her own farmhouse in Waco, Texas, and homes she’s worked on.

She recently talked about design in an interview with The Associated Press.

AP: When you see an empty room, what’s the first thing you think about when it comes to decorating?

Gaines: I think, ‘OK, how are people going to be walking in and out? What’s the pass-through?’ I want the traffic. I kind of just try to figure out the footprint and then I start thinking about, ‘Where do you put the sofa? Where do you fit the chair or a coffee table?’ Then from there I start adding the bookshelves, stuff on the wall. But I think for me the seating is important because that’s where everyone is congregating. That’s the most important thing.

AP: You also find interesting pieces that either show a person’s personality or a family heirloom. What if someone doesn’t have any of that but wants to add some interesting pieces to their home that aren’t so cookie cutter?

Gaines: I think people need to know that it takes time. You can find things at flea markets, antique stores or even online. It becomes like a treasure hunt.

AP: You seem to like neutrals and black and white. What are your thoughts on color in design?

Gaines: I love the contrast of black and white and I think it’s timeless and no matter what style or genre, black and white can fit into that. I love to implement color with rugs and pillows and art. But if I’m working with clients who love color, I’m all about a colored sofa or piece of furniture. For me, I love a neutral palette, I think it’s calming. But I like keeping it simple and layering colors in later so then when I’m tired of it, I can shift that out simply with a pillow.

AP: When you do have a client who has a different style than you do, is that a fun exercise?

Gaines: It’s so fun. To me, it’s a way of getting things out through other people. For me, we’re staying at the farmhouse, so it’s a fun way to try out other styles.

AP: What about decorating for the holidays? Do you like themes? What do you like?

Gaines: Thinking about the farmhouse, I love just layering in the textures and so it’s really simple. Obviously the tree, the garland and the stockings, but simple, subtle colors. That’s when there’s red, the pillows, the throw blankets, the tree skirt. The holidays can be really busy and home is a place where we can unwind and rest. If there’s too much clutter, I think it’s hard for all of us to feel at ease. I try to keep it minimal but bring in the reds and greens.

AP: That brings up the question of clutter. You want decorative accents but when is it too much?

Gaines: A lot of this is gut instinct. What I feel is enough may not be enough for others. I think when you’re looking at your space and you feel like, ‘OK, I think I’ve got it,’ you can stop.
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Online:
https://www.magnolia.com/

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — The Manhattan City Commission has approved a plan to convert half of its energy use to wind power.

The Mercury reports that the commission Tuesday backed a 20-year agreement with Westar Energy for the 300-megawatt Soldier Creek Wind Farm in northeast Kansas, a project that will be complete in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The city has paid Westar about $2.6 million a year for the past five years. Officials say the agreement with Westar will save the city $50,000 a year for the next 20 years.

Kansas State University has entered the same agreement with Westar.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two groups of local Democratic activists are meeting next week to fill the Kansas Senate seats previously held by Gov.-elect Laura Kelly and Lt. Gov.-elect Lynn Rogers.

Precinct committee members of Kelly’s former Topeka-area district are scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Topeka public library.

In the Wichita district Rogers represented, precinct committee members are scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Service Employees International Union Local 503 headquarters.

Kelly and Rogers both resigned from the Senate earlier this month after their ticket won the governor’s race over Republicans Kris Kobach and Wink Hartman.

Kelly has served 14 years in the Senate and Rogers, two years.

The new senators will serve the remaining two years of the four-year terms until the 2020 elections.

By RAMESH SANTANAM
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — David Feldstein knew seven of the 11 people killed in the synagogue. For Augie Siriano, they all were friends. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers was leading Shabbat services when the gunshots rang out.

Barely three weeks after the Tree of Life massacre — believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history — they and their fellow Pittsburghers are preparing to mark a holiday built around gratitude. But in the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, they aren’t shying away from celebrating Thanksgiving. They’re welcoming it.

“It’s really a perfect time that Thanksgiving is falling right now,” Myers says. The holiday, he says, is about family — and spending time with loved ones is needed at a time like this.

And in the concentric circles of grief and healing around him — Tree of Life, Squirrel Hill and the city of Pittsburgh itself — the sentiment is similar.

“(With) Thanksgiving coming so closely on the heels of the shooting, people feel the need to be around family more,” says Dan Iddings, owner of Classic Lines, a bookstore about a half-mile from the synagogue. He will celebrate Thanksgiving with about 20 family and friends, and he expects it to be “a very family- and community-centered Thanksgiving, more so than in the past few years.”

How do you summon thankfulness in a family, in a community, when the wounds are so fresh and the grief so hard to bear? When what you’ve lost is so profound, how do you sit down around a holiday spread and enjoy what you have? To talk to people in Squirrel Hill this week — those directly affiliated with Tree of Life and those who compose the community around it — is to begin to understand the different forms that gratitude can take.

Siriano, Tree of Life’s custodian since 1993, was in the synagogue restroom when he heard gunshots Oct. 27. He rushed out to see one of the worshippers, someone he had shared tea with 10 minutes earlier, lying dead. On Thursday, he will be with family. He says he has much to be thankful for, including a grandson born Saturday.
“There has to be a place in your heart for the sadness and the joy,” says Rabbi Chuck Diamond, Tree of Life’s former rabbi who led a “healing” service outside the synagogue a week after the shooting.

“We recognize and acknowledge what we have lost, but, at the same time, looking around the table, we recognize what we have,” Diamond says. “People should observe Thanksgiving and appreciate the comfort and joy of the family around them.”

Feldstein understands the difficulty in celebrating the holiday less than a month after tragedy visited the neighborhood where he has owned a bagel shop for the past 28 years. Seven of the slain worshippers were Bagel Factory regulars, as were two of the Pittsburgh police officers injured in the shooting.

“You feel a bit guilty,” Feldstein says. “It’s a difficult feeling. But you still have to make your kids appreciate what they have so when they have children, you want them to feel that appreciation. I love my family. To me, that’s the best time.”

The shooting took place in Squirrel Hill, the center of Jewish life in the city as well as home to churches, ethnic eateries, grocery stores, delis, pizzerias, and an independent movie theater. The violence shook the neighborhood, and much of the city around it, to its foundations.

A makeshift memorial bearing the 11 victims’ names stood outside the synagogue until recently and drew thousands of visitors. Steel barricades now line the entrance to the synagogue, and the memorial sits inside, where two other congregations — New Light and Dor Hadash — also had gathered when the shooting occurred.

The crowds have thinned, but people still stop to pay respects. Bouquets of flowers and cards lean on hedges outside the synagogue. Someone left a pair of gold-painted Converse tennis shoes; written in English was the Hebrew and Arabic phrase, “Peace be unto you.”

Margaret Porter of Heath, Ohio, was in town to celebrate Thanksgiving with her son, a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, they felt compelled to bring flowers to the synagogue. “I would say we’re more thankful this Thanksgiving,” Porter said.

What makes Pittsburgh’s Jewish community special is how different denominations interact with such ease, say Daniel and Baila Cohen, who recently took over ownership of of Pinskers Books and Judaica, as well as the adjoining cafe, in Squirrel Hill.

“Here, people know each other. They’ll be part of different synagogues,” Baila Cohen says. “We are comfortable in all of them.”

Adds her husband: “There’s a lot of crossover.”

Another reason that so many here are grateful on this holiday: the support the Jewish community received from the city, nation and throughout the world.

At Bagel Factory, people have shelled out hundreds of dollars in advance to pay for food for complete strangers. A store refused to charge for a Thanksgiving turkey when the owner learned the customer worked for Diamond. New Light, which lost three of its members in the shooting, has received thousands of letters from all over the world — all of them personal.

“People, not just Jews, were touched by this. The outreach from other religious communities has been overwhelming,” says New Light co-president Stephen Cohen. He has been welcome, he notes, at services at a black church, a mosque and a Hindu temple.

Every business in Squirrel Hill has some sign of support in its window, be it murals of love, kindness and hope, or placards reading, “Stronger than hate,” “Our hearts cry for Shalom,” or “Love our neighborhood. No place for hate.”

Crocheted or knitted Stars of David hang from bare branches, sign posts and doorways throughout the business district. A 6th grader from Arkansas scribbled, “God loves you. You are in our prayers” on the back of a leather heart, on which a Star of David made from popsicle sticks was pasted. A sign thanks people for participating in an act of Tikum Olam, the Jewish concept of repairing the world.

“So many people have walked up to me and said, ‘What can I do for you? What do you need?'” New Light’s Stephen Cohen says.

His congregation, like Dor Hadash and Tree of Life, found new locations for their services. And in those new places, during these very jumbled days, they are finding new ways of giving thanks.

They are the same community, marking the same American holiday as they did last November, but they find themselves with a new landscape to navigate — a landscape of grief, hope and, to hear them many of them tell it, gratitude.

“The first thing you do is change the venue,” Stephen Cohen says. “Then, you come together. We spend a lot of time together and we have been spending a lot of time together. That’s how you get past things like this. Maybe.”