I’d set some beaver traps in a creek near the road, and since the ditches were really deep along there, I found the best way to park near the creek was to drive down into the ditch itself and follow it clear to the creek. When I first parked there I noticed a rather strange looking piece of what appeared to be rubber of some sort laying there in the ditch. “Odd,” I thought, but not earth-shattering as you’re likely to see most anything in the ditch near a stream, as some people view that as a good place to get rid of a variety of “stuff.”

The next day though my curiosity got the best of me and I picked up that piece of “rubber” to see what it really was. I’d been looking at the inside of the object and when I turned it over it was apparent I had stumbled upon the partial remains of an armadillo.

The armor plate that covered its back was still in one piece, made up of dozens of long, narrow, armored tiles that overlapped each other slightly like shingles on a roof, and each row was connected to the next by tissue that acted like a hinge and allowed them all to flex as the animal moved. The front and the back were each one big cup-shaped piece of armor that were connected to the rest by the same tissue and would have covered the critters hips and shoulders and extended down each side to its belly. One smaller piece caught my eye as it was made up of hundreds of little armored tiles much smaller than any of the others. I picked it up and turned it over, and there, tucked up inside was its tiny pointed skull.

Now I could write an entire column on the unique qualities of an armadillo, but the point I wish to make here is that everything about the armored remains of that creature were designed and built by God to be and to work just like they did; they didn’t just happen that way! I suppose someone that has lived their entire life in the middle of a big city and never seen anything but asphalt and concrete could believe that all of nature resulted from some big cataclysmic explosion or crawled out from some giant pot of stew. But it only takes me mere seconds in the outdoors to find utterly preposterous any explanations for our world other than Creation!

No matter how mundane or uneventful an outdoor adventure seems, I absolutely never leave nature’s presence without being fascinated by something. Maybe it just doesn’t take much to fascinate me anymore, but my wonderment with Creation starts pretty simply. For example, how does putting a kernel of corn into this stuff we call “soil” with a little water and sunshine cause a plant to grow?

And furthermore, how does that seed know to grow a stalk of corn and not a soybean plant, a pigweed or a maple tree for that matter? And then there’s the part where it produces a big ol’ cob full of the exact seeds we started with, covered by several layers of heavy leaves to protect those seed till they ripen. Or how about the vibrant colors around a rooster pheasants face, the shimmering green of a mallard drakes head, the stunning red hues of a male cardinals body or even the amazing palate of colors found on a pesky peacocks tail?

Then inversely, how do all the females of those same species end up totally dull and drab so they blend in with their surroundings as they sit on a nest filled with peculiar looking vessels called “eggs” that will hatch, and just like the corn plant, produce young that are exactly like their parents? How do geese navigate to spots hundreds or even thousands of miles away, and yet find their way back home to nest? How do salmon end up where they were hatched to lay eggs of their own, which – you guessed it – will hatch into little salmon looking just like mom and dad. How do ducklings know how to swim when they are barely dry after hatching, and how do hoards of baby turtles know to head straight for the ocean mere minutes after digging themselves free from their sand covered nests?

I marveled at a beaver I caught recently, how it had a broad flat tail to help navigate its thick heavy body through the water, how it had claws on both front feet to help hold and carry sticks and how it had huge webbed feet on both back legs to propel it through the water. Had it been made with claws on all four feet, or huge webbed feet on all four legs or had a skinny little tail like a muskrat, nothing would have worked right at all. It was intelligently designed and built perfectly with everything it needed!

I’ve barely scratched the surface here as to the complex intricacies and wonders found in nature. Oh I believe in evolution alright, as a process by which man and animals have adapted over thousands of years to their changing environments, but NOT as an explanation for how anything I see in nature came to be. The Bible tells me we were created, and while we may have more resembled monkeys than men in the beginning (I still wonder about some of us today) we were created as men and not monkeys. Some critters may appear to have been put together using spare parts, but those spare parts all have a specific purpose.

So when you are out enjoying God’s Creation, think of it as such and I bet you’ll gain a whole new appreciation for Exploring Kansas Outdoors.

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

This past Friday, March 17, Kansas Department of Revenue Economist Michael Austin submitted an article ​comparing the Kansas labor market to a bathtub​, equating positive job growth to the tub being “full.” He notes that the inspiration for the article came from bathtime with his two-year-old son. I congratulate Mr. Austin on being a first-time parent, but would like to remind him that Kansans are not children, and should not be spoken to as if we were.

The labor market of our state is not a porcelain tub of lukewarm water. It’s a complex system that affects the lives of everyone within our community, and Austin’s simplistic metaphor serves only to patronize readers, and to diminish and obscure the very real problems in the labor market under Governor Brownback.

Mr. Austin points to growth within the private sector as a sign of victory for his boss’ policies. He neglects to mention that the overall percentage of the population over 16 in the labor force has decreased since 2010, according to the US Census Bureau. He makes no mention of the fact that when the Kansas Department of Labor gathers employment statistics, that “no distinction is made between full-time or part-time work.” He glosses over the facts that more than 70,000 households in Kansas make less than $10,000 per year, and that 10% of all families in Kansas exist below the poverty level.

What’s more, his essential conceit, that the needs of some “bathtubs” are different than others, rings hollow. From January 2016 to January 2017, Kansas has had a negative job growth rate, and in fact ranks as the seventh worst job growth in the nation, according to the US Department of Labor. I can’t speak for you, Mr. Austin, but if I had close to the worst water pressure in my neighborhood, I’d call a plumber. Or I’d fire the one I’d been using.

Nathan Elwood, Librarian, Fort Hays State University

Presidents, governors, the Lumina Foundation and other higher education agencies continue to call for an increase in the percentage of American high school graduates attending college. College-going rates are being used nationwide as indicators of K–12 success. To some education visionaries, the perfect society would be one where every high school student attended and graduated from a four-year college.

Indeed, we are now hearing of state governing boards and national groups setting short term goals of 60 or 70 percent college attendance. These goals are unrealistic. They threaten to undermine our public university system and devalue the degree of bonafide college graduates.

Foreign universities provide good lessons.

Hong Kong was the first in Asia to overbuild university capacity. By the late 1990s, this ex-colony of 7 million found it had more university seats than capable high school graduates to fill them. Rather than lower its entrance standards, Hong Kong admitted students from the China mainland where there was a surplus of college-able students.
A decade ago, Taiwan also found itself with too many university seats. Similar to Hong Kong, Taiwan uses high school exit exams to measure academic skills and had no intention of admitting sub-standard students and watering down their academics. Taiwan has been scaling back and merging its universities. Korea likewise expanded its university capacity—and hit a ceiling.

China started from a very low university capacity. When I was at East China Normal University in 1993, only the very top scorers on their high school exit exam got to attend their few colleges. Higher education was free. I watched as they all crowded to the lunch cafeteria with their eating utensils and thermos bottles. The students were all A+ brilliant—but poor. By the late 1990s, China doubled its university capacity and began charging tuition. By 2004 they doubled again. And then again by 2008. Now with 20 times the university capacity, China’s university growth is leveling off because they are producing enough academic talent to serve their future. And they want to maintain academic quality.

That is a lesson that American education policy-makers are ignoring. Not all of our secondary graduates are college-able. Nor do some very capable students desire to pursue an academic career. There is nothing wrong with desiring to be an auto-mechanic, farmer, electrician or plumber. We desperately need those professionals.
But American boards and education gurus do a great disservice when they set arbitrary goals for college-going, or use college attendance as a metric in nation-to-nation competition. This places public institutions under pressure to raise college admissions, retention and graduation rates by any means possible.

When public high schools were put under pressure to raise graduation rates, they did (in many cases by finding methods to graduate every student with a heartbeat).

The pressure on universities comes not only from unrealistic goals from above, but also from the fact that public universities have become more dependent on tuition dollars as states decrease their support.

Across the nation, more schools are advising students into easy courses the first semesters so that marginal students will persist a few semesters longer and pay more tuition before failing. Front-loading of the general education courses delays the more difficult major-field courses. This then makes it difficult to complete the pre-requisite sequences in their major in the remaining two years. That costs the student a fifth year, but provides more tuition to the college.

Although university teachers are supposed to have academic freedom, it is becoming increasingly common for faculty with higher D/W/F rates to be called in and asked by higher administrators “what are you going to do about this?” The main driver in some public universities is now becoming retention and graduation rates. The losers are students and the value of a public university degree—when a good student walks across stage to receive a degree at graduation, only to be followed by several who did very little work to receive the same degree.

By MICHAEL AUSTIN
Kansas Department of Revenue Economist

As a first-time parent, there are times that I truly love to take in with my two-year-old son. Our favorite time of the day, by far, is bath time. As an economist, noticing his excitement as he retrieves his bath toys, I can’t help but to see similarities between the mechanics of bath time and the mechanics of labor markets.

A state’s labor market can behave very much like the water rushing in and out of a bathtub. Water rushing in to fill the tub is like the state seeing job growth and its population finding work. Job loss, intuitively, is like water flowing out of the drain. When job growth remains larger than the job losses, the state is closer to being “full.”

From the worst of the recession to now, private sector jobs in Kansas have grown on average more than 10,000 a year. This led to 2016, in which the state hit an all-time high in jobs and saw the lowest number of unemployed Kansans in 15 years.

Critics have argued that the Kansas job growth rate is slowing relative to other states, or to its previous years. While both statements are accurate, they are not comprehensive.

Understanding labor markets akin to drawing a bath can easily reconcile the state’s performance and these two critiques.

If water rushing from the faucet is to symbolize job growth, then it should be easily understood that the closer the water gets to a satisfactory level, the less water I allow to enter the tub. A state cannot experience robust job growth on to infinity. For a state labor market to be full, job growth must slow.

As for state comparisons, I present this question. Is the water level that my son enjoys at our home, the same water level at yours? Probably not, as the bathtubs in our homes are likely different and so a different water level and flow may be needed to achieve the same satisfaction. In a sense, what works in our bathtub, likely only works in our bathtub.

There is no state that is the exact copy of Kansas. No state that has the exact same industry makeup, worker/unemployed demographics, and/or income distribution, to name a few. The conditions that come together to dictate how and when the labor market is full in Kansas, isn’t easily transferrable to any other state.

Like my son at bath time, Kansans should be proud that our state is reaching a stage in the labor market, where those who want a job can easily find one. This does not mean Kansas is without room for improvement. To be sure, nearly every night my wife tells me the water level in the tub could be just a little higher.

March 17, 2017
Information Hearings: Lansing Correctional Facility and Osawatomie State Hospital
This week the House Appropriations Committee held informational hearings on possible renovation plans for the Lansing Correctional Facility and the Osawatomie State Hospital.

The hearing for the Lansing Correctional Facility, which was held on Tuesday, March 14, focused on the facility’s rising costs. Currently the facility, which was constructed in the 1860s, has the capacity of 2,405 inmates and 686 staff at a cost of $34,542,898 a year. Two plans of renovation were presented to the committee in order to decrease the prison’s cost. One being to build a new prison with bonds and another being a lease to purchase option. Both options increase the facility’s inmate capacity, decrease the number of staff needed by half, and decrease the cost of staff to $20,461,154 a year.

The hearing for the Osawatomie State Hospital was held on March 15. The Osawatomie State Hospital, just as with Lansing Correctional Facility, needs renovations and possible further changes. Seven different options for renovation were presented to the committee. These options differed in approach and value with the least costly option for recertification with a proposed cost of about $4.3 million for the expansion of 206 beds. The option of new construction would cost approximately $33,720,000. In addition to these requests for renovation, recommendations were made to improve the environment were given as well, one being to incentivize professional training and accreditation.

Ad Astra Rural Jobs Act Update
This week House Bill 2168, the Ad Astra Rural Jobs Act was debated and passed on floor of the House of Representatives. This bill provides tax credits to approved investment companies that loan capital to businesses that are wanting to either build new, expand, or relocate to rural Kansas counties and create jobs. This jobs act would specifically identify a rural area of the state as being a city that has a population of 60,000 or less, or could be designated as one by the Secretary of Commerce. This bill would integrate job creation critieria and priorities that would only enhance the Rural Opportunity Zones that was incorporated in 2011. House Bill 2168 passed the House of Representatives on March 14, by a vote of 97 to 22.

House of Representatives in Action: K-12 Education Budget Committee
The House of Representatives formed the K-12 Education Budget Committee to which leadership gave them responsibility to craft a new and constitutionally viable funding formula. The committee has already held many hearings on five different plans and listened to testimony from a variety of stakeholders. It is expected that they will make their proposal to the full House of Representatives by the end of the month. Nearly all observers believe the new finance plan and the Court ruling will require additional funding for K-12 public education. Estimates of the amount vary widely, but are primarily based upon the old formula, which was eliminated in 2015. Until a new formula has been evaluated and adopted, it is difficult to estimate any future cost.

Last weekend, I attended the Midwestern Fiscal Leaders meeting in Chicago where I gained much insight on Education funding throughout the United States and have relayed that information to the chairman of the K-12 Education Budget Committee.

Appropriations Committee
This week the Committee has been finalizing Budget Committee recommendations. The Committee received its last report on Monday, March 13 and next week we will begin to assemble the Mega Appropriations bill.

The Committee has also received Efficiency Study Updates from the Budget Committees. These updates report what Alvarez and Marsal (A & M) projected for savings on the 105 recommendations in the study, specifically those in the purview for that committee. The updates note whether the recommendations have been implemented, if any savings have been realized and the amount realized, and any further comments from the Budget Committees.

The Committee held bill hearings on HB 2362, relating to alcoholic beverage control modernization fee and HB 2340, which transfers actual SGF revenues in excess of a joint estimate to the budget stabilization fund, otherwise referred to as the Rainy Day Fund.

The Committee passed out HB 2180, which involves increasing the health maintenance organization privilege fee.

Executive Order 17-01
On Thursday March 9, Governor Sam Brownback signed Executive Order 17-01. The Executive Order assists fire relief efforts across the state. The Governor declared a state of emergency on March 5. It is estimated that the fires have burned more than 626,000 acres, ranking this fire event as the largest in state history. The Executive Order facilitates the immediate delivery of large quantities of hay, feed, fencing materials, and other relief supplies by waiving certain motor carrier regulations, according to the Governor’s press release. The Governor was in Clark County yesterday, which has been devastated by fire, with 85 percent of the county’s land mass burned.

Donations to help the relief effort can be done in a number of ways. Listed below are just three of many who are assisting those affected by the fires:

• The Kansas Livestock Association has a form set up for donations on its website to support ranchers impacted by the fires: http://www.kla.org/donationform.aspx. They are organizing efforts to provide hay and fencing materials. To make in-kind donations, call the KLA at (785) 273-5115.
• The Kansas Farm Bureau website has information on hay donations, animal disposal, disaster assistance programs, and wildlife recovery resources on its website: https://www.kfb.org/Article/Kansas-wildfirerelief.
• The United Way of the Plains is partnering with the United Way of Reno County and the United Way of Dodge City to respond to the fires. Monetary and material donations can be made. In addition, they will have information on volunteer opportunities on their website: http://www.unitedwayplains.org/how-tohelp-wildfire-victims

The House this week also passed out House Bill 2387, which would provide a sales tax exemption for purchases related to certain property destroyed by the wildfires. This bill would exempt all purchases of tangible personal property and services made to construct, reconstruct, repair, or replace any residence, utility pole owned by a rural electric cooperative, or fence used to enclose land devoted to agricultural use that was damaged or destroyed by wildfires occurring during calendar year 2017. House Bill 2387 passed the Kansas House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 14, 122-0.

Contact Information
As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, visit www.troywaymaster.com or email me at [email protected]. Also, if you happen to visit the statehouse, please let my office know.

It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.

Troy L. Waymaster, (R-Bunker Hill) is the 109th Dist. State Representative and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

When U.S. Representative Roger Marshall defeated incumbent Tim Huelsklamp last summer, commentators anticipated a rejection of Huelskamp’s bombastic, confrontational Tea Party politics, returning instead to a district-centered, low-key Republican like Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, both of whom once represented this same rural “Big First” district in central and western Kansas.

How committed is Marshall to his district? One major test is his stance on repealing the Affordable Care Act. According to the Congressional Budget office, 24 million Americans will lose their health coverage under the Republican bill now working its way through Congress. This includes many Kansans. According to the U.S. Census, the Big First and the Wichita-area 4th district have the highest percentages of Kansans uninsured—nearly 10% in the 1st, considerably higher than in Eastern Kansas.

The Big First also features over 200,000 constituents who get their health insurance from public—that is, government—coverage. Will Marshall look out for them? His infamous quote from last week does not bode well. A doctor, Marshall told the health-care journal STAT, “Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us…’ There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves… morally, spiritually [and] socially.”

Marshall’s comments drew heated reaction as he toured the district last weekend. At a packed Emporia town hall meeting—in a hospital, no less—one constituent who works with the homeless shot back: “The first thing that people want when they come to the shelter is health insurance.”

Other constituents were restive with Marshall’s deflections, and even local doctors who spoke were split on ACA repeal. Marshall’s other town hall meetings also got tense.

In addition, Big First clergy responded to his STAT interview. Pastors from Sterling to Salina told me—in nearly identical language—that Marshall’s interpretation of this scripture was “the opposite of what Jesus intended.” Pastor Caela Wood First Congregational Church in Manhattan, KS, explains, “Jesus was quoting another passage from Deuteronomy about how we treat people with lower income… that’s Jesus’ way of saying, ‘you probably aren’t going to follow that.’”

From Sterling, KS, clergy, I heard, “God is biased toward the poor, powerless, and disenfranchised,” and from Salina, “Jesus is especially attentive to people’s need for healing and hope, for food and care.”

Pastor Andrew McHenry of the First Congregational Church of Emporia added, “Some people (usually wealthy Americans) interpret this not as an observation on the continual opportunity to do ministry with the poor, but as a command to entrench the poor.”

Michael P. Milliken, Episcopal Bishop for Western Kansas, summed it up: “just because Jesus said the poor will always be there doesn’t give us an excuse to look the other way.”

Can Marshall respond meaningfully? Medicaid expansion recently passed the Kansas House with many Republican votes. In Congress, Republicans are defecting from the hasty, ill-conceived ACA “replacement” bill. Opposition includes the conservative Freedom Caucus, a pragmatic Coverage Caucus, and many Republican governors.

The debate over ACA repeal and Medicaid expansion may be the first real test of Marshall’s relationship with his constituents.

Godspeed, Congressman.

Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.

The hate coming from the left since losing the election is unprecedented, as I point out in this letter.

The claws are out, the knives sharpened, even riots are occurring in an effort to destroy a Trump presidency. It seems no stone is unturned to defeat and destroy.

There’s talk of impeachment from leaders of the Democrat Party. I am reading from reputable sources all over the place there is even sabotage. Some of what happens is criminal, probably even treasonous. It’s un-American, worse yet, it is anti-American. Destroying Trump is the same as destroying America as we once knew it.

Voters clearly showed they did not want another four years of Obama with Hillary in the White House continuing down that same liberal socialistic road with a government far too big and too evasive in our lives. Trump clearly gave Americans a different path of restoring this country, yet his opposition has gone ballistic wanting nothing to be different than the past eight years.

For example, all those national protests for every little thing Trump does are not spontaneous ones. They are planned, and protestors are paid by a billionaire felon Hungarian born that visited Obama’s White House too many times to even count. His name is George Soros. Soros, Obama, Hillary and the Dem Party are behind all out efforts to undermine our present government.

Trump talks about draining the swamp and there is no doubt we need to clean house. There are Obama loyalists in every government agency imaginable. That even includes our intelligence agencies such as the CIA and FBI. Felony crimes are being committed all over the place within our government in the way of leaks to the press to sabotage Trump.

As I see it, the unhinged liberals of the Democrat Party (and it is liberals that control it) will literally stop at nothing to, not only delegitimize Trump, but overthrow his presidency. In desperation, they are making mountains out of mole hills, even when there aren’t even mole hills.

Democrats are like the proverbial wounded tiger. They are in panic mode. True, a democracy depends on constructive criticism coming from an opposition party, but nothing constructive is forthcoming. At this rate, with self destruction in full display, we may be looking at a Republican Party in full control for years to come as Democrats are doing everything to lose elections.

But, that’s not to say, we need not be concerned. As Trump supporters, we have lots to be worried about.

Obama has set up shop near the Trump White House as a community organizer of all things since that’s what he used to do before becoming president. He is taking in millions of donations from Trump haters to organize an army of agitators numbering somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000. In addition to this army, he has set up some 250 offices around the country to fight the new president.

Is this a third term for Obama and a first term for Trump? Makes one wonder? Most past presidents leave D.C., not so with Obama as he sets up what has been called his “shadow government.”

It is not politics as usual going from one presidency to another. Trump haters are out for blood. When, in this great country’s history, have the losing party, the losing candidate, and the past president engaged in such evil, unethical, and immoral behavior of sabotaging our present government.

What shocks me to the core, besides the leftist hate, is the stupidity (pardon my use of this word) the Democrat Party is engaging in. This party is shooting itself in the foot.
They have lost their minds. They are self destructing. If they think their current behavior will lead to regaining control of our government in four years, think again people.

The writing is on the wall. When you look at the 1,000 plus elections lost during eight years of the Obama administration, and his party is doubling down by moving even further to the left, how in the good Lord’s name do Dems expect to win back the confidence of mainstream Americans who turned away from leftist’s liberalism last November? Dems will continue to lose the presidency, seats in our U.S. congress, seats in state legislatures, even governorships.

Another shocker is that America’s mainstream media is right in there with Dems supporting all that they do. As I said in a previous letter, media is the kiss of death for Dems in that they don’t hold them accountable for anything – while the public sees the partisanship and votes the other way – the Trump way.

Les Knoll lives in Victoria and Gilbert, Ariz.

Everyone becomes a little bit Irish on March 17. It’s the day we enjoy the traditional corned beef and cabbage and green beer of St Patrick’s Day. All over the world, thousands of kettles of cabbage will be boiled with beef (or bacon or ham or potatoes) for a traditional feast.

We need to go back to the old country to understand how cabbage became entwined with Irish food traditions. Cabbage gained its fame in 17th century Ireland because many farmers and rural poor relied on it for food during that time period. It was nutritious, grew well in the climate and was cheap to produce. During the great “Potato Famine” in 1845 when blight nearly wiped out the entire potato crop, many turned to cabbage for survival instead, eating an average of 65 pounds per person per year.

Although corned beef and cabbage is considered a traditional Irish dish now, the meal was more likely cabbage served with bacon or ham in the beginning. Pork was much more affordable in rural Ireland than cured beef which was considered to be a luxury for the wealthier classes.

As Irish immigrants came to America to escape poverty and famine, they brought their food preferences and recipes with them. In America, many Irish immigrants settled in large cities like New York and Boston, often near Jewish communities. There they had trouble finding bacon so they substituted the plentiful and affordable corned beef of their Jewish neighbors.

It’s reported that the bars of New York in the early 20th century would offer free dinners of corned beef and cabbage to Irish workers who came in after laboring all day on building sites in the city. It was a profitable situation since the meal was relatively cheap to prepare and the workers would still have to buy drinks to get their free (salty and thirst-inducing) dinner.

If you enjoy an Irish holiday feast that includes cabbage, you won’t be alone. St. Patrick’s Day is the biggest holiday for fresh green cabbage consumption in America, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But don’t limit your intake of cabbage to just one day a year. There are countless ways to prepare it and it is so good for you. It belongs to the family of cruciferous vegetables– plants named for the four equal-sized petals in its flowers resembling a cross– which trace their roots to a wild mustard ancestor. The family also includes broccoli, brussel sprouts, bok choy, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, rutabagas and turnips, to name just a few. No other vegetable group is as high in vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and fiber as cruciferous vegetables. As a group, one reference called them simply “superstars of good nutrition.”

Besides their conventional nutrients, cabbage-family vegetables are also very high in phytonutrients with powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties which can help to reduce the risk of certain cancers.

Cabbage and its cruciferous relatives are versatile, too. It’s difficult to find another vegetable family in which as many different parts of the food are consumed. We commonly eat the flowers of the plants (for example, cauliflower and broccoli), the leaves and leaf buds (kale, collard greens, cabbage and Brussels sprouts), the stems and stalks (kohlrabi and bok choy), the roots (turnips, radishes and rutabagas) and the seeds (such as mustard seeds.)

With an abundance of nutrients and disease-fighting compounds provided at an extremely economical price, cabbage should be eaten more than once a year. Add some to your favorite salads, soups, stews, casseroles, main dishes and side dishes to reap huge benefits. After all, cabbage isn’t just for St. Patrick’s Day– its benefits should be enjoyed year round.

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Safe usage of herbicides and pesticides is a practice today’s farmers take seriously. To apply these chemicals, ag producers must attend classes and pass tests to become certified as applicators.

Mother Nature has been whetting farmers’ appetites with warm temperatures, and listening to them talk, they’re raring to move into the fields to prepare for next fall’s crops. It won’t be long until huge grasshopper-like sprayers roll across Kansas fields.

Filled with herbicides, mixed with water, they’ll slowly empty the chemicals so corn, milo and soybeans can later grow without competition from weeds. Before long insecticides will be applied to fields from southeastern Kansas to the farms northwest. Applications of these pesticides should help control crop-nibbling critters in an attempt to raise yields next harvest.

Farmers work closely with crop consultants and local extension service specialists when applying herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers. They’ve cut their uses significantly in recent years. With the prices of agricultural inputs, they cannot afford to put on more than needed.

Rarely does a year go by when a change in usage of chemicals doesn’t impact crop producers. Farmers conscientiously adhere to federally approved label directions if they want to continue using chemicals.
Farmers work hard to safely apply pesticides within guidelines set by the federal government and manufacturers. Unfortunately, they are sometimes blamed or singled out as the cause of pollution, especially in our state’s waterways.

Without question, pesticides must continually be tested. It is important to update all pesticide registrations, to ensure their effectiveness and safety. Any new regulations should take into consideration the needs of people who handle and apply them, as well as the safety of those products.

Farmers understand chemical use and treat them with care. After all, they are the first ones to come in contact with them.

From planting through harvest, farmers do their best to provide nutritious, safe food. They battle weather, weeds, insects and disease. Their own efficiency is their best defense against unstable world markets, political barriers and fringe groups who attack their farming methods – yet know little about their profession.
Farmers remain devoted to safeguarding their farms, families and the environment while providing consumers with the safest food in the world.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

Click to play the audio or read below.

When my birth was announced in May of 1930, there were only four radio stations on the air in the entire state of Kansas, Doc Brinkley’s station notwithstanding. 

My family out there in Ford County could hear only one of them with any regularity, and that was WIBW in Topeka which threw a clear signal all the way out to Bucklin and the rest of the nearby population who happened to own a radio receiver.
 Back in those days, just about the only kind of radio programming was live, meaning that what you heard was not recorded, but was occurring at that moment. 

WIBW hired talented musicians, singers and instrumentalists whose programs were performed through the facilities of the station.  From sign on until noon, nearly everything was live on WIBW.
 I must have been 5 or 6 years old when I listened intently to Oly play his accordion and Miss Maudie played all kinds of music on the piano. 

Edmund Denny, the blind tenor, had a magnificent voice and would sing just about any requested song.  All morning long, those musicians and others entertained a very large audience with live radio transmissions to the residents of Kansas.  At noon, a gentleman by the name of Elmer Curtis delivered the news, and we all felt better about life during the Dust Bowl days.
 

Actually, there were a handful of radio stations on the air before WIBW but we couldn’t get them. KFH in Wichita signed on in 1922, and KFDI in Wichita joined them in 1923. WREN in Topeka, owned by Alf Landon, came along in 1926.  Up the road about 25 miles from our house, KGNO, (Kansas grows no oranges) joined the radio scene in Dodge City on June 30, 1930. For whatever reason, we didn’t listen much to them, mainly because we loved the music from WIBW, which made it’s inaugural broadcast on May 8, 1927.
 

Today, I would hesitate to guess how many radio stations strive to entertain and inform Kansans. The Federal Communications Commission licenses and regulates them all and with the advent of FM, dozens and dozens more have been added to the fold.  
 

When I was President of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters in 1969-70, I visited every radio station in the state. It wasn’t because I was required to, it was because I wanted to, and I took a picture of every station.  My wife and I, sometimes with kids in tow, took a half a dozen stints at seeing them and to let them know that their Association was working in their behalf.
 

One late afternoon, we dropped in on a station in extreme Southeastern Kansas and could not find anyone around. A long-playing record was spinning on the turntable in the control room, but we could find no one to talk to. I took a picture of the building to prove I was there.
  

Radio has done much to entertain, inform, and educate the public since it’s inception so long ago.  As a teenager on the farm, I remember sleeping on the front porch at night because it was so hot inside. I would turn on the radio located just inside the door and listen to the live, late night Big Band dance parties in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York. It never entered my 13 year old mind that I would soon embark upon a 55 year career in the broadcasting industry, and enjoy every minute of it!

Kay Melia is a longtime broadcaster, author and garden in northwest Kansas.

Tuesday, March 7, the Senate debated for several hours on the Governor’s tax proposal.

The Governor requested a ‘full and fair airing’ of his tax plan after he vetoed HB 2178 last month. The Governor’s proposal lacks support in the Senate and the Senate tax committee had trouble getting the bill out of committee even without any recommendations for passage. A motion to amend the Governor’s bill, which allowed for losses to be carried forward was proposed and approved.

The Senate then choose to debate the bill in five separate pieces, requiring us to debate and vote on each piece separately. On a voice vote the Senate voted down the first three provisions. Before the Senate could debate and vote on the final two provisions, there was a motion to “strike the enacting clause,” which killed the bill. This motion passed 37-1.

His proposal consisted of:
Increasing the tobacco tax by $1
Increasing the liquor tax from 8% to 16%
Freezing the bottom tax rate at 2.7%
Increasing the annual report fee for all for-profit business entities from $40 to $200 in FY 2018 and requiring anyone who owns 5% or more of the business to pay a $200 fee.
Requiring LLC’s to pay taxes on passive income from rents and royalties

Even with the above provisions, this bill would not have raised enough revenue to pull the state out of its current deficit.

The Governor’s proposed bill again relies on band aid fixes for an ongoing long-term revenue problem. His proposal to use the tobacco settlement for a one-time fix would jeopardize our early childhood developmental programs and is unacceptable to the Senate. The State receives approximately $50 million a year from the tobacco company’s settlement. This program is the most efficient state program. For every dollar we spend we receive $12 in return.

As I have mentioned in the past, the majority of the Senate and I feel we need a structural fix. The Senate will continue to work to produce a budget that provides stability and predictability for all Kansans.

The rescission bill will be debated next week. The rescission bill is necessary to balance the 2017 budget, which had a projected deficit in November of $350 million. Revenues have come in ahead of projections for the last several months and the projected shortfall is now approximately $280 million. There are only two ways to handle the rescission bill with cuts or borrowing money from the State’s investment pool. A rescission bill has passed the House that will rely on borrowing from the investment pool.

The town hall meetings held this weekend in Hays and Ellis were well attended. Thank you to all those for attending.

Weekly Overview
Gannon v. Kansas Supreme Court Ruling
Late last week, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on the Gannon v. Kansas case, regarding the constitutional equity and adequacy of K-12 public education funding. The Court ruled that K-12 education funding is unconstitutional, and noted that 25 percent of all Kansas students aren’t meeting Rose Standards, a series of targets students must meet to be considered at “grade level.”

The Court’s ruling was broad and reaffirmed what the legislature already believed to be true: legislators are the state’s chief policy makers and money appropriators. While the Court did not specify how much, if any, additional money must be funneled into public schools to meet its standards of constitutional funding, the Court did mandate that the legislature create a new, equitable and adequate school finance formula by June 30, when the current block-grant funding formula expires.

It’s important to note that at the beginning of the year, the Kansas Senate set a self-imposed deadline to pass a structurally balanced budget that would, in turn, help create and fund an equitable school finance formula – all by the end of this legislative session. Senate President Wagle on Wednesday announced the creation of a Special Committee on Education Finance. The group of Senators assembled in this committee represent a diverse group from across the state – both rural and urban areas.

Senate Floor Action
SB 175 – The Governor’s Tax Proposal
On Tuesday, the Kansas Senate debated and voted on Governor Brownback’s tax proposal to the legislature. This proposal included increasing the tobacco tax by $1.00 a pack, increasing the liquor tax from 8% to 16%, freezing the bottom tax rate at 2.7%, instead of allowing it to drop to 2.6% as written in 2012, increasing the annual report fee for all for-profit business entities from $40 to $200 beginning in FY 2018 (and requiring anyone who owns 5% or more of the business to pay a $200 fee) and requiring LLCs to pay taxes on passive income from rents and royalties. During floor action, a motion was offered to divide the bill into separate parts, requiring us to debate and vote on each piece separately. The bill was divided into five pieces, and on voice vote, the Senate voted down the first three provisions. Before the Senate could debate and vote on the final two provisions, there was a rarely-used motion to “strike the enacting clause,” which would essentially kill the bill. This motion passed 37-1.

While the Senate has been working on crafting other tax proposals, the Governor explicitly requested a ‘full and fair airing’ of his tax plan after the legislature presented and Governor Brownback vetoed HB 2178 last month. Based off that request, the Kansas Senate debated the Governor’s tax proposal.

Watch the next coming weeks for other tax bills including a flat single rate or a tax bill with multiple ideas combined with alternatives to the LLC provision in current law.

Pages for Session 2017 – February 23rd
Alex and Austin Kaufmann, Concordia and Grant and Gage Amerin, Clifton, paged on Thursday, February 23rd for the Kansas Senate. In addition to running errands for the Senators during session, they toured the Capitol on the Historic and Dome tours and worked in my office with Legislative Intern Micayla Pachta.

North Central Kansas Honor Flight – June 15-17, 2017
CHS honor students (guardians) again will be assisting the NCK Honor Flight riders to Washington DC. If you know a World War II or Korean Veteran who would like to be a Rider, please call Bev Mortimer at (785) 243-0836 for an application or additional information. Applications should be submitted by April 1st. There is NO charge for the veteran.

From the State Library
Consumer Health Complete covers all areas of health and wellness. Did your doctor prescribe a new medication? Recently diagnosed with diabetes? Look it up here. Designed for the everyday consumer, this online database offers popular reference books, medical encyclopedias, fact sheets, and magazine articles. This full text database covers topics such as aging, nutrition, cancer, fitness, drugs & alcohol, even yoga. You can find more information at http://kslib.info/ConHealth.

Thank You for Engaging
Thank you for all of your calls, emails, and letters regarding your thoughts and concerns about happenings in Kansas. Constituent correspondence helps inform my decision-making process and is taken into great consideration when I cast my vote in the Kansas Senate. As always, I’ll keep you updated on the activities of the Senate while we continue through the last few weeks before the break this spring. I always encourage you to stay informed of the issues under consideration by the Kansas Legislature. Committee schedules, bills, and other helpful information can be easily accessed through the legislature’s website at www.kslegislature.org. You are also able to ‘listen in live’ at this website. The House meets at 11:00AM and the Senate at 2:30. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and suggestions. An email is the best at this point in the session.

Thank you for the honor of serving you!

Senator Elaine Bowers
Kansas State Capitol Building
Room 223-E
300 SW 10th St.
Topeka, KS 66612
[email protected]
785 296-7389

Sen. Elaine Bowers (R-Concordia) serves the 36th Dist. which includes Osborne, Rooks, Russell, and portions of Phillips counties.