Early this past Sunday morning, at the last minute, Kansas legislators passed a school funding bill of more than $500 million. The Supreme Court must still rule on its constitutionality, but the frantic maneuvering of last week allows Kansans to understand a lot about state politics as we head toward the end of the session and the 2018 elections.

#1. In contrast to 2017, when Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning joined with House Speaker Ron Ryckman to provide steady, even bold, leadership to override Governor Sam Brownback’s veto of income tax increases, the Senate remained adrift and leaderless up through the last moments of the 2018 regular session. President Susan Wagle remained incapable of leading her chamber, and Sen. Denning this year accompanied her in various strange and unproductive maneuvers that could well have derailed stopped the legislative process, despite the clear need to address the Supreme Court’s mandate on school funding.

After delaying the proceedings to demand passage of an unwise, unpassable constitutional amendment to strip the Court’s authority to require school funding, Denning joined Wagle to offer a low-ball, $250 million school finance figure that the Court would have rejected out of hand. Last year’s statesman, cited as a “best state legislator” by Governing magazine, took an unproductive, far-right turn in addressing the session’s top issue.

#2. Under pressure, bipartisan coalitions narrowly prevailed in both chambers. In the House, some Democrats opposed the final education bill because it did not spend enough, but the moderate Republican-Democratic coalition squeaked by. Notably, Speaker Ryckman provided the 63rd vote, as moderate Republicans made the difference.

#3. Although Governor Jeff Colyer endorsed the $500 million-plus House bill, he offered little leadership in pressing the Senate to make a deal. Sam Brownback did receive a bit of credit for suggesting $600 million in his January State of the State address, but that merely reflected the session-long conventional wisdom that $500-600 million would be a minimum to satisfy the Court.

#4. Governor Colyer, by backing the House bill, differentiated his position from that of Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has been consistently willing to confront the Court and create a constitutional crisis. Colyer is saying, in essence, “I’m conservative, but I’m not willing to throw the state under a bus.” Kobach would drive the bus.

#5. Election threats failed. Senate President Wagle weighed in, threatening Senate chairs if they voted for the bill, and she and her Chamber of Commerce allies conjured up the vision of legions of far-right primary candidates who would receive generous funding to oppose House Republicans’ supporting the $500 million figure. These threats may be real, but 2018 scarcely seems a year to encourage GOP challenges in either primaries or the general election.

#6. Finally, and unsurprisingly, the school finance legislation has proved technically deficient, in that it appropriates $80 million less than the Legislature originally assumed. Given the pressure-cooker politics of the session’s last few days, this is understandable, but it demonstrates the dangers of rushed legislation. Rather than make a bunch of head feints, the Senate could have carefully worked the bill, but its leadership chose not to.

In a session with few notable leaders and increasing rancor, passing a funding package is significant. The bruising process demonstrated, however, that (a) the Kansas Legislature has not abandoned its highly partisan, unproductive ways of the 2011-2016 period and (b) the 2018 state legislative elections will be extremely important for the direction of the state.

Burdett Loomis is an emeritus professor at the University of Kansas.

December 5, 2016 our family met with a cancer doctor. She confirmed our fears, our Judy had terminal cancer, giving her around six months to live. That doctor didn’t know the amount of character, strength and determination Judy had.

Hospice Services was mentioned at that appointment and we somewhat turned a deaf ear to that suggestion. We are a strong, private family. We’d handle this chapter ourselves at home just like Judy wanted.

Seven months later, Judy was still fighting the fight, teaching us all how to die with dignity mixed with a little humor. As a family, we decided it was time to allow Hospice in to her home and our lives. Hospice was called in and even though we were dealing with this demon called cancer, we are here to tell you, our lives changed for the better when they came on board.

Our hospice team from Phillipsburg consisted of a doctor who visited Judy a few times at her home, a nurse, a social worker and later, a grief support team. Bringing this team into our lives was the best decision we made through this thirteen month journey.

From July 2017 through January 4th, 2018, our team came twice a week, staying with us as long as we needed them. They helped us find medicines to help Judy as well as assisted each one of us deal with our emotions and on going grief through this dying process. Most importantly, this hospice team assisted in fulfilling Judy’s wish to stay home through the illness and to die in her home surrounded by family.

On January 4th, 2018, the Good Lord called Judy home. Our hospice doctor came to visit Judy in the morning, when Judy asked how long she had, he answered a few hours to a couple of days. Judy chose a few hours. Our hospice nurse was with her and the family for 24 hours. The nurse continued to medicate Judy to keep her comfortable and explained the changes we were seeing in Judy as well as helping us deal with the emotions we were all going through.

Death, as we all know, is unpleasant, whether it happens fast or slow. We encourage you to invite a hospice team into your home and your lives if you or a loved one is facing a terminal illness. You will not regret having a support team to help the patient and the family through the journey.

It has been four months since Judy left us and our grief support team continues to check in on us and will do so up to two years.

Thank you hospice, may God continue to guide you and strengthen you all as you act as angels on this Earth.

The family of Judy Phillips
Bert Phillips, Travis and Monique Phillips and family, Steven and Nikki Hausler and family


Are you by chance wanting to get your tomatoes up and growing earlier than usual?

If you would like to have your tomato plants produce earlier in the year, there are certain things to keep in mind. Most people who try to get a jump on the season set their tomatoes out early and hope they do well. However, that may not be the best of plans, as tomatoes need certain requirements before they will grow well.  Those requirements are an acceptable soil temperature for root growth and an acceptable air temperature for both plant growth and fruit set.

Root Growth: Tomatoes need a soil temperature of at least 550 F to do well. Plastic mulch is most commonly used to warm the soil. Several days may be needed to raise the soil temperature. Check the soil temperature 2.5 inches deep in the soil at about 11:00 a.m. If that is not possible, check the temperature before leaving for work and again when you return and use the average of the two. It is best to lay a drip irrigation line before installing the plastic to make watering more convenient. (On laying down plastic, see the article below.)

Air Temperature: Plants must be protected from frost. Hot caps or water teepees are placed over the young plants to provide protection as well as provide a higher average temperature to encourage growth. Eventually the plants will outgrow the cover and start to develop flowers. But if the temperature goes below 550 F at night, tomato flowers may not set. The plant is not hurt, but the blossom will not set fruit, or, if it does set fruit, the fruit is often misshapen.


How early can you transplant into beds with plastic mulch? Start with a date about 2 weeks earlier than normal.

Laying Plastic Mulch
Plastic mulch is used often by commercial farmers, as well as home gardeners. Its employment is beneficial in controlling moisture levels around the root zone, as well as reducing and controlling weed infestations. It is also used to start vegetables such as tomatoes and melons earlier than normal.  Commercial growers use a machine to lay the mulch, but home gardeners must do this by hand.  Following are some tips on how this is done.

1. Fertilize according to soil test. You won’t be able to add fertilizer after the plastic is down.

2. Work the soil so that the bed can be easily shaped.
3. Use a garden hoe to form a trench along all edges of the plastic. The soil should be pulled to the outside of the bed. The trench should be formed six inches in from the edge of the plastic and extend along both sides and both ends. The trench should be deep and wide enough to bury six inches of plastic.

4. Lay a drip irrigation tube down the center of the bed. This isn’t absolutely necessary but it makes it much easier to water. Overhead watering will hit the plastic and roll off.

5. Lay the plastic down and cover the edges with soil. You need to slit the edge of the
plastic where the trickle irrigation tube enters the end of the bed.
6. Plant when the soil temperature reaches the correct temperature for the crop (550 F for tomatoes and 600 F for melons) at a 2.5-inch depth. Check the temperature at about 11:00 a.m. to get a good average temperature. Check for several days in a row to ensure the temperature is stable. And, have fun!

Rip Winkel is the Horticulture agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by e-mail at [email protected] or calling either 785-682-9430, or 620-793-1910.

Life happens, an expression used in part to describe situations that distract us from our plans. Sometimes those distractions lead us down new, exciting paths. Sometimes not. I think about that phrase, “life happens,” often in my own life. It reminds me to be reflective, resilient, and make a plan for my next step – not my whole life.

When I went off to college, my mom gave me great advice. She said, “Take one class and each semester at a time. Work hard. No matter what happens, no one will be able to take away the classes you completed.” When college got challenging, I remembered those words, dug down deep and kept going to class – completing my degree one day at a time.

Over the years, as I focused my career on paying forward the opportunity to earn a degree, I came to realize that sometimes the challenges people face in college require them, for all the right reasons, to “stop out” – to pause rather than to quit. Indeed, life happens. But the great thing about a college education, as my mom reminded me, is that the door of opportunity always remains open. That is especially true at Fort Hays State University – an institution focused on heart and home.

While we respect students’ decisions to stop out, we remind them that at FHSU the door of opportunity is always open. Our university is home – a home where we care about our students, their hopes and dreams. That front door is sort of an antidote to “life happens” by providing a renewed opportunity and a plan. We accomplish this through our Tiger Comeback program.

Tiger Comeback re-engages Fort Hays State students who had to stop out. This is a proactive campaign, checking in with our Tigers periodically to see if now is the time to return. In 2010, our first outreach initiative resulted in 115 students coming back to FHSU. That is incredible!

As we continue to develop the program, we are grateful for a new partnership with the Dane G. Hansen Foundation that builds on an initiative begun by a donation from Dolores Borgstadter. This funding supplements FHSU support services and helps Tiger Comeback students to the finish line by providing scholarships that make that reentry goal even more attainable.

Take for example FHSU student Michelle Prewo. When life happened, Michelle made some important decisions – one being to stop out of her education at Fort Hays State. Stopping out does not mean dropping out – a reality that she took to heart. In her own words:

Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I used to be overwhelmed at the thought of changing the world. I thought it seemed like a task that was way too big, so what was the point of trying? However, I have learned that by starting small with myself, I can make changes that will make me a better person and that can create ripples of change which can then change the world. One change I need to make for myself is to complete my bachelor’s degree, which will empower me to continue to change the world.

After reviewing my transcript, I will have 9 credit hours to pass in order to obtain a Bachelor of General Studies degree with a business emphasis. I believe I can handle one class in each of the next three semesters to complete my degree.

While I do want to change the world, obtaining my degree would be more personal than that even. I have always felt slightly inferior because I didn’t finish my degree. It makes me feel like a quitter. I feel like a hypocrite when I try to teach my children not to quit. Finally finishing my degree would give me a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Also, I do worry about my ability to provide for my family since I don’t have a degree. It would definitely give me a sense of peace knowing that if something happened in my current position, that my chances for other, good quality employment would be greatly enhanced by having a degree.

Please help me finish my education so that together, we can change the world.

I am so proud of FHSU for investing in our students throughout their lives and not ever giving up on their educational dreams. I am also very proud of Michelle, who will complete her degree next fall through reflection, resilience, and making a plan. Michelle will indeed change our world.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Protecting the rights of crime victims is a high priority, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said Wednesday in a news release.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Kansas is joining advocates from across the state in recognizing National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 8-14, 2018.

“As a society we must not lose sight of the costs and suffering that crime inflicts on those who are victims,” McAllister said. “Many organizations — federal, state and local — provide support and services to the victims of crime. The Constitution creates and requires recognition of several rights for those accused of crime, and rightly so. But our society also must recognize the dignity of the victims of crime, strive to ease the pain and loss many have suffered, and fully support victims’ legitimate interest in seeing justice done.”

McAllister said victim assistance staff members will be participating in the 21st Annual Crime Victims’ Rights Conference in Topeka, April 11 and 12. In coming months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be co-hosting the 2018 Indian Country Conference in Omaha, Neb., May 9-10, and hosting the 2018 Human Trafficking Conference in Manhattan, Kan., July 10-11.

Events across the nation this week recognize the Crime Victim’s Rights Act, which guarantees victims protection from an accused, accurate and timely information about court proceedings and the right to be treated with fairness and respect for their dignity and privacy.

Each year in April, the Department of Justice and United States Attorney’s Offices observe National Crime Victims’ Rights Week nationwide by taking time to honor victims of crime and those who advocate on their behalf. In addition, the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Offices take part in events to honor the victims and advocates, as well as bring awareness to services available to victims of crime. This year’s theme is Expand the Circle: Reach All Victims.

The U.S. Department of Justice will host the Office for Victims of Crime’s annual National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 13, 2018, to honor outstanding individuals and programs that serve victims of crime.

The Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, within the Office of Justice Programs, leads communities across the country in observing National Crime Victims’ Rights Week each year. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in 1981 to bring greater sensitivity to the needs and rights of victims of crime.

The Office of Justice Programs provides innovative leadership to federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems, by disseminating state-of-the art knowledge and practices across America, and providing grants for the implementation of these crime-fighting strategies. Because most of the responsibility for crime control and prevention falls to law enforcement officers in states, cities, and neighborhoods, the federal government can be effective in these areas only to the extent that it can enter into partnerships with these officers.

More information about the Office of Justice Programs and its components can be found at https://ojp.gov/. More information about Crime Victim’s Rights Week can be found at https://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ncvrw/. You may also contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas’ Victim Witness Program at 316-269-6481.

Those of you who know my family are not surprised that we are avid K-State fans, showing our purple pride every chance we get. Besides cheering the sports teams on, I appreciate the connection I have had for nearly 30 years working for K-State Research & Extension. It is exciting to be able to bring research based information to help improve your family’s quality of life.

Today, though, the power of purple I am referring to is purple foods. The more color you put on your plate, the better – especially when it is purple. Foods with a rich hue, such as blueberries, grapes, purple cabbage, or eggplant may health heart health, blood pressure, and obesity. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES) shows that adults who eat purple and blue fruits and vegetables have reduced risk for both high blood pressure and low HDL cholesterol, which is the “good” kind. These adults were also less likely to be overweight.

So, what makes purple food so special? The magic is found in the compounds that give purple foods their color, called anthocyanins. They are antioxidants that help protect against cell damage and help reduce inflammation. Anthocyanins are believed to also prevent some cancers and diabetes, and can improve memory.

While the benefits of purple and blue foods are widely known, they make up only 3 percent of the average American’s fruit and vegetable intake. Here are a few tips to purple-up your diet.

• Swap traditional iceberg lettuce for dark green, purple, and red leaves that boost the phytonutrients and offer more flavor and texture.
• Blueberries are rock stars among purple foods. enjoy them fresh or frozen. Added to smoothies or oatmeal, they provide a powerful way to start your day. Enjoy them as a snack, add them to salads and baked foods, or make a berry crisp.
• Offer carrots in a variety of colors for your family to taste. Purple carrots are best served fresh or roasted as they will lose much of their gorgeous color when boiled.
• Look for purple varieties of common vegetables at the grocery store, such as potatoes, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes. Use purple cabbage in any recipe that calls for greens.
• Grow purple varieties of vegetables in your garden like onions, potatoes, peppers and carrots.

Donna Krug is the Family & Consumer Science Agent and District Director for the Cottonwood Extension District – Great Bend Office. You may reach her at: (620)793-1910 or [email protected]

When people in rural Kansas talk to me about a farm crisis or economic depression, they unfortunately aren’t talking about the dust bowl of the 1930s or farm credit crisis of the 1980s – they’re talking about the ongoing crisis in farm country today where low commodity prices and severe drought have pushed many agricultural producers to the edge of an economic cliff. America’s trade relationships are, now more than ever, tied to the success of rural America, and we must make certain we negotiate responsibly so that our farmers and ranchers can continue to make a living by feeding and clothing the world.

Farm commodity prices have hovered at or below the cost of production for nearly half a decade, wiping out farmers’ savings and forcing many producers to take on more debt to keep family operations alive. Each morning, my office posts daily commodity prices from across Kansas for visitors to see, such as the price of wheat in Colby and price of soybeans in Hiawatha. The prices show what farmers receive per bushel of grain at the local elevator, but they also reflect the financial lifeblood of these towns and the thousands of rural communities across the country that are suffering due to the current farm disaster. These commodity prices are often a topic of conversation between visitors to my office, and more often than not, these Kansans have personally felt – or know someone who has – the strain of this recession.

In addition to alarmingly low prices, we’ve received little to no rain across much of the high plains for months. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 24 Kansas counties as primary natural disaster areas so far due to severe drought conditions – and I’m working with my colleagues to extend and expand these designations as conditions don’t seem to be improving. While above-average yields the past several years have helped farmers and ranchers survive low commodity prices, I fear low prices, plus a drought, may be more than many producers can withstand.

Recently I was in Kensington, Kan., when I drove past such a large grain pile on the ground waiting for mouths to feed that I was compelled to pull over and take a photo. I’ve kept the photo with me ever since and have used it as a visual reminder of the reality our Kansas farmers face. In meetings with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, USTR representatives and numerous Kansas farmers, the reaction has been the same: How do we fix this?

First and foremost, we must have a solid path toward an end result in our trade negotiations with China. We cannot escalate a fight between a significant purchaser of what we produce in Kansas with no real end goal. My hope is that this is a negotiating tactic, but the efforts we see now suggest more than that, as they keep being ramped up by both countries: the United States imposes tariffs, China responds. The United States imposes tariffs, China responds. Then United States responds to that, and so on. In addition, we ought not forget about recent ill-advised tariffs on solar cells, washing machines and steel and aluminum that have resulted in our farmers and ranchers – through no fault of their own – being caught in the middle of an escalating trade dispute with China and other global trading partners.

Frustratingly, the administration continues to push trade policies that threaten to further drive down farm prices and extend the recession in rural America into the foreseeable future. For example, TPP negotiations has put American agricultural exports at a disadvantage to foreign competitors, and contentious NAFTA renegotiations with Canada and Mexico, which alternate between being the number one market for agricultural products in Kansas, are no closer to being resolved. Our economy in Kansas is dependent on the ability of our farmers, ranchers and manufacturers to trade their products. In 2016, Kansas exported more than $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products, which supported more than 36,000 jobs and generated more than $5.7 billion in economic activity, making these negotiations all the more important.

The responsibility to respond to the farm disaster falls to both the administration and Congress. First, we ought to stop self-inflicting wounds on trade. Tough enforcement of trade rules is a good idea, especially when it comes to dealing with China, but a trade war is not. Instead, the president ought to build off his success from last year in negotiating access for American beef to China by directing his administration to aggressively pursue bilateral trade agreements and other opportunities to expand agricultural exports. For Congress, passing a new farm bill that strengthens the farm safety net, protects crop insurance and invests in trade promotion programs must be on top of the to-do list.

Agricultural producers are no strangers to tough times. Resiliency is a necessary and defining character trait of those who have passed down family-owned farming and ranching operations for generations. These American producers have learned to live with challenges outside of their control, such as weather and global markets, but also spring to action when they can improve their situations. Congress and the administration ought to take to heart the same lesson – we can’t make it rain or dictate prices, but through sound policies, especially on trade, our nation can better respond to the disaster in farm country and improve the livelihoods of American farmers and ranchers.

Jerry Moran represents Kansas in the U.S. Senate and is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

April 6, 2018

Education Bill Passes the House
After the education finance bill, House Bill 2445, failed on Monday afternoon, on Tuesday April 3, we debated the same bill. The major components of the education finance bill are to address the opinion from the Kansas Supreme Court from October 2, 2017, that the current financing for K-12 education is unconstitutional.

The major provision in HB 2445, is the increase to the base state aid for student excellence (BASE). This amount will increase to $4,006 for the 2017-2018 school year, $4,128 for 2018-2019, $4,190 for 2019-2020, $4,253 for 2020-2021, and then an estimated $4,317 in 2021-2022. Beginning in the 2019-2020 school years, the estimates for the BASE will be based from the Midwest consumer price index.

Items that will not change under the current law are virtual students, special education, and the 20-mill levy. The local option budget will be renamed the local foundation budget. With these changes, this bill adds over $500 million to K-12 education.

The House made progress this week regarding K-12 education finance, though it appears that HB 2445 has stalled in the Senate. Yesterday, the Senate passed their education bill, Senate Bill 423, which differs from our House bill.

Constitutional Amendment Change
This week, the House Judiciary committee heard testimony on House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 5029, which would change the article in the Kansas Constitution regarding education finance. There has been some ambiguity regarding the current language and what exactly does “suitable” mean. I submitted testimony with the House Taxation and Education Chairman expressing our concern with the current language. We were proponents to changing the state constitution to hopefully end the constant litigation that our state has found itself in for decades. Although we did not necessarily support the language in HCR 5029, we support the premise of new constitutional language that the people of Kansas could then vote on.

April Break, Then Veto-Session
Although we will be working through the weekend, this week marks the final week where the legislative branch debated many bills before we go on our April break. Many pieces of legislation remain that we will need to further discuss when we return on April 26 for what is referred to as Veto-Session. The state budget will be the main topic of discussion when we return. Many items have been delayed that we will discuss in more detail when we receive the new tax estimates from the Consensus Revenue Estimate (CRE) Group. They will release these new tax estimates on April 20.

On April 25, the Appropriations Committee will hold a joint meeting with the Ways and Means Committee of the Senate. We will then have a detailed explanation of the new CRE numbers, information on any budget adjustments from Governor Colyer, and those items that we decided in committee to address once we have the new CRE numbers. Some of those items include pay increases for state employees and the Judicial Branch, Transportation spending, and KPERS, just to name a few.

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.

Just imagine that three months after being sworn in as governor, the Kansas Legislature decided to make Jeff Colyer essentially the king of Kansas — for nine days.

As king, of course, you can sign bills into law, veto bills, scratch out any of the hundreds of line items for spending in the upcoming budget bill.

In the past, lawmakers have always made sure that once they have completed their entire session and sent bills to the governor, they later have a day—called sine die adjournment — in which they can consider gubernatorial vetoes and override them if they believe the governor has made a bad decision.

That’s the Legislature’s final check on the governor if an overwhelming majority—two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate—agree that the governor has made the wrong decision by vetoing bills that a super-majority of legislators believe is good public policy or has cut funding for programs that they believe are important to the state and its people.

But now Colyer—who has 10 days to act on bills after they have passed the Legislature or they become law without his signature—can merely sign bills that he considers a good photo-op or hang onto them until lawmakers leave town.

The measure that creates the brief—April 26 to May 4—period of unbridled gubernatorial power was the adjournment resolution that lawmakers had to pass before midnight Saturday. Without that adjournment resolution passage by midnight Saturday, this year’s Legislature would have ended. No wrapup-session, no more meetings…just ended and the lawmakers go home.

That absolute adjournment, which would have occurred at midnight, was avoided by last-minute, yes, literally last-minute depending on your view of the clock in the House—either 11:58 p.m. or 11:59 p.m.—passage by the House of the Senate-written resolution which allows lawmakers to return April 26 to complete their work.

With the Senate across the hall debating a school finance bill in what was clearly a filibuster to chew up time, the House was literally forced into agreeing to the Senate’s earlier-passed adjournment resolution. It was a deadline like few have seen in the past; the House either OK’d the Senate’s resolution or the Legislature ended at midnight, without a budget and spending authority for the upcoming fiscal year.

Yes, that’s how close it was. Just seconds before the Legislature would have gone out of business for the year with no money appropriated for schools, highways, law enforcement, prisons, health-care programs and welfare. Imagine the entire state with its agencies, employees and state services not funded.

The tradeoff for the session ending at midnight was abandoning that legislative oversight of the governor’s actions on all bills passed during the wrapup session.

Is it just insider stuff? Under-the-dome politicking? Partly. Colyer undoubtedly would have called a special session, forcing lawmakers to return to finish their work. The state wouldn’t have turned out the lights at the end of this fiscal year.

But…this is a year in which the entire House seeks re-election, and in which Colyer is hip deep in the campaign for the Republican nomination for the governorship.

A well-aimed veto pen can be a political tool. Colyer can cut specific appropriations with much political fanfare: He’s saved money, cut what he can label wasteful spending. …and just a little clip here or there can be portrayed to show that he’s not a big-spender like the Legislature, that he is looking out for those potential GOP primary voters…

Any chance the GOP-controlled Legislature might near-anonymously put something in the budget bill that is a good political pick-off for the governor?

Hmmm…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

When it comes to protecting the land and improving the environment, farmers continue to lead the way and do their part. As this nation celebrates Earth Day April 22, farmers and ranchers remain committed to protecting the environment using modern conservation and tillage practices.

Farmers and ranchers will tell you their fondest wish remains to pass their land on to their children. They work years, often a lifetime, to leave a legacy of good land stewardship. Most farmers learned about conservation and respect for the land from their parents.

So, it comes as no surprise Kansas farmers and their counterparts across the country continue to adjust accepted practices to meet their individual cropping conditions. Practices can vary from farm to farm and even field to field.

During the last 30-plus years, most Kansas agricultural producers now use some form of minimum tillage to further conserve the soil. Like compost in a garden, these conservation tillage practices ensure ground cover by leaving stalk residues on the surface, provide stored fertility for future crops while protecting the soil against erosion and loss of nutrients. These cultivation practices sustain and improve the soil’s productive capacity.

Today, approximately 76 million acres of U.S. crop acres utilize some form of conservation tillage. An additional 100 million acres of land throughout the United States incorporates no-till practices for all crops. That means approximately 65 percent of U.S. cropland incorporate either no-till or minimum-tillage conservation practices.

In Kansas thousands of ponds, thousands of miles of terraces and thousands of acres of grassed waterways help control soil erosion. Farmers have also planted thousands of acres of trees.

Farmers across the state have been known to leave patches of milo close to timber and other grassy cover so birds and other creatures can eat something when snow, ice and other bad weather hit.

It’s also not uncommon to see a farmer with a cherry-red face and earflaps pulled snugly over his head, walking along a hedgerow with a five-gallon bucket of milo in each hand. No, he’s not out to feed a lost calf, but rather the quail, pheasant of some other hungry critter.

Farmers and ranchers have a vested interest in protecting endangered species. More than 75 percent of species listed as endangered or threatened live on private lands.

Kansas farmers utilize biotechnology on their farms. This benefits the environment by producing crops that protect themselves against insects and disease, requiring less tillage and less use of chemical weed control.

Ag producers also produce biofuels that benefit the environment and promote energy security.

Farm and ranch families are proud to live and grow in harmony with Mother Earth. They understand how important it is to protect and nurture this valuable resource. They take their stewardship of the land seriously. They’ve devoted their lives to safeguarding their farms and families while providing us with the safest, most abundant and affordable food in the world.

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

Every time I fly over the North Pole from Chicago to Beijing—in a little over 12 hours—I renew my respect for earlier Western scholars of China who had a much more difficult journey. I knew Professor Derk Bodde in his last few years after retirement. He had been the first recipient of a Fulbright award shortly after World War II. Traveling with his young family, it took most of a month to get to China on a ship that broke down halfway across the Pacific.

Even in 1975, when I flew with my family to teach in Hong Kong, it took nearly two days, with refueling layovers in Hawaii and Guam. Times have changed.

With the “opening up” of China under Deng Xiao-ping, China’s growing middle class increased the demand for internal airlines. An airline company was formed in nearly every province. Each would hub out of its provincial capitol, while Air China was the national airline.

There were three decades of intense competition. Today, a few Chinese airline companies have risen to become the major carriers. Those include China Eastern (Shanghai) and China Southern (Guangzhou/Canton). Shenzhen, a special region begun as a sweatshop community just across the border from Hong Kong, evolved into a model modern city and has major airline routes across China. Most unexpectedly, an airline from the island province of Hainan arose to become not only an internal carrier, but also flies international routes, including from China to Seattle, Washington. It occupies the older of the three terminal buildings at Beijing Capitol International Airport. This competition among airline companies is just one example of how good and bad management shakes out in China.

In one aspect, competition went a little too far. In 1998, you still bought plane tickets through travel agents and had to confirm your return flight several days beforehand. In China that year, the different travel agencies had made exclusive marketing arrangements with different airlines, and it was troublesome wandering around Beijing to find the right travel agent to confirm your flight. Public complaints soon ended that hyper-capitalism. A few years later, booking and confirmations were all online.

Today, regardless of the Chinese airline company, I still fly on Boeing or Airbus aircraft. That will soon change. Last November, at the university in China where I was teaching, I was eating my lunch in the Foreign Guest House and watching the noon news. Local networks broadcast the maiden flight of the C-919, China’s first passenger jet designed and built in China.
The C-919 is built by COMAC (the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd.) in state-of-the-art factories in the modern Pudong District of Shanghai. The C-919 is a 168-seat narrow-body jet that resembles a mid-size Airbus.

Historically, the United States and Europe were about the only manufacturers of passenger jet planes. Then Canadian Bombardier (now allied with Airbus) and Brazil’s Embraer broke into the market with smaller regional jets. But China’s home-built C-919 will soon compete with both Boeing and Airbus for medium range air travel, having a range of 2,500 miles. This is about equivalent to the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 but is estimated to cost 30 percent less than those models. According to the COMAC news release, 21 companies in China and abroad have already placed orders for over 500 new C-919s. Commercial production will begin after the completion of additional test flights.

Just as Boeing and Airbus contract parts from outside companies, the C-919 engines are bought from CFM International, a joint venture between the French company Safran and the U.S. General Electric.

The C-919 will not replace the long-range jetliners, such as the Boeing 777 that makes 8-to-13 hour flights between continents. But China will soon be building the C-929, a bigger wide-body plane that will enter the future market for large civilian jetliners. Engines for that model will likely be China-made.

If China’s current growth in customers continues, China will have the most citizens traveling by air by 2025 of any country. China anticipates needing over 32,000 freight and passenger jets by 2035. And they are unlikely to be built by Boeing or Airbus.

John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Baker Hughes reported an increase of 11 oil rigs nationwide, for a weekly total of 808. The gas rig count was unchanged at 194. Canada reports 111 active rigs, reflecting a seasonal decline of 23 rigs. Independent Oil & Gas Service notes seven active rigs in eastern Kansas, down two, and 32 west of Wichita, which is up two. Operators report drilling ahead on one lease in Ellis County, and they’re moving in completion tools at one site in Barton County, six in Ellis County, one in Russell County and three in Stafford County.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports just 14 new well completions for the week across Kansas, all of them west of Wichita. There was one dry hole completed in Barton County and three dry holes in Stafford County. Operators filed 34 permits to drill at new locations across Kansas last week, including one new drilling permit in Barton County.

Operators filed 163 intent-to-drill notices with the Kansas Corporation Commission last month, a slight improvement over March of last year, but a big jump from 66 filed in March of 2016. That’s 422 through the first quarter of 2018. There were 13 new intents filed in Barton County in March, including eight filed by Kansas Gas Service. Ellis County operators filed six intents last month, and there were two in Stafford County. So far for the first three months of the year, there have been no new intent-to-drill notices filed in Russell County.

Former Securities Commissioner and KIOGA Chairman Dwight Keen was confirmed by the Kansas State Senate to replace Pat Apple on the Kansas Corporation Commission. Keen is currently co-owner and operations manager of Keen Oil Company in Winfield.

Job Service North Dakota announced a “huge, huge need” for workers in that state’s oil patch. A spokeswoman tells the Bismarck Tribune operators are needed for fracking, driving, drone and pipeline operations, as well as health-care professionals and teachers. The number of job openings for March reached their highest level since 2015.

Conoco announced this week it’s selling what the company calls non-core, mostly undeveloped assets in the Permian Basin and in South Texas, but it appears the $250 million in proceeds will be used to acquire other acreage in that region. Conoco’s holding in the Permian before the sales was over 144,000 net acres, and they’re holding on to most of that.

Prolific output in the Permian is causing bottlenecks as pipelines transporting the crude have filled up more quickly than expected. Reuters reports that’s depressing prices in west Texas. With few new pipeline projects scheduled for this year, producers might be forced to slow drilling or even shut in active production.

The Dallas Morning News reports another downside to the booming oil and gas industry in West Texas. Producers are increasingly hooking up to the electrical power grid, in a transition away from the more expensive diesel and natural gas generators used to power compressors and pipelines. The newspaper reports the spike in consumption along with poor transmission infrastructure have slowed development of sand mines and other support industries, and could lead to blackouts caused by high demand. Dallas utility Oncor, which serves the Permian Basin, is asking regulators to expedite two projects, costing an estimated $223.6 million, to meet the skyrocketing demand in the oil patch.

The oil and gas industry in North Dakota are watching closely as a judge decides whether oil firms took improper deductions and thus underpaid royalties to the state by millions of dollars. Land Commissioner Jodi Smith tells the Bismarck Tribune they don’t know precisely how much was underpaid, because those companies have not provided complete audit information. Continental Resources and other members of the North Dakota Petroleum Council disagree with the board’s interpretation, calling it a drastic change in policy.

Officials in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain now say their newest discovery includes some 80 billion barrels of crude oil and an estimated 14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That country’s oil minister says they hope to go into production in five years.

Russian oil firms could soon invest upwards of $50 billion into development of oil fields in Iran. A presidential aide told Russian reporters they’ve been “systemically working on the developments,” and called energy “the most promising sphere for cooperation” between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia unexpectedly raised the price of its key Arab Light crude in Asia. Bloomberg reports Saudi Aramco raised its official selling price for that grade by ten cents a barrel, while refiners and traders were expecting a 60-cent per barrel decrease.

The Cuban news agency ACN reports that country is developing what might become the deepest horizontally-drilled oil well in Latin America, possibly more than 27,000 feet deep. Extended reach drilling has already gone over 19,000 feet, and officials expect record depth to be reached this year.

Hello from Agra!

We are now past First Adjournment and back in the district until April 26^th for what should be the veto session, but with some last-minute maneuvering, we will be back for eight days and Sine Die will be on the last day of the session, May 4^th.

There are still a few big things left to do before things are finished for this year, the budget and tax bills. In order to get to the big Omnibus Appropriations bill, there are a few more pieces that need to be decided.

With the federal tax bill that was passed, there are some consequences back to the states, and late last week the Senate dealt with a number of the issues from tax money coming back through repatriation of money which has been held off-shore and as it comes back into the U.S. economy, the tax consequences will be less than the normal tax rate. There were also some changes to itemization and what is and isn’t allowed. Once we have a better handle on these dollars, it will be part of the numbers of the final spending bill.

The K-12 Education Budget Committee finished their work and over the weekend, a bill was passed out of both chambers and is now headed to Governor Colyer.  It is close to $534 million dollars of new money phased in over the next 5 years.

One of the highlights is to add more money to Special Education and keeps many of the weightings which have been beneficial to the USDs of the 110^th District.  There will be a lot of speculation and consternation about this bill and is it enough or too much money.  We will know over the next few weeks if this will be deemed constitutional. This bill will be the legislature’s response to the Kansas Supreme Court and they will decide if it provides a suitable and equitable education to the students of Kansas.

I thought the bill fiscal impact was too high, but the negotiations broke down between the House and Senate and we need to move forward; I voted for the bill.  In explaining my vote, I said “It is not a day to spike the ball, or be happy, but someone must lead, and today is that day.” If this bill is ruled unconstitutional, we will be back later this year for a special session.

Many people have asked about a possible constitutional amendment on school finding.  There is still time to bring it up for debate and vote with the remaining days of the session, but currently, I do not know what the schedule is.

I look forward to talking with you as we are out and about in the district so please feel free to reach out with concerns and questions, I will do my best to respond it a timely manner. The best way to contact me by email is: [email protected] and my cell number is (785) 302-8416.   You can also check out kenforkansas.com.

It is my honor to be your representative.