Monday Partly sunny, with a high near 67. Breezy, with a north northwest wind 17 to 20 mph.
Monday NightMostly cloudy, with a low around 42. North wind 11 to 17 mph.
TuesdayPartly sunny, with a high near 65. Northeast wind around 11 mph.
Tuesday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 40. East northeast wind 5 to 8 mph becoming light and variable in the evening.
WednesdaySunny, with a high near 73.
Wednesday NightMostly clear, with a low around 45.
ThursdaySunny, with a high near 78.
By HANNAH BRANDT
KSNT
A Kansas woman got viral attention for donating 204 pairs of shoes to Nebraska flood victims after buying all the remaining shoes at a Payless store that was closing.
On Monday, Addy Tritt will be featured on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” A show spokeswoman said that while Tritt generously gives back to her community, she is actually in debt herself with student loan and even relies on family support to buy groceries.
Tritt, a Fort Hays State graduate, said she wanted to help others because so many people have helped her in the past. When the price at a Hays store dropped to $1 per pair, Tritt negotiated with the business to buy the remaining shoes for $100.
They included 162 pairs of baby shoes, two pairs of men’s shoes, and the rest were women’s shoes.The retail price of the shoes would have been more than $6,000.
— Republished with permission
Tritt’s story, which was originally published by Hays Post, went viral, being distributed by news outlets globally.
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is scheduled to air at 4 p.m. Monday on Eagle Cable on CBS Chs. 10 and 610.
SHERMAN COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just after 10a.m. Sunday in Sherman County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Honda Civic driven by Laura Jon Michelle Foster, 27, Wellington, was eastbound on Interstate 70 five miles east of Kansas 184.
The Honda left the road to the left and the driver overcorrected. The Honda left the roadway to the right and struck the culvert in the south ditch.
Foster was transported to the hospital in Goodland. She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
SHPTV
BUNKER HILL – The Earl Bane Foundation has awarded Smoky Hills Public Television with a grant for the station’s Literacy Leadership program. The $6,000 grant will provide books to children in Head Start in Saline County and support children’s programming.
“At SHPTV, we encourage a love of reading at a young age through our book distribution and our PBS KIDS programming. The grant from the Earl Bane Foundation is what helps to ensure our mission of educating the youth in central and western Kansas, and we want to thank them for their continued support.” said Larry Calvery, Smoky Hills Public Television general manager.
The Earl Bane Foundation was established in 1994. Its giving supports primarily higher education, children, youth and social services for the educational, economic, scientific and religious benefit of Salina and Saline County.
Smoky Hills Public Television serves 71 counties in central and western Kansas and has been named the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Non-Metro Station of the Year.
FHSU University Relations
Students and faculty will participate in the 14th annual John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activities Day, hosted by Fort Hays State University, on Wednesday, April 24, in the Memorial Union.
The day celebrates the research, scholarly and creative work conducted by varied disciplines within the university. Special activities will include seminars, research presentations and exhibits.
The main events include poster presentations and a creative works exhibition featuring student and faculty work from the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship, the College of Education, the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences and the Peter Werth College of Science, Technology and Mathematics.
Leslie Paige, director of the Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects, said the day “not only showcases the significant work being conducted by faculty and staff, but also exemplifies the opportunities FHSU students have to conduct research, engage in scholarship opportunities, and present creative works with guidance from their faculty mentors.”
Scholarly and creative activity encourages critical thinking, innovation, collaboration and leadership, she said.
The creative works exhibit will be in the Memorial Union’s Black and Gold Room from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The poster presentations, with more than 100 posters by students and faculty will be in the Memorial Union’s Fort Hays Ballroom from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Poster creators will be available from 1 to 3 p.m.
Oral presentations will be in the union’s Pioneer Room and Stouffer Lounge from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A schedule of the oral presentations can be found at www.fhsu.edu/academic/research/saca/.
Presentations by entrepreneurship faculty fellows will be in the union’s Trails Room from 10 a.m. to noon.
Awards will be given at 3 p.m. for poster presentations to undergraduate, graduate, faculty and staff for empirical and non-empirical research and scholarly work. Awards for creative works and “People’s Choice Awards” will also be given.
“FHSU supports developing new areas of excellence in all disciplines as part of its mission to advance knowledge and further the economic growth of the state,” said Paige. “Participation provides the opportunity to clarify academic and professional goals while promoting advancement in a particular field of study.”
Named after the late Dr. John Heinrichs, who championed research at FHSU, the Scholarly and Creative Activities Day is sponsored by the FHSU Scholarship Environment Committee with support from the Office of the Provost, FHSU deans, the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science, the Graduate School and the Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects.
The exhibits and presentations are free and open to the public.
For more information, visit www.fhsu.edu/academic/research/saca/ or contact Paige at 785-628-4349 or email [email protected].
Artwork produced from a collaborative effort among Fort Hays State University students and clients of Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas will be on display and up for sale for about a month at the Hays Public Library.
The project – started by Amy Schmierbach, FHSU professor of art and design – is based on the model of Socially Engaged Art, which seeks to create art with communities for their benefit and for the benefit of public arts.
A ribbon cutting to feature the art project is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 23, at DSNWK Employment Connections, 660 Commerce Parkway, Hays. The artwork then will go on display at the library, beginning with Hays’ Spring Gallery Walk on Friday, April 26. An opening reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. during the gallery walk.
Schmierbach and FHSU students collaborate and create art with clients served by DSNWK, providing workshops for structured art experiences revolving around weaving, drawing and photography. The goal of the project is to expand the arts in the Hays community to reach more individuals, specifically creating more opportunities.
Completed projects are being framed for sale. Funds from the sale of the artwork will go toward the continuation of the collaborative effort between Fort Hays State and DSNWK.
Tuesday’s agenda includes a short presentation about the artwork and speakers that will include: from DSNWK, a client and administrators; and from FHSU, President Tisa Mason, Professor Karrie Simpson Voth from the Department of Art and Design and students who helped with the project.
The Collaborative Art Project is funded by Kansas Creative Industries Commission Arts Integration Program-Innovative Partnerships, the National Endowment for the Arts, DSNWK and FHSU Undergraduate Research Grant.
Concerns about your pine trees are addressed in this episode of Green & Growing.
Assange currently faces extradition to the U.S. for prosecution on computer hacking charges related to WikiLeaks obtaining and posting classified military data, memos and such in 2010 from then-U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning. The specific charge sidesteps for now a collision with the First Amendment, which does not protect anyone from prosecution for criminal acts, such as breaking into government computers.
But as the Assange saga unfolds, a number of news outlets report that U.S. prosecutors may bring additional charges ranging from how Assange dealt with his sources to the dissemination — Assange would say “publishing” — of that stolen material. That’s where it will get sticky for journalists.
Those added charges likely would threaten legal protections afforded those who report confidential information obtained by others. One, known informally as the “over the transom” or “innocent third party” defense, protects those receiving and reporting information who are not involved in the act of obtaining it. A transom is a small window above a door that can be tilted open while the door below remains shut — hence, information dropped into a room “over the transom,” shields the party delivering it.
A 2001 Supreme Court decision in Bartnicki v. Vopper involved illegally intercepted telephone conversations. The 6-3 decision said that while the government certainly could charge persons who intercepted the calls, it could not successfully prosecute the radio host who was given a recording and played portions of those conversations over the air. The court noted the privacy aspects of the case gave way to reporting on matters of high public interest.
In the years since, journalists have relied on that ruling in reporting national security secrets and confidential city records. In turn, authorities have for various reasons focused on prosecuting the “leakers” rather than those who published the information. However, Bartnicki has not been directly tested in a national security setting — it was a civil lawsuit, not a criminal case.
At least one Justice Department prosecution came close to charging a journalist who received classified information. In 2013, Fox News reporter James Rosen was declared an unindicted co-conspirator under the Espionage Act during an investigation of a State Department employee who leaked information to him involving North Korean missile tests. The official was convicted under the Espionage Act, but Rosen was never prosecuted.
Assange, an Australian computer programmer and social activist at an early age, now loudly proclaims himself a journalist and that WikiLeaks is a news organization. But leading First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams has written a well-founded repudiation — WikiLeaks does no real reporting, adds no analysis or context and seemingly fails to consider the harm its “data dumps” of state secrets may cause others.
Others raise a pragmatic point — Assange’s release of state secrets has proven to be a major factor in discouraging Congress from enacting a proposed federal “shield law” that would (with no small amount of irony here) largely protect journalists from federal courts and grand juries demanding to know confidential sources.
But the American Civil Liberties Union, Committee to Protect Journalists and Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson all said extraditing and prosecuting Assange sets a dangerous precedent for U.S. journalists who could to face similar charges brought by repressive foreign governments for publishing truthful information.
Some journalists and activists see a lack of support among U.S. editors and reporters as something more sinister, some writing that failing to back Assange exposes those journalists as unwilling to challenge government propaganda or power, even being “tools of the Empire.”
I’m for parsing things this way — consider Assange a political player who actively encourages information leaks and uses a journalist’s tools to influence political policy disputes, debates and decisions. Let him argue “free speech” rather than “free press.” There is an argument that even under the Espionage Act there is a defense of sorts — intent was in the public interest rather than in bringing harm to the United States. Chalk the unwillingness of many journalists in the U.S. to back Assange to something more pragmatic than philosophical. A friend and longtime journalist put it this way: “It’s how cops view someone who puts on a stolen uniform and badge.”
The U.S. government’s prosecution ultimately may rest on showing how — and to what degree — Assange cultivated Manning as a source. If he is found to have conspired with Manning on the theft, there’s no First Amendment or Bartnicki defense. Even there, though, the impact on journalists is concerning — the public is not served by restricting national security reporters to sitting in offices waiting for materials to land in their collective laps.
Any additional charges brought against Assange should be considered in the context that it is in the public interest that reporters be able to reach out to experts working on national security matters to discuss policy and even have conversations about how information might influence public views if disclosed.
Yes, that may well mean drawing a fine legal line between “cultivating” sources and conspiring with them. But we have all been well-served by disclosures in the public interest of secret or confidential government documents and information — from the Pentagon Papers to undisclosed telephone and internet surveillance programs to information that properly armored vehicles were not reaching U.S. troops overseas, causing unnecessary deaths.
Journalists are the watchdogs by which we all can know information improperly classified, withheld for political gain or around which legitimate debate should occur — a process that could also be described to operate in the interest of national security.
Gene Policinski is president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute. He can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @genefac.
TodayOn Thursday, the Hays Public Library celebrated Easter early with story time, a visit form the Easter Bunny, Easter crafts and an Easter egg hunt.
The Easter egg hunt had about 200 eggs per age group. Library employees estimated about 200 children participated in the evening’s activities. All of the activities were free and open to the public.
FHSU University Relations
Belleville will be the last of three free hearing screenings, funded by the Kansas Masons, offered again this spring in western Kansas communities by Fort Hays State University.
“The FHSU Herndon Clinic in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is very fortunate to have received a large grant from the Kansas Masons to support adult speech, language and hearing services in western Kansas,” said Marcy Beougher, speech-language pathologist and an instructor in the department.
The grant is continuing to provide numerous opportunities for individuals of all ages in western Kansas to receive important hearing screening services that are currently scarce or difficult to access.
“With Mason support and funding, we have visited 17 different communities in two and a half years and have screened nearly 700 people,” said Beougher. “We are thankful to the Masons for the opportunity to help provide free hearing screenings in Western Kansas and to make necessary and important medical and audiological referrals. We are also very grateful for the clinical hours these screenings provide for our graduate students.”
The screening, funded by Belleville Community Pride, FHSU and the Kansas Masonic Foundation, will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, April 26, at the Astra Bank, 1205 18th Street, Belleville.
Appointments are encouraged to be scheduled ahead of time, but walk-ins will be welcomed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each site will have four stations, with each screening lasting approximately 15 minutes. Results, follow-up information and free ear plugs will also be provided. There will be no hearing aid sales.
Screenings are provided by graduate students from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Beougher will organize the screenings.
“FHSU’s CSD Department feels this is truly a win-win situation as our graduate students receive valuable clinical hours and experience serving the public at these screenings, and many individuals benefit from the knowledge they receive about their hearing, as well as helpful follow-up information,” said Beougher.
“We are grateful as always to the Kansas Masons, who welcome us to their communities and support this endeavor financially so we can provide this much-needed service for no charge.”
“Plans will be underway soon for our fourth year of hearing screenings as we meet with the Masons to plan for the communities we will be visiting beginning in fall 2019,” she said.
To schedule an appointment for the Belleville screening, contact Rob Kasl at 785-379-1110 or [email protected].
For more information, visit fhsu.edu/herndon-clinic/ or contact the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at 785-628-5366.
By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Someone has to be the first. When the U.S. military enters an international conflict, some soldier has to be the first to lead his unit into combat. That soldier is like the tip of a dagger, bravely entering a life and death conflict. Today we’ll learn the remarkable story of a young Kansas man who served his nation in this amazing way.
Mark Nutsch is the former commander of the first Green Beret unit which went in to Afghanistan after the bombing of 9-11. His harrowing and heroic true story would become a major motion picture.
Mark Nutsch grew up near Washington, Kansas. Today his family farms in Wabaunsee County near the rural community of Alma, population 783 people. Now, that’s rural. Mark came to K-State where he joined the college rodeo team.
After graduating from K-State, he joined the U.S. Army and became an officer in the special forces. He was captain of a unit called Operational Detachment-Alpha 595 and led missions to Uzbekistan and Kuwait. In early September 2001, he joined the battalion staff.
Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Like many people, Mark Nutsch watched it happen and tried to make sense of it all. He was with his six-month-pregnant wife and their two young children at the time.
The U.S. military immediately began planning a response. It was called Task Force Dagger. Captain Mark Nutsch was reunited with his unit. They would ultimately be designated to be the first to go fight the Taliban.
Mark Nutsch’s 12-man unit was an experienced, mature crew. “We averaged 32 years old, had eight years’ experience, and most of us were married with two kids,” Mark said.
The unit faced the tallest of odds. They would be outgunned and outnumbered 40-to-one, in unfamiliar enemy territory with uncertain allies.
On Oct. 19, 2001, Mark and his unit were helicoptered into Uzbekistan. There they connected with local Muslim soldiers who also opposed the Taliban. They began the campaign to retake Afghanistan. But instead of jeeps or tanks, the local Afghan fighters used an unexpected type of transportation: Horses.
Fortunately, farmboy Mark Nutsch knew his way around horses. He gave some quick riding lessons to his fellow soldiers. K-State President Richard Myers, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recalled receiving the unprecedented request to airlift saddles, saddle blankets and hay to the site. The military did so.
The Afghan and American fighters would eventually go through the desert and mountains on horseback to accomplish their mission. Against the odds, all 12 men in Mark Nutsch’s unit survived. Operation Enduring Freedom ended with the overthrow of the Taliban, as jubilant Afghans celebrated in the streets.
This amazing story was recounted in a best-selling book named Horse Soldiers. After the files were declassified, the story was made into a movie named 12 Strong. Mark Nutsch’s character, named Captain Mitch Nelson in the movie, is portrayed in the show by actor Chris Hemsworth who also plays Thor in the Avenger series.
In real life, Mark Nutsch received a Bronze Star with valor for his courage and leadership. He is now a consultant for Army Special Operations and has opened a whiskey distillery business. He also remains supportive of his family and the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Mark was recently named by the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation as National Honorary Campaign Chair for the Foundation’s Next Vistas fundraising campaign to benefit the Flint Hills Discovery Center. For more information, see www.flinthillsdiscovery.org/foundation.
Someone has to be first. Some soldier has to be the first one to lead his unit into battle on behalf of his nation. In the aftermath of 9-11, it was Captain Mark Nutsch from rural Kansas who led his team on that initial mission. Now he is continuing to serve his state and nation as a volunteer with the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation. We commend Mark Nutsch and all soldiers, families and veterans who are making a difference with their service. I appreciate these brave young men and women who are putting duty first.
HANSEN FOUNDATION
LOGAN – Space is still available for six unique summer theater workshops for northwest Kansas teens. Sponsored by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, Logan, Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts is returning to Kansas.
After a successful debut with four workshops in 2018, this summer the Hansen Foundation is expanding the program to offer six, week-long musical theatre workshops for high school students (incoming freshman through graduating seniors).
In just five days, participating students conceive, write, choreograph, compose, design, rehearse, produce and perform an original piece of musical theatre in collaboration with a staff of professionals and educators.
Workshop schedule:
• Hoxie May 28 – June 1* Hoxie High School
• Phillipsburg June 3 – 7 Huck Boyd Center
• Russell June 10 – 14 Masonic Lodge
• Goodland June 17 – 21 Goodland High School
• Concordia June 24 – 28 Brown Grand Theater
• Salina July 30 – Aug 3* Salina Community Theater
*Tuesday through Saturday
Students from surrounding communities and counties are encouraged to participate in a workshop closest to them. Registration is limited to the first 30 students in each location. For more information or to register, visit lovewell.org, and click on Apply, and then Kansas.
Although a workshop cannot replace a full theatre arts program offered in schools, Lovewell offers students an opportunity to explore this genre in a unique way. The response from the students and faculty in 2018 was overwhelmingly positive.
ABOUT THE LOVEWELL WORKSHOPS
The week-long day camp/workshop brings students from all different creative backgrounds together to create an original work of musical theatre from scratch. While the performance is an enormous part of the workshop, the focus is on the creative process. To make it come together, the process needs writers, actors, poets, dancers, singers, dreamers, visual artists, musicians, composers, designers and creative students of ALL kinds.
The students will work with a team of professional artists to help utilize all the students’ gifts and explore the arts while forging new friendships and making memories to last a lifetime.
PARTICIPTION COSTS
The Hansen Foundation is underwriting the cost of the workshops so that the student participation fee is significantly discounted to $50. However, no student who is truly committed to participate will be denied the opportunity due to inability to pay. Scholarships are available.
ABOUT LOVEWELL
Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts is a not-for-profit organization that brings students together with professional artists to conduct these unique and transformational workshops. The Lovewell team are artist who make their living as musical directors, playwrights, choreographers, composers, lyricists, etc.
Lovewell is based in Florida, but its roots are in Kansas. After a pilot in New York in 1984, the process became the “Lovewell Experience” in 1987 in Salina, Kansas. The director of the program is a Kansas native.
Today, Lovewell offers workshops all over the United states and also internationally. Learn more about Lovewell at www.lovewell.org
For more information on NW Kansas Arts opportunities sponsored by the Hansen Foundation, visit our website www.danehansenfoundation.org, click on Special Initiatives and NWKansas Arts.
