PARADISE — On Saturday, Nov. 9, the Paradise United Methodist Women will hold its 69th annual Bazaar and Turkey Dinner in the Paradise Auditorium on Main Street.
The Bazaar features the Church Cookbook, handmade crafts, homemade baked items as well as candies, jellies, and other foods.
The Bazaar opens at 10:30 a.m. and the Turkey Dinner begins at 10:45 a.m. The menu includes turkey & dressing with all the trimmings, including homemade rolls, cranberry fluff, cole slaw, pies and desserts. Carryout is also available. The cost of the meal is $12 for adults, and kids grades K-4 is $6.
TOPEKA — The Cold Weather Rule, designed to help Kansans who are behind on their utility payments avoid disconnection during the winter months, will begin on November 1 and remain in effect through March 31.
The Kansas Corporation Commission, the agency that regulates public utilities in the state, encourages Kansans who are past-due on their utility bills and at risk for disconnection to prepare for the colder weather by contacting their utility company to make the necessary payment arrangements.
The Cold Weather Rule was first enacted by the Commission in 1983 to prevent utility companies from disconnecting a customer’s natural gas or electric service during periods of extreme cold. Utility companies are prohibited from disconnecting a customer’s service when temperatures are forecast to be at or below 35 degrees within the following 48 hour period.
The Cold Weather Rule also requires utility companies to offer a 12-month payment plan to allow consumers to maintain or re-establish service. Any residential customer with a past due balance will qualify for payment arrangements; however, it is the customer’s responsibility to contact their gas or electric company to make those arrangements.
Payment plan terms to maintain or restore service require that customers agree to pay 1/12th of the total amount owed, 1/12th of the current bill, the full amount of any disconnection or reconnection fee, plus any applicable deposit to the utility. The remaining balance must be paid in equal payments over the next 11 months, in addition to the current monthly bill.
The Cold Weather Rule applies only to residential customers of electric and natural gas utility companies under the KCC’s jurisdiction. More information about the Cold Weather Rule is available on the Commission’s website (https://www.kcc.ks.gov/consumer-information/cold-weather-rule). Kansans may also contact their local utility company or the KCC’s Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at (800) 662-0027.
NORTON COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just after 12:30 p.m. Monday in Norton County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2018 Ford F150 driven by Tre Frankhouser, 27, Goodwell, Okla., was behind a 2019 Ford pickup driven by Kevin J. Ubert, 39, Hays, eastbound on Kansas 383 four miles north of U.S. 36.
As Ubert attempted to make a left turn, the 2018 F150 attempted to pass and struck the driver side of the 2019 truck.
A passenger in the 2018 Ford, Jena K. Eder, 27, Goodwell, was transported to the hospital in Phillipsburg.
Fankhouser and Ubert were not injured. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson gained half a dollar on Friday and starts the week at $47 per barrel. That’s more than three dollars higher than the price at the beginning of the month.
The government said U.S. crude-oil inventories dropped 1.7 million barrels last week. At just over 433 million barrels, U.S. stockpiles remain at the five-year seasonal average.
The Energy Information Administration reported U.S. production was unchanged at its all-time record pace from last week, at 12.585 million barrels per day. A year ago at this time operators were pumping 10.87 million barrels per day.
The government reported a drop of 438,000 barrels per day in U.S. crude-oil imports last week to 5.9 million barrels per day. The four-week average is nearly 20% less than the same period a year ago.
Baker Hughes reported a big drop in its weekly rig count on Friday. There are 830 active rigs across the U.S., down 21 rigs. The count in Oklahoma was down six, while Texas was down five.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports a small dip in the rig count in eastern Kansas. West of Wichita it’s unchanged with drilling underway on two leases in Stafford County, and drilling ahead at sites in Barton, Ellis and Stafford counties.
Regulators approve 28 permits for drilling at new locations, 21 in eastern Kansas and seven west of Wichita, including one new permit in Ellis County. So far this year there are 876 new drilling permits on file, compared to over 1,400 at this point last year.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 28 newly-completed wells for the week. There were 12 east of Wichita and 16 in Western Kansas, including a dry hole in Barton County and a producing well in Ellis County.
Amid a continuing decline in U.S. freight-train traffic, oil-by-rail continues to show growth. The American Association of Railroads reports 12,718 tanker cars shipped petroleum and petroleum products for the week ended October 19, an increase of 6.3% year-on-year. Total freight traffic last week was down 8.6 percent. Canada’s oil-by-rail traffic declined just over two percent. The cumulative totals so far this year are up more than 15% in the U.S., and up more than 20% in Canada.
Reuters is reporting on a scary prospect for the patch. The largest banking lenders to the U.S. oil and gas sector are marking down their expectations for oil and gas prices that underpin loans. Major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Royal Bank of Canada have cut their estimated values for oil-and-gas companies’ reserves, which serve as the basis for those companies to receive what are called “reserve-based loans.”
Oil-price expectations are expected drop one to two dollars from similar estimates last spring. It’s estimated that there are a few hundred companies that take such loans, which total in the billions of dollars.
Dan Bukvich (Photo by Philip Vukelich Photography)
The Department of Music and Theatre at Fort Hays State University will present the New Music Festival: An Evening of the Music of Daniel Bukvich at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2, in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center.
Bukvich, professor of music theory at the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton School of Music, travels across the world as a guest composer, conductor and percussionist in concerts with professional, college, high school and grade school bands, orchestras, choirs, honor and all-state groups.
As part of the New Music Festival, Bukvich will give a lecture at 2:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1, in Malloy Hall Room 115.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
The evening concert will feature the world premiere of “Lost Chord Mysticanza,” commissioned by the Fort Hays State New Music Ensemble, an ensemble of FHSU faculty with a shared passion for the music of living composers.
Members slated to perform “Lost Chord Mysticanza” are Brian Buckstead, violin; Irena Ravitskaya, piano; Hilary Shepard, flute; Kristin Pisano, clarinet; James Pisano, alto saxophone/bass clarinet; Brandon Jones, percussion; and Terry Crull, narration and singing voice.
Other works in the program: “Four Phases from Psalm 91,” performed by the FHSU Smoky Hill Chorale with Kay Werth, English horn, under the direction of Crull; and “Five Fantasies on the Tones A and G” for brass quintet.
“One aim of the annual FHSU New Music Festival is to engage, educate and inform our community about new music,” Pisano said.
Admission is free. Tickets will be available in the Beach/Schmidt lobby 30 minutes prior to the concert or in advance at the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau.
3 to 7 inches of snow is possible across the area between mid-day Tuesday and mid-day Wednesday with higher amounts expected over Colorado pic.twitter.com/9JNFDzL9tc
GOODLAND — A winter weather advisory will be in effect in northwest Kansas from 1 p.m. Tuesday through 1 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Goodland reported.
Snow totals of between 3 and 7 inches are possible in far northwest Kansas, with limited visibility and snow-covered roads making travel hazardous. Wind chills are expected to dip as low as -10 degrees.
In the Hays area, the NWS Dodge City office is calling for less than an inch of snow, which could begin late Monday afternoon. More scattered snow showers will be possible Tuesday through Thursday.
Stay tuned to your Eagle Radio stations for the latest weather-related cancellations and delays.
Snow is expected to move into far western Kansas this morning (Monday) and then cross the remainder of western and north central Kansas through late day. #kswxpic.twitter.com/TK2zye0FXi
Last week’s inspection results from the Kansas Department of Agriculture:
Ellis High School 1706 Monroe, Ellis – Oct. 22
A routine inspection found two violations.
The hot water in the handwashing sink in the main kitchen area was reaching 70 F. Inspector left the hot water run for seven minutes.
On the shelf across from the mechanical ware washing machine, there was a container of Lime Away that was being stored on a solid wooden shelf directly next to six packages of single-use gloves. The gloves will have direct contact with food. No evidence of leaking was observed.
St. Mary’s Elementary 605 Monroe, Ellis – Oct. 22
A routine inspection found two violations.
On the buffet line, there was cut lettuce that was sitting in an ice bath at a temperature of 47 F.
The food processor’s main container has a deep crack at the base of the container. This container comes in direct contact with foods.
LARNED – The Larned Police Department is notifying the community in a social media post about a high volume of vehicle break-ins within the last week.
The LPD asks the community to please lock your vehicles, homes, outbuildings, etc. LPD asks that you don’t leave anything of value in your vehicles such as cash, phones, laptops, jewelry, or any type of weapons or firearms.
Larned Policed ask if you observe any suspicious activity to please call immediately.
If anyone has any information of the recent vehicle burglaries is encouraged to call the Larned Police Department at 620-285-8545 or Pawnee County Crimestoppers at 620-285-3277.
Jeremy Hill, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, speaks to the Hays Regional Economic Outlook Conference Thursday in Hays.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
A recession is not imminent and northwest Kansas is expected to experience slow growth in the next year, according to panelists at the Hays Regional Economic Outlook Conference.
During the conference Thursday in Hays, Jeremy Hill, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said the labor market will remain tight, but that tight labor market is also driving up wages for employees.
Unemployment in northwest Kansas still remains extremely low.
The ag and oil industries have both seen hits in the last three years. Ag product demand is being affected by the trade war, but income in that sector was up largely because of government and crop insurance payments.
“Farmers don’t want government payments,” he said. “You don’t know what to plan for.”
He compared the payments to farmers wearing oxygen masks.
“You feel good because you have an oxygen mask. I’ll take this cash, but does a farmer really want an oxygen mask?” Hill said. “Absolutely not. They want to go out and deal with the real market the way it is and have an understandable market where they can say right up and down and this is what is going on.”
For several years, the government sector experienced cuts, Hill said. However, now the sector is seeing increases, especially in its largest subgroup, which is school districts.
“I think labor markets are working pretty darn well,” Hill said.
Ellis County saw a dip in employment in 2015 and 2016 when oil prices fell sharply. However, the employment rate has increased the last two years.
Ellis County accounts for 21 percent of the population in northwest Kansas, 25 percent of the employment and 28 percent of retail sales.
Surveys of employers indicate they anticipate they will be hiring in the next year. Hill said a high demand exists for top-quality, skilled employees. Companies are finding themselves paying higher wages for B- and C-level employees, he said.
Northwest Kansas employers are finding themselves paying workers more to keep from losing them to other regions of the state.
Hill said the region is seeing more what he called “job hoppers.”
“[The business panel] said, ‘Yeah we had low-skill workers who would just jump for just a $1 more or a few cents more or they thought it would be a better company. They are just moving really quickly,'” he said. “This year they are saying that they are even having some middle-skill people who are job hoppers that are moving from one to the next to the next.”
He added, “In this area, if you are not thinking about that wage, you better be thinking about that wage or someone is going to get up and leave for a couple dollars more or just the promise of a better job somewhere else.”
Rising wages are not good for profit margins, but they are good for the economy as it puts more cash in consumers’ hands.
However, Hill said Kansas is experiencing a lack of confidence from investors. Even investors inside the state are wanting to invest outside of the state because they can get better returns.
Kansas has had a four-year decline in taxable retail sales as more items are purchased online. Ellis County’s retail sales peaked in 2013 and are flat in 2019.
Kansas has had a shift in the state to more middle income and low-come jobs. Purchasing power also has an affect on taxable retail sales.
Migration continues to be out of rural areas into metro areas. Almost all of the population growth in Kansas in 2018 was in Johnson County. This means labor is also moving out of rural areas.
Hill finally looked at possible factors on the horizon that could lead to a recession.
“Economic expansions do not die of old age,” he said. “We could grow forever potentially, and there are countries I mentioned earlier that grow, grow, grow. What causes recession is something out there that causes it. The problem is that it is never something that we are thinking about.”
He said he did not think it would be Brexit or trade wars.
“Companies in Kansas are hedging the risk,” he said. “I’ve talked to quite a few businesses that have just stopped exporting because they just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”
He thought labor markets should also not affect the economy.
Some business owners said cyber attack or cyber warfare could bring on a recession.
Farm debt and bankruptcies and oil prices could be factors, as well, he said.
Some economists have been concerned interest rates being lower on long-term bonds than short-term bonds could spark a recession. This has happened in the past.
However, Hill noted international trade is so dependent on the American dollar, global entities are still buying U.S. Treasury notes despite the reversal in the interest rates.
Kansas businesses for the coming year are realistically optimist that the economy will be stable or have slow growth. Estimates are for about .6 percent growth in Kansas, with the state adding almost 9,000 jobs, Hill said. Wages are expected to expand, but retail taxable sales are expected to decline.
