KDA

MANHATTAN – The Kansas Department of Agriculture is seeking individuals to participate in a beef genetics trade mission to Costa Rica on Feb. 22-26. In an effort to increase market opportunities for U.S. and Kansas beef genetics, this provides an opportunity for Kansas purebred beef cattle producers and allied industry to continue developing relationships with livestock producers in Costa Rica. KDA strives to encourage and enhance economic growth of the agriculture industry and the Kansas economy by exploring and expanding both domestic and international marketing opportunities.

Attendees will participate in a field day showcasing calves sired by U.S. Red Angus and Charolais bulls crossed with local Costa Rican Brahman dams in an effort to demonstrate the advantages of heterosis in a tropical climate. Initial data from this project supports the use of U.S. genetics. Additional opportunities to engage with potential buyers of beef semen and embryos will be arranged as part of the mission. Kansas ranchers and related agribusinesses specializing in producing germplasm qualified for export are invited to participate.

This trade mission is funded in part by the United States Livestock Genetic Export, Inc. Selected participants will be eligible for travel stipends for airfare depending upon number of applicants and fund availability.  Participants will be responsible for the cost of hotels, meals and other incidental expenses.

Individuals interested in participating should complete the application forms available on the KDA website at https://agriculture.ks.gov/divisions-programs/agricultural-marketing-advocacy-and-outreach-team/business-development

The application deadline is Monday, Jan. 4.

For more information please contact KDA Agribusiness Development Coordinator Billy Brown at[email protected]  or 785-564-6752.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Eight people with Topeka ties have spoken to a roughly 250-person audience at the city’s TEDx conference.

The Topeka Capital Journal reports  that the presentations at the Topeka Civic theater Tuesday included topics such as helping women grow up with confidence, what people can do to help feed the world and one woman’s experience coming out as transgender.

Washburn University professor David Carter opened the event by explaining how people can generate collaboration and self-awareness, and build up those around them, through what he calls the “lesser seat,” or humility.

Washburn Law professor Lori McMillan also explained how three common tax myths relate to Kansas.

TEDxTopeka is an independently organized conference licensed by TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design. This was the city’s second TEDxTopeka.

Topeka, Kan. (AP) — Attorney General Derek Schmidt is proposing an initiative to improve Kansas middle school students’ civic knowledge.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Schmidt has asked the State Board of Education to integrate the U.S. naturalization test as an educational tool in the state’s classrooms.

The idea would establish a voluntary system where middle school students would take the test immigrants must pass to become citizens. Those who successfully complete the exam would be recognized.

He says the test includes questions in history and government that are basic to any understanding of the nation’s principles and how U.S. government works.

Schmidt’s proposal was inspired partly by the Joe Foss Institute, an Arizona-based nonprofit that aims to make passing the U.S. Citizenship exam a high-school graduation requirement in all 50 states by 2017.

The state board didn’t take action after hearing Schmidt’s presentation at this week’s hearing in Topeka. Board members say they plan to discuss the recommendation further.

 

 

WASHINGTON, DC –On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and a group of Senate Republicans urged President Barack Obama to pursue additional military options to degrade and destroy ISIS abroad and protect the nation from further attacks against American citizens:

“The American people are understandably concerned in the aftermath of the horrific attack in San Bernardino and increasingly apprehensive about the prospect of another terrorist attack on American soil,” the Senators wrote. “We believe we are at a strategic inflection point in the fight against ISIS and that, without a well-informed strategy change to arrest this group’s momentum, the task of defeating it will multiply in its difficulty and complexity. We listened carefully to your Oval Office address on Sunday but were disappointed to learn that the same ineffective approach will continue to be implemented.”

In addition to Sen. Roberts, the letter was signed by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and David Vitter (R-La.). Full text of the letter is below, and a copy is attached.

The Honorable Barack Obama

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

In the wake of the recent wave of devastating terrorist attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Paris, Beirut, and the Russian airliner flying over Egypt, as well as last week’s attack in San Bernardino that appears to have been inspired by ISIS, we write today to both express support for your stated objective to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS and to urge you to employ more effective means to accomplish that worthy goal.

ISIS poses a direct threat to our country, and the magnitude of that threat is growing as a result of this terrorist army’s expanded operational reach. The recent attacks prove that ISIS now has the ability to carry out mass-casualty terrorist attacks well beyond its self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq. The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency recently warned that ISIS likely has additional attacks planned, and the group has publicly declared its intention to strike the mainland United States. We also know that ISIS is aggressively pursuing a more robust chemical weapons capability and, to that end, has recruited scientists and other technical experts.

The American people are understandably concerned in the aftermath of the horrific attack in San Bernardino and increasingly apprehensive about the prospect of another terrorist attack on American soil. Over the past couple of years, as ISIS has murdered and raped its way across the Syrian and Iraqi countryside, it has also succeeded in reenergizing the global jihadi movement, driven by its evil ideology and fueled by its hateful propaganda. The King of Jordan has described the struggle against ISIS in stark terms, calling it a “third world war against humanity.” Likewise, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter testified recently that “We’re at war” against ISIS. The group’s ranks in Syria and Iraq have swelled to as many as 30,000 jihadists, due in part to its leveraging of social media platforms and dark corners of the Internet to recruit from all over the world. Even more alarming is the threat that ISIS and its adherents now pose to us here at home, in the form of a jihadist already living on U.S. soil and planning the next deadly attack.

As a nation, we have a clear and vital interest at stake in Syria and Iraq – preventing terrorist attacks against America and our allies – and that obligates us to intensify the effort to destroy ISIS. That vital interest can only be safeguarded through the elimination of the sanctuary that ISIS has carved out for itself in Iraq and Syria. We believe we are at a strategic inflection point in the fight against ISIS and that, without a well-informed strategy change to arrest this group’s momentum, the task of defeating it will multiply in its difficulty and complexity. We listened carefully to your Oval Office address on Sunday but were disappointed to learn that the same ineffective approach will continue to be implemented.

In September, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, characterized the fight against ISIS as “tactically stalemated,” an assessment that we believe still holds true. To break this stalemate, we ask you to formulate a comprehensive military strategy against ISIS and bring to bear additional military means. In the near term, our principal strategic goal must be to shatter the ISIS narrative of invincibility, in order to stem this group’s ability to recruit or inspire additional jihadists, both those who would physically travel to Syria or Iraq to join ISIS and those who would remain outside its sanctuary and conduct attacks on their home nations or neighboring ones, including the United States.

In order to effectively undermine the ISIS narrative, the coalition must inflict upon it highly visible territorial losses, starting with Iraq, including the recapture of Ramadi, Fallujah, and Mosul. To that end, we recommend that you pursue, at a minimum, several additional military options:

U.S. military advisors. To bolster the Iraqi Security Forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and Sunni tribal forces, we should embed U.S. military advisors to serve alongside them in combat units down to the battalion level, including those on the front lines. We must work more closely with our local ground partners. Without effective ground forces, ISIS cannot be dislodged from the territory it now holds in Syria and Iraq.
Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs). We should deploy and embed additional U.S. troops to serve as JTACs, embedded with our local ground partners, in order to make our airstrikes against ISIS more precise and more lethal.
Close air support. We should deploy and utilize additional close air support platforms, including Apache attack helicopters, to provide more effective support to our ground partners who are in close contact with ISIS, in coordination with the embedded JTACs.
Airstrike approval process. We should review the current approval process for coalition airstrikes, which we understand is unwieldy, and consider removing barriers that inhibit our pilots from attacking ISIS targets that are both timely and strategically significant.
In addition, we ask you to consider two more far-reaching courses of action:

Safe zones. We should establish one or more safe zones inside Syria, primarily for the protection of Syrian refugees. Creating and maintaining these so-called no-fly and no-drive zones would be a substantial military and humanitarian undertaking, but in so doing we would help safeguard innocent men, women, and children not just from Bashar al-Assad’s aircraft and barrel bombs, but also from ground attacks by Assad’s forces and ISIS. We would also help avert the mass exodus of Syrian refugees fleeing their own homeland for other countries in the region and in Europe.
NATO role. In light of the continuing threat posed to multiple member-nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), we should consider pursuing a robust and central NATO role in combating ISIS, as recently proposed by former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral (Ret.) James Stavridis. Leading the planning, implementation, and command-and-control of a mission to establish safe zones in Syria may be an appropriate mission for NATO.
This list of potential courses of action is not an exhaustive one, but we believe that pursuing even some of these would represent a needed boost in the fight against ISIS. Further, a number of these options or related ones have been proposed by two of your former Secretaries of Defense, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, and we agree that they are worthy of serious consideration. A more robust U.S. military effort is also likely to attract greater contributions from both NATO allies and, more importantly, regional partners.

We recognize that credible military action is necessarily only one element of any sound strategy to defeat ISIS. In addition, we know that the effort to dislodge ISIS from the territory it currently holds must be undergirded by a political framework that will sustain a lasting rejection of ISIS’s bankrupt ideology, which will itself require significant Sunni participation in Iraqi national governance. We also recognize that the threat of ISIS cannot be divorced from the overall conflict in Syria, which continues to rage, fueled further by Russian and Iranian interference. To safeguard our own national security, we must step up the military fight against ISIS as soon as possible, but it will require sustained, long-term American engagement to resolve the deeper problems that have allowed ISIS to incubate and gather strength in Syria and Iraq.

Success will not come easily or cheaply, but we urge you as our commander-in-chief to do whatever it takes to defeat ISIS and keep the American citizenry safe from harm.

NEW YORK – Bill Snyder, the architect of the “greatest turnaround in the history of college football,” became just the fourth person in the history of college football to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach as the legendary K-State coach was officially enshrined Tuesday as part of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2015.

Coach Snyder addressing the crowd on behalf of the 2015 College Football Hall of Fame class! pic.twitter.com/UFzWH06hBV

— K-State Athletics (@kstatesports) December 9, 2015

    A five-time national coach of the year honoree and seven-time conference coach of the year recipient, Snyder joins Bobby Bowden (Florida State), Joe Paterno (Penn State) and John Gagliardi (St. John’s) as active coaches to be enshrined.

    The entire Snyder family celebrating Coach Bill Snyder’s induction to the College Football HOF! pic.twitter.com/7E0xNDpihP — Kirk H. Schulz (@kstate_pres) December 9, 2015

 

 

 

Other members of the 2015 class include Nebraska linebacker Trev Alberts, Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth, Arizona State linebacker Bob Breunig, Millsaps (Miss.) defensive lineman Sean Brewer, Pittsburgh offensive tackle Ruben Brown, Florida split end Wes Chandler, Notre Dame split end Thom Gatewood, Yale running back Dick Jauron, Michigan State halfback Clinton Jones, Washington offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy, Michigan running back Rob Lytle, Marshall quarterback Michael Payton, Kentucky defensive end Art Still, Texas Tech linebacker Zach Thomas and Texas running back Ricky Williams.

Snyder has compiled an amazing 193-100-1 record in his 24 years as the helm of the Wildcat program. He ranks 29th all-time in victories among FBS coaches and continues to climb the ladder with each win.

“Obviously this is a very humbling honor, and I am certainly grateful to those who nominated me, those who voted for me and for Steve Hatchell and the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame for all they have done for our remarkable game of college football,” said Snyder. “It is, however, not a one-person honor but one for a large collection of wonderful people who have had a major impact on our program and any successes that I may have had. Recognition such as this would not have been possible for me if it wasn’t for my mother’s and grandfather’s guidance as a young boy, nor for my immediate family (wife Sharon, daughters Shannon, Meredith and Whitney and sons Sean and Ross) who have sacrificed so very much over the years.

“The opportunities given to us by our central athletic administration (past and present) have been a significant part of our successes here at Kansas State as has the fan (family) support we have had from our student bodies and the Kansas State people throughout the country. All inclusively they represent the passion, caring and love of the Wildcat Football Family.”

Called the “coach of the century” by hall of fame coach Barry Switzer, Snyder’s accomplishments at K-State are nearly unthinkable considering what he inherited during his first tour of duty beginning in 1989. The Wildcat program was in the midst of an 0-26-1 run when he was hired and had been just one bowl game in its first 93 seasons.

During a the span of 11-straight bowl seasons (1993-2003), Snyder’s Wildcats won nearly 80 percent of their games, chalking up 109 victories – a staggering 10 wins per season – and making K-State the nation’s second winningest program over that period. His first tenure included a Big 12 Championship in 2003 in a 35-7 win over No. 1 Oklahoma, while his 1998 team held a No. 1 ranking in the BCS Standings. Snyder retired from coaching prior to the last game of the 2005 season, and the Wildcats sent him out with a 36-28 come-from-behind home victory over Missouri in the first game of the newly renamed Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

“The entire K-State Nation joins President Schulz and me in congratulating Coach Snyder on being named a NFF College Football Hall of Fame member and being recognized as one of the top coaches in the history of the game,” Athletics Director John Currie said. “The impact he and Sharon and their family have had on Kansas State University and Manhattan since his arrival in 1989 is incalculable, and his leadership and mentoring are truly remarkable and inspirational. Coach Snyder’s legacy of integrity and commitment to excellence transcends not only football but perhaps all of intercollegiate athletics and higher education.”

Following a three-year hiatus, Snyder returned to the sidelines in 2009, and it has been more of the same as his teams have accumulated a 53-30 record through seven seasons and currently rank among the leaders in the Big 12 in conference wins since 2011 with 30.

The Wildcats are in the midst of six-straight bowl seasons, including a pair of 10-win campaigns in 2011 (10-3) and 2012 (11-2). The 2012 Wildcats captured the program’s second Big 12 Championship and held another No. 1 national ranking. After turning 75 years old on Oct. 7, 2014 – which qualified him to be included on this year’s hall of fame ballot – Snyder’s team promptly traveled to No. 11 Oklahoma and pulled out a 31-30 victory, a key component of the Wildcats’ nine-win season in 2014.

“This is such a fitting honor for a tremendous man who has represented Kansas State University, the state of Kansas and all of college athletics with the utmost class and integrity,” said K-State President Kirk Schulz. “Coach Snyder, in so many ways, epitomizes the core values central to our University’s founding and ongoing quest for excellence through a tireless work ethic, an unrelenting commitment to improvement and never giving up. We are so proud of him on behalf of the student-athletes, the entire K-State family and countless others who have benefitted from his positive leadership.”

ERICA WERNER, AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved legislation tightening controls on travel to the U.S. and requiring visas for anyone who’s been in Iraq or Syria in the previous five years.

The bill was approved 407-19. It takes aim at the “visa waiver” program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without first obtaining a visa. Belgium and France, home to most of the perpetrators of the Paris attacks, are among the participating countries.

The legislation would institute changes, including the new visa requirement, for citizens of Iraq and Syria or anyone who’s traveled to those countries in the previous five years.

The legislation is supported by the White House and may end up attached to a sweeping year-end spending bill now being finalized on Capitol Hill.

 

WICHITA- A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted a man who police arrested in Florida on charges of robbing a Wichita bank, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Antonio Adam Smiley, 30, Zephyrhills, Fla., is charged with one count of bank robbery. In court records, it is alleged that on Nov. 28, 2015, Smiley robbed the Emprise Bank branch at 2323 S. Hydraulic.

Investigators allege he entered the bank about 4:45 p.m. wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. He used a cellular telephone to try to hide his face from surveillance cameras during the robbery and fled the bank with cash. After releasing surveillance photos from the bank, police received information leading them to Smiley.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The Wichita Police Department and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting.

Overland Park– Representative Kevin Yoder (R-KS)  will be holding his fifth Job Fair and Resource Expo on Friday, December 11th at Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC).

As in past years, the Job Fair will help facilitate face-to-face meetings between those seeking employment and local business owners who are currently hiring. The job fair will include a special morning hour exclusively for veterans.

The Job Fair will last from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with the 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM hour exclusively open to veterans. Job-seekers should dress for success and bring several copies of their resume. There is no registration or fee required to attend this event.

WHEN: Friday, December 11, 2015

9:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Exclusive to Veterans

10:00 AM to 1:00 PM: Open to All Job Seekers

WHERE: Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC)

Dr. Thomas R. Burke Technical Education Center

6565 State Ave.

Kansas City, KS 66102

Only exhibitors need to register by clicking here and completing the form.

For more information, visit www.Yoder.house.gov, or please contact Susan Metsker in Representative Yoder’s District Office at (913) 621-0832.

NEW YORK (AP) — Chipotle says it believes norovirus is to blame for sickening Boston College students who ate at its restaurant.

The company says it thinks the illnesses are an isolated incident unrelated to an outbreak of E. coli cases tied to its restaurants.

“All of the evidence we have points in that direction,” says spokesman Chris Arnold. He noted the company has no confirmation.

Late Monday, Chipotle closed a restaurant in Boston after Boston College said 30 of its students complained of gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at the chain. The school said it was working with health authorities to investigate the cause.

People can get norovirus from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

———–

BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press
CANDICE CHOI, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Boston College says the number of students reporting gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle has climbed to 80.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas’ chancellor and 70 of the school’s distinguished professors have formally spoken out against the concealed carry of guns on campus.

The Lawrence Journal World reports Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little addressed the issue in her chancellor’s message to faculty and staff on Monday. The professors, including outgoing Provost Jeff Vitter, issued a statement voicing their opposition on Friday. The professors said universities should be able to restrict firearms on their campuses.

Under state law, Kansas universities must allow concealed weapons on campus beginning July 1, 2017.

The Kansas Board of Regents has drafted a policy to implement the new law on campuses.

Gray-Little encouraged employees to attend an information session on weapons on campus Tuesday and to respond to a weapons survey emailed to faculty and staff last week.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he favors an audit of the state’s foster care and adoption programs.

The governor made the comments Tuesday amid criticism that the Department of Children and Families discriminates against same-sex couples in adoptions and foster care.

The Kansas City Star reports Brownback disagreed with calls for Phyllis Gilmore to be removed as head of the DCF, saying Gilmore has strong experience and the background for the job.

Several same-sex couples have said recently that the DCF treated them unfairly, including removing children from lesbian foster parents who wanted to adopt.

Brownback says the state’s placement policy focuses on the best interest of the child. He also said federal and state laws favor keeping siblings together and placing children with relatives when possible.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A farm economist with the Kansas Farm Management Association says gross income for farms is down by at least 20 percent in the state.

The Hutchinson News reports that last year southwest Kansas farmers averaged about $56,000 in accrual net farm income, a $50,000 drop from 2013.

Doug Stucky is currently visiting farms across the region working on year-end planning.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted in November that net farm income in the country will drop about 40 percent to $55.9 billion this year, reflecting depressed crop prices and a softening livestock market.

The decrease in income has affected companies that manufacture equipment as well. Randy Veatch, vice president of sales for Straub International, says agricultural manufacturers are reporting a nearly 30 percent decline in sales since about 2013.

KINGMAN, Kan. (AP) — The demolition of three deteriorating buildings in south-central Kansas has become more urgent after a portion of one of the structures collapsed.

The Hutchinson News reports that Kingman County officials are meeting Wednesday to discuss requests for demolition bids for the side-by-side buildings. On Friday, a solid brick wall with a wrought-iron balcony came crumbling down. Some of the debris crashed through the glass door of Kingman Lumber and General Store, but no one was hurt.

Kingman County communications coordinator Nancy Borst says commissioners believe a recent ice storm was partially to blame, along with years of disrepair. Borst says the County Commission agreed to purchase the lots on June 15 with plans to demolish the buildings.

They are thought to have been built in the 1800s.