Exporting in Kansas increased slightly to $11.66 billion in 2012, according to data released today by the Kansas Department of Commerce. Exports have grown by more than $1.75 billion since 2010, according to Kansas Commerce Secretary Pat George.

The top 10 industry sectors were up from 2011 by 3 percent. The largest gains occurred in oil seeds, grain, seed, fruit and plants (257 percent), mineral fuel (102 percent) and industrial machinery (12 percent). The top 10 industries accounted for 74.2 percent of the state’s exports. The largest sector, aircraft sales, had $2.07 billion in exports, a 2.7 percent decline from 2011.

Once again, Canada, Mexico, China and Japan were the state’s top four export markets. Exports to China have increased by 70.6 percent since 2011, the largest increase for any country in the top ten markets. China has moved from the fifth largest export market for Kansas in 2010 to third place.

Other Kansas export facts:

• Canada continues to be Kansas’ largest export market, accounting for 23.3 percent of total exports. The top three markets (Canada, Mexico and China) accounted for 45.6 percent of the total.

• The top ten markets accounted for 71.9 percent of total exports.

• Exports to United Kingdom moved from seventh to sixth in the rankings after growing by more than $110 million in 2012, an increase of 26.8 percent from the prior year.

• In the five-state region that includes Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma, the average export value during 2012 was $9.56 billion. Kansas once again achieved an export mark above this average.

Paul Seib Jr., Ness City, will be inducted into the Kansas Cooperative Hall of Fame March 20, 2013, during the annual meeting  of the Kansas Cooperative Council and Kansas Farmers Service Association.

Seib has served as a board member for local and regional cooperatives for more than 30 years.

In addition to serving on the board of his local co-op, Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Inc., he joined Hays-based Sunflower Electric Power Corporation’s board in 1979.  Seib also served as Sunflower’s representative on the Western Fuels Association Board of Directors.

He was one of the original members of the board of directors for the Washington, DC, based Western Power Producers, a cooperative organization of generation and transmission cooperatives formed in 1989 that worked to help its members find operational efficiencies and advocated for rural electric power.

The Kansas Cooperative Hall of Fame was formed in 1999 by the Kansas Cooperative Council to recognize Kansans who have been instrumental in developing and spreading the cooperative philosophy on the state, national or international levels.

All inductees are honored in a permanent display at the Kansas Cooperative Hall of Fame exhibit, located in the Pride of Kansas Building on the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson.

 

The four students from the Russell High School FFA Livestock Judging Team were honored Thursday in Topeka for  their achievements by 109th District Representative Troy Waymaster, R-Luray.

Lane Mai, Payton Stoppel, Jordan Moubry and Clayton Moubry were introduced to the entire Kansas House of Representatives and congratulated with a standing ovation for winning first at state competition, fourth at the national competition in Indianapolis, Indiana,  and for being invited to participate at the international competition in Scotland this summer.

Accompanying the students were Russell High School Principal, Larry Bernard; Athletic Director, Mark Paul and FFA Advisor, Jed Strnad.

Earlier in the day, the group had their picture taken with Representative Waymaster and Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer at the state capitol building.

The state of Kansas has been ranked first in its region for economic development projects in Site Selection magazine’s 2012 rankings. Site Selection, which has compiled annual economic development rankings since 1978, listed Kansas 13^th among all states for expansions and new facilities opened in 2012.

Site Selection ranked Kansas first in the seven state West North Central region that also included Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. With 122 new facilities and expansions in 2012, Kansas led all states in this region. Kansas also had the most economic development projects in the region over the three year period from 2010-2012, with 274 new facilities and expansions during this time.

Of the 122 economic development projects in 2012, Kansas Commerce Secretary Pat George says 17 were classified as new manufacturing facilities, 32 as manufacturing expansions and the remaining 73 as all other categories, including offices, headquarters, distribution centers, research and development facilities and mixed-use facilities.

Russell County is hosting the annual Western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance (wKREDA) meeting today and Thursday.

Russell County Economic Development and Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Janae Talbott welcomed about 35 participants to the Russell Elks Lodge Wednesday afternoon as the annual meeting began.

wKREDA, created in 1994, is a coalition of the 54 western Kansas counties working together for their common good.

As a volunteer organization, wKREDA is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors. Business Development, Government Affairs, Education and Public Relations are the core opportunities and challenges faced by wKREDA’s membership.

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On Saturday, March 9, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) will host a free entrance day and open houses at all state parks.  Visitors also will have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of events at most parks.

During the open houses, park users can take advantage of low off-season camping permit prices.  March 31 is the last day annual camping permits are priced at off-season discounts.  On April 1, the prices increase to their regular prime-season levels.

Visitors can purchase annual camping permits and make cabin or campsite reservations during the open houses, as well. For pricing information and to purchase permits online, go to the KDWPT website, ksoutdoors.com.

Kansas motor vehicle owners can now buy an annual park vehicle permit as part of their vehicle registration process.  The permit – called a Kansas State Parks Passport – will cost $15.00 (county treasurers can elect to add a $0.50 service fee). This lower-price, non-transferable permit will be available only during the vehicle registration process at a motor vehicle registration office, through the online vehicle registration site (www.kswebtags.org), or when registering by mail.  The Kansas State Parks Passport will expire when the vehicle registration expires a year later.

 

Kansans have made some creative (CRE8VE) attempts over the years to buck the state’s list of banned personalized license plates.

Drivers in the Sunflower (SUNFLWR) State have been able to get personalized (VANITY) plates since 1975. The Kansas Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles has kept a list of no-no (BANNED) words ever since.

The list has almost 1,200 entries and is filled with your standard curse words, sexual innuendo, racial slurs, drug references and urban slang, The Wichita Eagle reports.

Here are a few examples:

420, a reference to marijuana, is banned.

So is MURDER, as is REDRUM, which, as anyone who has seen the movie “The Shining” knows, is “murder” spelled backward.

Also banned are FANNY, FBI and HELLBOY.

Substituting “ph” for the letter “f,” for example, is a popular ploy. So is using numbers as letters, as in A55.

“They’ll go to all kinds of lengths to get around” the list, said Donna Shelite, director of vehicles.

Other banned plates are more difficult to figure out and need Google – or a seventh-grade boy – to decode.

“There are some I don’t understand,” Shelite said, laughing.

The state’s list is a mix of plates drivers have tried – unsuccessfully – to get as well as just common-sense guidelines.

The state also watches out for automatically generated plates that would be a problem, such as 123SEX, Shelite said.

Personalized plates can be up to seven letters or a combination of up to seven letters and numbers.

The state processes 61,000 applications for personalized plates every year. It rejects about 300 a year, Shelite said.

Plates also can land on the list if they’ve garnered complaints by other drivers. Shelite said she has handled only two complaints and thought, “Oh, my gosh, how did this get through, because I did know what it meant.”

Sedgwick County Treasurer Linda Kizzire said drivers who want personalized plates are asked to list three choices in order of preference and an explanation “as to what it means.”

The treasurer’s office then sends the applications to the state, which makes the decision about whether a plate will pass muster.

If the first choice is acceptable, the state makes that plate.

“If it’s objectionable, they then drop to the second choice,” said Jo Hillman, deputy treasurer.

Some people fill out only one choice, though.

If the plate is banned, the state will let them know.

Personalized plates cost $45 in addition to registration, regular fees and taxes.

A bill hat would require schools to devote a week in mid-September each year to focus on teaching students about the country’s founding won backing from the state House on Friday.

The “Celebrate Freedom Week” measure, one of several bills sponsored by conservative Republicans that would affect school curriculums, passed on a 95-25 vote. It would require the State Board of Education to develop rules and regulations for public schools in collaboration with other state agencies and private entities who volunteer to participate. A handful of states, including Texas in 2001, have adopted similar weeks dedicated to civics instruction.

The measure also states that religious references in the writings shall not be censored from the teaching of the materials.

 

The new Russell Police Chief, Dale Weimaster, was sworn into office this afternoon by Deputy City Clerk Karen Gates.

Weimaster has been serving as interim chief since Jon Quinday resigned that position to become the new Russell City Manager.

The ceremony was a family affair at city hall, with Weimaster’s wife Joan pinning on his badge.  His children, Jennifer,  of St. Joseph, MO, and Bryan, of Hays, pinned medals to his uniform collar.

Weimaster started working for the Russell Police Department in 1994.  He currently serves on the Russell County Emergency Communications Advisory Board and the Local Emergency Planning Commission.