Gov. Sam Brownback will host a gathering April 28 in central Kansas to discuss the state’s potential to develop outdoor sites for ecotourism.

The summit will be held at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center at the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area near Great Bend. Presenters will include Ted Eubanks, founder of the ecotourism consulting firm Fermata.

Brownback has invited participants to discuss ideas for nature-based tourism focusing on wildlife and the landscape, such as bird-watching and photography.

The summit is by invitation only because seating at the education center is limited.

By Brett Regan ~ Little Apple Post

A head-on collision in Geary County has killed two drivers and injured several members of a construction crew riding in a van.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says the crash happened around 7:15 a.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 77 about one mile north of Milford. The patrol says a southbound Cheverolet Silverado pickup truck driven by 39-year-old Lancy Davis II, of Palmer, crossed the center line and collided head-to-head with a Ford passenger van driven by 52-year-old Juan Perez, of Wichita. When the two vehicles collided, the pickup became airborne and landed partially in the east ditch and on top of the east guardrail of the highway. Both Davis and Perez were killed in the accident.

Six of the seven passengers, all from Wichita, in the van were taken to area hospitals. Aleandro Perez, 28, Manuel Lozoya, 50, and Oscar Perez-Olivarez, 28, were transported to Geary Community Hospital in Junction City. Roman Perez-Ortiz, 24, and Antonio Salas-Ortiz, 25, were transported to Mercy Regional Health Center in Manhattan. Martin Perez-Hernandez, 25, and Jose Salas-Ortiz, 35, were airlifted by LifeStar to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka.

They were part of the construction company, Bryant & Bryant Construction Inc., based out of Halstead.

Davis’ pickup truck had a Kaw Valley Engineering, Inc. emblem on the doors.

While violent weather was hitting south-central Kansas this weekend, someone in the region was winning a state lottery jackpot worth more than $$1.45 million.

Lottery officials say one winning ticket in Saturday night’s Super Kansas Cash drawing was sold in the 15-county area. The ticket matched the winning numbers of 13-15-21-25-30 plus the Cash Ball number of 14.

The south-central region includes the counties of Barton, Rice, McPherson, Marion, Stafford, Reno, Harvey, Pratt, Kingman, Sedgwick, Butler, Barber, Harper, Sumner and Cowley.

 

by Randy Picking ~ Salina Post

The EF-4 tornado that struck just south of Kanopolis lake late Saturday afternoon, dropped debris on the east side of Salina, 40 miles away.

An employee of the Salina Municipal Golf Course found a sign that had been along K-4 Highway before the tornado, on the golf course Sunday morning and turned it over to Captain Roger Soldan of the Saline County Sheriffs Office.

The tornado destoyed several farm homes and outbuildings and scoured the pavement  in the area near Kanopolis Lake.

A LaCrosse man was injured in a motorcycle accident Sunday afternoon.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol at around 3:36 Sunday afternoon, Jeffrey Bunch, 43, was riding a 2007 Suzuki westbound on Interstate 70 about three miles west of WaKeeney when a gust of wind blew him into the median as he passed a semi-truck.

Bunch, who was not wearing a helmet, was taken to Lemke Memorial Hospital with injuries.

No further information was released.

The storms that raked Kansas during the weekend left downed power lines and some closed roads at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

The good news is that a pair of nesting eagles at the central Kansas refuge apparently survived the storms.

The Wichita Eagle reports  Saturday’s storms ripped out about a mile of power lines and poles at the refuge and uprooted about a quarter mile of trees. Several roads leading into the refuge were closed.

Barry Jones, a visitor services specialist at the refigure, says an eagle’s nest with hatchlings had survived the storm. An adult bald eagle was spotted Sunday on the nest but it wasn’t immediately clear if hatchlings in the nest had survived the storm.

The case of a computer specialist who alleges he was terminated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory because of his belief in intelligent design is winding down.

Closing arguments in David Coppedge’s wrongful termination case against JPL begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Coppedge worked as a team lead on the Cassini mission exploring Saturn and its many moons and claims he was discriminated against because he engaged his co-workers in conversations about intelligent design and handed out DVDs on the idea while at work.

Intelligent design is the belief that a higher power had a hand in creation because life is too complex to have developed through evolution alone.

Coppedge was let go last year after 15 years on the mission.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach is preparing to outline efforts by his office to improve online access to Kansas business records.

Kobach scheduled a Monday news conference to discuss the initiative.

The secretary of state’s office is responsible for maintaining hundreds of thousands of records for Kansas businesses.

Businesses based in Kansas must file annual reports with the secretary of state’s office. Companies and nonprofit groups also must file their articles of incorporation and register an agent with the office.

Many lending transactions also require creditors to file a statement with the secretary of state, who then maintains a database of the personal property used to back loans.

The National Weather Service says Kansas likely had more than a month’s worth of tornadoes in this weekend’s outbreak.

Mike Hudson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Kansas City, said Sunday that crews are assessing the hardest hit areas from the storms that hit Saturday and Sunday. They’re trying to determine how many tornadoes were involved.

Kansas reported widespread damage in Sedgwick and Rice counties, but no fatalities.

Hudson says there were 122 preliminary tornado reports in the region, with most occurring in Kansas, but some of those are likely multiple reports of the same tornado. He says statistics show Kansas averages 12 tornadoes in April.

Hudson says based on the early reports that it’s likely there will have been more than 12 tornadoes in Kansas in this outbreak.

Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas legislators appear headed toward a stalemate over spending on public schools.

An impasse could block any significant increase in aid or change in how dollars are distributed as the trial of an education funding lawsuit looms in June.

Brownback has proposed overhauling how the state parcels out more than $3 billion — roughly half its general tax revenues — to its 286 school districts.

But many legislators see rewriting the funding formula as too daunting a task for an annual, 90-day session already crowded with other big issues. Lawmakers now expect to study the governor’s proposal over the summer and fall.

Democrats and some Republicans also are seeking to reverse some cuts made in recent years.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says residents took storm warnings seriously as heavy storms and dozens of tornadoes battered the state, causing extensive damage but no fatalities.

The tornadoes that touched down across the state Saturday and early Sunday hit Sedgwick and Rice counties especially hard. A reported tornado in Wichita caused damage at McConnell Air Force Base and at a Wichita mobile home park. Preliminary damage estimates could be as high as $283 million.

Brownback, who issued a declaration of disaster emergency early Sunday, said the state was fortunate to have escaped fatalities. He says residents responded to the storm warnings and took cover, and that preparation may have saved many lives.

The National Weather Service says conditions Sunday called for high winds, but no major storms in Kansas.

Over 50 tornadoes were reported across Kansas and two of those narrowly missed the city of Salina.

The tornadoes did cause damage northeast of Salina, in New Cambria, and the Niles area, but no injuries have been reported. A full damage report is expected from Saline County Officials early this week.

To the southwest, a home was destroyed in Marquette and near Lyons outbuildings were damaged.

Kansas Emergency Management spokeswoman Sharon Watson said that in Rice County, inmates had to be transferred after the jail was damaged. And downed power lines closed roads and highways in several central and western counties.

Saturday was only the second time in history that the National Weather Service had issued a high-risk warning over 24 hours ahead of time.

Sedgwick County officials say damages could be as high as $283 million after a tornado hit the southeast part of Wichita.

The storm that struck late Saturday night caused damage to a mobile home park and McConnell Air Force Base. A Boeing Co. spokesman says the Wichita plant took a “direct hit.” Emergency management officials said that at nearby Spirit AeroSystems, most buildings were damaged. Flash flooding and fires also were reported.

Sedgwick County was one about a dozen counties where homes were damaged or destroyed from a powerful storm system that generated numerous tornadoes.