PAWNEE COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just before 1p.m. Sunday in Pawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Ford pickup driven by Laura A. Rogers, 47, St. George was westbound on Kansas 156 five miles west of Larned. The pickup traveled left of center and into the south ditch.

The pickup then struck a field entrance, went airborne, landed in the ditch, rolled multiple times and the driver was ejected.

Rogers was transported to a hospital in Wichita. She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

The following is a summary of arrests, citations by the Riley County Police Department. Those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

MANHATTAN, KAN. – The Riley County Police Department conducted a DUI Saturation Patrol on Friday, May 11. The focus of this patrol was to identify and remove impaired drivers from the roadway.

Four officers worked the saturation patrol. Over the course of the night officers stopped eighteen motorists, evaluating two for DUI. One driver was arrested for DUI, one driver was cited for possessing marijuana and two drivers were cited for driving while suspended.

The Kansas Department of Transportation Impaired Driving Deterrence Program provided funds for this saturation patrol.

MANHATTAN — For brothers Jake and Bryce Farrant, owners of Kansas Turf, a turf replacement and installation company based in Meriden, Kan., it was a dream come true – the replacement of the turf at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, a place they had visited many times as kids and college students.

“We were thrilled to be chosen as the turf replacement contractor for Bill Snyder Family Stadium,” Kansas Turf CEO Jake Farrant said. “We have a lifelong connection to that place, and as a locally owned, Kansas based company, we couldn’t be more proud to finish this worthwhile project.”

The Kansas Turf Facebook page has tracked the company’s progress on “The Bill,” as its affectionately referred to by fans of Kansas State football, from turf removal, to turf installation, to the “cutting in” of hashmarks, media lines, numbers and finally, the iconic Powercats.

Kansas Turf was proud to partner with AstroTurf on the BSFS project. The inventor of synthetic turf, AstroTurf is one of the most recognized brands in American sports.

Since 1965, the AstroTurf brand has been driven by forward thinking ingenuity. Today AstroTurf continuously improves its system design to deliver playing surfaces with the most realistic, sport-specific performance, longest lasting durability, and sound player protection.

Kansas State is the first FBS program in the country to install the latest artificial turf innovation from AstroTurf – RootZone Trionic 3D.

“Kansas Turf has completed many jobs for AstroTurf in the past and are eager to continue building the relationship,” Farrant said.

Kansas State University Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeremy Neiderwerder said he enjoyed working with Kansas Turf on the installation.

“Kansas Turf has been a great partner through the entire process of replacing the surface at Bill Snyder Family Stadium,” Niederwerder said. “They remained ahead of schedule throughout the entire installation process and have provided us with a surface that will greatly enhance our student-athlete performance on the field as well as the viewing experience for our fans and television viewers across the country.”

And the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is just the latest project for the northeast Kansas company that also does traditional natural sod installation and cemetery turf renovation.

“We streamline all of our removal and install processes by having state of the art equipment and high character employees that have a passion for what they do and take great pride in their work,” Farrant said.
Other noteworthy projects include the Bettis Family Sports Complex north of Lake Shawnee in Topeka, Kan., Northern State University’s Swisher Field in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the Jefferson West High School football field, where turf was removed from the Superdome in New Orleans and installed on the Jeff West field in Meriden.

“We are a big enough company to complete any job, but are small enough to take care of our customers the way they should be treated,” Farrant said. “The people you call for a bid will be the people on the job getting their hands dirty, and those same people will be available for years to come for maintenance calls and questions or new projects.”

Kansas Turf has completed over 20 fields in the last 18 months, and hopes to continue its expansion, Farrant says, noting that their prices are lower than most of their larger competitors.

To follow Kansas Turf’s progress at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, or any of their other turf installation projects, visit their Facebook page or find them on Twitter. For more information, visit their website at www.kansasturf.com.

The following is a summary of arrests, citations by the Riley County Police Department. Those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Heath- from a May arrest in Salne County for alleged drugs and theft

JAMES CARL EVERETT, 60, Manhattan, DUI; 1ST CONVICTION

OPERATE MV W/O VALID LICENSE; Bond $1500

RILEY COUNTY — Despite the storm watches and warnings, very little rain fell in most of Riley County.  The National Weather Service reported 1.18 inches of rain in southern parts of the county. From a trace to .67 inches of rain fell in Wabaunsee County.

Just a trace of moisture is reported in Pottawatomie and Geary.

There is a 20 percent chance for more rain on Wednesday and a 40 percent chance Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

By BRIAN GRIMMETT

Industrial hemp is coming to Kansas, but first the Department of Agriculture has to figure out how to regulate it.

Industrial hemp farm at the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington, Ky
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

To get started, the department is holding public meetings to get input from potential growers.

“Please don’t be frustrated if our answer is, ‘We don’t know yet,’ because that’s part of why we’ve asked you to come so we can figure out what we need to figure out,” Chad Bontrager, Kansas Agribusiness Service director, said before beginning his presentation at a recent meeting in Manhattan.

The meeting consisted of an overview of the recently passed law opening up the pilot project, as well as presentations from two people involved in the operation of industrial hemp programs in Kentucky and Colorado.

Dozens of people participated in the meeting, including Christina Hett. She’s a farmer in Marion County who’s interested in hemp as an alternative to the wheat, soy beans and corn she already grows.

“The farming markets are terrible, and it’s just to the point that we have to find something else,” she said.

But even after the meeting, she still had lots of questions and concerns, especially about how much a license to grow would cost.

“It’s almost like they’re not thinking about this from the producer’s perspective,” she said.

The state Department of Agriculture’s goal is to have draft regulations completed by July 1 and to begin issuing licenses to grow by the beginning of 2019.

Brian Grimmett reports on the environment and energy for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.

WILSON — The Post Rock Opportunities Foundation in Wilson invites all Kansas artists to enter the fourth annual Kansas Originals Art Show. This show gives Kansas artists the opportunity to showcase their work and gives travelers from across the United States the chance to view a variety of art from throughout Kansas. This year the Foundation has added some exciting elements to the show. Entries will be accepted from artists 18 and over in one division and artists 17 and under in a separate division. Also new, 3-D art, including jewelry, glass, pottery, etc. will be in a category separate from the 2-D entries–allowing more competition and more chances to win. Juror for the show is Cori Sherman North, Curator at the Birger Sandzen Gallery in Lindsborg.

Entries will be accepted through May 24. The show will begin on Saturday, May 26, and will end at 2 pm on July 1. The pictures and pieces will be on display at Kansas Originals, Wilson. The show is exceptionally exciting because visitors from across the United States vote on the People’s Choice Award. A benefit for the artists is that they have the ability to offer their work for sale with the buyer taking possession at the end of the show.

Artists do not need to be members of the Post Rock Opportunities Foundation. Each artist may enter up to 5 pieces with an entry fee of $10 for each piece. For more information on the rules and for entry forms please contact Kansas Originals Market at (785) 658-2602 or by email at assistant@kansasoriginals.com. Entry forms are also available in Events at kansasoriginals.com.

The show is sponsored by the Post Rock Opportunities Foundation, which operates Kansas Originals Market & Gallery locations at Wilson and Topeka. Kansas Originals offers the largest selection of Kansas-made products found under one roof in the United States and represents over 200 member artists craftsmen, authors, and food producers.

— Submitted

The following is a summary of arrests, citations by the Riley County Police Department. Those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Herron -photo courtesy Wyandotte Co. Sheriff

ZACHARY DEWAYNE TILTON, 30, Manhattan, IGNITION INTERLOCK DEVICE;OPERATE W/O; Bond $1000

BY JIM MCLEAN

The race to be the next governor of Kansas is beginning in earnest.
FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

Josh Svaty picked a political no-name to team with in his run for governor.

But the pick is someone who checks off boxes that Svaty can’t with voters in the Democratic primary and, if things play out right for him, in the general election.

She’s not just a woman; her abortion rights beliefs mitigate his support of some abortion restrictions that don’t play well with many Democrats. He didn’t serve in the military; she brings U.S. Army credentials polished at West Point and honed as a Black Hawk helicopter platoon leader in Iraq.

Katrina Lewison is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Josh Svaty
CREDIT JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

Katrina Lewison offers business experience in the tech world to balance his time as a member of the Kansas House and as the state’s agriculture secretary.

The pairing gives Svaty a chance to turn some heads as voters start tuning in to the crowded campaign.

“This is a change election,” Svaty said.

Gone, he said, are the days of “two white guys running at the top of the ticket.” That’s his shot at the all-male tickets of the two leading contenders for the Republican nomination, Gov. Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Colyer, who served for seven years as lieutenant governor before taking over in January when former Gov. Sam Brownback left to take an ambassador’s job in the Trump administration, installed Salina businessman Tracey Mann as his successor.

Mann, a former director for the National Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2010.

Kobach added former rival Wink Hartman to his ticket after the Wichita businessman dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination for governor.

Lewison, who’s five months into a term on the Manhattan school board, said her desire to put Kansas “back on the right path” motivated her to run for statewide office.

“I see this as a chance to step up when Kansas needs leaders the most,” Lewison said.

An abortion rights supporter, Lewison said she wouldn’t have joined the ticket if she and Svaty “weren’t aligned” on the issue.

“Josh has been very clear about his position that he would not further restrict a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices,” she said.

Svaty’s selection of a running mate is the first event in what promises to be a flurry of campaign activity between now and June 1, the date by which all major party candidates for statewide office and the Kansas House must file with the secretary of state’s office.

The campaign of state Sen. Laura Kelly, another perceived frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, says she will name her running mate “late next week” and file the following week.

Several other declared candidates for the Democratic nomination have yet to make their campaigns official. They include former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, Olathe physician Arden Andersen and former FBI agent Michael Tabman. Salina salesman Robert Klingenberg has named a running mate but hasn’t yet filed.

Wichita high school student Jack Bergeson is the only Democratic hopeful to have both chosen a running mate and filed his candidacy with the secretary of state’s office.

Two prominent Republican candidates — former state Sen. Jim Barnett and Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer — must also round out their tickets and file before the deadline.

Several teenage candidates running for the GOP nomination must do the same. They include, Tyler Ruzich, Dominic Scavuzzo and Joseph Tutera, Jr.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A 20-year-old Kansas man has admitted being part of a group that shot and killed several cows in Leavenworth County.

Wright-photo Leavenworth Co.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson says Christopher Wright, of Overland Park, pleaded no contest Wednesday to criminal damage to property and animal cruelty.

Wright was one of four people who have been found guilty in the shootings. Twenty-year-old Marcel Timmons, of Manhattan, and two others whose names were not released because they are juveniles, pleaded guilty last year.

Timmons-photo Leavenworth Co.

Investigators say the shootings occurred in August 2016 in rural Leavenworth County. Several cows on two separate properties were found dead of gunshot wounds.

The damage was estimated at more than $16,000.

Police say the four admitted to shooting the cows but offered no justification.

The following is a summary of arrests, citations by the Riley County Police Department. Those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Colbert has four previous convictions for theft and forgery, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections

DARRYL BRUCE WHEELER JR, 46, Manhattan, POSS OPIATES,OPIUM,NARCOTIC; Bond $2000

RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after an altercation with law enforcement.

Just before 8:30p.m. Wednesday, police arrested Jason Nigels, 34, of Manhattan in the 1000 block of Thurston Street in Manhattan on a two Riley County District Court warrants each for failure to appear, according to the  Riley County Police Department Activity Report.

Nigels is being held on a bond of $19,000 for domestic battery, criminal damage to property, animal cruelty, battery of a law enforcement officer and interference with a law enforcement officer.

A domesticated animal was injured during Nigels encounter with law enforcement, according to RCPD spokesperson Hali Rowland. Police released no additional details.

The ESOP Association’s 41st annual conference will be May 24 and 25 in Washington. More than 900 representatives of companies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans, including senior executives, human resource specialists and ownership leaders, as well as professionals who provide services to ESOPs, are expected to attend.

Eagle’ Communications employee-owners who will be featured presenters at the conference include:

• Gary Shorman, President and CEO
• Shannon Wiederholt, Chief People Officer
• Cole Grieves, Talent Development Representative
• Andrea Clinkscales, Executive Administrative Assistant

They will be presenting:
Generation ‘E’ – Standard Operating Procedure
Thursday, May 24, 2018, from 11:20 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. in Capital D

This interactive presentation will allow participants to discuss and identify generational challenges in their organization and to learn methods on how to communicate across generational lines.

Eagle Communications, Inc. is a Kansas-based Broadband Services and Media Company with over 290 employee-owners. The company operates 28 radio stations in Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri as well as cable TV systems in 60 Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado communities. The company also offers e-business solutions, web hosting, telephone service, high-speed Internet, and wireless Internet in most service areas. For more information log on to http://www.eaglecom.net.

The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership. The core belief of The ESOP Association is that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation, and strengthen our free enterprise economy. More information: website – www.esopassociation.org and blog – www.esopassociationblog.org

By STEPHEN KORANDA

Public universities in Kansas are proposing tuition hikes significantly lower than some of the larger increases seen in recent years. The schools presented the plans to the Kansas Board of Regents this week.

The increases in tuition and fees for in-state, undergraduate students range from 1.2 percent at Kansas State University to 3 percent at the University of Kansas.

Those numbers are smaller than some past increases. Over the last decade, annual tuition hikes have sometimes run as high as 9 percent.

“In recent years, the universities sustained reductions to their State General Fund appropriations,” a summary from the Board of Regents said. “Tuition increases, although not intended to make up for those reductions, have clearly served to mitigate the financial dilemma created by the budget cuts.”

Higher education in Kansas had to absorb a $30 million cut in 2016 put in place by then-Gov. Sam Brownback to help balance the state budget.

Lawmakers changed course on taxes last year by reversing many of the state’s 2012 tax cuts. They’ve also been restoring some of the higher education spending reductions.

After adding $15 million in higher education funding this year, lawmakers have now restored around $24 million of the $30 million cut.

In its explanation to the board, K-State said the funding increases over the last two years helped limit the tuition hike.

“This is the smallest tuition increase the university has requested since before 1989,” the explanation for K-State said.

If the increases are approved, the cost of in-state tuition and fees for a 15-credit-hour semester would range from $5,573.95 at KU and $5,191.50 at K-State down to $3,379.08 at Emporia State University.

The tuition increase at KU is slightly more than requested last year, even with the increase in state funding. KU spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said the increase is necessary to keep up with rising costs for employee health care and facilities.

“The proposed rate hikes won’t even cover all of that,” she said. “What we’re really looking at is a rapid increase in fixed costs.”

KU’s proposal does not include raises for workers.

Barcomb-Peterson said part of the facility cost is bringing online a new science building that will offer additional educational and research opportunities.

“It’s always about balancing affordability and quality,” Barcomb-Peterson said. “We want a KU education to be affordable for our students and families, but we also need to provide the level of education that people are going to expect from a research university like KU.”

In its summary, the Board of Regents said even after the funding boost, total state support will be $72 million below where it was in 2009.

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.

HONG KONG (AP) — China has dropped an anti-dumping investigation and given long awaited approval for the sale of Toshiba’s memory chip business, in gestures that could suggest a thaw between Beijing and the U.S. as trade talks resumed in Washington.

The Commerce Ministry said Friday ended the probe into imported U.S. sorghum because it’s not in the public interest. A day earlier, Beijing cleared the way for a group led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital to buy Toshiba Corp.’s computer memory chip business.

The moves signaled Beijing’s willingness to make a deal with Washington amid talks between senior U.S. and Chinese officials aimed at averting a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, analysts say.

“I think China is willing to make concessions,” said Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS. “The Chinese stance has been very clear, that China wants to mute any trade dispute. But of course it doesn’t mean China would heed to all the demands the U.S. would place.”

A White House official said China had offered to work to cut the trade deficit with the U.S. by $200 billion, while stressing that the details remained unclear. But China’s Foreign Ministry denied it.

“It’s untrue,” said spokesman Lu Kang. “The relevant discussion is still underway, and it is constructive.”

The Commerce Ministry said it was ending the anti-dumping probe and a parallel anti-subsidy investigation because they would have raised costs for consumers.

The U.S. is China’s biggest supplier of sorghum, accounting for more than 90 percent of total imports. China’s investigation, launched in February, had come as a warning shot to American farmers, many of whom support the Trump administration yet depend heavily on trade. They feared they would lose their largest export market for the crop, which is used primarily for animal feed and liquor.

The Commerce Ministry said that, “Anti-dumping and countervailing measures against imported sorghum originating in the United States would affect the cost of living of a majority of consumers and would not be in the public interest,” according to a notice posted on its website.

It said it had received many reports that the investigation would result in higher costs for the livestock industry, adding that many domestic pig farmers were facing hardship because of declining pork prices.

China’s U.S. sorghum imports surged from 317,000 metric tons in 2013 to 4.76 million tons last year while prices fell by about a third in the same period.

The ministry said any deposits for the preliminary anti-dumping tariffs of 178.6 percent, which took effect on April 18, would be returned in full.

The announcement came after President Donald Trump met at the White House with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the leader of China’s delegation for talks with a U.S. team headed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Trump had told reporters earlier that he had doubts about the potential for an agreement. He also raised fresh uncertainty about resolving a case involving Chinese tech company ZTE, which was hit with a crippling seven-year ban on buying from U.S. suppliers, forcing it to halt major operations. Trump said the company “did very bad things” to the U.S. economy and would be a “small component of the overall deal.”

Song Lifang, an economics professor and trade expert at Renmin University, said haggling is currently underway.

“It’s time for both to present their demands, but it’s also a time to exhibit their bargaining chips,” said Song, adding that approval for the Toshiba deal, worth $18 billion, was “an apparent sign of thaw” amid a U.S. investigation into Chinese trade practices requiring U.S. companies to turn over their technology in exchange for access to China’s market.

The Trump administration has proposed tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese products to punish Beijing while China has responded by targeting $50 billion in U.S. imports. Neither country has yet imposed tariffs.

According to the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission, the Sorghum Belt runs from South Dakota to Southern Texas and the crop is grown primarily on dryland acres.  In addition to animal feed it is used for ethanol production. Kansas, Texas and Arkansas are among the top Sorghum producing states, according to the the commission’s web site.

The following is a summary of arrests, citations by the Riley County Police Department. Those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

By MADELINE FOX

Some 20 administrators in the Kansas agency managing child welfare and state assistance have been promoted, fired or shifted to other posts since November.

DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel addresses staff and community members at the agency’s regional office in Leavenworth. The secretary and her staff have visited 18 of the 36 DCF offices so far as the agency undergoes a top-to-bottom review.
MADELINE FOX / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

Gina Meier-Hummel was tapped to take over the Department for Children and Families nearly six months ago and says now that the changes have been aimed at strengthening the agency as it confronts a rising caseload of children in care.

The agency also dismissed two staff members in the Wichita regional office earlier this spring in response to “concerning trends” in the region.

Several children have died in the Wichita region in recent years after DCF was alerted to their cases. They included: Evan Brewer, whose body was found encased in concrete in 2017; Conner Hawes, who drowned in a fish pond in his foster parents’ backyard the same year; and Anthony Bunn, who died earlier this month from injuries believed to be the result of abuse.

Meier-Hummel announced plans for a top-to-bottom review when she took over the office. Some of that is being done from outside the agency. The Annie E. Casey foundation is auditing how cases are first identified by the child welfare system.

But the secretary has also been hitting the road to see things for herself. She and her staff have taken questions and concerns at 18 of DCF’s 36 regional offices.

Meier-Hummel said staffing changes come both from a desire to reshape the overwhelmed agency and from concerns about some staff members’ actions.

“Part of it is wanting to make sure we have the right people in the right position and doing the right work,” she said. “But … as we’ve looked at other things, we’ve made changes because we do have concern or we’re worried about somebody not being ethical or somebody not being proactive enough.”

Some shifts have come from what her team has learned in local office visits, she said. The agency has also surveyed DCF employees and noted comments sent to her through an anonymous tip system. And administrative teams have reviewed each region by talking to staff and going through cases and staffing patterns.

In the meantime, the agency grapples with a staffing shortage. Last month, DCF announced it was opening up investigative child protection positions to people without a social work license. Meier-Hummel said at that time that a third of child protection positions were vacant, and some had been for more than a year.

But the secretary said she’s not letting concerns about vacancies stop her from removing staffers.

“If we think they can be coached up and supported to a level that we expect, then we’ll work with them to do that,” Meier-Hummel said. “If not, we’re not going to shy away from letting them go. We can’t be hampered by the workforce.”

DCF is also exploring new ways to be more nimble with its existing staff.

Kansas City regional director Tammy Thomas said they plan to use recently approved budget increases to pay for 12 new staff positions in the area. Some will form a “float” team that can travel from county to county based on the area’s needs.

For example, if Atchison County needs more staff to deal with a spike in welfare applicants, the team could set up there to help and later move on to Leavenworth or Wyandotte counties to handle child welfare cases.

The structure of DCF’s regional offices, though, will stay largely the same, Meier-Hummel said. She said she doesn’t plan to close any DCF offices, or open any new ones.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox.