WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has told Congress he is canceling a pay raise that most civilian federal employees were due to receive in January, citing budgetary constraints.

Trump informed House and Senate leaders in a letter sent Thursday.

Trump says in the letter that locality pay increases would cost $25 billion, on top of a 2.1 percent across-the-board increase for most civilian government employees.

He cites the costs and says: “We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases.” Trump says he’s determined that for 2019 “both across-the-board pay increases and locality pay increases will be set at zero.”

Under the law the 2.1 percent raise takes effect automatically unless the president and Congress act to change it. Congress is debating a proposal for a slightly lower 1.9 percent across the board raise to be included in a government funding bill that would require Trump’s signature to keep most government functions operating past September.

Unions representing the 2 million-member federal workforce urged Congress to pass the 1.9 percent pay raise.

Beginning September 4, due to road construction being conducted overnight at and near Fort Riley’s Trooper access control point, that access control point will be closed nightly at 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, reopening the following weekday morning at 5:30 a.m. Trooper access control point will be closed on weekends.

Throughout the period of construction, scheduled to complete Sept. 24, Grant access control point will be open 24 hours a day.

The Trooper access control point will also be closed on Saturday, Sept. 1,
in order to move barriers in preparation for the upcoming construction work.
That closure will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the Grant access control
point will open during those hours. Trooper will reopen once the preliminary
work is completed on Saturday and remain open until 7 p.m. Tuesday when the
construction project begins.

Signage will direct drivers to use the correct access control point for
entering and leaving Fort Riley.

The Farmer’s Almanac winter outlook is predicting colder than normal conditions from the Continental Divide east through the Appalachians. Above normal snowfall is predicted for the Midwest, Great Lakes, New England and Pacific Northwest.

Frigid weather is expected in mid-February. A stormier than normal March could push snowfall totals to above normal over the Plains and the northern and central Rockies. The Almanac predicted teeth chattering cold and plentiful snow for the northern plains region that includes Kansas.

Teachers, staff and families at Junction City Middle School were greeted by Junghans State Farm Wednesday morning with Bucks for Buckles. The activity was designed to promote the effectiveness of seat belts in saving lives and reducing injuries.

Each driver with all participants safely buckled received one dollar.  Safe Kids Kansas partners with 56 State Farm agencies in Kansas annually to encourage families to buckle up and drive safely to protect their most valuable asset, their families.

Junghans State Farm chose Junction City Middle School in hopes of influencing the next young drivers of the importance of always wearing their seatbelts.

Jolana Montgomery-Matney, Executive Director of the Geary Community Healthcare Foundation, has announced plans for construction of the Rago Isolation Room in the Geary Community Hospital Emergency Department.

The project, funded by Ruth and Josephine Rago, is estimated to cost $49,000 for the construction of the safe room for mental health patients seeking treatment in the GCH Emergency Department.

“About 30 percent of people hwo are transferred from GCH are for mental health reasons,” said Joe Stratton, GCH Chief Executive Officer. “You can’t just turn those individuals out on the street when they are in need of treatment or help but we have to have a safe environment for everyone,” stated Stratton.

Isolation rooms remove any options for the patient who may want to harm themselves or anyone else. They are designed in a special way for patient safety.

Within the last year, leaders at GCH began discussing the need for ad safe environment for these patients, nurses and providers during their wait time to either be treated or transferred to a designated mental health facility.

“We knew there was certainly a need for a safe room at GCH but also understood the cost is substantial for a community hospital to afford,” said Matney. “We are very thankful for the donation from the Rago family,” said Matney. ” They are always willing to go above and beyond to address the needs of our community and are great friends of the foundation and GCH.”

The construction date has not yet been determined.

A Sunday afternoon fire caused major damage to a hay shed and burned approximately 300 large hay bales belonging to Rod Moyer of Moyer Farms  in eastern Geary County.

No one was injured in the fire on Moyer Ranch.  Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges said it was an open sided hay barn, “full of about 300 bales of hay, straw and broam, was found to be fully engulfed.” Two older model farm trucks also were destroyed in the fire.

Nineteen firefighters using five fire trucks responded to battle the blaze. The cause of the fire is undetermined. The damage estimate will exceed $80,000.

Twenty-seven projects that will improve intersections and roads in Kansas cities have been selected for funding the Kansas Department of Transportation’s City Connecting Link Improvement program, which funds improvements to state highways that extend through cities.

The cities will receive a combined total of approximately $13.7 million in funding under the program for the projects. The total includes $6.6 million in state fiscal year 2020 and $7.1 million in state fiscal year 2021.

Junction City will receive $300,000 in surface preservation funding in fiscal year 2020 and $200,000 in pavement restoration in fiscal year 2021.

Under the CCLIP, a city contributes up to 25 percent of the project cost based on its population. Cities under 2,500 in population are not required to provide a math. Projects in the program fall into one of three different categories including surface preservation, pavement restoration or geometric improvement.

Crime numbers for 2017 were down in Junction City.

Police Chief Dan Breci said the KBI and FBI keep track of eight different Part One crime categories ranging from murder and robbery to arson.

Breci said there were 655 Part One crimes in 2017. There were no homicides that year. “We had 12 rapes, 16 robberies, 153 aggravated assaults, 454 property type crimes, four arsons and 28 motor vehicle thefts.”

Junction City did experience a homicide in August of 2018.

Kansas Senator Jerry Moran announced this past week that authorization has been secured for USD 475 to plan for and apply for grants to build a new elementary school at Fort Riley.

A check with the Chief Operations Officer for the school district, David Wild, explained if a grant application to the Office of Economic Adjustment the district would provide matching funds totaling 20% of the cost while OEA will provide the remaining 80%. “And we’ll start planning for a new elementary school at Fort Riley, and this is the same process for the Fort Riley Middle School as well Fort Riley Elementary. ” Both of those schools have been built on post in recent years.

Wild noted the grant application will look at replacing two elementary schools on post including Jefferson and Morris Hill Elementary schools. “When the district makes its’ grant application our proposal will be a two-for. We will decommission both Jefferson and Morris Hill Elementary in exchange for one new grade school.”

The total cost for a new elementary school at Fort Riley has been estimated at $25 million. The school district’s share of that amount would be $5 million with a federal grant covering the remainder.

Kansas Senator Jerry Moran has announced that the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization act includes language to stabilize the Department of Defense 2011 Public Schools on Military Installations Priority List. that allows DoD to continue to replace schools while completing a follow-up audit previously required by law.

“I am pleased to announce authorization has been secured for USD 475 to plan for and apply for grants to construct a new elementary school at Fort Riley,” said Sen. Moran. “It has always been my priority in Congress to make certain that we are not only supporting our service members, but that we are also supporting their children and families. A new elementary school at Fort Riley will prevent overcrowding and provide our service members’ children access to modern and high quality educational resources and facilities they deserve.

The newly-enacted NDAA language expands the number of infrastructure projects eligible to apply for a DoD Office of Economic Adjustment grant by five. The expansion includes the replacement of Jefferson Elementary School in USD 475 on Fort Riley. 

The fiscal year 2017 require DoD to conduct an additional audit of public schools on installation requirements. The results of the audit are expected to be released this year and will dictate the order of priority regarding the remaining projects on the Public Schools on Military Installations Priority List.

The OEA is awaiting confirmation of fiscal year 2019 NDAA funding guidance before soliciting a grant application from USD 475. If approved, the OEA will make an 80% matching grant available for the purpose of building a new grade school on Fort Riley at an estimated cost of $25 million. USD 475 reports that the district is holding $5 million in matching funds for this purpose. The school district also intends to propose closing two Fort Riley schools on the DoD priority list which would be replaced with one school capable of absorbing total enrollment of the two smaller schools.