The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, cased its colors Monday morning in preparation for their nine month deployment to the Central Command area of responsibility in Kuwait.

The mission will be to enhance regional stability according to Col. Miles Brown, Commander of the 2nd ABCT.

“Really it’s about the partnerships with those historical allies that we’ve had in the past. Countries like Kuwait, Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and then there will be some operations that will support both Operation Inherent Resolve, as well as, some of the Operation Enduring Freedom things that are associated with support of Afghanistan,” said Brown.

More than 4,000 soldiers with the 2nd ABCT will be deploying over the next 30 days. Instead of having staggered deployments of the brigade over the next few months, the entire brigade will deploy all at once, which makes this deployment unique according to Brown.

“Which creates a strain on the unit, a strain on the families. It’s something that we’re going to have to mitigate.”

The Dagger brigade will uncase the colors in theater once they officially take over the mission from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

By Mary Rankin

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University’s nuclear reactor control console in Ward Hall will be getting a much-needed upgrade, funded by a $1.5 million Nuclear Engineering University Partnerships grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The entire reactor console will be replaced, including cabling and neutron detectors used to monitor reactor power. While the core and control rods will remain the same, plans include replacing some of the auxiliary monitoring equipment such as conductivity meters and radiation detectors to improve compatibility with the new console.

The existing control console in the mechanical and nuclear engineering departmentreactor facility was procured second hand from the U.S. Geographical Survey reactor facility following an upgrade to its console in the 1990s.

“Researchers and educators in the College of Engineering will be able to more easily access data from the reactor data loggers for use in lab experiments,” said Jeff Geuther, nuclear reactor facilities manager and principal investigator of the grant. “The reactor console will feature more redundancy with regard to required safety functions, which will improve safety and reliability.”

Many of the current console components are obsolete and difficult to repair, causing frequent reactor downtime due to console reliability issues. The vendor for the original console does not always have ready replacements for broken parts.

“Another reason to upgrade the console, aside from increased reliability,” Geuther said, “is that we will be able to improve the interface for operators by incorporating controls and indicators for auxiliary equipment into the main console. We also plan to increase the number of data outputs for classes and experiments.”

The objective in the replacement process is to select a bid by January 2016, followed by approximately 18 months for design and construction of the console. Completed installation is set for September 2018. A one-month reactor outage for console replacement is planned for summer 2018 to minimize interruption for classes that use the reactor.

According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, the region will have one more warm and mostly sunny day before a cold front moves through north central and northeast Kansas Tuesday morning. Cooler weather is forecast to move in with the front and there are chances for rain through the end of the week and into the weekend.
Today: Sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. South winds 5 to 15 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear in the evening…then mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers after midnight. Lows in the lower 60s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday: Cooler. Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs in the lower 70s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy with chance of rain showers and slight chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 50s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with chance of rain showers and slight chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the lower 50s.

Thursday: Mostly sunny with slight chance of rain showers. Highs in the lower 70s.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers. Lows around 50.

Friday: Partly sunny with a 40 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the mid 60s.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy with chance of rain showers and slight chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 40s. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.

Saturday: Partly sunny with chance of rain showers and slight chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 60s. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain showers. Lows in the upper 40s.

Sunday: Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s.

There was a lunar eclipse Sunday night.

Rick Dykstra of Geary County provided a picture.

The Junction City Police Department for the 24 hour period on Saturday through early Sunday morning included arrests.

–Brian Scott Grugnale, 49, and Bobbie Lee Rodgers, 30, both of Junction City, on suspicion of Aggravated Burglary. Both were arrested Saturday evening at 521 East Chestnut Street, Wal Mart.

–Norberto Anzures, 25, Junction City, on suspicion of Aggravated Assault and two counts Criminal Restraint. The arrest was reported at 1:43 a.m. Sunday at 907 Kramer Court.

–Caleb Justus Amparan, 21, Leavenworth, on suspicion of Theft. The arrest occurred late Saturday night at handy’s at 1124 South Washington Street.

–A juvenile was issued a notice to appear on suspicion of Criminal Damage to Property to city property at the 300 block of South Spring Valley Road.

–Felicity Marie Schultz, 24, Topeka, Driving While Suspended, No Proof of Insurance, and No License Plate. The arrest occurred late Saturday night in the 400 block of West 9th Street.

The new season at the C. L. Hoover Opera House will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3 with “If These Walls Could Talk,” a musical variety show fundraiser featuring local and Kansas City talent performing music and scenes from the history of the Opera House.

From Classical to Country, and Broadway to Vaudeville, the show will celebrate the history of the facility in Junction City. Black Tie is optional.

The Premium Patron Pass for this event is $100. It includes one ticket to the show, meet and greet with performer, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

Other tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for military / seniors ( 65+ ), and $12 for children.

You purchase tickets by calling 238-3906 or at the door.

The Grillin’ Beavers headed by J0hn Beaver, Thornton, Colorado claimed the grand championship in the barbeque competition at Jammin In JC.

Beaver said they barbequed chicken, pork ribs, pork butt and brisket.

In addition to cash, Beaver also received a trophy and cedar cooler. “That cedar cooler, that’s very cool. That’s the nicest trophy I think I’ve seen in a long time.”

The Grillin’ Beavers are a regular on the barbeque circuit. This year they are participating in 20 competitions, with Junction City the 19th stop on that schedule.

The reserve grand champions were The Smoking Hills, Loren and Cheryl Hills Overland Park.

Participants and judges for the event all combined came from five states and 40 cities. The barbeque contest was a state certified competition, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society.

The barbeque event was part of the two-day Jammin In JC blues festival in Junction City.

 

 

The Fall Apples Day Festival Saturday at Fort Riley had a much better turnout than the festival organizers thought they might.

With increased security festival organizers were concerned that the turnout would be much less, but early Saturday afternoon the Artillery Parade field had 1,000’s of festival goers take in everything Fall Apple Days had to offer.

“A great turnout, beautiful weather, we really couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Co-Pie Queen Danielle Alch. “There’s been a steady line at our tent, so that has made us feel better about all of our hard work that it’s going to go to help HASFR continue projects on Fort Riley.”

This year 1,500 apple pies were made using the original secret recipe of Libby Custer, 200 of which were pre-baked to be sold by the slice at the festival, over 500 were sold through pre-sales and as of early Saturday afternoon they had nearly sold out of all pies and were expecting to sell out by the end of the afternoon.