Sheila Wright of Junction City has been named the July Employee of the Month at Geary Community Hospital.

Wright works in Accounts Payable at GCH.

 

 

 

Telephone service has been restored in Geary USD 475 buildings.

The service was down early Wednesday morning for a change to a new vendor, who provides the local and long distance telephone service.

But, telephone service has been restored.

 

BRADY McCOMBS, Associated Press
RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Episcopalians have voted to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide.

The vote came Wednesday in Salt Lake City at the denomination’s national assembly. The measure passed by an overwhelming margin in the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay people at the meeting. The day before, the House of Bishops had approved the resolution, 129-26 with five abstaining.

The New York-based church of nearly 1.9 million members is known for electing the first openly gay Episcopal bishop in 2003. Since then, many dioceses have allowed priests to perform civil same-sex weddings.

Still, the church hadn’t changed its own laws on marriage until Wednesday. The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas has churches in over 35 communities across the state.

Under the new rules, clergy can decline to perform the ceremonies.

———————————

BRADY McCOMBS, Associated Press
RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Episcopalians are set to vote Wednesday on allowing religious weddings for same-sex couples, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide.

The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas has churches in over 35 communities across the state.

In 2003, the denomination made the trailblazing move of electing the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. Since then, many dioceses have allowed their priests to perform civil same-sex weddings.

Still, the church hadn’t changed its own laws on marriage.

The vote on gay marriage is expected around midday in Salt Lake City, where the denomination’s national assembly is being held.

The proposal would eliminate gender-specific language from church laws on marriage so religious weddings can also be performed for same-sex couples. Clergy could decline to perform the ceremonies. Right now, each bishop decides whether his or her priests may conduct gay marriages.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas residents are being warned to be cautious around skunks during an uptick in rabies cases.

Kansas State University’s veterinary diagnostic laboratory says 70 rabies cases have been reported this year — the same number as all of last year.   View this year’s stats on rabies in Kansas.

The Wichita Eagle reports  skunks accounted for almost 75 percent of the rabies cases. A Kansas State lab diagnostician says most of the other cases probably began with a rabid skunk biting another animal.

Starting in 1997, the Kansas State lab saw a rise in rabies cases, peaking at 164 cases in 2003 before declining over the past decade.

The last time someone in Kansas died from rabies was in 1968.

According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue to slide southeast from eastern Nebraska this evening through sunrise Wednesday. Severe storms are not expected with this activity, mainly impacting areas shaded in green. Thunderstorms are possible again in the afternoon tomorrow, mainly east of highway 75 towards the KS/MO border. Most areas will see partly sunny skies with highs in the 80s to lower 90s.

Hazardous Weather Outlook

Today: Partly sunny. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning. Highs in the mid 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the west in the afternoon.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday: Not as warm. Partly sunny with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 80s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 60s. North winds up to 5 mph.

Friday: Partly sunny with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 80s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 60s.

Independence Day: Mostly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 80s.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.

Sunday: Mostly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows around 70.

Monday: Partly sunny with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.

Tuesday: Partly sunny with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 80s.

 

Sundown Salute opens Wednesday night in downtown Junction City.

The lineup includes a free hot dog feed from 6-7 p.m. in Heritage Park for the first 500 people who attend.

The Ottaway Amusements Carnival opens at 6 p.m.and will be operating through Sundown Salute on July 4.

The Christian music bands performing in the park Wednesday evening include “Run With It”and “Unspoken” at seven and eight p.m., respectively.

Tuesday the Junction City Public Works crews worked to put up the concert stage on North Washington Street downtown.  Ray Ibarra, Public Works Director Ray Ibarra said this year the stage is a bit smaller and works off hydraulics. “So it’s a little bit an easier task this year, it seems to be.” Ibarra added on this stage there is a roof on it and a floor that drops down through hydraulics. “In the  years previous before that we had to set the light towers up, and get everything set up that way. Then we drive the stage underneath the tower and put that down.”

Other jobs for Public Works included fueling generators that supplied power downtown, and daily trash pickup.

 

The Geary USD 475 Board of Education has approved the purchase of 540 laptop computers from HP for use by ninth grade students in the school district.

The cost is $403,920.

IT spokesman Jan Pabitsky explained the purchase is part of the 1-to-1 laptop computer initiative. “Throughout the next several years we’re going to expand the 1-on-1 project. Next year we want to roll out p-c’s for the ninth graders. That’ll be about 540 of them. The following year we’ll do tenth-grade, eleventh-grade, and twelfth-grade. Now what will actually happen is the ninth graders will carry theirs to the tenth grade, and we’ll refresh the ninth grade, and then so on and so forth until we have everyone with a 1-to-1 at the secondary level.”

The funds to purchase the computers have been budgeted for this year as part of a six-year plan for the school district.

The Junction City/Geary County Economic Development Commission is considering whether or not to become an E-Community and offer a new type of revolving loan fund.

The new revolving loan fund would be funded through the sale of tax credits by the EDC, that’s according to Susan Jagerson, EDC Specialist with the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We can sell up to a maximum of $125,000 in tax credits would which would give you about $166,000 and cash in your revolving loan. It would be both state and federal tax credits so what we would do, in order to apply for the loan we would need to get verbal commitments on at least half of that amount for the tax credits, but the tax credit can benefit the taxpayer by being able to take deductions in their taxes,” said Jagerson.

Other E-Communities in the area include Pottawatomie County and Wabaunsee County.

The Economic Development Advisory Committee would be in control over the revolving loan fund through the E-Community. The current revolving loan fund being used takes final approval from the City Commission.

The EDC will consider creating the E-Community during their meeting next week.

The 1st Infantry Division Command staff along with a group of U.S. Army troops from Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, returned from Iraq Monday.

During the welcome-home ceremony Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk II and Command Sgt. Maj. Michael A. Grinston uncased the Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion colors, signifying the end of the headquarters’ mission.

Over the last nine months 1st ID Headquarters formed the core of the Combined Joint Land Component Command-Iraq, which was responsible for the advising and assisting Iraq’s security forces and providing training to newly built Iraqi army units as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.

This was the “Big Red One’s” first deployment in an advise-assist capacity, and they were also the first division to operate through a split headquarters. The division’s nine-month deployment was split between three locations: two in Iraq and one elsewhere in Asia.

The Big Red One handed over command of Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command-Iraq to the 82nd Airborne Division on June 28th in Baghdad, Iraq.

All Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion Soldiers are expected to be back at Fort Riley by next month.

(Photos by Amanda Kim Stairrett and Spc. Nicole Fox, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Office)

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) released the following statement upon news that the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center – part of the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System – would reopen the Emergency Department starting Tuesday.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has determined that the Topeka Emergency Department now meets all policy, procedures and staffing levels.

“This is the good news Eastern Kansas veterans have been waiting for – they will once again be able to count on emergency services at Colmery-O’Neil,” Sen. Moran said. “It has been a long road since the emergency room was temporarily shuttered in January 2014, and Topeka veterans were suddenly without the emergency care they could need at any moment. I am pleased our efforts alongside Director Klopfer, Congresswoman Jenkins and VA Heartland Network Director Patterson‎ resulted in this positive outcome. Safe and quality care for our nation’s veterans is one of my top priorities and I trust that the reopening of the Colmery-O’Neil emergency room will help make certain veterans in Kansas can get the timely, quality care they earned through their selfless service to our nation.”

According to a press release from Colmery-O’Neil, all veterans reporting to the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center’s Emergency Department (ED) will be triaged and given the appropriate care.

Sen. Moran first raised concerns about the shuttering of the emergency department with then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in August 2013. He also expressed frustration with the Veterans Health Administration in January 2014 once the emergency room at Colmery-O’Neil was temporary closed. In order to resolve the ongoing issues, in April 2015, Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Sen. Moran asked the VA Heartland Network Director about the support the Network is receiving from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington, D.C. In early June, they received a response from the VA Heartland Director dated April 27, 2015, which stated that “we anticipate the temporary ‘pause’ on the Emergency Department to be removed by the end of May.” The June 30, 2015, reopening follows the completion of a plan by Colmery-O’Neil to make certain the emergency department is fully capable of meeting the needs of the veterans.