TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The presidents of four Kansas universities say they will decline or donate a 2 percent pay increase approved for them last week.

The Kansas Board of Regents approved the raises for the presidents the same day a 3.6 percent tuition and fee increase was imposed on students.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the presidents of Wichita State, Kansas State, Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State say they will decline the raises or donate the money to programs at their schools.

Shulz announced last week he would provide a personal gift in the amount of his raise back to campus toward support of the University Support Staff Awards program.

University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little has not said what she will do with the raise.

The interim president of Emporia State was not included in the pay increase.

The Geary County Health Department has received approval from the Geary county Commission to fill five vacant positions.

Pat Hunter, Health Department Director presented her proposed 2016 budget the the County Commission Monday. She also asked for approval to fill five vacant positions within the Health Department according to Commission Chairman Ben Bennett.

“A Social Worker, a Health Educator and three WIC Staff Members and those are people who will work out at Konza (Prairie Community Health Clinic). They are paid through the WIC Grant,” said Bennett.

The funding for the Social Worker and Health Educator is in the current budget as well as the proposed budget.

 

Each the Geary County Sheriff’s Department and Junction City Police Department apply for a Byrne Grant to receive funds to purchase new equipment.

This year’s public hearing will be held next Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. at the County Office Building.

Ben Bennett, County Commission Chairman explained that from what he understood this year the Sheriff’s Office and JCPD are looking to purchase a throw phone.

“That’s a phone that’s set up for hostage situations, or baricade situations where you have a method of throwing this bag in there that’s got a phone in there and some other items that’s supposed to help with the communication,” said Bennett.

Last year both the GCSO and JCPD used the grant money to go towards the operation and maintenance of their new Mobile Command Unit.

 

Crews have begun to replace the parking lot surface at the Geary County 4-H Senior Center.

Ben Bennett, County Commission Chairman explained that the commission received an update on the project Monday by Dennis Cox, Geary County Public Works Administrator.

“They’re just completly redoing it, taking the old lot up and putting the new one down. They cleaned up the sidewalk and cleaned a lot of brush out of that area,” said Bennett.

The hope is to have the project completed by next week.

As of 12 noon Monday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has increased the outflow at Milford Lake from 3,000 cfs to 5,000 cfs.

RJ Harms, Corps of Engineers Project Manager at Milford Lake explained that the call came in just before noon to increase the outflow.

“Inflows continue to drop, and right now at Clay Center we’re showing about 1,200 coming in. We’re hopeful that we’ll start dropping maybe half a foot a day here early on and get that going this week and start seeing the lake come down,” said Harms.

The lake did drop half of a foot over the weekend after the Corps of Engineers increased the outflow Friday to 3,000 cfs, up from 25 cfs.

Currently the lake is eight and a half feet high which has closed portions of campgrounds across the lake. Harms is hopeful with the increased outflow the lake will drop enough to expose those campgrounds in time to dry them out and prepare them for the 4th of July Holiday.

When asked about any concerns about Blue Green Algae Harms replied,”we haven’t seen a whole lot yet.”

“We were up around the lake a little bit this morning and the north end of the lake looks a lot like Tuttle Creek right now, we’ve got a lot of brown water up there at the north end of the lake from all of the inflow. We haven’t seen any algae up in that area.”

Harms did note that he did see some algae in the Madison Creek Cove north of the town of Milford,”nothing really to worry about yet.”

This time last year the lake had already experience two or three impacts of blue-green algae. Harms credits the amount of rain the lake has received and the ability to make releases as possibilities for why the blue-green algae has not had any impacts to this point.

Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook Chair, Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee
Rep. Dan Hawkins Chair, House Health and Human Services Committee

TOPEKA–Kansas House and Senate Health Chairs Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook and Representative Dan Hawkins joined 68 lawmakers as they signed and sent a letter today to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling on Congress to step in and fix the mess caused by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare.

Forty-four Representatives from the 125 member Kansas House of Representatives and twenty-six Senators from the forty member Kansas Senate signed the letter. The letter comes on the heels of the introduction of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1606 on the same topic, which was introduced with 27 co-sponsors.

Since Congress passed ObamaCare in 2010, the law has faced a number of legal challenges, including the Supreme Court striking down mandatory Medicaid expansion in NFIB v. Sebelius. After that ruling, the Obama Administration has placed increasing pressure on states to implement ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion.

ObamaCare is back on trial and a decision from the Supreme Court in King v. Burwell is expected this summer. This ruling will decide if individuals in states without exchanges are entitled to subsidies illegally authorized by the IRS. If the Justices invalidate the subsidies, states will once again be pressured to implement ObamaCare by establishing a state-based exchange.

“The people of Kansas didn’t write this law, they didn’t want this law, and they’re tired of having to pay for this law,” said Chairwoman Pilcher-Cook. “ObamaCare is nothing more than Washington telling us how to buy health care, and if Congress won’t stand up for our citizens, I will. We will not spend one more penny fixing Congress’ mistakes, whether that means rejecting Medicaid expansion or a state exchange.”

“It’s time for Congress to step up and finally take charge when it comes to ObamaCare, said Chariman Hawkins. “No more passing things to find out what’s in them and then saddling states with clean up. It is time for Congress to stand up and repeal this law.”

To see all the area legislators signing, click the link to the letter: King v. Burwell signed letter from Kansas Legislators

The Riley County Commission discussed preparations for Kicker Country Stampede and the state of Tuttle Creek Lake on Monday morning. 

Brian McNulty, Operations Manager of Tuttle Creek Lake for the U.S. Corps of Engineers, gave the Commission a brief summary of events that led to the current elevation of the lake, then spoke about what the Lake will look like for Stampede.

According to McNulty, the current water input of Tuttle Creek Lake finally dropped below 20,000 cfs at the end of last week, and current output at the Tubes is just over 21,000 cfs. The lake is currently only at 40% capacity, after dropping down 2.5 feet from last week. It’s currently at 34, 037 acres from the normal 10,900 acres due to the constant inflow of water from Nebraska and heavy rains all June.

“Because the lake is only at 40% (capacity) we have some flexibility,” McNulty said. “We’re going to wait a week to increase our output. This will allow Perry Lake and Milford Lake to empty out first, and we’ll increase our output following Stampede.”

Larry Couchman, Director of Riley County Emergency and EMS Services, also spoke during the Commission meeting. According to Couchman, this will be the highest water output they have had over the last 20 years of Stampede festivals.

“I want to caution everyone, please, please stay out of the water!” Couchman said. “The likely hood of a successful rescue will be decreased by the elevated water levels and the current outflow. Water will be pushing into the camp ground and parking near the pond level.”

Couchman gave some other precautions to follow when celebrating at Stampede.

“The first couple of days will be very hot and humid,” Couchman said. Other than the obvious, drink water to remain hydrated, wear hats and suns screen and to spend some time in the shade, Couchman also said that it was very important to wear shoes.

With so much foot traffic in the area, the mud can be pulled up and there is lime stone rock underneath that can cut your feet if you are not aware of it. He also advised to stay away from ‘mud slides’ at Stampede, because historically there are lot of eye injuries from mud and debris hitting people in the face.

Riley County EMS will be the lead agency during Stampede, and there will be two medical tents. The first will be the main first aid tent and the on location ‘hospital’. The second first aid tent will be ran by Blue Township and Manhattan Fire Departments. When out in the heat for several days in a row, an unhealthy diet, dehydration and medical conditions like allergies can affect you, so make sure to know where these tents are when you are celebrating at Stampede.

“Use Common sense,” Couchman said. “It’s a great festival, a great location, just use common sense.”

Story by Michael Pagels, littleapplepost.com.

Family members, volunteers or job seekers looking to learn or enhance skills to provide help to people caring for others at home are invited to attend an upcoming Respite Education and Support Tools (REST) training. The one-day training will be offered in Manhattan on Thursday, July 23 and also in Salina onThursday, August 13.

Cost is $25 for program materials and lunch. Advance registration is required. Call 800-432-2703 toll-free to reserve your place and to get time and location details.

The training, which covers care topics for providing short-term care for people in all age groups, is sponsored by the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging and the Kansas LifeSpan Respite Coalition.

Respite is short-term relief for primary caregivers of people with special needs so that they can take breaks from their care responsibilities  According to a recent AARP survey, each year more than 42 million family caregivers provide unpaid care for aging parents, spouses, aunts, uncles, friends or other loved ones so they can live independently at home, where they want to be.

“We know that many caregivers must rely on the help of friends, neighbors and trusted helpers if they are to keep well and keep caring,” said Julie Govert Walter, Executive Director of the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging.  “Help for caregivers was a top need identified in a recent community needs assessment and this training provides participants with information and practical skills they need to be confident and competent helpers for family caregivers in this part of Kansas, “she said.

Walter said that the Agency plans two other REST trainings in other counties in August  or September.

For more information or to register for the REST training, call the Area Agency on Aging toll free at 800-432-2703. In the Manhattan area call 785-776-9294 or e-mail Cindy Brake at cindyB@ncfhaaa.com.

The North Central-Flint Hills Agency on Aging, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization that plans, coordinates and sponsors services in 18 north central Kansas counties to enhance the quality and dignity of life for older Kansans and their families. The Area Agency on Aging programs and services are partially funded by the Older Americans Act through the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and voluntary participant contributions. The Area Agency on Aging works in partnership with local and county governments and senior citizens. All services are available without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age or handicap.

According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, the hot weather will return Today with Highs reaching into the mid 90s to around 100 degrees. The hot temperatures combined with high relative humidities will cause heat indices to rise into the 103 to 109 degree range this afternoon.

A weak cold front will move southward into norther Kansas late this afternoon. Isolated thunderstorms may develop along the front across northeast Kansas and east central Kansas. If isolated storms develop late this afternoon and evening they may become severe. The primary hazards will be large hail and damaging wind gusts.

Heat Advisory
Hazardous Weather Outlook

Today: Hot and humid. Breezy…sunny. Near record highs around 98. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Highest heat index readings around 109 in the afternoon.

Tonight: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Lows around 69. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph in the evening.

Tuesday: Not as warm. Mostly sunny with a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs around 87. East winds 5 to 15 mph.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 70. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph shifting to the south after midnight.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 70s.

Thursday: Mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s.

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

Friday: Partly sunny with a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 80s.

Friday Night Through Saturday Night: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 60s. Highs in the lower 80s.

Sunday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s.

DODGE CITY- A Fort Riley man was injured in an accident just after 6 p.m. on Sunday in Ford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Scion TC driven by Angel Kirabel Reyes Hernandez, 27. was northbound on U.S. 283 just south of U.S. 56.

The vehicle went into the east ditch. The driver overcorrected the vehicle into the west ditch. It hit a guardrail and rolled.

Reyes Hernandez was transported to Western Plains Medical Center.

He was wearing a seat belt according to the KHP.