GEARY COUNTY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Geary County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Kawasaki motorcycle driven by Geremiah G. Dawson, 35, Riley, was northbound on U.S. 77 seven miles north of the Kansas 57 Junction.
The driver lost control on the bridge. The bike went down and the diver was ejected.
Dawson was transported to Salina Regional Medical Center.
He was wearing a helmet according to the KHP.
Area emergency response agencies will be participating in a full scale exercise Thursday afternoon at the Cloud County Community College campus in Junction City.
The scenario follows up on a table top exercise that was held last 
year at the school and will deal with an armed subject who is on the campus grounds according to Garry Berges, Geary County Emergency Management Director.
Berges explained that the exercise will test how the schools faculty will respond to the situation.
“It’s also a good way to train our emergency responders in case they encounter a situation like this,” said Berges. “It’s good training, because a lot of times we don’t get a chance to interact with like the school personnel, it’s usually nobody there. This way they will have active participants playing with them.”
There will be signs stating this is only an exercise posted in the area and the area businesses will be contacted and briefed on the exercise. there should be minimal disruption to vehicle traffic in the area.
Agencies involved include Geary County Emergency Management, Cloud County Community College, Junction City Police Department, City/County Tactical Response Unit, Junction City Fire/EMS, Geary Community Hospital and the 911 Dispatch Center.
The Geary County native who has been battling Cystic Fibrosis, 25 year old Becky Keating was in need of a double lung transplant.
That surgery occurred last Sunday. It was successful.
As of Wednesday she is recovering nicely and has been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit at UT Southwestern Hospital in Dallas, Texas and into a regular patient room.
Joan Keating, Becky’s mom updated JCPost Wednesday and noted that Becky had been waiting for the transplant for about a year.
“She had about a seven hour surgery, which is very good, they can go anywhere from six to twelve hours,” Joan said. “They just said she got a pair of beautiful lungs and that were a perfect fit like they were made just for her.”
The surgery is expected to greatly improve the quality of life for Becky.
“This will free Becky up from having to be on oxygen 24/7. It will free her up from a lot of her added therapy’s that she had to help her make it through each day. It will allow her to go back out and be what she considers a contributing adult in this world, and work a job she loves and be around the people she loves again without being worried about not keeping up.”
Becky will also become mobile again according to Joan, as she will be allowed to get on an airplane again,”which is going to be a huge change for her.”
She will be hospitalized for several more days in Dallas and then is expected to be recuperating at her residence in the Dallas area for a couple more months before she can return to Geary County.
Geary County has received above normal precipitation in May after months of below normal rain fall.
According to Chuck Otte, Geary County Research and Extension 
Agent, Junction City has received just shy of six and a half inches in May and average is around four and three quarters of an inch.
Most of the rain has been accompanied by only minor thunderstorms, nothing severe like other areas of the state.
“You know maybe we shouldn’t be talking about it, but we haven’t had the high winds, we haven’t had the hail, we haven’t had the flooding rains,” said Otte.
That hasn’t been the story for our neighbors to the east as Manhattan experienced some flooding that left multiple cars underwater in some locations of the city when more than four inches of rain fell within a four hour period on May 4th.
“Sometimes we complain that we miss all the rains, in this case we’re getting just enough rain. We’re sitting in a special place right now, we’re feeling very lucky.”
This weeks cooler temperatures and moisture is a big plus for the winter wheat crop according to Otte.
“It’s actually ideal grain fill conditions, which means that the crop that about a month ago I wasn’t real excited about, I’m getting a little more optimistic about. Most of the corn is planted, it’s still a little bit early for most producers to be planting soy beans. If it was going to turn rainy this wasn’t to bad of a time for that to happen.”
The cooler temperatures are expected to hang around for a few more days and possible scattered severe thunderstorms are in this weekends Memorial Day Weekend forecast.
Fire officials in Salina report a worker at Salina Iron and Metal Company did find a live bomb on Wednesday afternoon. Members of the Fort Riley Bomb squad were called and took the artillery shell to dispose of it.
Streets in the 300 Block of North 5th were blocked off for a couple of hours. No injuries were reported and an investigation continues.
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SALINA – Fire officials in Salina were investigating a possible explosive device on Wednesday afternoon.
According to officials with the Salina Fire Department a mortar shell was discovered at a Salina business just before 1:30 on Wednesday afternoon.
Employees of Salina Iron & Metal, 312 N. 5th Street, found the undetonated shell in a pile of scrap metal at around 1:30 p.m.
It is not known if the shell was a live or a practice round, but fire officials say that it is being treated as a live shell.
Several blocks in the downtown area around the business were closed to traffic. The bomb disposal unit from Fort Riley is notified responding to the scene.
Check the Post for additional details as they become available.
Three Junction City High School students have become the school’s first to pass the Microsoft Office Specialist test for Microsoft Word. Through a state partnership with Certiport and Microsoft, JCHS is now an official Microsoft IST Academy and will be certifying students in Office applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. The Business Department plans to offer the certification tests to students enrolled in the Computer Applications 2 course starting during the 2015-16 school year.
Pictured from left: Business, Information and Technology Academy Principal Kale Katt: Jordyn Flannery; Vanessa Hamilton; Caitlyn Henry; and Business Teacher Tom Kilgore.
Riley County reported that they responded to a domestic altercation in the northwest portion of Manhattan on Tuesday.
The altercation turned physical before police were called, and left one man with a stab wound to the lower back. Once on scene officers identified the stabbing victim as a 30-year-old man from Junction City, but did not reveal his name. He was transported to Via Christi Hospital for a non-life threatening injury.
Police said that they took a 16 year old juvenile boy from Manhattan into custody on suspicion of Aggravated Battery and Criminal Damage to Property after also finding a vehicle’s windshield damaged.The juvenile was released to a parent and is no longer in police custody. Officers continue to investigate the matter.
Work is underway to set up the new exhibit, In the Dark, at the Flint Hills Discovery Center. In the Dark is a traveling exhibit organized by the Cincinnati Museum Center, featuring large interactive exhibits to immerse patrons.
In the Dark explores the natural evolutionary selective pressure that has caused plants and animals to adapt to ecosystems found in caves, deep sea, the forest at night and underground.
Megan Berry, Marketing Coordinator for the Flint Hills Discovery Center, told the post that workers have been working to set up the exhibit since Monday, and it will be ready for the special exhibit opening for FHDC members on Friday.
“The exhibit will be here for four months,” said Berry. “It’s a great interactive exhibit, and we are hoping for a great opening Memorial weekend.”
FHDC members are invited to a special exhibit preview on Friday, May 22 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. The preview is free to members but registration is requested. To reserve your spot, call 785-587-2726 or email membership.fhdc@cityofmhk.com.
The exhibit opens to the public on Saturday, May 23 at 10 a.m.
In the Dark will be on exhibition until Sunday, September 20. Starting Memorial Day, on Monday, May 25, the Discovery Center will change to summer hours: Monday-Wednesday & Friday-Saturday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Thursday: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Sunday: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Junction City Municipal Services Director Greg McCaffery has been named a Top 10 Public Works Leader of the Year recipient by the American Public Works Association.
McCaffery was presented the award during the Junction City Commission meeting Tuesday night. He stated public works is a tough profession. “You’re the guy that passes on water and sewer rates, you’re the guy that turns around and sets standards that people don’t like, you’re the guy that has to tell people that sorry we don’t have the funds to do your street. You just have to keep going on.” McCaffrey noted he loves the work, and has a huge passion for it. He added he was humbled by the award.
McCaffrey is only the third person in Kansas to ever receive the award.
Junction City Commissioner Mike Ryan has informed his fellow commissioners site preparation dirt work for the NBAF project in Manhattan is scheduled to begin May 27.
Ryan attended the recent Flint Hills Regional Council meeting where he learned it will take approximately 4-5 years to build the facility, and then probably two more years to earn accreditation.
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On a separate subject Ryan touched on Fort Riley as the post relates to the budget sequestration process in which the U.S. Army is being required to downsize from 490,000 to 450,000 troops. He noted the Deputy Garrison Commander at Fort Riley provided a positive report to the Council on the condition of Fort Riley. “The people who have been coming in to restudy the issues on Fort Riley, and it sounds like they’ve been getting enough reevaluations that they’re feeling pretty positive about the potential outcome.
Fort Riley officials are expected to learn what impact there might be on the post on this issue in the late June to early July time frame.