Conditions will be cool once again today with mostly sunny skies. However, expect increasing clouds later this afternoon as a weak shortwave approaches the area. This passing wave will bring scattered rain showers to much of the area late this afternoon through tonight, with the potential for some snowflakes to mix in overnight as temperatures drop into the 30s. While conditions will still be cool and mostly cloudy for Friday, expect a beautiful sunny spring weekend with temperatures gradually moderating into the 60s and 70s.

Today: Sunny. Highs around 54. North winds up to 10 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. A 50 percent chance of rain in the evening. Lows around 31. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Friday: Mostly cloudy. Highs around 52. North winds up to 5 mph shifting to the southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 60s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 40s.

Sunday: Mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the upper 60s.

Sunday Night And Monday: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 30s. Highs in the lower 70s.

Monday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 40s.

Tuesday And Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 70s. Lows in the upper 40s.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs around 70.

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A press conference has been scheduled for next Tuesday in Manhattan to announce that the Geary County and Riley County Perinatal Coalitions will be launching Delivering Change: Healthy Mom’s Healthy Baby’s in Riley and Pottawatomie Counties.

Delivering Change was developed in Geary County in order to decrease the infant mortality rate within the county, as well as, provide improved access to healthcare and prenatal care for moms and babies.

Jill Nelson, Delivering Change Program Coordinator in Geary County explained that Riley County had been developing a similar program when they decided to team up.

“They had established a Riley County Perinatal Coalition, and we had started to attend each others meetings and kind of had joint conversations about the fact that we serve the women who live in our community and they seek services across county lines,” said Nelson. “So it makes since that we work together.”

Riley County will mold the Delivering Change program to fit their community but will have the same goal of providing improved access for mom’s and babies in both Riley and Pottawatomie Counties.

 

 

The Junction City area Chamber of Commerce has announced that as of Tuesday the Capital Campaign has raised over $1 million in pledges over a five year period.

Susan Jagerson, Economic Development Specialist explained that they are not done raising money and still hope to reach their $1.2 million goal by the end of April.

“Essentially the campaign wraps up about the end of April, of course we will accept investments after that,” said Jagerson. “We are very, very confident that we are going to at least reach if not exceed our goal with the contacts that we have left.”

The money will be used to increase economic development within Junction City.

“Additional business attraction and marketing. Working with our current and existing businesses, retaining and sustaining the businesses that we have. Helping our entrepreneur community, workforce development and enhancing the economic development resources that we already have in place.”

Money raised through the campaign will not be available all at once, as it will be paid gradually over a five year period.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says the Army sergeant who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held by the Taliban for five years will be court martialed on charges of desertion and avoiding military service.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will also be charged with misbehavior before the enemy, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the announcement publicly on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. military plans an announcement at Fort Bragg in North Carolina Wednesday afternoon.

Bergdahl walked away from his post in Afghanistan and was captured, then released from Taliban capture in a prisoner exchange.

Gen. Mark Milley, head of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, has been reviewing the massive case files and had a broad range of legal options, including various degrees of desertion charges.

A major consideration was whether military officials would be able to prove that Bergdahl had no intention of returning to his unit — a key element in the more serious desertion charges.

Scott Johnson announced Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the Junction City Commission race.

He informed JC Post that he did not have time to campaign or be on the commission.

Elaborating on Wednesday, Johnson stated that he has a lot going on business-wise. “Looking at some stuff in other states, stuff in Junction City, three grandkids. I want to spend more time with my kids and grandkids. ” Johnson also noted, “I don’t know that I can really help. I’ve been on a commission where one or two votes against three or four. I don’t see that changing. And I just thought my heart’s really not in it and I don’t really have the time, I ought to let other people get on the commission.”

Johnson was asked if he would endorse any other candidates in the city commission race.  He endorsed George Marcus and David Alexander.

In addition to Marcus and Alexander, other candidates  in the race include James Sands, Phyllis Fitzgerald, Heinrich Biggs, Tyler Dupy, and Pat Landes. The election is April 7.

 

Rebecca Bossemeyer, Geary County Clerk, has reported that in-person advance voting has begun in her office for the April 7  election.

Bossemeyer said an advanced ballot can also be requested through the mail.

The deadline for an application for an advanced ballot to be mailed is Friday, April 3. The deadline for in-person voting in the County Clerk’s Office is Monday, April 6 at noon. The deadline for all ballots to be returned is Tuesday, April 7 by 7 p.m.

A member of the Geary Community Hospital Board of Trustees, Mark Stenstrom, sounded a positive note this week on the future direction of the hospital.

Stenstrom noted the administration and board are doing things to ensure survival of the hospital, and are not treading water any more. He added that they have the ship turned around.

“The hospital struggled financially. I think there’s been some morale issues that go along with that. The finances are coming around. We’made an affiliation agreement which would help to ensure the future as well as the viability of the hospital long term. I think everything’s looking up.”

Stenstrom referred to the affiliation agreement between Geary Community Hospital and Stormont-Vail Healthcare in Topeka that was approved by the board’s of both hospitals this week.

Princeton, N.J. – Riley County ranks healthiest in Kansas and Woodson County is the least healthy place in the state, according to the sixth annual County Health Rankings, released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI). The Rankings are available at countyhealthrankings.org.

The Rankings are an easy-to-use snapshot comparing the health of nearly every county in the nation. The local-level data allows each state to see how its counties compare on 30 factors that influence health including education, housing, violent crime, jobs, diet, and exercise.

According to the 2015 Rankings, the five healthiest counties in Kansas, starting with most healthy, are Riley, followed by Johnson, Pottawatomie, Stevens, and Jewell. The five areas in the poorest health, starting with least healthy, are Woodson, Decatur, Cherokee, Greenwood, and Labette.

Nationally, this year’s Rankings show that the healthiest counties in each state have higher college attendance, fewer preventable hospital stays, and better access to parks and gyms. The least healthy counties in each state have more smokers, more teen births, and more alcohol related car crash deaths. This report also looks at distribution in income and the links between income levels and health.

The Rankings also revealed the following national trends:

Premature death rates are dropping, with 60 percent of the nation’s counties seeing declines. But for many counties these rates are not improving – 40 percent of counties are not making progress in reducing premature death.

One out of four children in the U.S. lives in poverty. Child poverty rates are more than twice as high in the unhealthiest counties in each state than in the healthiest counties.

Violent crime rates are highest in the South. Violent crime rates, which affect health, well-being, and stress levels, are highest in the Southwest, Southeast, and Mississippi Delta Regions.

Having a job influences health. Unemployment rates are 1.5 times higher in the least healthy counties in each state as they are in the healthiest counties. During the recession, counties in the West, Southeast, and rust belt region of the U.S. were hit hardest by growing unemployment. Many, but not at all, of these counties have seen their unemployment rates drop since the recession ended in 2010.

“In the six years since the County Health Rankings began, we’ve seen them serve as a rallying point for change,” said Bridget Catlin, PhD, MHSA, co-director of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. “Communities are using the Rankings to inform their priorities as they work to build a Culture of Health.”

The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program offers data, tools, and resources to help communities throughout their journey to build a Culture of Health. Also part of the program is the RWJF Culture of Health Prize which honors communities that are working together to build a healthier, more vibrant community.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, reacted to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) decision to change the calculation used to determine distance between a veteran’s residence and the nearest VA medical facility from a straight-line distance to driving distance. Sen. Moran is the lead sponsor of the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 (S. 207), broadly supported bipartisan legislation requiring the VA to utilize its current authorities, including the Choice Act, to provide veterans access to non-VA care when they face a driving distance of more than 40-miles to the nearest VA medical facility and when that facility is incapable of offering the care sought by the veteran.

“While today’s announcement by the VA is good news for veterans across the country, and I am very pleased the VA heeded our calls to make this 40-mile calculation change to driving distance, unfortunately it is not enough,” Sen. Moran said. “Thousands of veterans will continue to struggle to access the care they were promised through the Choice Act because of the VA’s flawed implementation of the law. The VA deliberately continues to use a narrow interpretation of the 40-mile rule, choosing to take into account only the distance of a VA medical facility from a veteran’s home and not whether the VA facility can actually provide the services the veteran needs. The VA is denying access the law was intended to offer and forcing veterans to choose between traveling hours to a VA medical facility, paying out of pocket, or going without care altogether. Veterans are not being put first when the VA unfairly limits their eligibility, hindering their access to care.”

As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sen. Moran has questioned VA Secretary Bob McDonald and other VA officials for months in hearings, personal meetings, phone calls and correspondence about the VA’s flawed interpretation of the 40-mile rule and what can be done to fix the problem. In the absence of VA action, Sen. Moran authored legislation that would make certain veterans are not dismissed or forgotten just because of where they live. The Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 (S. 207), which is cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 18 Senators, would require the VA to utilize its authorities, including the Choice Act, to offer community care to veterans who are currently unable to receive the healthcare services they need from a VA medical facility within 40 miles of where they live. This legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support in Congress and has been endorsed by numerous veterans’ organizations including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the National Guard Association of the United States.

The Veterans Choice Program was authorized by the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (VACAA). The 40-mile driving distance policy change will be made through regulatory action in the coming weeks.

ABC News reported this week that the FBI is working with other agencies to identify the culprits behind an online hit list of U.S. military personnel posted by ISIS. Investigators believe the list–containing names, photographs, and addresses — was gathered by trolling social media.

Former Homeland Security counterterrorism coordinator and ABC News contributor John COhen said the hit list serves as a stark reminder. “We have to place a much higher priority in this country in securing our key data, securing data particularly of those individuals who are responsible or involved in military operations or law enforcement operations.”

When it comes to social media Coheen said members of the military and law enforcement should think twice before posting. “The new frontier of intelligence collection is gaining information off the internet or off social media.”