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4-H Regional Club Day Held

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Saturday, March 24th Geary County 4-H members participated in Regional 4-H Club Day activities in Clay Center, Kansas.  They competed with other 4-H members from the Central Kansas District, the River Valley District, Dickinson County and Marshall County.  Results are as follows.

Junior Demonstration or Illustrated Talk

Clara Gfeller, Lyon Creek 4-H Club – 2nd Alternate Purple

Ava Oentrich, Humboldt 4-H Club – Blue

           

Senior Demonstration or Illustrated Talk

Lindsey Ascher and Kacey Butler, Brookside and Lyon Creek 4-H Clubs – 2nd Alternate Purple

 

Project Talk

Josie Strauss, Lyon Creek 4-H Club – Blue

Kourtney Dibben, Humboldt 4-H Club – Red

Senior Reading

Lauren Moon, Brookside 4-H Club – Top Purple

Junior Reading

Travis Leasure, Brookside 4-H Club – Red

Skit

Traveling to Grandma’s (Calen Boller, Karley Kramer, Macie Muto, Mason Muto, Ava Oentrich, Grady Oentrich), Humboldt 4-H Club – 1st Alternate Purple

Junior Instrumental Solo

Sebastian Schultz, Humboldt 4-H Club – Top Purple

Ginger D. Kopfer

Geary County Extension Agent

4-H Youth Development

County Burns Large Brush Pile at Landfill Site

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Geary County Public Works began burning the brush pile Monday morning at the county landfill site south of I-70.

Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges said the brush pile that includes tree limbs has been collected over the last six to eight months. He estimates the fire will still be smoldering one week from now. The fire will produce a lot of smoke, and flames should be visible Monday and Tuesday.

The fire is being monitored by Public Works and the Rural Fire Department. Berges added the public does not need to contact authorities about this fire.

 

Spring Break Comes to an End

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Spring break is over for USD 475 and Saint Xavier Schools.

Classes resume on Monday after the week-long break.

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Also on Monday, the Geary County Commission will be in session from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the County Office Building.

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There will be a joint meeting for city, county and USD 475 officials at 5 p.m. Monday at the C.L. Hoover Opera House.

There will be discussion on the issues for the new Junction City High School west of the city. Those will include access and traffic, law enforcement, fire department and EMS issues that will need to be addressed as the site is developed and replatted.

 

 

 

Potential for Rain in the Monday Forecast

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High
 59° Cloudy. Rain showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning, then chance of rain showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 50s. Southeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.

Longbine Feels the State Can Meet the Need for Increased K-12 Funding

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Jeff Longbine speaking at the Legislative Coffee in Junction City. ( Photo courtesy of Phyllis Fitzgerald Facebook )

State Senator Jeff Longbine has a view of how the Legislature can pay for increased funding for public schools K-12 in Kansas.

Referring to a recent consultant’s report that called for anywhere from $451 million up to $2 billion more in funding for education, Longbine noted that they are really looking at aspirational goals on graduation rates and testing scores. “We’re trying to take those goals and look at where progress should be five years from now, and what does it cost to get to five years from now. The numbers that they were qouting in the study are 20-year goals so we need to look at it in a shorter time frame and how much money does it take to get to that.”

So where will the money come from?

Longbine said if the State can establish reasonable goals on a five-year target with annual improvement each year it can be done with existing revenues. “Our revenues are strong. The study did not take into account the $300 million that we put into this fiscal year for schools. We kind of have almost a $300 million credit that we can use>’

Longbine feels the end amount needed will be in the $500 to $600 million range. He noted there is the $300 million credit and tax revenues are about $300 million ahead of estimated forecasts. He added the State will have other needs to balance. “But I’m confident through the economy and growth, and the tax changes that we made last year we can sustain it without a tax increase.”

Longbine is hopeful that could satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court who mandated more money for public schools and the plaintiffs in a long running school finance lawsuit.”If we can make the equity changes in the school bill the Court was concerned about, and they look at us establishing goals I think they’ll be agreeable.”

Longbine does not foresee cuts in programs and indicated he believes the State can meet the need with existing revenues, plus the tax increase passed in the 2017 legislative session, and the additional money in to school formula last year that is not being credited because it is in the current fiscal year.

Longbine, who is the Kansas Senate vice president, participated in a legislative coffee in Junction City on Saturday.

Mayors wager on Loyola-K-State NCAA Tourney game

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CHICAGO (AP) — The mayors of Chicago and Overland Park, Kansas, have made a friendly wager on the outcome of the NCAA Elite Eight basketball tournament game between Loyola-Chicago and Kansas State.

Mayor Carl Gerlach- was a 4 year letterman for KSU basketball

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he’ll send Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach Chicago-style pizza from Loyola student favorite J.B. Alberto’s Pizza. Gerlach says he’ll send Emanuel ribs from Kansas City-style barbecue restaurant Q39. The losing mayor also will make a donation to a charity of the winning mayor’s choice.

Emanuel has chosen Chicago’s Becoming A Man youth mentoring program. Gerlach has picked Overland Park’s Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead.

9th seed Kansas State takes on 11th seed Loyola-Chicago at 5:09 p.m. CT on Saturday in Atlanta.

Geary County Unemployment Up Slightly

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Preliminary estimates reported by the Kansas Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.4% for the state in February. That was down from 3.5% in January and down from 3.8% in February of last year.

Geary County saw a slight increase in the unemployment rate in February from 4.7 to 5%. Riley County remained steady with a 2.8% jobless rate and it was also steady in Pottawatomie County where the jobless rate remained at 3.1%.

Statewide, seasonally adjusted job estimates indicate total Kansas nonfarm jobs increased by 500 from January. Private sector jobs, a subset of total nonfarm jobs, increased by 200 from the previous month.

 

Eisenhower Easter Egg Roll

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The sixth annual Eisenhower Easter Egg Roll will be held on Saturday, March 31st from 1-2:30 p.m. at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene.

The program will feature an outdoor egg hunt plus games and activities, and an egg roll. All activities are free and museum admission is free the entire day. The egg hunt begins at 1 p.m. when the siren sounds.

Following the egg hunt in addition to games there will be face painting, bunny photos, a scavenger hunt and the 4-H petting zoo.

 

Authorities Preparing for Basketball Crowds

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MANHATTAN, KAN. – Additional officers will be present in Aggieville on Saturday, March 24, 2018 to accommodate anticipated celebratory crowds when the Kansas State Wildcats play in the Elite 8 round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament.

Access to Aggieville and the roadways surrounding Triangle Park will be closed to all vehicle traffic beginning at Noon on Saturday. Road closures include: Manhattan Ave. from Anderson to Moro, Moro from Manhattan Ave. to 11th St. and 12th St. from the North alley on Moro to the South alley on Moro.

The Riley County Police Department is requesting local bar owners minimize hard beverage container use if possible.

The Manhattan Fire Department and Riley County EMS will have additional staff scheduled Saturday. The Kansas Highway Patrol will be providing additional troopers to patrol in and around the Manhattan area.

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