Enrollment has declined in Geary USD 475 when you compare the most recent available student count with one taken at approximately the same time in 2016.
According to the school district the most recent available count on September 22nd totaled 7,301 students. On September 20th, 2016 the total enrollment was 7,686.
Districts take their official enrollment count on or as close as possible to September 20th. USD 475 is also among districts allowed by the State to do a military second count in February. That’s because of changes in the student population due to military families moving to posts after the September 20th count date. The second count assists the affected school districts with finances. It allows USD 475 to count military children even if they arrived after the September 20th enrollment date.
Sunset Zoo in Manhattan will host its annual family trick-or-treating event, SPOOKtacular, on Saturday, October 28 and Sunday, October 29 from noon to 4:30 p.m. each day.
Sunset Zoo has been hosting this community event for more than 25 years. It is a way for families in the region to enjoy safe trick-or-treating while experiencing what the zoo has to offer. In addition to more than twenty trick-or-treat stations throughout the zoo’s exhibits, there will also be a hay bale maze, costume contest, pumpkin carving contest featuring the carving skills of KSU’s College of Architecture, Planning & design students, and local entertainment.
Tickets for this event can be purchased online at SunsetZoo.com/Spooktacular or at the ticket booth open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. You are encouraged to pre-purchase tickets to avoid long lines the day of the event. Pricing information, admission tips and parking details can be found on the SPOOKtacular web site.
SPOOKtacular is expected to draw 7,000 people to the Sunset Zoo.
Geary Community Hospital has been participating in a rural health demonstration project but that has been in a lull for more than a year.
GCH had participated in the program through May of 2016.
Good news was received this week at Geary Community said CEO Joe Stratton. “And we’ve been out of the program since then. But we received notification ( this week ) from Health and Human Services that we’ll be in the program for another five years.
Stratton stated that will be a real plus for the hospital. “We’ve received approximately $90,000 a month on that program for five years. Anticipate it’ll be approximately the same sum of money.”
Stratton updated the Hospital Board of Trustees on the matter this week.
The Junction City Rotary ( noon ) Club will be 100 years old on Sunday.
Current Club Secretary, Charles Volland reported that the club’s official certificate of affiliation with the International Association of Rotary Clubs was issued on October 1, 1917.
The list of charter members included R.B. Fegan, Harry Pierce, J.V. Humphrey, Loring Trott, Walter Rockwell, Ralph LaShelle, Dr. C.K. Raber, harry Montgomery, W.A. Thompson, R.J. Brown, Hale Powers, t.B. Kennedy, A.D. Jellison, C.G. Bumstead, John Dalton, Sam Zeigler, D. D. Turnbull, F.F. Ziegler, B. VanLeeuwen and George Rockwell.
During the club’s first year, 25 members subscribed $1,000 each toward the cost of erecting the apartment building at the corner of 4th and Washington, later known as the Schwartz Apartments. That project was designed to help alleviate the housing shortage caused by the massive influx of workers, soldiers and dependents. In 1917, people were literally living in the City Park for there was no other shelter available.
It was the “Community Building,” now the Eagles Lodge , at 10th and Franklin Streets, that was perhaps the greatest monument to the efforts of Rotary during World War I. Built at a cost of $40,000, this substantial stone structure was funded and built by the Rotary Clubs of the 11th District as a recreation center for soldiers and the community.
The building was dedicated in December of 1918. After World War I it became a gathering place for the youth of Junction cIty. For the next 20 years until the Municipal Building was built in 1938, it hosted teen club dances, community meetings and all kinds of social activities.
Today the Club meetings are held at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.
Bonnie Rush has been named interim dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, effective immediately. Rush, who is currently serving as acting dean, will continue to lead the college while a national search is conducted to find a new dean.
The announcement was made by Provost April Mason.
During the interim period, Rush will lead all areas of the college, including its academic, research and administrative functions.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Latest on a federal fraud and bribery scandal in college basketball (all times local):
The FBI says Oklahoma State assistant basketball coach Lamont Evans, a Kansas State alum, has surrendered to federal authorities in allegations that he took bribes to influence star athletes.
FBI special agent Jessica Rice says Evans surrendered to federal marshals early Wednesday on federal corruption charges following an investigation into the criminal influence of money on coaches and players in the NCAA.
Rice says Evans is scheduled to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Charles Goodwin about 3 p.m. Wednesday.
According to the papers, Evans expected $2,000 a month for his services. Evans said it was necessary to use his influence over the youngsters early in their college careers because many of them are “one and done,” meaning they play one year of college ball before joining the NBA, according to court papers.
Evans graduated with a degree in social science from K-State in 2009. He worked with the Wildcat basketball program as a Student Assistant from 2008-09, a Graduate Manager from 2009-2011, and an Assistant Coach 2011-12, according to his OSU bio.
12:35 p.m.
The acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan says the picture of college basketball painted by criminal charges his office brought against four college assistant coaches and an Adidas executive is not a pretty one.
Joon Kim made the comment at a news conference Tuesday after the charges were unsealed in Manhattan federal court. Assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, the University of Southern California and Oklahoma State were expected to appear in courts later Tuesday to face the charges.
Kim says the case against 10 men, including sports agents and marketing professionals, exposed “the dark underbelly of college basketball.” He says the coaches exploited the “trust of the players they coached and recruited.”
It was not immediately clear who will represent the coaches in court.
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The director of global sports marketing for Adidas is among those charged in a bribe-paying scheme that federal authorities say was designed to match agents and advisers to players before they became NBA stars.
James Gatto was arrested Tuesday along with nine others, including four assistant basketball coaches from Arizona, Auburn, the University of Southern California and Oklahoma State. It was not immediately clear who will represent him in court.
In criminal complaints, authorities said agents and financial advisers paid bribes to assistant coaches to get them to introduce them to star college players and their parents before the students turned professional.
Authorities said the coaches received thousands of dollars in bribes, enabling the agents and others to get a slice of the millions of dollars the athletes could eventually make in the NBA.
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9:50 a.m.
Federal prosecutors have announced charges of fraud and corruption in college basketball, including against four coaches.
The coaches work at Oklahoma State, Auburn University, Arizona and the University of Southern California.
They were among 10 people charged in New York City federal court. Others included managers, financial advisers and representatives of a major international sportswear company. The details will be discussed at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
In court papers, prosecutors said the FBI has since 2015 been investigating the criminal influence of money on coaches and student-athletes who participate in intercollegiate basketball governed by the NCAA.
They said the probe has revealed numerous instances of bribes paid by athlete advisers, including financial advisers and associate basketball coaches, to assistant and associate basketball coaches to exert influence over student athletes.
The mandatory nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System is today ( Wednesday ).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission will hold the test at 1:20 p.m. ( CST ) The test will assess the distribution of a national level test message, as well as verify its delivery.
The EAS test will be on radio, television, cable and direct broadcast satellite systems, and is scheduled to last approximately one minute. The test’s message will be similar to the regular monthly test message of the EAS with which the public is familiar. This is the third mandatory nationwide test of the EAS.
Conducting the test following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria will provide insight into the resiliency of our national-level alerting capabilities in impacted areas. The test will also provide data into how the Integrated Public Alerts and Warning System performs during and following a variety of conditions.
Emotion, passion and just plain facts were all part of the kickoff of the The Say Yes to JCHS campaign Tuesday night at the C. L. Hoover Opera House.
This is the community based effort to obtain voter approval of a bond issue for the proposed new Junction City High School. If voters approve the bond issue on November 7th the State of Kansas will pay 47% of the cost of that new school, with federal heavily impacted military aid providing the rest of the needed funding. No increase is being sought in the local property tax levy.
Campaign committee co-chair Terrah Stroda told a packed meeting room at the Opera House, “Tonight we raise our voices in unity with one message. Say yes to JCHS. On Tuesday November 7th we will be one voice. On that day we will vote a resounding yes to a bond issue that will build our students and community a new high school.”
JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp
State Representative Lonnie Clark noted the State has approved the bond issue. “So if the bond passes the election on November 7th then the State is obligated to pay the 47%. That’s not an if and or but, that’s an obligation of the State, it’s in the laws of Kansas so people can quit worrying about that part of it.”
JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp said no other district in Kansas has access to the funds like USD 475 has, “as a result of being Junction City and Fort Riley.” The district qualifies for the heavily impacted aid money because of the substantial number of military family related students attending schools in the district.
Sharp emphasized that the stars are aligning. “Nobody in the state received that heavy impact aid and only 26 other districts in the nation received that funding. So for me to say the stars are aligning the right way is accurate.”
JCHS Senior Abby Khoury
A group of students from the school district attended the kickoff of the campaign, and one of them, JCHS senior Abby Khoury, explained the need for a new building that has sufficient space allowing for each of the career clusters to thrive and opportunities for students to have access to tools to help them reach their full academic potential.
A parent of two current high school students Jodie Wilkey referred to some of the “amazing kids” that have been through adversity, do not live in the most expensive homes or wear the most expensive clothes but do work hard. “And they are the kids that walk the halls of the schools in our district.”
Wilkey said she has driven many of them to sporting events across Kansas, and referred to the conversations the kids have had as they drove into some of the new schools across the state. “I have heard the kids acknowledge that their school is nothing like the one’s that these other kids have. I’ve heard them stand up for our own town because another kid from somewhere else has asked them why would you want to go to JC. I’ve seen the looks on their faces and it’s obvious to me that they only dream of having a school like that to call their own. But don’t forget they still stand proud!”
Enrollment has declined in Geary USD 475 when you compare the most recent available student count with one taken at approximately the same time in 2016.
