Quiet Riot will be the headline performer for Sundown Salute 2017.
Nikki Londene, Sundown Salute Committee Chair, said the group performs classic rock and they were a well known band in the 1980s.
“[They’re] known for being the original punk rock band; one of their major hits is Come on feel the noise, it’s just pretty much 80s classic rock,” said Londene.
The group is set to release a new album in April.
“We’ll obviously appeal to that 35 and over demographic [but] I feel like classic rock really kind of appeals to a wide range of people; my mom made me grow up on it, so it’s something that I can relate to and I feel like there’s a lot of people younger than me that can relate to that as well – plus, you’ve got that age group that lived during the time frame,” said Londene.
Quiet Riot will perform on Saturday, July 1st in Heritage Park.
Sundown Salute 2017 runs from June 30th through July 4th.
The tentative schedule is as follows:
June 30th: Street dance, with DJ headliner
Saturday, July 1st: classic rock, rock bands leading up to Quiet Riot
Sunday, July 2nd: Christian music during day, country music at night
MANHATTAN, KS – The Kansas Special Olympics Polar Plunge is taking place in the Little Apple tonight!
Manhattan plungers will plunge in an above ground pool with decking, in front of Gate B at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Registration, Texas Roadhouse Tailgate and the Polar Plunge will all be in one place. Heated changing facilities will be offered in the outside perimeter restrooms at the stadium. Gather your friends for this Polar Plunge Toga Party!
All car traffic will be required to enter either Gate 1 or Gate 5 on the west side of the stadium.
Online Registration is now closed, however, you can still make donations online.
Cottonwood Falls, Kan. – Symphony in the Flint Hills will bring the Chisholm Trail to life this year at its iconic annual prairie event on Saturday, June 10. For the event’s finale, the sunset concert will feature the Kansas City Symphony with country western singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, who will share his passion for cowboy culture and grasslands conservation.
“As we celebrate the 150 th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail at this summer’s Symphony in the Flint Hills, we can’t think of a better way to end our annual event than having a true cowboy — Michael Martin Murphey — perform with the Kansas City Symphony during the sunset concert,” said Christy Davis, executive director for the Symphony in the Flint Hills. “Murphey is not only an iconic western musician, he’s also an advocate for protecting and preserving grasslands. It’s an honor to feature an artist who shares our passion for this landscape.”
Michael Martin Murphey is best known for topping the charts in pop, country, bluegrass and western music. Known as the “Cosmic Cowboy” in the 1970s, Murphey has made more than 35 albums in his career with hits including “Wildfire,” “Carolina in the Pines” and “What’s Forever For.” The real-life rancher with Texas roots has also been a long-time activist and outspoken supporter for the American West, which led to the creation of the Murphey Western Institute. “The goal of Murphey Western Institute is to protect the life-sustaining mountain, prairie and plain landscapes that continue to inspire my music,” said Murphey.
This year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills will take place at Deer Horn Ranch in Geary County. To celebrate the 150 th anniversary of the famous trail that brought cattle from Texas to Kansas in the years following the Civil War, there will be several surprises for attendees to enjoy. The day-long event will include presentations about the Chisholm Trail, education about the Flint Hills region, covered wagon rides, cowboy poetry, a silent art auction and food and beverage. After the sunset concert, the day will conclude with dancing, stargazing and a story circle.
Tickets for the 2017 Symphony in the Flint Hills Signature Event will go on sale at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 4. However, residents of Geary, Dickinson and Riley counties can purchase general admission tickets in advance from February 21-24. General admission tickets are $90 plus sales tax for adults and $50 plus sales tax for children 12 and under.
Advance Tickets on Sale for Geary, Dickinson and Riley County Residents:
Abilene & Junction City Convention and Visitors Bureaus
Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan
February 21-24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Maximum of six tickets per person, must be purchased in person
Will be issued on first-come, first-served basis
Payment by credit card only
Tickets on Sale for the Public March 4:
Walk-Up Location
Kansas City Symphony Box Office, 1703 Wyandotte, Suite 200, KC, MO
A new committee will undertake a campaign to seek voter approval of a bond issue to help fund a proposed new Junction City High School at a new location.
The panel Thursday night adopted a campaign slogan, said committee member Ashley King. She noted it is, “Constructing Success for JCHS.” King chairs the marketing subcommittee for the panel. “And we just kind of brainstormed what would be catchy and would draw people’s attention to what we’re doing.”
The committee will also work to get voter turnout for a May 9th bond issue election and for support of the proposal to build a new high school. The bond issue approval would qualify USD 475 for state aid to help pay for the project. The remainder of the funding would come from federal heavily impacted military aid received by the school district. There would be no increase in the property tax levy.
The actual cause of a fire at a 115 West Spruce Street apartment building on Thursday is undetermined and still under investigation. But Junction City Fire Chief Terry Johnson reported that the origin of the blaze was a single area of origin to a metal conduit junction box adjacent to a ceiling fixture in the kitchen area in the apartment where the fire began.
Johnson noted that one occupant of the building was transported to Geary Community Hospital for difficulty breathing approximately two hours after the fire was extinguished. A firefighter was transported to the hospital for health issues relating to firefighting activities. He was evaluated and later released.
Upon arrival at the scene of the fire, Junction City police and firefighters began knocking on all apartment doors to alert any occupants that might have been inside.
An interior crew made entry into the apartment into the involved apartment, and shortly after that crew reported that there was fire in the attic. Fire crews pulled the ceilings down in the apartments adjacent to the fire apartment in order to push the blaze back towards the original fire room to prevent any further fire spread.
Due to the extent of the fire and overhaul, extensive damage occurred in three of the nine apartments. A hole ws cut in the roof during a check for extension of the fire. The hole was expanded due to the fact there were two separate roofs in the structure. All nine apartments in the complex were opened and smoke damage was visible in all apartments.
The fire investigation is being led by Firefighter / Fire Investigator Jason Lankas with Fire Captain / Investigator Randy Nabus and Firefighter / Fire Investigator Jeremey Sutton.
The Junction City Police Department assisted with scene security and traffic control, and the Junction City Public Works Department assisted with traffic control barriers to provide a safe work area for the JCFD.
Chapman School District USd 473 will have a Driver Education Meeting for students and parents on Monday, March 6th.
The meeting will be at 7:00 pm in the Chapman Middle School commons area. To attend, students must either live in the District or be attending a USD 473 school and have completed 8th grade.
The meeting will provide information, have student sign-ups, payment of fees, and provide applications for Kansas Driver Education Permits.
Fees are $200.
Students that are interested in taking Driver Education this summer (2017) are encouraged to attend the meeting.
Fore more information contact Dr. Betty Ryan at 922-6555.
WASHINGTON – A federal jury returned guilty verdicts today in the case of a Chinese scientist, who was charged with conspiring to steal samples of a variety of rice seeds from a Kansas biopharmaceutical research facility.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorney Tom Beall of the District of Kansas made the announcement.
Weiqiang Zhang, 50, a Chinese national residing in Manhattan, Kansas, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets, one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
Evidence at trial established that Zhang worked as a rice breeder for Ventria Bioscience in Junction City, Kansas. Ventria develops genetically programmed rice to express recombinant human proteins, which are then extracted for use in the therapeutic and medical fields. Zhang has a master’s degree in agriculture from Shengyang Agricultural University in China and a doctorate degree from Louisiana State University.
According to trial evidence, Zhang acquired without authorization hundreds of rice seeds produced by Ventria and stored them at his residence in Manhattan. The rice seeds have a wide variety of health research applications and were developed to express either human serum albumin, contained in blood, or lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein found, for example, in human milk. Ventria used locked doors with magnetic card readers to restrict access to the temperature-controlled environment where the seeds were stored and processed.
Trial evidence demonstrated that in the summer of 2013, personnel from a crop research institute in China visited Zhang at his home in Manhattan. Zhang drove the visitors to tour facilities in Iowa, Missouri and Ohio. On Aug. 7, 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found seeds belonging to Ventria in the luggage of Zhang’s visitors as they prepared to leave the United States for China.
The FBI’s Little Rock, Arkansas, Field Office and Kansas City, Missouri, Field Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas investigated the case. Trial Attorney Matt Walczewski of the National Security Division, Trial Attorneys Brian Resler and Evan Williams of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask of the District of Kansas prosecuted the case.
Brig. General Patrick Frank, Acting Senior Commander 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley
Members of the media were invited to witness two live battalions, and a third virtual battalion face off against a “near-peer” enemy.
Unlike the live fire exercise a few weeks ago, this training exercise employed the use of a multiple integrated laser engagement system, or MILES.
CPT Brian Kossler, Battle Captain for Division Operations Center, described the event as a sophisticated game of laser tag.
“The simulation is pretty refined, for instance, the tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles use a complex laser system to determine who’s in and who’s out; if [your] vehicle gets hit, there will be a voice in your radio that goes right into your ear that will tell you the status of your vehicle” said Kossler.
The various statuses range from catastrophic kill – which means the vehicle is completely out of the fight, mobility kill – which means that you can’t move but you can still shoot, or firepower kill – which means you can move but you can’t shoot.
“That’s how the game is adjudicated and refereed, and whoever seizes and takes their objectives wins,” said Kossler.
The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team conducted the training exercise in “towns” complete with a hotel, church and bank to simulate potential combat zones.
Brigadier General Patrick Frank, Acting Senior Commander 1st Infantry Division, said they leverage technology at Fort Riley. “Our Department of the Army Civilians that work here at Fort Riley help us to do [that]; they’re the experts on these systems, they help us to put them on our Bradleys, our tanks, all of our vehicles out here so that when we are in a force on force engagement [like this], we can provide realistic feedback to the soldiers and to their leadership.”
As of part of Danger Focus II, which prepares soldiers for the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, CA, the Brigade is being evaluated in phases.
“We had three different phases here – a preparation phase, that we’ve templated exactly after the National Training Center so what those Commanders will experience when they go to NTC, they’ve already done it here at Fort Riley; then we moved into situational training exercises in our combined arms live fires…we did over 20 rotations of those combined arms live fires,” said Frank. “Now [you’re seeing] phase three – the maneuver phase.”
Fort Riley is known for its training capabilities with 77,000 acres of usable training space.
“We’ve had several senior Army leaders come in and watch Danger Focus, they’re impressed by our ability to get an entire Brigade Combat Team in the field, but not only that, but then bring our Sustainment Brigade – they’re all in the field; so all of our combat operations that we would expect to see a Division doing if they were to employ it in theater, we’re actually doing [it] out here in the Fort Riley training area,” said Frank.
More than 3500 soldiers have been trained as a result of Danger Focus II.
Videos shot by JC Post are for our use only. (playlist below)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in calling on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price to prioritize healthcare in rural America.
“Access to healthcare in Kansas and small communities across the country is critical to the survival of rural America,” Sen. Moran said. “I am hopeful the new administration will recognize the unique challenges facing providers in rural areas and make certain policies are put in place that enhance, rather than impede their efforts in providing quality care. During my visits to hospitals across the state, I have had the opportunity to learn more about how they prioritize resources to deliver the best possible care, and I am optimistic that Sec. Price will keep their needs in mind.”
In a letter, the senators emphasize the importance of rural healthcare providers and their critical role in rural communities. The letter reads, in part, “As you take on this new leadership role at HHS, we request that you work with us to ensure that the federal government does not act as an impediment to providing health care in rural communities. Overreaching and onerous regulations from Washington disproportionately harm rural America. We believe that together we can enact and implement effective policies that help providers innovate in care delivery and enable them to make efficient use of available resources.”
Nationally, more than 80 rural hospitals have closed in recent years. Some estimates show another 700 rural hospitals are at risk of closure.
Sen. Moran is a member of the Senate Health Appropriations Subcommittee.
Junction City firefighters responded late Thursday morning to 115 West Spruce Street for a reported fire.
As of 1:30 pm Thursday afternoon, Terry Johnson, Junction City Fire Chief, said that investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.
“We had a fire in the middle area (of 9 apartments), we had two apartments involved and as we were working to extinguish the fire it grew on us,” said Johnson. “We do have a lot of smoke exposure, or what we call smoke damage so everyone that’s here is going to have to be displaced; [we] have the Red Cross on the way.”
The building’s structure lent no favors to the firefighting effort.
“Our guys did an excellent job and knocked it out, and basically it was a roof built on top of a roof and that causes a lot of changes when the fire gets between there, it’s got a free run up and down the building – so that’s what we were battling; it made things a little difficult, but we got it,” said Johnson.
