ABILENE, Kan. (AP) — A museum honoring President Dwight Eisenhower in his childhood home in Kansas has reopened after undergoing a massive, yearlong renovation.

Visitors got their first glimpse Monday of modernized exhibits in the 25,000-square-foot (2322-sq. meter) museum. They feature new graphic panels, display cases, theater experiences and digital interactive stations.

The original schedule was to open in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in early June, but the federal government shutdown delayed the timeline.

During the work, museum exhibits were moved to the library portion of the 22-acre complex. It also includes the home in which the future president and supreme commander of the Allied forces during World War II spent most of his childhood.

The formal dedication is planned for Oct. 12 to coincide with Ike’s birthday weekend.

By Martin Hawver

President Donald Trump congratulates himself on his appointment/U.S. Senate confirmation of more than 100 federal judges, including two U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Now, it appears that Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly might be able to tout, maybe more discreetly, her success in packing the Kansas Supreme Court.

With the retirement in September of Justice Lee Johnson, and the just-announced retirement of Chief Justice Lawton Nuss in December, Kelly will get final say on two appointees to the court that often battles the Legislature with decisions that kill laws the Legislature passed. Look at abortion, look at school finance.

Now, if there’s something that the Legislature hates, it is any institution that has veto power over its action. That’s just the three-division state government at work—the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches. Legislators have always thought that they are the big dogs in the management of the state, and lawmakers growl at any other branch that won’t bow to their authority.

Lawmakers weren’t happy with the abortion decision, which essentially guarantees the right to abortion in Kansas. At least a majority of them, and the Republican leadership.

Oh, and lawmakers also want the court out of the business of deciding what is “adequate” in the way of state financing of public education. The court has loudly and frequently said it will determine just what is adequate to provide every Kansas schoolchild access to a good education from border to border.

So, having a Democrat governor with the power to appoint Supreme Court justices is a big deal. And now Kelly gets to appoint two justices to the seven-member court, and likely have a chance to make those appointees see state law the way she sees it.

The Legislature, or at least its overwhelming Republican majorities in each chamber, is not happy that a Democrat governor gets to interview and find a candidate for the court that is likely to be less conservative than the majority of legislators.

Already, the Senate has a proposed constitutional amendment warming up that would give the Senate the final say—to confirm or reject—a gubernatorial appointment to the high court. Sounds a little like conservative Republican state senators want to have the same power as federal senators, doesn’t it?

It takes a constitutional amendment, which means that if lawmakers OK the proposal, it will be November 2020 before it can be put before voters in the state to empower the Kansas Senate to have the final say on who gets to wear those nice black robes.

By that time, Kelly’s appointees to the Supreme Court will have already redecorated their offices and gotten comfortable on the bench. Oh, Kelly’s appointments will have to stand for retention to their posts to earn their full six-year terms on the court, but that’s not a major issue…justices face conservative opposition, but haven’t been tossed off the court by voters in recent memory.

So, Kelly, and her moderate Republican and Democrat predecessors, will retain the majority on the court. Former Gov. Sam Brownback got just one Supreme Court appointment, his former chief counsel Caleb Stegall, arguably the most conservative justice in recent memory.

The nominations for Kelly to choose from for each job? We won’t know who they are until the five-lawyer, four-nonlawyer Supreme Court Nominating Commission winnows the jobseekers to just three for each chair to present to the governor for her selection.

It looks like the court will retain its socially moderate position and not be afraid to take a swipe at the conservative GOP legislature for the next few years.

Wonder how that’s going to work out…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

The Geary County Commission will be in session from 10 a.m. to noon on Monday at the County Office Building.

The commission will continue their work on the proposed 2020 budget during the meeting.

Normally the governing body meets from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on four Monday’s each month, but this session has been reduced in length because it is the fifth Monday this month.

There was a big turnout for It Takes a village Saturday at JC Naz in Junction City. The event included activities ranging from student immunizations and school physicals to prizes and even bouncy houses. JCNaz and the Geary County Health Department teamed up to host the event and United Way gave out 250 free backpacks.

Coordinator Lindy Martinez said many people came out to enjoy the event. “We only have one box of hot dogs left out of all the boxes we had so it actually was a great turnout.” She estimated the attendance at approximately 600 people.

Those attending also go to view the fire trucks and a dump truck brought for display, enjoy free food, and K-State personnel did science demonstrations. Bikers Against Child Abuse also were represented at the event.

Junction City Commissioner Phyllis Fitzgerald with the help of many volunteers has worked extensively to clean up city streets and parks. East Chestnut Street has been one of the key locations.

She has learned about an effort in another city. “A friend of mine tagged me on Facebook with a trip that they’d been on in a coastal town where a local business has come up with an idea that if you bring a bucket of trash from the beach we’ll give you a gift certificate for a pizza or something like that. ”

Fitzgerald said she is still working on the idea and “would be interested in any input coming back.” “If somebody new comes to pick up trash with me on a Saturday, if I’ve got some kind of a little kudo that I could give back from a local business that’s my thought and idea right now that I’m still toying around with and we’ll see how it goes.”

Nick Heath is a member of the Omaha Storm Chasers, the triple A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The 2012 Junction City High School graduate has been promoted from the Royals Double A affiliate Northwest Arkansas.

This season at Northwest Arkansas Heath had a .255 batting average with an on base percentage of .332. He had 84 hits, 10 doubles, 7 triples and 6 home runs. He had 27 rbi’s drew 39 walks.

The 25-year old outfielder is a 2012 graduate of Junction City High School. He was a 16th round draft pick by the Royals from Northwestern State in 2016.

Heath is listed on the roster with the Storm Chasers.

Heath has received the Willie Wilson Baserunner of the Year award two times. He was honored with the award at spring training in Surprise, Arizona this past March. His mother, Kim Milleson, was in attendance.