The third Community Band concert in Junction City has a variety of music programmed.
Brittany Childs Lamb will be featured vocalist for three selections. CWO Matthew David, Commander of the 1st Infantry Division Band will be guest director, with the band performing his arrangement of “You Only Live Twice.”
Last week’s concert audience numbered 162. The next concert is scheduled at 7 p.m Sunday at the C. L. Hoover Opera House.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ governing board of the state’s universities has signed off on requests to raise tuition higher than first proposed by many of the campuses.
The Kansas Board of Regents’ Wednesday in Topeka came weeks after Republican Gov. Sam Brownback cut higher education spending by 4 percent. That was one percent more than the state’s universities had expected.
Many of the campuses responded by pushing their tuition requests upward.
The University of Kansas’ tuition will rise by 5 percent. That’s one percent higher than the school sought last month.
The state’s other universities’ tuition boosts range from 4.9 percent at Emporia State to 6 percent at Fort Hays State. Only the University of Kansas’ medical center and Wichita State didn’t increase their rate requests. They will remain at 5 percent.
As Trace Adkins would say, get your ‘honky tonk badonkadonk’ in gear, grab your cowboy hats and practice that country two-step; Country Stampede is upon us.
The largest annual music festival in Kansas which will run next weekend boasts an impressive lineup of musical acts and festival fun.
Wayne Rouse, Director of the Country Stampede, says there are some new features to look forward to this year.
“We have a new attraction this year in the campgrounds called ‘Carlos O’Kelly’s Radio World Stage’ and it will be active when the festival is not; and inside the festival we have a human Foosball court, which is full size…we’ll have a lot of games going on, a lot of vendors – it’s just [going to be] a great time,” said Rouse.
One thing you may notice about this year’s lineup is that it is Thursday through Saturday and doesn’t include the traditional Sunday festival day.
“This year something that we did is that we took the kickoff party on Thursday and did away with it and we moved Sunday to Thursday and Thursday is a full day with the gates opening at 1:00 pm,” said Rouse.
Thursday night catch Sam Hunt at 8:00 pm and then Dierks Bentley closes the night at 10:00 pm. On Friday, June 24th the legend Tim McGraw headlines the Cenex Main stage at 10:00 pm. On the final night of the stampede, Saturday, June 25th look forward to easy on the eyes Jake Owen closing out the festival at 10:00 pm.
With over 200 vendors spanning food, cowboy hats, and tattoos this year’s Country Stampede is bound to be another successful event.
Prepare your country-boho inspired outfits, festival tees, and most importantly – your tickets – time is running low.
The 2016 Country Stampede is Thursday, June 23rd through Saturday June 25th at Tuttle Creek State Park in Manhattan.
Visit www.countrystampede.com for more information.
WAUBAUNSEE COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 10a.m. on Wednesday in Waubaunsee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Chevy dump truck driven by Shaun M. Stuewe, 48, Alma, was traveling on Keene Eskridge Road just north of Prairie Falon Road.
The vehicle dropped off the edge of the road and rolled onto its side.
Stuewe was transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
The KHP was uncertain if he was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
By KHP TROOPER TOD HILEMAN
Public Resource Officer-Hays
Harvest time is right around the corner, so time for us to be thinking about all the extra traffic and large heavy trucks that are hard to stop.
Preliminary numbers indicate that statewide in 2015, there were 106 crashes involving farm equipment. In those 106 crashes, no one was killed, but there were 40 people injured. Already this year, preliminary statistics indicate there have been 22 crashes, with four people injured.
It is important to share the road safely, for the sake of the farmers, and for the motoring public. Tips to keep in mind when sharing Kansas roads with farmers:
• Don’t assume the farmer knows you’re there. Most operators of farm equipment regularly check for vehicles behind them, however, most of their time must be spent looking ahead to stay on the road and watch for oncoming traffic. Implements are very loud, hindering the farmer’s ability to hear your vehicle.
• Pass with extreme caution. Don’t pass unless you can see clearly ahead of both your vehicle and the farm equipment you are passing. If there are curves or hills blocking your view of oncoming traffic, wait until you can clearly visualize the area you’re passing in. You should not pass in a designated “No Passing Zone,” even if you are stuck behind a farm vehicle. Do not pass if you are within 100 feet of any intersection, railroad grade crossing, bridge, elevated structure, or tunnel.
• When a farm vehicle pulls to the right side of the road, it does not mean it is turning right or allowing you to pass. Due to the size of some farm equipment, the farmer must execute wide left turns, so allow it plenty of room and time to turn, and be alert to see if there might be a driveway or field they may be turning into.
• Be patient. Don’t assume that a farmer can move aside to let you pass. Shoulders may be soft, wet, or steep, which can cause the farm vehicle to tip, or the shoulder may not support the weight of a heavy farm vehicle. The farmer understands you are being delayed and will move over at the first safe location available.
• Think of the slow moving vehicle emblem as a warning to adjust your speed. When you see the slow moving vehicle emblem, you should immediately slow down. While the emblems are visible from a long distance away, it is often difficult to judge the speed at which you are closing in on a vehicle, especially at night.
• Pay attention. When you are not focused solely on the road, you increase your chances of a collision, especially if you should come upon a slow moving farm vehicle.
Junction City officials want to keep the property tax levy flat for 2017, but the city commission heard the information Tuesday evening in a budget work session, that the sales tax revenues for the general fund are flat right now.
That is a major revenue source for the City, yet proposed expenses would go up.
The impact of troop reductions and deployments from Fort Riley were noted as part of the sales tax concern. Mayor Mick McCallister said they have to look into a crystal ball with some of their decisions. “Because not only in Junction City but statewide sales tax is down and that’s what funds our debt. So it starts to make us a little bit nervous. If we have to pull from other departments to pay for that debt then we have to look at that. I’m not sure, boots on the ground how many soldiers we’re going to have here but we are going to have soldiers deployed. And hopefully the families will stay like they have the last several deployments.”
The City Commission have a series of budget work sessions in June and July.
GEARY COUNTY – Three Kansas woman were injured in an accident just before 3:30p.m. on Tuesday in Geary County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Jeep Wrangler driven by Christopher Cody Stapp, 31, El Dorado, was southbound on U.S. 77 six miles south of Junction City.
The driver failed to stop and rear-ended a 2012 Toyota Camry driven by Darlene M. Kleist, 44, Herington, which was stopped in traffic waiting for a pilot car to proceed thru a work zone.
The Camry was spun counterclockwise and collided with 2003 Cadillac CTS driven by Dicy Elizabeth Albrecht, 37, Herington, also stopped waiting in the work zone.
Kleist, Albrecht, and a passenger in the Camry Lois A. Kleist, 71, Herington, were transported to Geary County Hospital.
Stapp and a teen passenger in the Cadillac were not injured.
All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Geary Community Hospital announced a new achievement today: receiving the High 5 status for the Martha K. Hoover Women’s Health Center.
The achievement was reached through a combined effort of the Geary Community Hospital Wo
men’s Center and Delivering Change: Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies in order to implement maternity care procedures based on the proven health benefits associated with breastfeeding.
“We have several other healthy living initiatives already established and the High 5 initiative is one in addition to it…and we’re happy to be a part of that,” said Joe Stratton, Geary Community Hospital CEO.
Gwen Whittit, Program Coordinator for High 5 for Mom & Baby Program, awarded Women’s Center Manager Melissa Wells with the plaque in honor of their achievement at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
“Kansas High 5 for Mom & Baby has provided education to 58 of the 69 maternity care hospitals in the state of Kansas,” Whittit continued, “with the hard work of the entire staff here and your community partners at Geary Community Hospital, change has been made that will support moms and babies in the community with lifelong health benefits.”
Wells accepted the honor and noted that this is something that has been taking place for a few years at the Women’s Center and Geary Community Hospital.
“We began the process towards becoming a High 5 for Mom & Baby hospital in 2012. Fortunately, we were already doing most of the High 5 practices, but we needed to add official guidelines to establish them as our standard of care….We are thrilled to have made all of the benchmarks and have seen dramatic improvements in our moms and our babies,” said Wells.
Delivering Change: Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies program coordinator Jill-Elizabeth Nelson remarked, “Since it’s inception in 2012 Delivering Change: Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies has had an incredibly strong collaborative relationship with Geary Community Hospital. Utilizing federal “Healthy Start” funding, Delivering Change partnered with the Breastfeeding Coalition to assist Geary Community Hospital and the Martha K. Hoover Women’s Center in achieving the High 5 for Mom & Baby designation.”
The High 5 program is initiated, funded, and provided at no charge to Kansas hospitals by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The Hutchinson based health fund developed High 5 for Mom & Baby in conjunction with the Kansas Breastfeeding Workgroup.
The Junction City Fire Department responded to two different motel fires in recent days where minor damage occurred.
Acting Fire Chief Rick Rook confirmed they were at the Kansas Exress Inn at 1000 South Washington, and the other at the USA Inn at 1001 East 6th Street. On the cause he noted that both fires were electrical.
Alpha Sigma Lambda, a nontraditional national honor society that recognizes adult students who achieve and maintain high scholastic standards, has 46 new members from Kansas State University.
Founded in 1945, Alpha Sigma Lambda is the oldest and largest chapter-based honor society for full and part time undergraduate adult students. 
To be eligible to join the Omega Xi chapter of Alpha Sigma Lambda at Kansas State University, nontraditional students must be currently enrolled with a minimum of 24 credit hours completed toward an undergraduate degree program at the university and have a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.
New members were inducted in a ceremony at the Kansas State University Gloal Campus Honors and Awards Reception on May 4, 2016.
Local inductees include: