Today, there will be a Red Flag Warning in effect from 1 PM to 9 PM CDT. Please Avoid All Burning! Relative Humidity values will be very low today due to the dry conditions. Winds will be strong out of the southwest up to 45 mph! Winds will shift out of the northwest later this evening and still remain very gusty.

Today: Windy. Mostly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts to around 45 mph.

Tonight: Windy. Much colder. Cloudy. Chance of rain in the evening…then chance of snow…possibly mixed with rain and after midnight. Lows in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 30 mph increasing to 25 to 30 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 40 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

Thursday: Breezy. Much cooler. Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph shifting to the north 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Lows around 30. Northeast winds up to 5 mph shifting to the southeast after midnight.

Friday: Warmer. Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Friday Night: Not as cool. Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the lower 40s.

Saturday: Cooler. Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the lower 50s.

Saturday Night: Colder. Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of rain showers and snow showers. Lows around 30.

Sunday: Mostly sunny with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the lower 50s.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 30s.

Monday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 60s.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 30s.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 60s.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are taking up a new education funding proposal that’s designed to help poor school districts without increasing the state’s total spending significantly.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House Appropriations Committee were having separate hearings Wednesday on the plan.

It was drafted by the two committee chairmen. They are Republican Sen. Ty Masterson of Andover and GOP Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr. of Olathe.

The plan redistributes $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus a year in aid to its 286 school districts.

It increases the state’s overall spending by a few million dollars to ensure that no districts lose aid. Previous plans cut aid to dozens of districts.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last month that the state has shorted its poor districts on their aid.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are looking at a new school finance plan that would ensure that districts don’t lose state aid in an attempt to satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court.

Identical bills in the House and Senate also would shift control of a fund to help districts facing extraordinary circumstances from lawmakers and the governor to the State Board of Education.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports discussions on the measures are expected Wednesday in both chambers.

The bills apply an old formula used to determine capital outlay state aid for districts to local option budget state aid. They would provide additional aid to districts that would lose funds under that formula so their funding levels don’t decline.

Many districts would not see any increases in funding under the bill, either.

RILEY-POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS-WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON-
347 PM CDT TUE MAR 22 2016

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM TO 9 PM CDT WEDNESDAY. THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IM EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT TODAY ( TUESDAY ) . A RED FLAG WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM 1 PM THROUGH 9 PM CDT WEDNESDAY.

* WIND…SOUTHWESTERLY AT 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH.

* HUMIDITY…MINIMUM HUMIDITY VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO BE BETWEEN  15 AND 25 PERCENT IN THE AFTERNOON.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed legislation allowing faith-based college groups to restrict membership to like-minded people, likely putting Kansas on a collision course with civil liberties groups.

The conservative Republican signed the bill Tuesday. The new law will take effect in July.

The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the bill this month, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that universities could require such groups to open their memberships to all.

Supporters have said the bill was a victory for religious freedom. Opponents say it was a veiled attempt to legalize discrimination.

Kansas already has a religious objections law preventing state or local governments from limiting people’s freedom to express their religion. But the law doesn’t touch on organizations at universities.

Kansas joins Oklahoma in having a campus-specific law.

BOSTON (AP) — An 80-year-old man who ran a sprawling marijuana-dealing operation has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Marshall Dion pleaded guilty last year to drug and money-laundering charges.

Prosecutors say Dion ran a large marijuana enterprise for decades.

When police in Junction City, Kansas, stopped him for speeding in 2013, they found about $828,000 in cash in his pickup truck. A federal investigation led authorities to Massachusetts and Arizona, where they found about $15 million in cash, nearly 400 pounds of marijuana and ledgers detailing drug deals going back to 1992.

A federal judge earlier this month rejected a plea agreement that called for a five- to seven-year prison sentence for Dion.

The judge sentenced him to 10 years on Tuesday during a hearing in U.S. District Court.

A group of local residents in Junction City have been working on a program called ‘Live Well Geary County.”  It’s an effort to help feed the hungry in the community.

City Commissioner Mike Ryan is the treasurer for the organization. He confirmed one of the initial projects would target hungry youth…children in need, for a three week period between the end of USD 475 summer school and the beginning of the fall semester. He noted the school district provides free lunch to children in need. “During summer school the school lunch program goes on. But when summer school ends and before the next school year begins there’s about a three-week gap when there isn’t anything available. So one of the things that wewere going to address is filling that gap.”

The food can be served during a one-hour period at picnic locations.

Another project for ‘Live Well Geary County’ will involve the acquisition of an EBT machine that can be used to read snap cards at the Geary Community Hospital Farmer’s Market. That can allow holders of those cards to have access to fresh produce.

Federal funding will support the ‘Live Well Geary’ effort. Kirsten Noriega is the local chair for the program.

UPDATE:

The Acting Junction City Fire Chief Rick Rook reported firefighters responded to an automatic fire alarm call at the Century Link building for a report of smoke in the building.

Crews checked the building. There was no fire.

Rook says authorities believe recent efforts by to update the HVAC system involved venting, and there may have been a ventilation issue with the emergency backup generator. When it turned on it may have inhaled in some exhaust fumes.

There were no injuries, and no damage.

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Junction City police have confirmed that exhaust fumes from an emergency generator at the building set off smoke alarms on the second floor of the structure.

There have been no injuries reported.

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Junction City firefighters responded about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday to the Century Link building near 6th and Jefferson after receiving a call on an odor of smoke. Three fire trucks rolled to the scene.

There have been no reports of injuries.

Firefighters are investigating at the scene.

( From 1st Infantry Division Facebook )

Leaders and staff members from the “Big Red One” honored those that came before them Monday when they visited the First Division Monument in Washington, D.C. Erected in 1924, the monument was conceived by the Society of the First Infantry Division to honor the valiant efforts of the Soldiers who fought in World War I. Later additions to the monument commemorate the lives of 1st Infantry Division Soldiers who fought in subsequent wars.