Extreme fire danger conditions are expected this afternoon as a result of warm temperatures, breezy southerly winds gusting to 30mph, and dry conditions. Do not burn today! Dry conditions are expected on Saturday with highs in the 60s, with a warming trend Sunday into Monday. Breezy southerly winds will likely cause highs to reach into the upper 60s to middle 70s Sunday and Monday. Some periods of scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will be possible late Saturday night through Monday, with a better chance for thunderstorms Monday night in which a few storms may be strong to severe.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 60s. Northeast winds around 5 mph shifting to the east in the afternoon.

Saturday Night: Not as cool. Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers and isolated thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 40s. Southeast winds 5 to 15 mph.

Sunday: Breezy. Mostly cloudy with chance of rain showers and isolated thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60s. South winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Sunday Night: Warmer. Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 50s.

Monday: Windy. Partly sunny with slight chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 70s.

Monday Night: Breezy. Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 40s.

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

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain showers. Lows around 40.

Wednesday: Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 50s.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s.

Thursday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 60s.

 The Democratic Party Primary Caucuses are Saturday, March 5.  Democrats from the 17th State Senate District will go to Emporia High School, Emporia, for the caucus.  Democrats from the 22nd State Senate District will attend the caucus in Manhattan at Anthony Middle School.  Registration is from 1:00-3:00 p.m.  The caucus will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Junction City is located in the 17th Senate District, while Milford is in the 22nd Senate District. All registered Democrats and those who wish to register as Democrats or change party affiliation are invited to attend the caucus on March 5. For further information, contact Shelley Hoyle Kite at 238-6222 ortandskite@cox.net or at the Geary County Democratic Party.

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce annual banquet included the announcement of award winners. According to Chamber officials they included:

–Tourism Advocate of the Year, Junction City Community Baseball Club

–Volunteer of the Year, Melissa Tyson

–Business/Citizen of the Year, Jim Clark and Jim Clark Auto Center

–Eldon L. Hoyle Economic Development Award, Mary Beth Mathis – Clark

URGENT – FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
247 PM CST THU MAR 3 2016

REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY- MORRIS-
247 PM CST THU MAR 3 2016

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 6 PM CST FRIDAY FOR
GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 6 PM CST FRIDAY.

* WIND…SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL BE SUSTAINED AROUND 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH. WINDS WILL BECOME NORTHWEST LATE IN THE DAY AS A COLD FRONT ARRIVES.

* HUMIDITY…MINIMUM AFTERNOON RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL FALL INTO THE 20 TO 25 PERCENT RANGE.

* IMPACTS…ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAPIDLY.
OUTDOOR BURNING IS NOT RECOMMENDED.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW…OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AND WARM TEMPERATURES MAY LEAD TO EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR.

The Junction City High School Construction house is under way at 1209 North Adams Street.

USD 475 reports that Technology teacher Jeff Wells and eight students are putting up drywall in the new home which is scheduled to be completed at the end of the school year.

The house will have an open floor plan for living room and dining room space plus a kitchen. there will be a master bedroom plus two other bedrooms and a laundry room.

The project is designed to give students skills needed to help prepare them for future careers in the construction field.

Westar Energy Inc. is preparing to upgrade their electric metering system in Junction City, Manhattan and the surrounding areas.

Company officials issued a release saying this will be a $10 million upgrade to provide improved customer service, quicker service delivery and improved outage management while increasing internal operational efficiencies within the company.

The digital upgrade, known as AMI ( Automated Metering Infrastructure ), will allow the customer to view their energy costs and usage from an online energy dashboard. It will give them a chance to understand their electrical consumption, costs and value. Customers can set up budget alerts, receive usage spike alerts and get weekly and monthly email snapshots of their costs and usage.

The upgrade will allow Westar to read the meter remotely, eliminating the need to be physically close to the meter and on the customer’s property. It also allows for remote service orders like a connection or disconnection.

The timeline for capital investment upgrade has begun with the installation of network communication equipment. Customers may see Westar trucks in their neighborhoods installing the wireless communication devices called routers and collectors.

Once the network equipment has been installed Westar will begin the meter exchanges. Installers will exchange every meter in an area by first knocking on the customer’s door to let them know they could experience a brief loss of power while the meter upgrade is taking place. They will provide each customer with an informational door hanger regarding the energy dashboard. If no one is home and Westar has access to the meter they will perform the exchange, leaving behind the door hanger. All customer types will be upgraded to the new metering sytem, including the company’s commercial customers.

MANHATTAN, KANSAS – March 1, 2016 – Eagle Communications is expanding the management team in the Junction City and Manhattan markets.

Just over four years ago, Eagle acquired radio stations KJCK, Power Hits 97.5, and KQLA Q Country 103.5.

“This is such a dynamic growth market,” said Gary Shorman, President/CEO of Eagle Communications. “Building relationships with business and focusing on the specific needs of each market is critical to our success.

Junction City continues to grow economically, due in part to their partnership with Fort Riley. Mark Ediger will become Market Manager of Eagle’s Junction City operation and focus on continuing to build relationships in that market.

Kansas State University, the advent of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility and other business opportunities have also helped Manhattan experience exciting growth.

Scott Olesky has been name Market Manager for our Eagle properties in Manhattan.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be promoted to an Eagle General Manager. We have a dynamic team here in Manhattan and I look forward to the challenge of growing and expanding our presence,” said Olesky.

Scott’s experience in sales management in Manhattan over the past three years will help him continue to connect with the community.

“This is a tremendous opportunity and I am excited to get things rolling. Being an Eagle Market Manager has been one of my long term goals. We have an amazing team and now it is our turn to lead the way. Great things are happening and I am excited to be a part of them,” he said.

“We are excited about the opportunity we have to build our team in Junction City and I know Scott will do a great job in Manhattan,” said Ediger. “We have great radio stations in two great communities and our listeners and advertisers will be better served.”

Eagle’s success is based on taking care of the marketing needs of each business. With the changing dynamics in today’s marketplace, radio, digital, and video all play an important role in building successful businesses.

In addition to Eagle’s top radio stations in the market, the Google Partnership, JCPost, and LittleApplePost, allow business to also reach the digital marketplace. For more information, please see the contact information above.

Eagle Communications, Inc. is a Kansas-based Broadband Services and Media Company with over 290 employee-owners. The company operates 28 radio stations in Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri as well as cable TV systems in 60 Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado communities. The company also offers e-business solutions, web hosting, telephone service, high-speed Internet, and wireless Internet in most service areas. For more information about Eagle, log on to https://www.eaglecom.net.

Above normal temps will continue, according to the National Weather Service of Topeka. Elevated fire danger concerns with dry conditions Friday and Saturday. On and off periods of rain and thunderstorms into the early part of next week.

Today: Cooler. Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 50s. North winds 10 to 20 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows around 30. North winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the southeast after midnight.

Friday: Warmer. Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. South winds 5 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 60s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 30s.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the mid 60s.

Sunday Night: Warmer. Mostly cloudy with chance of rain showers and slight chance

ALBQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A couple from Wamego who recently lost a son to a California hiking accident says their son’s ashes were stolen from an Albuquerque motel parking lot.

KRQE-TV reports that Steven and Kathy Hunt reported the theft on Monday.

They had stopped to rest at a Hampton Inn in Albuquerque after picking up their son’s remains in California. That’s when they say someone broke into their son’s car and stole the ashes.

The car was attached to a moving truck.

Authorities say the couple’s 32-year-old son, Kyle, was killed in a hiking accident two weeks ago.

The couple was on a 1,500 mile trip back to their home.

Albuquerque police are investigating the case.

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY – Fire crews in Pottawatomie County on Wednesday responded to a grass fire in the 4000 block of Blue Run Road in St. George.

The Westmoreland Fire Department temporarily blocked off Black Jack Road and Some homes were evacuated along the Highway 24 corridor as the fire rapidly spread.

Firefighters also battled the fire in a wooded area using off-road vehicles.

The fire appears to have been started by an improperly discarded cigarette, according to Pottawatomie Co. Fire Chief Jared Barnes.

Approximately 20 acres burned and there were no injuries.