Tribute to America is the music entertainment theme for Sundown Salute, which will run from July 3rd through July 7th this year in Junction City.

KCDC, a tribute to ACDC, will perform on the third at 9:05 p.m. Guns for Roses will be the headliner at 8:30 p.m. July 4th. Hairball from 9-11 p.m. on July 5th, Earth to Mars-Bruno Mars Tribute Band at 9:30 p.m. on the 6th, and Josh Wilson will perform from 8 to 9:15 p.m. on Christian music night July 7th. Those are the headliner performers each night. All concerts have free admission.

Fireworks are scheduled at 10 p.m. on July 4th.

MANHATTAN — A new risk assessment model for the transmission of Ebola accurately predicted its spread into the Republic of Uganda, according to the Kansas State University researchers who developed it.

According to a media release from KSU, Caterina Scoglio, professor, and Mahbubul Riad, doctoral student, both in the Mike Wiegers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University; Musa Sekamatte and Issa Makumbi at Uganda Ministry of Health; and Felix Ocom with the World Health Organization in Uganda, published “Risk assessment of Ebola virus disease spreading in Uganda using a multilayer temporal network” in bioRxiv on May 23.

The paper describes a new model to better predict how diseases like Ebola spread. The model combines data of people’s constant contacts — such as family members and co-workers — with their temporary contacts — such as people in a market or encountered during travel. According to Scoglio, the model should be used as a risk assessment tool to prepare and distribute resources, but it also has been accurate thus far regarding the movement of Ebola from the Democratic Republic of Congo into Uganda.

“This is very a new type of model,” Scoglio said. “Since we consider movement data in addition to constant contacts, we saw that not only are the districts directly bordering Congo at risk but that the districts on the path to some important Ugandan destinations also are at risk.”

In 2018, Scoglio and her collaborators worked with Ugandan officials to collect movement data to model disease progression and find areas most at risk. According to the model, the Kasese district was the highest risk area for an infected person to enter the country. The researchers used the model to create a 150-day simulation of possible disease progression in Uganda and produced a map of 23 Ugandan districts at risk.

The specific scenario used in the simulation is similar to actual events so far. According to the Uganda Health Ministry’s June 18 release, there are three confirmed cases of Ebola in travelers to Uganda — all from one family that entered the country at the Kasese district border.

“The risk assessment maps can be used to allocate and distribute limited resources,” Scoglio said. “Uganda has about 4,000 doses of the new Ebola vaccine. They are vaccinating health workers, communicating about how to prevent spreading diseases, and advising people to limit travel in high-risk areas. We have much respect and admiration for how Uganda has organized the preparedness and now the response.”

The researchers used the simulation of Ebola in Uganda to test their model because there is a lot of traffic coming into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo for health care, trading and refuge. Ebola is highly contagious through physical contact with an infected person and their bodily fluids.

Scoglio said that even though the real events in Uganda have aligned with the simulated model, the scenario should only be used to mitigate the risk.

“One very important point for the public to understand is the concept of risk and probability with these maps,” Scoglio said. “It should not be interpreted that these red regions will be affected because that will cause panic in the population, but rather these are a guide for allocation of limited resources in regions that could be potentially affected if no mitigations are implemented.”

This model may open a new era in infectious disease management, Scoglio said. She gives credit to Aram Vajdi, doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering at Kansas State University, for developing the framework for the theoretical model based on a multilayer temporal network and the Gillespie algorithm. Scoglio also praised Riad, who applied the data collected from Uganda and how Ebola was transmitted to create the risk assessment.

According to Scoglio, network models used for highly infectious disease risk assessment must be able to anticipate changes in human-to-human contacts — unlike many other models, which are based mainly on constant contacts and constant movement flows. Using these models can help increase the effectiveness of preventive measures by targeting the most critical regions and can help decrease the risk of Ebola and other infectious diseases from spreading.

Quality Play for All will host a 5th Street Playground Park Fun Day on Saturday ( June 29th ) from 10 a.m. until noon.

There will be donor check presentations, drawings and giveaways for bicycle helmets donated by LaDonna Junghans, State Farm Agency. and bicycles donated by Walmart, Orscheln and the Junction City Police Department. There will also be swimming pool and skate passes.

Free food will be provided by Smithfield Foods, water by Orscheln Farm & Home and there will be music and entertainment by DJ Chris Monroe.

This will be an opportunity to enjoy the new playground equipment, and you can share ideas for Phase II additions and projects for the 5th Street Park.

Junction City police said that they responded at 9 a.m. Monday  to a report of a lapsed battery that occurred at 223 North Washington Street. Francisco Correa, 49,  reported being battered with a pipe. He suffered injuries to his head, legs and torso and was treated at Geary Community

Hospital.

Captain Trish Giordano said at approximately 1 p.m. Monday officers arrested Juan Pablo Flores, 40, Grandview Plaza on suspicion of Attempted Murder and Criminal Threat. Flores was being held without bond pending a a first appearance in District Court.

The Corps of Engineers reduced the outflow from Milford Reservoir on Sunday afternoon to low flow, or 25 cubic feet per second. They anticipate ramping it back up to 5,000 cfs on Tuesday.

The substantial amount of rain received weekend led to the temporary reduction in the outflow. The Corps said on Monday afternoon that the current inflow was 15,000 and decreasing.

The Corps also anticipates increasing the outflow up to 7,000 cfs on Wednesday and keeping it there through at least July 7th.

You can tour a native pasture and view the brilliant scenery during the Wildflower Walk and Pasture on the evening of July 2nd. This activity is being sponsored by the Geary County Conservation District and Geary County KSU Research and Extension Office from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Wilson pasture at the northeast corner of U.S. 77 and State Lake Road south of Junction City.

The extensive spring rains and cooler temperatures have led to bright colors and blooms. You learn the names and historical importance of those plants that can be seen in the Flint Hills ecosystem. Chuck Otte, KSU Research and Extension agent, and local Conservation District staff will be in attendance to help you navigate through the pasture and answer your questions about the blooms and grasses you will encounter.

The pasture that will be toured was this past year’ winner of the Conservation District Grassland Award. It is past of a working cattle operation and the land managers will be available to answer questions about rangeland management including questions about spring burning.

Weather permitting, parking will be available on the limited maintenance road to the east of the highway. Those who attend are asked to wear closed toed shoes and clothing appropriate for walking through the rangeland. Bring bug spray since the wet weather has brought out a number of insects.