The central appointment line at Fort Riley’s Irwin Army Community Hospital was temporarily down earlier Monday, but officials confirmed about one p-m it is back up and running.

Geary County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to K-57 for a single vehicle non-injury rollover accident at 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

Grayson Wilt, Dwight, was traveling southbound in a GMC Sierra when fell asleep behind the wheel. The vehicle left the roadway, Wilt awoke, and overcorrected causing the vehicle to roll.

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The Sheriff’s Department also reported there was an accident on I-70 mile marker 303 eastbound for a hit and run non-injury accident Friday. A Dodge Journey driven by Delmi Blanco, Junction City, was traveling east on the interstate when her vehicle was struck by a semi-truck.

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Deputies to K-18 Bypass for a two vehicle non-injury accident Saturday night. Nathanael A. Hunter, Manhattan, was southbound in a Ford Fusion. The vehicles in front of Hunter slammed on their brakes causing him to hit the rear end of a Toyota 4Runner driven by Brian S. Darnell, Salina.

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Deputies worked a two vehicle hit and run accident in the 500 block of South Garfield Street just before one a.m. Sunday. An unknown vehicle struck the rear end of a parked 2000 Mercedes C23. There were no injuries reported.

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The Sheriff’s Department reported a single vehicle  accident on the K-18 bypass about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Kristin Brown, Salina, was traveling south in a Cadillac CT when the vehicle struck a deer.

A warm stretch of weather is forecast through Friday. Temperatures will commonly be 10 to 20 degrees above normal levels for the early to middle portions of December. 

Today: Sunny. Highs around 60. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows around 30. Southwest winds around 5 mph.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 60s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 30s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday: Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 40s.

Thursday: Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 40.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Highs around 60.

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

Saturday: Cooler. Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain showers. Highs in the mid 40s.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain and snow. Lows in the upper 20s.

Sunday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 40s

The Junction City High School Performing Arts will present the 79th annual Yuletide Festival Monday evening at 7 p.m.

The Yuletide Festival will be held in the Settles Auditorium at JCHS. The event is open to the public.

Fort Riley, in conjunction with VFW Post 1281 in Herington, will host a Wreaths Across America ceremony at the post cemetery on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 11 a.m.

U.S. Army Garrison Commander Col. Andrew Cole, Jr. is this year’s guest speaker. He, along with other service representatives, will place ceremonial wreaths for each of the armed forces, the Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POWs/MIAs. Afterward, wreaths will be placed on individual military gravesites in the cemetery.

Wreaths Across America is held the second Saturday in December, with simultaneous observances held in more than 700 locations in 50 states and 24 national veteran ceremonies on foreign soil. The intent is to remind people that “Every Stone Has a Story” and to teach younger generations about the value of honoring those who sacrificed to protect America’s freedoms. The organization’s motto is “Remember, Honor, Teach.”

The Fort Riley ceremony is made possible through donations and volunteers. This is the ninth year Fort Riley has been involved with the annual event.

MANHATTAN – A Kansas State University football player was arrested on Saturday.

Kaleb Earl Prewett, 20, Blue Springs, Mo., was booked for the purchase, consumption of liquor by a minor, according to a media release from the Riley County Police.

He paid a $500 bond and was released.

The initial German Christmas Market in Heritage Park was a success. That’s the assessment of Michael Gray of the Junction City Arts Council.

“I was worried because we had lost a third of our vendors ( due to an ice storm that cancelled the original market the day after Thanksgiving ) and yet the people that came really filled up quickly. Everybody had brought something pretty much to stay sheltered from the wind. “Gray added he was surprised and happy at the number of people from the community who supported the market.

The attendance really jumped up at the time of the Christmas Parade ( 5:30 p.m. ). “Absolutely. We started out around noon and we had quite a few people then,and then it got quiet for awhile, and then when the parade came it just exploded.”

Vendors offered numerous items for sale ranging from mosaics and pottery to face painting, plus food items.

Gray confirmed there will be another German Christmas Market next year.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says disagreements between the construction contractor and the government over final inspections of Fort Riley’s new hospital sparked the latest delay in its opening.

But the contractor who built the hospital said Friday it is working to complete items that have no bearing on the hospital’s opening.

The hospital was originally set to open in 2012 to replace Irwin Army Community Hospital, the oldest Army hospital in the nation. Now a planned opening in mid-January has been scrapped.

Political pressure is building to finish the work — even if that means issuing new construction contracts to get it done.

Sen. Jerry Moran says he is meeting with the Corps this month to determine what it will take to get the hospital up and running.

K-State News and Communications Services

MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University Foundation and Kansas State University celebrated the opening of the K-State Office Park on Friday, Dec. 4, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house. The new building is the first in a multiphase project that will fuel collaboration, philanthropic support and economic development in the North Campus Corridor. On the corner of Kimball and Denison avenues, the first 60,000-square-foot building in the K-State Office Park offers a new home for the KSU Foundation and office space for corporations and industry. “The KSU Foundation is honored to lead the development of the K-State Office Park,” said Greg Willems, president and CEO of the KSU Foundation. “As K-State’s home for philanthropy, the new space honors and celebrates our generous donors and leaders in philanthropy, and it allows the KSU Foundation to grow and sustain philanthropy for Kansas State University well into the future. This activity is central to our role as a university foundation and will be a driving force in achieving K-State’s 2025 vision.” Equally important, the K-State Office Park will add space for corporate and industry partners. Among the first partners to be located in the office park are Garmin, U.S. Engineering, G.E. Johnson Construction, the Veterinary and Biomedical Research Center, and the Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases. “Our partners appreciate the exclusive location of the K-State Office Park,” said Greg Lohrentz, senior vice president for operations and finance for the KSU Foundation. “Beyond enjoying an on-campus location, many of these partners have the additional desire to be adjacent to organizations along the North Campus Corridor, National Bio and Agro-defense Facility, the Grain Science and Industry Complex and the animal health research facilities.” The K-State Office Park’s first building is on the site of an office building that was originally started by the KSU Foundation in 2007 and discontinued in 2008 due to the onset of the Great Recession. The $11.5 million cost of the new building, financed through a commercial loan, was helped by using previously purchased building materials and the same footprint as planned in 2007. Pre-leasing has begun for the second 60,000-square-foot-building, expected to break ground in 2016. “The K-State Office Park will provide space for corporate and industry partners to engage students and faculty and improve collaboration with the tremendous talent K-State offers,” said Kirk Schulz, president of Kansas State University. “Coupled with the park as an outstanding new location for the KSU Foundation, the K-State Office Park will advance every area of K-State’s strategic plan to become a Top 50 public research university by 2025.”