GREELEY, Kan- Two people were injured in a semi-truck accident in Anderson County on Wednesday.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Volvo semi-truck driven by Hassan Fathi Salal, 27, Kansas City, was traveling eastbound on U.S. 169 & Utah Street on the south side of Greely.

The truck was passing another semi tractor-trailer. The truck struck a 2005 Chrysler passenger vehicle turning from northbound Utah Street to westbound U.S.169

The driver of the Chrysler Crystal Dawn Metcalfe, 34, Greeley, and a seven-year-old passenger in the Chrysler were transported to Anderson County Hospital.

The truck driver was not injured.
The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

Hays, Kan. -Ellis County fire crews from Victoria, Hays and Ellis responded to the report of a barn fire late Tuesday afternoon at the 1200 block of 310 Avenue, west of Victoria and south of Interstate 70.

“The Kansas Highway Patrol was patrolling in an airplane and saw the fire and called it in,” Victoria Fire Chief Tom Tholen said. “We were paged out at 4:09 p.m. and got here in about four minutes and determined the barn was fully engulfed and started our attack at that time.”

According to Tholen, the fire was caused by an electrical short in a power line running to the barn.

“Sparks flew into the grass and the grass caught on fire and traveled to the barn,” Tholen said.

Tholen said the fire 125-year-old barn is a “total loss.”

The barn and land is owned by Jim Warren, Hays, who arrived on scene with friends to assess the damage.

Warren told Hays Post he and his family have plans to build a house on the land and will miss the barn, but the limestone walls will remain.

Family friend J.W. Antrim said he was sad to hear the news.

“We had always planned on refinishing the barn and getting it done, but it is what it is,” Antrim said. “I think it still can be rebuilt. … We still have the walls, that is the main thing.”

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The agency that administers math and reading tests for Kansas schools says the state should not release some of this year’s test scores.

The Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas told the Kansas State Board of Education Tuesday that the test results were compromised by cyberattacks and technical problems this year.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the state usually releases test data that show how students performed in each grade and at specific schools and school districts.

Marianne Perie, director of the testing center, recommended that state-level scores be released, but school and district-level results should be withheld.

This year’s tests were a new form, and many schools encountered technical problems that disrupted administering them. Those problems were followed by outside cyberattacks.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A panel of three state-court judges is reviewing a new Kansas education funding law to determine if it meets a state Supreme Court mandate to boost aid to poor school districts.

The hearing Tuesday afternoon in Shawnee County District Court comes in a lawsuit filed in 2010 by parents and school districts.

The Supreme Court ruled in March that past cuts in state aid for poor schools created unconstitutional gaps in funding between them and wealthier districts. Legislators in April increased aid to poor districts by $129 million during the next school year.

The three-judge panel will consider whether that action is sufficient to meet the mandate.

But the Supreme Court also has ordered future hearings on whether Kansas is spending enough money overall on its public schools.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report shows Kansas leads the nation in the production of wheat and sorghum grain.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Tuesday that 15 percent of last year’s total U.S. wheat crop was grown in Kansas. About 42 percent of the U.S. sorghum grown for grain also came out of Kansas.

The agency’s rankings show Kansas second in the nation in the total number of acres used to grow farm crops. The 28.5 million cropland acres in Kansas represents 7.3 percent of the land used for farm crops in the nation.

Kansas also had 5.8 million head of cattle and calves, third in the nation behind Texas and Nebraska. The 2.13 million cattle in its feedlots also ranked Kansas third in that category.

 

LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The top election official in Kansas says voters who registered using a federal form without providing proof of citizenship will be given provisional ballots when they vote in the Aug. 5 primary elections.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach told The Associated Press on Tuesday that while the provisional ballots will show all primary races, only votes cast for federal offices will be counted.

Kobach says fewer than 100 Kansas voters who used the federal form to register to vote will be affected.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments Aug. 25 in a lawsuit attempting to force the federal government to help Kansas and Arizona enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters. That hearing will take place after the Kansas primaries.

About 18,600 Kansans have their registrations suspended pending documentation of citizenship.