ST. JOSEPH – A Savannah man was injured in an accident just after 9:30 p.m. on Friday in Andrew County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy Silverado driven by Joseph P. Long, 23, was eastbound on County Road 348 one mile north of U.S. 169 and six miles north of St. Joseph.
The vehicle traveled off the south side of the road, returned to the road, went off the north side of the road, hit a ditch and overturned.
Long was transported to Mosaic Life Care.
The MSHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.
With the advent of 2015, there’s hope the Obama administration will follow through on its ambitious trade agenda. Leaders on both sides of the Atlantic agree a more open trade partnership makes sense.
It’s time the European Union puts politics aside and eliminates non-scientific barriers to trade. Any successful trade agreement must open restricted markets and encourage fair competition for all.
During calendar year 2013, the total value of U.S. farm exports totaled more than $144 billion. Farm exports accounted for nearly 31 percent of the U.S. gross income.
With more than 95 percent of the world’s population living outside the United States, pursuing those markets is essential.
What developing nations want most are cereals, meat, milk and eggs.
While U.S. meat consumption has leveled off the last few years, populations and the meat diets of Japan, China and other countries has been on the upswing.
The United States has the climate, cropland and know-how to supply agricultural products to feed the nations of the hungry world. Our country has the world’s best infrastructure. We have the best-trained farmers. Our competitive edge is larger and more permanent than in any manufacturing industry.
Our government must commit to becoming the best we can be in international trade. If we conducted trade the same way we produced food, we wouldn’t have trouble moving agricultural products to people who need them overseas.
It’s time for the leadership of this country to view American agriculture as one of the premier growth opportunities. We must become more aggressive in conducting trade agreements. We must have a secretary of agriculture who makes international trade a top priority. Without strong trade agreements that give us free access to the world marketplace, we cannot prosper in agriculture or any other business that depends so much on exports.
If the world’s farm trade barriers were removed, this country could increase agricultural commodity sales. That’s a given.
This country must eliminate unilateral trade sanctions on nations that don’t live up to our expectations of how they should conduct their internal affairs.
Sanctions do not work – they only hurt our nation’s ability to trade. Each time we impose new sanctions, we surrender yet another market to competitors who are only too willing to sell in our absence.
U.S. farmers could also supply the raw materials for an estimated $40 billion per year in exports of high-valued processed foods from new plants located primarily in rural areas.
If our country doesn’t gear up its value-added production, the Japanese and some of our other competitors will. Some countries including China and Japan are adding value to agricultural commodities they import from us.
The United States must assume a leadership position in trade talks throughout the world. Potential trading partners cannot wait for us to take our place at the negotiating table. We cannot improve our position in world trade if we cannot find time to meet with them.
Unless American farmers and agribusinesses convince our government to advance global trading, this country will be sealed in a declining domestic market. The future of U.S. agriculture is tied to our competitiveness in world trade. Our country must become more aggressive and assume its leadership role in trade negotiations.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
The Post Rock wind farm sits on about 9,500 acres in Ellsworth and Linn counties. It was one of three Kansas wind farms that ran at nearly 50 percent capacity in 2013. – Photo by Westar Energy
By ANDY MARSO
A trio of wind farms in central Kansas ran at nearly 50 percent capacity in 2013, which one Kansas senator says is a positive sign for the state’s young wind industry. Sen. Marci Francisco said the relatively high capacity factor rates for the two Smoky Hills wind farms and neighboring Post Rock wind farm mean that the area just west of Salina where they were built has particularly good wind power potential. “I’ve always heard that Kansas had some of the best wind in the world,” said Francisco, a Democrat from Lawrence.
“This, then, is very good news: that the facilities that have been built are demonstrating that.” The ability of wind to provide consistent, reliable power is key to an ongoing debate about whether Kansas should repeal a law requiring the state to glean 20 percent of its overall energy from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2020. Advocates of repeal have argued that wind and solar are less reliable sources of energy than fossil fuels because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Capacity factor gives an idea of the consistency of intermittent power sources like wind and sun by measuring how much energy a plant provides in a given year compared to the maximum its infrastructure allows it to produce.
Leo Haynos of the Kansas Corporation Commission presented capacity factor information for power plants of all types across the state to the Senate Utilities Committee on Tuesday. Haynos said the numbers for the Smoky Hills and Post Rock wind farms stood out. The three farms have a combined maximum capacity of about 450 megawatts annually.
“They made roughly 50 percent of that (in 2013),” Haynos said. “That’s a pretty good run time for something that’s going to be totally dependent on the wind.” By comparison, the state’s biggest energy plant — the coal-fired Jeffrey Energy Center near St. Marys — has a capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts annually. Haynos, chief of energy operations and pipeline safety for the KCC, told committee members that until recently he handled only gas and pipeline information for the commission. He said that might be why the wind numbers surprised him.
Maybe it’s my inexperience,” Haynos said. “I just expected it to be less.” But federal data suggest that central Kansas wind farms are meeting more of their potential than most of their counterparts. U.S. Energy Information Administration breakdowns show that nationwide, capacity factors for wind generally averaged less than 40 percent between 2011 and 2013.
By comparison, the Smoky Hills farms produced ratios of 42 percent and 43 percent in 2013 and Post Rock produced a ratio of 47 percent — the highest of any wind farm in the state. Wind farms in southwest Kansas generally produced slightly lower capacity ratios, with Spearville Wind, one of the state’s largest, coming in at 36 percent. Haynos said that could be because inadequate transmission lines or other factors hamper production in that part of the state. “I don’t know what was going on there in 2013,” Haynos said. “Could be that the wind didn’t blow. Could be that you had some downtime because you’re working on things.”
Energy production time lost to maintenance can occur no matter the fuel, Haynos said. For example, the nation’s nuclear plants run at an average yearly capacity factor of about 90 percent, but Kansas’ Wolf Creek plant had to shut down for maintenance in 2013 and reached only 68 percent. Coal remains the state’s largest energy source, at close to 72 percent. In 2013 the state’s coal plants generally ran at capacity ratios of 60 percent to 77 percent — at or above national averages.
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has set a Feb. 2 deadline for federal agencies to provide advice on whether to move forward with the hotly debated Keystone XL pipeline.
A department official said in an emailed statement that other federal agencies dealing with environment, commerce and other matters were notified Friday that they have a little over two weeks left to weigh in.
The department didn’t set a timeline for when it would make its long-awaited judgment on whether the pipeline from Canada was in the U.S. national interest.
The official said that review continues. Once all information is received, the department will analyze the matter and make a determination.
The official wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing that Kansas issue $1.5 billion in bonds and lengthen its schedule for closing a long-term funding gap to lower annual costs tied to pensions for teachers and government workers.
The Republican governor outlined the measures Friday. Brownback described escalating annual public pension costs as a long-term concern.
The state has committed to additional spending to bolster the long-term financial health of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. Benefits are only 60 percent funded through 2033, but the commitments would help close the $9.8 billion shortfall by then.
Brownback proposed extending the payoff period to 2043.
Issuing bonds is designed to shrink the long-term shortfall immediately. Budget Director Shawn Sullivan said KPERS’ investment earnings would rise more than enough to offset annual bond payments.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) led five of his Senate colleagues Friday in reintroducing Startup Act in the 114th Congress – the bipartisan jobs plan aimed at jumpstarting the economy through the creation and growth of new businesses. Startup Act – based on research and analysis by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation out of Kansas City – modifies the tax code to encourage investment in new businesses, accelerates the commercialization of university research that can lead to new ventures, and seeks to improve the regulatory process. Research shows that for close to three decades, companies less than five years old have created almost all net new jobs in America – averaging about three million jobs each year.
“Startup Act is about creating jobs for Americans through the creation and growth of new businesses,” Sen. Moran said. “Entrepreneurs and the businesses they create are responsible for almost every net new job in America, but under our country’s current policies, new business formation and the rate of entrepreneurship among young people have reached historic lows. We must reverse these trends. Startup Act would reduce barriers to growth, encourage investment in new businesses, stem government overregulation, and accelerate the commercialization of university research that can lead to new ventures. Startup Act would also help make certain America remains the land of opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs from around the globe. Under new leadership in the 114th Congress, I am hopeful Startup Act will no longer denied a vote.”
Startup Act also creates both Entrepreneur and STEM Visas for highly-educated foreign-born entrepreneurs who are in the United States legally so they can stay here and their talent and new ideas can fuel economic growth and create American jobs. Foreign-born entrepreneurs have a long history of creating businesses in America. Of the current Fortune 500 companies – including Apple, Google and eBay – more than 40 percent were founded by a first- or second-generation American. These American companies employ more than 10 million people. Both American and foreign-born entrepreneurs are needed to jumpstart the economy through the creation and growth of new businesses.
“In order for America to maintain its position as the most innovative and entrepreneurial nation, we must win the global battle for talent, increase access to capital for startups, and create pathways for fledgling startups to become iconic American businesses,” said Steve Case, Revolution LLC CEO and former member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. “The Startup Act encourages that by creating a visa for promising immigrant entrepreneurs and reforming the tax code to incentivize investments in startups and R&D.
The provisions in Startup Act have been endorsed by CEA, CTIA, Engine Advocacy, Computer and Communications Industry Association, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, The Technology Council of Greater Kansas City, ITI and Information Technology Industry Council. Additionally, Startup Act is also supported by Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and more than 25 regional technology groups.
KANSAS CITY – Two people have died and a third was in critical condition after police say a Kansas City man shot his uncle and mother before turning the gun on himself.
Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp says officers responded to a shooting on the city’s north side at 3 p.m. Friday and found two victims in a pickup truck parked in the home’s driveway.
They say the shooter’s uncle was dead in the vehicle and his mother was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Arriving officers saw a 40-year-old man go into the home carrying a handgun, and later they heard a shot from inside the residence.
Officers went into the home around 5 p.m. and found the suspect dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
ATCHISON – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 2 p.m. on Friday in Atchison County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Peterbilt truck driven by Harry E. Smith, 66, Troy, was northbound on Kansas 7 five miles north of Atchison.
The vehicle crossed the left side of the roadway. The driver overcorrected. The vehicle crossed the highway, entered the west ditch and struck a utility pole.
Smith was transported to the Atchison County Hospital.
The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.
House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs of Kansas City
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Democrats in the Kansas Legislature have little to say so far about Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposals for balancing the state budget.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka and House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs of Kansas City said Friday they’re reviewing Brownback’s proposals.
The governor’s proposals include increases in tobacco and liquor taxes and a slower implementation of personal income tax cuts already promised for the future.
The state is facing projected shortfalls totaling more than $710 million in the current budget and the one for the next fiscal year. Brownback’s proposals would balance the budget through June 2017.
Hensley and Burroughs said in a joint statement that they have concerns about several components but were not more specific. They said they’ll comment further next week.
The Boy Scouts of America’s youth membership fell 7.4 percent last year, continuing a decade-long decline for one of the nation’s oldest youth organizations.
The Texas-based organization says more than 2.4 million youth participated in its programs in 2014, along with just fewer than 1 million adults.
Spokesman Deron Smith said Friday the organization faces several challenges, including “limited amount of discretionary time of parents and their kids.”
The Boy Scouts has tried to boost membership through technology-based programs and new camping opportunities to attract youth. It also enlisted former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as its president, a volunteer post.
A new policy of welcoming openly gay youth angered conservatives in the organization, and some left to form a new group. The Boy Scouts still excludes openly gay adults.
ST. JOSEPH – A Savannah man was injured in an accident just after 9:30 p.m. on Friday in Andrew County.
