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All posts by Submitted Story
KDHE Amends Travel Related Quarantine List
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has amended its travel quarantine list to add the countries of Denmark, Georgia, Iceland, Latvia, Netherlands, Reunion and Slovenia. The countries on the travel quarantine list will expire on March 3, 2022. KDHE will not release a travel quarantine list after March 3, individuals should now refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention travel advisory page.
An unvaccinated individual who has not had COVID-19 within the last 90 days or those that have not received all the recommended vaccine doses, including boosters and additional primary shots, should quarantine if they meet the following criteria:
- Traveled on or after Feb. 4 to Faroe Islands.
- Traveled on or after Feb. 17 to Denmark, Georgia, Iceland, Latvia, Netherlands, Reunion and Slovenia.
- Attendance at any out-of-state or in-state mass gatherings of 500 or more where individuals do not socially distance (6 feet) and wear a mask.
- Been on a cruise ship or river cruise on or after March 15, 2020.
The length of a travel-related at home quarantine is 5 days after your last exposure with an additional requirement to wear a well-fitting mask indoors and outdoors when around others for an additional 5 days. If you cannot mask, at-home quarantine is recommended for 10 days. Quarantine would start the day after you return to Kansas or from the mass gathering. If you do not develop symptoms of COVID-19 during your quarantine period, then you are released from quarantine. Regularly check this list to stay up to date on travel-related guidance. Please refer to the KDHE Isolation and Quarantine FAQ for additional information.
For those traveling internationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is requiring testing within three days of flights into the U.S. For further information on this and other requirements, visit their website.
For those who meet the following criteria do NOT need to quarantine:
- You are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines. This means that you are ages 5 or older and have received all recommended vaccine doses, including boosters and additional primary shots for some immunocompromised people when eligible.
- You had confirmed COVID-19 within the last 90 days (meaning you tested positive using a viral test).
Persons who do not meet the above criteria should continue to follow current quarantine guidance for travel or mass gatherings.
The travel quarantine list is determined using a formula to evaluate new cases over a two-week period, then adjusted for population size to provide a case rate per 100,000 population. This provides a number that can then be compared to the rate in Kansas. Locations with significantly higher rates — approximately 3x higher — are added to the list.
For more information on COVID-19, please visit the KDHE website at www.kdhe.ks.gov/coronavirus.
Fort Scott City Special Meeting Today Feb. 18
There will be a Special Meeting of the Fort Scott City Commission held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 18th, 2022.
An Executive Session.
Discussion of the sale of Lake Fort Scott properties, and the Airport Runway project.
This meeting will be held at 123 S. Main Street in the City Commission meeting room and will be broadcast on the City’s you tube channel. The meeting is open to the public, but the Executive Session is not.
When Faithful Meets Faithless
Barb, a precious friend, has been given a year to live.
“Brain tumor,” she was told. “Radiation and chemo will be administered simultaneously.”
We women who have come to know her through the Bible studies she led in her home, through her dedication to the church where we worship here in Mazatlán, are daily reading the postings of her loving husband, Wes.
They are reminders that we are to trust in God and no one else. I know Barb as a friend with whom I’ve shared lunches where we tell Grandma stories, where we are transparent when we are wounded and know that prayers will be offered on our behalf. She was the women’s leader who invited me to speak at their conference and who always encouraged me to use my gifts. I’m pretty sure she did that with everyone she met.
A few days ago, this was Wes’s morning post: “…As you can see, we are settling in for the battle of Barb’s life! This battle encompasses the tenuous “balance” of which I have written several times, the previously unknown challenges we are increasingly experiencing, the dealing with a plethora of drugs with their attendant effects and side effects, and the necessity of increasingly dealing with the ravages of the multiple maladies—surgery, brain tissue removal, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, pulmonary thrombosis, and urinary infection, all-the-while taking particular care that she not be exposed to Covid. But, with God’s help, care and guidance, we are confident that ‘His ways are greater than our ways’ and that our future and our course is totally in His hands and that is exactly where we want to be!”
Today, Wes continued to bless others in the midst of some tough news that the chemo was discontinued because of his wife’s pulmonary embolism and a UTI, and her radiation was stopped for a week to allow her to gain some strength. “Even eating is tiring and exhausting to her! Giving this situation even a modicum of being tolerable is the incredible love, support and caring that we continue to receive from our Heavenly Father and our friends, family and even acquaintances. Another encouragement for both of us is the ability and opportunity to pray for others of whose needs we are blessed to share.”
Compare that to another Mazatlán friend, “Debra,” who also was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and given 18 months to live. Yesterday, I spoke with Suzanne, her daughter, who filled me in on all the details that led up to her surgery. Debra and her husband and two adult daughters are atheists, so when I offered to pray for their family and Suzanne said that I could, I was excited. Perhaps through this experience, I thought, they will reexamine their faithless position.
Our phone calls were disconnected three times, and after the last interruption, Suzanne sent me this text: “I guess the texting gods weren’t too keen on us talking.” Not exactly what I hoped for. Two friends of mine. Same age. One whose eternal destiny is secure. One desperately needing to turn to Jesus.
I will continue to pray for both women and their families, but I think we all would agree which of the two is in need of more urgent intercession. Please join me in praying that I might have the right words to share the same Hope on which Wes and Barb rely before it’s too late.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Feb. 17
The Fort Scott Police Department’s Daily Report Feb. 16
Butch Hall Bass Tournament May 29
FSCC Board of Trustees Training Feb. 21
The Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees will gather at 4 p.m. before the regularly scheduled monthly meeting on February 21 for a board training session provided by Kansas Association of School Boards.
No action will be taken during this training time, but it is open to the public.
News Release From USD234
NEWS RELEASE
Monday, February 14, 2022
Members of the USD 234 Board of Education met in the Fort Scott Middle School Commons on Monday, February 14, 2022, for their regular monthly meeting.
President James Wood opened the meeting. The board approved the official agenda. The board also approved the consent agenda as follows:
A. Minutes
B. Bills and Claims
C. Payroll – January 20, 2022 – $1,629,877.81
D. Financial Report
E. Activity fund accounts
F. Fundraiser application
G. Extended trip application
H. Sale of old middle school uniforms, bottoms, and warm-ups
The board recognized teachers who received U-Benefit Grants from OFG Financial, Security Benefit, and KNEA. Brenda Hill, Fort Scott KNEA President, presented the grant awards to Sydney Cullison, Jennifer Hartman, Jamie Rogers, Becky Tinker, and Trisha Whitehead.
Kellye Barrows, Vice-President, presented a report on the Summit on Professional Learning Community at Work in Phoenix, AZ. Written reports were shared by principals. In addition, the board heard reports from Dalaina Smith, Academics Director; Ted Hessong, Superintendent; and Gina Shelton, Business Manager/Board Clerk.
The board approved contracts for Provision of Educational Services – Low Incidence and Audiology and a Memorandum of Understanding with Communities in Schools.
The board approved Gary Billionis, board member, to sit in on legal mediation claims.
Superintendent Hessong gave an ESSER III update.
Board members shared comments and then went into executive session to discuss matters relating to employer-employee negotiations. The board returned to open meeting and then went into executive session to discuss personnel matters for nonelected personnel and returned to open meeting. The board approved the following employment items:
A. Resignation of Shelly Sanborn, middle school special education teacher, effective at the end of the 2021-22 school year
B. Resignation of Eileen Strakel, Eugene Ware cook, effective February 11, 2022
C. Leave of absence request from Elizabeth Rose, preschool paraprofessional
D. Employment of Cole Claypool as a middle school paraprofessional for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year
E. Employment of Dylan Goucher as a Eugene Ware/Fort Scott Preschool Center custodian for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year
F. Employment of Angie Kemmerer for middle school PDC chairperson
G. Employment of Angie Bin as the high school fine arts team leader for the 2021-22 school year
H. Employment of administrators for the 2022-23 school year
I. Employment of district directors for the 2022-23 school year
J. Employment of Gina Shelton, Business Manager/Board Clerk, for the 2022-23 school year with a change in title from Business Manager to School Finance Director/Board Clerk
K. Stipend for Bryce Daly, Technology Coordinator/Technician, to video board meetings
L. Employment of Katren Rienbolt and Josh Hudiburg as high school assistant track coaches for the 2021-22 school year
M. Retirement of Debbie West, high school secretary, effective June 30, 2022
N. Termination of Brooke Senkevech, Eugene Ware paraprofessional and middle school intramural coach, effective February 14, 2022
O. Employment of Connie Harper as a Eugene Ware paraprofessional for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year
The board adjourned.
Chamber Coffee at Common Ground Feb. 17
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First Annual Marsha Fest on March 5
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2022 Herbicide Update
Submitted photo.
2022 could prove to be an interesting year for producers in Southeast Kansas. Ultra-high fertilizer prices and herbicide shortages, paired with high commodity prices already have producers scratching their heads on what to plant this year.
Now, the EPA is beginning to unveil label changes for many commonly used herbicides, throwing yet another wrench in farmers’ plans.
The herbicide that has been most effected by these new EPA restrictions is the Enlist herbicide technology. This includes Enlist One, and Enlist Duo. The registration for Enlist herbicides was set to expire on January 12, 2022, and the EPA renewed its registration on Jan 11, 2022. The renewal will be in place for 7 years. The EPA added several new restrictions, a few being: the prohibition of spraying within 48 hours of an irrigation or a predicted rainfall event, new mitigation measures for runoff management, and most notably, the prohibition of Enlist One in 169 counties, and Enlist Duo in 217 counties nationwide.
Many of these new restrictions were made to comply with the Endangered Species Act. Ten Kansas counties appeared on both Enlist One’s and Enlist Duo’s list of prohibited counties, two of which belong to the Southwind District. The ten counties are Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson. These counties were all identified to having a high risk of harming species listed in the Endangered Species Act.
In the EPA’s Memorandum supporting the new restrictions, they claim it will only effect 1% of corn acres, 4% of cotton acres, and a “negligible” percent of soybean acres nationwide. While the number of total acres affected may not worry the EPA on a national scale, producers in Southeast Kansas are faced with a serious dilemma.
It is getting harder and harder to find a good herbicide program for soybean acres in southeast Kansas. Many producers are not able to make their post-emergence applications of dicamba before the dicamba cutoff date of Jun 30, especially on double cropped acres. Adding in limited availability of the glufosonate herbicide, and skyrocketing glyphosate prices, farmers were looking forward to having Enlist as an option for weed control this growing season.
The EPA also unveiled additional safety measures for herbicides containing paraquat. These additions are focused around human contact with the herbicide. A couple additions are updated PPE, the prohibition of spraying from a pressurized hand tank or backpack sprayer, the requirement of having an enclosed and ventilated tractor cab, and some addition buffer requirements. Paraquat is a restricted use chemical that requires an applicators license, and an up-to-date paraquat training. Training must be done online at http://usparaquattraining.com and must be renewed every 3 years.
Another herbicide that requires trainings in addition to an applicators license is dicamba. Kansas producers must complete an approved dicamba training course each year to legally be allowed to spray the chemical. Approved trainings are hosted online, or in person by BASF, Bayer, and Syngenta throughout the state. For help finding an approved training course, you can contact your local extension office.
While this year may prove to be a challenging year for producers in SE Kansas, K State Research and Extension continues to offer research-backed information to help you make management decisions. To stay up-to-date on herbicide regulations and requirements, contact your local extension office and ask for Chad.