TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Adult education programs offered by Kansas’ colleges and school districts are increasingly heading to workplaces to help employees with needed skills.

For example, Washburn University will soon offer conflict resolution to staffers at the Ramada Hotel in Topeka. Dodge City Community College will provide customer service lessons at Boot Hill Casino. And several schools are providing English classes, one of the most sought-after skills.

“There’s a major shift taking place in education,” said Karen Ulanski, the director for the Paola school district’s adult education center.

Supporters say the classes help schools, businesses and workers. Schools can offer classes without waiting for students to enroll; businesses attract and retain skilled workers; and workers get free classes without having to go to a new location, Kansas News Service reported .

The trend is partly in reaction to the passage of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act in 2014, which encouraged education programs to meet private-sector needs. Educators began providing more specialized training for specific industries, such as financial literacy skills for retail sales, leading more industries to welcome in those classes.

“There’s broader interest from employers in a range of industries then there used to be,” said Neil Ridley, the state initiative director at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

Walmart recently announced a $460,000 grant for four Kansas adult education centers to offer more classes at retail and service sector workplaces. Six employers are part of the grant, working with centers that serve about a half-dozen employees. More are expected to be added. Several adult education centers are offering classes for the first time this fall.

But even before the grant, adult education centers across the state were offering similar programs: Paola’s school district now offers programs across three counties.

Tyson Foods, which has several meat processing plants in Kansas, has paired with adult education centers to bring in classes since 2016. Tyson expanded that project to Hutchinson last month and plans to add classes to Olathe, Emporia and Kansas City, Kansas, this year.

Employers like the programs because they help attract and retain employees in a tight job market.

“I’m kind of having to get creative in my hiring because everyone else has a position,” said Thea Parks, human research director for the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka. The hotel’s staff will get training from Washburn Institute of Technology, paid for by the Walmart grant.

One drawback is that workers don’t earn credits for a college degree or credential, which makes it harder for workers trying to advance their careers. The Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees the Walmart-funded grant program, does require that the classes give employees skills applicable beyond their current job.

“These programs really should result in industry-recognized credentials that don’t just help them in their current role,” said Lul Tesfai, a senior policy analyst with New America, a left-leaning think tank that studies education.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors say they have charged a 13-year-old Kansas boy with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy at a townhome in suburban Kansas City.

Johnson County District Attorney’s office said the Roeland Park teen who was charged Friday is the same boy that Olathe police had arrested a day earlier. Police initially had said he was 14 years old.

The suspect was arrested hours after the 2:15 a.m. shooting. His name has not been released.

Zavier Mendoza of Olathe has been identified as the shooting victim, and police have said the boys knew each other.

By AMY MAYER  for the Kansas News Service

Critics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to move two of its research agencies from Washington, D.C., to the Kansas City area got more ammunition this week.

The most recent development: A report from the USDA’s inspector general that finds some flaws with how the department has executed its plan.

The report found that moving the agencies is within the USDA’s authority, but it failed to meet certain criteria for spending the needed money. The inspector general asked USDA to get an opinion from the legal office, which determined the rules referenced are unconstitutional.

But the inspector general’s report notes that in the past, USDA determined the same rules “are binding upon the Department.”

In response to the report, Norton and Hoyer want USDA to put the brakes on its planned moves.

“We continue to urge Secretary Perdue to halt this misguided relocation process,” the two wrote in a statement.

The offices of Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, who represents the Kansas side of the Kansas City area, and Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt declined comment on Tuesday after the inspector general’s report became public.

In a guest commentary in The Kansas City Star on Sunday, Blunt wrote that the area makes sense for the agencies for a variety of reasons. Among them: it’s in the animal health research corridor, is close to many land-grant universities in the region that conduct agricultural research and is already home to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency and the Risk Management Agency.

Many groups have criticized the Trump administration and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for moving the agencies, branding the move as retaliation against ERS and NIFA research that clashes with the administration’s agenda. The left-leaning National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition issued a statement calling on the moves to be stopped.

“We urge Congress to take this information as an opportunity to end once and for all Secretary Perdue’s strong-arm tactics,” the group wrote, “and stop all action on the relocations until Congress has given its formal approval — or denial.”

Follow Amy on Twitter: @AgAmyinAmes

ELLSWORTH COUNTY —One person died in an accident just after 9p.m. Friday in Ellsworth County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Ford F 150 driven by Ethan T. Curnutt, 19, Kanopolis, was westbound on Kansas 156 at the K14 Junction.

The vehicle approached a red Chevy pickup stopped in the westbound lane to make a left turn.

Curnutt swerved to the left and hit an eastbound 2017 Ford 150 driven by Nelson, Justin M. Nelson, 41, Booker, TX., head-on.

Nelson was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Parson’s Funeral Home. One passenger in the 2017 Ford Chase Nelson, 12, Booker, TX., was transported to Wesley Medical Center.

The other passengers in the 2017 Ford Trisha R. Nelson, 40; Kyndall Nelson, 5;, Tristin Nelson, 12, Booker, TX., were transported to the hospital in Hoisington.

Curnutt was transported to the hospital in Ellsworth. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The leader of the Kansas House is responding to a series of mass shootings by proposing more mental health personnel in rural areas and expansion of a mental health program in K-12 schools while the Democratic governor proposes looking at gun laws.

Olathe Republican Ron Ryckman said the 2020 Legislature should address the widespread deficit of behavioral health workers in Kansas. He said half of the state’s population lives in areas with shortages.

Ryckman addressed the issue in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, without discussion of firearms.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly responded to the latest mass shootings by calling for “real, common sense gun-safety laws” and described the shootings as part of a public health crisis.

COWLEY COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and after asking the public for help have made an arrest.

Just after 10p.m. July 13, police  were dispatched to the 500 Block of North B Street in Arkansas City for a report of shots fired. When police arrived, they did not find anyone at the location, but numerous witnesses confirmed that a man had fired at least one shot toward a local residence.

The witnesses reported a man driving a blue Dodge pickup truck with two motorcycles in the back had driven into the front yard of the residence at 525 North B Street. He exited the truck and begun arguing with unknown persons at that location. After the gunshot, witnesses observed the truck leaving the area northbound on B Street.

Officers worked through the night to process the scene and attempt to locate the persons present at the time of the incident. One victim was found that night and two others the next day. Based on statements gathered from the three victims and video surveillance from a local business, officers applied for and received an arrest warrant for 43-year-old Stony Lee Graham through Cowley County District Court.

On July 16, an officer spotted Graham’s vehicle at the Agri-Business Building, 712 W. Washington Avenue in Arkansas City, according to police. Graham was not with the truck, which was seized as evidence. Investigators later obtained a search warrant for the vehicle in connection with the shooting.

On August 6, police arrested Graham on on requested charges of one felony count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threat, as well as one misdemeanor count of criminal discharge of a firearm. He is being held in the Cowley County jail in lieu of $15,000 bond through Ark City district court

 

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas plans to begin moving inmates to a private prison in Arizona by the end of the summer to help relieve crowding in state prisons.

The state Department of Corrections announced Friday that it has signed a contract with Nashville, Tennessee-based CoreCivic. The contract calls for moving up to 360 inmates to CoreCivic’s Saguaro Correctional Facility by the end of the year.

Kansas has about 10,000 prison inmates, about 100 more than the listed capacity for its facilities. The department is housing more than 100 inmates in county jails.

The state budget includes $16.4 million to put 600 male inmates in county jails or out-of-state prisons. But legislative leaders have had misgivings about using private prisons and in June blocked $6.6 million of the funding in June over that possibility.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A man is charged with murder in the deaths of two men who were fatally stabbed in Kansas City

22-year-old Mario Markworth was charged Thursday with two counts of second-degree murder. He does not yet have a listed attorney. Markworth is jailed on $250,000 bond.

The victims, 56-year-old Michael McLin and 52-year-old Kevin Waters, were found dead about 6 a.m. Tuesday in the parking lot behind the Sheffield Life Center in northeastern Kansas City.

Police have not disclosed a motive for the killings.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top health official says abstinence-only education isn’t enough to reduce unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The  Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman said Thursday that the department could help reduce unwanted pregnancies and the demand for abortions by broadening educational offerings to emphasize contraception. Lee suggested collaboration among the state, county health departments and school districts.

In an interview with the Capital-Journal editorial advisory board Norman also supported enhancement of rural hospital trauma systems, development of a needle exchange program for drug users and training to improve early detection of autism in children.

Norman said he would support a state program to provide clean syringes to illegal drug users aimed at reducing the spread of disease.