NEWTON, Kan. — Motorists who use the I-135 and westbound U.S. 50 interchange in Newton may want to find another route. Crews have started the third phase of repairs to a bridge on westbound U.S. 50 over I-135. The project will close the span for about one month.
According to the Kansas Department of Transportation, the third phase will include remaining deck patching, placement of a concrete overlay and the application of masonry coating to bridge rails, as well as removal of a lighting system. While the bridge is closed, U.S. 50 westbound traffic will be detoured.
The detour means motorists will travel an extra 20 miles to reach Newton. The detour begins in Florence, then runs north to U.S. 56. It travels west through Marion and Hillsboro before turning south to Newton on K-15.
Signs will advise people traveling westbound on U.S. 50 of the detour in advance. Persons with questions about this road work or other KDOT projects may call South Central Kansas Public Affairs Manager Deb Gruver at 620-663- 3361.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson USD 308 school district worked hard during the summer to make sure all students in the district were immunized before the start of the year.
The district does not allow students to attend classes unless they are fully up to date on their immunizations or have the proper waiver. District spokesman Ray Hemman says they compiled the list of students that were not in compliance and sent out robocalls to those families Aug. 13 and 14. By the time classes started on Aug. 16, fewer than 10 students out of 4,400 did not have their immunizations.
Hemman says most, if not all of those students, have received the proper immunizations since then. The district has continuously worked with the health department and other entities to make sure students have their immunizations before the start of school.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson USD 308 Board of Education will hold its public hearing on the 2019 budget just before this evening’s agenda session.
The 2018-19 budget totals $89,154,327 on taxes levied of $11,450,501. The budget numbers will provide a slight decrease of 0.106 mills to 54.877. The public hearing is set for 5:50 p.m.
The board will then hold its regular agenda session, which includes the renewal agreement with the college for maintenance costs for Gowans Stadium.
Under the agreement, the school district will pay $36,000 annually and HutchCC will pay $84,000. The fund is mostly connected to future upgrades and improvements, but mostly for replacing the stadium turf every 10 years.
Also tonight, the board will go into executive session to discuss the recent negotiation session between the NEA and the school district on a new collective bargaining agreement for next year.
The next negotiation session between the two parties is Sept. 10.
Tonight’s meeting of the USD 308 School Board begins at 6 p.m. in the school district offices at 1520 N. Plum.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The HutchCC volleyball team opens the season Friday at New Mexico Military Institute with four matches on the schedule. It will be a new look for the Blue Dragons as they have just five returning players from last year’s team.
Head Coach Patrick Hall says his team will have to be defensive-minded to start the season:
The Dragons play PimaCC at 2 p.m. and then Odessa at 9 p.m. Saturday, the Dragons play Panola at 9 a.m., then New Mexico Military at 1 p.m.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — An email sent by an employee of the Hutchinson Planning Commission regarding the Rental Inspection Program set off a flurry of quick and critical responses through the Housing Commission and the Planning Department.
The email sent from Jade Shain to the Commission, City Council and to Eagle Communications requests that the council end the program. Earlier this week it looked like the Housing Commission would do just that, but in a sudden turn of events, changed its mind during the Wednesday meeting. Shain’s email states that the program overwhelms the department and has done nothing to improve the housing situation. A portion of the email reads:
“When the RRIP is in full swing it virtually cripples the Department’s ability to do other work for 3-4 months. This is no hyperbole. It is overwhelming with how much work is required to administer the program, and at the expense of other work our department is required to do. There will be hundreds of phone calls a week, hundreds of walk ins, and 100% dedication to a cash drawer in front of extremely irate individuals. Other department tasks will absolutely fall to the wayside. The Planning department is understaffed. Taxpayers deserve better service than what they’re getting from the department.”
The email was met with swift reaction from Commission Chair Tony Finlay, who wrote back asking if Shain was speaking for the Planning Department or City Management.
“As Chair of the Housing Commission I find this as an insult to the work and the direction set from a group of residents volunteering their time to work on the Housing problem,” Finlay said.
The email also got a response from Jim Seitnater with the Planning Department: “Jade Shain is not speaking for the Planning Department and should not have sent this message in this manner. Like any citizen he has a right to his thoughts but should share those on his own time and not on the City infrastructure. Our job as staff is to carry out the work that our governing bodies and commissions ask of us to the best of our abilities.”
The recommendation to continue the rental inspections is sure to draw a lot of discussion by what could be a split City Council on the matter.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Sophomore Megan Maslak had career highs of four goals and nine points to lead the Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer team to a dominant 2018 season-opening victory on Wednesday at the Salthawk Sports Complex.
Megan Maslak scored a career high four goals and nine points in Hutchinson’s 6-0 season-opening victory over Northeast Nebraska on Wednesday at the Salthawk Sports Complex. (Photo courtesy of Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information.)
Maslak posted Hutchinson’s 35th all-time game four goals or more to lead the Blue Dragons to a 6-0 victory over Northeast Nebraska. She added an assist to complete a career-best nine-point game.
The Blue Dragons snap a three-game losing streak dating back to last season and won their third-straight season opener, the second-straight over Northeast Nebraska. Last season, Hutch won 3-0 at the Salthawk Sports Complex.
Maslak, who missed the final six games of 2017 with an injury, scored four consecutive goals after Sydney Blackwell opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Maslak scored from assists by four-different players – Kaitlyn Sabala, Moeder, Blackwell and Cameron Rodriguez.
Maslak’s final two goals were two high-level efforts.
Maslak completed her first career hat trick when she reached a perfect Blackwell cross right before Northeast goalkeeper Alexis Wemhoff could defend and flicked it into the net for a 4-0 Hutch lead in the 60th minute. Maslak then out-hustled the Northeast backline when Rodriguez set a pass right down the middle of the field that Maslak chased down to again beat Wemhoff to the ball just inside the penalty box for goal No. 4 and a 5-0 lead in the 64th minute.
Blackwell had an impressive Blue Dragon debut with two goals and an assist. Moeder tacked on a pair of assists.
The Blue Dragons led 1-0 just 4:59 into the contest on Blackwell’s first goal. Maslak scored her first goal in the 38th minute for a 2-0 lead, which was the halftime score. The Dragons rolled for four goals in the second half.
Hutchinson dominated possession and out-shot Northeast 26-5 and 14-2 in shots on goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Taylor Camp earned her first victory in net for Hutchinson with two saves.
While the Dragon defense wasn’t tested much on Wednesday, late in the game, sophomore defender Hailey Burke had a huge hustle play that preserved the shutout. After the Hawks played a ball into the box behind the Hutch defense, Burke sprinted from the other side of the field to recover and made a perfect tackle, which resulted in a Dragon goal kick.
Hutchinson travels to Trinidad State at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Trinidad, Colorado.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Community College football team opens its 87th season tonight as the Ellsworth Panthers come to Gowans Stadium.
The Blue Dragons have won 10 straight season openers and are 50-34-2 all-time in season openers. Head Coach Rion Rhodes says, like all first games, there are a lot of unknowns:
Game time is 7 p.m. from Gowans Stadium. Coverage on Country 102.9 begins with Countdown to Kickoff at 6:30 p.m.
HUTCHINSON , Kan. — After many questioned the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce for using an out-of-town catering service for the annual dinner, the Chamber is sending out an invitation to all interested in providing such event service.
All interested Chamber member restaurants and caterers are invited to a meeting next Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at the Chamber office to discuss two catering opportunities in 2019. The first is the 2019 Chamber Annual Meeting and the second is the Chamber’s 100th Anniversary Diamond Gala.
There are opportunities for both small and large caterers, so all are encouraged to attend. Any business that is not able to attend the meeting, but would like to receive the RFPs for both events, should contact Chelsey Dawson at chelseyd@hutchchamber.com.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It’s always a bit of a sore subject for residents of South Hutchinson who pride themselves as a standalone community from their larger neighbors to the north. But during last night’s Hutchinson City Council meeting, discussion came up again about the city approaching the small community across the river about consolidating services.
It’s a proposal that has never been popular with the small community. But as Councilman John Daveline put it Tuesday evening, things are a little different there at the moment:
Mayor Steve Dechant said he would try to schedule a meeting with South Hutchinson Mayor Mandi Blumanhourst about whether the community might want to enter into some type of agreement for sharing services. The South Hutchinson City Council recently approved major cuts in staff, including the elimination of two police officers along with cuts in public works because of budget issues.
Motorists who use the I-135 and westbound U.S. 50 interchange in Newton may want to find another route. Crews have started the third phase of repairs to a bridge on westbound U.S. 50 over I-135. The project will close the span for about one month.
