HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A local developer has donated land to Hutchinson USD 308 that will be used for the Building Trades Program. Jim Strawn of Strawn Contracting donated five parcels of land in Oxford Pointe. The donation will secure land for the next 12 years.

Travis Riebel, HC-TEA director, talks about the donation and what it means to the program:

Riebel says the programs at HC-TEA play an important role in career development for students:

The district paid $90,000 just a year ago for five sites in the addition for building trade homes. At that price, this would be one of the largest single donations to the district ever.

The 2017-18 Building Trades Program home is currently for sale. That home is located in the Oxford Pointe addition at 2817 Morris on Hutchinson’s northwest side.

Each year, the Building Trades Program, a joint project of USD 308’s Hutchinson Career and Technical Education Academy and Hutchinson Community College, constructs a home. Once completed, the home is sold with the proceeds used to fund the following year’s project.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Because there seems to be a strong connection between seismic activity in south central Kansas and oil and gas production, the Kansas Corporation Commission has been hard at work on some new regulations. Ryan Hoffman, Director of the Conservation Division for the KCC says steps have been taken to curb some of the deep disposal of oil and gas well by-products:

Hoffman says they will continue to work with KDHE and KGS to determine if the changes that have been put in place are indeed working:

Hoffman says any new regulations will have to come at the request of the state and federal legislation. As far as litigation, Hoffman told the audience in attendance that the KCC does not have the power to hold oil production companies liable for any damages they may be causing.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A large crowd turned out for Wednesday’s public informational meeting to answer questions regarding the amount of earthquakes in the area. Rick Miller and Rolfe Mandel with the Kansas Geological Survey were present; along with Mark Cochran, with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; and Ryan Hoffman, with the Kansas Corporation Commission.

All were on hand to discuss the seismic activity and its relation to oil and gas production. They also answered questions regarding the apparent migration of the quakes from the south into Reno County and what is being done to maybe quell some of the activity.

Miller took time to explain what the seismic activity is like in the Hutchinson area:

Miller says the main area of seismicity in south central Kansas is around Harper County, where five distinct areas of activity were studied. Action was taken to minimize the seismic activity in the area:

Miller says it is too early to tell if the quakes will continue to migrate north from Harper County into the area. He also said it is too early to determine if there is any cyclical nature to the activity, which seems to ramp up every six months. So far, Cochran says the KDHE and KGS have not been able to connect drilling and well disposal activity with that cycle.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The new ICU unit at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center continues to move along at a quick pace.

As reported in February, the new construction north of the current facility is running about four months ahead of schedule. President and CEO Ken Johnson updated guests at Wednesday morning’s Chamber Breakfast event and announced that things are still running well ahead of the original completion time, which was December of this year. It still looks like the building will be completed in July, with the unit going into full operation in early August.

The ICU expansion is part of a $23 million upgrade, which includes $6 million of building maintenance that has already been completed.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With a large number of major baseball events and the summer season fast approaching, the Hutchinson Parks Department is taking some quick-fix action to make sure the lighting at Hobart-Detter Field is ready.

High winds blew down one of the light standards at the ball field earlier this spring. The city planned to replace the lighting after the Hutchinson Monarchs season. However, the absence of one light standard means the city is going to purchase one system and then replace the rest of the lights later.

Parks Director Justin Combs says he has been in contact with Musco lighting in Iowa about building one single light set. Musco has indicated it can complete the work before month’s end. Once that light is installed, bids will go out to area companies to install the rest of the system, which will use Musco equipment.

The total cost for the single light fixture is just over $53,000.