SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Due to flood damage, Fountain Green Road will be closed between Woodberry and Worthington until further notice, according to the Reno County Public Works Department. 
Road and Bridge Superintendent Don Brittain said a 40-foot bridge washed out about three miles southwest of Mount Hope and will need to be repaired or replaced.
No timetable was given for when the road will reopen.
HUTCHINSON — Reno County Emergency Management officials are urging residents affected by the flooding to submit a damage report. The report is needed so that the county can apply for private assistance funds from FEMA.
Adam Weishar with Emergency Management said about 180 homes or businesses have filled out the damage report via the county website, the Red Cross and the 211 information line. Despite the damage, Weishar said the area could fall short of the threshold needed to qualify for assistance.
The area has already been approved for FEMA help for infrastructure damage for government entities.
Weishar added that while the water is finally out of the area, many basements are being flooded due to the high water table.
If you have damage to your home and have not filled out an assessment, you can find the form at www.renogov.org.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council is expected to decide Tuesday how to spend funds that were originally earmarked for a pavilion at Orchards Park.
The change in funding comes after two attempts to secure bids for the pavilion came in well over budget. Now the council has decided to fund an open-air shelter and use the bonded funds for two other projects. The proposed pavilion sparked significant discussion from council members who felt such a facility would compete with area event centers.
The shelter’s original price tag of more than $1 million is now at $390,000. The remaining money will be used to renovate the restrooms at Fun Valley at a cost of $200,000 and and help pay for the bleacher replacement at the softball complex. That project totals $750,000.
Also Tuesday, the council will go into executive session to discuss contract negotiations with the various bargaining units.
Tuesday’s meeting of the Hutchinson City Council begins at 9 a.m. at the Hutchinson city offices.
NICKERSON, Kan. — The Nickerson USD 309 School Board will take action to fill the superintendent position during a special meeting Monday.
Last week, the school board gave its approval to let current Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson attend the prestigious National Defense University in Washington, D.C. The training will take 11 months, meaning Johnson will miss the 2019-2020 school year.
Attending the school could mean a big advancement for Johnson that could even put her in the selection pool to become a general. Completion of the training will already mean a promotion to colonel.
The board will go into executive session at the start of the meeting and then return with a choice to lead the school district for the 2019-2020 school year.
Monday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the school district offices at 4501 W. 4th Ave.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — One thing about energy production is that it needs to be used as it’s produced. Work is in progress to find ways to store energy generated from systems like wind farms. Siemens Gamesa announced it may have started the road to such a goal.
The company announced this week it has started operation of an Electric Thermal Energy Storage system or ETES. The system is up and running in Europe and makes it possible to store large quantities of energy cost-effectively and thus decouple electricity generation and use.
The heat storage facility, which was ceremonially opened last week in Germany, contains around 1,000 tonnes of volcanic rock as an energy storage medium. It’s fed with electrical energy converted into hot air by means of a resistance heater and a blower that heats the rock to 750° C. When demand peaks, ETES uses a steam turbine for the re-electrification of the stored energy. The ETES pilot plant can store up to 130 MWh of thermal energy for a week.
The aim of the pilot plant is to deliver system evidence of the storage on the grid and to test the heat storage extensively. In the next step, Siemens Gamesa plans to use its storage technology in commercial projects and scale up storage capacity and power. The goal is to store energy in the range of several gigawatt hours in the near future. One gigawatt hour is equivalent to the daily electricity consumption of around 50,000 households.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County is the first stop on Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers’ Rural Prosperity Tour this summer. Rogers will spend the day at numerous sites in Reno and Stafford counties.
His main stop will be in Nickerson where he will tour some of the flood damage and conduct a public listening-and-learning session from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday at the Nickerson Community Center.
The tour is intended to foster new ways to help rural Kansas communities by hearing from the residents themselves.
This upcoming series of events serve as the first phase of the new Office of Rural Prosperity, which has been approved for a $2 million allocation in the newly approved FY 2020 budget.
Rogers will be in Reno County around noon with the itinerary as follows:
Visit Siemens Gamesa, 1000 Commerce St., Hutchinson
Visit Simple Abundance Farms, 525 N. Poplar, South Hutchinson
Visit Kuhn Krause, 305 S. Monroe St.
Visit Stevens Building, 225 S. Main St.
Walking tour of Main Street from Stevens Building to Stage 9
Drive to R-B Drive-In for limeades, 201 E. Ave. A
Visit Santa Fe Townhomes, 200 block of West Fifth Avenue
Drive to Nickerson
Visit Hedrick Exotic Animal Farm, 7901 N. Roy L. Smith Road
Tour portions of Nickerson recently flooded
Listening-and-learning session at Nickerson Community Center, 11 N. Main St.
he National Weather Service in Wichita has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
Reno County in south central Kansas…
Harper County in south central Kansas…
Kingman County in south central Kansas…
* Until 1245 AM CDT.
* At 1138 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line
extending from near Stafford to near Isabel to 7 miles northeast of
Aetna, moving east at 55 mph.
HAZARD…70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE…Radar indicated.
IMPACT…Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable
tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,
roofs, and outbuildings.
* Locations impacted include…
Hutchinson, Kingman, South Hutchinson, Anthony, Harper, Buhler,
Haven, Nickerson, Pretty Prairie, Attica, Norwich, Arlington,
Cunningham, Turon, Partridge, Sylvia, Plevna, Abbyville, Nashville
and Yoder.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A new business in the downtown area has benefited from the E-Partners group and the Quest Center for Entrepreneurs along with Hutchinson Community College.
Reffner’s recently opened for business in the old Sports Shack location on North Main. They received help from the business incubator to get the business off the ground. Kathy and Brian Reffner were presented a check for $45,000.
Reffner’s offer a wide range of apparel of favorite sports team including college, pro teams and area high schools.
Reno County E-Partners and the Quest Center for Entrepreneurs work to help entrepreneurs start or expand their businesses by consulting, educating and having local funds available for gap financing.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Public Works announced Thursday that work will continue along Adams and W.17th, W. 25th and W. 27th avenues over the next several days.
The northbound lane on Adams from 16th Ave to 17th Ave and Eastbound lane of 17th Ave from Adams to Washington will be closed Monday for a water valve adjustment.
17th from Adams to Main, 25th from Adams to Main St, 27th from Adams to Main and Adams from 16th Ave to 30th will see restricted access for mill and overlay work.
Some of the milling work in the area has already started, but the bulk of the work will begin on Monday.
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Two local FFA members were among the 60 Kansas students awarded $1,000 Ford Trucks/Built Ford Tough Scholarships during the third session of the 91st Kansas FFA Convention, May 29–31, at Kansas State University. Joseph Forbes
and Cale McCabe from the Buhler FFA Chapter was each a recipient of the $1000 scholarship sponsored by Mel Hambelton Ford in Wichita.
The Built Ford Tough FFA Scholarship Program recognizes FFA members’ talents and accomplishments while encouraging their future academic achievements. In 1998 Ford started
supporting the National FFA Organization by being one of the first dealer scholarship programs and awarded $405,000 to 405 students. After years of continued support and thousands of recipients, more than $10.8 million in scholarships have been awarded by
Ford dealers across the nation.
“We appreciate this financial support from Mel Hambelton Ford which will further these students’ educational goals,” Michael Dowd, Kansas FFA State Vice President said. “We’re proud to recognize these students for their commitment to FFA and the leadership they display in their chapters and communities.”
The Kansas FFA Association is a statewide organization of 9,854 agricultural education students in 205 chapters in Kansas. It is part of the National FFA Organization, a national youth organization of about 670,000 student members preparing for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture.
