On Thursday afternoon, the City of Hutchinson held a briefing to bring people up to date on the situation on South Main Street.&nbsp;&nbsp;

According to public works director Cecil Weible the evacuation zone is down to an area between avenue d and avenue f and between Washington Street and Walnut Street.&nbsp; They are estimating that it will take approximately two weeks for completion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

At the present time, five businesses are affected and Evergy says that they have twenty customers without electric service.&nbsp;

As of yesterday, the Hutchinson Fire Department was cleared from the scene and no longer has a presence at the scene.&nbsp; The fire department and&nbsp;Kansas Gas will meet business owners that have not been allowed into their buildings to be escorted by a firefighter and a KGS employee to get important documents that they may need.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

When asked, that policy was put in place by kgs and the fire department because there is still gas coming out of the ground.&nbsp;&nbsp;

KGS replaced 100-feet of gas line from the east to west under main street.&nbsp; The evacuation zone has been minimized to Main Street between Avenue D and to just north of Avenue F and from Walnut Street and Washington Street.&nbsp;

The city said that they will continue to provide updates as they become available.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740700453708.png" alt="Hutch Fire Explosion" />
 <figcaption>Hutch Fire Explosion</figcaption>
 </figure>MARC JACOBS Hutch Post&nbsp;On Thursday afternoon, the City of Hutchinson held a briefing to bring people up to date on the situation on South Main Street.&nbsp;&nbsp;According to public works director Cecil Weible the evacuation zone is down to an area between avenue d and avenue f and between Washington Street and Walnut Street.&nbsp; They are estimating that it will take approximately two weeks for completion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At the present time, five businesses are affected and Evergy says that they have twenty customers without electric service.&nbsp;As of yesterday, the Hutchinson Fire Department was cleared from the scene and no longer has a presence at the scene.&nbsp; The fire department and&nbsp;Kansas Gas will meet business owners that have not been allowed into their buildings to be escorted by a firefighter and a KGS employee to get important documents that they may need.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FHutchPost%2Fvideos%2F592229953812951%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>When asked, that policy was put in place by kgs and the fire department because there is still gas coming out of the ground.&nbsp;&nbsp;KGS replaced 100-feet of gas line from the east to west under main street.&nbsp; The evacuation zone has been minimized to Main Street between Avenue D and to just north of Avenue F and from Walnut Street and Washington Street.&nbsp;The city said that they will continue to provide updates as they become available.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

City provides fire briefing 

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Oscar-winner&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gene-hackman">Gene Hackman</a>, his wife and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some time before a maintenance worker discovered their bodies at the couple's Santa Fe home, investigators said.

Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday in an entryway, and his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office detectives wrote in a search warrant affidavit. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa.

Denise Avila, a sheriff's office spokesperson, said there was no indication they had been shot or had any wounds.

The New Mexico Gas Co. tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn’t find any signs of problems and the Fire Department found no signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning. A detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning.

The gruff but beloved Hackman was among the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-obituary-dies-a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d">most accomplished actors</a>&nbsp;of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-notable-film-roles-1890bba6ab8e42029365f98dd5715c3a">dramas, comedies and action films</a>&nbsp;from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-actor-appreciation-d58ad4491bbe11be4750fe6661947c48">brilliant acting career</a>, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa," his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement Thursday. “We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”

Worker found bodies of Hackman and his wife

According to the search warrant affidavit, a maintenance worker reported that the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work Wednesday, and he called police after finding the bodies.

But in a 911 call, the maintenance worker said he was unable to get inside when the operator asked whether the people in the house were breathing.

“I have no idea,” the subdivision’s caretaker said. “I am not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in. But I can see she’s laying down on the floor from the window.”

He and another worker later told authorities that they rarely saw the homeowners and their last contact with them had been about two weeks ago.

Hackman appeared to have fallen, a deputy observed. A cane was nearby.

A dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, police said. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said during a press conference Thursday that the dog was found in a kennel. Two healthy dogs were found on the property — one inside and one outside.

“There was no indication of a struggle," Mendoza said. “There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed, you know, that would be indication that there was a crime that had occurred.”

Results of autopsies conducted on both bodies are not available yet, sheriff’s officials said, noting that carbon monoxide and toxicology test results are pending.

The search warrant affidavit suggests that police appear to have a working theory that “some kind of gas poisoning” happened, but that they don't know yet and aren’t ruling anything out, Loyola Marymount University law professor Laurie Levenson said.

“They don’t have clear evidence that it’s any type of homicide, but they’re asking for blunt instruments or other weapons that could be used,” said Levenson, who has no connection to the investigation. “It doesn’t also look like some kind of planned double-suicide.”

William &amp; Mary Law School professor Jeffrey Bellin said the request for a search warrant was somewhat unusual because investigators who file one usually believe a specific crime was committed. In this case, no alleged crime was mentioned, Bellin said.

Police tend to overstate what they know, but this is the opposite, said Bellin, who also isn't tied to the investigation.

“It just struck me as very careful in a way that search warrant affidavits often are not,” he said.

Hackman routinely showed up on Hollywood lists of greatest American actors of the 20th century. He could play virtually any kind of role, from comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” to a coach finding redemption in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-sports-hoosiers-7bcee7d0694f1daee94057ac7ec33430">sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.”</a>

Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.

Tributes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-dies-reaction-tribute-39bdbad1428a2fb9cb61c9e916283816">quickly poured in</a>&nbsp;from Hollywood.

“There was no finer actor than Gene," actor-director Clint Eastwood, Hackman’s “Unforgiven” co-star, said in a statement. “Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much.”

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They soon moved in together and relocated to Santa Fe by the end of the decade.

Their Southwestern-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains. The sprawling four-bedroom home on 6 acres (2.4 hectares) was built in 1997 and had an estimated market value of a little over $4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.

Hackman and his wife also owned a more modest home next door.

Hackman also co-wrote three novels, starting with the swashbuckler, “Wake of the Perdido Star,” with Daniel Lenihan in 1999, according to publisher Simon &amp; Schuster. He then penned two by himself, concluding with “Pursuit" in 2013, about a female police officer on the tail of a predator.

In his first couple of decades in New Mexico, Hackman was often seen around the historic state capital, known as an artist enclave, tourism destination and retreat for celebrities.

He served on the board of trustees for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum from 1997-2004, the museum said in a statement.

In recent years, he was far less visible, though even the most mundane outings caught the attention of the press. There were articles about him attending a show at a performing arts center in 2018, as well as pumping gas, doing yard work and getting a chicken sandwich at Wendy's in 2023.

Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired from acting about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.

Hackman had three children from a previous marriage. He and Arakawa had no children together but were known for having German shepherds.

This story was updated to correct Arakawa's age. Authorities initially listed her as 63 years old, but records show she was 65. It was also corrected to show that Hackman spoke to Empire magazine in 2009, not 2020.

Melley reported from London. Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles; Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Sylvia Hui in London and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Oscar-winner&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gene-hackman">Gene Hackman</a>, his wife and their dog were found dead in different rooms of their Santa Fe home and had apparently been dead for some time, according to investigators.

Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday in a mudroom and his 63-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office detectives wrote in a search warrant. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa.

Denise Avila, a sheriff's office spokesperson, said there was no indication that any of them had been shot or had other types of wounds.

The New Mexico Gas Co. is working with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department in the investigation, spokesperson Tim Korte told The Associated Press.

The utility tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn't find any signs of problems. A detective noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide may not show signs of poisoning, but also noted there were no obvious signs of a gas leak.

The Associated Press left email and phone messages Thursday for sheriff’s officials seeking more details. A spokesperson for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, which runs the state’s medical examiner operations, declined to comment on whether the cause and manner of deaths had been determined.

A worker reported that the home's front door was open when he arrived for routine maintenance and that he called police after finding the bodies. Two workers told police that they rarely saw the homeowners and that their last contact with them had been about two weeks earlier.

A dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, police said. Two healthy dogs were found on the property.

The gruff-but-beloved&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-obituary-dies-a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d">Hackman was among the best actors</a>&nbsp;of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

He routinely showed up on Hollywood list of greatest American actors of the 20th century. He could play virtually&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-notable-film-roles-1890bba6ab8e42029365f98dd5715c3a">any kind of role</a>, from comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” to a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.”

Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for “The French Connection” in 1972 and “Unforgiven” two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.

“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity," director Francis Ford Coppola posted on Instagram.

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, the New York Times reported in 1989. They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had decamped to Santa Fe.

Their Southwestern-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains. The 8,700 square-foot (808 square-meter), four-bedroom home on six acres was built in 1997 and had an estimated market value of a little over $4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.

Hackman and his wife also owned a more modest 2,000 square-foot (186 square-meter) home next door that was built in 2000.

In his first couple decades in New Mexico, Hackman was often seen around the historic state capital, which known as an artist enclave, tourism destination and retreat for celebrities.

He served as a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to the local paper, The New Mexican.

In recent years, he was far less visible, though even the most mundane outings caught the attention of the press. The Independent wrote about him attending a show at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in 2018. The New York Post reported on him pumping gas, doing yard work and getting a chicken sandwich at Wendy's in 2023.

Hackman told the film magazine&nbsp;<a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/gene-hackman-archive-interview-retirement-acting-novels/">Empire</a>&nbsp;in 2020 that he and Arakawa liked to watch DVDs she rented.

"We like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce,” he said.

An email sent to his publicist was not immediately returned early Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) —Oscar-winning actor&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gene-hackman">Gene Hackman</a>, his wife and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home, authorities said Thursday.

Foul play was not suspected, but authorities did not release circumstances of their deaths and said an investigation was ongoing.

Hackman, 95, Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog were all dead when deputies entered their home to check on their welfare around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Avila said.

The gruff-but-beloved&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-obituary-dies-a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d">Hackman was among the finest actors</a>&nbsp;of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for “The French Connection” in 1972 and “Unforgiven” two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, the New York Times reported in 1989. They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had bought their home in Santa Fe.

The large Southwestern-style ranch in a gated community just outside New Mexico’s capital city sits on a hill with views of the Rocky Mountains.

Hackman was often seen around town and served as a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to the local paper, The New Mexican.

Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.

Hackman had three children from a previous marriage, but he and Arakawa had no children together. In 1999 they had adopted three German shepherds, according to the Baltimore Sun.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gene Hackman, the prolific Oscar-winning actor whose studied portraits ranged from reluctant heroes to conniving villains and made him one of the industry’s most respected and honored performers, has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-found-dead-f6c106e92987aeaaab7b35c1b956a5c8">found dead</a>&nbsp;along with his wife at their home. He was 95.

Hackman was a frequent and versatile presence on screen from the 1960s until his retirement. His dozens of films included the Academy Award favorites “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven,” a breakout performance in “Bonnie and Clyde,” a classic bit of farce in “Young Frankenstein,” a turn as the comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” and the title character in Wes Anderson’s 2001 “The Royal Tenenbaums."

He seemed capable of any kind of role — whether an uptight buffoon in “Birdcage,” a college coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers” or a secretive surveillance expert in Francis Ford Coppola’s Watergate-era release “The Conversation.”

Although self-effacing and unfashionable, Hackman held special status within Hollywood — heir to Spencer Tracy as an every man, actor’s actor, curmudgeon and reluctant celebrity. He embodied the ethos of doing his job, doing it very well, and letting others worry about his image. Beyond the obligatory appearances at awards ceremonies, he was rarely seen on the social circuit and made no secret of his disdain for the business side of show business.

“Actors tend to be shy people,” he told Film Comment in 1988. “There is perhaps a component of hostility in that shyness, and to reach a point where you don’t deal with others in a hostile or angry way, you choose this medium for yourself ... Then you can express yourself and get this wonderful feedback.”

He was an early retiree — essentially done, by choice, with movies by his mid-70s — and a late bloomer. Hackman was 35 when cast for “Bonnie and Clyde” and past 40 when he won his first Oscar, as the rules-bending New York City detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the 1971 thriller about tracking down Manhattan drug smugglers, "The French Connection."

Jackie Gleason, Steve McQueen and Peter Boyle were among the actors considered for Doyle. Hackman was a minor star at the time, seemingly without the flamboyant personality that the role demanded. The actor himself feared that he was miscast. A couple of weeks of nighttime patrols of Harlem in police cars helped reassure him.

One of the first scenes of "The French Connection" required Hackman to slap around a suspect. The actor realized he had failed to achieve the intensity that the scene required, and asked director William Friedkin for another chance. The scene was filmed at the end of the shooting, by which time Hackman had immersed himself in the loose-cannon character of Popeye Doyle. Friedkin would recall needing 37 takes to get the scene right.

“I had to arouse an anger in Gene that was lying dormant, I felt, within him — that he was sort of ashamed of and didn’t really want to revisit,” Friedkin told the Los Angeles Review of Books in 2012.

The most famous sequence was dangerously realistic: A car chase in which Det. Doyle speeds under elevated subway tracks, his brown Pontiac (driven by a stuntman) screeching into areas that the filmmakers had not received permits for. When Doyle crashes into a white Ford, it wasn’t a stuntman driving the other car, but a New York City resident who didn’t know a movie was being made.

Hackman also resisted the role which brought him his second Oscar. When Clint Eastwood first offered him Little Bill Daggett, the corrupt town boss in "Unforgiven," Hackman turned it down. But he realized that Eastwood was planning to make a different kind of Western, a critique, not a celebration of violence. The film won him the Academy Award as best supporting actor of 1992.

“To his credit, and my joy, he talked me into it,” Hackman said of Eastwood during an interview with the American Film Institute.

Hackman played super-villain Lex Luthor opposite Christopher Reeve in director Richard Donner’s 1978 “Superman,” a film that established the prototype for the modern superhero movie. He also starred in two sequels.

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, and grew up in Danville, Illinois, where his father worked as a pressman for the Commercial-News. His parents fought repeatedly, and his father often used his fists on Gene to take out his rage. The boy found refuge in movie houses, identifying with such screen rebels as Errol Flynn and James Cagney as his role models.

When Gene was 13, his father waved goodbye and drove off, never to return. The abandonment was a lasting injury to Gene. His mother had become an alcoholic and was constantly at odds with her mother, with whom the shattered family lived (Gene had a younger brother, actor Richard Hackman). At 16, he "suddenly got the itch to get out." Lying about his age, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines. In his early 30s, before his film career took off, his mother died in a fire started by her own cigarette.

"Dysfunctional families have sired a lot of pretty good actors," he observed ironically during a 2001 interview with The New York Times.

His brawling and resistance to authority led to his being demoted from corporal three times. His taste of show business came when he conquered his mic fright and became disc jockey and news announcer on his unit's radio station.

Sheriff updates mysterious death of Gene Hackman, wife and dog

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Two former leaders of a Kansas foster care provider have entered plea negotiations to avoid trial for allegedly bilking the organization out of millions of dollars, federal court records show.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/11/11/federal-grand-jury-indicts-former-kansas-foster-care-officials-on-fraud-charges/">grand jury indicted</a>&nbsp;former Saint Francis Ministries CEO Robert “Father Bobby” Smith and William Whymark, the organization’s former IT director, in November 2022 on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering with damages totaling at least $4.7 million.

A Feb. 25 court filing in the federal case shows “the parties are presently involved in plea negotiations and anticipate resolving this case without a trial.” The filing asks the court to authorize&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/probation-and-pretrial-services/presentence-investigations" target="_blank">a presentence investigation report</a>, which a court officer prepares when a defendant pleads guilty in order to help the judge determine the appropriate sentence.

The report “would materially facilitate the parties’ ongoing plea negotiations by allowing them to quickly and efficiently identify areas of potential agreement, while simultaneously isolating any disputed loss issues that may truly require litigation,” the joint court filing said.

Under the charges included in the indictment, they could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, plus fines and restitution.

Denny Marlin, spokesman for Saint Francis Ministries, said the organization wouldn’t comment “out of respect for the criminal justice system” and “to ensure we do not compromise the integrity of the legal process.”

“We look forward to its resolution and remain focused on our mission of providing healing and hope to children and families,” Marlin said.

Kansas Reflector&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/04/kansas-agency-serving-3100-foster-children-accused-of-rampant-financial-mismanagement/">first reported</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/15/kansas-based-foster-care-providers-financial-turmoil-cubs-tickets-amplify-concerns-in-nebraska/">allegations of misconduct</a>&nbsp;by Smith and Whymark shortly after they left Saint Francis Ministries in November 2020. An&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/20/kansas-foster-care-leader-charged-469k-to-credit-cards-hid-financial-losses/">internal investigation</a>&nbsp;revealed excessive billing for IT services and charges by Smith for lavish personal expenses.

In 2022, Saint Francis sued Smith, Whymark and former general counsel David Shaffer, accusing them of operating a scheme to enrich themselves through fraudulent billing. The lawsuit identified Shaffer and Whymark as brothers.

The former employees denied the claims, and Smith countersued Saint Francis employees for defamation because of reporting by Kansas Reflector.

Saint Francis hired Smith, an Episcopal priest ordained in 2014 by the Diocese of Chicago, as president and CEO in 2014. From 2017 to 2020, according to the state lawsuit, Smith charged $442,276.17 on Saint Francis Ministries credit cards, “a significant portion of which funded lavish meals, entertainment, travel and gifts for him and his family.” Smith also paid a travel agency $57,125.43, “a majority of which had no legitimate business purpose or was grossly excessive,” the lawsuit said.

Shaffer for at least eight months billed Saint Francis both through his Chicago law firm and in his individual capacity, which the lawsuit characterizes as legal malpractice. From 2015 to 2019, Shaffer billed more than $1 million in legal fees to his law firm, and from 2018 to 2020 an additional $500,000 in payments to himself. Smith approved the “grossly excessive” invoices, the lawsuit said, including invoices for legal work unrelated to Saint Francis and $4,000 for moving and storage expenses for office furniture at his Chicago law firm.

Whymark wasn’t qualified to provide IT services, but Smith hired him as chief information officer and signed off on more than $11 million for services provided by Whymark’s IT company. The lawsuit said those services were “grossly deficient and overpriced.”

Whymark’s company outsourced work to build a content management system that wouldn’t function. In the fall of 2019, while Saint Francis was undergoing a financial audit, the system crashed and destroyed financial data. Whymark then wiped the hard drives, according to the lawsuit, and the organization spent an estimated $3.2 million to repair Whymark’s IT work.

At the time, Saint Francis Ministries was the largest foster care provider in Kansas, serving more than 3,000 foster kids.

By January 2020, the IT costs combined with a severely underbid contract to provide foster care services in Nebraska placed Saint Francis in financial peril. The organization survived in part by receiving a $10 million Payment Protection Program loan, which it wasn’t eligible for and never repaid, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, the Kansas Department for Children and Families awarded new foster care contracts and replaced Saint Francis as the provider for the Wichita region. Saint Francis continues to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/pages/mapfostercare.aspx" target="_blank">provide foster care services</a>&nbsp;for much of central and western Kansas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1660235188905.png" alt="&nbsp;Former Saint Francis Ministries CEO Robert “Father Bobby” Smith and William Whymark, who oversaw IT services, have entered into plea negotiations to settle federal charges that involve wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, a court filing shows. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Former Saint Francis Ministries CEO Robert “Father Bobby” Smith and William Whymark, who oversaw IT services, have entered into plea negotiations to settle federal charges that involve wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, a court filing shows. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Two former leaders of a Kansas foster care provider have entered plea negotiations to avoid trial for allegedly bilking the organization out of millions of dollars, federal court records show.A&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/11/11/federal-grand-jury-indicts-former-kansas-foster-care-officials-on-fraud-charges/">grand jury indicted</a>&nbsp;former Saint Francis Ministries CEO Robert “Father Bobby” Smith and William Whymark, the organization’s former IT director, in November 2022 on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering with damages totaling at least $4.7 million.A Feb. 25 court filing in the federal case shows “the parties are presently involved in plea negotiations and anticipate resolving this case without a trial.” The filing asks the court to authorize&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/probation-and-pretrial-services/presentence-investigations" target="_blank">a presentence investigation report</a>, which a court officer prepares when a defendant pleads guilty in order to help the judge determine the appropriate sentence.The report “would materially facilitate the parties’ ongoing plea negotiations by allowing them to quickly and efficiently identify areas of potential agreement, while simultaneously isolating any disputed loss issues that may truly require litigation,” the joint court filing said.Under the charges included in the indictment, they could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, plus fines and restitution.Denny Marlin, spokesman for Saint Francis Ministries, said the organization wouldn’t comment “out of respect for the criminal justice system” and “to ensure we do not compromise the integrity of the legal process.”“We look forward to its resolution and remain focused on our mission of providing healing and hope to children and families,” Marlin said.Kansas Reflector&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/04/kansas-agency-serving-3100-foster-children-accused-of-rampant-financial-mismanagement/">first reported</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/15/kansas-based-foster-care-providers-financial-turmoil-cubs-tickets-amplify-concerns-in-nebraska/">allegations of misconduct</a>&nbsp;by Smith and Whymark shortly after they left Saint Francis Ministries in November 2020. An&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/20/kansas-foster-care-leader-charged-469k-to-credit-cards-hid-financial-losses/">internal investigation</a>&nbsp;revealed excessive billing for IT services and charges by Smith for lavish personal expenses.In 2022, Saint Francis sued Smith, Whymark and former general counsel David Shaffer, accusing them of operating a scheme to enrich themselves through fraudulent billing. The lawsuit identified Shaffer and Whymark as brothers.The former employees denied the claims, and Smith countersued Saint Francis employees for defamation because of reporting by Kansas Reflector.Saint Francis hired Smith, an Episcopal priest ordained in 2014 by the Diocese of Chicago, as president and CEO in 2014. From 2017 to 2020, according to the state lawsuit, Smith charged $442,276.17 on Saint Francis Ministries credit cards, “a significant portion of which funded lavish meals, entertainment, travel and gifts for him and his family.” Smith also paid a travel agency $57,125.43, “a majority of which had no legitimate business purpose or was grossly excessive,” the lawsuit said.Shaffer for at least eight months billed Saint Francis both through his Chicago law firm and in his individual capacity, which the lawsuit characterizes as legal malpractice. From 2015 to 2019, Shaffer billed more than $1 million in legal fees to his law firm, and from 2018 to 2020 an additional $500,000 in payments to himself. Smith approved the “grossly excessive” invoices, the lawsuit said, including invoices for legal work unrelated to Saint Francis and $4,000 for moving and storage expenses for office furniture at his Chicago law firm.Whymark wasn’t qualified to provide IT services, but Smith hired him as chief information officer and signed off on more than $11 million for services provided by Whymark’s IT company. The lawsuit said those services were “grossly deficient and overpriced.”Whymark’s company outsourced work to build a content management system that wouldn’t function. In the fall of 2019, while Saint Francis was undergoing a financial audit, the system crashed and destroyed financial data. Whymark then wiped the hard drives, according to the lawsuit, and the organization spent an estimated $3.2 million to repair Whymark’s IT work.At the time, Saint Francis Ministries was the largest foster care provider in Kansas, serving more than 3,000 foster kids.By January 2020, the IT costs combined with a severely underbid contract to provide foster care services in Nebraska placed Saint Francis in financial peril. The organization survived in part by receiving a $10 million Payment Protection Program loan, which it wasn’t eligible for and never repaid, during the COVID-19 pandemic.Last year, the Kansas Department for Children and Families awarded new foster care contracts and replaced Saint Francis as the provider for the Wichita region. Saint Francis continues to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/pages/mapfostercare.aspx" target="_blank">provide foster care services</a>&nbsp;for much of central and western Kansas.

Former leaders of Kan. foster care provider negotiating plea deal in federal fraud case

BY&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/michael-phillis">MICHAEL PHILLIS</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/jennifer-mcdermott">JENNIFER MCDERMOTT</a> Associated Press

President Donald Trump began dismantling his predecessor’s climate change and renewable energy policies on his first day in office, declaring a national energy emergency to speed up fossil fuel development – a policy he has summed up as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-climate-pollution-oil-gas-clean-energy-f6ad39e23613396a7536fb1dc25fca62">“drill, baby, drill.”</a>

The declaration calls on the federal government to make it easier for companies to build oil and gas projects, in part by weakening environmental reviews, with the goal of lowering prices and selling to international markets.

Democrats say that’s a sham. They point out that the U.S. is producing more oil and natural gas than any other country and the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act boosted renewable energy at a critical time, creating jobs and addressing the climate change threat –&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-warming-hot-record-2024-disasters-12f899f071fcdbd051ad49a872611e92">2024 was Earth’s hottest year on record</a>&nbsp;amid the hottest 10-year stretch on record.

“It would also set a horrible precedent, that a president of either party can invent a sham emergency and then grab away from Congress powers that Congress has” in the Constitution, said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Kaine spoke Wednesday in support of a Senate resolution from Democrats to terminate Trump’s declaration that later failed on a party-line 52-47 vote.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has already made the U.S. an even friendlier environment for fossil fuels. Congress is helping, too, with the House voting to repeal a Biden administration-era methane fee on oil and gas producers.

In addition, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epa-endangerment-finding-zeldin-trump-climate-change-4b34246d5ca798154af08560fd94f7b9">has urged the White House to reconsider</a>&nbsp;a finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public, a fundamental Obama-era document that underpins the agency’s power to regulate planet-warming emissions, according to four people who were briefed on the matter but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the recommendation is not public.

Here are some ways the Trump administration has moved to advance fossil fuels:

The Biden administration last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lng-exports-biden-europe-climate-russia-24a7730a3b8449273fec73824ce26001">paused evaluations of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals</a>. That pleased environmentalists concerned that a big surge in exports would contribute to planet-warming emissions. The pause didn’t stop projects already under construction, but it delayed consideration of new projects.

On Tuesday, oil and gas giant Shell said global LNG demand is forecast to rise by around 60% by 2040.

The United States is expected to play a major role in meeting that demand, with its export capacity expected to double before 2030, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“I think investors have become much more comfortable that they can move towards final investment decisions without the concerns that they had over the last four years about potential roadblocks,” said Christopher Treanor, an energy and environmental attorney at the law firm Akin.

Trump has opened more land for oil and gas lease sales, shifting away from Biden’s efforts to protect environmentally sensitive areas like Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge and to prevent large swaths of ocean from being available for offshore drilling, including major areas off coasts in the Pacific, Atlantic and parts of Alaska.

Environmental groups are suing to stop Trump’s moves.

Expanding the area available for companies to lease and drill doesn’t necessarily mean that more oil and gas will be produced. When leases were made available in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, for example, only smaller companies bid and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alaska-arctic-refuge-oil-lease-sale-efb6ec0b74fe0e38cd1c20c212741771">there were no buyers for a second lease sale</a>.

Army Corps appears ready to help projects sidestep the Clean Water Act

The Army Corps of Engineers marked hundreds of Clean Water Act permits for fast-tracking, citing Trump’s order on energy, then removed that notation in its database. The agency said it needed to review active permit applications before publishing which ones will be fast-tracked.

“They don’t seem to be backing off,” said Tom Pelton, spokesman with the Environmental Integrity Project. “They are just going to refine the list.”

Many of the permit applications that had been listed for expediting are for fossil fuel projects, but some others have nothing to do with energy, including a housing subdivision proposed by Chevron in southern California, according to the Environmental Integrity Project.

David Bookbinder, the organization’s director of law and policy, said the Trump administration is using the “pretext of a national energy emergency” to ask a federal agency to circumvent environmental protections to justify building more fossil fuel power plants. Bookbinder said there’s no shortage of energy.

Pat Parenteau, professor emeritus at Vermont Law &amp; Graduate School, said Trump’s policy changes aren’t nearly as important as the deep cuts to the federal government that eliminate vital expertise. At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, for example, Trump said the head of the EPA should axe roughly two-thirds of its employees.

“I think they are going to accomplish what no other administration has been able to do in terms of crippling the institutional capacity of the federal government to protect public health, to conserve national resources to save endangered species,” he said. “That is where we are going to see long-term, permanent damage.”

Trump’s energy emergency calls, for example, for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-climate-change-oil-whales-turtles-9d068d755e8ac4060fd7381178d87421">undermining Endangered Species Act protections</a>&nbsp;to ensure fast energy development, even assembling a rarely used committee — the so-called “God Squad” — that could have authority to dismiss significant threats to species. That move was coupled with recent deep cuts to the Fish &amp; Wildlife Service, which administers the law.

Parenteau said some species are likely to go extinct.

Trump also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wind-energy-offshore-turbines-trump-executive-order-995a744c3c1a2eddb30cacf50b681f13">targeted wind energy</a>&nbsp;with an order to temporarily halt offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pause federal approvals, permits and loans for projects both onshore and offshore.

In another order, he listed domestic energy resources that could help ensure a reliable, diversified and affordable supply of energy. Solar, wind and battery storage were omitted, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/renewable-energy-climate-solar-wind-fossil-fuels-2718fce0ed37232dc25dbf46fff87955">solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation</a>&nbsp;in the United States. Trump has vowed to end tax credits for renewables as well, which would push up prices.

Substantially slowing renewables could leave the U.S. wedded to coal and gas for far longer as coal plants are extended and new gas plants are built, said David Shepheard, partner and energy expert at the global consultant Baringa.

Shepheard said the U.S. is facing unprecedented growth in electricity demand largely to meet needs from data centers and artificial intelligence, and increasingly the deck is stacked against renewables to meet it.

A Baringa analysis found Trump’s policies will drive up emissions and put the agreed-upon international climate threshold further out of reach.

BY&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/michael-phillis">MICHAEL PHILLIS</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/jennifer-mcdermott">JENNIFER MCDERMOTT</a> Associated PressPresident Donald Trump began dismantling his predecessor’s climate change and renewable energy policies on his first day in office, declaring a national energy emergency to speed up fossil fuel development – a policy he has summed up as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-climate-pollution-oil-gas-clean-energy-f6ad39e23613396a7536fb1dc25fca62">“drill, baby, drill.”</a>The declaration calls on the federal government to make it easier for companies to build oil and gas projects, in part by weakening environmental reviews, with the goal of lowering prices and selling to international markets.Democrats say that’s a sham. They point out that the U.S. is producing more oil and natural gas than any other country and the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act boosted renewable energy at a critical time, creating jobs and addressing the climate change threat –&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-warming-hot-record-2024-disasters-12f899f071fcdbd051ad49a872611e92">2024 was Earth’s hottest year on record</a>&nbsp;amid the hottest 10-year stretch on record.“It would also set a horrible precedent, that a president of either party can invent a sham emergency and then grab away from Congress powers that Congress has” in the Constitution, said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.Kaine spoke Wednesday in support of a Senate resolution from Democrats to terminate Trump’s declaration that later failed on a party-line 52-47 vote.Meanwhile, the Trump administration has already made the U.S. an even friendlier environment for fossil fuels. Congress is helping, too, with the House voting to repeal a Biden administration-era methane fee on oil and gas producers.In addition, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epa-endangerment-finding-zeldin-trump-climate-change-4b34246d5ca798154af08560fd94f7b9">has urged the White House to reconsider</a>&nbsp;a finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public, a fundamental Obama-era document that underpins the agency’s power to regulate planet-warming emissions, according to four people who were briefed on the matter but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the recommendation is not public.Here are some ways the Trump administration has moved to advance fossil fuels:The Biden administration last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lng-exports-biden-europe-climate-russia-24a7730a3b8449273fec73824ce26001">paused evaluations of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals</a>. That pleased environmentalists concerned that a big surge in exports would contribute to planet-warming emissions. The pause didn’t stop projects already under construction, but it delayed consideration of new projects.Trump reversed that pause.On Tuesday, oil and gas giant Shell said global LNG demand is forecast to rise by around 60% by 2040.The United States is expected to play a major role in meeting that demand, with its export capacity expected to double before 2030, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.“I think investors have become much more comfortable that they can move towards final investment decisions without the concerns that they had over the last four years about potential roadblocks,” said Christopher Treanor, an energy and environmental attorney at the law firm Akin.<h2>Drilling expansion</h2>Trump has opened more land for oil and gas lease sales, shifting away from Biden’s efforts to protect environmentally sensitive areas like Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge and to prevent large swaths of ocean from being available for offshore drilling, including major areas off coasts in the Pacific, Atlantic and parts of Alaska.Environmental groups are suing to stop Trump’s moves.Expanding the area available for companies to lease and drill doesn’t necessarily mean that more oil and gas will be produced. When leases were made available in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, for example, only smaller companies bid and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alaska-arctic-refuge-oil-lease-sale-efb6ec0b74fe0e38cd1c20c212741771">there were no buyers for a second lease sale</a>.<h2>Army Corps appears ready to help projects sidestep the Clean Water Act</h2>The Army Corps of Engineers marked hundreds of Clean Water Act permits for fast-tracking, citing Trump’s order on energy, then removed that notation in its database. The agency said it needed to review active permit applications before publishing which ones will be fast-tracked.“They don’t seem to be backing off,” said Tom Pelton, spokesman with the Environmental Integrity Project. “They are just going to refine the list.”Many of the permit applications that had been listed for expediting are for fossil fuel projects, but some others have nothing to do with energy, including a housing subdivision proposed by Chevron in southern California, according to the Environmental Integrity Project.David Bookbinder, the organization’s director of law and policy, said the Trump administration is using the “pretext of a national energy emergency” to ask a federal agency to circumvent environmental protections to justify building more fossil fuel power plants. Bookbinder said there’s no shortage of energy.<h2>Slashing the federal workforce</h2>Pat Parenteau, professor emeritus at Vermont Law &amp; Graduate School, said Trump’s policy changes aren’t nearly as important as the deep cuts to the federal government that eliminate vital expertise. At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, for example, Trump said the head of the EPA should axe roughly two-thirds of its employees.“I think they are going to accomplish what no other administration has been able to do in terms of crippling the institutional capacity of the federal government to protect public health, to conserve national resources to save endangered species,” he said. “That is where we are going to see long-term, permanent damage.”Trump’s energy emergency calls, for example, for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-climate-change-oil-whales-turtles-9d068d755e8ac4060fd7381178d87421">undermining Endangered Species Act protections</a>&nbsp;to ensure fast energy development, even assembling a rarely used committee — the so-called “God Squad” — that could have authority to dismiss significant threats to species. That move was coupled with recent deep cuts to the Fish &amp; Wildlife Service, which administers the law.Parenteau said some species are likely to go extinct.<h2>Executive orders take aim at renewables</h2>Trump also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wind-energy-offshore-turbines-trump-executive-order-995a744c3c1a2eddb30cacf50b681f13">targeted wind energy</a>&nbsp;with an order to temporarily halt offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pause federal approvals, permits and loans for projects both onshore and offshore.In another order, he listed domestic energy resources that could help ensure a reliable, diversified and affordable supply of energy. Solar, wind and battery storage were omitted, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/renewable-energy-climate-solar-wind-fossil-fuels-2718fce0ed37232dc25dbf46fff87955">solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation</a>&nbsp;in the United States. Trump has vowed to end tax credits for renewables as well, which would push up prices.Substantially slowing renewables could leave the U.S. wedded to coal and gas for far longer as coal plants are extended and new gas plants are built, said David Shepheard, partner and energy expert at the global consultant Baringa.Shepheard said the U.S. is facing unprecedented growth in electricity demand largely to meet needs from data centers and artificial intelligence, and increasingly the deck is stacked against renewables to meet it.A Baringa analysis found Trump’s policies will drive up emissions and put the agreed-upon international climate threshold further out of reach.<h2>___</h2>

'Drill baby drill':  Dems target Trump's energy emergency

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740668009811.jpeg" alt="Marc Jacobs, News Director Eagle Media&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Marc Jacobs, News Director Eagle Media&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure><div><iframe title="Marc Jacobs" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=ns3aj-181e9e4-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=auto&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 BW Morning Show Interview:  Marc Jacobs, EAGLE Media News Director 

UPDATE:&nbsp;&nbsp;

Starting Thursday, Feb. 27, the Woodie Seat detour will be in place. Note that the city has changed the detour to include the Main Street closure because of the natrual gas explosion and fire from Saturday Feb. 22.

The city added that they are working hard to minimize disruption, and as soon as Avenue F and Main Street is open, they will reevaluate the detour and make any necessary changes.

&nbsp;Important Note: Truck traffic is allowed on Bigger Street during the detour.



ORIGINAL STORY: The Woodie Seat project is about to start up again. We had Hutchinson Public Works Director Cecil Weible in to talk about the activity that will be starting up again.

Weible said that the detours will be going up next week.  “The first phase of that is going to kick off on February 27 we going to start the road closures all the detours will go up and into place.” Weible continued “The actual work will begin on the following Monday.”  

Detours for the project will be Adams and Monroe northbound and southbound, and Second Avenue and Avenue F.   

Phase II consists of the removal of the bridges at Avenue A and Avenue B, to bring the roadway down to “ground” level and the installation of the Roundabout on Avenue A.   

With all the demolition, there will be additional truck traffic on the south end of Hutchinson.  The city has designated a truck route for the removal of the dirt from the project.  That route will be Avenue F to Plum Street then south on Plum Street to Avenue G out to Severance.   

There is a spot there that the state owns where they will put the dirt for a project the state has coming up.  

The timeline for completion of the project is January 2026. However, the contractor thinks that they may be able to complete it sooner.  

Once the construction of the roundabout is complete, the parks department will top off the project with signage and plants in the roundabout.  

We asked why a roundabout vs a traffic signaled intersection; it is all in the numbers according to Weible.  The data shows that roundabouts are safer.  It virtually eliminates T-collisions. Also, they are cheaper to maintain. Weible said that traffic systems are expensive whereas roundabouts are very low maintenance.  It makes sense to install them.  

The city says that they will continue to provide updates via their Facebook page.  

<a target="_blank" href="https://email.em.audience.io/CSB/Public/Form.aspx?fid=1950312&amp;ac=grno">CLICK HERE TO GET DAILY UPDATES!</a>

MARC JACOBS Hutch Post&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740658196914.jpeg" alt="Revised Woodie Seat Detour Map " />
 <figcaption>Revised Woodie Seat Detour Map </figcaption>
 </figure>UPDATE:&nbsp;&nbsp;

Starting Thursday, Feb. 27, the Woodie Seat detour will be in place. Note that the city has changed the detour to include the Main Street closure because of the natrual gas explosion and fire from Saturday Feb. 22. The city added that they are working hard to minimize disruption, and as soon as Avenue F and Main Street is open, they will reevaluate the detour and make any necessary changes.&nbsp;Important Note: Truck traffic is allowed on Bigger Street during the detour.

ORIGINAL STORY: The Woodie Seat project is about to start up again. We had Hutchinson Public Works Director Cecil Weible in to talk about the activity that will be starting up again. Weible said that the detours will be going up next week. “The first phase of that is going to kick off on February 27 we going to start the road closures all the detours will go up and into place.” Weible continued “The actual work will begin on the following Monday.” <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740069851223.jpeg" alt="Detour Route - City of Hutchinson " />
 <figcaption>Detour Route - City of Hutchinson </figcaption>
 </figure>Detours for the project will be Adams and Monroe northbound and southbound, and Second Avenue and Avenue F. Phase II consists of the removal of the bridges at Avenue A and Avenue B, to bring the roadway down to “ground” level and the installation of the Roundabout on Avenue A. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740069897837.jpeg" alt="Woodie Seat Truck Haul Route - City of Hutchinson " />
 <figcaption>Woodie Seat Truck Haul Route - City of Hutchinson </figcaption>
 </figure>With all the demolition, there will be additional truck traffic on the south end of Hutchinson. The city has designated a truck route for the removal of the dirt from the project. That route will be Avenue F to Plum Street then south on Plum Street to Avenue G out to Severance. There is a spot there that the state owns where they will put the dirt for a project the state has coming up. The timeline for completion of the project is January 2026. However, the contractor thinks that they may be able to complete it sooner. Once the construction of the roundabout is complete, the parks department will top off the project with signage and plants in the roundabout. We asked why a roundabout vs a traffic signaled intersection; it is all in the numbers according to Weible. The data shows that roundabouts are safer. It virtually eliminates T-collisions. Also, they are cheaper to maintain. Weible said that traffic systems are expensive whereas roundabouts are very low maintenance. It makes sense to install them. The city says that they will continue to provide updates via their Facebook page. <a target="_blank" href="https://email.em.audience.io/CSB/Public/Form.aspx?fid=1950312&amp;ac=grno">CLICK HERE TO GET DAILY UPDATES!</a>

Woodie Seat Phase II detours begin 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25545361-opm-omb-memo-guidance-on-agency-rif-and-reorganization-plans-requested-by-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative-2-26-2025/#document/p1">according to a memo</a>&nbsp;distributed Wednesday by President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;'s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government.

<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25545361-opm-omb-memo-guidance-on-agency-rif-and-reorganization-plans-requested-by-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative-2-26-2025/#document/p1">Click here to read </a>the full 7 page memo

The memo expands the Republican president's effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described as an impediment to his agenda. Thousands of probationary employees&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-workers-layoffs-doge-406752da1614755b8fabe9c94e0c71a8">have already been fired</a>, and now his administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection.

“We’re cutting down the size of government. We have to," Trump said during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. "We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren’t doing their job.”

Agencies are directed to submit by March 13 their plans for what is known as a reduction in force, which would not only lay off employees but eliminate the position altogether. The result could be extensive changes in how government functions.

More plans are due on April 14, when agencies are expected to outline how they will consolidate management, become more efficient and potentially relocate offices to parts of the country that are less expensive than Washington. The memo said agencies should implement their plans by Sept. 30.

Administration officials framed their effort as a cost-saving measure but with a clear ideological goal.

“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public," said the memo from Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a human resources agency. "Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hard-working American citizens.”

Kevin Owen, an employment lawyer who represents federal workers, compared the administration's initiative to the kind of disruptions that are caused by government shutdowns during congressional budget standoffs.

“This looks like a plan for a significant and shocking reduction of the federal workforce that I don't think the American people are prepared for," Owen said. “It's going to cripple a lot of government functions.”

He said that Trump and his allies were focusing on speed rather than precision as they overhaul the government.

“Their plan is to do the damage and get sued,” he said. If a court ultimately rules against them, “by that point, they would have gotten what they wanted in interim.”

Specific targets for reductions were not included in the memo, but Trump said the Environmental Protection Agency could cut its workforce by 65%.

Trump foreshadowed the effort in an executive order that he signed with Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who oversees the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

The order said agency leaders “shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” or RIF.

Some departments have already begin this process. The General Services Administration, which handles federal real estate, told employees on Monday that a reduction in force was underway and they would “everything in our power to make your departure fair and dignified.”

Law enforcement, national security, public safety, military positions and U.S. Postal Service positions are exempt.

The memo was released shortly before Trump convened Cabinet officials as well as Musk, who attended the meeting wearing a black “Make America Great Again” campaign hat.

Musk described himself during the meeting as “humble tech support" for the federal government, and he talked about his cost-cutting crusade in existential terms.

“If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt," he said.

Musk has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/musk-trump-federal-workers-firings-email-9785e7f74eb2a8b8fde5e01ff0c7717f">caused turmoil</a>&nbsp;within the federal workforce, most recently by demanding that employees justify their jobs or risk getting fired. OPM later said that the edict was voluntary, although workers could face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-federal-workers-b23b4752d56d5f969102f94afa5eb4b1">similar requests in the future.</a>

He described his request as a “pulse check.”

“Are these people real? Are they alive? And can they write an email?” he said.

Before the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “all of the Cabinet secretaries take the advice and direction of DOGE.”

“They’ll be providing updates on their efforts, and they’ll also be providing updates on what they’re doing at their agencies in terms of policies and implementing the promises that the president made on the campaign trail,” Leavitt said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740594260355.jpeg" alt="President Trump at the first Cabinet meeting of second term. Image courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>President Trump at the first Cabinet meeting of second term. Image courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25545361-opm-omb-memo-guidance-on-agency-rif-and-reorganization-plans-requested-by-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative-2-26-2025/#document/p1">according to a memo</a>&nbsp;distributed Wednesday by President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;'s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740589414400.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25545361-opm-omb-memo-guidance-on-agency-rif-and-reorganization-plans-requested-by-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative-2-26-2025/#document/p1">Click here to read </a>the full 7 page memoThe memo expands the Republican president's effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described as an impediment to his agenda. Thousands of probationary employees&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-workers-layoffs-doge-406752da1614755b8fabe9c94e0c71a8">have already been fired</a>, and now his administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection.“We’re cutting down the size of government. We have to," Trump said during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. "We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren’t doing their job.”Agencies are directed to submit by March 13 their plans for what is known as a reduction in force, which would not only lay off employees but eliminate the position altogether. The result could be extensive changes in how government functions.More plans are due on April 14, when agencies are expected to outline how they will consolidate management, become more efficient and potentially relocate offices to parts of the country that are less expensive than Washington. The memo said agencies should implement their plans by Sept. 30.Administration officials framed their effort as a cost-saving measure but with a clear ideological goal.“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public," said the memo from Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a human resources agency. "Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hard-working American citizens.”Kevin Owen, an employment lawyer who represents federal workers, compared the administration's initiative to the kind of disruptions that are caused by government shutdowns during congressional budget standoffs.“This looks like a plan for a significant and shocking reduction of the federal workforce that I don't think the American people are prepared for," Owen said. “It's going to cripple a lot of government functions.”He said that Trump and his allies were focusing on speed rather than precision as they overhaul the government.“Their plan is to do the damage and get sued,” he said. If a court ultimately rules against them, “by that point, they would have gotten what they wanted in interim.”Specific targets for reductions were not included in the memo, but Trump said the Environmental Protection Agency could cut its workforce by 65%.Trump foreshadowed the effort in an executive order that he signed with Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who oversees the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.The order said agency leaders “shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” or RIF.Some departments have already begin this process. The General Services Administration, which handles federal real estate, told employees on Monday that a reduction in force was underway and they would “everything in our power to make your departure fair and dignified.”Law enforcement, national security, public safety, military positions and U.S. Postal Service positions are exempt.The memo was released shortly before Trump convened Cabinet officials as well as Musk, who attended the meeting wearing a black “Make America Great Again” campaign hat.Musk described himself during the meeting as “humble tech support" for the federal government, and he talked about his cost-cutting crusade in existential terms.“If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt," he said.Musk has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/musk-trump-federal-workers-firings-email-9785e7f74eb2a8b8fde5e01ff0c7717f">caused turmoil</a>&nbsp;within the federal workforce, most recently by demanding that employees justify their jobs or risk getting fired. OPM later said that the edict was voluntary, although workers could face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-federal-workers-b23b4752d56d5f969102f94afa5eb4b1">similar requests in the future.</a>He described his request as a “pulse check.”“Are these people real? Are they alive? And can they write an email?” he said.Before the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “all of the Cabinet secretaries take the advice and direction of DOGE.”“They’ll be providing updates on their efforts, and they’ll also be providing updates on what they’re doing at their agencies in terms of policies and implementing the promises that the president made on the campaign trail,” Leavitt said.

Read new memo: Federal agencies plan for large-scale layoffs

TOPEKA — Senate Republicans are taking an effort to make the Kansas Supreme Court an elected office, dismantling a decades-old merit-based nomination system for justices that voters put in place after a notorious scandal.

The move is largely a response to a high court decision establishing the right to terminate a pregnancy and three decades of court-imposed compliance with a constitutional mandate to provide suitable funding for public schools.

If adopted with two-thirds majorities in both the Senate and House,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/scr1611/" target="_blank">Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611</a>&nbsp;would place a loaded question before voters on the 2026 general election ballot. The question would ask voters to replace the current nominating commission, “whose membership consists of a majority of lawyers,” with direct election of justices. The seven justice seats would be divided among the 2028, 2030 and 2032 elections, and terms would last six years.

Republicans and special interest groups that align with Republicans favor the change, which they say would shift power from an elitist organization to the people. Opponents raise concerns about reshaping the court through partisan politics and the dark money that dominates political campaigns.

“It’s putting politics where they belong,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican. “They’re going to tell you, ‘Oh, it’s putting politics in the system.’ Politics are in the system. That’s the worst kind of politics. It’s veiled. It’s in the black box, you know, behind the closed door.”

Under the current system, the&nbsp;<a href="https://kscourts.gov/Judges/Become-a-Judge/Supreme-Court-Nominating-Commission" target="_blank">Supreme Court Nominating Commission</a>&nbsp;reviews applications for a vacancy and sends three finalists to the governor, who makes the appointment from those three finalists.

The commission members include one lawyer and one nonlawyer from each of the state’s four congressional districts, plus an additional lawyer who serves as chair. Kansas Bar Association members elect the lawyers who serve on the commission, and the governor appoints the nonlawyers.

The commission considers experience, education, ethics, temperament, community service, impartiality and respect of colleagues when selecting the three nominees to send to the governor.

Each justice faces a retention vote in the next general election after appointment, and again every six years.

The system was put in place following&nbsp;<a href="https://www.humanitieskansas.org/get-involved/kansas-stories/people/tv-the-triple-play-and-the-man-from-dodge" target="_blank">a 1950s political scandal known as “the triple play.”</a>

Gov. Fred Hall, viewed as liberal Republican for the era, was defeated in the 1956 primary after a single two-year term. Democrat George Docking won in the general election.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740601607106.jpeg" alt=" Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert delivers her State of the Judiciary speech on Jan. 15, 2025, in the House Chamber. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, left, and Senate President Ty Masterson listen to her speech. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert delivers her State of the Judiciary speech on Jan. 15, 2025, in the House Chamber. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, left, and Senate President Ty Masterson listen to her speech. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Senate Republicans are taking an effort to make the Kansas Supreme Court an elected office, dismantling a decades-old merit-based nomination system for justices that voters put in place after a notorious scandal.The move is largely a response to a high court decision establishing the right to terminate a pregnancy and three decades of court-imposed compliance with a constitutional mandate to provide suitable funding for public schools.If adopted with two-thirds majorities in both the Senate and House,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/scr1611/" target="_blank">Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611</a>&nbsp;would place a loaded question before voters on the 2026 general election ballot. The question would ask voters to replace the current nominating commission, “whose membership consists of a majority of lawyers,” with direct election of justices. The seven justice seats would be divided among the 2028, 2030 and 2032 elections, and terms would last six years.Republicans and special interest groups that align with Republicans favor the change, which they say would shift power from an elitist organization to the people. Opponents raise concerns about reshaping the court through partisan politics and the dark money that dominates political campaigns.“It’s putting politics where they belong,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican. “They’re going to tell you, ‘Oh, it’s putting politics in the system.’ Politics are in the system. That’s the worst kind of politics. It’s veiled. It’s in the black box, you know, behind the closed door.”Under the current system, the&nbsp;<a href="https://kscourts.gov/Judges/Become-a-Judge/Supreme-Court-Nominating-Commission" target="_blank">Supreme Court Nominating Commission</a>&nbsp;reviews applications for a vacancy and sends three finalists to the governor, who makes the appointment from those three finalists.The commission members include one lawyer and one nonlawyer from each of the state’s four congressional districts, plus an additional lawyer who serves as chair. Kansas Bar Association members elect the lawyers who serve on the commission, and the governor appoints the nonlawyers.The commission considers experience, education, ethics, temperament, community service, impartiality and respect of colleagues when selecting the three nominees to send to the governor.Each justice faces a retention vote in the next general election after appointment, and again every six years.<h2>The triple play</h2>The system was put in place following&nbsp;<a href="https://www.humanitieskansas.org/get-involved/kansas-stories/people/tv-the-triple-play-and-the-man-from-dodge" target="_blank">a 1950s political scandal known as “the triple play.”</a>Gov. Fred Hall, viewed as liberal Republican for the era, was defeated in the 1956 primary after a single two-year term. Democrat George Docking won in the general election.Chief Justice Bill Smith, a supporter of Hall who was prepared to retire, decided to step down before Docking took office so that Hall could resign and take his seat. Smith and Hall resigned on the same day, allowing Lt. Gov. John McCuish to be sworn in as governor and appoint Hall to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.Hall resigned from the court the following year so he could run again for governor, but again lost in the GOP primary.During the 1957 session, the Legislature passed a constitutional amendment that established the current merit-based system. About 70% of voters approved the constitutional amendment in 1958.In recent years, Republicans scrutinized the system in frustration over Kansas Supreme Court decisions that require the Legislature to adequately and equitably fund public schools. The 2019 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, and voters’ rejection of a constitutional amendment on abortion in 2022, fueled renewed interest in abolishing the merit-based system for nominating Supreme Court justices.But Republicans haven’t been able to agree on whether to support the election of justices or adopt the federal model, where high court appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.In a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, attorney Josh Ney noted that no Supreme Court justice in the past 22 years had retired while a Republican was governor. Democratic governors have selected all but one of the justices during that period, with&nbsp;Republican Gov. Sam Brownback appointing his chief counsel, Caleb Steagall, to the court to fill a vacancy by a justice who was appointed to a federal court seat.“We have traded the triple play for systemic double plays,” Ney said.<h2>The opposition</h2>Fred Logan, who appeared before the committee on behalf of the Kansas Bar Association, said Kansas voters “knew exactly what they were doing in 1958 when they installed the merit selection process.”He pointed to the fact that no justice has lost a retention vote as evidence that the process works.“I trust Kansas voters,” Logan said.Blake Shuart, an attorney with the Wichita-based Hutton Law Firm, said lawyers in the state want to protect a system that has served their clients well, win or lose.In the past year, Shuart said, the Kansas Supreme Court has issued decisions on 31 criminal cases, seven attorney discipline matters, three individuals who were seeking compensation for wrongful conviction, and cases dealing with parentage, tax valuations, a zoning code, a gambling license, a public nuisance issue between two farmers, and other matters.“This is not a day in, day out job by our justices to press the lever on state politics, decide elections, school funding, reproductive rights, or any other things,” Shuart said. “Those cases do come around every so often, but what they do every day, week and month of the year, is roll up their sleeves, read briefs, learn cases, ask good questions, listen to good lawyers, argue, deliberate, decide cases fairly based on even-handed application of the facts to the law, and then they sit down and have to write a long opinion.”Rashane Hamby, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said the proposed resolution would inject politics into the courts and erode public trust in the judiciary.The change would threaten the rule of law, weaken separation of powers, and allow special interests to influence the highest court.“The Supreme Court should not be for sale to the highest bidder,” Hamby said. “If this passes, it will be a radical departure from Kansas’ longstanding commitment to judicial independence.”Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican, said justices in the past have run TV ads supporting a retention vote, which means money is already a factor. The ads she referenced were actually paid for and produced by entities that support the justices, not the justices themselves.Logan, who has practiced law for 48 years, told Tyson the limited ads she had seen would be amplified with “huge sums of money” if justices were elected.“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Logan said.