February 2022

Sen. Marshall supports legislation to protect Kansas small businesses from IRS snooping

February 16, 2022

(Washington, D.C., February 11, 2022) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. announced his support of the Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments (SNOOP) Act, a bill to strike the tax code provision inserted by the Biden Administration in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) that requires third-party payment platforms to report businesses’ gross transaction volumes totaling more than $600 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Anticompetitive practices are the target of new online tool

February 16, 2022

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Justice (DOJ) recently launched an online tool designed to help farmers and ranchers submit anonymous comments about anticompetitive behavior in the meat and poultry industries.

Sending public funds to private schools would harm Kansas

February 16, 2022

Proposed legislation to allow state tax dollars for parents to send at risk students to private schools is a disaster trying to happen. Enacting the Student Empowerment Act would shift the foundation of Kansas public education.

From ‘Valley of Death’ to Florence Nightingale

February 16, 2022

“Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.” This famous phrase is part of the poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, the British Poet Laureate. Put to paper only a few days after he heard of the disastrous event, this poem remains with us in modern times with its phrases “half a league, half a league, half a league onward,” “cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them,” and “theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.”

Sen. Masterson manipulates cronies over redistricting issue

February 16, 2022

It is unclear that the people of Butler County and Senate District 16 sent Ty Masterson to Topeka to behave has he has this past week – but it is doubtful. Masterson has shown his manipulative and vindictive side as the Legislature has grappled with redistricting.

KDA offers specialty crop webinar series

February 16, 2022

MANHATTAN, Kansas — During the month of March and the first week of April, the Kansas Department of Agriculture will offer a Specialty Crop Lunch and Learn Webinar Series for those interested in the specialty crop industry. Topics of interest include production practices, specialized equipment, floriculture, diversifying and scaling your operation, turning your specialty crop operation into an agritourism destination, and specialty crop marketing plans and strategies. The six-part webinar series will be held at noon every Tuesday from March 1 through April 5.

Farmers consider impact of winter weather and high fertilizer prices on Kansas wheat

February 16, 2022

As the wheat crop is tucked into dormancy like a hibernating bear, Kansas farmers are making tough choices about topdressing during a dry winter with escalating fertilizer prices. Kansas wheat farmers reported last week during a board meeting of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers (KAWG) that wheat fields across Kansas were generally planted into sufficient moisture conditions and went into winter with decent stands.

February 16, 2022

The Pratt Community College women’s basketball team beat Independence 68-65 this past weekend in a game that was a very physical match up. Both teams took shots back and forth to keep up with each other.

February 16, 2022

The Barclay Bears men’s basketball team beat Ozark Christian College last week 103-100. This game was a shootout from start to finish. Ozark Christian shot 56.5 percent from the field in the win and was 17-of-31 from the perimeter. They were a crisp 13-of-21 from the free-throw line.

Pratt ladies hang on for tough win over Halstead; Walker scores 30 points to lead the Greenbacks to victory

February 16, 2022

Pratt High School girls jumped out to a 12-2 lead last week at Halstead and then started to struggle against the press. Resulting turnovers were a plague but the Lady Greenbacks pulled out a 48-43 win despite that trouble.