76th District Representative Eri Smith of Burlington is not pleased with how the Kansas Department of Labor has handled certain aspects of the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of KVOE s legislative session previews on the Morning Show this week, Smith graded the state s response to the personal impact as a C at best in part due to ongoing issues in the Labor Department.
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Smith believes the antiquated equipment mentioned by Labor Department officials for most of last year can be replaced, but other improvements like more staffing are also needed.
Smith also says there is no happy answer for moving through and out of the coronavirus pandemic, so the goal should be to minimize the impact. He credited emergency management officials for working through the pandemic, given the fact the Kansas Emergency Management Act did not account for pandemic response when COVID-19 came to Kansas last year.
Flint Hills Technical College to formally begin process of finding new president Featured KVOE News file photo
Future leadership and past security matters will highlight the Flint Hills Technical College s Board of Trustees meeting Monday.
Board members may approve the official search committee to replace Dean Hollenbeck, who announced his retirement in mid-October after 15 years as president. This is among the lead items in starting the active search for a new president.
The board will also review the 2019 Campus Security Report, which demonstrated a clean sheet the past three years for violent crime, hate crime, domestic or dating violence, liquor law violations, drug law violations and other significant crime categories at all the college s campuses.
A $6.8 million development project on a portion of the DeBauge-Krueger tract, near 18th Avenue and Graphic Arts Road, passed the first round of approval from the Regional Development Association, Friday morning.
The development would bring in a QuikTrip convenience store and development of a new access road connecting quicker access to Interstate 35, the Kansas Turnpike and US Highway 50.Â
RDA President Kent Heermann said the development would take up about 10 acres of the 70-acre property tract, located just west of Flint Hills Technical College. A new access road would be constructed at the first entrance to FHTC and the Jones Education Center on Graphic Arts Road, down to I-35.Â