National Weather Service graphic
Very little, if any snow was noticed after the Wyandotte County area received a tiny bit of precipitation Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Residents today have to deal with bitterly cold temperatures as high pressure moves into the area, the National Weather Service said.
There are increasing chances of snow this weekend, according to the weather service.
The temperature was 11 degrees with a wind chill of minus 5 at 8 a.m. Thursday, according to the weather service.
Today’s high in Wyandotte County may reach 16, the weather service said. A north wind will be 13 to 17 mph with gusts as high as 28 mph, according to the weather service.
Tonight, the low will be around 3.
Friday’s forecast is mostly sunny with a high of 19, the weather service said. The wind chill will be between minus 5 and 5.
Friday night, it will be mostly cloudy with a low around 12, according to the weather service.
Saturday, expect snow after noon, the weather service said. The high will be near 27. The chance of precipitation is 70 percent and there will be 1 to 3 inches possible of snow, although that amount is not yet certain, according to the weather service.
The 70 percent chance of snow continues Saturday night, the weather service said. On Sunday, the chance of rain and snow is 60 percent, with a high of 35, according to the weather service.
Monday, there is a 30 percent chance of rain, freezing rain and sleet, and the high will be near 37, the weather service said.
A 60 percent chance of rain, freezing rain and sleet continues on Monday night, the weather service said.
Tuesday, the temperatures will climb to 42 degrees, and there will be a 50 percent chance of rain, the weather service said.
Skies clear up on Wednesday, when there will be a high near 31, according to the weather service.
Rep. Val Winn, D-34th Dist., said a bill was killed today in the Kansas House that would have changed collective bargaining for teachers. (Staff photo) by Mary Rupert
A bill that would have changed teachers’ collective bargaining into individual or group bargaining was defeated in the Kansas House today.
State Rep. Val Win, D-34th Dist., said legislators amended it, doing a “gut and go” on it to include language from an earlier agreement in it.
The Professional Negotiations Act bill as it was adopted by the House Commerce Committee was opposed by the Kansas National Education Association and the Kansas Association of School Boards. Teachers’ groups said it would have created “chaos.” With the new language, the teachers’ groups are in support of it.
Rep. Winn is the ranking Democratic member of the House Education Committee.
“Right before I came today, I was able to kill a bill that would have been terrible for any school district negotiating contracts,” Rep. Winn said.
She was one of several legislators speaking against the former bill and in favor of the change made today. Other legislators and Rep. Winn were able to include a compromise version of the bill to replace the language allowing the individual teacher negotiations. The bill had bipartisan support.
The amendment by Rep. Sue Boldra, R-Hays, to House Bill 2326 passed on a 67-52 vote in the House. Final action on the bill will be Thursday in the House.
Rep. Winn added that she is still fighting to not repeal the “common core” standards.
Candidates for the Board of Public Utilities are taking sides on whether to sell the utility this election.
Murray D. Anderson Sr., one of four candidates for BPU, at large position 3, has stated at a recent candidate forum that he would favor selling the BPU, while some other candidates are in favor of keeping it as a public utility. There is no incumbent running for the BPU seat. The election is Tuesday, March 3.
“I intend to privatize the Board of Public Utilities,” Anderson said at a recent forum. He added he is in favor of a BPU employee stock ownership plan.
Some of the other candidates differ.
“The BPU is a community asset, it belongs to all of us, and I will oppose all efforts to privatize what is a critical public service,” said another candidate for the office, Norman D. Scott. Scott also is the chair of the Wyandotte County Democratic Party.
Thomas H. Gordon, also a candidate for the BPU position, said at a forum that he echoed what Scott said about the BPU. However, today he clarified his statement and said that presently, he does not know all the dynamics of what the BPU does for us, and until he examines the pros and cons, he would not make a decision.
Chris McCord, also a candidate for the BPU position, is against selling the utility. He said there did not seem to him to be any advantage to selling the BPU. He said utility rates are fairly comparable to private rates, and he isn’t sure that there would be any rate differences for homeowners if it was sold.
Norman Scott (Staff photo)
A lifelong Wyandotte County resident, Scott graduated from Wyandotte High School and attended Kansas City Kansas Community College.
He has worked in the construction industry his entire career, retiring as a business agent for a union, IUOE, Local 101. Since retirement, he has been a volunteer in his neighborhood association, his church and at Cross-Lines.
He said he decided to run for the BPU after discussing it with friends and neighbors, not to launch a political career.
“I’m running to represent the citizens of Wyandotte County,” Scott said.
Keeping rates as low as possible and delivering customer service as best as possible are two of his goals.
“I’m a strong supporter of labor and I know they have contributed to BPU’s success,” he said. “I want to assure we continue to strengthen that relationship.” Thomas Gordon (Staff photo)
Gordon, a native of Kansas City, Kan., and a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, said he believes in order and efficiency.
A graduate of Sumner High School and Donnelly College, Gordon said his main platform is bringing unity to the people and the BPU. He said he means to represent all of the people.
He developed some goals after talking with customers of BPU.
Gordon’s platform lists goals including live televised BPU meetings; the power to ask questions during the live meeting via media connections; to focus on the utility needs of the customers; clear and comprehensive billing; free annual audits of the energy efficiency of customers’ appliances; purchasing programs for energy-efficient appliances; and efficient delivery of utilities to customers by BPU with accountable negotiations when outside services or providers are needed for customers.
Murray Anderson Sr. (Staff photo)
Anderson, originally from Arkansas, came to the area around 60 years ago. He grew up in the area and graduated from Rosedale High School.
“I intend to rebalance the power of the Unified Government, because our vote must have absolute value,” Anderson said at a recent forum. “We need commissioners who can represent our interests with or without the consent of the mayor-CEO.”
Anderson said the local government is not a functioning democracy, but is a monarchy masquerading as a democracy.
Anderson said he is a member of Teamsters Local 955.
“We need an opportunity to make intelligent, informed decisions to create capital that can be used or deployed to grow our own businesses,” Anderson said.
“I don’t expect to win, but I expect to fight so that others may win,” Anderson said.
Chris McCord
McCord said his main reason for running is that “it is very important that we keep local control of our public utility. The primary mission of the BPU should be to provide reliable and affordable utility services to its customers while improving the overall quality of life in our community. I believe that we need to make customer service our number one priority, increase our reliance on renewable energy, work to maintain the long-term needs of our growing community and to keep our good jobs in Kansas City, Kan.”
McCord, an Army veteran, is a graduate of Washington High School who attended Kansas City Kansas Community College and graduated from Kansas State University. He has his own real estate appraisal business.
He serves on the board of Hillcrest Transitional Housing Services, which helps homeless teens, where he is currently board chairman. He is a member and past president of the Downtown Rotary Club, and past president of the Piper Optimist Club. He also is a volunteer for Hands to Hearts.
If there had to be cuts in the future, McCord said he would first look at the amount of outside contractors who perform duties that could be completed by employees.
McCord said he favored having as many of the jobs handled by BPU employees as possible, as opposed to having outside contractors do the work. He said he realized there are some specialized jobs that contractors may have to do.
He also said one of his goals would be to try to improve customer service at BPU.
The election is March 3. Advance voting has begun in Wyandotte County.
