Month: December 2016

Lady Blue Devils take No. 11 ranking to pre-holiday finale

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Officially, Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women came away with a split in three games over the past weekend – winning one, losing one and canceling a third contest.

Defeated by NJCAA Division I power Northeast Nebraska 70-53 in the opening round of the Iowa Western Classic in Council Bluffs Friday, the Lady Blue Devils bounced back Sunday with a 67-62 win over Missouri Valley JV in Marshall. A second game against Iowa Western Saturday had to be canceled because of a massive power failure throughout the Iowa Western campus although it is hoped the game can be rescheduled.

Ranked No. 11 in the latest NJCAA Division II national poll, the Lady Blue Devils (8-4) will close out first semester play Friday, Dec. 16, against Southwestern Iowa in Creston at 5:30 p.m.

Unofficially, KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry is hopeful lessons learned in the loss to a big and talented Northeast Nebraska team will pay off during the second half of the season.

“I am certainly not a ‘moral victory’ type of guy but I was pretty happy with a lot of things we did,” McKinstry said.

“Northeast (13-1) is an outstanding team and certainly has a great shot at returning to the Division I national tournament but we held them below their season’s averages in field goal percentage (.394) and 3-point percentage (.103). They’re a team that really likes to get out and run and score layups at will with a great job in the assist-to-turnover ratio and we held them to negative in that category as well.”

However, without a player taller than 5-11, the Blue Devils had no answer to 6-3 Mykala Baylor, who had 21 points and 13 rebounds, and 6-2 Iva Belosevic, who had 11 rebounds and 9 points in leading the Lady Badgers to a 53-31 rebound domination. The win was the 11th in a row for Northeast.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t take care of the ball (27 turnovers) and those mistakes against talented teams are going to prevent you from coming away with a win,” McKinstry said. “But I have no doubt we can learn from this game and will be better off in January and February from it.”

Brie Tauai, a 5-11 sophomore from Blue Devils, led the Blue Devils with a double double with 21 points and 10 rebounds including 3-of-5 from 3-point. Millie Shade and Whitney Hazlett added seven points each for the Blue Devils.

Defensively, the Blue Devils forced 22 turnovers but “we did not play well at both ends of the floor,” McKinstry said.

KCKCC to offer Express Enrollment Days in January

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College is starting the spring 2017 semester with KCKCC Express Enrollment Days.

The enrollment event is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave.

The Express Enrollment Days will allow students considering attending KCKCC to complete the enrollment process in one place and most important, in one day, according to a spokesman.

Students will be able to:

• Complete admissions application
• Get financial aid questions answered
• Take a campus tour
• To meet the assessment requirement, bring in your SAT/ACT/PSAT scores, high school transcript, college transcript or take the ACCUPLACER if needed.
• Meet with a student success adviser. You must complete your assessment prior to meeting with a student success adviser.
• Register for courses
• Pay for courses
• Get a student I.D. and parking pass
• Purchase your textbooks
• Complete new student orientation

In addition to obtaining a certificate or associate’s degree, which can be accomplished in two years or less, KCKCC is also a terrific place to start in the quest for earning a bachelor’s degree, the KCKCC spokesman said. The community college has transfer-articulation agreements with dozens of four-year colleges and universities throughout the region including Ottawa University, Emporia State University, University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Northwest Missouri State University, Park University and Pittsburg State University, among many others.

Even if students have already been accepted to KCKCC, there are several steps that need to be completed in the enrollment process. Classes fill up fast, and the registration deadline is Jan. 9. After this date, there is no guarantee that courses will be available, so completing the enrollment steps early is important, the spokesman said.

To make sure the Express Enrollment Days is a smooth process, potential students must have applied for admission, transfer any previous courses to KCKCC and complete the FAFSA (Federal Application for Federal Student Aid) at least one week prior to the Express Enrollment Days event. For more information on transferring transcripts visit http://www.kckcc.edu/admission/returning-students/transcript-services. For questions on the FAFSA, visit http://www.kckcc.edu/costs-aid/financial-aid.

For more information on the Express Enrollment Days, contact the Admissions Office at 913-288-7600.

Woman who owned business in Basehor sentenced for not paying employment taxes

A woman who owned a home health care business in Basehor, Kan., was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in custody for failing to pay more than $856,000 in federal taxes, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.

Elizabeth Lucero, 53, Basehor, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to collect or pay over employment tax. In her plea, she admitted the crime occurred while she owned Sunshine Home Health Care in Basehor. The company had 65 to 70 employees and 1,400 patients.

From 2007 to 2011, Lucero’s company withheld payments from employee’s paychecks including federal income taxes, Medicare and Social Security taxes. Even though the company was growing and profitable, it made no payments to the Internal Revenue Service as required. Furthermore, against her accountant’s advice, Lucero had the company pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars of her personal expenses, including cash withdrawals at casinos for gambling and a $50,000 Cadillac Escalade.

In her plea, Lucero agreed to pay restitution of $856,784.

Beall commended the Internal Revenue Service and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.