Month: May 2019

KC makes list for new home for two USDA agencies

Kansas City is a finalist to be the new home of two USDA agencies, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.

Kansas City has made the list of finalists to be the home of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service. Sen. Moran is a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture.

“After months of advocating to Secretary Perdue that these agencies ought to be in the Kansas City area, I’m pleased to see USDA listed Kansas City as a finalist to be the headquarters of these critical agencies. Kansas City is home to a highly-skilled workforce as a result of the state’s premier universities, research institutions, agricultural companies, and industry producer groups, and I am thrilled that it’s a finalist for USDA’s ERS and NIFA. The animal health corridor, stretching from Manhattan, Kansas to Columbia, Missouri, is the largest concentration of animal health companies in the world; our state is also the future home of the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF), the nation’s foremost animal disease research facility.

“The concentration of animal health companies and location of NBAF will not only complement the research capabilities of NIFA and ERS, but have also fostered a talented workforce that will help meet the personnel needs of USDA,” Sen. Moran said in a news release. “As a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue advocating to Secretary Purdue and USDA that Kansas City be chosen as ERS and NIFA’s new home.”

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, also applauded the Kansas City area being named as a finalist in the USDA’s search for a new home for the two agencies.

“There’s no better place for ERS and NIFA to relocate than Kansas City,” said Sen. Roberts, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “Moving the offices to Kansas City, in the middle of the country, close to stakeholders, should improve customer service and make efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”

Both ERS and NIFA are key research arms of USDA, currently located in the Washington, D.C., area. Secretary Perdue recently launched an effort to relocate the two key research arms of the Department outside of the Washington, D.C., region.

As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee tasked with oversight of USDA, and an outspoken advocate for developing research infrastructure in Kansas, Sen. Roberts stated he would continue monitoring the site selection process closely.

The Greater Kansas City region joins sites in Indiana and the Research Triangle Region of North Carolina as finalists.

Police searching for teen

Leland Dixon

Kansas City, Kansas, police are searching for a teen, according to a spokesman.

At 2:42 p.m. April 12, police received an emergency call about a teenage male who had been shot in the 2500 block of Nebraska Avenue.

When officers arrived, they found a male with a single gunshot wound, the police spokesman stated.

Police currently would like to speak with Leland Dixon, 14, in relation to the shooting, the spokesman stated.

If anyone sees him or knows Leland’s whereabouts, the public is asked to call 913-596-3000. Anyone with general information is asked to call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

Blue Devils rally three times for 15-14 win in 10 innings

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Faced with a nine-day layoff before the start of Region VI playoff action, Kansas City Kansas Community College coach Matt Goldbeck was able to add William Jewell junior varsity to the schedule Thursday to keep Blue Devils sharp while the rest of the Jayhawk Conference finished out regular season play.

Offensively, the added game couldn’t have gone much better – 16 hits including seven for extra bases in yet another game that went right down to the wire.

Three times the Blue Devils had to come from behind, the last time in the bottom of the 10th in a wild 15-14 victory.

The win got the Blue Devils within one win of their third 40-win season in the last four years at 39-14 as they await opening playoff action this coming Thursday, probably against Seward County (26-25) which is currently in sixth place in the Jayhawk West.

A best-of-three series, the second game will be played Friday with a third game if necessary on Saturday.

Sophomore Kemper Bednar had three singles and a double and freshman Tyler Henry doubled twice and singled to pace the Blue Devils’ 16-hit attack while four others had two hits each, Jose Sosa, Griffin Everitt, Brady Holder and Matt Schrick. Kevin Santiago added a double and Eduardo Acosta drove in three runs without a hit.

Trailing 7-2 after three innings, the Blue Devils had to score runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game 13-13 and two in the 10th inning for the 15-14 win.

Extra base hits got the Blue Devils even and then won it. A Griffin Everitt triple and a Tyler Henry double, both with two out, closed the KCKCC deficit to 13-12 in the seventh and the Blue Devils pulled even in the eighth on singles by Bednar and Schrick and a sacrifice fly by Acosta.

The Cardinals re-took the lead on a wild pitch in the top of the 10th before Bednar’s fourth single was followed by a game-tying triple by Brady Holder and Matt Schrick won it with a single.

The rally made a winner out of Max Storch, who struck out six, walked none and allowed just one run and four hits in 3 2/3 innings of relief.

Matt Fred got the start, giving up six earned runs and four hits in two innings. He walked three, struck out two.

Hunter Paxton worked 3 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and four runs, walking one and hitting three before Zavier Morin relieved in a 6-run sixth inning, allowing two hits and two runs.

Jewell took a 5-0 lead in the first two innings. KCKCC got two runs back in the second on a walk, Henry’s first double, Kemper’s bunt single and a Holder sacrifice fly only to have the Cardinals reopen their lead to 7-2 in the third.

KCKCC got four runs back in the fourth on just two hits, a leadoff single by Henry and a run-scoring double by Santiago after three walks.

The Blue Devils went back ahead 11-9 with a 5-run fifth. Loading the bases with one out on a hit batsman, walk and Holder single, Acosta drove in one run with a sacrifice fly, Sosa doubled in two runs and Everitt singled in two more.

The lead was only temporary. The Cardinals scored six times off three Blue Devil hurlers in the sixth and it took the late inning heroics for win No. 39.