Kansas
Lori Blake announces her candidacy for the 69th seat in the Kansas House of Representatives
Submitted
Lori Blake, Assaria, filed to run for the 69th seat in the Kansas House of Representatives on Friday, April 12.
Blake is a lifetime resident of Saline County, serving most recently as the Executive Director at CAPS – Child Advocacy and Parenting Services.
According to Blake she is seeking this role to give voters a candidate who seeks solutions working with lawmakers across the aisle for lasting change felt by our neighbors.
Blake has built a career collaborating with community leaders as an advocate for all children and families.
“Over three decades as a small business owner and administrator in public education, disability supports and child abuse prevention, I have learned families are the foundation for society. When they thrive, we all do, but that’s not currently what’s happening. Many families are in survival mode.” Blake said.
During her three terms on the USD 306 School Board, she rose to be elected as the President of the Kansas Association of School Boards and is known as a public education advocate across the state. “We’ve made great gains in stabilizing the funding for public education and growing a rainy day fund, but our legislators have forgotten their duty. The legislature’s job is to fund the work, not continue passing policy that should be decided by our locally elected school board members and city and county commissioners who know our community values and needs,” Blake said.
Blake said she is also concerned about the loss of respect for public servants like our teachers, medical providers, and law enforcement officers; lack of universal access to quality health care; and government intrusion into an individual’s private life.
“I chose to stay and make a life in Central Kansas. My husband and I have raised three children here. I love this place and want to do all I can to leave it better than I found it. I hope the existing relationships I’ve had in my career and volunteer service will give me a head start to lift local issues,” Blake said.
After 10 years of being an unaffiliated registered voter, Blake filed as a Democrat. She wants to represent Saline County and create opportunities for unity instead of extreme division. She says her values, like most Kansans, live in the middle of the typical political spectrum.
Blake says that she loves making connections with new people and working together. To demonstrate the importance of bipartisanship, she sought out John Quinley, a Republican from Salina, to serve as her Treasurer.
“The different experiences across humanity present challenges, but when we can listen and focus on the issue at hand, the group mind prevails with solutions that are often mutually beneficial. Just like sending my kids to Salina Area Technical College, KU and K-State, we have different options to meet different needs. What’s good for Kansans is good for Kansas,” Blake said.
“The language put in the bill is, in my opinion, is to try to prevent state entities, state employees, from promoting the use of different pronouns and, if you will, the search for gender change,” Republican state Rep. John Eplee, a northeastern Kansas family physician.
Kansas State basketball guard Dai Dai Ames highlights against Texas
Kansas State guard Dai Dai Ames had 10 points and three assists in the Wildcats’ April 13 Big 12 Tournament game against Texas.
Big 12 Conference
For Kansas State basketball, the transfer portal is turning into a merry-go-round.
After adding two players — former Villanova guard Brendan Hausen and Arkansas big man Baye Fall — over the weekend, the Wildcats lost another one Sunday when point guard Dai Dai Amens tossed his name in the portal.
Ames, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Chicago, started 16 games, including the last 13 of the 2023-24 season. He averaged 5.2 points, 2.0 assists and 1.1 rebounds while shooting 35.3%, including 32.9% from 3-point range.
Ames becomes the sixth Wildcat player to enter the portal. He joins starting guard Cam Carter, who has since signed with LSU, and starting center Jerrell Colbert, along with super-senior guard Ques Glover, sophomore guard Dorian Finister and freshman guard R.J. Jones.
Ames was expected to be a key player for the Wildcats next year after a strong finish to his freshman season. He scored in double figures two of the last three games, including a career-high 16 points with five assists in a season-ending National Invitation Tournament loss to Iowa.
Kansas State basketball adds sharpshooting Villanova guard from transfer portal
Kansas State basketball is headed to the Big Apple in December for Big 12/Big East battle
K-State finished with a 19-15 record and a first-round NIT loss in Jerome Tang’s second season as head coach after he led them to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight the year before. He already has signed four players from the portal, plus a four-star high school recruit, but has at least four scholarships left to give.
K-State’s top portal addition so far is former Michigan point guard Dug McDaniel. Tang also has signed shooting guard CJ Jones from Illinois-Chicago along with 3-point specialist Hausen and the 6-foot-11 Fall, a former McDonald’s All American.
Only four players remain from the 2022-23 Wildcats. Senior forward Arthur Kaluma, the third-leading scorer at 14.4 points and top rebounder at 7.0 per game, has declared for the NBA draft but remains eligible to return, while forward David N’Guessan (7.8 points, 6.8 rebounds) has yet to officially announce whether he will be back for a final super-senior season.
The other two still on the team are freshmen reserve forwards Taj Manning and Macaleab Rich.
K-State remains in the hunt for Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi and Arkansas shooting guard Khalif Battle, both of whom visited Manhattan last week.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Bryan and Gina Zesiger opened Z & M Twisted Vines Winery 6 years ago.
“It started off as something we could do together as a hobby,” said Z & M Twisted Vines Winery Gina Montalbano-Zesiger.
The retired U.S. Army Major and educator wanted to create a unique farm-to-table with wine.
“We tell our story through the wine, of things we like and kind of pushing the boundaries of wines doesn’t always have to be pretentious,” said Montalbano-Zesiger.
However, their lives were crushed a few years into opening.
Leavenworth County classified the winery as commercial rather than agricultural, leading to higher taxation on the property.
“We thought it was a joke. For whatever reason the second year we got this new bill and it’s like ‘Where does any of this come from?’,” said Montalbano-Zesiger.
“When you double and triple your taxation on your farm, we don’t have the means to make that up,” said Z & M Twisted Vines Winery Bryan Zesiger.
This uncorked Brayn Zesiger to craft SB 410 that aims to help farmers across the state.
Governor Laura Kelly signed the bill into law April 24.
“I crafted the bill to ensure that farms and ranches, agriculture that participate in agritourism do not get taxed as commercial,” said Zesiger.
Zesiger says the success of the bill passing is like taking a sip of your own crafted wine, rewarding and fulfilling.
“It wasn’t that anyone was doing anything wrong. This was to make sure that we still understand here in Kansas that agriculture is agriculture and come out and enjoy our farm and enjoy what we make on our farm,” said Zesiger.
Copyright 2024 WIBW. All rights reserved.
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