By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer

NEW YORK — On Dec. 22, 1985, The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/1aa23991920be67a37fcb1908001dc0a">reported the following from Blue Ridge, Georgia:</a>

“Investigators
 searching for cocaine dropped by an airborne smuggler have found a 
ripped-up shipment of the sweet-smelling powder and the remains of a 
bear that apparently died of a multimillion-dollar high.”

Police 
found a sad scene. A 175-lb. black bear dead near a duffle bag and some 
$2 million worth of cocaine that had been opened and scattered over a 
hillside. The parachutist, a former Kentucky narcotics investigator, had
 fallen to his death in a backyard in Knoxville, Tennessee. His unmanned
 airplane crashed into a North Carolina mountain. Back in Georgia, the 
bear, examiners said, had overdosed.

The story is in many ways too
 much. Too absurd. Too ’80s. Even the screenwriters of the “Fast &amp; 
Furious” movies would think it far-fetched. The stranger-than-fiction 
tale quickly receded from the headlines and, before some began to stoke 
the myth of “Pablo Escobear,” it mostly stayed buried in news media 
archives.

That changed when screenwriter Jimmy Warden delivered to
 producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller a script titled “Cocaine 
Bear.” They were on board from page one.

“When the movie’s 
pitched, you hear the word ‘Cocaine,’ you’re like I’m not sure what to 
think of this,” Lord says. “Then when you hear the word ‘Bear,’ you’re 
like: I’m all in.”

Yes, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuWEEKeJLMI">“Cocaine Bear”</a>
 is a real movie. And after it opens in theaters Friday, it might even 
be a hit. Since the trailer first debuted for Elizabeth Banks’ very, 
very loosely based-on-a-true-story R-rated comedy has stoked a rabid 
zeitgeist. At a time when much in Hollywood can feel pre-packaged, the 
makers of “Cocaine Bear” think it can be an untamed exception.

“Hopefully the film lives up to the title,” Banks says, smiling. “That was the goal.”

Little
 on the movie calendar has captured the public imagination quite like 
“Cocaine Bear.” Its trailer, watched more than 25 million times, 
immediately went viral. The movie, itself, is like a meme sprung to life
 — a kind of spiritual heir to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkckhcqiwM8">“Snakes on a Plane”</a>
 crossed with a Paddington Bear fever dream. Everything about it is 
propelled by a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and 
can-you-believe-this-is-a-real-movie wink. “I’m the bear who ate 
cocaine,” reads <a href="https://twitter.com/cocainebear?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">one of the film's official tweets</a>. “This is my story.”

While
 most studio movies are driven by well-known intellectual property and 
few original comedies manage to attract audiences in theaters, “Cocaine 
Bear” is here to strike a blow to business-as-usual in Hollywood. 
“Cocaine Bear” is here to be bold. “Cocaine Bear” is here to party.

“You
 have to demonstrate theatricality to get the greenlight. It just means 
you have to swing the bat a little harder,” Lord says. “In this world 
that’s increasingly mechanized, things that don’t feel mechanized have 
really special value.”

Miller and Lord have in recent years shepherded some of the most vibrant and irreverent films to the screen, including <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ed131a86a96848228dd1c58ac29c0f99">“The Lego Movie,”</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/caf272445f4c426797e6093b2b3c7945">“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/reviews-technology-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-d0fe967abc7b9e6ac51979b7bbfe3679">“The Mitchells vs the Machines.”</a> They like to take apart old conventions and give them an absurdist, post-modern spin.

“Certainly,
 this movie was not mandated by a corporation,” Miller says, laughing. 
“It’s a thing we somehow snuck through the system. That’s how we love to
 make all our movies, like: ‘I can’t believe they let us get away with 
this.’”

Warden had been a production assistant on their 2012 
action comedy “21 Jump Street." After hearing about the 1985 story, 
Warden wrote the script on spec and hoped his old bosses would like it. 
Intrigued at the screenplay's possibility, the producers found an 
unexpectedly open reception from Universal Pictures chief Donna Langley.

“What’s
 funny is that we thought it would be difficult because of the subject 
matter. But surprisingly, they were excited right from the jump and 
didn’t shy away from the movie, its tone or even its title,” says 
Miller. “We thought at some point, someone was going to say, ‘Well you 
can’t call it ‘Cocaine Bear.’ You have to call it ‘A Walk in the 
Woods.’"

Since her directorial debut in 2015's “Pitch Perfect 2,” 
Banks has carved out a second career behind the camera. She last helmed 
2019's “Charlie's Angels." With Universal's backing and Lord and Miller 
producing, “Cocaine Bear” struck her as not just a viable, 
actually-happening project but one where she could marry a gory animal 
attack movie with comedy.

“Most people are surprised that it is a 
real thing, and very surprised that I’m the person that made it,” says 
Banks, laughing. “I just got a text from someone who was like, ‘I’ve 
been hearing about this movie and I had no idea you made it.’”

Though
 the title meant “Cocaine Bear” would be limited from some advertising 
platforms, the filmmakers describe the studio as interested in leaning 
into what made the film distinct from the all the options viewers are 
inundated with. Nothing, it turned out, could cut through all the noise 
like “Cocaine Bear.”

“They love things with strong flavor. That’s 
the word I hear a lot in my marketing meetings," Banks says. “It’s 
harder and harder to find things that are theatrically exciting. The 
hope was that we were making something people needed to leave their 
house to see.”

The film, itself, takes the basis of the real story
 and imagines what might have transpired if the bear didn't quickly die 
but went on a coke-fueled rampage through a national forest, terrorizing
 park wardens, campers and drug dealers seeking the lost shipment. After
 an initial taste, the bear goes after more cocaine with all the zeal of
 Yogi pursuing a picnic basket.

The bear, named Cokie, was a CGI 
concoction created by Weta FX with Allen Henry, a stunt man and student 
of Andy Serkis, performing motion capture. He wore all black and walked 
on all fours with prosthetic arms. The rest of the cast includes Keri 
Russell, Margo Martindale, Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson and Ray 
Liotta. It's one of Liotta's final performances before his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ray-liotta-dead-46f9582dce224a3e51d3bba1663b3c05">death last May</a>, and one that connects back to his similarly cocaine-laced performance in “Goodfellas."

“I’ve
 said that this film felt very risky. The risk was: I was never going to
 have the lead character of the movie on the set of the movie,” Banks 
says. “That was truly what scared me the most. If the bear didn’t work, 
the movie falls apart.”

Lord and Miller hope that there's a rising
 realization within the film industry that movies that are audaciously 
original can pack theaters. Lord points to the Academy Awards favorite 
"Everything Everywhere All at Once” as recent proof.

“It could win
 best picture and it’s the zaniest idea out there,” Lord says. “For the 
scale of that movie, it’s a huge hit. What we’re after is demonstrating 
that these movies can be original and fun and surprising and they can be
 hits.”

“I can’t think of a movie that came out last year that 
wouldn’t have been maybe a little bit better if there had a been a 
cocaine-fueled bear on a rampage as part of it," adds Miller. "Imagine 
if ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ had a big bear just running through 
biting that guy’s fingers off.”

If it's successful, “Cocaine Bear”
 could, of course, become a franchise of its own. A sequel isn't out the
 question. “LSD Armadillo”? “Quaalude Tortoise”? Banks, for now, is 
deferring.

“Somebody will put something into the AI chat bot and 
it will spit out something ridiculous and the internet will write it for
 us.”

By JAKE COYLE AP Film WriterNEW YORK — On Dec. 22, 1985, The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/1aa23991920be67a37fcb1908001dc0a">reported the following from Blue Ridge, Georgia:</a>“Investigators
 searching for cocaine dropped by an airborne smuggler have found a 
ripped-up shipment of the sweet-smelling powder and the remains of a 
bear that apparently died of a multimillion-dollar high.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1572956883313.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Police 
found a sad scene. A 175-lb. black bear dead near a duffle bag and some 
$2 million worth of cocaine that had been opened and scattered over a 
hillside. The parachutist, a former Kentucky narcotics investigator, had
 fallen to his death in a backyard in Knoxville, Tennessee. His unmanned
 airplane crashed into a North Carolina mountain. Back in Georgia, the 
bear, examiners said, had overdosed.The story is in many ways too
 much. Too absurd. Too ’80s. Even the screenwriters of the “Fast &amp; 
Furious” movies would think it far-fetched. The stranger-than-fiction 
tale quickly receded from the headlines and, before some began to stoke 
the myth of “Pablo Escobear,” it mostly stayed buried in news media 
archives.That changed when screenwriter Jimmy Warden delivered to
 producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller a script titled “Cocaine 
Bear.” They were on board from page one.“When the movie’s 
pitched, you hear the word ‘Cocaine,’ you’re like I’m not sure what to 
think of this,” Lord says. “Then when you hear the word ‘Bear,’ you’re 
like: I’m all in.”Yes, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuWEEKeJLMI">“Cocaine Bear”</a>
 is a real movie. And after it opens in theaters Friday, it might even 
be a hit. Since the trailer first debuted for Elizabeth Banks’ very, 
very loosely based-on-a-true-story R-rated comedy has stoked a rabid 
zeitgeist. At a time when much in Hollywood can feel pre-packaged, the 
makers of “Cocaine Bear” think it can be an untamed exception.“Hopefully the film lives up to the title,” Banks says, smiling. “That was the goal.”Little
 on the movie calendar has captured the public imagination quite like 
“Cocaine Bear.” Its trailer, watched more than 25 million times, 
immediately went viral. The movie, itself, is like a meme sprung to life
 — a kind of spiritual heir to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkckhcqiwM8">“Snakes on a Plane”</a>
 crossed with a Paddington Bear fever dream. Everything about it is 
propelled by a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and 
can-you-believe-this-is-a-real-movie wink. “I’m the bear who ate 
cocaine,” reads <a href="https://twitter.com/cocainebear?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">one of the film's official tweets</a>. “This is my story.”While
 most studio movies are driven by well-known intellectual property and 
few original comedies manage to attract audiences in theaters, “Cocaine 
Bear” is here to strike a blow to business-as-usual in Hollywood. 
“Cocaine Bear” is here to be bold. “Cocaine Bear” is here to party.“You
 have to demonstrate theatricality to get the greenlight. It just means 
you have to swing the bat a little harder,” Lord says. “In this world 
that’s increasingly mechanized, things that don’t feel mechanized have 
really special value.”Miller and Lord have in recent years shepherded some of the most vibrant and irreverent films to the screen, including <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ed131a86a96848228dd1c58ac29c0f99">“The Lego Movie,”</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/caf272445f4c426797e6093b2b3c7945">“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/reviews-technology-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-d0fe967abc7b9e6ac51979b7bbfe3679">“The Mitchells vs the Machines.”</a> They like to take apart old conventions and give them an absurdist, post-modern spin.“Certainly,
 this movie was not mandated by a corporation,” Miller says, laughing. 
“It’s a thing we somehow snuck through the system. That’s how we love to
 make all our movies, like: ‘I can’t believe they let us get away with 
this.’”Warden had been a production assistant on their 2012 
action comedy “21 Jump Street." After hearing about the 1985 story, 
Warden wrote the script on spec and hoped his old bosses would like it. 
Intrigued at the screenplay's possibility, the producers found an 
unexpectedly open reception from Universal Pictures chief Donna Langley.“What’s
 funny is that we thought it would be difficult because of the subject 
matter. But surprisingly, they were excited right from the jump and 
didn’t shy away from the movie, its tone or even its title,” says 
Miller. “We thought at some point, someone was going to say, ‘Well you 
can’t call it ‘Cocaine Bear.’ You have to call it ‘A Walk in the 
Woods.’"Since her directorial debut in 2015's “Pitch Perfect 2,” 
Banks has carved out a second career behind the camera. She last helmed 
2019's “Charlie's Angels." With Universal's backing and Lord and Miller 
producing, “Cocaine Bear” struck her as not just a viable, 
actually-happening project but one where she could marry a gory animal 
attack movie with comedy.“Most people are surprised that it is a 
real thing, and very surprised that I’m the person that made it,” says 
Banks, laughing. “I just got a text from someone who was like, ‘I’ve 
been hearing about this movie and I had no idea you made it.’”Though
 the title meant “Cocaine Bear” would be limited from some advertising 
platforms, the filmmakers describe the studio as interested in leaning 
into what made the film distinct from the all the options viewers are 
inundated with. Nothing, it turned out, could cut through all the noise 
like “Cocaine Bear.”“They love things with strong flavor. That’s 
the word I hear a lot in my marketing meetings," Banks says. “It’s 
harder and harder to find things that are theatrically exciting. The 
hope was that we were making something people needed to leave their 
house to see.”The film, itself, takes the basis of the real story
 and imagines what might have transpired if the bear didn't quickly die 
but went on a coke-fueled rampage through a national forest, terrorizing
 park wardens, campers and drug dealers seeking the lost shipment. After
 an initial taste, the bear goes after more cocaine with all the zeal of
 Yogi pursuing a picnic basket.The bear, named Cokie, was a CGI 
concoction created by Weta FX with Allen Henry, a stunt man and student 
of Andy Serkis, performing motion capture. He wore all black and walked 
on all fours with prosthetic arms. The rest of the cast includes Keri 
Russell, Margo Martindale, Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson and Ray 
Liotta. It's one of Liotta's final performances before his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ray-liotta-dead-46f9582dce224a3e51d3bba1663b3c05">death last May</a>, and one that connects back to his similarly cocaine-laced performance in “Goodfellas."“I’ve
 said that this film felt very risky. The risk was: I was never going to
 have the lead character of the movie on the set of the movie,” Banks 
says. “That was truly what scared me the most. If the bear didn’t work, 
the movie falls apart.”Lord and Miller hope that there's a rising
 realization within the film industry that movies that are audaciously 
original can pack theaters. Lord points to the Academy Awards favorite 
"Everything Everywhere All at Once” as recent proof.“It could win
 best picture and it’s the zaniest idea out there,” Lord says. “For the 
scale of that movie, it’s a huge hit. What we’re after is demonstrating 
that these movies can be original and fun and surprising and they can be
 hits.”“I can’t think of a movie that came out last year that 
wouldn’t have been maybe a little bit better if there had a been a 
cocaine-fueled bear on a rampage as part of it," adds Miller. "Imagine 
if ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ had a big bear just running through 
biting that guy’s fingers off.”If it's successful, “Cocaine Bear”
 could, of course, become a franchise of its own. A sequel isn't out the
 question. “LSD Armadillo”? “Quaalude Tortoise”? Banks, for now, is 
deferring.“Somebody will put something into the AI chat bot and 
it will spit out something ridiculous and the internet will write it for
 us.”

REVIEW: 'Cocaine Bear' is here to strike a blow to staid Hollywood

Singer/songwriter Lisa Brokop in her warm, rich voice and 
accompanying band will pay homage to one of country music’s greatest 
ladies, Patsy Cline, with many of her classic hits including “Sweet 
Dreams” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

This Golden Belt Community 
Concert featuring Brokop and the Patsy Cline Project is set for 7:30 
p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Great Bend Municipal Auditorium, Lakin and 
Stone. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Brokop created The Patsy Cline 
Project in 2016 as a collection of Cline’s well-known country and pop 
music hits of the 1950s and 1960s. She also will sing a couple of her 
own songs that she has composed in Cline’s well-known vocal style.

“I’ll
 be coming full circle with this project,” Brokop says, “When I started 
singing, I would sing some of Patsy’s songs because I didn’t have my 
own. They are still some of my favorites today and I am so excited to 
have the opportunity to honor this amazing lady and the incredible music
 she gave us.”

Program highlights will also include “I Fall to 
Pieces,” “Your Cheating Heart,” “Strange,” “Faded Love,” “Back in My 
Baby’s Arms,” and “Blue Moon Over Kentucky.”

This GBCCA event is 
open to association members. No single concert tickets are available. 
Anyone who is not a member and wishes to purchase a season membership 
may do so at this concert. Because the concert association encourages 
music education in the schools, full-time students of any age will be 
admitted to the concert for a $5 donation at the door.

Season 
memberships are $50 per adult; $10 for any full-time enrolled student; 
$110 for a Family Membership (two adults and all dependent children 
living in the same household); and $110 for a Grandparent Package (two 
adults and up to four minor grandchildren).

The GBCCA 2022-2023 
season will continue with Forever Simon and Garfunkel, March 14, and 
Beginnings, the ultimate Chicago Tribute Band, April 22.

For more 
information about GBCCA and to see video previews of the new season’s 
concerts, go to the website, www.goldenbeltcca.org, or call 
620-793-2748.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677018098017.jpeg" alt="Lisa Brokop will sing the music of Patsy Cline in the Golden Belt Community Concert presentation, The Patsy Cline Project, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at the Great Bend Municipal Auditorium, Lakin and Stone. The performance is open to GBCCA members. Memberships will be available for purchase at the concert." />
 <figcaption>Lisa Brokop will sing the music of Patsy Cline in the Golden Belt Community Concert presentation, The Patsy Cline Project, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at the Great Bend Municipal Auditorium, Lakin and Stone. The performance is open to GBCCA members. Memberships will be available for purchase at the concert.</figcaption>
 </figure>Courtesy Great Bend PostSinger/songwriter Lisa Brokop in her warm, rich voice and 
accompanying band will pay homage to one of country music’s greatest 
ladies, Patsy Cline, with many of her classic hits including “Sweet 
Dreams” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.”This Golden Belt Community 
Concert featuring Brokop and the Patsy Cline Project is set for 7:30 
p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Great Bend Municipal Auditorium, Lakin and 
Stone. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.Brokop created The Patsy Cline 
Project in 2016 as a collection of Cline’s well-known country and pop 
music hits of the 1950s and 1960s. She also will sing a couple of her 
own songs that she has composed in Cline’s well-known vocal style.“I’ll
 be coming full circle with this project,” Brokop says, “When I started 
singing, I would sing some of Patsy’s songs because I didn’t have my 
own. They are still some of my favorites today and I am so excited to 
have the opportunity to honor this amazing lady and the incredible music
 she gave us.”Program highlights will also include “I Fall to 
Pieces,” “Your Cheating Heart,” “Strange,” “Faded Love,” “Back in My 
Baby’s Arms,” and “Blue Moon Over Kentucky.”This GBCCA event is 
open to association members. No single concert tickets are available. 
Anyone who is not a member and wishes to purchase a season membership 
may do so at this concert. Because the concert association encourages 
music education in the schools, full-time students of any age will be 
admitted to the concert for a $5 donation at the door.Season 
memberships are $50 per adult; $10 for any full-time enrolled student; 
$110 for a Family Membership (two adults and all dependent children 
living in the same household); and $110 for a Grandparent Package (two 
adults and up to four minor grandchildren).The GBCCA 2022-2023 
season will continue with Forever Simon and Garfunkel, March 14, and 
Beginnings, the ultimate Chicago Tribute Band, April 22.For more 
information about GBCCA and to see video previews of the new season’s 
concerts, go to the website, www.goldenbeltcca.org, or call 
620-793-2748.

The Patsy Cline Project with Lisa Brokop in Great Bend

Four high school boys afflicted with spring fever skipped morning classes. After lunch they reported to the teacher that they had a flat tire. Much to their relief she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a test today so take seats apart from one another and take out a piece of paper." Still smiling, she waited for them to sit down. Then she said: "First Question: Which tire was flat?"

Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

Four high school boys afflicted with spring fever skipped morning classes. After lunch they reported to the teacher that they had a flat tire. Much to their relief she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a test today so take seats apart from one another and take out a piece of paper." Still smiling, she waited for them to sit down. Then she said: "First Question: Which tire was flat?"Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 02/21/23

Mark your calendars! One of the larger spring farm shows in the Midwest is coming to Salina in March.

The 58th annual Mid America Farm Expo is scheduled for March 22-24, the Salina Chamber of Commerce announced this morning. Hours will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 22-23 and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. March 24.

The expo, which draws more than 5,000 attendees over three days, will be headquartered at Tony's Pizza Events Center (TPEC), 800 The Midway, with displays also across the street in the Saline County Livestock &amp; Expo Center's Ag Hall, and outdoors in front of Ag Hall and in the TPEC west parking lot.

The latest in farm technology, equipment, and supplies will be on display in approximately 250 exhibits, including some expo exhibit favorites as well as several new exhibits, the chamber noted.

The expo also will feature a variety of seminars by agriculture leaders, including the following.

10-11:30 a.m.:&nbsp;Basics of Farm Transition Planning&nbsp;with Shannon Ferrell from Oklahoma State University

1:30-3 p.m.:&nbsp;Mechanics of Building a Farm Legacy: Transactional Tools for Farm Transitions&nbsp;with Ferrell

10-11:30 a.m.:&nbsp;The State of Carbon Credit Programs&nbsp;with Micah Cameron-Harp of Kansas State University

1:30-3 p.m.:&nbsp;The US Ag Economy: How are we looking?&nbsp;with Brian Briggeman from K-State

10-11:30 a.m.:&nbsp;Grain and Livestock Market Outlook&nbsp;with Don Close and Cody Barilla from Terrain Ag

For more information about the Mid-America Farm Expo, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.salinakansas.org/midamericafarmexpo.html">salinakansas.org/midamericafarmexpo.html</a>.

By SALINA POSTMark your calendars! One of the larger spring farm shows in the Midwest is coming to Salina in March.The 58th annual Mid America Farm Expo is scheduled for March 22-24, the Salina Chamber of Commerce announced this morning. Hours will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 22-23 and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. March 24.The expo, which draws more than 5,000 attendees over three days, will be headquartered at Tony's Pizza Events Center (TPEC), 800 The Midway, with displays also across the street in the Saline County Livestock &amp; Expo Center's Ag Hall, and outdoors in front of Ag Hall and in the TPEC west parking lot.The latest in farm technology, equipment, and supplies will be on display in approximately 250 exhibits, including some expo exhibit favorites as well as several new exhibits, the chamber noted.The expo also will feature a variety of seminars by agriculture leaders, including the following.March 2210-11:30 a.m.:&nbsp;Basics of Farm Transition Planning&nbsp;with Shannon Ferrell from Oklahoma State University1:30-3 p.m.:&nbsp;Mechanics of Building a Farm Legacy: Transactional Tools for Farm Transitions&nbsp;with FerrellMarch 2310-11:30 a.m.:&nbsp;The State of Carbon Credit Programs&nbsp;with Micah Cameron-Harp of Kansas State University1:30-3 p.m.:&nbsp;The US Ag Economy: How are we looking?&nbsp;with Brian Briggeman from K-StateMarch 2410-11:30 a.m.:&nbsp;Grain and Livestock Market Outlook&nbsp;with Don Close and Cody Barilla from Terrain AgFor more information about the Mid-America Farm Expo, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.salinakansas.org/midamericafarmexpo.html">salinakansas.org/midamericafarmexpo.html</a>.

58th annual Mid America Farm Expo set for March 22-24

What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator!

What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator!Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 02/20/23

Trombone Shorty and Ziggy Marley.Photos courtesy Stiefel Theatre

A musical triple treat is coming to Salina's Stiefel Theatre in August.

Jane Gates, Stiefel executive director, announced Thursday that Trombone Shorty &amp; Orleans Avenue and Ziggy Marley with Mavis Staples are scheduled to perform beginning at 7 p.m. Aug. 12 in the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.

Tickets start at $99 and go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Buy online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stiefeltheatre.org/">www.stiefeltheatre.org</a>&nbsp;or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is open for phone or walk-up sales from noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

About the artists courtesy the Stiefel Theatre

It’s been a remarkable year for&nbsp;Trombone Shorty, who released his most recent album, Lifted, last April. He performed “Shotgun” at the MusiCares Person of the Year event honoring Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson during Grammy week this month and also performed at the Grammy Salute to Paul Simon Concert which aired this past December on CBS. Additional television appearances in 2022 included the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, ESPN’s Sportscenter, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Good Morning America.

Shorty spent much of 2022 with his band headlining prestigious venues including Red Rocks, the Hollywood Bowl and Central Park Summerstage. Just last week, he helped to kick off the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans with his 3rd-annual Shorty Gras concert following the Krewe of Freret Parade, which featured his very own parade float. In January he led a cultural exchange trip to Cuba in partnership with his own Trombone Shorty Foundation. The five-day “Havana Funk Expedition” trip celebrated the longstanding musical and cultural connections between New Orleans and Cuba. Other 2022 highlights include his first-ever GRAMMY win for his work on Jon Batiste’s album and an in-depth interview with Marc Maron's WTF podcast where Marc attested “I can’t remember the last time I heard a power horn band like that.”

Ziggy Marley&nbsp;is an eight-time Grammy winner, Emmy winner, musician, producer, activist and humanitarian who has cultivated a legendary career for close to 40 years. The eldest son of Bob and Rita Marley, Ziggy has hewed his own path as a musical pioneer, infusing the reggae genre with funk, blues, rock and other elements through mindful songcraft. Equal parts master storyteller and motivational guide, he deftly explores issues from environmental awareness to self-empowerment, social injustice to political inequity, while returning again and again to the transformative power of love. And over the past 15 years with his own companies, Tuff Gong Worldwide and Ishti Music, Marley has complete control of his masters and publishing; alongside his charity URGE – benefiting the well-being of children in Jamaica, Africa and North America.

It’s impossible to listen to a voice like&nbsp;Mavis Staples’ without contemplating all she’s been through in her life—the album cover features a heartrending Gordon Parks photo that speaks to the casual cruelty of racial segregation in 1950’s Alabama—but it only serves to make her optimism and resilience that much more inspiring and contagious. There is darkness and doubt on the album to be sure (the spirit of Pops Staples informs the mournful “Heavy On My Mind,” which recognizes that some wounds never heal, while the poignant “Never Needed Anyone” stings with the pain of lingering regret) but it’s consistently overpowered by hope and conviction. “Been holding on too long to let go / Running too hard to slow down / Believing too deep to not have faith,” Staples confesses on the soulful “One More Change To Make.” In that sense, the album’s title is more than just an observation. When Staples and Harper join forces to sing “We Get By,” it’s a prayer, a promise, an invitation.

“I sing because I want to leave people feeling better than I found them,” Staples concludes. “I want them to walk away with a positive message in their hearts, feeling stronger than they felt before. I’m singing to myself for those same reasons, too.”

Even the messenger needs a reminder every now and then.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676588528012.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Trombone Shorty and Ziggy Marley.Photos courtesy Stiefel TheatreBy SALINA POSTA musical triple treat is coming to Salina's Stiefel Theatre in August.Jane Gates, Stiefel executive director, announced Thursday that Trombone Shorty &amp; Orleans Avenue and Ziggy Marley with Mavis Staples are scheduled to perform beginning at 7 p.m. Aug. 12 in the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676588612738.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Mavis StaplesTickets start at $99 and go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Buy online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stiefeltheatre.org/">www.stiefeltheatre.org</a>&nbsp;or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is open for phone or walk-up sales from noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.About the artists courtesy the Stiefel TheatreIt’s been a remarkable year for&nbsp;Trombone Shorty, who released his most recent album, Lifted, last April. He performed “Shotgun” at the MusiCares Person of the Year event honoring Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson during Grammy week this month and also performed at the Grammy Salute to Paul Simon Concert which aired this past December on CBS. Additional television appearances in 2022 included the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, ESPN’s Sportscenter, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Good Morning America.Shorty spent much of 2022 with his band headlining prestigious venues including Red Rocks, the Hollywood Bowl and Central Park Summerstage. Just last week, he helped to kick off the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans with his 3rd-annual Shorty Gras concert following the Krewe of Freret Parade, which featured his very own parade float. In January he led a cultural exchange trip to Cuba in partnership with his own Trombone Shorty Foundation. The five-day “Havana Funk Expedition” trip celebrated the longstanding musical and cultural connections between New Orleans and Cuba. Other 2022 highlights include his first-ever GRAMMY win for his work on Jon Batiste’s album and an in-depth interview with Marc Maron's WTF podcast where Marc attested “I can’t remember the last time I heard a power horn band like that.”Ziggy Marley&nbsp;is an eight-time Grammy winner, Emmy winner, musician, producer, activist and humanitarian who has cultivated a legendary career for close to 40 years. The eldest son of Bob and Rita Marley, Ziggy has hewed his own path as a musical pioneer, infusing the reggae genre with funk, blues, rock and other elements through mindful songcraft. Equal parts master storyteller and motivational guide, he deftly explores issues from environmental awareness to self-empowerment, social injustice to political inequity, while returning again and again to the transformative power of love. And over the past 15 years with his own companies, Tuff Gong Worldwide and Ishti Music, Marley has complete control of his masters and publishing; alongside his charity URGE – benefiting the well-being of children in Jamaica, Africa and North America.It’s impossible to listen to a voice like&nbsp;Mavis Staples’ without contemplating all she’s been through in her life—the album cover features a heartrending Gordon Parks photo that speaks to the casual cruelty of racial segregation in 1950’s Alabama—but it only serves to make her optimism and resilience that much more inspiring and contagious. There is darkness and doubt on the album to be sure (the spirit of Pops Staples informs the mournful “Heavy On My Mind,” which recognizes that some wounds never heal, while the poignant “Never Needed Anyone” stings with the pain of lingering regret) but it’s consistently overpowered by hope and conviction. “Been holding on too long to let go / Running too hard to slow down / Believing too deep to not have faith,” Staples confesses on the soulful “One More Change To Make.” In that sense, the album’s title is more than just an observation. When Staples and Harper join forces to sing “We Get By,” it’s a prayer, a promise, an invitation.“I sing because I want to leave people feeling better than I found them,” Staples concludes. “I want them to walk away with a positive message in their hearts, feeling stronger than they felt before. I’m singing to myself for those same reasons, too.”Even the messenger needs a reminder every now and then.

Trombone Shorty, Ziggy Marley, Mavis Staples coming to Salina

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>

NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YT0GKTEbhM">Ryan Seacrest has revealed he's leaving “Live with Kelly and Ryan” this spring,</a>&nbsp;saying he never expected to stay so long and thanking his co-host Kelly Ripa, who he jokingly called his “work wife.”

Seacrest ends a six-year run alongside Ripa. His replacement will be Ripa's real-life husband, Mark Consuelos, and a frequent guest host. The show will be rebranded as “Live with Kelly and Mark.”

“I’m going to miss my work wife and all the laughter we share,” Seacrest wrote on Instagram. “When I signed on to host ‘Live’ in 2017 it was meant to be for three years, but I loved the job and working with Kelly so much that I extended my time and last year I made the decision to stay on for one more final season.”

Seacrest said he'll stay busy shooting the new season of “American Idol,” his radio show on KIIS-FM and hosting “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin' Eve.”

“Goodbyes are never easy, but we look forward to welcoming Ryan back regularly with open arms. As a fan-favorite guest host for years, Mark is no stranger to the ‘Live’ family. Having him join the show is so special for us and we’re sure that viewers will feel the same,” Michael Gelman, executive producer of “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” said in a statement.

“Live with Kelly and Ryan” on ABC is the No. 1 daytime talk show per household and in total viewership. Ripa has hosted “Live” since 2001, first with Regis Philbin and later with Michael Strahan.

“I’m so grateful to have spent the last six years beside my dear friend of too many decades to count and will miss starting my days with Ryan,” said Ripa in a statement. “Ryan’s energy, passion and love for entertainment is one-of-a-kind.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YT0GKTEbhM">Ryan Seacrest has revealed he's leaving “Live with Kelly and Ryan” this spring,</a>&nbsp;saying he never expected to stay so long and thanking his co-host Kelly Ripa, who he jokingly called his “work wife.”Seacrest ends a six-year run alongside Ripa. His replacement will be Ripa's real-life husband, Mark Consuelos, and a frequent guest host. The show will be rebranded as “Live with Kelly and Mark.”“I’m going to miss my work wife and all the laughter we share,” Seacrest wrote on Instagram. “When I signed on to host ‘Live’ in 2017 it was meant to be for three years, but I loved the job and working with Kelly so much that I extended my time and last year I made the decision to stay on for one more final season.”Seacrest said he'll stay busy shooting the new season of “American Idol,” his radio show on KIIS-FM and hosting “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin' Eve.”“Goodbyes are never easy, but we look forward to welcoming Ryan back regularly with open arms. As a fan-favorite guest host for years, Mark is no stranger to the ‘Live’ family. Having him join the show is so special for us and we’re sure that viewers will feel the same,” Michael Gelman, executive producer of “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” said in a statement.“Live with Kelly and Ryan” on ABC is the No. 1 daytime talk show per household and in total viewership. Ripa has hosted “Live” since 2001, first with Regis Philbin and later with Michael Strahan.“I’m so grateful to have spent the last six years beside my dear friend of too many decades to count and will miss starting my days with Ryan,” said Ripa in a statement. “Ryan’s energy, passion and love for entertainment is one-of-a-kind.”

Ryan Seacrest to leave 'Live with Kelly and Ryan' in spring

Why do seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they flew over the bay, they would be called bagels.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

Why do seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they flew over the bay, they would be called bagels.Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 02/17/23

SALINA — Ben Folds is bringing his What Matters Most Tour to Salina in August.

Folds is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 11 in downtown Salina's Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.

Tickets start at $69 and are scheduled to go on sale at noon Friday. Buy online at: <a href="http://www.stiefeltheatre.org">www.stiefeltheatre.org</a>
 or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is 
open for phone or walk-up sales from noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

About the artist from the Stiefel Theatre

Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation.

He's
 created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop 
albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous 
collaborative records.

For over a decade he's performed with some 
of the world's greatest symphony orchestras and currently serves as the 
first-ever artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the 
Kennedy Center.

Folds released his first book - a collection of 
interrelated essays, anecdotes and lessons about art, life and music - 
in 2019, which debuted as a New York Times Best Seller, and he hosted a 
podcast series spinoff of his book titled Lightning Bugs: Conversations 
with Ben Folds. In addition to solo rock and orchestral touring, he's 
also developing a new unscripted tv series with Fred Rogers Productions,
 continues to appear in various film/tv guest starring roles, and is 
working on two new albums.

An outspoken champion for arts 
education and music therapy funding in our nation's public schools, 
Folds has served for more than five years as an active member of the 
distinguished Artist Committee of Americans For The Arts (AFTA) and 
serves on the Board of AFTA's Arts Action Fund.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676522062975.jpeg" alt="Ben Folds is scheduled to perform in Salina's Stiefel Theatre in August. Photo ©ALYSSE GAFKJEN 2023 courtesy Stiefel Theatre" />
 <figcaption>Ben Folds is scheduled to perform in Salina's Stiefel Theatre in August. Photo ©ALYSSE GAFKJEN 2023 courtesy Stiefel Theatre</figcaption>
 </figure>Salina PostSALINA — Ben Folds is bringing his What Matters Most Tour to Salina in August.Folds is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 11 in downtown Salina's Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.Tickets start at $69 and are scheduled to go on sale at noon Friday. Buy online at: <a href="http://www.stiefeltheatre.org">www.stiefeltheatre.org</a>
 or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is 
open for phone or walk-up sales from noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.About the artist from the Stiefel TheatreFolds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation.He's
 created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop 
albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous 
collaborative records.For over a decade he's performed with some 
of the world's greatest symphony orchestras and currently serves as the 
first-ever artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the 
Kennedy Center.Folds released his first book - a collection of 
interrelated essays, anecdotes and lessons about art, life and music - 
in 2019, which debuted as a New York Times Best Seller, and he hosted a 
podcast series spinoff of his book titled Lightning Bugs: Conversations 
with Ben Folds. In addition to solo rock and orchestral touring, he's 
also developing a new unscripted tv series with Fred Rogers Productions,
 continues to appear in various film/tv guest starring roles, and is 
working on two new albums.An outspoken champion for arts 
education and music therapy funding in our nation's public schools, 
Folds has served for more than five years as an active member of the 
distinguished Artist Committee of Americans For The Arts (AFTA) and 
serves on the Board of AFTA's Arts Action Fund.

Ben Folds scheduled to perform in Salina in August

By NATE KING Salina Post

Calling all car fanatics and enthusiasts — Dennis Gage, TV host of "My Classic Car," will be in Salina Feb. 25 at The Garage.&nbsp; His special visit is no coincidence. Gage will be in Salina to celebrate The Garage's first anniversary at the upcoming&nbsp;<a href="https://seama.org/buckled-in-blue-event">Buckled in Blue&nbsp;</a>event.

During the celebration, one lucky winner will go home with a 1966 Ford Thunderbird.

Matthew Miller-Wells, director of education at&nbsp;<a href="https://seama.org/">The Garage</a>, 134 S. Fourth St., said the 1966 Ford Thunderbird was donated by the Lynn Brown&nbsp;estate in 2016.&nbsp;

"The car has been sitting around and we never really knew quite what exactly to do with it. There wasn't an exhibit in mind and no one really wanted it as a company car," Miller-Wells said. "So we said this is a great opportunity to let patrons experience what was known as America's ultimate luxury automobile."

Miller-Wells told Salina Post that the 1966 Ford Thunderbird is&nbsp;set up like a fighter jet. When the driver sits inside, the steering column swings out of the way. The gauges on the dash even look like aviation gauges.

"There are lights and switches that look like you're sitting in a cockpit. You know, yoke controls and all of your buttons," Miller-Wells said. "I've had the opportunity to drive the car around a little bit since Sankeys Automotive here in town helped us kind of resuscitate it, look it over to make sure it's safe for driving. And it is perhaps the nicest road boat I have ever had the pleasure of driving."

Buckled in Blue event flyer.&nbsp;Photos courtesy, The Garage Automotive Museum&nbsp;

$100 – one event ticket Includes admission, one raffle ticket, Hickory Hut BBQ, unlimited Budweiser, Bud Light, or root beer, commemorative mug, meet and greet with Dennis Gage

$400 – four event tickets Includes sponsor logo on event agenda and social media

$1,000 –&nbsp;10 event tickets Includes sponsor logo on signage at the museum, event agenda and social media.

Michelle Peck, executive director for The Garage, said that in its first year, The Garage has seen nearly 25,000 guests. "What is really fantastic about that number is our records also indicate that a third of our guests are from outside of Salina. This automotive attraction is bringing people to our community to relive the past and drive the future," Peck said.&nbsp;

Gage grew up on a small family farm in northwestern Illinois. He started tinkering with cars early on. He also played guitar and trumpet in a variety of rock, folk, and school bands. He went to North Central College in Naperville, Ill., where he majored in both chemistry and physics. His undergraduate research in quantum physics received an American Chemical Society award. He continued his automotive interest and, through the course of his college years, owned a number of muscle and sports cars. He also kept up his music, playing in local coffee houses. Gage accepted a position as a product development scientist at The Procter Gamble Company in Cincinnati. There he either worked on, or created, most of PGs food products in the store including Pringles, with which he bears a striking resemblance to the handlebar mustachioed character on the can. Gage holds a number of patents on PG products. Once again having some disposable income, Gage got back to playing with classic cars.

By NATE KING Salina PostCalling all car fanatics and enthusiasts — Dennis Gage, TV host of "My Classic Car," will be in Salina Feb. 25 at The Garage.&nbsp; His special visit is no coincidence. Gage will be in Salina to celebrate The Garage's first anniversary at the upcoming&nbsp;<a href="https://seama.org/buckled-in-blue-event">Buckled in Blue&nbsp;</a>event.During the celebration, one lucky winner will go home with a 1966 Ford Thunderbird.Matthew Miller-Wells, director of education at&nbsp;<a href="https://seama.org/">The Garage</a>, 134 S. Fourth St., said the 1966 Ford Thunderbird was donated by the Lynn Brown&nbsp;estate in 2016.&nbsp;"The car has been sitting around and we never really knew quite what exactly to do with it. There wasn't an exhibit in mind and no one really wanted it as a company car," Miller-Wells said. "So we said this is a great opportunity to let patrons experience what was known as America's ultimate luxury automobile."Miller-Wells told Salina Post that the 1966 Ford Thunderbird is&nbsp;set up like a fighter jet. When the driver sits inside, the steering column swings out of the way. The gauges on the dash even look like aviation gauges."There are lights and switches that look like you're sitting in a cockpit. You know, yoke controls and all of your buttons," Miller-Wells said. "I've had the opportunity to drive the car around a little bit since Sankeys Automotive here in town helped us kind of resuscitate it, look it over to make sure it's safe for driving. And it is perhaps the nicest road boat I have ever had the pleasure of driving."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676302881661.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Buckled in Blue event flyer.&nbsp;Photos courtesy, The Garage Automotive Museum&nbsp;<h2>Ticket package information</h2>$100 – one event ticket Includes admission, one raffle ticket, Hickory Hut BBQ, unlimited Budweiser, Bud Light, or root beer, commemorative mug, meet and greet with Dennis Gage$400 – four event tickets Includes sponsor logo on event agenda and social media$1,000 –&nbsp;10 event tickets Includes sponsor logo on signage at the museum, event agenda and social media.Michelle Peck, executive director for The Garage, said that in its first year, The Garage has seen nearly 25,000 guests. "What is really fantastic about that number is our records also indicate that a third of our guests are from outside of Salina. This automotive attraction is bringing people to our community to relive the past and drive the future," Peck said.&nbsp;<h2>More about Dennis Gage from The Garage</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676303909538.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Dennis GageGage grew up on a small family farm in northwestern Illinois. He started tinkering with cars early on. He also played guitar and trumpet in a variety of rock, folk, and school bands. He went to North Central College in Naperville, Ill., where he majored in both chemistry and physics. His undergraduate research in quantum physics received an American Chemical Society award. He continued his automotive interest and, through the course of his college years, owned a number of muscle and sports cars. He also kept up his music, playing in local coffee houses. Gage accepted a position as a product development scientist at The Procter Gamble Company in Cincinnati. There he either worked on, or created, most of PGs food products in the store including Pringles, with which he bears a striking resemblance to the handlebar mustachioed character on the can. Gage holds a number of patents on PG products. Once again having some disposable income, Gage got back to playing with classic cars.

Dennis Gage, TV Host of 'My Classic Car' to visit Salina Feb. 25

What do snowmen eat for lunch? Icebergers!

What do snowmen eat for lunch? Icebergers!Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 02/16/23

President Dwight Eisenhower's boyhood home in Abilene.&nbsp;Photo courtesy Eisenhower Presidential Library

ABILENE - Tours of President Dwight Eisenhower's boyhood home are once again available to the public.

Extensive preservation work including exterior lead paint abatement and maintenance updates closed the home for several months. The project is now complete and guests are welcome to once again step back in time and see the home where our nation's 34th President grew up.

"These repairs were necessary for both the preservation of this historic home and, more importantly, our ability to continue sharing this history for future generations," said Library Director Dawn Hammatt.

Scheduled tours are available Tuesday through Sunday and are limited to 10 guests per time slot. Tickets may only be purchased onsite.

This project was funded through a combination of federal and private funds from the Eisenhower Foundation.&nbsp;

Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0013jQMeVlINS9AjhiEWEbJ7u1jF5s0aRqd4_s0RI-KhosJWOFbw_QV-sSkkhKByfkmV9AYhAjWtSLWcppCVMF6YAlbQGux_YTEG0NxXE7qoXt1V6RNMLIL13BJsZr0T8hFzbwpNSKRn1hB7KUfDkZhczBokqu4dmp7&amp;c=w9Atd4c-1gMVgCt6HysFiwYruNM-DV9Frqv298JWSuA7OsLh04xAxA==&amp;ch=EcPJqcFP3Y-43EtUiLETsbzmOROoiq5ex--bPlBdvCM7RLZ4kv6MOQ==" target="_blank">eisenhowerlibrary.gov</a>&nbsp;for additional details on planning your visit.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676430424506.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>President Dwight Eisenhower's boyhood home in Abilene.&nbsp;Photo courtesy Eisenhower Presidential LibraryEisenhower Presidential LibraryABILENE - Tours of President Dwight Eisenhower's boyhood home are once again available to the public.Extensive preservation work including exterior lead paint abatement and maintenance updates closed the home for several months. The project is now complete and guests are welcome to once again step back in time and see the home where our nation's 34th President grew up."These repairs were necessary for both the preservation of this historic home and, more importantly, our ability to continue sharing this history for future generations," said Library Director Dawn Hammatt. Scheduled tours are available Tuesday through Sunday and are limited to 10 guests per time slot. Tickets may only be purchased onsite.This project was funded through a combination of federal and private funds from the Eisenhower Foundation.&nbsp;Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0013jQMeVlINS9AjhiEWEbJ7u1jF5s0aRqd4_s0RI-KhosJWOFbw_QV-sSkkhKByfkmV9AYhAjWtSLWcppCVMF6YAlbQGux_YTEG0NxXE7qoXt1V6RNMLIL13BJsZr0T8hFzbwpNSKRn1hB7KUfDkZhczBokqu4dmp7&amp;c=w9Atd4c-1gMVgCt6HysFiwYruNM-DV9Frqv298JWSuA7OsLh04xAxA==&amp;ch=EcPJqcFP3Y-43EtUiLETsbzmOROoiq5ex--bPlBdvCM7RLZ4kv6MOQ==" target="_blank">eisenhowerlibrary.gov</a>&nbsp;for additional details on planning your visit.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Eisenhower boyhood home now open for tours

By COLE REIF Great Bend Post

With the SRCA Dragstrip Board of Directors and City of Great Bend coming to terms on a one-year operating agreement last week, the racing season will carry on as normal this year. With the city hiring a pair of attorneys to sort out the complications with a recent resurfacing project, how the dragstrip will operate in the future could be changing.

<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/8376a467-defe-43cc-95ef-fee0118deb9a">RELATED STORY:&nbsp;Operating agreement renewed, but work to be done at SRCA Dragstrip</a> Great Bend was awarded funding through the Kansas Department of Transportation Cost Share program to help reconstruct the historic dragstrip west of town. After receiving seven bids, Suchy Construction was awarded the bid for $1.6 million. KDOT provided 75% of the construction costs for projects that invest in transportation improvements statewide. Along with the reconstruction of the dragstrip, Great Bend coupled the project with a resurfacing of most of 10th Street for a total price near $3.4 million. After completion of the project in May 2021, the SRCA notified city administration that several high spots existed on the track’s surface. Suchy worked to get the track within specifications by grinding roughly 60 high spots. Total Venue Concepts was then hired to professionally polish the surface for roughly $72,000. Having to grind and polish the track so much has caused the top sealing part of the concrete to come off. SRCA Board of Directors President Arlen Werth said now the track is full of holes. "When they run that concrete, they pump it," said Werth. "Any time you pump something, you put air into it. Once you take the top off, you start exposing all these air pockets that are in the concrete. If you walk out there and look at it, there's an area from the 1,000-foot mark towards the finish line in the right lane, there's more air pockets than surface."

Holes covering the SRCA Dragstrip racing surface.

Especially now with the holes, SRCA crews are forced to spray the track with additional sticky composite material to create traction for the fast dragsters. Werth said it takes 40 gallons of the compound to spray the track. For weekend races, crews might have to spray the surface a few times, costing the SRCA between $1,000 and $2,000 each weekend just in compound. Each time a dragster races down the track, the tires will pull more material off the porous surface. Werth added the SRCA is lucky to make $3,000 to $4,000 each race weekend. Rising costs are reducing their budget each year. “This is squeezing our checkbook to the point that we don’t have anything left,” said Werth. “We started this year with the least amount of money we’ve ever had in probably 20 years.” The new, one-year contract with the city reduced SRCA’s annual payment of $10,000 to $1 to help defray some of the rising expenses to maintain the track. Spending thousands of dollars to continually fix a problematic racing surface, the SRCA board members feel the project was not done right in the first place and the proper steps to fix the issues were not taken. “I’m not an engineer, but I hear a lot of what’s being talked about,” said Werth. “Probably the way to fix it would be to tear it out, start over, and do it the way it was supposed to be done. That was the biggest problem…it wasn’t done the way it was supposed to be done.”

The specifications for a dragstrip surface are detailed and need to be just right. Werth said the state laid out specific guidelines that were not followed when the project began. “They put a broom surface on the concrete when they were done to help get the water out,” said Werth. “They weren’t supposed to broom it. They said when they drag it, that would take the rough surface off. I know what a drag does and doesn’t do, and I couldn’t see how we were going to drag that rough surface off.”

<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/165fe378-7b3a-44d1-9217-d98b26ec20b1">RELATED STORY:&nbsp;Denning stepping down as SRCA Dragstrip president</a> When pouring concrete, a screed is used to level and smoothen the surface. Werth said the guidelines stated when the contractor starts to screed the concrete, they are supposed to keep going without stopping until the whole project is done. That didn’t happen. “They had a vibrator on their screed, that is supposed to smooth the top of it and get the air out,” said Werth. “Every time they stopped, they didn’t shut the vibrator off, so every time they stopped there was a little indention.” When the SRCA had a professional polisher from Indiana come to perform work on the track, the contractor said the SRCA would be lucky to get five years out the track. He felt the track was too porous, with exposed air pockets or holes, and wouldn’t be able to survive the winters. “When they grinded that track, they should have grinded it from wall to wall,” said Werth. “All they did was grind the racing surface. Now when it rains, the south track sits with water…it doesn’t drain. I’m not saying there’s a lot of water sitting there, but whatever they grinded is a dip because they didn’t grind the middle down. It’s going to hold water now and guess what happens when the water starts to freeze? It’s going to start popping the top off.”

<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/98132dac-762d-4811-a573-8c8740d88688">RELATED STORY:&nbsp;Great Bend sorts out responsibility for SRCA's extra expense</a> The past couple of years of the imperfections of the surfacing project, the added expense to mask the problems and discussing with the city on the responsibility to provide proper maintenance to the track have caused frustration with members of the volunteer-led SRCA Board. “Our board has been very faithful,” said Werth. “I’m the oldest guy out there. I’m going to be 80 years old this year. We have a harder time finding people to help because we don’t pay help. If we paid help, we couldn’t open the gates because there is not a lot of money in drag racing.” Running low on funds, Werth said future operating agreements with the City of Great Bend will have to include the maintenance of the track to be handled by the city. Werth said the city is supposed to allocate a certain amount of their annual budget to go toward track maintenance. “With the amount of money invested recently by the city and the state, this should be a Cadillac of a track,” said Werth. “We shouldn’t have had to do a thing to it for at least five to 10 years. You go out there and there are chunks broke out and it’s not even two years old."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676068694556.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>SRCA Dragstrip in Great BendBy COLE REIF Great Bend PostWith the SRCA Dragstrip Board of Directors and City of Great Bend coming to terms on a one-year operating agreement last week, the racing season will carry on as normal this year. With the city hiring a pair of attorneys to sort out the complications with a recent resurfacing project, how the dragstrip will operate in the future could be changing.<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/8376a467-defe-43cc-95ef-fee0118deb9a">RELATED STORY:&nbsp;Operating agreement renewed, but work to be done at SRCA Dragstrip</a> Great Bend was awarded funding through the Kansas Department of Transportation Cost Share program to help reconstruct the historic dragstrip west of town. After receiving seven bids, Suchy Construction was awarded the bid for $1.6 million. KDOT provided 75% of the construction costs for projects that invest in transportation improvements statewide. Along with the reconstruction of the dragstrip, Great Bend coupled the project with a resurfacing of most of 10th Street for a total price near $3.4 million. After completion of the project in May 2021, the SRCA notified city administration that several high spots existed on the track’s surface. Suchy worked to get the track within specifications by grinding roughly 60 high spots. Total Venue Concepts was then hired to professionally polish the surface for roughly $72,000. Having to grind and polish the track so much has caused the top sealing part of the concrete to come off. SRCA Board of Directors President Arlen Werth said now the track is full of holes. "When they run that concrete, they pump it," said Werth. "Any time you pump something, you put air into it. Once you take the top off, you start exposing all these air pockets that are in the concrete. If you walk out there and look at it, there's an area from the 1,000-foot mark towards the finish line in the right lane, there's more air pockets than surface."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676068778661.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Holes covering the SRCA Dragstrip racing surface.Especially now with the holes, SRCA crews are forced to spray the track with additional sticky composite material to create traction for the fast dragsters. Werth said it takes 40 gallons of the compound to spray the track. For weekend races, crews might have to spray the surface a few times, costing the SRCA between $1,000 and $2,000 each weekend just in compound. Each time a dragster races down the track, the tires will pull more material off the porous surface. Werth added the SRCA is lucky to make $3,000 to $4,000 each race weekend. Rising costs are reducing their budget each year. “This is squeezing our checkbook to the point that we don’t have anything left,” said Werth. “We started this year with the least amount of money we’ve ever had in probably 20 years.” The new, one-year contract with the city reduced SRCA’s annual payment of $10,000 to $1 to help defray some of the rising expenses to maintain the track. Spending thousands of dollars to continually fix a problematic racing surface, the SRCA board members feel the project was not done right in the first place and the proper steps to fix the issues were not taken. “I’m not an engineer, but I hear a lot of what’s being talked about,” said Werth. “Probably the way to fix it would be to tear it out, start over, and do it the way it was supposed to be done. That was the biggest problem…it wasn’t done the way it was supposed to be done.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676068888059.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The specifications for a dragstrip surface are detailed and need to be just right. Werth said the state laid out specific guidelines that were not followed when the project began. “They put a broom surface on the concrete when they were done to help get the water out,” said Werth. “They weren’t supposed to broom it. They said when they drag it, that would take the rough surface off. I know what a drag does and doesn’t do, and I couldn’t see how we were going to drag that rough surface off.”<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/165fe378-7b3a-44d1-9217-d98b26ec20b1">RELATED STORY:&nbsp;Denning stepping down as SRCA Dragstrip president</a> When pouring concrete, a screed is used to level and smoothen the surface. Werth said the guidelines stated when the contractor starts to screed the concrete, they are supposed to keep going without stopping until the whole project is done. That didn’t happen. “They had a vibrator on their screed, that is supposed to smooth the top of it and get the air out,” said Werth. “Every time they stopped, they didn’t shut the vibrator off, so every time they stopped there was a little indention.” When the SRCA had a professional polisher from Indiana come to perform work on the track, the contractor said the SRCA would be lucky to get five years out the track. He felt the track was too porous, with exposed air pockets or holes, and wouldn’t be able to survive the winters. “When they grinded that track, they should have grinded it from wall to wall,” said Werth. “All they did was grind the racing surface. Now when it rains, the south track sits with water…it doesn’t drain. I’m not saying there’s a lot of water sitting there, but whatever they grinded is a dip because they didn’t grind the middle down. It’s going to hold water now and guess what happens when the water starts to freeze? It’s going to start popping the top off.”<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/98132dac-762d-4811-a573-8c8740d88688">RELATED STORY:&nbsp;Great Bend sorts out responsibility for SRCA's extra expense</a> The past couple of years of the imperfections of the surfacing project, the added expense to mask the problems and discussing with the city on the responsibility to provide proper maintenance to the track have caused frustration with members of the volunteer-led SRCA Board. “Our board has been very faithful,” said Werth. “I’m the oldest guy out there. I’m going to be 80 years old this year. We have a harder time finding people to help because we don’t pay help. If we paid help, we couldn’t open the gates because there is not a lot of money in drag racing.” Running low on funds, Werth said future operating agreements with the City of Great Bend will have to include the maintenance of the track to be handled by the city. Werth said the city is supposed to allocate a certain amount of their annual budget to go toward track maintenance. “With the amount of money invested recently by the city and the state, this should be a Cadillac of a track,” said Werth. “We shouldn’t have had to do a thing to it for at least five to 10 years. You go out there and there are chunks broke out and it’s not even two years old."

Great Bend's dragstrip: Lingering problems, responsibility questions

Lights have been selected for the walking path at Veterans Memorial Park. Automatic locks were installed at Vets Park to allow access to restrooms year round. A kayak/canoe launcher was installed at Stone Lake. A number of projects have already been completed or are in the works from Great Bend’s “quality of life” sales tax. Further execution of the master plan will be discussed after next Tuesday’s Great Bend City Council meeting.

Great Bend Recreation Commission Executive Director Chris Umphres said he will help facilitate the conversation on the future improvements to the Brit Spaugh Park project. Rec Board member Randy Goering was pleased to see the momentum for the improvements. "It's good to see some action," said Goering. "I was a little concerned that things might slow down with Kendal's (Kendal Francis, former Great Bend City Administrator) departure. What I'm hearing through the media is that the quality of life committee is moving forward." The Rec Commission has considered assisting with the addition of a basketball court, pickleball courts and a mini soccer pitch on the south side of Brit Spaugh Park. Other projects listed on the 10-year master plan include dog park improvements, splash pad, shooting range, fish habitat at local lakes, paintball course, zoo upgrades, skate park repairs and extending the walk/bike path. The city council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21 begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The work session will begin shortly after the conclusion of the meeting.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655147687872.jpeg" alt="South side of Brit Spaugh in Great Bend" />
 <figcaption>South side of Brit Spaugh in Great Bend</figcaption>
 </figure>By COLE REIF Great Bend PostLights have been selected for the walking path at Veterans Memorial Park. Automatic locks were installed at Vets Park to allow access to restrooms year round. A kayak/canoe launcher was installed at Stone Lake. A number of projects have already been completed or are in the works from Great Bend’s “quality of life” sales tax. Further execution of the master plan will be discussed after next Tuesday’s Great Bend City Council meeting.Great Bend Recreation Commission Executive Director Chris Umphres said he will help facilitate the conversation on the future improvements to the Brit Spaugh Park project. Rec Board member Randy Goering was pleased to see the momentum for the improvements. "It's good to see some action," said Goering. "I was a little concerned that things might slow down with Kendal's (Kendal Francis, former Great Bend City Administrator) departure. What I'm hearing through the media is that the quality of life committee is moving forward." The Rec Commission has considered assisting with the addition of a basketball court, pickleball courts and a mini soccer pitch on the south side of Brit Spaugh Park. Other projects listed on the 10-year master plan include dog park improvements, splash pad, shooting range, fish habitat at local lakes, paintball course, zoo upgrades, skate park repairs and extending the walk/bike path. The city council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21 begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The work session will begin shortly after the conclusion of the meeting.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Great Bend Rec excited to reveal Brit Spaugh Park improvements

Why did the belt go to jail? Because it held up a pair of pants!&nbsp;

Why did the belt go to jail? Because it held up a pair of pants!&nbsp;Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 02/15/23

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVID%20BAUDER%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer</a>

NEW YORK (AP) — Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.

The survey, released Wednesday by Gallup and the Knight Foundation, goes beyond others that have shown a low level of trust in the media to the startling point where many believe there is an intent to deceive.

Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% said they disagreed. Only 25% agreed, the study found.

Similarly, 52% disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners,” the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.

“That was pretty striking for us,” said Sarah Fioroni, a consultant for Gallup. The findings showed a depth of distrust and bad feeling that go beyond the foundations and processes of journalism, she said.

Journalists need to go beyond emphasizing transparency and accuracy to show the impact of their reporting on the public, the study said.

“Americans don’t seem to think that the national news organizations care about the overall impact of their reporting on the society,” said John Sands, Knight’s senior director for media and democracy.

In one small consolation, in both cases Americans had more trust in local news.

The ability of many people to instantly learn news from a device they hold in their hand, the rapid pace of the news cycle and an increased number of news sources would indicate that more Americans are on top of the news than ever before.

Instead, an information overload appears to have had the opposite effect. The survey said 61% of American believe these factors make it harder to stay informed, while 37% said it's easier.

Like with many other studies, Knight and Gallup found Democrats trust news more than Republicans. Over the past five years, the level of distrust has particularly spiked among independents. Overall, 55% of respondents said there was a great deal of political bias in coverage, compared to 45% in 2017.

In a finding reflected in the financial struggles of some news organizations and declining ratings of television news networks, the survey found 32% of Americans said they pay a great deal of attention to local news, compared to 56% in early 2020. That was at the outset of a presidential election year and the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a picture of how people get their news, 58% said online, 31% said television, 7% said radio and 3% mentioned printed newspapers or magazines.

For members of Gen Z, aged 18- to 25-years-old, 88% said they got their news online, the survey found.

In one olive branch, if Americans believed local news organizations didn't have the resources or opportunities to cover the news, they would be more likely to pay for it.

The results are based on a Gallup study of 5,593 Americans aged 18 and older conducted between May 31 and July 21, 2022.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVID%20BAUDER%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.The survey, released Wednesday by Gallup and the Knight Foundation, goes beyond others that have shown a low level of trust in the media to the startling point where many believe there is an intent to deceive.Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% said they disagreed. Only 25% agreed, the study found.Similarly, 52% disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners,” the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.“That was pretty striking for us,” said Sarah Fioroni, a consultant for Gallup. The findings showed a depth of distrust and bad feeling that go beyond the foundations and processes of journalism, she said.Journalists need to go beyond emphasizing transparency and accuracy to show the impact of their reporting on the public, the study said.“Americans don’t seem to think that the national news organizations care about the overall impact of their reporting on the society,” said John Sands, Knight’s senior director for media and democracy.In one small consolation, in both cases Americans had more trust in local news.The ability of many people to instantly learn news from a device they hold in their hand, the rapid pace of the news cycle and an increased number of news sources would indicate that more Americans are on top of the news than ever before.Instead, an information overload appears to have had the opposite effect. The survey said 61% of American believe these factors make it harder to stay informed, while 37% said it's easier.Like with many other studies, Knight and Gallup found Democrats trust news more than Republicans. Over the past five years, the level of distrust has particularly spiked among independents. Overall, 55% of respondents said there was a great deal of political bias in coverage, compared to 45% in 2017.In a finding reflected in the financial struggles of some news organizations and declining ratings of television news networks, the survey found 32% of Americans said they pay a great deal of attention to local news, compared to 56% in early 2020. That was at the outset of a presidential election year and the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.In a picture of how people get their news, 58% said online, 31% said television, 7% said radio and 3% mentioned printed newspapers or magazines.For members of Gen Z, aged 18- to 25-years-old, 88% said they got their news online, the survey found.In one olive branch, if Americans believed local news organizations didn't have the resources or opportunities to cover the news, they would be more likely to pay for it.The results are based on a Gallup study of 5,593 Americans aged 18 and older conducted between May 31 and July 21, 2022.

Study shows 'striking' number who believe news misinforms

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JAKE%20COYLE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer</a>

NEW YORK (AP) — The Hundred Acre Wood has seen some pretty unsettling things over the years. A honey jar shortage. Rather blustery days. The omnipresent threat of a Heffalump.

But in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud-FBr74K8o">“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,”</a>&nbsp;a new microbudget R-rated horror film, Pooh wades into far darker territory than even Eeyore could have ever imagined. After 95 years of saying things like “A hug is always the right size,” Pooh — newly freed from copyright — is now violently terrorizing a remote house of young women.

Countless cherished characters have passed into public domain before, but perhaps never so abruptly and savagely as Pooh.

Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Eeyore and Christopher Robin all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-ernest-hemingway-poetry-arts-and-entertainment-e8b403aba5e41b654924e8c67c27e80a?utm_source=apnews&amp;utm_medium=relatedcontentmodule">became public domain on January 1 last year</a>&nbsp;when the copyright on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098">A.A. Milne’s 1926 book, “Winnie-the-Pooh,”</a>&nbsp;with illustrations by E.H. Shepard, expired. Just a year later, Pooh and Piglet can now be found on a murderous rampage in nationwide movie theaters — a head-spinning development that's happened faster than a bear could say “Oh, bother.”

Depending on how you look at it, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” is either a crass way to capitalize on a beloved bear or an ingenious bit of independent filmmaking foresight. Either way, it’s probably a harbinger of what’s to come.

In the next 10 years, some of the most iconic characters in pop culture — including Bugs Bunny, Batman and Superman — will pass into public domain, or at least their most early incarnations. Some elements of Pooh are still off-limits, like his red shirt, since they apply to later interpretations. Tigger, who debuted in 1928’s “The House at Pooh Corner,” isn’t public until 2024.

Many have next Jan. 1 circled. That’s when the original version of Mickey Mouse, from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4">“Steamboat Willie,”</a>&nbsp;becomes public domain. It will be open on season on the face of the Walt Disney Co. — or at least that early whistling variety of Mickey.

Pop culture, as a concept, was born in the 1920s, meaning many of the most indelible — and still very culturally present — works will fall into public domain in the coming years. There will be all kinds of new and unlikely contexts for some of these characters. Some could be wonderful, some schlocky. But “Winnie Pooh: Blood and Honey” may just be a taste of what's in store.

“When Superman and Batman fall into the public domain, there’s going to be some wild films, I’m sure of it,” says “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” writer, director and co-producer Rhys Waterfield. “There’s going to be so many different and cool unique iterations coming off that. I might do one.”

Though made for less than $100,000, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” will open Friday on some 1,500 screens in North America, an unusually wide release for such a little-funded movie. It’s already made $1 million in Mexico and has many more international territories booked. For Waterfield, a British film producer of direct-to-DVD titles (credits include “Dinosaur Hotel” and “Easter Killing”), it’s already a hit way beyond expectation.

“I kind of thought this could do a small theatrical run in some places and do quite well commercially," says Waterfield. "But it's blown up way beyond that to a scale that's absolutely insane.”

In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1257650/media-franchises-revenue/">a 2021 tally of media franchises by Statista</a>, Winnie the Pooh, with $80.3 billion in worldwide revenue, tied Mickey Mouse for No. 3, trailing only Pokémon and Hello Kitty. But unlike them, Pooh accounts for a veritable religion for his kind-hearted witticisms and contented spiritual outlook. Pooh is as much a gentle sage as he is a round-tummied toon. When Waterfield realized Pooh was entering public domain, “I had a spark in my eye,” he says.

Here was much-coveted intellectual property that could sell just about any film. “I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t know who Winnie the Pooh is,” Waterfield said in a recent phone interview speaking from Amsterdam.

But certainly, not everyone has been so happy about the idea of one of the most benevolent bears turning feral monster. Waterfield says he receives daily messages telling him he's evil, and even some death threats. One person said they were calling the police.

“You've got to be pretty thick-skinned to do a movie like this,” Waterfield says. “It baffles me. People think making an alternative version of him is somehow infiltrating their mind and destroying their memories. When I get claims that I ruined people’s childhoods, I’m genuinely confused. I just kind of brush it off and carry on making more of them."

Waterfield is already planning sequels with Peter Pan, Bambi and many more. (The Felix Salten book “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” also became public domain last year.)

Jennifer Jenkins,&nbsp;<a href="https://law.duke.edu/fac/jenkins/">a professor of law and director of Duke's Center for the Study of Public Domain,</a>&nbsp;is used to operating in a relatively quiet and byzantine realm of copyright law and thorny rights issues. She writes&nbsp;<a href="https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/">an annual Jan. 1 column for “Public Domain Day.”</a>&nbsp;But nothing has caused her phone to ring off the hook quite like “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.”

The movie has clearly touched a nerve; millions have watched its trailer online. (Typical comment: “I can't believe that this movie is real.”) And Jenkins, a firm believer in the long-range benefits of public domain, has been somewhat bemused by the storm kicked up by a movie like “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey." She compares public domain issues like these to the way free speech is a right, regardless of whether you agree with what's said.

“Some uses of public domain material will be welcome to some and disturbing to others,” Jenkins says. "But I don’t think new content uniformly saps the value of the original work. I have the original books. I adore them. The fact that this slasher film is out there has no effect whatsoever on how I feel about A.A. Milne’s original creation or E.H. Shepard’s pencil sketches."

It's worth noting that much of the Disney empire was, itself, built on public domain. “Beauty and the Beast” comes from Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 1756 version of the fairy tale. “Sleeping Beauty” came from Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale. “Aladdin” comes from the folk tale collection “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.”

Though Jenkins can't think of too many characters who had such a jarring entry to public domain as Pooh, films like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (2016) and the 2021 book “The Great Gatsby Undead” are reference points.

“People love adding zombies to public domain works,” says Jenkins.

To her, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" may not be the most glorious example of the effects of public domain, but it's part of a process that human creativity depends upon and thrives on. “Blood and Honey” may not make a lasting mark in the Hundred Acre Woods, but something, someday will. Chalk it up to growing pains.

“The fact that some people may be disturbed or revolted by this particular re-use of some of the characters from Winnie the Pooh doesn’t detract from the value of the public domain," says Jenkins. "This is how people throughout history have created. They’ve always drawn on or been inspired by earlier works. Time will tell with this movie or any other reuse of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet whether movies like this will be rewarded in the marketplace or have any enduring appeal.

“My thing is always: Time will tell.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JAKE%20COYLE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — The Hundred Acre Wood has seen some pretty unsettling things over the years. A honey jar shortage. Rather blustery days. The omnipresent threat of a Heffalump.But in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud-FBr74K8o">“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,”</a>&nbsp;a new microbudget R-rated horror film, Pooh wades into far darker territory than even Eeyore could have ever imagined. After 95 years of saying things like “A hug is always the right size,” Pooh — newly freed from copyright — is now violently terrorizing a remote house of young women.Countless cherished characters have passed into public domain before, but perhaps never so abruptly and savagely as Pooh.Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Eeyore and Christopher Robin all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-ernest-hemingway-poetry-arts-and-entertainment-e8b403aba5e41b654924e8c67c27e80a?utm_source=apnews&amp;utm_medium=relatedcontentmodule">became public domain on January 1 last year</a>&nbsp;when the copyright on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098">A.A. Milne’s 1926 book, “Winnie-the-Pooh,”</a>&nbsp;with illustrations by E.H. Shepard, expired. Just a year later, Pooh and Piglet can now be found on a murderous rampage in nationwide movie theaters — a head-spinning development that's happened faster than a bear could say “Oh, bother.”Depending on how you look at it, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” is either a crass way to capitalize on a beloved bear or an ingenious bit of independent filmmaking foresight. Either way, it’s probably a harbinger of what’s to come.In the next 10 years, some of the most iconic characters in pop culture — including Bugs Bunny, Batman and Superman — will pass into public domain, or at least their most early incarnations. Some elements of Pooh are still off-limits, like his red shirt, since they apply to later interpretations. Tigger, who debuted in 1928’s “The House at Pooh Corner,” isn’t public until 2024.Many have next Jan. 1 circled. That’s when the original version of Mickey Mouse, from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4">“Steamboat Willie,”</a>&nbsp;becomes public domain. It will be open on season on the face of the Walt Disney Co. — or at least that early whistling variety of Mickey.Pop culture, as a concept, was born in the 1920s, meaning many of the most indelible — and still very culturally present — works will fall into public domain in the coming years. There will be all kinds of new and unlikely contexts for some of these characters. Some could be wonderful, some schlocky. But “Winnie Pooh: Blood and Honey” may just be a taste of what's in store.“When Superman and Batman fall into the public domain, there’s going to be some wild films, I’m sure of it,” says “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” writer, director and co-producer Rhys Waterfield. “There’s going to be so many different and cool unique iterations coming off that. I might do one.”Though made for less than $100,000, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” will open Friday on some 1,500 screens in North America, an unusually wide release for such a little-funded movie. It’s already made $1 million in Mexico and has many more international territories booked. For Waterfield, a British film producer of direct-to-DVD titles (credits include “Dinosaur Hotel” and “Easter Killing”), it’s already a hit way beyond expectation.“I kind of thought this could do a small theatrical run in some places and do quite well commercially," says Waterfield. "But it's blown up way beyond that to a scale that's absolutely insane.”In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1257650/media-franchises-revenue/">a 2021 tally of media franchises by Statista</a>, Winnie the Pooh, with $80.3 billion in worldwide revenue, tied Mickey Mouse for No. 3, trailing only Pokémon and Hello Kitty. But unlike them, Pooh accounts for a veritable religion for his kind-hearted witticisms and contented spiritual outlook. Pooh is as much a gentle sage as he is a round-tummied toon. When Waterfield realized Pooh was entering public domain, “I had a spark in my eye,” he says.Here was much-coveted intellectual property that could sell just about any film. “I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t know who Winnie the Pooh is,” Waterfield said in a recent phone interview speaking from Amsterdam.But certainly, not everyone has been so happy about the idea of one of the most benevolent bears turning feral monster. Waterfield says he receives daily messages telling him he's evil, and even some death threats. One person said they were calling the police.“You've got to be pretty thick-skinned to do a movie like this,” Waterfield says. “It baffles me. People think making an alternative version of him is somehow infiltrating their mind and destroying their memories. When I get claims that I ruined people’s childhoods, I’m genuinely confused. I just kind of brush it off and carry on making more of them."Waterfield is already planning sequels with Peter Pan, Bambi and many more. (The Felix Salten book “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” also became public domain last year.)Jennifer Jenkins,&nbsp;<a href="https://law.duke.edu/fac/jenkins/">a professor of law and director of Duke's Center for the Study of Public Domain,</a>&nbsp;is used to operating in a relatively quiet and byzantine realm of copyright law and thorny rights issues. She writes&nbsp;<a href="https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/">an annual Jan. 1 column for “Public Domain Day.”</a>&nbsp;But nothing has caused her phone to ring off the hook quite like “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.”The movie has clearly touched a nerve; millions have watched its trailer online. (Typical comment: “I can't believe that this movie is real.”) And Jenkins, a firm believer in the long-range benefits of public domain, has been somewhat bemused by the storm kicked up by a movie like “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey." She compares public domain issues like these to the way free speech is a right, regardless of whether you agree with what's said.“Some uses of public domain material will be welcome to some and disturbing to others,” Jenkins says. "But I don’t think new content uniformly saps the value of the original work. I have the original books. I adore them. The fact that this slasher film is out there has no effect whatsoever on how I feel about A.A. Milne’s original creation or E.H. Shepard’s pencil sketches."It's worth noting that much of the Disney empire was, itself, built on public domain. “Beauty and the Beast” comes from Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 1756 version of the fairy tale. “Sleeping Beauty” came from Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale. “Aladdin” comes from the folk tale collection “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.”Though Jenkins can't think of too many characters who had such a jarring entry to public domain as Pooh, films like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (2016) and the 2021 book “The Great Gatsby Undead” are reference points.“People love adding zombies to public domain works,” says Jenkins.To her, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" may not be the most glorious example of the effects of public domain, but it's part of a process that human creativity depends upon and thrives on. “Blood and Honey” may not make a lasting mark in the Hundred Acre Woods, but something, someday will. Chalk it up to growing pains.“The fact that some people may be disturbed or revolted by this particular re-use of some of the characters from Winnie the Pooh doesn’t detract from the value of the public domain," says Jenkins. "This is how people throughout history have created. They’ve always drawn on or been inspired by earlier works. Time will tell with this movie or any other reuse of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet whether movies like this will be rewarded in the marketplace or have any enduring appeal.“My thing is always: Time will tell.”

Winnie the Pooh stars in an R-rated slasher movie

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JOE%20REEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer</a>

Fox was hoping the matchup of two top teams in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-philadelphia-eagles-new-york-giants-nfl-super-bowl-7be35ad8901fcd0d12923dc252032304">Super Bowl</a>&nbsp;and a close game would lead to a record night.

Even though Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles came down to a field goal with 8 seconds remaining, Fox fell just short of its goal.

The Chiefs' rally to defeat the Eagles 38-35 was the third most-watched television show in history, with an average of 113.1 million people watching, according to final numbers released Tuesday by Nielsen.

The total includes the broadcasts on Fox and Fox Deportes as well as streaming on Fox and the NFL's digital sites. The figures are via Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

The 2015 game between New England and Seattle on NBC holds the record at 114,442,000 viewers (not including streaming), followed by Super Bowl 51 in 2017 on Fox between Atlanta and New England (113,668,000).

This was Fox's 10th Super Bowl since it began airing NFL games in 1994 and the second most-watched program in Fox Sports history.

It is a slight increase over the 112.3 million average for last year's Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams' victory over the Cincinnati Bengals was broadcast by NBC and Telemundo and streamed on Peacock and NFL digital sites.

The Fox average this year of 112,173,000 marked the first time in three years the TV-only audience was above 100 million. It was also an 11.6% increase over NBC's average from last year. It is the first time since 2015 there have been two straight years of increases.

According to Adobe Analytics, this year's digital feed averaged a Super Bowl-record 7 million streams, an 18% increase over last year (6 million) and more than double Fox's last Super Bowl in 2020 (3.4 million).

It was the third straight year the streaming average has surpassed 5 million. The first Super Bowl to be streamed, in 2012, averaged 346,000.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JOE%20REEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer</a>Fox was hoping the matchup of two top teams in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-philadelphia-eagles-new-york-giants-nfl-super-bowl-7be35ad8901fcd0d12923dc252032304">Super Bowl</a>&nbsp;and a close game would lead to a record night.Even though Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles came down to a field goal with 8 seconds remaining, Fox fell just short of its goal.The Chiefs' rally to defeat the Eagles 38-35 was the third most-watched television show in history, with an average of 113.1 million people watching, according to final numbers released Tuesday by Nielsen.The total includes the broadcasts on Fox and Fox Deportes as well as streaming on Fox and the NFL's digital sites. The figures are via Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.The 2015 game between New England and Seattle on NBC holds the record at 114,442,000 viewers (not including streaming), followed by Super Bowl 51 in 2017 on Fox between Atlanta and New England (113,668,000).This was Fox's 10th Super Bowl since it began airing NFL games in 1994 and the second most-watched program in Fox Sports history.It is a slight increase over the 112.3 million average for last year's Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams' victory over the Cincinnati Bengals was broadcast by NBC and Telemundo and streamed on Peacock and NFL digital sites.The Fox average this year of 112,173,000 marked the first time in three years the TV-only audience was above 100 million. It was also an 11.6% increase over NBC's average from last year. It is the first time since 2015 there have been two straight years of increases.According to Adobe Analytics, this year's digital feed averaged a Super Bowl-record 7 million streams, an 18% increase over last year (6 million) and more than double Fox's last Super Bowl in 2020 (3.4 million).It was the third straight year the streaming average has surpassed 5 million. The first Super Bowl to be streamed, in 2012, averaged 346,000.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rihanna-celebrity-pregnancy-reveals-5a789ce2153e077e4c64c8609fb9aa31">Rihanna's halftime show</a>&nbsp;averaged 118.7 million viewers, making it the second most-watched in Super Bowl history. Katy Perry's 2015 performance holds the top mark at 121 million.The Spanish-language audience average for the game was 951,000, a record for the most-watched Super Bowl game in Spanish-language cable television history. It was also the most watched non-soccer event in Spanish-language cable history.The Spanish-language number is down from last year's record of 1.9 million on Telemundo, which unlike Fox Deportes has broadcast affiliates in 90 markets.The Super Bowl has been televised in Spanish in the United States since 2014.After Super Bowls averaged over 100 million viewers from 2010-18, four of the five games before this year had fallen short of that number because of cord-cutting. That included 95.2 million for the 2021 Super Bowl between Tampa Bay and Kansas City, which was the game's lowest TV-only average since 2007.Unsurprisingly, Kansas City and Philadelphia were the two highest-ranked markets. Kansas City led the way with a 52.0 rating and 87 share followed by Philadelphia’s 46.3/77.The rating is the percentage of television households tuned in. The share refers to a percentage of the TV-watching audience viewing a particular program at the time.Cincinnati, which lost to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game, and Minneapolis also recorded 77 shares.The flood of ads during what is easily television’s most-watched event of the year was heavy on celebrities — Ben Affleck, Ozzy Osbourne, Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Martha Stewart and “Breaking Bad” cast members.Steve Williamson, senior vice president of the market research firm GWI. said surveys show that trust in brands is down this year and companies were looking for well-known names for a boost.“There wasn’t a primary brand that took over the Super Bowl,” he said. “There were all sorts of brands from alcohol to gambling to Jesus.”Fox also said 15.5 million people watched the season premiere of Gordon Ramsay's competition show “Next Level Chef” following the game. The spot after the Super Bowl is usually the most coveted time slot on television.

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