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

Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of his recent comments about race when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced Sunday it would no longer work with the cartoonist.

Andrews McMeel Chairman Hugh Andrews and CEO and President Andy Sareyan said in a joint statement that the syndication company was “severing our relationship" with Adams.

In the Feb. 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

Andrews and Sareyan said Andrews McMeel supports free speech, but the comments by the cartoonist were not compatible with the core values of the company based in Kansas City, Missouri.

“We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,” they said in the statement posted on the company website and Twitter.

The creator of the long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture defended himself on social media against those whom he said "hate me and are canceling me.”

The backlash against Adams arose following comments on “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams used the YouTube show to reference a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It's OK to be white."

Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren't sure.

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then began being used by some white supremacists.

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans."

“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams said on his Wednesday show.

In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

"But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.

Dilbert had already been dropped by several media outlets by the time of the announcement from its distributor.

“We have decided to no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip in our international print edition following racist comments by Scott Adams," said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/us/dilbert-newspapers-racism.html">The New York Times</a>&nbsp;who said Dilbert was published in the international print edition but not in the U.S. edition or online.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/02/25/scott-adams-dilbert-canceled/">The Washington Post</a>&nbsp;said it would stop publishing Dilbert in light of “Scott Adams’s recent statements promoting segregation," although the strip could not be prevented from running in some forthcoming print editions.

<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-02-25/los-angeles-times-ceases-publication-of-dilbert">The Los Angeles Times</a>&nbsp;cited Adams' “racist comments” while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics — which are printed in advance — will be March 12.

<a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-comments-17805449.php">The San Antonio Express-News</a>, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday it will drop the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, “because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”

<a href="https://twitter.com/USATODAY_PR/status/1629250832322514945?s=20">The USA Today Network</a>&nbsp;tweeted Friday that it will stop publishing Dilbert "due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator.”

<a href="https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/02/we-are-dropping-the-dilbert-comic-strip-because-of-creator-scott-adams-racist-rant-letter-from-the-editor.html">The Plain Dealer in Cleveland</a>&nbsp;and other publications that are part of media company Advance Local also announced they are dropping Dilbert.

“This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn wrote. ”We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support."

Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nj.com/news/2023/02/were-no-longer-publishing-dilbert-heres-why-editors-note.html">NJ Advance Media</a>, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

“But when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk defended Adams in posts on the platform, saying the media previously "was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites &amp; Asians.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVID%20A.%20LIEB%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press</a>Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of his recent comments about race when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced Sunday it would no longer work with the cartoonist.Andrews McMeel Chairman Hugh Andrews and CEO and President Andy Sareyan said in a joint statement that the syndication company was “severing our relationship" with Adams.In the Feb. 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.Andrews and Sareyan said Andrews McMeel supports free speech, but the comments by the cartoonist were not compatible with the core values of the company based in Kansas City, Missouri.“We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,” they said in the statement posted on the company website and Twitter.The creator of the long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture defended himself on social media against those whom he said "hate me and are canceling me.”The backlash against Adams arose following comments on “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams used the YouTube show to reference a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It's OK to be white."Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren't sure.The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then began being used by some white supremacists.Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans."“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams said on his Wednesday show.In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination."But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.Dilbert had already been dropped by several media outlets by the time of the announcement from its distributor.“We have decided to no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip in our international print edition following racist comments by Scott Adams," said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/us/dilbert-newspapers-racism.html">The New York Times</a>&nbsp;who said Dilbert was published in the international print edition but not in the U.S. edition or online.<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/02/25/scott-adams-dilbert-canceled/">The Washington Post</a>&nbsp;said it would stop publishing Dilbert in light of “Scott Adams’s recent statements promoting segregation," although the strip could not be prevented from running in some forthcoming print editions.<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-02-25/los-angeles-times-ceases-publication-of-dilbert">The Los Angeles Times</a>&nbsp;cited Adams' “racist comments” while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics — which are printed in advance — will be March 12.<a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-comments-17805449.php">The San Antonio Express-News</a>, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday it will drop the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, “because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”<a href="https://twitter.com/USATODAY_PR/status/1629250832322514945?s=20">The USA Today Network</a>&nbsp;tweeted Friday that it will stop publishing Dilbert "due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator.”<a href="https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/02/we-are-dropping-the-dilbert-comic-strip-because-of-creator-scott-adams-racist-rant-letter-from-the-editor.html">The Plain Dealer in Cleveland</a>&nbsp;and other publications that are part of media company Advance Local also announced they are dropping Dilbert.“This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn wrote. ”We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support."Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nj.com/news/2023/02/were-no-longer-publishing-dilbert-heres-why-editors-note.html">NJ Advance Media</a>, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”“But when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.Twitter CEO Elon Musk defended Adams in posts on the platform, saying the media previously "was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites &amp; Asians.”

Dilbert distributor severs ties to creator over race remarks

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MATT%20O%27BRIEN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MATT O'BRIEN AP Technology Writer</a>

Speed around a French village in the video game Gran Turismo and you might spot a Corvette behind you trying to catch your slipstream.

The technique of using the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one">draft of an opponent's racecar</a>&nbsp;to speed up and overtake them is one favored by skilled players of PlayStation's realistic racing game.

But this Corvette driver is not being controlled by a human — it's GT Sophy, a powerful artificial intelligence agent built by PlayStation-maker Sony.

Gran Turismo players have been competing against computer-generated racecars since the franchise launched in the 1990s, but the new AI driver that was unleashed last week on Gran Turismo 7 is smarter and faster because it's been trained using the latest AI methods.

“Gran Turismo had a built-in AI existing from the beginning of the game, but it has a very narrow band of performance and it isn’t very good," said Michael Spranger, chief operating officer of Sony AI. “It’s very predictable. Once you get past a certain level, it doesn’t really entice you anymore.”

But now, he said, “this AI is going to put up a fight.”

Visit an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-science-software-microsoft-corp-business-a7f6f44fdd53730e45daa611555c8c23">artificial intelligence laboratory</a>&nbsp;at universities and companies like Sony, Google, Meta, Microsoft and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-science-microsoft-corp-business-artificial-intelligence-03f157ddc482ef76f4999b929eaac7bf">ChatGPT-maker OpenAI</a>&nbsp;and it’s not unusual to find AI agents like Sophy racing cars, slinging angry birds at pigs, fighting epic interstellar battles or helping human gamers build new Minecraft worlds -- all part of the job description for computer systems trying to learn how to get smarter in games.

But in some instances, they are also trying to learn how to get smarter in the real world. In a January paper, a University of Cambridge researcher who built an AI agent to control Pokémon characters argued it could “inspire all sorts of applications that require team management under conditions of extreme uncertainty, including managing a team of doctors, robots or employees in an ever-changing environment, like a pandemic-stricken region or a war zone.”

And while that might sound like a kid making a case for playing three more hours of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-travel-music-bdbe1461daae96825acfd07f80df9699">Pokémon Violet</a>, the study of games has been used to advance AI research — and train computers to solve complex problems — since the mid-20th century.

Initially, AI was used on games like checkers and chess to test at winning strategy games. Now a new branch of research is more focused on performing open-ended tasks in complex worlds and interacting with humans, not just for the purpose of beating them.

“Reality is like a super-complicated game,” said Nicholas Sarantinos, who authored the Pokémon paper and recently turned down a doctoral offer at Oxford University to start an AI company aiming to help corporate workplaces set up more collaborative teams.

In the web-based Pokémon Showdown battle simulator, Sarantinos developed an algorithm to analyze a team of six Pokémon — predicting how they would perform based on all the possible battle scenarios ahead of them and their comparative strengths and weaknesses.

Microsoft, which owns the popular Minecraft game franchise as well as the Xbox game system, has tasked AI agents with a variety of activities — from steering clear of lava to chopping trees and making furnaces. Researchers hope some of their learnings could eventually play a role in real-world technology, such as how to get a home robot to take on certain chores without having to program it to do so.

While it ”goes without stating" that real humans behave quite differently from fictional video game creatures, “the core ideas can still be used,” Sarantinos said. “If you use psychology tests, you can take this information to conclude how well they can work together.”

Amy Hoover, an assistant professor of informatics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who’s built algorithms for the digital card game Hearthstone, said “there really is a reason for studying games” but it is not always easy to explain.

“People aren’t always understanding that the point is about the optimization method rather than the game,” she said.

Games also offer a useful testbed for AI — including for some real-world applications in robotics or health care — that’s safer to try in a virtual world, said Vanessa Volz, a researcher and co-founder of the Danish startup Modl.ai, which builds AI systems for game development.

“It’s probably not going to be one big breakthrough and that everything is going to be shifted to the real world,” Volz said.

Japanese electronics giant Sony launched its own AI research division in 2020 with entertainment in mind, but it's nonetheless attracted broader academic attention.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04357-7">Its research paper</a>&nbsp;introducing Sophy last year made it on the cover of the prestigious science journal Nature, which said it could potentially have effects on other applications such as drones and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tesla-recalls-full-self-driving-cars-875b54d4b71e97d43a17e968d7b856ae">self-driving vehicles</a>.

The technology behind Sophy is based on an algorithmic method known as reinforcement learning, which trains the system by rewarding it when it gets something right as it runs virtual races thousands of times.

“The reward is going to tell you that, ‘You’re making progress. This is good,’ or, ‘You’re off the track. Well, that’s not good,'" Spranger said.

PlayStation players will only get to try racing against Sophy until Wednesday, on a limited number of circuits, so it can get some feedback and go back into testing. Peter Wurman, director of Sony AI America and project lead on GT Sophy, said it takes about two weeks for AI agents to train on 20 PlayStations.

“To get it spread throughout the whole game, it takes some more breakthroughs and some more time before we’re ready for that,” he said.

And to get it onto real streets or Formula One tracks? That could take a lot longer.

<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/driverless-cars">Self-driving car companies</a>&nbsp;adopt similar machine-learning techniques, but “they don’t hand over complete control of the car the way we are able to,” Wurman said. “In a simulated world, there’s nobody’s life at risk. You know exactly the kinds of things you’re going to see in the environment. There’s no people crossing the road or anything like that.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MATT%20O%27BRIEN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MATT O'BRIEN AP Technology Writer</a>Speed around a French village in the video game Gran Turismo and you might spot a Corvette behind you trying to catch your slipstream.The technique of using the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one">draft of an opponent's racecar</a>&nbsp;to speed up and overtake them is one favored by skilled players of PlayStation's realistic racing game.But this Corvette driver is not being controlled by a human — it's GT Sophy, a powerful artificial intelligence agent built by PlayStation-maker Sony.Gran Turismo players have been competing against computer-generated racecars since the franchise launched in the 1990s, but the new AI driver that was unleashed last week on Gran Turismo 7 is smarter and faster because it's been trained using the latest AI methods.“Gran Turismo had a built-in AI existing from the beginning of the game, but it has a very narrow band of performance and it isn’t very good," said Michael Spranger, chief operating officer of Sony AI. “It’s very predictable. Once you get past a certain level, it doesn’t really entice you anymore.”But now, he said, “this AI is going to put up a fight.”Visit an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-science-software-microsoft-corp-business-a7f6f44fdd53730e45daa611555c8c23">artificial intelligence laboratory</a>&nbsp;at universities and companies like Sony, Google, Meta, Microsoft and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-science-microsoft-corp-business-artificial-intelligence-03f157ddc482ef76f4999b929eaac7bf">ChatGPT-maker OpenAI</a>&nbsp;and it’s not unusual to find AI agents like Sophy racing cars, slinging angry birds at pigs, fighting epic interstellar battles or helping human gamers build new Minecraft worlds -- all part of the job description for computer systems trying to learn how to get smarter in games.But in some instances, they are also trying to learn how to get smarter in the real world. In a January paper, a University of Cambridge researcher who built an AI agent to control Pokémon characters argued it could “inspire all sorts of applications that require team management under conditions of extreme uncertainty, including managing a team of doctors, robots or employees in an ever-changing environment, like a pandemic-stricken region or a war zone.”And while that might sound like a kid making a case for playing three more hours of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-travel-music-bdbe1461daae96825acfd07f80df9699">Pokémon Violet</a>, the study of games has been used to advance AI research — and train computers to solve complex problems — since the mid-20th century.Initially, AI was used on games like checkers and chess to test at winning strategy games. Now a new branch of research is more focused on performing open-ended tasks in complex worlds and interacting with humans, not just for the purpose of beating them.“Reality is like a super-complicated game,” said Nicholas Sarantinos, who authored the Pokémon paper and recently turned down a doctoral offer at Oxford University to start an AI company aiming to help corporate workplaces set up more collaborative teams.In the web-based Pokémon Showdown battle simulator, Sarantinos developed an algorithm to analyze a team of six Pokémon — predicting how they would perform based on all the possible battle scenarios ahead of them and their comparative strengths and weaknesses.Microsoft, which owns the popular Minecraft game franchise as well as the Xbox game system, has tasked AI agents with a variety of activities — from steering clear of lava to chopping trees and making furnaces. Researchers hope some of their learnings could eventually play a role in real-world technology, such as how to get a home robot to take on certain chores without having to program it to do so.While it ”goes without stating" that real humans behave quite differently from fictional video game creatures, “the core ideas can still be used,” Sarantinos said. “If you use psychology tests, you can take this information to conclude how well they can work together.”Amy Hoover, an assistant professor of informatics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who’s built algorithms for the digital card game Hearthstone, said “there really is a reason for studying games” but it is not always easy to explain.“People aren’t always understanding that the point is about the optimization method rather than the game,” she said.Games also offer a useful testbed for AI — including for some real-world applications in robotics or health care — that’s safer to try in a virtual world, said Vanessa Volz, a researcher and co-founder of the Danish startup Modl.ai, which builds AI systems for game development.But, she adds, “it can get overhyped."“It’s probably not going to be one big breakthrough and that everything is going to be shifted to the real world,” Volz said.Japanese electronics giant Sony launched its own AI research division in 2020 with entertainment in mind, but it's nonetheless attracted broader academic attention.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04357-7">Its research paper</a>&nbsp;introducing Sophy last year made it on the cover of the prestigious science journal Nature, which said it could potentially have effects on other applications such as drones and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tesla-recalls-full-self-driving-cars-875b54d4b71e97d43a17e968d7b856ae">self-driving vehicles</a>.The technology behind Sophy is based on an algorithmic method known as reinforcement learning, which trains the system by rewarding it when it gets something right as it runs virtual races thousands of times.“The reward is going to tell you that, ‘You’re making progress. This is good,’ or, ‘You’re off the track. Well, that’s not good,'" Spranger said.PlayStation players will only get to try racing against Sophy until Wednesday, on a limited number of circuits, so it can get some feedback and go back into testing. Peter Wurman, director of Sony AI America and project lead on GT Sophy, said it takes about two weeks for AI agents to train on 20 PlayStations.“To get it spread throughout the whole game, it takes some more breakthroughs and some more time before we’re ready for that,” he said.And to get it onto real streets or Formula One tracks? That could take a lot longer.<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/driverless-cars">Self-driving car companies</a>&nbsp;adopt similar machine-learning techniques, but “they don’t hand over complete control of the car the way we are able to,” Wurman said. “In a simulated world, there’s nobody’s life at risk. You know exactly the kinds of things you’re going to see in the environment. There’s no people crossing the road or anything like that.”

Outsmarting humans just one step for AI video game players

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times, host Gary Shorman speaks with Camber Children's Mental Health Hays executive director Sarah Berens.

<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-EDJebsfoSA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times, host Gary Shorman speaks with Camber Children's Mental Health Hays executive director Sarah Berens.

🎤 Forward Ever: Camber Hays executive director Sarah Berens

A rendering of part of the Brit Spaugh Park renovations in Great Bend.

By COLE REIF Great Bend Post

The Great Bend City Council spent nearly an hour and a half Tuesday evening hashing over the 10-year, master plan for the quality of life projects. The early estimates showed the .15% quality of life sales tax should generate $567,000 to be divvied up among several projects.

One of the city’s main focuses this year is completing an overhaul of the south side of Brit Spaugh Park, just south of the zoo. The city wants to move forward with constructing an outdoor basketball court, four pickleball courts, two mini soccer pitches, playground and a restroom facility.

Great Bend Interim City Administrator Logan Burns said the approximate $2 million project could partially use private donations. "Sounds like the money is out there," said Burns. "People want to help with this just to see it through. I think you have to do this project as turnkey. I don't think you can phase it in. That's where the private donations would come in very handy. I just think if you start phasing it in, that's not what you're after at the end of the day."

The quality of life sales tax master plan calls for $725,000 to be set aside for the Brit Spaugh Park project. The Great Bend Recreation Commission will be contributing $343,700 for the playground equipment. The Harms Trust will add $60,000 for the basketball court.

Great Bend Rec Executive Director Chris Umphres said the mini soccer pitches are features the Rec has been wanting to bring to town for a few years. "It's a full on kit," said Umphres. "We pour the concrete pad, and the contractor puts the color to it. The fencing and all that stuff...it's basically a big puzzle that they put together. It's locked in. It's set for outdoor soccer. If you've seen the City Auditorium when we do indoor soccer, with walls kind of hockey style, now they have one for outdoor."&nbsp; Burns said he will get with the engineer to obtain detailed drawings to get the project out for bids and come back to the council with the final cost.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677044151129.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>A rendering of part of the Brit Spaugh Park renovations in Great Bend.By COLE REIF Great Bend PostThe Great Bend City Council spent nearly an hour and a half Tuesday evening hashing over the 10-year, master plan for the quality of life projects. The early estimates showed the .15% quality of life sales tax should generate $567,000 to be divvied up among several projects.One of the city’s main focuses this year is completing an overhaul of the south side of Brit Spaugh Park, just south of the zoo. The city wants to move forward with constructing an outdoor basketball court, four pickleball courts, two mini soccer pitches, playground and a restroom facility.Great Bend Interim City Administrator Logan Burns said the approximate $2 million project could partially use private donations. "Sounds like the money is out there," said Burns. "People want to help with this just to see it through. I think you have to do this project as turnkey. I don't think you can phase it in. That's where the private donations would come in very handy. I just think if you start phasing it in, that's not what you're after at the end of the day."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677044222033.jpeg" alt="" />
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 </figure>The quality of life sales tax master plan calls for $725,000 to be set aside for the Brit Spaugh Park project. The Great Bend Recreation Commission will be contributing $343,700 for the playground equipment. The Harms Trust will add $60,000 for the basketball court.Great Bend Rec Executive Director Chris Umphres said the mini soccer pitches are features the Rec has been wanting to bring to town for a few years. "It's a full on kit," said Umphres. "We pour the concrete pad, and the contractor puts the color to it. The fencing and all that stuff...it's basically a big puzzle that they put together. It's locked in. It's set for outdoor soccer. If you've seen the City Auditorium when we do indoor soccer, with walls kind of hockey style, now they have one for outdoor."&nbsp; Burns said he will get with the engineer to obtain detailed drawings to get the project out for bids and come back to the council with the final cost.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<figure>
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📷 Great Bend reveals design of Brit Spaugh Park overhaul

The&nbsp;Bamboo Bay: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Deep exhibit in the Earl Bane Gallery.&nbsp;Photo courtesy Rolling Hills Zoo

Sharks have arrived at the Rolling Hills Zoo! And while work continues on the new Bamboo Bay exhibit, you can visit a related exhibit in the Wildlife Museum's Earl Bane Gallery.

Bamboo Bay: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Deep&nbsp;will take visitors on a deep dive into prehistoric Kansas, 73 million years ago, when it was once covered by an ancient inland sea. The waters of the Western Interior Seaway that covered what is now Kansas, as well as much of the United States, "were warm, shallow, and inhabited by a plethora of marine animals, including bony fish like the monstrous Xiphactinus, sharks, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pteranodon, mollusks (including ammonites), protophyraenas, and winged pterosaurs, which patrolled the skies overhead," the zoo explained in a news release issued late this afternoon.

"Fossils from these long extinct species are now on display courtesy of Ramo and Pam Decker and their three children, Kerstin, Kelsey, and Ray. Over the last 20 years, this family of avid paleontologists has been collecting fossils throughout Kansas, focusing much of their efforts on a specific layer of rock in north-central Kansas known as Codell Stone," the zoo noted.

Among the fossils found by the Deckers are 22 shark species, 13 fish, and three reptiles, including the plesiosaur and mosasaur.

"One of the shark species discovered was previously unknown, and the first of its kind to ever be found! This newly unearthed species of extinct shark would later be named Squalicorax deckeri in honor of the Deckers," the zoo reported.

Additionally, as the zoo continues to renovate the former Reptile Building into its new Bamboo Bay, the zoo's new cat chain sharks can be seen in the Earl Bane Gallery’s saltwater aquarium along with a skate embryo (a developing baby cat shark), according to information from the zoo. The developing shark is still in a tough leathery pouch known as a mermaid’s purse, which is protecting the embryo.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677028530962.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The&nbsp;Bamboo Bay: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Deep exhibit in the Earl Bane Gallery.&nbsp;Photo courtesy Rolling Hills ZooBy SALINA POSTSharks have arrived at the Rolling Hills Zoo! And while work continues on the new Bamboo Bay exhibit, you can visit a related exhibit in the Wildlife Museum's Earl Bane Gallery.Bamboo Bay: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Deep&nbsp;will take visitors on a deep dive into prehistoric Kansas, 73 million years ago, when it was once covered by an ancient inland sea. The waters of the Western Interior Seaway that covered what is now Kansas, as well as much of the United States, "were warm, shallow, and inhabited by a plethora of marine animals, including bony fish like the monstrous Xiphactinus, sharks, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pteranodon, mollusks (including ammonites), protophyraenas, and winged pterosaurs, which patrolled the skies overhead," the zoo explained in a news release issued late this afternoon."Fossils from these long extinct species are now on display courtesy of Ramo and Pam Decker and their three children, Kerstin, Kelsey, and Ray. Over the last 20 years, this family of avid paleontologists has been collecting fossils throughout Kansas, focusing much of their efforts on a specific layer of rock in north-central Kansas known as Codell Stone," the zoo noted.Among the fossils found by the Deckers are 22 shark species, 13 fish, and three reptiles, including the plesiosaur and mosasaur."One of the shark species discovered was previously unknown, and the first of its kind to ever be found! This newly unearthed species of extinct shark would later be named Squalicorax deckeri in honor of the Deckers," the zoo reported.Additionally, as the zoo continues to renovate the former Reptile Building into its new Bamboo Bay, the zoo's new cat chain sharks can be seen in the Earl Bane Gallery’s saltwater aquarium along with a skate embryo (a developing baby cat shark), according to information from the zoo. The developing shark is still in a tough leathery pouch known as a mermaid’s purse, which is protecting the embryo.

Sharks in residence at Rolling Hills Zoo; exhibit looks at ancient sea over Kansas

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

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

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

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

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

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;

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