By COLE REIF Great Bend Post

When “The Wall That Heals” arrives to Great Bend, Chairperson for the Great Bend Leadership Committee Larry Parsons is hopeful up 15,000 people will visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica.

The three-quarter replica from the memorial in Washington D.C. only makes 30 stops across the country each year. Parsons said the Great Bend stop in May is the only destination in the area this year. "There is nothing else in Kansas," said Parsons. "There is nothing else in Nebraska. There is nothing else in Colorado. There is nothing else in Oklahoma. It'll be right here. I think we'll get a lot of television coverage on this event. Marysville had a few years ago and they had people out of Lincoln, Nebraska and Topeka almost every day there. The 375-foot-long wall bears the names of the more than 58,000 American men and women who died during the Vietnam War. The wall will be displayed at Al Burns Field at Veterans Memorial Park May 11 – May 14 and is free to the public.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/11/1669652510925.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By COLE REIF Great Bend PostWhen “The Wall That Heals” arrives to Great Bend, Chairperson for the Great Bend Leadership Committee Larry Parsons is hopeful up 15,000 people will visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica.The three-quarter replica from the memorial in Washington D.C. only makes 30 stops across the country each year. Parsons said the Great Bend stop in May is the only destination in the area this year. "There is nothing else in Kansas," said Parsons. "There is nothing else in Nebraska. There is nothing else in Colorado. There is nothing else in Oklahoma. It'll be right here. I think we'll get a lot of television coverage on this event. Marysville had a few years ago and they had people out of Lincoln, Nebraska and Topeka almost every day there. The 375-foot-long wall bears the names of the more than 58,000 American men and women who died during the Vietnam War. The wall will be displayed at Al Burns Field at Veterans Memorial Park May 11 – May 14 and is free to the public.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<div><div style="position:relative;overflow:hidden;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/players/2AXFSN1C-KcBmu4K3.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" title="The Wall That Heals 2" style="position:absolute;" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>

Thousands expected to visit Great Bend to see ‘The Wall That Heals’

The Hays
Community Theatre, 121 E Eighth, is preparing for a busy spring as work
begins on two upcoming productions along with their summer musical.

This
year’s summer musical, The Addams Family, won’t be performed until July,
but this weekend, cast hopefuls will begin the audition process.

“Our
practices usually start at the beginning of June,” said board member Adam
Conkey. “So, this is a summer-intensive thing.”

Auditions
are scheduled for 2 p.m. March 4, 11 and 12.

He said practices
entail a few hours in the evenings until the performances on July 27, 28 and 29
in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Art Center on the Fort Hays State University
campus, 600 Park.

“This
will involve a lot of choreography,” Conkey said. “It will involve singing and
dancing, so get your shoes on.”

He said
the cast could be may be as large as 30, but the more that want to participate
the better.

“If you
don't want to audition for a show, it helps us to have people in the background
backstage, pushing props around and figuring out how the set needs to be moved,”
Conkey said. “Those are always handy positions as well.”

While work begins for the summer
production, two spring events are planned as well, including a unique version
of Hamlet, and the second annual Drag Show.

“This is
this is this is a kind of a special Hamlet, this is emo Hamlet in early 2000's
Shakespearean tragedy,” Conkey said. “It's a take on Hamlet as a lead played by
a female. So Hamlet is Ham Let and this is, set in a period where scene and emo
music are part of the feel of it.”

Conkey
will serve as director for the performance.

“I
wanted it to be a tragedy, but one of those kind of dark comedies almost where
it's, it's funny how terrible it is, how sad it is,” he said. “So that's the
direction I'm going with it.”

The search
for performers for that production will also begin soon, Conkey said, with junior
high-age children to seniors needed.

Auditions
are set from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. March 5 and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. March 6.

“Also,
if you want to send in a video of yourself to hctks.com showing a Shakespearean
sonnet that you're reading, that'll work just as well,” Conkey said.

Rehearsals
are set to begin March 12 and run Sundays through Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Performances
are set for 7 p.m. April 27, 28 and 29 of April at the Community Theatre. 

“It's
gonna be a fun take,” Conkey said.

“This is
an over-the-top experience,” Conkey said of the upcoming second annual Drag Show
set for 8 p.m. April 1. “I've never experienced an audience for anything quite
like this. ... I'm also calling for performers for this as well.”

He said last year they had over 10 performers playing multiple characters
and hopes to find even more this year.

“Lots of fun coming up here at the
community theater, so for events and anything happening, make sure to see us at<a href="https://www.hctks.com/">
hctks.com</a> or follow us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hayscommunitytheatre">Facebook</a>,” Conkey said.

<div><iframe title="Hays Community Theatre preparing for three upcoming shows" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=uk46v-13a39b0-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL Hays PostThe Hays
Community Theatre, 121 E Eighth, is preparing for a busy spring as work
begins on two upcoming productions along with their summer musical.This
year’s summer musical, The Addams Family, won’t be performed until July,
but this weekend, cast hopefuls will begin the audition process.“Our
practices usually start at the beginning of June,” said board member Adam
Conkey. “So, this is a summer-intensive thing.”Auditions
are scheduled for 2 p.m. March 4, 11 and 12.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677607416485.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>He said practices
entail a few hours in the evenings until the performances on July 27, 28 and 29
in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Art Center on the Fort Hays State University
campus, 600 Park.“This
will involve a lot of choreography,” Conkey said. “It will involve singing and
dancing, so get your shoes on.”He said
the cast could be may be as large as 30, but the more that want to participate
the better.“If you
don't want to audition for a show, it helps us to have people in the background
backstage, pushing props around and figuring out how the set needs to be moved,”
Conkey said. “Those are always handy positions as well.”While work begins for the summer
production, two spring events are planned as well, including a unique version
of Hamlet, and the second annual Drag Show.“This is
this is this is a kind of a special Hamlet, this is emo Hamlet in early 2000's
Shakespearean tragedy,” Conkey said. “It's a take on Hamlet as a lead played by
a female. So Hamlet is Ham Let and this is, set in a period where scene and emo
music are part of the feel of it.”Conkey
will serve as director for the performance.“I
wanted it to be a tragedy, but one of those kind of dark comedies almost where
it's, it's funny how terrible it is, how sad it is,” he said. “So that's the
direction I'm going with it.”The search
for performers for that production will also begin soon, Conkey said, with junior
high-age children to seniors needed.Auditions
are set from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. March 5 and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. March 6.“Also,
if you want to send in a video of yourself to hctks.com showing a Shakespearean
sonnet that you're reading, that'll work just as well,” Conkey said.Rehearsals
are set to begin March 12 and run Sundays through Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.Performances
are set for 7 p.m. April 27, 28 and 29 of April at the Community Theatre. “It's
gonna be a fun take,” Conkey said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677607404086.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>But first ...</h2>“This is
an over-the-top experience,” Conkey said of the upcoming second annual Drag Show
set for 8 p.m. April 1. “I've never experienced an audience for anything quite
like this. ... I'm also calling for performers for this as well.”He said last year they had over 10 performers playing multiple characters
and hopes to find even more this year.“Lots of fun coming up here at the
community theater, so for events and anything happening, make sure to see us at<a href="https://www.hctks.com/">
hctks.com</a> or follow us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hayscommunitytheatre">Facebook</a>,” Conkey said.

🎙 Hays Community Theatre preparing for three upcoming shows

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

The unlikely awards season juggernaut “Everything Everywhere All at Once” marched on at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sagawards.org/">Screen Actors Guild Awards</a>&nbsp;on Sunday, and even gathered steam with wins not just for best ensemble,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/michelle-yeoh-movie-92b9737f7ef574ea62dec51ba12516fd">Michelle Yeoh</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ke-huy-quan-interview-everything-everywhere-spielberg-ab2601e87b405370853ce1ab12bf5dc2">Ke Huy Quan</a>&nbsp;but also for Jamie Lee Curtis.

The SAG Awards, often an Oscar preview, threw some curve balls into the Oscars race in a ceremony streamed live on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTSeRqP6gqE">Netflix's YouTube page</a>&nbsp;from Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

But the clearest result of the SAG Awards was the overwhelming success of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's madcap multiverse tale, which has now used its hotdog fingers to snag top honors from the acting, directing and producing guilds. Only one film ("Apollo 13") had won all three and not gone on to win best picture at the Oscars.

After so much of the cast of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/film-reviews-entertainment-sports-movies-martial-arts-a0c2c7bfb0a06c2f2f8156c835a84b93">“Everything Everywhere All at Once”</a>&nbsp;had already been on the stage to accept awards, the night's final moment belonged to 94-year-old James Hong, a supporting player in the film and a trailblazer for Asian American representation in Hollywood. He brought up the ignoble yellowface history of the 1937 film “The Good Earth.”

“The leading role was played with these guys with their eyes taped up like this and they talked like this because the producers said the Asians were not good enough and they were not box office,” said Hong. “But look at us now!”

Hong added that the cast of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” wasn't all Chinese, though he granted Jamie Lee Curtis had a good Chinese name. Curtis' win was one of the most surprising of the night, coming over the longtime favorite, Angela Bassett ("Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"), who had seemed to be on a clear path to becoming the first actor to win an Oscar for a performance in a Marvel movie.

A visibly moved Curtis said she was wearing the wedding ring her father, Tony Curtis, gave her mother, Janet Leigh.

“I know you look at me and think ‘Nepo baby,’” said Curtis, who won in her first SAG nomination. “But the truth of the matter is that I’m 64 years old and this is just amazing.”

The actors guild, though, lent some clarity to the lead categories. Though some have seen best actress as a toss up between Yeoh and BAFTA winner Cate Blanchett ("Tár"), Yeoh again took home the award for best female lead performance.

“This is not just for me," said Yeoh, the first Asian actress to win the SAG Award for female lead. "It’s for every little girl that looks like me.”

Quan, the former child star, also won for best supporting male actor. The “Everything Everywhere All at Once" co-star had left acting for years after auditions dried up. He's also the first Asian to win best male supporting actor at the SAG Awards.

“When I stepped away from acting, it was because there were so few opportunities,” said Quan. “Now, tonight we are celebrating James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Hong Chau, Harry Shum Jr. The landscape looks so different now.”

Some online commentators suggested there was irony in Mark Wahlberg, who presented best ensemble, handing out the night’s final award to a film with a predominantly Asian and Asian American cast. In 1988, a 16-year-old Wahlberg attacked two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer near his home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Wahlberg, who said race wasn’t a factor in the assault, served 45 days of a two-year sentence. Wahlberg also announced the film “Women Talking” as “Women Are Talking.”

Best actor has been one of the hardest races to call.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austin-butler-elvis-oscars-best-actor-bddde01cde0f50d1e39c963dd45d7a66">Austin Butler</a>&nbsp;(“Elvis”),&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brendan-fraser-the-whale-darren-aronofsky-1b3e71f1022f11b26b764f238b421363">Brendan Fraser</a>&nbsp;(“The Whale”) and Colin Farrell (&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-plays-martin-mcdonagh-colin-farrell-f5304b75bb64127e080e94e8736b8377">“The Banshees of Inisherin”</a>&nbsp;) have all been seen as possible winners. But it was Fraser who went home with the SAG Award for his comeback performance as an obese shut-in in “The Whale.”

“Believe me, if you just stay in there and put one foot in front of the other, you'll get where you need to go," said Fraser, who anxiously eyed the actor-shaped trophy and left the stage saying he was going to go look for some pants for him.

The SAG Awards are considered one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers. Actors make up the biggest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the largest sway. Last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/academy-awards-entertainment-california-hollywood-arts-and-entertainment-1e285d9a6c0fe5f42d86d55adf641c9c">“CODA” triumphed at SAG</a>&nbsp;before winning&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-oscars-show-9a69424884de11649b68a12a284353a1">best picture at the Oscar</a>&nbsp;s, while Ariana DeBose, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain and Troy Kotsur all won at a SAG Award before taking home an Academy Award.

After the SAG Awards, presented by the film and television acting guild SAG-AFTRA, lost their broadcast home at TNT/TBS, Netflix signed on to stream Sunday's ceremony. Next year's show will be on Netflix, proper.

Sunday’s livestream meant a slightly scaled-down vibe. Without a broadcast time limit, winners weren’t played off. A regal and unbothered Sam Elliott, winner for male actor in a TV movie or limited series for “1883,” spoke well past his allotted time. The show sped through early winners, including awards for Jean Smart (“Hacks”), Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”) and Jason Bateman (“Ozark”).

Quinta Brunson and Janelle James of “Abbott Elementary” kicked off the ceremony with a few opening jokes, including one that suggested Viola Davis, a recent Grammy winner, is beyond EGOT status and has transcended into “ShEGOTallofthem.”

Brunson later returned to the stage with the cast of “Abbott Elementary” to accept the SAG award for best ensemble in a comedy series. Brunson, the sitcom's creator and one of its producers, said of her castmates, “These people bring me back down to Earth."

“The White Lotus” also took a victory lap, winning best ensemble in a drama series and another win for Jennifer Coolidge, coming off her wins at the Emmys and the Golden Globes. A teary-eyed Coolidge traced her love of acting to a first-grade trip to see a Charlie Chaplin film. She then thanked her date, a longtime friend, the actor Tim Bagley.

“You're a wonderful date tonight,” said Coolidge. “I can't wait until we get home.”

The ceremony's first award went to a winner from last year: Jessica Chastain. A year after winning for her lead performance in the film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Chastain won best female actor in a TV movie or limited series for Showtime's country music power couple series “George &amp; Tammy.” Chastain jetted in from previews on the upcoming Broadway revival of “A Doll's House.”

One award was announced ahead of the show from the red carpet: “Top Gun: Maverick" won for best stunt ensemble. Though some have cheered that blockbusters like “Maverick" and “Avatar: The Way of Water” are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2023-oscar-nominations-f10835dc948d9a1b5535e8da9aaab8fb">best picture nominees at this year's</a>&nbsp;Oscars, the indie smash “Everything Everywhere All at Once” increasingly looks like the biggest blockbuster at this year's Academy Awards.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JAKE%20COYLE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer</a>The unlikely awards season juggernaut “Everything Everywhere All at Once” marched on at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sagawards.org/">Screen Actors Guild Awards</a>&nbsp;on Sunday, and even gathered steam with wins not just for best ensemble,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/michelle-yeoh-movie-92b9737f7ef574ea62dec51ba12516fd">Michelle Yeoh</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ke-huy-quan-interview-everything-everywhere-spielberg-ab2601e87b405370853ce1ab12bf5dc2">Ke Huy Quan</a>&nbsp;but also for Jamie Lee Curtis.The SAG Awards, often an Oscar preview, threw some curve balls into the Oscars race in a ceremony streamed live on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTSeRqP6gqE">Netflix's YouTube page</a>&nbsp;from Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.But the clearest result of the SAG Awards was the overwhelming success of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's madcap multiverse tale, which has now used its hotdog fingers to snag top honors from the acting, directing and producing guilds. Only one film ("Apollo 13") had won all three and not gone on to win best picture at the Oscars.After so much of the cast of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/film-reviews-entertainment-sports-movies-martial-arts-a0c2c7bfb0a06c2f2f8156c835a84b93">“Everything Everywhere All at Once”</a>&nbsp;had already been on the stage to accept awards, the night's final moment belonged to 94-year-old James Hong, a supporting player in the film and a trailblazer for Asian American representation in Hollywood. He brought up the ignoble yellowface history of the 1937 film “The Good Earth.”“The leading role was played with these guys with their eyes taped up like this and they talked like this because the producers said the Asians were not good enough and they were not box office,” said Hong. “But look at us now!”Hong added that the cast of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” wasn't all Chinese, though he granted Jamie Lee Curtis had a good Chinese name. Curtis' win was one of the most surprising of the night, coming over the longtime favorite, Angela Bassett ("Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"), who had seemed to be on a clear path to becoming the first actor to win an Oscar for a performance in a Marvel movie.A visibly moved Curtis said she was wearing the wedding ring her father, Tony Curtis, gave her mother, Janet Leigh.“I know you look at me and think ‘Nepo baby,’” said Curtis, who won in her first SAG nomination. “But the truth of the matter is that I’m 64 years old and this is just amazing.”The actors guild, though, lent some clarity to the lead categories. Though some have seen best actress as a toss up between Yeoh and BAFTA winner Cate Blanchett ("Tár"), Yeoh again took home the award for best female lead performance.“This is not just for me," said Yeoh, the first Asian actress to win the SAG Award for female lead. "It’s for every little girl that looks like me.”Quan, the former child star, also won for best supporting male actor. The “Everything Everywhere All at Once" co-star had left acting for years after auditions dried up. He's also the first Asian to win best male supporting actor at the SAG Awards.“When I stepped away from acting, it was because there were so few opportunities,” said Quan. “Now, tonight we are celebrating James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Hong Chau, Harry Shum Jr. The landscape looks so different now.”Some online commentators suggested there was irony in Mark Wahlberg, who presented best ensemble, handing out the night’s final award to a film with a predominantly Asian and Asian American cast. In 1988, a 16-year-old Wahlberg attacked two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer near his home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Wahlberg, who said race wasn’t a factor in the assault, served 45 days of a two-year sentence. Wahlberg also announced the film “Women Talking” as “Women Are Talking.”Best actor has been one of the hardest races to call.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austin-butler-elvis-oscars-best-actor-bddde01cde0f50d1e39c963dd45d7a66">Austin Butler</a>&nbsp;(“Elvis”),&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brendan-fraser-the-whale-darren-aronofsky-1b3e71f1022f11b26b764f238b421363">Brendan Fraser</a>&nbsp;(“The Whale”) and Colin Farrell (&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-plays-martin-mcdonagh-colin-farrell-f5304b75bb64127e080e94e8736b8377">“The Banshees of Inisherin”</a>&nbsp;) have all been seen as possible winners. But it was Fraser who went home with the SAG Award for his comeback performance as an obese shut-in in “The Whale.”“Believe me, if you just stay in there and put one foot in front of the other, you'll get where you need to go," said Fraser, who anxiously eyed the actor-shaped trophy and left the stage saying he was going to go look for some pants for him.The SAG Awards are considered one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers. Actors make up the biggest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the largest sway. Last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/academy-awards-entertainment-california-hollywood-arts-and-entertainment-1e285d9a6c0fe5f42d86d55adf641c9c">“CODA” triumphed at SAG</a>&nbsp;before winning&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-oscars-show-9a69424884de11649b68a12a284353a1">best picture at the Oscar</a>&nbsp;s, while Ariana DeBose, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain and Troy Kotsur all won at a SAG Award before taking home an Academy Award.After the SAG Awards, presented by the film and television acting guild SAG-AFTRA, lost their broadcast home at TNT/TBS, Netflix signed on to stream Sunday's ceremony. Next year's show will be on Netflix, proper.Sunday’s livestream meant a slightly scaled-down vibe. Without a broadcast time limit, winners weren’t played off. A regal and unbothered Sam Elliott, winner for male actor in a TV movie or limited series for “1883,” spoke well past his allotted time. The show sped through early winners, including awards for Jean Smart (“Hacks”), Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”) and Jason Bateman (“Ozark”).Another streaming effect: No bleeping.Quinta Brunson and Janelle James of “Abbott Elementary” kicked off the ceremony with a few opening jokes, including one that suggested Viola Davis, a recent Grammy winner, is beyond EGOT status and has transcended into “ShEGOTallofthem.”Brunson later returned to the stage with the cast of “Abbott Elementary” to accept the SAG award for best ensemble in a comedy series. Brunson, the sitcom's creator and one of its producers, said of her castmates, “These people bring me back down to Earth."“The White Lotus” also took a victory lap, winning best ensemble in a drama series and another win for Jennifer Coolidge, coming off her wins at the Emmys and the Golden Globes. A teary-eyed Coolidge traced her love of acting to a first-grade trip to see a Charlie Chaplin film. She then thanked her date, a longtime friend, the actor Tim Bagley.“You're a wonderful date tonight,” said Coolidge. “I can't wait until we get home.”The ceremony's first award went to a winner from last year: Jessica Chastain. A year after winning for her lead performance in the film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Chastain won best female actor in a TV movie or limited series for Showtime's country music power couple series “George &amp; Tammy.” Chastain jetted in from previews on the upcoming Broadway revival of “A Doll's House.”One award was announced ahead of the show from the red carpet: “Top Gun: Maverick" won for best stunt ensemble. Though some have cheered that blockbusters like “Maverick" and “Avatar: The Way of Water” are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2023-oscar-nominations-f10835dc948d9a1b5535e8da9aaab8fb">best picture nominees at this year's</a>&nbsp;Oscars, the indie smash “Everything Everywhere All at Once” increasingly looks like the biggest blockbuster at this year's Academy Awards.

'Everything Everywhere All at Once' dominates at SAG Awards

<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.

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="" />
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 </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.”

<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.”

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