Preliminary estimates reported by the Labor Market Information Services division of the Kansas Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.9 percent in October. This was unchanged from 3.9 percent in September and a decrease from 4.7 percent in October 2020.

“The Kansas unemployment rate remains steady at 3.9 percent. Additionally, for the fifth consecutive month Kansas nonfarm jobs estimates have increased,” said Secretary Amber Shultz. “October estimates indicate that the hardest hit industry during the pandemic, leisure and hospitality, has recovered nearly 82 percent of jobs since April 2020." 

The jobless rate in Ellis County fell slightly, from 2.1 percent in September to 2 percent in October. Barton County was the only area county with a jobless rate of 3 percent or higher. The state's lowest unemployment rate was in far western Kansas' Greeley County, at 1.3 percent.

Seasonally adjusted job estimates indicate total Kansas nonfarm jobs increased by 1,100 from September. Private sector jobs, a subset of total nonfarm jobs, increased by 2,500 from the previous month, while government decreased by 1,400.

“October job estimates for the private sector indicate a continuing upward trend for Kansas, with 2,500 jobs added over-the-month,” said Labor Economist Emilie Doerksen. “Current estimates are only 2.5 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Private sector job estimates for the U.S. are also 2.5 percent below February 2020 levels."

Since October 2020, Kansas seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs have increased by 30,900. This change is due to an increase of 28,800 private sector jobs and 2,100 government jobs.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637354195982.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Preliminary estimates reported by the Labor Market Information Services division of the Kansas Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.9 percent in October. This was unchanged from 3.9 percent in September and a decrease from 4.7 percent in October 2020.“The Kansas unemployment rate remains steady at 3.9 percent. Additionally, for the fifth consecutive month Kansas nonfarm jobs estimates have increased,” said Secretary Amber Shultz. “October estimates indicate that the hardest hit industry during the pandemic, leisure and hospitality, has recovered nearly 82 percent of jobs since April 2020." The jobless rate in Ellis County fell slightly, from 2.1 percent in September to 2 percent in October. Barton County was the only area county with a jobless rate of 3 percent or higher. The state's lowest unemployment rate was in far western Kansas' Greeley County, at 1.3 percent.Seasonally adjusted job estimates indicate total Kansas nonfarm jobs increased by 1,100 from September. Private sector jobs, a subset of total nonfarm jobs, increased by 2,500 from the previous month, while government decreased by 1,400.“October job estimates for the private sector indicate a continuing upward trend for Kansas, with 2,500 jobs added over-the-month,” said Labor Economist Emilie Doerksen. “Current estimates are only 2.5 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Private sector job estimates for the U.S. are also 2.5 percent below February 2020 levels."Since October 2020, Kansas seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs have increased by 30,900. This change is due to an increase of 28,800 private sector jobs and 2,100 government jobs.

NW Kansas unemployment rates remain extremely low

Raymond Emanuel Mai, 97, passed away on November 16, 2021, at the 
Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital, WaKeeney. He was born on January 
22, 1924, the son of Fred and Marie (Blehm) Mai in the farmhouse in 
Trego County.

Raymond was raised on the farm in Trego County and went to the Wilcox
 country school and attended the Zion Lutheran Church, Trego Center. As a
 young man he worked with the neighborhood farms to help support the 
family.

On September 21, 1946, he married Velma Giess in Arnold, Kansas.&nbsp; 
Raymond and Velma had three girls, Delma, Dana, and Debbie. In July 1975
 a tragic car accident took his wife, Velma, and his mother, Marie, in 
death.

Raymond was active in 4-H, worked for the ASCS office, was a 
recipient of the master farmer award, he was on the Board of Directors 
at the Citizens State Bank, Utica, raised registered Hereford cattle, 
showed and sold registered Hereford bulls and was an active member of 
the Arnold United Methodist Church. He was an avid bowler, Polka dancer,
 card player, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan.

In 1989 he married Peggy (Hunt) Giess in Arnold. They enjoyed their 
blended families. Raymond and Peggy traveled, danced, and enjoyed family
 until her passing on October 16, 2019.

Preceding Peggy in death were her first husband Bob; her sons, Roger 
and Randy; and granddaughter, Tara. She is survived by Mike and Julie 
Giess and family, Dave and LaVonne and granddaughter, Kenzie and Rob and
 sons.

Preceding Raymond in death is his wife, Velma, and wife, Peggy; his 
parents, Fred and Marie; brothers, Paul, Hubert, Reuben, Art; and a 
sister Helen; son-in law, Ken; grandson, Christopher; and granddaughter,
 Paige.

Survivors include daughters, Delma and Larry Collins-McAllister, 
daughters Michele and family, Misty and boys; Dana and Roger Fagan, son,
 Darcy, daughter, Danelle and grandson, Kaleb; Debbie and Maurice 
Friess, son Matthew and family, daughter Desiree and family; his 
sisters, Thelma, Geri, Rose&nbsp; and his brothers, Vernon , Fred, George, 
and Tom.

Funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. at the United Methodist 
Church, Arnold on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.&nbsp; Burial in the Arnold 
Cemetery. Viewing will be held at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City on 
Monday from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and at the church until service 
time on Tuesday.

Memorial contributions may be given to the Arnold United Methodist Church or the Trego County-Lemke assisted Living Care Center.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637331346477.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Raymond Emanuel Mai, 97, passed away on November 16, 2021, at the 
Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital, WaKeeney. He was born on January 
22, 1924, the son of Fred and Marie (Blehm) Mai in the farmhouse in 
Trego County.Raymond was raised on the farm in Trego County and went to the Wilcox
 country school and attended the Zion Lutheran Church, Trego Center. As a
 young man he worked with the neighborhood farms to help support the 
family.On September 21, 1946, he married Velma Giess in Arnold, Kansas.&nbsp; 
Raymond and Velma had three girls, Delma, Dana, and Debbie. In July 1975
 a tragic car accident took his wife, Velma, and his mother, Marie, in 
death.Raymond was active in 4-H, worked for the ASCS office, was a 
recipient of the master farmer award, he was on the Board of Directors 
at the Citizens State Bank, Utica, raised registered Hereford cattle, 
showed and sold registered Hereford bulls and was an active member of 
the Arnold United Methodist Church. He was an avid bowler, Polka dancer,
 card player, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan.In 1989 he married Peggy (Hunt) Giess in Arnold. They enjoyed their 
blended families. Raymond and Peggy traveled, danced, and enjoyed family
 until her passing on October 16, 2019.Preceding Peggy in death were her first husband Bob; her sons, Roger 
and Randy; and granddaughter, Tara. She is survived by Mike and Julie 
Giess and family, Dave and LaVonne and granddaughter, Kenzie and Rob and
 sons.Preceding Raymond in death is his wife, Velma, and wife, Peggy; his 
parents, Fred and Marie; brothers, Paul, Hubert, Reuben, Art; and a 
sister Helen; son-in law, Ken; grandson, Christopher; and granddaughter,
 Paige.Survivors include daughters, Delma and Larry Collins-McAllister, 
daughters Michele and family, Misty and boys; Dana and Roger Fagan, son,
 Darcy, daughter, Danelle and grandson, Kaleb; Debbie and Maurice 
Friess, son Matthew and family, daughter Desiree and family; his 
sisters, Thelma, Geri, Rose&nbsp; and his brothers, Vernon , Fred, George, 
and Tom.Funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. at the United Methodist 
Church, Arnold on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.&nbsp; Burial in the Arnold 
Cemetery. Viewing will be held at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City on 
Monday from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and at the church until service 
time on Tuesday.Memorial contributions may be given to the Arnold United Methodist Church or the Trego County-Lemke assisted Living Care Center.

Raymond Emanuel Mai

WASHINGTON (AP) —The Biden administration is taking steps to help distribute several billion dollars in aid for winter heating and utility bills, an unprecedented sum that comes largely from its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-coronavirus-relief-package-33f4902ca9a2aed4e76274af6bb2ea5c">$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package</a>.

The package provided an additional $4.5 billion for the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which typically has funding of $3 billion to $4 billion annually. Aid for renters can also cover utility costs, while the money provided to state, local and tribal governments can help families that face high heating bills and are ineligible for other programs.

“It’s another example of where the American Rescue Plan included extra precautions to ensure we would be prepared,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-coronavirus-pandemic-gene-sperling-financial-markets-financial-crisis-5dc2a177b5d4017a754b658fe796047b">Gene Sperling</a>, who is overseeing coronavirus relief for the White House. “These new programs and funding were designed to ensure that if the weather was colder or the prices were higher, we would have the highest resources ever to help as many hard-pressed families as possible.”

The White House sent out invites for a call Thursday afternoon with representatives from governors’ offices to discuss ways to distribute the funds and coordinate across programs. Speakers on the call will include Sperling, Energy Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-biden-cabinet-michigan-jennifer-granholm-15acadc1a86559e3a8a7e1d026a0732f">Jennifer Granholm</a>, Health and Human Services Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-cabinets-coronavirus-pandemic-hispanics-1e2d25d910ac52c29e5a4ce4acae0b8b">Xavier Becerra</a>&nbsp;and the governors of Connecticut, Maine and Michigan.

The aid helps to create a cushion that limits the shock of higher energy costs ahead of winter. Republican lawmakers have said the relief package, which became law in March, caused&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-consumer-prices-inflation-economy-prices-10e00ba16f8fb94f45ced724f2ea2e45">higher levels of inflation</a>, with prices in October 6.2% higher than a year ago. The GOP argument is that the Biden relief package sent too much money into&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-elections-health-3054e6daddcb03262da8b60c8c382fbf">the economy</a>, causing prices to rise and hurting middle-class and lower-income families.

“The Democrats’ inflation is functioning like an ultra-punitive tax on the American families who can least afford it,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a Wednesday floor speech.

But in this instance, the spending from the aid package is already helping to insulate millions of households from higher utility bills and reducing strains on household budgets. Estimates by the Urban Institute based off a Census Bureau survey indicate that a third of families used the monthly payments from the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/child-tax-credit-bank-account">expanded child tax credit</a>&nbsp;to pay their utility bills between July and October 2021.

Electricity and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-europe-asia-united-states-prices-cc94e4f9bfc479a84639abea2f9de771">natural gas prices</a>&nbsp;are roughly 11% higher than a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-inflation-28e1231bdb445d482bb2d2e25dff1983">Heating oil prices</a>&nbsp;have more than doubled over the past year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The administration is also calling on utilities and energy companies to use the available government resources to protect their most vulnerable customers. DTE Energy, Eversource, National Grid and NorthWestern Energy have already agreed to identify and notify eligible recipients and guarantee no shutoffs for customers seeking assistance.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637234431368.png" alt="The package provided an additional $4.5 billion for the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which typically has funding of $3 billion to $4 billion annually.-White House photo&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>The package provided an additional $4.5 billion for the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which typically has funding of $3 billion to $4 billion annually.-White House photo&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —The Biden administration is taking steps to help distribute several billion dollars in aid for winter heating and utility bills, an unprecedented sum that comes largely from its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-coronavirus-relief-package-33f4902ca9a2aed4e76274af6bb2ea5c">$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package</a>.The package provided an additional $4.5 billion for the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which typically has funding of $3 billion to $4 billion annually. Aid for renters can also cover utility costs, while the money provided to state, local and tribal governments can help families that face high heating bills and are ineligible for other programs.“It’s another example of where the American Rescue Plan included extra precautions to ensure we would be prepared,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-coronavirus-pandemic-gene-sperling-financial-markets-financial-crisis-5dc2a177b5d4017a754b658fe796047b">Gene Sperling</a>, who is overseeing coronavirus relief for the White House. “These new programs and funding were designed to ensure that if the weather was colder or the prices were higher, we would have the highest resources ever to help as many hard-pressed families as possible.”The White House sent out invites for a call Thursday afternoon with representatives from governors’ offices to discuss ways to distribute the funds and coordinate across programs. Speakers on the call will include Sperling, Energy Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-biden-cabinet-michigan-jennifer-granholm-15acadc1a86559e3a8a7e1d026a0732f">Jennifer Granholm</a>, Health and Human Services Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-cabinets-coronavirus-pandemic-hispanics-1e2d25d910ac52c29e5a4ce4acae0b8b">Xavier Becerra</a>&nbsp;and the governors of Connecticut, Maine and Michigan.The aid helps to create a cushion that limits the shock of higher energy costs ahead of winter. Republican lawmakers have said the relief package, which became law in March, caused&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-consumer-prices-inflation-economy-prices-10e00ba16f8fb94f45ced724f2ea2e45">higher levels of inflation</a>, with prices in October 6.2% higher than a year ago. The GOP argument is that the Biden relief package sent too much money into&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-elections-health-3054e6daddcb03262da8b60c8c382fbf">the economy</a>, causing prices to rise and hurting middle-class and lower-income families.“The Democrats’ inflation is functioning like an ultra-punitive tax on the American families who can least afford it,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a Wednesday floor speech.But in this instance, the spending from the aid package is already helping to insulate millions of households from higher utility bills and reducing strains on household budgets. Estimates by the Urban Institute based off a Census Bureau survey indicate that a third of families used the monthly payments from the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/child-tax-credit-bank-account">expanded child tax credit</a>&nbsp;to pay their utility bills between July and October 2021.Electricity and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-europe-asia-united-states-prices-cc94e4f9bfc479a84639abea2f9de771">natural gas prices</a>&nbsp;are roughly 11% higher than a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-inflation-28e1231bdb445d482bb2d2e25dff1983">Heating oil prices</a>&nbsp;have more than doubled over the past year, according to the Energy Information Administration.The administration is also calling on utilities and energy companies to use the available government resources to protect their most vulnerable customers. DTE Energy, Eversource, National Grid and NorthWestern Energy have already agreed to identify and notify eligible recipients and guarantee no shutoffs for customers seeking assistance.

White House offering more aid for winter heat, utility bills

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-11-18/a-private-company-asked-kansas-to-hide-public-information-so-kansas-did">Kansas News Service</a>

In Oregon, a city is hiding from a newspaper <a href="https://play.acast.com/s/nextquestion/data-waterandandwhyanoregontownissuingtheoregonian" target="_blank">how much of the region’s precious water Google uses</a> to cool its servers — claiming it’s a Google trade secret.

A Utah county refused to show a disability rights center its <a href="https://www.standard.net/police-fire/courts/2021/mar/26/judge-orders-release-of-utah-jail-standards-ruling-copyright-is-not-a-blanket-protection/" target="_blank">jail manuals for things such as hygiene and medical care</a> — because the author had copyrighted them.

<a href="https://www.nfoic.org/wp-content/uploads/pages/2019-04/Privatization%20and%20Trade%20Secrets_2019.pdf" target="_blank">Virginia pre-emptively promised Amazon</a>
 it would redact as much as it could get away with if any citizens asked
 for public records involving the company — to please the retail 
behemoth.

And in Kansas, the state lets companies unhappy about public scrutiny simply black out documents themselves.

Now emails between Kansas and one of those private firms reveal just how little the state’s lawyers pushed back when asked to <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-hid-parts-of-a-100k-audit-of-drug-spending-experts-say-the-state-went-too-far" target="_blank">hide large swaths of an audit</a> that cost taxpayers $100,000.

The audit was meant to watchdog about <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-audited-its-80-million-cvs-prescription-plan-but-its-still-shrouded-in-mystery" target="_blank">$160 million in prescription drug spending</a> on state employees, though experts say it came nowhere near achieving that, despite its hefty price tag.

Kansas
 bowed to the auditor’s wishes for secrecy, even though an attorney for 
the state couldn’t find anything in the report that qualified for 
protection from public view.

“I have personally reviewed the 
original document,” an open-records lawyer at the Kansas Department of 
Administration wrote in an email this summer, “but was unable to find 
any information that appeared to fall under any statutory exception.”

Frank
 LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, 
fears that governments increasingly let businesses, rather than their 
own laws, decide what the public can or cannot see.

“This is not a Kansas problem. It’s not an Oregon problem,” he said. “It’s an everywhere problem.”

Governments regularly shirk transparency laws and point to the intellectual property rights of private vendors as the reason.

And
 in the case of Kansas, it effectively outsources the redaction process 
to private companies that don’t work for the public, that don’t have any
 legal obligation to follow open records law and that can’t be hauled 
before a judge for breaking it.

“That’s a really dangerous 
business,” LoMonte said. “When you actually hand the document over and 
you invite people to use the black Magic Marker, they have every incentive to overuse it.”

Gov.
 Laura Kelly’s administration has declined or ignored half a dozen 
Kansas News Service requests to interview either the lawyers involved in
 the redaction process, Kelly herself or another person in her office 
who can speak to her administration’s approach to redacting public 
records.

In recent months, Kansas has
 allowed not just auditor PillarRx, but also some of the nation’s 
wealthiest corporations — CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group — to redact 
various documents related to drug spending before handing them over to 
the Kansas News Service.

<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/statute/045_000_0000_chapter/045_002_0000_article/045_002_0018_section/045_002_0018_k/" target="_blank">Kansas law</a>
 tells state agencies to give reporters and other citizens the documents
 they seek within days. But in these cases, the process took weeks or 
months.

Governments, of course, can get sued for overly redacting records — even if they acted at the behest of a private actor.

But governments see that risk as increasingly remote, experts say.

Newsrooms,
 and in particular newspapers, have trimmed payrolls, cut back on 
printing and even declared bankruptcy. So what are the chances that a 
media outlet will shell out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on
 a court battle?

“If you’re sitting there in that legal counsel’s 
office or a state agency, you’re sizing up your risks,” LoMonte said. 
“You probably figure that, ‘I’m much more likely to get sued by a giant,
 multinational drug conglomerate than I am by a local radio station.’”

In the case of the PillarRx report — which is an audit of <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-audited-its-80-million-cvs-prescription-plan-but-its-still-shrouded-in-mystery" target="_blank">CVS’ pharmacy benefit work</a> for the state of Kansas — the state allowed the auditor to black out whole paragraphs, charts and even entire pages.

But the redactions were poorly done, and many of the blacked-out portions remained accessible as a result.

That’s how the Kansas News Service was able <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-audited-its-80-million-cvs-prescription-plan-but-its-still-shrouded-in-mystery" target="_blank">to report on the content</a>, which one independent lawyer after another has concluded contains bread-and-butter public information.

Facts
 as simple as how many prescription drugs Kansas employees picked up in 
2018 got the black-marker treatment. So did sample sizes and other audit
 details critical to understanding whether PillarRx did a good job 
policing CVS’ charges to the Kansas employee health plan.

Weirdly,
 many of the blacked-out details — such as dispensing fees that Kansas 
pays to pharmacies — actually appear in other publicly released 
documents, some even on the state’s own website.

Yet the state claimed the blacked-out details were privileged trade secrets.

“I’m confident,” lawyer Bernie Rhodes said, “that there are zero trade secrets in this report.”

Rhodes heads a national team of media lawyers for the law firm Lathrop GPM.

The
 Kelly administration won’t allow the Kansas News Service to interview 
its lawyers about the redactions. But state emails obtained through 
another open records request shed light on what happened.

On Aug. 11, the Kansas News Service asked for the audit.

That
 triggered concerns at the Department of Administration because PillarRx
 had written the words “confidential and proprietary” on its report.

The
 agency’s open records lawyer, Tanner Asbury, reached out to the 
contractor responsible for hiring subcontractor PillarRx. Asbury 
immediately suggested the option of blacking out content, even though 
redaction should be a last resort under state law.

“If PillarRx 
does not wish to provide the record in its entirety,” he wrote, “is 
there a redacted version that could be provided instead?”

On Aug. 27, PillarRx provided such a version.

When Asbury opened the document, he balked at what he saw: A sea of black.

“Could
 you please explain your reasoning?” he wrote back. “It appears as 
though all substantive portions of the document have been removed. The 
document we have received is essentially just the Table of Contents and 
Headings.”

“I have personally reviewed the original document but 
was unable to find any information that appeared to fall under any 
statutory exception,” he added.

But the open records lawyer signaled that Kansas remained open to redacting.

“My
 fellow legal counsel and I feel that this record should be open to the 
public to some extent,” Asbury wrote, “but the redacted copy provided 
has too much information removed.”

PillarRx said that it needed to
 shield pharmaceutical pricing and audit methods from public view. It 
said it signed a nondisclosure agreement with pharmacy giant CVS — the 
very company it had been hired to watchdog.

So when it provided a second redacted version on Sept. 1, large swaths remained black, though less than before.

“It’s
 true that we tend to error (sic) on the side of being 
ultraconservative,” PillarRx wrote to Asbury. “The PillarRx team has 
taken the opportunity to review and ultimately revise the extent of the 
redaction in a manner that will hopefully be an acceptable compromise.”

Nowhere
 in the emails does PillarRx claim its report contains any trade secrets
 — only details that are proprietary and confidential.

“There’s a 
huge difference,” said Rhodes, at Lathrop GPM. “There is no exception in
 the Kansas Open Records Act for proprietary or confidential information
 … There’s no privilege for that.”

But Kansas had to “shoehorn” the redactions into some provision of 
law, he said, and so it told the Kansas News Service the redactions 
protected trade secrets, which can enjoy a privilege that doesn’t apply 
to merely proprietary and confidential information.

What about the nondisclosure agreement PillarRx cited?

“So
 what?” Rhodes said. “It’s absurd to claim that a nondisclosure 
agreement prevents (Kansas) from complying with the Kansas Open Records 
Act.”

Governments that wrongly hide behind such agreements can face repercussions.

That happened in Missouri in 2015, when a local government near St. Louis <a href="https://www.lewisrice.com/publications/sunshine-law-developments-%E2%80%93-public-body-liable-for-civil-penalties-and-attorneys-fees-for-refusing-to-turn-over-a-settlement-agreement/" target="_blank">refused to reveal</a>
 how much it paid out for a personal injury settlement, because the 
settlement included a nondisclosure clause. The courts forced the 
release and awarded the plaintiff, a local resident, attorney fees.

Rhodes
 considers the PillarRx situation even more baffling given public 
statements by the Kansas Department of Administration’s chief legal 
counsel, John Yeary.

In October, after the Kansas News Service published its story about the redacted audit, <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-18/kansas-defends-its-decision-to-redact-whole-pages-of-a-100-000-drug-spending-report" target="_blank">Yeary faced questioning</a> by Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt at a public meeting.

Schmidt
 is an independently elected official — not a part of the Department of 
Administration — but has oversight duties related to the state health 
plan. She sharply criticized the decision to black out public 
information.

“Do you stand by what was redacted?” she asked of Yeary.

“I
 won’t say I completely 100% agree with PillarRx on what they view as a 
trade secret or proprietary and confidential,” Yeary replied. “I do feel
 like, that our approach in responding as an agency where there are 
interests on both sides was appropriate.”

“I
 don’t understand how you can believe you did the right thing if you 
don’t share the view that it’s a trade secret,” he said. “I don’t see 
how you can possibly agree with withholding it.”

The
 state has to carefully scrutinize any assertions by a private company 
that public records can’t be released, said Lyndon Vix, a Wichita media 
lawyer at law firm Fleeson Gooing.

Vix recently helped the Wichita Eagle <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article249212020.html" target="_blank">get police body camera footage</a> that the city of Wichita refused to hand over.

Even
 though Wichita’s violation of state law was so egregious that the court
 ultimately ordered the city to pay Vix’s fees, the court battle took 
three years.

“We have case law in Kansas that specifically says that not all confidential information is a trade secret,” he said.

“An
 audit takes information from sources and does an analysis and then 
reaches conclusions. And I have never heard of that type of process 
being classified as a trade secret.”

Trade secrets must be secret,
 first of all. So blacked-out audit details that were easily available 
through other public documents don’t qualify. Trade secrets have to be 
economically valuable in and of themselves, too. They need to be 
something vitally important to hide from competitors.

“It’s not like we’re dealing here with, you know, Pfizer’s formula 
for their vaccine or something,” he said. “These are (audit) numbers. So
 to convert them into ‘trade secrets’ … is more of a process than just 
saying, ‘This is confidential stuff.’”

Kansas should have insisted
 to PillarRx that its redactions must fit the Kansas definition of trade
 secrets, Vix said, and should have demanded to know whether and why 
PillarRx felt they did.

“It’s going to be very hard, I’m sure, for
 a lot of this information to fall within that definition,” he said, 
“because it is a fairly stringent definition.”

Yet the more Kansas
 and other governments help businesses dodge open records requests, 
lawyers say, the worse off the public will be.

“Government can’t 
just rubber-stamp a third-party’s request to label all its data a trade 
secret. That’s not how public records laws work,” said Gunita Singh, a 
lawyer for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “If that were how it worked, transparency would fly out the window.”

“The
 public would lose out on critical information about government 
spending,” she said, “and other insights into how government and 
business are prioritizing—or sabotaging—our well-being.”

Celia 
Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health for the Kansas News Service. 
You can follow her on Twitter @celia_LJ or email her at celia@kcur.org.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637246511765.png" alt="Carlos Moreno / KCUR 89.3" />
 <figcaption>Carlos Moreno / KCUR 89.3</figcaption>
 </figure>By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-11-18/a-private-company-asked-kansas-to-hide-public-information-so-kansas-did">Kansas News Service</a>In Oregon, a city is hiding from a newspaper <a href="https://play.acast.com/s/nextquestion/data-waterandandwhyanoregontownissuingtheoregonian" target="_blank">how much of the region’s precious water Google uses</a> to cool its servers — claiming it’s a Google trade secret.A Utah county refused to show a disability rights center its <a href="https://www.standard.net/police-fire/courts/2021/mar/26/judge-orders-release-of-utah-jail-standards-ruling-copyright-is-not-a-blanket-protection/" target="_blank">jail manuals for things such as hygiene and medical care</a> — because the author had copyrighted them.<a href="https://www.nfoic.org/wp-content/uploads/pages/2019-04/Privatization%20and%20Trade%20Secrets_2019.pdf" target="_blank">Virginia pre-emptively promised Amazon</a>
 it would redact as much as it could get away with if any citizens asked
 for public records involving the company — to please the retail 
behemoth.And in Kansas, the state lets companies unhappy about public scrutiny simply black out documents themselves.Now emails between Kansas and one of those private firms reveal just how little the state’s lawyers pushed back when asked to <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-hid-parts-of-a-100k-audit-of-drug-spending-experts-say-the-state-went-too-far" target="_blank">hide large swaths of an audit</a> that cost taxpayers $100,000.The audit was meant to watchdog about <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-audited-its-80-million-cvs-prescription-plan-but-its-still-shrouded-in-mystery" target="_blank">$160 million in prescription drug spending</a> on state employees, though experts say it came nowhere near achieving that, despite its hefty price tag.Kansas
 bowed to the auditor’s wishes for secrecy, even though an attorney for 
the state couldn’t find anything in the report that qualified for 
protection from public view.“I have personally reviewed the 
original document,” an open-records lawyer at the Kansas Department of 
Administration wrote in an email this summer, “but was unable to find 
any information that appeared to fall under any statutory exception.”Frank
 LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, 
fears that governments increasingly let businesses, rather than their 
own laws, decide what the public can or cannot see.“This is not a Kansas problem. It’s not an Oregon problem,” he said. “It’s an everywhere problem.”Governments regularly shirk transparency laws and point to the intellectual property rights of private vendors as the reason.And
 in the case of Kansas, it effectively outsources the redaction process 
to private companies that don’t work for the public, that don’t have any
 legal obligation to follow open records law and that can’t be hauled 
before a judge for breaking it.“That’s a really dangerous 
business,” LoMonte said. “When you actually hand the document over and 
you invite people to use the black Magic Marker, they have every incentive to overuse it.”Gov.
 Laura Kelly’s administration has declined or ignored half a dozen 
Kansas News Service requests to interview either the lawyers involved in
 the redaction process, Kelly herself or another person in her office 
who can speak to her administration’s approach to redacting public 
records.Sizing up risksIn recent months, Kansas has
 allowed not just auditor PillarRx, but also some of the nation’s 
wealthiest corporations — CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group — to redact 
various documents related to drug spending before handing them over to 
the Kansas News Service.<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/statute/045_000_0000_chapter/045_002_0000_article/045_002_0018_section/045_002_0018_k/" target="_blank">Kansas law</a>
 tells state agencies to give reporters and other citizens the documents
 they seek within days. But in these cases, the process took weeks or 
months.Governments, of course, can get sued for overly redacting records — even if they acted at the behest of a private actor.But governments see that risk as increasingly remote, experts say.Newsrooms,
 and in particular newspapers, have trimmed payrolls, cut back on 
printing and even declared bankruptcy. So what are the chances that a 
media outlet will shell out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on
 a court battle?“If you’re sitting there in that legal counsel’s 
office or a state agency, you’re sizing up your risks,” LoMonte said. 
“You probably figure that, ‘I’m much more likely to get sued by a giant,
 multinational drug conglomerate than I am by a local radio station.’”In the case of the PillarRx report — which is an audit of <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-audited-its-80-million-cvs-prescription-plan-but-its-still-shrouded-in-mystery" target="_blank">CVS’ pharmacy benefit work</a> for the state of Kansas — the state allowed the auditor to black out whole paragraphs, charts and even entire pages.But the redactions were poorly done, and many of the blacked-out portions remained accessible as a result.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637246737005.png" alt="Crysta Henthorne" />
 <figcaption>Crysta Henthorne</figcaption>
 </figure>That’s how the Kansas News Service was able <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-01/kansas-audited-its-80-million-cvs-prescription-plan-but-its-still-shrouded-in-mystery" target="_blank">to report on the content</a>, which one independent lawyer after another has concluded contains bread-and-butter public information.Facts
 as simple as how many prescription drugs Kansas employees picked up in 
2018 got the black-marker treatment. So did sample sizes and other audit
 details critical to understanding whether PillarRx did a good job 
policing CVS’ charges to the Kansas employee health plan.Weirdly,
 many of the blacked-out details — such as dispensing fees that Kansas 
pays to pharmacies — actually appear in other publicly released 
documents, some even on the state’s own website.Yet the state claimed the blacked-out details were privileged trade secrets.“I’m confident,” lawyer Bernie Rhodes said, “that there are zero trade secrets in this report.”Rhodes heads a national team of media lawyers for the law firm Lathrop GPM.What the emails revealThe
 Kelly administration won’t allow the Kansas News Service to interview 
its lawyers about the redactions. But state emails obtained through 
another open records request shed light on what happened.On Aug. 11, the Kansas News Service asked for the audit.That
 triggered concerns at the Department of Administration because PillarRx
 had written the words “confidential and proprietary” on its report.The
 agency’s open records lawyer, Tanner Asbury, reached out to the 
contractor responsible for hiring subcontractor PillarRx. Asbury 
immediately suggested the option of blacking out content, even though 
redaction should be a last resort under state law.“If PillarRx 
does not wish to provide the record in its entirety,” he wrote, “is 
there a redacted version that could be provided instead?”On Aug. 27, PillarRx provided such a version.When Asbury opened the document, he balked at what he saw: A sea of black.“Could
 you please explain your reasoning?” he wrote back. “It appears as 
though all substantive portions of the document have been removed. The 
document we have received is essentially just the Table of Contents and 
Headings.”“I have personally reviewed the original document but 
was unable to find any information that appeared to fall under any 
statutory exception,” he added.But the open records lawyer signaled that Kansas remained open to redacting.“My
 fellow legal counsel and I feel that this record should be open to the 
public to some extent,” Asbury wrote, “but the redacted copy provided 
has too much information removed.”PillarRx said that it needed to
 shield pharmaceutical pricing and audit methods from public view. It 
said it signed a nondisclosure agreement with pharmacy giant CVS — the 
very company it had been hired to watchdog.So when it provided a second redacted version on Sept. 1, large swaths remained black, though less than before.“It’s
 true that we tend to error (sic) on the side of being 
ultraconservative,” PillarRx wrote to Asbury. “The PillarRx team has 
taken the opportunity to review and ultimately revise the extent of the 
redaction in a manner that will hopefully be an acceptable compromise.”Kansas approved the compromise.Confidential vs. trade secretNowhere
 in the emails does PillarRx claim its report contains any trade secrets
 — only details that are proprietary and confidential.“There’s a 
huge difference,” said Rhodes, at Lathrop GPM. “There is no exception in
 the Kansas Open Records Act for proprietary or confidential information
 … There’s no privilege for that.”But Kansas had to “shoehorn” the redactions into some provision of 
law, he said, and so it told the Kansas News Service the redactions 
protected trade secrets, which can enjoy a privilege that doesn’t apply 
to merely proprietary and confidential information.What about the nondisclosure agreement PillarRx cited?“So
 what?” Rhodes said. “It’s absurd to claim that a nondisclosure 
agreement prevents (Kansas) from complying with the Kansas Open Records 
Act.”Governments that wrongly hide behind such agreements can face repercussions.That happened in Missouri in 2015, when a local government near St. Louis <a href="https://www.lewisrice.com/publications/sunshine-law-developments-%E2%80%93-public-body-liable-for-civil-penalties-and-attorneys-fees-for-refusing-to-turn-over-a-settlement-agreement/" target="_blank">refused to reveal</a>
 how much it paid out for a personal injury settlement, because the 
settlement included a nondisclosure clause. The courts forced the 
release and awarded the plaintiff, a local resident, attorney fees.Rhodes
 considers the PillarRx situation even more baffling given public 
statements by the Kansas Department of Administration’s chief legal 
counsel, John Yeary.In October, after the Kansas News Service published its story about the redacted audit, <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-18/kansas-defends-its-decision-to-redact-whole-pages-of-a-100-000-drug-spending-report" target="_blank">Yeary faced questioning</a> by Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt at a public meeting.Schmidt
 is an independently elected official — not a part of the Department of 
Administration — but has oversight duties related to the state health 
plan. She sharply criticized the decision to black out public 
information.“Do you stand by what was redacted?” she asked of Yeary.“I
 won’t say I completely 100% agree with PillarRx on what they view as a 
trade secret or proprietary and confidential,” Yeary replied. “I do feel
 like, that our approach in responding as an agency where there are 
interests on both sides was appropriate.”That floored Rhodes.“I
 don’t understand how you can believe you did the right thing if you 
don’t share the view that it’s a trade secret,” he said. “I don’t see 
how you can possibly agree with withholding it.”The state’s duty to the publicThe
 state has to carefully scrutinize any assertions by a private company 
that public records can’t be released, said Lyndon Vix, a Wichita media 
lawyer at law firm Fleeson Gooing.Vix recently helped the Wichita Eagle <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article249212020.html" target="_blank">get police body camera footage</a> that the city of Wichita refused to hand over.Even
 though Wichita’s violation of state law was so egregious that the court
 ultimately ordered the city to pay Vix’s fees, the court battle took 
three years.“We have case law in Kansas that specifically says that not all confidential information is a trade secret,” he said.“An
 audit takes information from sources and does an analysis and then 
reaches conclusions. And I have never heard of that type of process 
being classified as a trade secret.”Trade secrets must be secret,
 first of all. So blacked-out audit details that were easily available 
through other public documents don’t qualify. Trade secrets have to be 
economically valuable in and of themselves, too. They need to be 
something vitally important to hide from competitors.“It’s not like we’re dealing here with, you know, Pfizer’s formula 
for their vaccine or something,” he said. “These are (audit) numbers. So
 to convert them into ‘trade secrets’ … is more of a process than just 
saying, ‘This is confidential stuff.’”Kansas should have insisted
 to PillarRx that its redactions must fit the Kansas definition of trade
 secrets, Vix said, and should have demanded to know whether and why 
PillarRx felt they did.“It’s going to be very hard, I’m sure, for
 a lot of this information to fall within that definition,” he said, 
“because it is a fairly stringent definition.”Yet the more Kansas
 and other governments help businesses dodge open records requests, 
lawyers say, the worse off the public will be.“Government can’t 
just rubber-stamp a third-party’s request to label all its data a trade 
secret. That’s not how public records laws work,” said Gunita Singh, a 
lawyer for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “If that were how it worked, transparency would fly out the window.”“The
 public would lose out on critical information about government 
spending,” she said, “and other insights into how government and 
business are prioritizing—or sabotaging—our well-being.”Celia 
Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health for the Kansas News Service. 
You can follow her on Twitter @celia_LJ or email her at celia@kcur.org.

Company asked Kan. to hide public information, so the state obliged

William Roger “Bill” Turner passed away at the Rooks Center Health 
Center in Plainville, KS on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at the age of 
79. He was born on July 7, 1942, in Lyons, Kansas, to William H. and 
Edith (Darland) Turner. 
 Bill was raised in Lyons and graduated from Lyons High School with 
the class of 1960. He then attended Hutchinson Community College and 
Kansas State University at Manhattan. After college he enlisted and went
 to Lackland Air Force for training and continued that training at the 
Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. He was United States Air Force Reserve 
until his honorable discharge in 1971. After his discharge, he began 
work in Kansas City, Missouri, for the IRS as lead computer technician 
for 30 years until he retired on October 20, 1994.
 Bill was a very independent person and enjoyed time to himself with 
his model trains. He earned his Private Pilot License and built his own 
Ultralight plane named “Mr. Bill” which he later sold. He also loved 
studying oil rigs and leases on oil fields, mapping out the oil, and 
reading books.
 He is survived by cousins and friends.
 Bill joins in his heavenly home his parents and grandparents.
 A Graveside Service will be held on Monday, November 22, 2021, at 
the Lyons City Cemetery, Lyons, Kansas at 1:30 PM. There will be a brief
 time to view on Monday from 8AM until 10AM at the funeral home in 
Plainville.
 Memorials are suggested to Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home, to go 
toward a monument for Bill, and may be sent to 320 SW 2nd, Plainville, 
KS 67663.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637188060576.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>William Roger “Bill” Turner passed away at the Rooks Center Health 
Center in Plainville, KS on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at the age of 
79. He was born on July 7, 1942, in Lyons, Kansas, to William H. and 
Edith (Darland) Turner. 
 Bill was raised in Lyons and graduated from Lyons High School with 
the class of 1960. He then attended Hutchinson Community College and 
Kansas State University at Manhattan. After college he enlisted and went
 to Lackland Air Force for training and continued that training at the 
Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. He was United States Air Force Reserve 
until his honorable discharge in 1971. After his discharge, he began 
work in Kansas City, Missouri, for the IRS as lead computer technician 
for 30 years until he retired on October 20, 1994.
 Bill was a very independent person and enjoyed time to himself with 
his model trains. He earned his Private Pilot License and built his own 
Ultralight plane named “Mr. Bill” which he later sold. He also loved 
studying oil rigs and leases on oil fields, mapping out the oil, and 
reading books.
 He is survived by cousins and friends.
 Bill joins in his heavenly home his parents and grandparents.
 A Graveside Service will be held on Monday, November 22, 2021, at 
the Lyons City Cemetery, Lyons, Kansas at 1:30 PM. There will be a brief
 time to view on Monday from 8AM until 10AM at the funeral home in 
Plainville.
 Memorials are suggested to Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home, to go 
toward a monument for Bill, and may be sent to 320 SW 2nd, Plainville, 
KS 67663.

William Roger 'Bill' Turner

Jerrol Keith Beckwith, 86, went to be with Jesus November 17, 2021, at Hospice House, Hutchinson.

He was born October 12, 1935, in Larned, the son of Carrol Kneeland and Hazel Carolyn Smith Beckwith.

A lifetime area resident, he was a banker, working in St. Joseph, 
Missouri, and Stafford, Liberal, and Lorraine, Kansas. He was a member 
of Encounter Church, Great Bend and was very civic-minded, serving on 
city councils, volunteer fire departments, and in the United States 
Navy.

On January 19, 1964, he married Oleta Louise Weaver at Larned; she survives.

Other survivors include: a son, Darren (Lisa) Beckwith, Ellinwood; 
daughter, Jill (Aaron) Sauer, Ellinwood; two brothers, Kim Monroe 
(Cheryl) Beckwith, Larned, Kevin Theodore (Suzanne) Beckwith, Perry; 
sister, Kathy Jo (Keith) Johnson, Pleasant Hill, IA; six grandchildren, 
Danielle Beckwith, Oklahoma City, OK, Darrien (Andy) Wiechman, Midland, 
TX, Delaney Meg Beckwith, Oklahoma City, OK, Mallory (Joe) Auer, Ethan 
Sauer, Madison Sauer, all of Ellinwood; and one great granddaughter, 
Lexi Auer.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Carrol Kay 
Beckwith, and two sisters, Carolyn Annette Murphy and V. Clione Bieber.

Funeral service will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday, November 20, 2021, at 
Encounter Church, Great Bend, with Pastor Dwight Dozier presiding. 
Visitation will be 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 19, 2021, at 
Beckwith Mortuary, Larned with family present from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 
p.m. Burial will be in Larned Cemetery with military graveside rites.

Memorials may be given to Ellinwood EMS or the Central Kansas Dream 
Center in care of Beckwith Mortuary, PO Box 477, Larned, Kansas 67550.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637256478731.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Jerrol Keith Beckwith, 86, went to be with Jesus November 17, 2021, at Hospice House, Hutchinson.He was born October 12, 1935, in Larned, the son of Carrol Kneeland and Hazel Carolyn Smith Beckwith.A lifetime area resident, he was a banker, working in St. Joseph, 
Missouri, and Stafford, Liberal, and Lorraine, Kansas. He was a member 
of Encounter Church, Great Bend and was very civic-minded, serving on 
city councils, volunteer fire departments, and in the United States 
Navy.On January 19, 1964, he married Oleta Louise Weaver at Larned; she survives.Other survivors include: a son, Darren (Lisa) Beckwith, Ellinwood; 
daughter, Jill (Aaron) Sauer, Ellinwood; two brothers, Kim Monroe 
(Cheryl) Beckwith, Larned, Kevin Theodore (Suzanne) Beckwith, Perry; 
sister, Kathy Jo (Keith) Johnson, Pleasant Hill, IA; six grandchildren, 
Danielle Beckwith, Oklahoma City, OK, Darrien (Andy) Wiechman, Midland, 
TX, Delaney Meg Beckwith, Oklahoma City, OK, Mallory (Joe) Auer, Ethan 
Sauer, Madison Sauer, all of Ellinwood; and one great granddaughter, 
Lexi Auer.He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Carrol Kay 
Beckwith, and two sisters, Carolyn Annette Murphy and V. Clione Bieber.Funeral service will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday, November 20, 2021, at 
Encounter Church, Great Bend, with Pastor Dwight Dozier presiding. 
Visitation will be 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 19, 2021, at 
Beckwith Mortuary, Larned with family present from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 
p.m. Burial will be in Larned Cemetery with military graveside rites.Memorials may be given to Ellinwood EMS or the Central Kansas Dream 
Center in care of Beckwith Mortuary, PO Box 477, Larned, Kansas 67550.&nbsp;

Jerrol Keith Beckwith

Colorado Springs, Colorado, resident and former Goodland, Kansas, resident, Constance “Connie” Caroline Townsend, 83, passed away on Monday, November 15, 2021, at St. Francis Medical Center in Colorado Springs, CO. &nbsp;

Connie was born on May 6, 1938, in Goodland, KS to Lloyd Thomas and Mable Lucille (Losey) Mucklow.&nbsp; She was one of five children.&nbsp; She attended school in Goodland and graduated from Sherman Community High School in 1956. &nbsp;

On October 2, 1954, she married Kenneth Dean Townsend; they celebrated 61½ years together.&nbsp; To this union, seven children were born; Laural, Karen, Sherilyn, Daniel, Kendra, Anita and Michael.

Connie and Ken raised their family on the farm. She was a hard worker, helping with the farming, growing a big garden every year, and canning and freezing food for the winters, all the while taking good care of her family.

Then when the grandbabies came, she welcomed each one of them into her heart and her arms and her home. She loved each of them in a big way. She loved having big family get togethers and cooking a big meal any time family could get together. She made the best homemade noodles, and the best bierocks, and the best fudge, and the best pies, and the best fried chicken, and the best mac ‘n cheese, and the best……everything. She also had a love for sweets – Butterfingers, cookies and all things sweet.

Connie and Ken moved to Colorado Springs in 1984. Connie got her real estate license and they also started a property management business, in which they managed over 100 commercial properties until they retired. For many years they enjoyed their leisure time at their mountain cabin.

One of her great joys was making make bear quilts for the great-grandbabies; each one was filled with love. She also enjoyed sharing her love with all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren by making sure she had something for each of them at Christmas.

In her later years she became interested in succulent plants and had a large variety of plants in her home and yard. She read about them and knew everything about each one of them, and she took great pride in them. She was always more than willing to share them with the family when they came to visit.&nbsp;

Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband, one brother, three sisters and one infant granddaughter.

She is survived by her children Laural (Dana) Belshe of Goodland, KS, Karen (Bill) Mitchell of Colorado Springs, CO, Sherilyn (Craig) Randolph of Denver, CO, Daniel Townsend of Colorado Springs, CO, Kendra Whitaker of Dallas, TX, Anita (Marvin) Studer of Colorado Springs, CO and Michael (Mindy) Townsend of Ottumwa, IA.&nbsp; She is also survived by one brother-in-law Leo Townsend of Goodland, KS, 19 grandchildren, 36 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, November 19, 2021, at 1:30 PM MT at the Calvary Gospel Church in Goodland with Pastor Dan Beilfuss officiating.&nbsp; Burial will follow in the Goodland Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be designated to Living Life Home Care and may be left at the services or mailed to Koons-Russell Funeral Home, 211 N. Main Ave., Goodland, KS 67735.

Online condolences for the family may be left at <a href="http://www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com">www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com</a>.

Services have been entrusted to Koons-Russell Funeral Home in Goodland.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637244225683.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Colorado Springs, Colorado, resident and former Goodland, Kansas, resident, Constance “Connie” Caroline Townsend, 83, passed away on Monday, November 15, 2021, at St. Francis Medical Center in Colorado Springs, CO. &nbsp;Connie was born on May 6, 1938, in Goodland, KS to Lloyd Thomas and Mable Lucille (Losey) Mucklow.&nbsp; She was one of five children.&nbsp; She attended school in Goodland and graduated from Sherman Community High School in 1956. &nbsp;On October 2, 1954, she married Kenneth Dean Townsend; they celebrated 61½ years together.&nbsp; To this union, seven children were born; Laural, Karen, Sherilyn, Daniel, Kendra, Anita and Michael.Connie and Ken raised their family on the farm. She was a hard worker, helping with the farming, growing a big garden every year, and canning and freezing food for the winters, all the while taking good care of her family.Then when the grandbabies came, she welcomed each one of them into her heart and her arms and her home. She loved each of them in a big way. She loved having big family get togethers and cooking a big meal any time family could get together. She made the best homemade noodles, and the best bierocks, and the best fudge, and the best pies, and the best fried chicken, and the best mac ‘n cheese, and the best……everything. She also had a love for sweets – Butterfingers, cookies and all things sweet.Connie and Ken moved to Colorado Springs in 1984. Connie got her real estate license and they also started a property management business, in which they managed over 100 commercial properties until they retired. For many years they enjoyed their leisure time at their mountain cabin.One of her great joys was making make bear quilts for the great-grandbabies; each one was filled with love. She also enjoyed sharing her love with all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren by making sure she had something for each of them at Christmas.In her later years she became interested in succulent plants and had a large variety of plants in her home and yard. She read about them and knew everything about each one of them, and she took great pride in them. She was always more than willing to share them with the family when they came to visit.&nbsp;Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband, one brother, three sisters and one infant granddaughter.She is survived by her children Laural (Dana) Belshe of Goodland, KS, Karen (Bill) Mitchell of Colorado Springs, CO, Sherilyn (Craig) Randolph of Denver, CO, Daniel Townsend of Colorado Springs, CO, Kendra Whitaker of Dallas, TX, Anita (Marvin) Studer of Colorado Springs, CO and Michael (Mindy) Townsend of Ottumwa, IA.&nbsp; She is also survived by one brother-in-law Leo Townsend of Goodland, KS, 19 grandchildren, 36 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.Funeral services will be held on Friday, November 19, 2021, at 1:30 PM MT at the Calvary Gospel Church in Goodland with Pastor Dan Beilfuss officiating.&nbsp; Burial will follow in the Goodland Cemetery.Memorial contributions may be designated to Living Life Home Care and may be left at the services or mailed to Koons-Russell Funeral Home, 211 N. Main Ave., Goodland, KS 67735.Online condolences for the family may be left at <a href="http://www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com">www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com</a>.Services have been entrusted to Koons-Russell Funeral Home in Goodland.

Constance 'Connie' Caroline Townsend

October 20, 1932 ~ November 15, 2021

An obituary is pending with Koons-Russell Funeral Home.

Click <a href="https://www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com/obituary/Robert-E-Waugh">HERE</a> for service details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637188246974.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>October 20, 1932 ~ November 15, 2021An obituary is pending with Koons-Russell Funeral Home.Click <a href="https://www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com/obituary/Robert-E-Waugh">HERE</a> for service details.

Robert E. Waugh

Saturday, November 13, 2021, Verlan Leslie Bell, loving husband of Mary 
Lou (Lambert) Bell and father of four children, passed away peacefully 
at his home in Centennial, Colorado at the age of 90.
 Verlan was born September 5, 1931, in rural Graham County Kansas to 
Vernon and Mabel (Clark) Bell. He was the third child of seven. Verlan 
attended a one room country school in rural Graham County graduating 
from 8th grade in 1946. He completed grades 9-11 at Morland High School 
where he played football. After 11th grade he left school to help on the
 family farm. He worked as a farm hand for his father in Clayton, Kansas
 from 1944-1951. During his teen years, Verlan completed many 4H 
projects and later obtained his GED. In 1950 he met the love of his 
life, Mary Lou, while she was a freshman in high school. After dating 
for a couple of years they were engaged December 24, 1951. They were 
married June 12, 1954 and enjoyed 64 years together before Mary Lou’s 
death in 2019.
 Verlan was drafted into the army October 30, 1951. He served with 
the 51st Signal Battalion in Korea. The battalion furnished telephone 
and very high frequency radio service for the I Corps. Private Bell was 
assigned as a pole lineman. He was released from active military service
 after three years and transferred to Army Reserve to complete eight 
years of service under the Universal Military Training and Service Act. 
Verlan received the Korean Service Medal with three Bronze Service 
Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, and the Meritorious Unit 
Commendation.
 After Verlan and Mary Lou married they honeymooned in Colorado. They
 returned to Hill City, Kansas to begin their life together. Verlan 
worked for the power company and ran the projector for the movie theater
 in town. May 14, 1955, they were blessed with their first child, Leslie
 Owen. May 29, 1957, Verlan was shocked by a 2400-volt electric line 
while at work. The shock knocked him unconscious causing him to fall to 
the ground. His heart restarted when he hit the ground. He survived the 
fall with only cuts and bruises ~ a tremendous miracle and blessing from
 God for his family!
 November 19, 1957, Debra Ann was born followed by Diana Kay August 
19, 1959. In the fall of 1959 Verlan moved his family to Littleton, 
Colorado. Verlan worked for Martin Marietta before opening a Conoco 
station in Englewood, Colorado in 1963. In 1964 he opened another Conoco
 station on University in Centennial, Colorado. Verlan and Mary Lou 
bought a home in Centennial in 1969. James Craig was born July 27, 1970,
 completing their family.
 Verlan enjoyed hunting deer and elk, fishing, riding horses and 
traveling. He took the family on many adventures across the United 
States in a motorhome. He was an active member of the Littleton Optimist
 Club, spending many hours volunteering his time to earn funds to 
support their many charities. He served as the club President and 
Lieutenant Governor for the Colorado/Wyoming district from 1975-76.
 Verlan is preceded in death by his wife Mary Lou; his parents Vernon
 and Mabel; his sisters Arlene (Dale) Jones and Ethel (Jourdan) Mattke; 
brothers: Glen, Harold Lee and Doyle; and daughter-in- law Kay Bell.
 He is survived by his four children: Leslie, Debbie (Kjell) Snemyr, 
Diana (Don) Missel and Jim; five grandchildren: Bobby Anderson, LeAnne 
(Arlo) Padilla, Kristi (Janak) Garg, Erik Snemyr and Stephanie Missel; 
four great grandchildren: Mirabai and Kiran Garg, Hayden Snemyr, and 
Grayson Padilla; one brother Jerry (Rena) Bell, lots of special nieces, 
nephews, cousins and friends.

Click <a href="https://www.stinemetzfh.com/obituaries/Verlan-Leslie-Bell?obId=23110086#/obituaryInfo">HERE</a> for service details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637172775441.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Saturday, November 13, 2021, Verlan Leslie Bell, loving husband of Mary 
Lou (Lambert) Bell and father of four children, passed away peacefully 
at his home in Centennial, Colorado at the age of 90.
 Verlan was born September 5, 1931, in rural Graham County Kansas to 
Vernon and Mabel (Clark) Bell. He was the third child of seven. Verlan 
attended a one room country school in rural Graham County graduating 
from 8th grade in 1946. He completed grades 9-11 at Morland High School 
where he played football. After 11th grade he left school to help on the
 family farm. He worked as a farm hand for his father in Clayton, Kansas
 from 1944-1951. During his teen years, Verlan completed many 4H 
projects and later obtained his GED. In 1950 he met the love of his 
life, Mary Lou, while she was a freshman in high school. After dating 
for a couple of years they were engaged December 24, 1951. They were 
married June 12, 1954 and enjoyed 64 years together before Mary Lou’s 
death in 2019.
 Verlan was drafted into the army October 30, 1951. He served with 
the 51st Signal Battalion in Korea. The battalion furnished telephone 
and very high frequency radio service for the I Corps. Private Bell was 
assigned as a pole lineman. He was released from active military service
 after three years and transferred to Army Reserve to complete eight 
years of service under the Universal Military Training and Service Act. 
Verlan received the Korean Service Medal with three Bronze Service 
Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, and the Meritorious Unit 
Commendation.
 After Verlan and Mary Lou married they honeymooned in Colorado. They
 returned to Hill City, Kansas to begin their life together. Verlan 
worked for the power company and ran the projector for the movie theater
 in town. May 14, 1955, they were blessed with their first child, Leslie
 Owen. May 29, 1957, Verlan was shocked by a 2400-volt electric line 
while at work. The shock knocked him unconscious causing him to fall to 
the ground. His heart restarted when he hit the ground. He survived the 
fall with only cuts and bruises ~ a tremendous miracle and blessing from
 God for his family!
 November 19, 1957, Debra Ann was born followed by Diana Kay August 
19, 1959. In the fall of 1959 Verlan moved his family to Littleton, 
Colorado. Verlan worked for Martin Marietta before opening a Conoco 
station in Englewood, Colorado in 1963. In 1964 he opened another Conoco
 station on University in Centennial, Colorado. Verlan and Mary Lou 
bought a home in Centennial in 1969. James Craig was born July 27, 1970,
 completing their family.
 Verlan enjoyed hunting deer and elk, fishing, riding horses and 
traveling. He took the family on many adventures across the United 
States in a motorhome. He was an active member of the Littleton Optimist
 Club, spending many hours volunteering his time to earn funds to 
support their many charities. He served as the club President and 
Lieutenant Governor for the Colorado/Wyoming district from 1975-76.
 Verlan is preceded in death by his wife Mary Lou; his parents Vernon
 and Mabel; his sisters Arlene (Dale) Jones and Ethel (Jourdan) Mattke; 
brothers: Glen, Harold Lee and Doyle; and daughter-in- law Kay Bell.
 He is survived by his four children: Leslie, Debbie (Kjell) Snemyr, 
Diana (Don) Missel and Jim; five grandchildren: Bobby Anderson, LeAnne 
(Arlo) Padilla, Kristi (Janak) Garg, Erik Snemyr and Stephanie Missel; 
four great grandchildren: Mirabai and Kiran Garg, Hayden Snemyr, and 
Grayson Padilla; one brother Jerry (Rena) Bell, lots of special nieces, 
nephews, cousins and friends.Click <a href="https://www.stinemetzfh.com/obituaries/Verlan-Leslie-Bell?obId=23110086#/obituaryInfo">HERE</a> for service details.

Verlan Leslie Bell

John David Hein, 74, died November 15, 2021, at Clara Barton Hospital,
 Hoisington, Kansas. He was born on June 5, 1947, in Great Bend, Kansas,
 to David &amp; Elvina (Michaelis) Hein. John was united in marriage to 
Julie Ann Hester on October 15, 1972.

A lifetime Hoisington resident, John graduated from Hoisington High 
School Class of 1965 and attended Beauty Academy in Great Bend and was a
 licensed cosmetologist. After graduating cosmetology school, John and 
his twin brother, Don, were co-owners of Hair Fashion Salon. Shortly 
after opening the salon, John was called to serve his country. He served
 as a corpsman in a Korean MASH unit during the Vietnam War. John began 
working at Dillons in Great Bend in 1974 and was retired from there in 
2011 after 36 1/2 years.

As a lifetime member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, he served on the 
church council and was the church organist for 53 years. John began a 
long career in cake decorating in 1979 for his twin brother’s wedding 
cake. Over the years, countless cakes were made for family and friends 
throughout the region and as far away as Norman, Oklahoma.

John is survived by wife Julie and daughter Joelle Hein-Jacobs; two 
grandchildren, Jensen Jacobs and Jozie Jacobs, both of Great Bend; 
sister-in-law, Sheila Hein, and brother and sister-in-laws, Peter 
Hester, Jayme Walker, Joni Rowl and husband Dennis, Janelle Ross and 
friend Bill Koonce; numerous nieces and nephews, Shawn (Jenn) Hein, 
Courtney (Fred Shofler) Walker, Thomas (Jenny) Walker, Jason (Darcy) 
Rowl and family, Ryan (Heather) Rowl and family, Andrew (Whitney) Rowl 
and family, Kyle (Sarah Schulte) Rowl, Jackie (James) Mayonado and 
family.

He was preceded in death by and his parents, a twin brother, Don Hein, and nephew, Douglas Hein.

Visitation will be 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Thursday, November 18, 
2021, with family to greet friends from 6 to 8p.m. A Prayer service will
 begin at 7 p.m., all at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home

Funeral Service will be Friday, November 19, 2021, at 10:30 a.m. at 
Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Hoisington, with Pastor Wayne Balyga 
presiding. Burial will follow at Hoisington Cemetery, Hoisington, 
Kansas.

Memorials may be made to Emmanuel Lutheran Church or Kans for Kids, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637163559116.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>John David Hein, 74, died November 15, 2021, at Clara Barton Hospital,
 Hoisington, Kansas. He was born on June 5, 1947, in Great Bend, Kansas,
 to David &amp; Elvina (Michaelis) Hein. John was united in marriage to 
Julie Ann Hester on October 15, 1972.A lifetime Hoisington resident, John graduated from Hoisington High 
School Class of 1965 and attended Beauty Academy in Great Bend and was a
 licensed cosmetologist. After graduating cosmetology school, John and 
his twin brother, Don, were co-owners of Hair Fashion Salon. Shortly 
after opening the salon, John was called to serve his country. He served
 as a corpsman in a Korean MASH unit during the Vietnam War. John began 
working at Dillons in Great Bend in 1974 and was retired from there in 
2011 after 36 1/2 years.As a lifetime member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, he served on the 
church council and was the church organist for 53 years. John began a 
long career in cake decorating in 1979 for his twin brother’s wedding 
cake. Over the years, countless cakes were made for family and friends 
throughout the region and as far away as Norman, Oklahoma.John is survived by wife Julie and daughter Joelle Hein-Jacobs; two 
grandchildren, Jensen Jacobs and Jozie Jacobs, both of Great Bend; 
sister-in-law, Sheila Hein, and brother and sister-in-laws, Peter 
Hester, Jayme Walker, Joni Rowl and husband Dennis, Janelle Ross and 
friend Bill Koonce; numerous nieces and nephews, Shawn (Jenn) Hein, 
Courtney (Fred Shofler) Walker, Thomas (Jenny) Walker, Jason (Darcy) 
Rowl and family, Ryan (Heather) Rowl and family, Andrew (Whitney) Rowl 
and family, Kyle (Sarah Schulte) Rowl, Jackie (James) Mayonado and 
family.He was preceded in death by and his parents, a twin brother, Don Hein, and nephew, Douglas Hein.Visitation will be 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Thursday, November 18, 
2021, with family to greet friends from 6 to 8p.m. A Prayer service will
 begin at 7 p.m., all at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral HomeFuneral Service will be Friday, November 19, 2021, at 10:30 a.m. at 
Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Hoisington, with Pastor Wayne Balyga 
presiding. Burial will follow at Hoisington Cemetery, Hoisington, 
Kansas.Memorials may be made to Emmanuel Lutheran Church or Kans for Kids, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home.

John David Hein

GEARY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal October shooting are asking the public for help with information in the case.

According to the Geary County Sheriff,&nbsp; On October 3, a man described as 6-foot-1 or taller and dressed in all black approached 22-year-old Enfinnity Hayes and her husband at the&nbsp; Milford State Park Group Shelter. The suspect&nbsp; attempted to rob the couple at gun point. 

There was a gun shot and Hayes fell to the ground. Her husband drove her to Geary Community Hospital where she died.

Anyone with any information on a suspect is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 785-238-2261, or after hours at 785-762-5912.

You can also report information on this case to&nbsp;david.gilbert@gearycountysheriff.org&nbsp;or anonymously to the Junction City Geary County Crime Stoppers at 762-TIPS or text TIPJC to 274637.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637156736481.png" alt="Enfinnity Hayes-Lawson-courtesy Joe Morris and Sons funeral home" />
 <figcaption>Enfinnity Hayes-Lawson-courtesy Joe Morris and Sons funeral home</figcaption>
 </figure>GEARY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal October shooting are asking the public for help with information in the case.According to the Geary County Sheriff,&nbsp; On October 3, a man described as 6-foot-1 or taller and dressed in all black approached 22-year-old Enfinnity Hayes and her husband at the&nbsp; Milford State Park Group Shelter. The suspect&nbsp; attempted to rob the couple at gun point. There was a gun shot and Hayes fell to the ground. Her husband drove her to Geary Community Hospital where she died.Anyone with any information on a suspect is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 785-238-2261, or after hours at 785-762-5912.You can also report information on this case to&nbsp;david.gilbert@gearycountysheriff.org&nbsp;or anonymously to the Junction City Geary County Crime Stoppers at 762-TIPS or text TIPJC to 274637.

Sheriff investigates robbery, fatal shooting of Kan. woman

Randy Lee Boxberger, age 61, passed away on October 18, 2021, in 
Grapevine, Texas, from complications of COVID. He was born on December 
19, 1959, the son of Valeria (Vicki) Boxberger and the late, Arlyn 
Boxberger. He is survived by his mother, Vicki of Great Bend; his wife, 
Cherie’ of Shady Shores, Texas; and daughters, Megan (fiancé-Ashton 
Kendall) of Plano, Texas and Erin of Craftsbury, Vermont.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Randy grew up in Great Bend, Kan. an active member of Trinity 
Lutheran Church. He played American Legion Baseball. As the only son, 
nephew, grandson he was very popular among his family members and 
everyone followed the rule – “No Christmas Paper”.

There will be no visitation as cremation has taken place. Memorial 
graveside service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, November 20, 
2021, at Fairview Cemetery in Galatia, Reverend Wayne Baldyga presiding.
 A reception will follow at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Galatia. 

Memorial donations can be made in Randy’s name to WINforKC, an 
organization whose mission is to "Ignite the Lives of Women and Girls 
through Sports” at <a href="https://www.sportkc.org/about-us/get-involved/support-us">https://www.sportkc.org/about-us/get-involved/support-us</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637080741143.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Randy Lee Boxberger, age 61, passed away on October 18, 2021, in 
Grapevine, Texas, from complications of COVID. He was born on December 
19, 1959, the son of Valeria (Vicki) Boxberger and the late, Arlyn 
Boxberger. He is survived by his mother, Vicki of Great Bend; his wife, 
Cherie’ of Shady Shores, Texas; and daughters, Megan (fiancé-Ashton 
Kendall) of Plano, Texas and Erin of Craftsbury, Vermont.&nbsp;&nbsp;Randy grew up in Great Bend, Kan. an active member of Trinity 
Lutheran Church. He played American Legion Baseball. As the only son, 
nephew, grandson he was very popular among his family members and 
everyone followed the rule – “No Christmas Paper”.There will be no visitation as cremation has taken place. Memorial 
graveside service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, November 20, 
2021, at Fairview Cemetery in Galatia, Reverend Wayne Baldyga presiding.
 A reception will follow at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Galatia. 
Memorial donations can be made in Randy’s name to WINforKC, an 
organization whose mission is to "Ignite the Lives of Women and Girls 
through Sports” at <a href="https://www.sportkc.org/about-us/get-involved/support-us">https://www.sportkc.org/about-us/get-involved/support-us</a>.

Randy Lee Boxberger

WASHINGTON
 — Over 2,500 criminal investigations, the identification of more than 
$10 billion from tax fraud and financial crimes, and a nearly 90% 
conviction rate are just a few highlights from the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3583.pdf">IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report</a>&nbsp;PDF.
 The report, released Thursday, details statistics, important 
partnerships and significant criminal enforcement actions from IRS-CI, 
the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, for the past fiscal year, 
which began October 1, 2020 and ended September 30, 2021.

"IRS-CI agents are the only federal law enforcement officers with the
 authority to investigate criminal violations of the U.S. tax code. 
Their work reinforces the backbone of our voluntary compliance tax 
system – a system that funds services and benefits for our nation, 
including defense, infrastructure and education," said IRS Commissioner 
Chuck Rettig.

In fiscal year 2021, IRS-CI built upon its existing network of U.S. 
field offices and international attachés to combat financial crimes 
across the globe. The agency's alliance with the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/compliance/joint-chiefs-of-global-tax-enforcement">Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5)</a>
 helped strengthen public-private partnerships with financial 
institutions and the Fin-Tech industry to deter and identify criminal 
activity. Additionally, IRS-CI established its first cyber attaché in 
The Hague, Netherlands, to proactively support cyber investigative needs
 in coordination with Europol.

"IRS-CI continues to lead tax and financial investigations here in 
the U.S. and across the globe," said IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee. "In fiscal 
year 2021, as we faced the second year of a global pandemic, our team of
 agents continued to overcome personal and professional challenges to 
target criminals who exploited the U.S. tax and financial systems for 
personal gain."

While IRS-CI agents spent most of their investigative man-hours, 
about 72%, investigating tax-related crimes like tax evasion and tax 
fraud during fiscal year 2021, they also made significant contributions 
to money laundering, narcotics trafficking, public corruption, terrorism
 and COVID-19 fraud investigations.

In April 2021, a dual Russian-Swedish national was arrested in Los 
Angeles on criminal charges related to his alleged operation of the 
longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet dubbed 
Bitcoin Fog. The bulk of cryptocurrency laundered through Bitcoin Fog 
came from darknet marketplaces and was tied to illegal narcotics, 
computer fraud and identity theft. This case marked the second U.S. 
prosecution of a cryptocurrency mixing service; both were investigated 
by IRS-CI.

The ringleader of a transnational criminal organization, with ties to
 the Sinaloa Cartel, operating in California and along the East Coast 
was sentenced to 33 years in prison in July 2021 for narcotics 
trafficking-related charges. The sentencing followed a multiagency 
operation dubbed Operation Cookout that netted 65 kilograms of illegal 
drugs, 24 firearms, more than $700,000 in cash and guilty pleas from 45 
defendants.

Numerous IRS-CI investigations resulted in individuals being 
sentenced for fraudulently obtaining small business relief loans under 
the CARES Act. One of those cases involved a Texas businessman who was 
sentenced in September 2021 to 31 months confinement and 36 months of 
supervised release after he created a scheme to fraudulently obtain more
 than $3.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans for personal 
use.

The report includes additional case examples for each U.S. field 
office, an overview of IRS-CI's international footprint, details about 
the specialized services provided by IRS-CI and investigative 
statistics, broken down by discipline, for fiscal year 2021.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON
 — Over 2,500 criminal investigations, the identification of more than 
$10 billion from tax fraud and financial crimes, and a nearly 90% 
conviction rate are just a few highlights from the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3583.pdf">IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report</a>&nbsp;PDF.
 The report, released Thursday, details statistics, important 
partnerships and significant criminal enforcement actions from IRS-CI, 
the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, for the past fiscal year, 
which began October 1, 2020 and ended September 30, 2021."IRS-CI agents are the only federal law enforcement officers with the
 authority to investigate criminal violations of the U.S. tax code. 
Their work reinforces the backbone of our voluntary compliance tax 
system – a system that funds services and benefits for our nation, 
including defense, infrastructure and education," said IRS Commissioner 
Chuck Rettig.In fiscal year 2021, IRS-CI built upon its existing network of U.S. 
field offices and international attachés to combat financial crimes 
across the globe. The agency's alliance with the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/compliance/joint-chiefs-of-global-tax-enforcement">Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5)</a>
 helped strengthen public-private partnerships with financial 
institutions and the Fin-Tech industry to deter and identify criminal 
activity. Additionally, IRS-CI established its first cyber attaché in 
The Hague, Netherlands, to proactively support cyber investigative needs
 in coordination with Europol."IRS-CI continues to lead tax and financial investigations here in 
the U.S. and across the globe," said IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee. "In fiscal 
year 2021, as we faced the second year of a global pandemic, our team of
 agents continued to overcome personal and professional challenges to 
target criminals who exploited the U.S. tax and financial systems for 
personal gain."While IRS-CI agents spent most of their investigative man-hours, 
about 72%, investigating tax-related crimes like tax evasion and tax 
fraud during fiscal year 2021, they also made significant contributions 
to money laundering, narcotics trafficking, public corruption, terrorism
 and COVID-19 fraud investigations.<h2>Case examples include:</h2>In April 2021, a dual Russian-Swedish national was arrested in Los 
Angeles on criminal charges related to his alleged operation of the 
longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet dubbed 
Bitcoin Fog. The bulk of cryptocurrency laundered through Bitcoin Fog 
came from darknet marketplaces and was tied to illegal narcotics, 
computer fraud and identity theft. This case marked the second U.S. 
prosecution of a cryptocurrency mixing service; both were investigated 
by IRS-CI.The ringleader of a transnational criminal organization, with ties to
 the Sinaloa Cartel, operating in California and along the East Coast 
was sentenced to 33 years in prison in July 2021 for narcotics 
trafficking-related charges. The sentencing followed a multiagency 
operation dubbed Operation Cookout that netted 65 kilograms of illegal 
drugs, 24 firearms, more than $700,000 in cash and guilty pleas from 45 
defendants.Numerous IRS-CI investigations resulted in individuals being 
sentenced for fraudulently obtaining small business relief loans under 
the CARES Act. One of those cases involved a Texas businessman who was 
sentenced in September 2021 to 31 months confinement and 36 months of 
supervised release after he created a scheme to fraudulently obtain more
 than $3.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans for personal 
use.The report includes additional case examples for each U.S. field 
office, an overview of IRS-CI's international footprint, details about 
the specialized services provided by IRS-CI and investigative 
statistics, broken down by discipline, for fiscal year 2021.

IRS: 90% conviction rate on $10B in tax and COVID frauds, cybercrime

Doris T. Weiser, 93, died November 13, 2021, at Country Place Senior 
Living, Hoisington, Kansas. She was born October 28, 1928, on the family
 farm near Odin, Kansas, the daughter of William B. and Frances 
(Frenzel) Zecha.&nbsp;

On June 8, 1948, she married Herbert A. Weiser at Holy Family 
Catholic Church, Odin, Kansas.&nbsp; He preceded her in death on February 27,
 1991.

A longtime Hoisington resident, Doris was a homemaker and bookkeeper 
for the family businesses, Hoisington Oil Company and the Conoco service
 station.&nbsp; She was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church 
and Altar Society. Doris was well known for her baking and was often 
gifting her delicious baked goods to family and friends.

Survivors include; two sons, Richard Weiser and wife Karen of Oro 
Valley, Arizona, and Eugene Weiser of Hoisington; a daughter, Susan 
Graves of Lee’s Summit, Missouri; a sister, Lucille Schneweis of 
Wichita; five grandchildren, David Kilroy of Denver, Kristin Frazier of 
Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Brian Weiser of Junction City, Eric Weiser of 
Tucson, Arizona, and Jesse Weiser of Thornton, Colorado; four great 
grandchildren, Kristi Blevins, Hadrian, Dimitri, and Augustus Weiser; 
and one great-great granddaughter, Aela Blevins.

She was preceded in death by; her husband, an infant daughter, Mary 
Jane Weiser, five brothers, Raymond, Robert, Victor, Herman, Francis and
 Clarence Zecha; and five sisters, Eleanor Johanning, Helen Straub, 
Kathleen Zecha, Agnes Penka, and Mathilda Penka.

Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday with family to greet 
friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Vigil and Rosary will begin at 6 p.m., all
 at the funeral home. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m., 
Thursday, November 18, 2021, at Holy Family Catholic Church, Odin, 
Kansas, celebrated by Father Terrance Klein.&nbsp; Burial will follow at St. 
John Catholic Cemetery, Hoisington, Kansas.

Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, St. John 
Catholic Cemetery Fund, or Holy Family Catholic Cemetery Fund in care of
 Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.

Doris T. Weiser, 93, died November 13, 2021, at Country Place Senior 
Living, Hoisington, Kansas. She was born October 28, 1928, on the family
 farm near Odin, Kansas, the daughter of William B. and Frances 
(Frenzel) Zecha.&nbsp;On June 8, 1948, she married Herbert A. Weiser at Holy Family 
Catholic Church, Odin, Kansas.&nbsp; He preceded her in death on February 27,
 1991.A longtime Hoisington resident, Doris was a homemaker and bookkeeper 
for the family businesses, Hoisington Oil Company and the Conoco service
 station.&nbsp; She was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church 
and Altar Society. Doris was well known for her baking and was often 
gifting her delicious baked goods to family and friends.Survivors include; two sons, Richard Weiser and wife Karen of Oro 
Valley, Arizona, and Eugene Weiser of Hoisington; a daughter, Susan 
Graves of Lee’s Summit, Missouri; a sister, Lucille Schneweis of 
Wichita; five grandchildren, David Kilroy of Denver, Kristin Frazier of 
Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Brian Weiser of Junction City, Eric Weiser of 
Tucson, Arizona, and Jesse Weiser of Thornton, Colorado; four great 
grandchildren, Kristi Blevins, Hadrian, Dimitri, and Augustus Weiser; 
and one great-great granddaughter, Aela Blevins.She was preceded in death by; her husband, an infant daughter, Mary 
Jane Weiser, five brothers, Raymond, Robert, Victor, Herman, Francis and
 Clarence Zecha; and five sisters, Eleanor Johanning, Helen Straub, 
Kathleen Zecha, Agnes Penka, and Mathilda Penka.Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday with family to greet 
friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Vigil and Rosary will begin at 6 p.m., all
 at the funeral home. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m., 
Thursday, November 18, 2021, at Holy Family Catholic Church, Odin, 
Kansas, celebrated by Father Terrance Klein.&nbsp; Burial will follow at St. 
John Catholic Cemetery, Hoisington, Kansas.Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, St. John 
Catholic Cemetery Fund, or Holy Family Catholic Cemetery Fund in care of
 Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.

Doris T. Weiser

A two-month spike in U.S. crude-oil supplies and a three-week spike in U.S. rig counts pushed the U.S. crude benchmark below $80 on Monday for the first time since October. U.S. crude inventories rose last week, for the third week in a row and the fifth time in a month. The latest report from the government is due Wednesday, following an industry report expected the day before. Last week's rig counts marked the third increase three weeks.&nbsp; December Nymex crude prices settled Friday three dollars lower, the lowest close for WTI in five weeks. Light sweet crude on the Nymex was down to $79.95 per barrel by lunchtime Monday. London Brent drops 94 cents to $81.23 per barrel. Kansas prices start the week at $71 a barrel. CHS in McPherson dropped the price for Kansas Common by 75 cents on Friday. Prices are half a dollar lower on the week and more than three dollars lower than at the first of the month. A year ago the Kansas benchmark was forty-one dollars lower. U.S. crude inventories rose for the third week in a row. The Energy Information Administration reports total stockpiles of just over 435 million barrels on November 5th. That's up about a million barrels from a week earlier, but about seven percent below the five-year average for this time of year. The government reported a slight increase in domestic crude production. U.S. operators pumped just over 11.5 million barrels per day during the week through November 5th. That's an increase of about 10,000 barrels per day over the week before and about a million barrels per day over a year earlier. EIA reported crude imports of 6.1 million barrels per day last week, down 63,000 barrels per day. The average over the last four weeks is about 14% higher than the same four-week period last year. Gasoline stockpiles dropped by 1.6 million barrels last week, and are about four percent below the five-year seasonal average. The auto club AAA reports higher gasoline pump prices brought on by slight increases in demand and the high price for a barrel of crude. But they say shorter days under Daylight Saving Time could lower gasoline demand, and possibly bring down pump prices. The national average last Thursday (11/11) was just over $3.41 per gallon. That's up more than 14 cents per gallon over a month ago.&nbsp; The average across Kansas, $3.11 per gallon, is up about 13 cents from last month. Filling your 15-gallon tank will cost you nearly four dollars more than a month ago, and $17 more than a year ago.&nbsp; Kansas operators completed 25 wells last week 11 in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita, for a year-to-date total of 778.&nbsp; That's a slight improvement over the weekly report from a year ago, which showed 728 completions.&nbsp; Kansas regulators approved 25 new drilling permits last week, 16 in eastern Kansas and 9 west of Wichita, including one new permit in Barton County. That's 991 new drilling locations so far this year, compared to 406 a year ago at this time. This week's Rig Count in Kansas is down slightly, with 13 active drilling rigs in the eastern half of the state, which is down two, and 27 west of Wichita, which is up one for the week. Drilling was underway on a lease in Ellis County, and operators were about to spud a new well in Barton County. This year, demand for petroleum has largely returned to the pre-pandemic levels of two years ago. In a new report, the government says demand has grown faster than supply, reducing inventories and contributing to higher prices for crude oil and petroleum products. The Energy Information Administration says the price of West Texas Intermediate crude is near its highest level since 2014. WTI on November first was up $37 per barrel compared to the beginning of the year. Likewise, the price of Brent crude, the European benchmark, was up $34 over the same period. U.S. crude oil inputs at domestic refineries have nearly returned to the 2019 level for this time of year, despite several refinery closures since 2020. By contrast, crude production has been slower to return. Output fell from a record from an average 12.3 million barrels per day in 2019, to about 9.7 million in May of 2020. Current production is just over 11.5 million barrels per day. Oil-by-rail traffic in the U.S. was up for the week but down from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,010 carloads hauling petroleum and petroleum products.&nbsp; That's up 452 tanker carloads from the week before but down four percent from the same week in 2020. Canadian traffic was up more than 500 carloads for the week, and up more than eleven percent over a year ago. The government reports steady increases in both crude-oil production and consumption. The Energy Information Administration says U.S. output spiked dramatically last month, following the hurricane recovery. EIA now predicts production will reach 11.6 million barrels per day in December. The agency's Short Term Energy Outlook estimates global petroleum consumption reached 98.9 million barrels per day in October, an increase of 4.5 million barrels per day from a year earlier. The report forecasts a 5.1 million barrel-per-day increase in consumption for the entire year. Energy regulators in Texas cleared the way under a new state law to pay out some $3.4 BILLION to natural gas companies for a dramatic price increase during the recent cold snap and power-grid failure. The money is part of the debt Texas utilities incurred after gas prices skyrocketed during February's winter storm and blackout. The Railroad Commission of Texas voted to convert those debts into low-interest bonds guaranteed by the state. The cost of those bonds may be included on Texans’ gas bills for up to the next 30 years. The Biden administration is taking steps to block oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, a site considered sacred to Native Americans. The White House said on Monday that the Interior Department is considering a 20-year withdrawal of federal lands within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Such a move would prevent oil and gas leasing and development in the northwestern corner of the state. New Mexico is second only to Texas in state crude-production rankings, but the lions share of the production comes from the Permian Basin, more than 400 miles away in the southeastern corner of the state.&nbsp; Saudi Arabia last week announced it's raising prices to customers in Asia. The increases are bigger than expected and were propping up prices elsewhere. Saudi Aramco raised its Official Selling Price to its highest level since September.

By JOHN P. TRETBARA two-month spike in U.S. crude-oil supplies and a three-week spike in U.S. rig counts pushed the U.S. crude benchmark below $80 on Monday for the first time since October. U.S. crude inventories rose last week, for the third week in a row and the fifth time in a month. The latest report from the government is due Wednesday, following an industry report expected the day before. Last week's rig counts marked the third increase three weeks.&nbsp; December Nymex crude prices settled Friday three dollars lower, the lowest close for WTI in five weeks. Light sweet crude on the Nymex was down to $79.95 per barrel by lunchtime Monday. London Brent drops 94 cents to $81.23 per barrel. Kansas prices start the week at $71 a barrel. CHS in McPherson dropped the price for Kansas Common by 75 cents on Friday. Prices are half a dollar lower on the week and more than three dollars lower than at the first of the month. A year ago the Kansas benchmark was forty-one dollars lower. U.S. crude inventories rose for the third week in a row. The Energy Information Administration reports total stockpiles of just over 435 million barrels on November 5th. That's up about a million barrels from a week earlier, but about seven percent below the five-year average for this time of year. The government reported a slight increase in domestic crude production. U.S. operators pumped just over 11.5 million barrels per day during the week through November 5th. That's an increase of about 10,000 barrels per day over the week before and about a million barrels per day over a year earlier. EIA reported crude imports of 6.1 million barrels per day last week, down 63,000 barrels per day. The average over the last four weeks is about 14% higher than the same four-week period last year. Gasoline stockpiles dropped by 1.6 million barrels last week, and are about four percent below the five-year seasonal average. The auto club AAA reports higher gasoline pump prices brought on by slight increases in demand and the high price for a barrel of crude. But they say shorter days under Daylight Saving Time could lower gasoline demand, and possibly bring down pump prices. The national average last Thursday (11/11) was just over $3.41 per gallon. That's up more than 14 cents per gallon over a month ago.&nbsp; The average across Kansas, $3.11 per gallon, is up about 13 cents from last month. Filling your 15-gallon tank will cost you nearly four dollars more than a month ago, and $17 more than a year ago.&nbsp; Kansas operators completed 25 wells last week 11 in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita, for a year-to-date total of 778.&nbsp; That's a slight improvement over the weekly report from a year ago, which showed 728 completions.&nbsp; Kansas regulators approved 25 new drilling permits last week, 16 in eastern Kansas and 9 west of Wichita, including one new permit in Barton County. That's 991 new drilling locations so far this year, compared to 406 a year ago at this time. This week's Rig Count in Kansas is down slightly, with 13 active drilling rigs in the eastern half of the state, which is down two, and 27 west of Wichita, which is up one for the week. Drilling was underway on a lease in Ellis County, and operators were about to spud a new well in Barton County. This year, demand for petroleum has largely returned to the pre-pandemic levels of two years ago. In a new report, the government says demand has grown faster than supply, reducing inventories and contributing to higher prices for crude oil and petroleum products. The Energy Information Administration says the price of West Texas Intermediate crude is near its highest level since 2014. WTI on November first was up $37 per barrel compared to the beginning of the year. Likewise, the price of Brent crude, the European benchmark, was up $34 over the same period. U.S. crude oil inputs at domestic refineries have nearly returned to the 2019 level for this time of year, despite several refinery closures since 2020. By contrast, crude production has been slower to return. Output fell from a record from an average 12.3 million barrels per day in 2019, to about 9.7 million in May of 2020. Current production is just over 11.5 million barrels per day. Oil-by-rail traffic in the U.S. was up for the week but down from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,010 carloads hauling petroleum and petroleum products.&nbsp; That's up 452 tanker carloads from the week before but down four percent from the same week in 2020. Canadian traffic was up more than 500 carloads for the week, and up more than eleven percent over a year ago. The government reports steady increases in both crude-oil production and consumption. The Energy Information Administration says U.S. output spiked dramatically last month, following the hurricane recovery. EIA now predicts production will reach 11.6 million barrels per day in December. The agency's Short Term Energy Outlook estimates global petroleum consumption reached 98.9 million barrels per day in October, an increase of 4.5 million barrels per day from a year earlier. The report forecasts a 5.1 million barrel-per-day increase in consumption for the entire year. Energy regulators in Texas cleared the way under a new state law to pay out some $3.4 BILLION to natural gas companies for a dramatic price increase during the recent cold snap and power-grid failure. The money is part of the debt Texas utilities incurred after gas prices skyrocketed during February's winter storm and blackout. The Railroad Commission of Texas voted to convert those debts into low-interest bonds guaranteed by the state. The cost of those bonds may be included on Texans’ gas bills for up to the next 30 years. The Biden administration is taking steps to block oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, a site considered sacred to Native Americans. The White House said on Monday that the Interior Department is considering a 20-year withdrawal of federal lands within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Such a move would prevent oil and gas leasing and development in the northwestern corner of the state. New Mexico is second only to Texas in state crude-production rankings, but the lions share of the production comes from the Permian Basin, more than 400 miles away in the southeastern corner of the state.&nbsp; Saudi Arabia last week announced it's raising prices to customers in Asia. The increases are bigger than expected and were propping up prices elsewhere. Saudi Aramco raised its Official Selling Price to its highest level since September.

News From the Oil Patch: Crude supplies spike, prices plunge

John Feeney, 85, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 12, 2021,&nbsp; at Cedar Village Care Center, Ness City, KS.&nbsp; He was born on December 9,
 1935, in Washington, D.C. the son of John Feeney, Sr. and Myra 
(Richardson) Feeney.&nbsp; He graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School. 
After high school he trained as an Electrical Draftsman where he used 
his skills working at Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission where he 
worked until September 1963.&nbsp;

John served his country in the Army National Guard Reserves from 1957 to 1962 in the 140th Engineer Bn DCNG (DC national guard) as an SP5 E5.&nbsp;

In October 1963, John moved to Ness City, Kansas, where we went to work
 with his father-in-law (Joe Petersilie) as a contract oil well pumper 
until he retired in 2006.&nbsp;

He was member of the United Methodist Church, Ness City, KS.

On June 24, 1961, he married Jo Ann Petersilie in Ness City, Kansas.&nbsp;
 They moved from Takoma Park, Maryland to Ness City, Kansas in 1963 
where they made their home on the farm.

John and Jo Ann celebrated their 60th wedding Anniversary this past June.

John is survived by his wife Jo Ann of Ness City; daughters, Shannon 
Feeney of Ness City and Robin Pierson of Blue Springs, Missouri; one 
granddaughter Regan Pierson also of Blue Springs, Missouri; and his 
sister Ann Feeney of Ness City.&nbsp;

He was preceded in death by his parents John and Myra Feeney.&nbsp;

Visitation will be held on Thursday, November 18th from 5 -7 p.m. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City.&nbsp; A funeral service will be held on Friday, November 19th, 2021 at the United Methodist Church, Ness City at 11:00 a.m.&nbsp; Burial will be at Ness City Cemetery with military honors.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Humane Society, 
Dodge City, the Animal Shelter in Dodge City or the United Methodist 
Church, Ness City.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637011218446.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>John Feeney, 85, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 12, 2021,&nbsp; at Cedar Village Care Center, Ness City, KS.&nbsp; He was born on December 9,
 1935, in Washington, D.C. the son of John Feeney, Sr. and Myra 
(Richardson) Feeney.&nbsp; He graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School. 
After high school he trained as an Electrical Draftsman where he used 
his skills working at Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission where he 
worked until September 1963.&nbsp;John served his country in the Army National Guard Reserves from 1957 to 1962 in the 140th Engineer Bn DCNG (DC national guard) as an SP5 E5.&nbsp;In October 1963, John moved to Ness City, Kansas, where we went to work
 with his father-in-law (Joe Petersilie) as a contract oil well pumper 
until he retired in 2006.&nbsp;He was member of the United Methodist Church, Ness City, KS.On June 24, 1961, he married Jo Ann Petersilie in Ness City, Kansas.&nbsp;
 They moved from Takoma Park, Maryland to Ness City, Kansas in 1963 
where they made their home on the farm.John and Jo Ann celebrated their 60th wedding Anniversary this past June.John is survived by his wife Jo Ann of Ness City; daughters, Shannon 
Feeney of Ness City and Robin Pierson of Blue Springs, Missouri; one 
granddaughter Regan Pierson also of Blue Springs, Missouri; and his 
sister Ann Feeney of Ness City.&nbsp;He was preceded in death by his parents John and Myra Feeney.&nbsp;Visitation will be held on Thursday, November 18th from 5 -7 p.m. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City.&nbsp; A funeral service will be held on Friday, November 19th, 2021 at the United Methodist Church, Ness City at 11:00 a.m.&nbsp; Burial will be at Ness City Cemetery with military honors.In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Humane Society, 
Dodge City, the Animal Shelter in Dodge City or the United Methodist 
Church, Ness City.

John Feeney

Latest data compares 2021 to 2019, after no testing in 2020

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/11/15/math-reading-student-test-scores-tumble-in-kansas-amid-covid-19-pandemic/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Unprecedented disruption
 of classroom instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a drop 
in math and reading standardized test scores among 476,000 public school
 students in Kansas with the steepest assessment damage among children 
struggling with math.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1637005442776.png" alt="Randy Watson, commissioner of the Kansas State Department of Education, said the unprecedented influence of COVID-19 pushed down public school district assessment scores in math and reading when comparing 2021 to 2019. No testing was conducted in 2020. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Randy Watson, commissioner of the Kansas State Department of Education, said the unprecedented influence of COVID-19 pushed down public school district assessment scores in math and reading when comparing 2021 to 2019. No testing was conducted in 2020. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Latest data compares 2021 to 2019, after no testing in 2020</h2>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/11/15/math-reading-student-test-scores-tumble-in-kansas-amid-covid-19-pandemic/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Unprecedented disruption
 of classroom instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a drop 
in math and reading standardized test scores among 476,000 public school
 students in Kansas with the steepest assessment damage among children 
struggling with math.Information released by the Kansas State Department of Education 
offered the first statewide evaluation of student performance in these 
key subject areas since the 2019 report. No testing was conducted in 
2020 as the pandemic derailed normal school activities for students and 
educators in Kansas by pushing instruction online from March until the 
end of the school year.“Every data point we have is down,” said Randy Watson, commissioner 
of the Kansas State Department of Education. “So is everyone else’s 
across the country.”The 2021 Kansas report on math for all students indicated 7.8% tested
 at the highest proficiency level, a decline of 1.5 percentage points 
since 2019, and 20% scored at the next-highest level, a reduction of 3.2
 percentage points since 2019. The portion of students at the lowest 
level of achievement in math surged to 34.3%, a disturbing escalation of
 6.1 percentage points.In reading, the damage to Kansas students was less severe when 
comparing 2021 and 2019 results. In 2021, 8% of students tested in 
English and language arts reached the highest proficiency level, a 
setback of 0.7 percentage points compared to 2019. In 2021, 30.3% of 
students were at the lowest level of achievement on math exams, a 
wrong-way change of 0.9 percentage points from 2019.Mark Tallman, who works on K-12 education issues for the Kansas 
Association of School Boards, said slippage in student achievement was 
widely anticipated. The 2021 report was unusual because 12,000 fewer 
students participated in testing as public school enrollment suffered 
and some remote-learner students didn’t have access to supervised 
settings to take exams, he said.Kansas public school districts in Kansas were beneficiaries of $1 
billion in federal aid designed to address student pandemic needs. 
School districts also have been receiving millions of dollars in 
additional annual state appropriations as a result of the Gannon school 
funding lawsuit.The influx of cash and decline in math and reading test scores is 
likely to drive debate in the 2022 legislative session on expanding a 
statewide program offering tax credits for support low-income students 
who enroll in private schools, Tallman said.“Many education leaders have said it will take time for additional 
funding to have an impact,” Tallman said. “However, many legislators are
 impatient to see results from higher funding and some say what they see
 as the slow pace means the state should consider expanding aid to 
students attending alternatives to public schools.”More than twice the percentage of low-income students scored in the 
lowest level on both reading and math than wealthier students in 2021.David Dorsey, senior education policy fellow with the Kansas Policy 
Institute, said the “unacceptably low test scores” in 2021 ought to 
prompt the state Department of Education to recommit to upgrading 
student achievement in fundamental academic skills.Watson, commissioner of education in Kansas, said consequences of the
 pandemic continued to unfold for students, parents, teachers and 
administrators engaged in the public school system. The coronavirus 
variant known as Delta is sickening, hospitalizing and killing people 
more than 18 months after COVID-19 shook the foundation of education in 
early 2020, he said.“People are still, unfortunately, passing away,” Watson said. “What you see is a weariness.”He said as of October more than 30 school district superintendents 
had filed a notice of retirement, an unusually high number for that 
point in the academic year. He said there had been a lack of continuity 
among classroom teachers as they grappled with online instruction, 
quarantines and illnesses. Parents have made their displeasure known at 
school board meetings across Kansas, he said.Kansas assessment results for the state, districts and schools are available at the state Department of Education’s <a target="_blank" href="https://datacentral.ksde.org/">Data Central</a> website portal.The Kansas Board of Education set goals for moving more students into
 the two highest of four levels of achievement on standardized 
tests.&nbsp;The state board also adopted broader educational outcomes, 
including graduation rates, postsecondary participation, kindergarten 
readiness, implementation of individual student plans of study and 
promotion of social and emotional growth.Watson said 88.3% of Kansas high school seniors graduated in 2020, an
 improvement of 2.6 percentage points. The nearly 12,000 students who 
didn’t earn a diploma represented 4,000 to 5,000 students, he said. It 
won’t be a surprise if the 2021 graduation rate dips below the previous 
year’s mark, he said.