The interior glass windows between radio studios and the carpeted walls designed to make studios sound proof are gone. In their place are multiple offices, a conference room, new walls and work space locations.&nbsp;

The former KJCK Radio building at 1030 Southwind Drive now houses DM Construction and Remodeling plus The Work Station owned by Derrick and Tammy Melton. The ribbon cutting for The Work Station was held Friday.

Derrick Melton explained the building was a great place for co-working space ( The Work Station ). From there the facility was remodeled. Tammy said that there are six offices plus three different cubicles that can be rented out for a daily drop in that can be used to meet with clients and for meetings.

There is a new conference room in the downstairs area that seats 12 people in the space that formerly&nbsp; housed the KJCK FM studios.

An upstairs conference room is now a break area.

The regular building hours are 9 to 5 but one business is operated there during the evening.

The former radio station building's history dates back to the early 1970's.

New businesses occupy the former radio station building

Historical reenactment will be on full display in Junction City on Saturday. The Geary County Historical Society will host an Experience History event where you can participate in a variety of activities at the Spring Valley Historic Site.

You can explore log cabins, meet the plainsmen, see and hear from reenactors from across Kansas and participate in hands-on historical experiences.&nbsp;

The Spring Valley Historic Site is located at K-18 and Spring Valley Road.

The event Saturday will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $2 per person.

Experience History in Junction City

K-STATE RESEARCH AND EXTENSION NEWS SERVICE

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State University horticulture expert Cynthia Domenghini says home gardeners can expand garden space by taking it to the next level…literally.

Domenghini said many crops can be grown vertically, including the more traditional tomatoes, pole beans, and peas as well as vining crops such as cucumbers, melons, squash and gourds.

“Elevating plants off the ground increases the air flow which can help prevent disease,” Domenghini said. “Bringing the height of the produce up also makes harvesting easier.”

Domenghini recommends edible-pod and snow peas because those crops have longer vines and are therefore more appropriate for growing vertically than English (shelling) peas.

Bush-type vining crops produce short vines and are consequently less suitable for vertical growth. “Be mindful of crops that grow large fruit as they could damage the vine if grown vertically,” Domenghini said.

Supporting your vertical garden with a sturdy structure is also important. Domenghini suggests bamboo poles.

“Create a pup tent or A-frame structure by leaning two cattle panels or pallets together and securing them at the top. Alternatively, a single panel can be tied upright to T-posts for support. Plant vining crops at the base and train them to grow upward,” she said.

Maximize garden space by growing vertically 

&nbsp; USD 475 reminds that the 2025 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JCHSUSD475?__cft__[0]=AZXh7Pg9vXBcA3KLSeYlhcICt5ldYBjaQldRcPUP4jnZB0wNmXle5HfaCW-4pOBA1QLtYl0sg2Buku4C9Ha7hhzhpsi9J2GZYOplT8IsPXRS13dNwSyz5tEGQjb6QcLDyLu-VQ8oAao9Wz-KKLQZEJexguYDXBjeMhDdyV1tRCM-_YZwjfn4F-sVseAG6Hx3rPpDWE8s7iUauJkVNrqIY8Oi&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">Junction City High School USD 475</a> Cars and Careers Showcase will take place on Saturday, April 26. Start time is set for 11 a.m.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Cars and Careers Showcase

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times, host Gary Shorman continues a series on leadership and entrepreneurship. Kris Munsch discusses 'Where's My Bag of Money?"

🎤 Forward Ever: Part 3: Kris Munsch: 'Where's My Bag of Money?'

Geary County Emergency Management announced on Friday morning the Junction City/Geary County area generally had .28" rainfall recorded (some areas may be more or less as storms have ben very scattered). Heavy rainfall may lead to flooding of creeks and rivers as well as flash flooding, particularly for locations that have received heavy rainfall in recent days.

Where the heaviest rain will be and how much could fall remains somewhat low given the expected scattered coverage of storms. Generally, heaviest rainfall will remain in central and north-central KS.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Rain sweeps through Geary County

Geary USD 475 celebrated during the annual State of Education event Thursday evening at Junction City High School. Numerous teachers and students were recognized, USD 475 Superintendent Dr. Reginald Eggleston and State Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson spoke, and there were numerous musical performances.

&nbsp;An opening written statement by the superintendent set the tone. "The greatest contribution Geary County schools can make to our community is to educate children."

Four areas were highlighted including academic success, parent engagement, a culture of excellence and upcoming discussions. "We will continue to set expectations for our students, " said Eggleston. To military connected families he noted that the District has the resources available to support them and the students.

In the coming year the District will be looking at the profile of a graduate, and what does a graduate in the 21st century look like.&nbsp;There was also a note that 49 different languages are spoken by students in the school district.

Horizon Award recipients Denise Acosta and Easton Lager will each receive $1,000, and they were the first USD 475 teachers since 2019 to receive the honor. There were only 32 statewide recipients this year and two came from USD 475.

National Honor Society students and Thrive Award recipients were recognized. The 3.0 grade point average requirement for secondary school students in good standing to participate in extracurricular activities will be reviewed by a committee, and they will see if the District perhaps even needs to raise that requirement.

Teacher of the Year nominees including Seitz Elementary School Kindergarten teacher Christa Grider and Fort Riley Middle School Special Education teacher Michelle Irvine received $1,000. Challenge Award recipients Mallory Larsen and Kim Dressman were honored. They are principals at Grandview and Westwood Elementary schools, respectively.

Lincoln Elementary School was recognzed for receiving a Blue Ribbon School Award, along with JCHS 6A girls state champion cross country runner Linden Pickler and the JCHS boys cross country team that finished second in their 6A state competition.

Educators that are planning to retire including Deb Gustafson, Charlotte Landith and Lanise Cook were honored.&nbsp;

Musical performances were provided by students from Lincoln Elementary School, Fort Riley Elementary School, Junction City High School orchestra and JC Singers, Fort Riley Middle School orchestra and Junction City Middle School choir.

The event concluded with the singing of the Junction City High School fight song "Onward Blue Jays."

USD 475 shines during the State of Education celebration

RAFAEL GARCIA K-State Research and Extension News Service&nbsp;

MANHATTAN, Kan.&nbsp; — You may not think about it often, but you have a favorite tree, Matthew Norville bets.

Maybe it's a droopy weeping willow that you wove through as a kid in your grandma's backyard. Or a towering, mature oak older than the city park it shades. It might even be a young evergreen at the town crossroads that shines bright with decoration each winter for the holidays.

"People hold trees close to their heart," said Norville, community forestry program coordinator for the Kansas Forest Service. "It's fascinating how people make trees a big part of their community, and not just physically."

Trees have always been a part of the Kansas landscape — thousands of Eastern cottonwoods and maples, among other species, have long dotted the waterways and low valleys of the old prairie landscape, serving essential roles in the state's ecology.

And as communities have sprouted across the state, so too have the canopies that have provided shelter, recreation and natural beauty for Kansans for more than 150 years.

Through the Kansas Forest Service, professionals like Norville are ensuring that one of the state's most precious resources can continue to thrive — with the right trees in the right places.

Overseeing 5.2 million acres of Kansas trees takes community partnerships

Founded in 1887, the Kansas Forest Service serves rural landowners, communities, rural fire districts, forest and arboriculture industries, and everyday Kansans through various local, district and statewide programs, said state forester Jason Hartman.

"We provide a variety of services through our conservation tree and shrub planting, fire management, community forestry, rural forestry, marketing and utilization, and forest health programs," Hartman said.

The independent agency is housed within K-State Research and Extension, with a separate state office and headquarters about a mile west of the university's Manhattan campus.

The Kansas Forest Service exemplifies the engagement-focused mission of K-State, which aims to integrate engagement across all the university does. By building direct connections with communities and landowners statewide, the service represents exactly the kind of real-world impact K-State envisions in leading as a next-generation land-grant university.

The two entities are also working together to build the Kansas Rural Fire and Workforce Development Center, a new $5 million shared facility that will boost current efforts to provide critical training and equipment for firefighters and state-of-the-art instructional space for academic and regional workforce development programs.

"For most of our existence, except maybe those first 10-15 years, we've worked hand in hand through and with the K-State extension system to connect people to our publications, resources and expertise," Hartman said.

While Kansas isn't known for having huge, dense thickets across its landscape, the state still has extensive stands of trees throughout its hills, prairies, riverways and communities. About 5.2 million acres of forests, woodlands and trees — or roughly 10% of the state's total area — make up Kansas' canopy.

The vast majority of those forests are on private land, and to care for and manage them, the Kansas Forest Service relies on partnerships with local landowners and communities to ensure the state's forests remain vibrant and healthy.

"In Kansas, we don't have any public or national state forests," Hartman said. "That means that our connection, as a forest service, has to be different. We have to connect through our communities."

The forest service also plays a key role in removing or keeping trees from areas where they don't serve a useful purpose.

That includes the removal of dead or sick trees in urban areas, as well as work to stop or reverse the trend of woody encroachment — or the overgrowth of woody trees, shrubs and bushes on traditionally grassy plains — both to help preserve local ecology and to remove fuel for dangerous wildfires.

"In forestry, we always say that it's about putting the right trees in the right place," Hartman said. "We like trees where they belong, and we're just as much against them being where they shouldn't be."

Forest service is rooted in every corner of Kansas

At its headquarters in Manhattan, the Kansas Forest Service hosts most of its statewide programs, including its popular Conservation Tree Planting Program.

The program — which grows and processes tree and shrub seedlings from both in-house and external partner nurseries — sells and ships hundreds of thousands of plantings each year to private landowners, foresters and communities around Kansas.

These plantings serve as wildlife habitats, windbreaks, wood lots, timber plantations and riparian plantings that help prevent erosion along stream and river banks.

The state headquarters also hosts a shop for the forest service's Federal Excess Property, Firefighter Property and Equipment Donation programs.

These three programs support volunteer firefighter departments across the state with essential fire-fighting equipment from federal surpluses at a fraction of their retail costs. The service has agreements with more than 500 Kansas fire districts that have put more than 600 pieces of equipment, valued at more than $43 million, on the front lines fighting Kansas wildfires.

But much of the Kansas Forest Service's most visible presence is in its fieldwork, which comes from district offices across the state.

Through these offices, the Kansas Forest Service provides expertise via its staff of fire management officers and rural, community and district foresters.

Staff at these offices make hundreds of visits to volunteer fire departments, local landowners and communities across the state, serving as expert advisors and connectors to resources.

"Much of this work does take money for landowners to accomplish, but our foresters connect landowners to opportunities through groups like the National Resources Conservation Service cost-share program," Hartman said. "They also host educational events with the public in their areas, and they go to schools to get students informed and interested in natural resources."

Community foresters are the agency's connection to the state's smaller communities. While medium and large cities can typically hire staff with forestry training, smaller towns rely on the Kansas Forest Service's community foresters to provide technical expertise.

These foresters develop strategic plans to help towns identify, manage and plan care for the trees in their communities, said Matthew Norville, the community forestry program coordinator.

"We work with towns of 98 residents to tens of thousands. The size doesn't matter — we're here to serve all Kansans, but we also prioritize helping our communities that would otherwise not get that kind of expertise," Noville said.

Serving Kansans through trees

In terms of state funding, about 30 cents of each Kansan's taxes go toward the Kansas Forest Service, Hartman said.

But calculating the return on those 30 cents of per-capita investment is difficult. Although they may not realize it, most Kansans benefit from at least one of the agency's services, said Ariel Whitely-Noll, communications coordinator for the Kansas Forest Service.

"Whether they're someone who is buying a tree through our conservation tree program, or they live in a community that has had a canopy study done by one of our foresters, or they live in a community that was protected from a wildfire because of the training and work of our staff — it's hard to quantify exactly how much value the Kansas Forest Service is providing for the state, because there is so much we do," she said.

There's never any shortage of work for the Kansas Forest Service, Hartman said. Changing climate conditions means foresters must help communities adapt and make new plans to protect their forest ecosystems. Wildfires are getting hotter, more extreme and more common, happening during parts of the year when they used to be rare.

Invasive species of trees, like the Bradford pear, and insects, like the emerald ash borer, continue to require the constant vigilance and prevention efforts of the Kansas Forest Service's collective staff.

But no matter the challenge, Hartman said his staff always rises to meet it.

"The staff of the Kansas Forest Service are some of the most dedicated you will find anywhere," Hartman said. "Doing all they can for public safety and natural resources is what drives them to excel."

Ultimately, the Kansas Forest Service isn't about any single tree or forest.

It's about people, and putting tree resources in places to support them.

"If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?" Norville said. "The famous answer is that it depends on whether someone is there to listen to it or not. In that same way, does forestry matter without the people? No, it doesn't, and that's why we focus so much of our work on solving peoples’ forestry problems in Kansas.

"That's our main purpose — to serve Kansans as best as we can," he continued. "We're not here for the trees. We're here for the people."

Kansas Forest Service cultivates canopies of a precious state resource 

Governor Laura Kelly announced Thursday $14.5 million for 47 aviation projects across the state through the Kansas Airport Improvement Program (KAIP), which provides funding for planning, construction, and rehabilitation of public-use general aviation airports.&nbsp;

The Kansas Department of Transportation’s Division of Aviation received 81 applications seeking a combined total project value of more than $42 million for this round of KAIP grants. Projects were selected from across the state and focused on pavement preservation, safety, and air ambulance accessibility to remote communities.&nbsp;

&nbsp;Freeman Field, Junction City, will receive funding.

Freeman Field is due to reeive funding

TOPEKA—Governor Laura Kelly on Thursday signed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.kslegislature.gov%2Fli%2Fb2025_26%2Fmeasures%2Fhb2045%2F/1/0101019668fa2474-3e5847a5-d518-4d43-b55f-5a42e32ba380-000000/9ISwdF7PxGJMfE9b6L394_InVJOVFaA2C6GD5p5sSMU=402">House&nbsp;Bill&nbsp;2045</a>, a bipartisan compromise to expand access to child care services and consolidate existing early childhood programs into the Office of Early Childhood. The bill was crafted through negotiations with a bipartisan group of Kansas legislators from both the Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate. House Bill 2045 received widespread bipartisan support, passing the Kansas House of Representatives 99-23 and the Kansas Senate 30-10. This landmark piece of legislation is the most consequential early childhood education and care legislation enacted in Kansas in 15 years. Governor Kelly signed the bill into law during a ceremony at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center in Topeka.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“House Bill 2045 is a win for businesses, early childhood providers, and most importantly, Kansas children and families,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly&nbsp;said.&nbsp;“Now, our early childhood system will no longer be bogged down by inefficiencies and bureaucratic red tape. Through collaboration with the Legislature, this bill will streamline access to high-quality early childhood services and make Kansas the premier place to raise a family while ensuring the highest standards for child well-being and safety.”&nbsp;

Under this legislation, nearly 20 existing state programs serving young children and families will be consolidated into the Office of Early Childhood. The office, which will officially open in mid-2026, will house child care licensing, child care subsidy, home visitation programs, and the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund. The office will be led by a director appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Kansas Senate. The office will be responsible for the state’s early childhood system, serve communities and stakeholders by developing a statewide strategy for expanding access to child care, and administer services currently spread throughout various state agencies.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Office of Early Childhood will be staffed by current state employees who will be retained in their existing roles and funded through existing state resources, as the office’s functions already exist across state government. The governor will appoint a transition director and interagency transition team to oversee the process of consolidating programs into the office.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Kansas has a very urgent need for more, affordable child care and this legislation hits directly at bottlenecks in the system that, quite frankly, suppress availability and drive up cost,”&nbsp;said Speaker of the House of Representatives Dan Hawkins. “These are real solutions that will immediately increase slots by reducing overly burdensome regulations, streamlining support services for providers and families, and addressing underserved and rural shortages by increasing flexibility for home-based providers. I especially want to thank House Commerce Chair Sean Tarwater, Vice Chair Adam Turk, and Representative Laura Williams for their tireless work to solve these issues without growing government in the process.”&nbsp;

House Bill 2045 also streamlines early childhood licensure processes and regulatory structures to eliminate barriers to becoming a licensed child care provider and support the early childhood workforce. The bill sets standards for various career pathways and qualification requirements for various early childhood educator positions. The bill also authorizes the creation of pilot programs for developing new licensure categories and eliminates certain licensure fees currently charged to providers, allowing for more child care businesses to open and slots to be created.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“With over half of Kansas families struggling to find affordable child care, the child care crisis impacts children, stresses parents, and slows our economy,”&nbsp;said Senate Democratic Leader Dinah Sykes.&nbsp;“Establishing the Kansas Office of Early Childhood will help parents and children by eliminating the red tape that makes it difficult for families to access services.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

This legislation implements the recommendations of the Early Childhood Transition Task Force, which Governor Kelly established in January 2023 via&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.governor.ks.gov%2FHome%2FComponents%2FNews%2FNews%2F142%2F57%3Ffsiteid=1%26arch=1%23!%2F/1/0101019668fa2474-3e5847a5-d518-4d43-b55f-5a42e32ba380-000000/XegYpa6HqXApXFg0b0bYRV3qIWD-nVKLR_S1nvXM2RA=402">Executive Order 23-01</a>, the first of her second term. The task force, comprised of bipartisan leaders and experts, spent a year reviewing Kansas’ current early childhood system and developed this consolidation structure. Through collaboration between the Governor’s Office and legislative leaders, similar legislation was consideration during the 2024 Legislative Session but was not enacted.&nbsp;

Through partnership with the Legislature, Governor Kelly has previously signed legislation to cut child care costs for working families through $18 million in expanded tax credits, allow for more businesses to access tax credits for providing child care to their employees, and expand the Imagination Library of Kansas to all children between 0-5 years of age. Today, Kansas has more licensed child care slots than ever before, including 7,700 new licensed child care slots since Governor Kelly took office.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Gov. Kelly signs landmark bipartisan early childhood legislation 

Rock the Plains country music festival will be held at Tuttle Creek State Park Aug. 8-9.

The Executive Director for the festival, Brandyn Steen,&nbsp; spoke during a press conference at the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce. Tickets and camping are about 60% sold out and there will be a cap of 10,000 tickets in order to provide the best experience.&nbsp; 

Ticket sales have been much faster than expected.&nbsp; The festival may expand into three days next year with other types of acts (mainstream country, rock) .

Rock the Plains country music festival will be held at Tuttle Creek State Park

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seth Lugo threw eight scoreless innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Houston Astros 2-0 Friday night.

The Royals have now won five straight games after snapping a six-game losing streak.

Coming off a double-header on Thursday, the Royals needed Lugo to go deep in the game, and he delivered. Lugo (2-3) yielded three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. Lucas Erceg, who got his first save, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Hayden Wesneski (1-2) took the loss, allowing two runs on eight hits in five-plus innings.

Bobby Witt had three hits for Kansas City.

Both starters were on point early on. Lugo needed only 53 pitches to get through five one-hit innings, even with six strikeouts. Wesneski was nearly as good, allowing just one run on six hits through five innings.

Drew Waters led off the fifth with his second double of the game, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Freddy Fermin and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Isbel.

The Royals added another run in the sixth on another sacrifice fly. Vinnie Pasquantino led off with a bloop single and went to second on another bloop hit by Maikel Garcia. Michael Massey sacrificed the runners to second and third. Pasquantino scored on a flyout to center by Hunter Renfroe.

The Astros got a lead-off hit from Victor Caratini in the eighth inning, bringing up the tying run with no outs. But Lugo got Cam Smith to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, squashing the rally.

Witt extended the longest active hitting streak in the majors to a career-high 17 games and is batting .371 (23 of 62) in that span.

The Astros and Royals will play Game 2 of a three-game series Saturday evening. Houston will send LHP Framber Valdez (1-2, 4.50 ERA) to the mound to face Kansas City's RHP Michael Wacha (0-3, 4.15 ERA).

⚾  Seth Lugo shuts down Astros to lead Royals to fifth straight win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs selected Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons with the final pick in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night, giving quarterback Patrick Mahomes the blindside protector he was so sorely lacking last season.

Simmons missed the majority of last season after tearing a patellar tendon in his knee, and he didn’t work out at the scouting combine, which may have left some teams wary of using a high draft pick on him. But the Chiefs were comfortable after several checks on him, and they wound up using the No. 32 overall pick to finally shore up the tackle spot.

“I figured there might be a chance coming off the injury (to get him), but I think as you get to know him a bit and the time you get to study and talk to people around him, you’ll find out he’s a really super athlete,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That’s where we were a little bit nervous whether he would be there or not.”

Mahomes was clearly happy with the pick, tweeting a sunglasses emoji moments before it was announced.

🏈 Chiefs draft Ohio State OT Josh Simmons with 2025 first-round pick

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. extended his hitting streak to a career-best 16 games with an RBI single in the fifth inning, and the Kansas City Royals went on to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-2 on Thursday to cap off a doubleheader and series sweep.

Salvador Perez had three hits and a pair of RBIs, and Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey and Drew Waters also drove in runs, helping the Royals win their fourth consecutive game on the heels of a six-game losing streak.

Michael Lorenzen (2-3) allowed one run on five hits and three walks over six innings for Kansas City, striking out seven.

Chase Dollander, the ninth overall pick in the 2023 draft, continued to go through rookie growing pains for Colorado. Dollander (1-3) allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks before leaving with two out in the fifth inning.

Jordan Beck homered twice for Colorado in Game 2 of the doubleheader. He also went deep in Game 1.

Kansas City&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rockies-royals-score-doubleheader-31da17918ff94aad76bbf1e2064dba49">rallied for a 7-4 victory</a>&nbsp;in the opener, caused by a rainout Wednesday night, and the sweep left the Rockies at 4-20 — the worst start in club history. They also matched a franchise record with their 13th consecutive road loss. Their lone win away from Coors Field came in Tampa Bay on March 29, in their first series of the season.

Colorado has lost 11 consecutive series since taking two games from Arizona last September.

The Royals were leading 3-0 when Jonathan India hit a two-out double in the fifth. Witt followed with his RBI single, and Perez added a two-run double two batters later, giving Kansas City a 5-0 lead.

The Royals (12-14) improved to 10-1 when scoring at least four runs this season.

Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-4, 4.85) starts their series opener against Cincinnati on Friday night. RHP Seth Lugo (1-3, 3.90) gets the nod for Kansas City as it welcomes Houston to town on Friday night.

⚾ Royals wrap up doubleheader, series sweep of Rockies

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kyle Isbel drove in three runs, two on a go-ahead single in the fifth, and the Kansas City bullpen threw six shutout innings to help the Royals rally for a 7-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a doubleheader Thursday.

Salvador Perez also drove in a pair of runs for Kansas City, which beat the Rockies in extra innings on Tuesday night.

Their game Wednesday was rained out, resulting in the traditional doubleheader.

Cole Ragans lasted only three innings and 62 pitches for Kansas City before leaving with groin tightness. But the All-Star left-hander’s bullpen picked him up. Angel Zerpa (1-0) and Steven Cruz threw two scoreless innings apiece, Lucas Erceg breezed past the eighth, and Carlos Estévez handled the ninth for his sixth save.

Germán Márquez (0-4) allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks over four-plus innings for Colorado. He has lost his last four starts, allowing 18 earned runs in the past three, and has only made it through the sixth inning once this season.

Jordan Beck and Hunter Goodman homered for the struggling Rockies, but they were the only real bright spots. Colorado (4-19) is off to the worst start in franchise history, and it has lost 12 consecutive road games — one shy of the club record — since beating the Rays on March 29 in its opening series of the season.

Isbel’s slap down the first-base line with two outs in the fifth bounced out of Michael Toglia’s glove and all the way to the dugout fence. That allowed Perez and Cavan Biggio to score, breaking a 4-all tie.

Márquez struck out Vinnie Pasquantino to end the fourth inning, becoming the first Rockies pitcher with 1,000 career strikeouts. It was the last out Márquez recorded in the game.

The Rockies send RHP Chase Dollander (1-2, 7.36) against Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (1-3, 4.57) in Game 2 on Thursday.

⚾ KC bullpen tosses 6 shutout innings, allowing the Royals to rally for win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The game between the Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals scheduled for Wednesday was postponed due to rain.

After a delay of more than two hours prior to first pitch, the game was moved to Thursday, to be played as part of a traditional doubleheader, beginning at 1:10 p.m. local time.

Rockies RHP Germán Márquez (0-3, 8.27 ERA) is slated to start against LHP Cole Ragans (1-1, 3.58) in the opener before right-hander Chase Dollander (1-2, 7.36) is expected to pitch against Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (1-3, 4.57).

⚾ Rockies and Royals postponed; doubleheader Thursday

DJ Giddens, a Junction City native, Junction City High School graduate, and now a former K-State Wildcat running back will hear his name called in this year’s NFL Draft. The Draft begins Thursday, April 24, at Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers.

Football has been part of Giddens's life for as long as he can remember. DJ played football for the Junction City Jr. Jays growing up, then for Junction City High School, and most recently was running back for the Kansas State Wildcats. “I still have videos of me playing for the Jr. Jays,” Giddens said. “I’m not going to lie, that feels just like yesterday. It was just playing and being free, no worries just having fun.”

In high school, DJ shined in his senior season at Junction City and helped lead the team to a sub-state appearance in the fall of 2020. Giddens explained that the sub-state game against Derby gave him the confidence that he could perform at the next level. “I feel like the Derby game, the last game of my senior year, gave me a lot of confidence going against a good team like that, and playing how I played,” Giddens said. DJ then graduated from Junction City in the spring of 2021 and began his K-State career where he redshirted that fall.

In 2022, Giddens played for the Wildcats and was part of the Big 12 Championship team that won the Title game in Arlington, Texas. He also played in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama that season.

In 2023, DJ was the main featured running back for KSU, as Deuce Vaughn had been drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. In his red-shirt sophomore season, Giddens earned Honorable Mention Big 12 Honors and helped lead the Wildcats to a victory over NC State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

2024 was the final season for Giddens at Kansas State, and he led the team in rushing yards. DJ finished the year with 1,343 rush yards and had seven rushing touchdowns. He also had three receiving touchdowns for the Cats as well.

DJ Giddens declared for the NFL Draft on Dec. 14, 2024, and did not play in KSU’s win over Rutgers in the Rate Bowl.

Looking back at his K-State career, Giddens noted the Oklahoma State game and the Colorado game both played during the 2024 season prove he can play in the National Football League. In the game against OSU, Giddens broke away from the defense and scored a 66-yard touchdown. “Having that touchdown run just shows I can finish off runs and be explosive too,” Giddens said. DJ finished that game with 187 yards rushing and one touchdown against the Cowboys. In the game against the Colorado Buffaloes, Giddens ran wild again. “The Colorado game, I was just playing free again, being myself, and got in that mode,” Giddens said. He finished the game with 182 yards against Colorado.

Giddens began preparing for the NFL Draft in January, when he went to Plano, Texas, to train for the NFL Combine in March. DJ had an exceptional performance at the combine, running a 4.43 40-yard dash. He was measured at 6 feet and 212 pounds.

The NFL Draft is this week, with round one on Thursday, rounds two and three on Friday, and rounds four through seven on Saturday. This year’s NFL Draft is in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Referencing hearing his name being called at the draft, DJ Giddens said, “It feels good, but it’s out of my control at this point for who will pick me up and when I will get picked up. Right now, I just keep on working, and that’s what I’m going to keep on doing,” Giddens said.

Despite all of his success at K-State, and now headed into the NFL, DJ knows the community he is from and said he plans to make it back to Junction City to visit. “I’ve got to come back, can’t forget about that, can’t forget it,” Giddens said. The path wasn’t always easy for DJ, and he had this to say. “Coming from me, being from Junction, I wasn’t highly recruited out of high school, I didn’t have the best grades, and everything wasn’t just in front of me. You just got to stay disciplined, keep working, stay humble, stay down till you come up, and if you keep working at what you want, you’re going to get where you want to be. Don’t ever think you can’t be that person doing whatever you want to do,” Giddens said.

DJ Giddens is projected to be a late day two, early day three selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Junction City Native DJ Giddens prepares for 2025 NFL Draft

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Freddy Fermin hit a winning single in the 11th and the Kansas City Royals rebounded from a blown two-run, ninth-inning lead to beat Colorado 4-3 on Tuesday night and drop the Rockies to 4-18.

Daniel Lynch IV (3-0) pitched a hitless inning as part of a five-hitter, sending Colorado to its ninth loss in 10 games. The Rockies are 1-12 on the road.

Jacob Stallings put Colorado ahead 3-2 with three-run double after Carlos Estévez walked the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth.

Salvador Perez singled off Seth Halvorsen starting the bottom half, advanced on Maikel Garcia’s double and scored on Michael Massey’s sacrifice fly.

With automatic runner Mark Canha on second starting the 11th, Tyler Kinley (0-1) intentionally walked Bobby Witt Jr., who extended his hitting streak to 14 games with an eighth-inning single. Kinley threw a wild pitch and intentionally walked Vinnie Pasquantino, and Fermin lined a single to center.

Drew Waters homered in the sixth off Ryan Feltner and Kyle Isbel bunted for an RBI single in the eighth that drove in Waters, who slid home ahead of the glove flip from first baseman Michael Toglia.

With runners on second and third in the 10th, Mickey Moniak was picked off third base by Fermin, the Kansas City catcher.

Kansas City has gone 17 games without scoring more than four runs, the longest streak by an AL team since the Royals' 19 straight in 2018. Kansas City has scored four or fewer runs in 22 of 24 games this season.

Rockies RHP Chase Dollander (1-2, 7.36 ERA) and Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (1-3, 4.57 ERA) start Wednesday night.

⚾ Fermin hits winning single in 11th inning, Royals beat Rockies 

The Junction City Brigade begins the 2025 baseball season in just over a month. The first game of the season is on Thursday, May 29th, and the home opener is on Friday, May 30, at Rathert Field.

With a roster full of new players, and a new league this season, the Brigade need host families for the upcoming summer.

General Manager Cecil Aska explained that this year the Brigade joined the Kansas Collegiate League and most of their games are approximately two hours away. With a new league, a new head coach, and a new recruiting area, more host families are needed this season. In total, 19 players need a host family for this summer.

Raquel Cinco, the housing coordinator for the Junction City Brigade, has been a host family for the last two summers. Cinco said being a host family is rewarding for both the player and the family.

“The kids that we have hosted have literally become part of our family,” Cinco said. “It is an instantaneous bond with these kids.”

If you would like to become a host family, there is a simple screening process that must be done. The screening process gathers basic background information to ensure that the home is a good match for a potential player to live for the summer.

For more information on becoming a host family, visit the <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fjcbrigade.com%2Fhost-families%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExNTBCVVRsMlJEQ0JGVzFmYwEecmtNNlHpj4kCDvJFdoBceebej2m__blYtudXX2KBkR5IXTc9OjdITka3AVA_aem_dhY2BNmbfyHMSn_BoYfOBQ&amp;h=AT3DjHqMWcoXnAqMNn6zi8Qrra-r8RZt5JsHKA2GULfEGEMVIbW4JN3xS9Hz_hx-1cCdSCK_HssTdu8nfnPcTtnprivJyPZhHQ8nO24wKZJ9Hm5JCJ3xw3jRNdLGSkeBMiAFIznqdjS1Cwhh&amp;__tn__=-UK-R&amp;c[0]=AT1rdtvpMiLvNKu56O6y_-pEzSZg4qmAU_MWf5TjIVHiVKnP1AyLfe7_vFOZT90eV2SF4tp-Oi_hCcH5QkiWZZTT_iZiW9-vTl_A45S4dZfQhMBtK1tTncSSfp6cB9bullkng16jVVexFOYBS0InBv5NUSJNf3Z_dPmQtNwqdw8L-0G76Hb4KrsbsJ5igydncSupoDmnCrVK56mIL1TJX327hMo_">Junction City Brigade website by clicking here.</a>

Junction City Brigade looking for Host Families this Summer

The Junction City Junior Baseball Association will hold in-person registration again this Saturday, April 26th, from 10:00 am to Noon at North Park and Dillons for the upcoming baseball season for kids ages 5 to 18. (Must be that age on April 30th).

For more information, find them on Facebook here -&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/JCJBA/?locale=fr_CA">Junction City Junior Baseball Association.</a>

JC Junior Baseball Association holding registration this Saturday

BOSTON (AP) — Sharon Lokedi broke the Boston Marathon course record, and fellow Kenyan John Korir joined his brother as a race champion on Monday as the city celebrated the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War.

Lokedi, who ran for the University of Kansas from 2015-2019, outran two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri over the final mile a year after losing a sprint down Boylston Street to her in one of the closest finishes in race history. Lokedi finished in an unofficial 2 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds — 19 seconds ahead of Obiri and more than 2 1/2 minutes faster than the previous Boston best.

Six months after winning Chicago, Korir finished in 2:04:45 — the second-fastest winning time in race history as the runners took advantage of perfect marathon weather to conquer the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston’s Copley Square.

After crossing the line, Korir was greeted by his older brother, 2012 Boston winner Wesley Korir. Although the race has been won by a pair of unrelated John Kelleys and two different Robert Cheruiyots, the Korirs are the first brothers — or relatives of any kind — to win the world's oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.

Conner Mantz of Provo, Utah, finished fourth after losing a three-way sprint to the finish with Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania and Cybrian Kotut of Kenya. Simbu was second and Kotut was third.

Korir ran without his bib showing, pulling it out of his running tights as he sprinted down Boylston Street.

Reenactors on horseback, accompanied by a fife and drum playing “Yankee Doodle,” helped start the festivities and add a bit of levity when Paul Revere’s horse was spooked by the finish line decal on the street and stopped. The actor portraying the colonial silversmith and patriot had to hop off and walk the last few steps himself as the small early crowd laughed and clapped.

After reading a proclamation, Revere gently tugged the horse the rest of the way before riding off to more ceremonies commemorating the midnight ride on April 19, 1775, that warned the colonists in Lexington and Concord that the British were on the march.

Marcel Hug of Switzerland had no such trouble completing the course, zooming into Copley Square in 1:21:34 for his eighth Boston wheelchair title. He beat two-time winner Daniel Romanchuk by more than four minutes in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-marathon-wheelchair-bob-hall-0426d27b488fbb668c04523a391d655d">50th anniversary of Bob Hall’s pioneering push</a>&nbsp;to add a wheelchair division to the race.

“It means a lot to win this year, 50 years of wheelchairs in Boston,” Hug said. “For me, it will take some time to realize what it means, eight times wins. It’s such an incredible number.”

Susannah Scaroni of the United States won the women’s wheelchair race for the second time, finishing in 1:35:20. Her victory guaranteed that the “Star-Spangled Banner” would play on Boylston Street in Copley Square on Patriots’ Day, the state holiday that commemorates the first shots of the Revolutionary War&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lexington-concord-battles-250-independence-history-debate-031df77dc1cfa5cf669b6694dfe509ee">250 years ago Saturday</a>.

Former KU star wins Boston Marathon in record time

HARVEY COUNTY —On Thursday, 32-year-old Christopher M. McAhren of Newton pleaded guilty to Aggravated&nbsp; Criminal Sodomy, Aggravated Indecent Liberties with a Child, Rape of a child under the age of 14 and Aggravated Internet Trading in Child Pornography, according to the Harvey County Attorney's office.

All four charges subject him to a sentence of up to life in prison with no eligibility for parole until he has served 25 years in prison. The victim of the case was a child under the age of 8 years of age. 

This case was prosecuted with the assistance of the Newton Police Department, Heart to Heart Child Advocacy Center, and the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Kan. man admits to sex crimes involving a child under age of 14

TOPEKA - A Kansas woman has been charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of a four-month-old baby, according to Kansas Attorney General Kris W. Kobach.

Christy M. Nemnich, 32, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of child abuse, and one count of operating an unlicensed day care in Barton County District Court in connection with the March 28, 2023, death of a four-month-old baby.&nbsp;

The charges were filed by First Assistant Attorney General Megan Ahsens of Kobach’s office. Criminal charges are merely accusations.&nbsp;Individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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