The Flint Hills Discovery Center

During our first hour this week we take up the Flint Hills Discovery Center with its executive director, Bob Workman. The Flint Hills Discovery Center celebrates the importance of the tallgrass prairie, through a presentation of its geology, biology and cultural history. With 7,000 square feet of dynamic permanent exhibits, visitors will learn the importance of this rare eco-system and its rich biological diversity. Visitors will also learn how the first Native peoples lived here in harmony with nature for 13,000 years, and how Euro-Americans adopted grazing as the principle economy of the Flint Hills that has essentially saved it. Workman discusses the architecture of the building, its green features, and what the Center will offer the people of Manhattan and the state of Kansas.

Additional Links/Resources:

Kansas - Flint Hills: tourism resource site.

Flint Hills map and resources - Kansas Geological Survey resource site.

Flint Hills Scenic Byway is the gateway to the tallgrass prairie. It offers travelers an unchanged view of the grasslands of the Great Plains. Explore historic sites, quaint towns, and scenic vistas as you discover where the West truly begins.

Flint Hills Nature Trail is a 117 mile rail-trail in northeast Kansas. It crosses 7 counties along its east-west course.

Protect the Flint Hills is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information and education about issues that affect the Flint Hills of Kansas, the last expanse of tallgrass prairie on the continent.

National Geographic Photo Gallery: The Splendor of the Grass.

Konza Prairie

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Beattie Linestone

The Impact of Budget Cuts on Kansas Schools

In our second we open with a short chat with Lisa Engelken about her upcoming concert at Jardine's in Kansas City, then we take a look a the impact of Brownback’s budget cuts on Kansas public education. Several days after taking office, the extremist Brownback proposed the largest cut to our public schools in Kansas history. The final budget left many state agencies decimated and more than $72 million in the state’s savings account, something the fanatic Brownback called the budget “a victory for Kansas.” Such cuts are anything but a victory for Kansans! Mark Desetti, KNEA; Tom Krebs, Kansas Association of School Boards; Kathy Cook, Kansas Families for Education; and Usha Reddi, a elementary school teacher for USD 383 discuss the impact of the budget cuts to public education in Kansas.

Related Articles:

Kansas budget focuses on mere numbers without regard to the harm, Rep. Paul Davis, Kansas City Star, June 7, 2011.

REPORT: Meet The Billionaires Who Are Trying To Privatize Our Schools And Kill Public Education, Zaid Jilani, Think Progress, May 21. 2011.

Brownback score card? Toss up, Steve Kraske, Kansas City Star, May 13, 2011.

Senate Passes State Budget, Dion Lefler, Wichita Eagle, May 12, 2011.

KNEA reacts to Brownback's budget cuts, Tim Huelskamp, Kiowa County Singal, March 14, 2011.

Public schools take hit in Kan. gov.'s budget cuts, John Milburn, Associate Press, March 11, 2011.

Casualties in the American Right-Wing's War on Science and Education, ToddWV, DemocraticUnderground.com, January 23, 2011.

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Dec. 9 - Human Trafficking in Kansas

Community Bridge celebrates Human Rights Day (Dec. 10th) with a look at human trafficking in Kansas with Kansas Assistant Attorney General Christine Ladner, Vicky Luttrell of the Kansas Human Trafficking Advisory Board, and K-State Prof. Nadia Shapkina.

Human trafficking generates approximately $32 billion international each year making it one of the top 3 international crimes. The U.S. State Department reports that nearly 1 million people are trafficked across international borders each year. Roughly 80 percent of those trafficked are females and 50 percent are children. Trafficked people are modern slaves forced to work in sweatshops, prostitution rings, as farm labors, in private homes as domestic workers and other enterprises.

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Guadalupe: Undocumented Youth in Search of the American Dream

Approximately 2 million undocumented children are educated in American schools, hold American values, know only the U.S. as home and who, upon high school graduation, find the door to their future slammed shut. As a follow up to the screening of the film Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth on K-State in September, 2010. The film explores the challenges that face undocumented youth and the gridlock around immigration reform in the United States.

The panel was moderated by Michael Kaye, law professor at Washburn University, and included: Roberta Farrell, Immigration Attorney; Amanda Morales, Ph.D., Graduate Student Advisor K-State College of Education; Jonathan Willmouth, Immigration Attorney; Rep. Sydney Carlin, state legislator; and Erin Fleming who works extensively with undocumented youth-many of whom are actually pictured in the film. Fleming is part of the KS/MO DREAM Alliance-a local Kansas City group made up of mostly undocumented youth, as well as national projects such as The DREAM Is Coming and United We DREAM. The panel walks through the life of an undocumented youth trying to go to college and explore the roadblocks she encounters.

The panel was sponsored by Alianza, Community Cultural Harmony Week, Dorothy L. Thompson Lecture Series, and Multicultural Business Student Association.

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Movies on the Grass 2010

Community Bridges opens with Donna Schenck-Hamlin who fills us in on this year’s Movies on the Grass schedule. Then, Roy Crenshaw from Big Brothers – Big Sisters of Riley County joins us to talk about volunteering for their organization. Brandon Haddock then tells us about K-State's new LGBTQ Resource Center and we close out with this week's edition of The Breakdown with Chris Hayse.

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KONZ - Flint Hills Community Radio

We open our show with a discussion of the northern Flint Hills new radio station, KONZ - Flint Hills Community Radio with Linda Teener, Debbie Nuss, and Jon Tveite.  They discuss how this possiblity came about, what programming will look like, and what you can do to be part of this exciting effort. Then we hear this week's installment of "The Breakdown" with Chris Hayse.

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People's Grocery Coop at 35

Community Bridge opens this week with Scott Brelsford and Ben Champion from the People's Grocery Cooperative to discuss the coop, their new building, local food, and more.

Then Mike and Lisa Irvin join is in studio to discuss Teen Reach Adventure Camp - a program designed for foster children, that will be offered in the Manhattan area in July (girls' 9th-11th, boys' 30th-Aug.1st). Youth face a rough transition as they move from elementary school into high school, but even tougher are these years for adolescents who are in foster care and have experienced abuse, abandonment and neglect.  Teen Reach Adventure Camps provide these youth people with a chance to work as a team, trust each other and the counselors and understand their incredible value.

The first hour closes out this week's installation of "The Breakdown" with Chris Hayes.  This week's edition looks at "Don't ask; don't tell." President Obama has repeatedly promised to end the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gays, lesbians and bisexuals from openly serving in the military. Last month, the House of Representatives took a concrete step towards fulfilling that promise by amending a major defense appropriations bill to include a DADT repeal. But there is a catch: the policy would only be repealed after a Pentagon study on the issue is released in December. On this week's edition of The Breakdown, DC Editor Christopher Hayes asks University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Tobias Wolff about the impact the Pentagon study will have on the repeal of DADT.

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Flint Hills Pride and Summer Programs at the MAC

Community Bridge opens this week with representatives from the Flint Hills Pride Festival planning committee who discuss the scheduled activities for this year's Pride Festival, Saturday June 19th, at Farnum Creek Park at Milford Lake.

Then Bettina Boller from the Manhattan Arts Center fills us in on programs available for young people this summer at the Center. 

Community Bridge debuts "The Breakdown" with Chris Hayes.  In his articles for The Nation and his commentary for MSNBC, Christopher Hayes is one of the best at explanatory journalism. In "The Breakdown" Hayes explains one big idea from the week in the politics, helping listeners make sense of inside the beltway commentary.

In May, the war in Afghanistan hit a sad milestone: the 1000th American casualty.  Memorial Day is when we stop to remember the soldiers who have given their lives in battle in the U.S.'s many wars. But there are many veterans from the wars still alive and struggling with the consequences of active duty every day, both physically and mentally.

We conclude this portion of the show with a clip from GRITtv featuring Jose Vasquez, executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War,who talks about the ongoing struggles on behalf of veterans, whether they be discharged and fighting for benefits or still on active duty and fighting repeated deployments.

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