Claudia Jones, assistant vice president at Intrust Bank in Lawrence, completed the 2004 Commercial Lending School in Omaha, Neb. The school provides bankers instruction in the commercial lending process. The school is sponsored by the Kansas and Nebraska Bankers Associations.

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Jeff Redhage has joined Harris Construction Co. as a project manager. Redhage manages tenant improvements for Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy in St. Joseph, Mo. Redhage, who has five years of construction experience, previously worked for Turner Construction. He received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Kansas University.

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Terracon has promoted Eric Smith, Lawrence, to associate principal of the firm. Smith is facilities services manager in Terracon’s Kansas City, Kan., and Denver offices, and has been with the firm since 1997. Smith received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas University is a registered architect in Kansas.

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Landlords of Lawrence Inc. announces its officers and board of directors for 2005. Officers are James Dunn, president; Robert Ebey, vice president; Elaine Nelson, secretary; and Robert Eggert, treasurer. Board members are David Chen, William Harmon Jr., Alice Kimberley, Marilyn Lynch, Terri Pippert and Michael Randolph.

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Harold Pearce, a branch manager and financial adviser in the Lawrence office of Raymond James Financial Services Inc., has been named to the firm’s 2005 Executive Council in recognition of his client service and professional growth. Pearce, who has been with the company since 1985, has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.

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Angela Walsh, certified massage therapist, has joined TherapyWorks in Lawrence. Walsh has 10 years of experience in the massage field and specializes in deep-tissue, trigger point therapy, hot stone massage, therapeutic sports massage, myofascial release and Swedish massage. She has a degree from the Center of Advanced Therapeutics in Denver and an associate’s degree from Kansas City Kansas Community College.

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Lawrence-based Harris Construction Co. Inc. has secured two tenant improvement projects in St. Joseph, Mo. Construction has begun at Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond. Both projects are 20,000 square feet and are being completed for project owners RED Development and R.H. Johnson Co., both based in Kansas City, Mo.

Harris employees involved with the projects are Hunter Harris, vice president of project development; Jeff Redhage, project manager; Bruce Roberts, estimator; Alan Clark, superintendent on Bed Bath and Beyond; Lance Flory, superintendent on Best Buy; and Susan Foster, project manager assistant.

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Wool and mohair producers are eligible to apply for nonrecourse marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments from Farm Service Agency. The deadline to apply is Jan. 31 for the 2004 crop.

Producers who place their wool and mohair under loan with the Farm Service Agency receive an established loan rate. National per-pound loan rates are set at $1 for graded wool, 40 cents for ungraded wool and $4.20 for mohair.

For more information or an application contact the Farm Service Agency’s office in Douglas County, 843-4260, ext. 2.

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The owner-operators of the 148 McDonald’s restaurants in Kansas will join in a partnership with the Kansas Youth Leadership Academy to educate future leaders.

The McDonald’s owner-operators will donate $100,000 during a two-year period.

The academy is based at Fort Hays State University’s Center for Civic Leadership but conducts seminars and camps elsewhere for middle-school and high-school students. It was founded in June 2004 with a $50,000 grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, but new sources of funding were needed to continue and expand the program.

For more information about the academy, contact the center at (785) 628-5399 or click on www.developingleaders.org.

Honors and awards

Kansas Midas dealer Gary Gilbert this month received the company’s Retail Sales Award. He was recognized for his Lawrence shop, 2801 Iowa, recording the highest sales volume in the company’s district. Gilbert operates six shops in Lawrence, Topeka, Overland Park, Manhattan and Salina.

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The editors of US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine have named Paget Alves and Vallerie Parrish-Porter, both Sprint Corp. employees, to the magazine’s 50 Most Important Blacks in Technology list for 2005.

Alves is president of strategic markets for Sprint Business Solutions, and Parrish-Porter is vice president of enterprise services.

Alves and Parrish-Porter will be honored during a colloquium and awards dinner Feb. 18, and will be featured in the January/February edition of the magazine.

Coming events

The Twilight Chapter of the American Business Women’s Assn. will have its monthly business meeting Monday at the American Legion, 3408 W. Sixth. Networking starts at 6 p.m. and the dinner meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.. For more information or to make reservations, contact Julie Kingsbury at 832-8693 or jewelrybyjulie@netzero.net.

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Greg Scandlen, an expert on consumer-driven health care, will speak at a health fair sponsored by the Medical Society of Johnson and Wyandotte counties. The fair, “New Tools for a New Paradigm in Financing Health Care,” will be Jan. 26 at the Ritz Charles in Overland Park. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Scandlen will speak at 7 p.m., followed by a panel discussion featuring Beverly Gossage, of Olympic Financial Marketing; Craig Keohan, of MSAver; and William Short, of United Missouri Bank. There is no cost for participants who register by Jan. 21. To register, contact the Flint Hills Center by telephone at (316) 634-0218 or by e-mail at reservations@flinthills.org.

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Lawrence Technology Assn. will have its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Hereford House, Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. Guest speaker will be Clay Blair, a member of the board of directors for the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

Blair, a Johnson County businessman and developer, is a former chairman and vice chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents and current chairman of the Kansas Research Enhancement Building Corp., which among other duties is charged with designing and building three research facilities across the state: a biomedical center at Kansas University, a bio-security facility at Kansas State University and an expansion of the aviation research center at Wichita State University.

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K-State Research and Extension and the East Central Kansas No-Till Alliance are sponsoring a meeting on “Making Conservation Tillage Work.” It will be from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the community building at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Keith Thompson, an Osage County farmer, will discuss “Planter Modifications for Use in High Residue.”

Mike Gutterman, who has been farming no-till for about 20 years, will discuss advantages and disadvantages of methods for applying fertilizer in high-residue conditions.

Keith Janssen, research agronomist in charge of the East Central Kansas KSU Experiment Field in Ottawa, will share “Strip Tillage Research Results in East Central Kansas.”

Clyde Mermis, district conservationist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service in Douglas County, will share information about a conservation program.

There is no charge to attend the meeting, which is open to the public. For more information, call 843-7058.

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A ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for Stormont-Vail WorkCare will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the Topeka center, 1504 S.W. Eighth Ave. WorkCare is an occupational and environmental medicine facility. The center offers employers medical care for injured workers, employment testing, physical exams, wellness programs and occupational health services.

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The Kansas Sunflower Commission will meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 28 in the fourth floor conference room of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, 109 S.W. Ninth St., in Topeka.

The commission will discuss consolidating the eastern three voting districts into one and naming two at-large members.

The Kansas Sunflower Commission was formed by the 2002 Kansas Legislature and is responsible for regulation and policy development for sunflower and sunflower-based commodities. Last year, Kansas ranked third nationwide in sunflower production.

Individuals who plan to attend the meeting should notify the department at (785) 296-3556 at least 24 hours before the meeting.