Topeka ? 4:20 p.m.

The 10th annual Kansas Wind and Renewable Energy Conference is being held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ramada Inn in Topeka.

More than 650 people are expected to attend. The conference will focus on renewable energy, transmission, energy efficiency and economic development.

Gov. Mark Parkinson will open the event at 10 a.m.

3:05 p.m.

State transportation officials have scheduled meetings this month to explain a proposed process for selecting highway projects.

The process evaluates projects based on engineering, local input and an economic impact analysis.

“I can’t stress enough that we are piloting this process and this is simply an opportunity for us to practice and evaluate how this selection process might work,” said Julie Lorenz, manager of the pilot project for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

“Until a new transportation program is passed, KDOT won’t have enough funding to begin work on any of the projects being evaluated,” she said.

The current 10-year, $13 billion transportation program is expiring this year, and lawmakers are considering whether to approve a new plan.

The meetings will start at 1 p.m. and be held in Abilene on Wednesday; Topeka, Thursday; Hutchinson, Oct. 13; Chanute, Oct. 14; Mission, Oct. 19; Dodge City, Oct. 22; Wichita, Oct. 23; and Hays, Oct. 26.

11 a.m.

The Kansas Democratic Party offensive against likely Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, came from a surprising source at Demofest this weekend — Lt. Gov. Troy Findley.

Findley, a former legislator from Lawrence, is known as a quiet, behind the scenes kind of guy.

But on Saturday at Demofest in Wichita, Findley unloaded on Brownback.

Before introducing Gov. Mark Parkinson to about 250 people at the Demofest banquet, Findley said whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, won’t “need two years to rewrite (their) record like, say, a certain United States senator.”

Findley added, “What we don’t need to happen in Kansas is for an extremist brand of the out-of-touch politics of the Bush years moving into the governor’s office.”

Amanda Adkins, chair of the Kansas Republican Party, said that Brownback “is an established leader on economic policy.

“He understands that there are core factors that attract and keep businesses and families in a state including: tax freedom; a climate of innovation; and healthcare that is centered on people and not government.”