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The numbers are impressive!  Midco’s core network of fiber-optic line is 8,600 miles long, forming a web connecting 335 upper-Midwest communities in five states and delivering 99.9999% network availability. In January, 2017, Lawrence and six other Kansas towns joined the customer mix as Midco acquired the WOW! market in the area.

Debra Schmidt, Business Development Manager for Midco in Kansas, is an eighteen-year veteran of the company. Her perspective makes her an ideal spokesperson for Midco.

Schmidt explained that Midcontinent Communications, or Midco, is a regional Internet, cable TV and phone provider. Begun in 1931 to manage a collection of movie theaters, Midco has evolved and matured. It is known today for delivering some of the fastest Internet speeds in the country. It also offers services such as WiFi home management, Smart Home, and Whole-home DVR. Midco Lifeline subsidizes phone and Internet service to qualified low-income households. The company’s products can scale to fit very small businesses to large enterprise organizations.

The Midco Foundation has given away $4.5 million since 1987. The impact is already making a different here in Lawrence: Midco was a major sponsor for the Cottonwood Salute fundraiser; sponsored movie nights for Downtown Lawrence; and gave away water bottles to KU students as they returned to campus. Another major gift to the Lawrence community will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Another innovation sure to please Kansas customers is the launch of Midco Sport Network (MidcoSN).  Channel 32/232 will broadcast local sports events beginning in September with prep football.  Kevin Romary and producer Kyle Haas joined Debra to talk about this exciting new program.

“My values are Rotary values,” declared Lauren Byrne.  These values explain why she and other young Lawrence professionals have joined “Rotary Prime.”  Initiated, sponsored, and subsidized by Lawrence Rotary Club, Rotary Prime offers flexibility and lower cost to young adults who share Rotary’s dedication to “Service Above Self’ but who are less interested in the formalities of the traditional Rotary meeting format.

Lauren Byrne, Mathew Petersen, Emily Hail, and Christina Ostmeyer visited Lawrence Central Rotary to outline the program of service projects, monthly meetings, and social mixers that their organization has adopted.  Rotary Prime appeals to these four because of its focus on networking as well as service.  The club’s casual meetings occur every second Thursday in the evening at rotating locations in Lawrence.  Membership dues are set at $200 per year.

Since organizing in 2015, Rotary Prime members have volunteered at Confabularryum; a Chili Ho-Down supporting United Way; a “Day of Creativity” at KU museums; Lawrence Public Library Foundation’s “After Hours” fundraiser; Back2School supply drive; Salvation Army bell-ringing; and the fall clean up at the Rotary Arboretum.

If you are interested in visiting a Rotary Prime meeting, Lauren Byrne is the “go to” person.  Contact her at lawrencerotaryprime@gmail.com to find out more.

Ecumenical Campus Ministries “offers welcoming and neutral spaces where the KU and Lawrence communities can open their hearts, minds, and spirits to one another,” according to Kim Brooks, Executive Director. ECM is well-located for this purpose at 1204 Oread Avenue, just across the street from the KU campus.  Supported by various Lawrence churches as well as individual contributors, the organization seeks to establish “dialogue that builds bridges” and focuses on providing answers to questions regarding vocation and career, sexuality, global and environmental justice, faith dynamics, cross-cultural awareness, and hospitality.

A variety of gatherings encourage the dialogue, in particular the Interfaith Café, an informal discussion about life issues, and the long-standing University/Community Forum, a free talk on various topics that takes place every Wednesday at noon. ECM also maintains the Solidarity Library on its main floor, a collection of progressive books, journals, films, and magazines.

ECM serves the body as well as well as the mind by hosting a food pantry and a Thrifty Closet of clothing and household items. Veggie Lunch, Soup and Song, Tai Chi and Chai Tea, and Yoga–Pure and Simple are all on the calendar this fall.  In addition, the facility will soon open its hostel, a dormitory-type space with bunk beds that can be rented by the day for a low cost.

The solar eclipse that will occur on August 21, 2017, is rare.  It is the first eclipse to even touch the United States since 1979.  The last eclipse to cross the United States occured in 1918.  The United States is the only country that will be touched by this eclipse. It is the first eclipse that is exclusive to the United States.  A total eclipse of the sun will occur in Lawrence every 400 years or so, according to Dr. Dave Besson, KU Physics professor and astronomy enthusiast.

Besson explained that the view of the eclipse in Lawrence will be only 98% “totality” as the lunar shadow slides across the sun.  Many people are expected to travel to locations where they can see “totality,” a point where the sun is completely eclipsed by the moon.  The path of totality will be about 70 miles wide, arcing across the United States from the Northwest to the Southeast.  The eclipse will sail across Oregon, Wyoming, and Nebraska, cut across a corner of Kansas, go over Missouri, and parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, and then pass over South Carolina.  Moving at 1,000 miles per hour, the eclipse totality will last about two-and-a-half minutes at any particular point on the path of totality.

The phenomenon of total eclipse is rare because the earth and the moon are on different planes relative to the sun, Besson explained.  Eclipses occur when the moon is closest to earth.  Since the moon is receding from the earth by .8 cm/year and the earth’s spin is slowing down, eclipses will happen less often in the future.  Besson’s advice?  “Keep calm and hope it’s not cloudy.”