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Union Station in Kansas City tweeted this celebratory image just after the KC Royals won the American League Championship Series early Wednesday evening (Image credit: @UnionStationKC Twitter account) For the first time since 1985 - and for the third time in team history - the Kansas City Royals are going to the World Series. They finished off the Baltimore Orioles in four straight yesterday (WED) with a 2-to-1 victory. As KPR’s Greg Echlin reports, the Royals backed a prediction issued by one of their outfielders. Royals Complete Sweep to Advance to World Series.Royals outfielder Alex Gordon sports his new ALCS t-shirt. (Photo from NPR.)

Photo credit: pixabay.comWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A survey finds that many Kansas contractors are having trouble filling skilled jobs in the construction industry. The survey is by the Associated General Contractors and was released Wednesday. Ninety percent of the 20 Kansas firms that participated in the survey say they're having a hard time finding project managers, engineers, welders, plumbers and carpenters. An Associated General Contractors economist says Kansas isn't the only state experiencing a shortage of people applying for construction jobs. He notes that other states like Texas and Louisiana are seeing fewer job applications too. The Wichita Eagle reportsthat the construction industry is seeing its skilled workforce age and retire. Many construction workers also have left the industry after being laid off in 2008 and 2009.

Photo credit: Stephen KorandaTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Kansas Republican Party plans to have a network of lawyers ready to watch voting on Election Day for potential legal problems. The GOP plans to have lawyers on standby, as they watch for what state GOP party director Clayton Barber calls "dubious actions" by Democrats. The Topeka Capital Journal says the plans were detailed in an email from Barber. The email says poll watchers will be watching for any improper procedures, illegal electioneering near polling places and improper contact with voters. Jason Perkey, director of the Kansas Democratic Party, said Democrats will defend everyone's right to vote. He also objected to Barker's accusation that Democrats engage in "dubious tactics." Barker says he was not referring to Democrats specifically but to any possibility of voter fraud.

(Photo Credit: Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas, via siteselection.com)EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Snack cakes have been good for Emporia. The northeast Kansas town has seen jobs return and millions of dollars in investments since its Hostess Brands plant reopened last year and expanded this year. The Kansas City Star reports that the company that makes Twinkies, Donettes and other cake products added $30 million in improvements to the plant. A ribbon cutting is planned Friday to celebrate a new warehouse, and a Twinkie festival is scheduled Saturday. The plant was closed and 500 jobs were lost during a labor dispute in 2012. The Emporia plant was one of four Hostess bakeries reopened last year when a partnership group bought the company's assets. About 330 non-union workers are currently employed by the plant and another 50 jobs are likely to be added.

Architect's rendering of remodeled Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (Image Credit: flywichita.com)WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita might someday be named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Wichita city council members agreed on Tuesday to create an advisory committee to study renaming the city's airport. The council received petitions last month suggesting that the airport be named after Eisenhower, who grew up in Abilene. KFDI reports that the city's director of airports, Victor White, says renaming the airport could cost up to $728,000 in required, deferred and optional branding. The first immediate cost would be about $140,000 to change highway signs around the area. Other required sign changes could raise that cost to about $313,000. Members of the committee will be appointed in the next few weeks. No timetable was set for the committee to make a recommendation to the council.

The "Fire It Up Kansas" billboard near the Kansas Star Casino (Photo Credit: Fire It Up Kansas Facebook photos page)MULVANE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas group is planning to use a billboard campaign to push for legalizing marijuana in the state. Fire It Up Kansas says the ad on a digital billboard near the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane is the first it plans to put up across the state in coming weeks. KSNW-TV reports the ad demands that the Legislature legalize, tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. The group's co-founder, Mike Golden, says marijuana is now exchanged in a black market with no regulation. He says putting it in a legal market takes away the criminal element. The Silver-Haired Legislature of Kansas recently approved a non-binding resolution supporting legislation to let people use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

National map of reported influenza activity for the week ending November 2, 2013. (Image Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A state health official says flu season has started in Kansas but there isn't any indication that this year's outbreak will be any worse than in previous years. Charlie Hunt, state epidemiologist for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said Thursday that the first flu cases were reported in Sedgwick County but no widespread outbreaks have been reported. Hunt says many factors help spread the flu virus, but weather isn't the major indicator. He says the focus should be on the strain of the flu virus that is circulating. Residents are being offered two flu vaccines, one aimed at three seasonal strains and one targeting four.

A center-pivot irrigation system in Trego County (Photo Credit: Kansas Geological Survey)MILTONVALE, Kan. (AP) — An increase in requests for irrigation wells in central Kansas is raising some concern among residents there. The department that issues the permits says safeguards are in place to protect the water in an area of the state without widespread irrigation. Lane Letourneau, of the Kansas Division of Water Resources, says requests for water wells indicates a trend toward more irrigation, as are efforts to capture surface water in northeast Kansas. He says the increase is being driven at least partly by higher crop prices. The Salina Journal reports the water agency received 22 applications in 2013, with six dismissed, nine approved and the other seven pending. Letourneau says many of the systems are meant to help crops during dry periods and not to fully irrigate the crops.

Angus cattle (Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org)WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Recent rainfalls across most of the nation's key cattle grazing areas are greening up pastures and refilling farm ponds. That's fueling optimism among ranchers that they may soon begin the difficult process of rebuilding herds decimated by years of drought. The parts of the nation that encompass the vast majority of the grazing lands for cattle have seen improving pasture conditions. Extension beef specialist Glynn Tonsor says week-to-week cow slaughter numbers were still fairly high 90 days ago. More recently they have been down. He says ranchers sending cows to market are doing so by choice. It's no longer the case that there isn't pasture for them to be on. He says ranchers are now at the point where they're thinking about rebuilding herds.

(Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org)WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to extend emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program land. State Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman urged the agency in a letter Thursday to grant an extension through November 30. The same step was taken during last year's drought without landowners incurring penalties in the form of a rental payment reduction. Rodman says that while parts of Kansas have benefited from needed rainfall, many portions of the state remain in a severe drought condition. There are 2.15 million acres enrolled in CRP in Kansas. Rodman says in a news release that allowing ranchers to continue accessing that forage could be the difference between maintaining a cow herd or facing liquidation.