Author: KMAN Staff

TOPEKA — Protesters are seeking to pressure the Kansas Senate into take a vote on a bipartisan plan for expanding Medicaid. Several dozen of them chanted, laid down on the floor and blocked the Senate’s main entrance Tuesday. About 50 people protested at the Statehouse for almost three hours. Capitol police removed 23 protesters from in front of the Senate chamber in an attempt to clear the area. The Kansas Highway Patrol said their cases will be forwarded to the local district attorney for potential prosecution on criminal trespassing or disturbing the peace charges. Abortion opponents are blocking the expansion…

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Officers filed a report for aggravated assault, criminal threat, criminal damage to property and interference with law enforcement in Manhattan on March 10, 2020, at approximately 5:30 PM. Officers listed a 20-year-old male, a 23-year-old male, and a 31-year-old male as the victims and a known male as the suspect. Daniel Valaika, 22, of Manhattan was arrested in connection. Valaika was issued a total bond of $20,000.00 causing him to remain confined at the time of this report. Due to the nature of the crime reported (domestic), no additional information will be released.

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A fundraiser for the family of a young man killed by a snow plow in January has nearly reached its goal. 21-year-old Jayden Rosa and 22-year-old Anthony Toler of Manhattan died after KHP says the two were struck in the early morning hours of January 24 by the Riley County vehicle while walking home in the right lane of Tuttle Creek Boulevard north of Manhattan. The Facebook fundraiser was created for Rosa’s family under a week ago to help pay outstanding bills. Since its creation, it has collected just under $2,100 of the $2,200 goal. Facebook lists the creator as…

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K-State Athletic Director Gene Taylor joined the show Tuesday to update us on facilities, including the recent renovations of the baseball and soccer complexes on campus and what Big XII league officials are doing in preparation of the tournament amid concerns of coronavirus. Riley County Commissioner John Ford joined us along with Health Department Director Julie Gibbs and Emergency Preparedness Director Andrew Adams with coronavirus.

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Fire-department airpacks The Pottawatomie County Commission approved a bid for a lease-purchase agreement for fire-department airpacks during their meeting Monday. Pottawatomie County Financial Officer Heather Gladbach explains the agreement. The interest rate on the agreement is 1.95 percent, bringing the county’s yearly payment to about $62,500. This comes in under the $70,000 that was budgeted for the lease-purchase payments, but Commissioner Pat Weixelman was still hesitant in his approval. He says he is going to keep a closer eye on finances in the future. The commission also expressed concern over the expiration date of the airpacks, which have a life expectancy of…

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K-State has began a nationwide search for a new Vice Provost for Graduate Education and dean of the Graduate School. This comes a few months after current Carol Shanklin, the current Dean of the Graduate School, announced she would be retiring after spending more than 10 years in her present position and over 30 years at K-State. A committee consisting of professors, administrators and graduate students is leading the search with support from Academic Career and Executive Search, an executive search firm. The person hired for this job will be in charge of graduate-school policy development and curriculum, play a…

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TOPEKA — The offices of Kansas legislative leaders would see an 11% increase in their funding under a proposal that has cleared committee. Almost all of the new dollars would go to top Republicans. The House Appropriations Committee added the money Monday before approving the Republican-controlled Legislature’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in July. The biggest increases of nearly 58% would go to the offices with the smallest budgets. They are the Senate vice president and the House speaker pro tem. The proposal goes next to the House. Top Democrats strongly criticized the proposal and said such…

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OVERLAND PARK — A California man has been sentenced to three years in prison for washing the ink off $1 bills in a Kansas hotel room and reprinting them to look like $100 bills. The U.S. attorney’s office says 51-year-old John Sebestyen, of Mission Viejo, California, also was ordered Monday to pay nearly $20,000 in restitution. Two other co-defendants previously were sentenced in the case. They were caught after an Overland Park hotel employee reported seeing them throwing trash away in containers that weren’t near their rooms. Prosecutors say the suspects were trying to dispose of evidence that they were…

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TOPEKA — Kansas legislators are taking steps to allow college athletes to hire agents and sign endorsement deals. Many fear that if they don’t act, then out-of-state rivals will leave the state’s most storied university athletics programs in the dust by attracting the best recruits. A bill that would bar state universities from preventing their athletes from earning outside compensation easily cleared the state Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. Athletics officials at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University back the measure and it appears to have bipartisan support, as Kansas’ top-ranked men’s basketball team prepares for March Madness.

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Officers filed a report for criminal damage to property in the 1100 block of Vattier St. in Manhattan on March 9, 2020, at approximately 9:00 AM. Officers listed a 23-year-old female as the victim when it was reported an unknown person damaged the window on her 2016 Ford Fusion. The estimated total loss associated with this case is approximately $500.00. Police ask that anyone with information please contact RCPD or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers. Using the Crime Stoppers service can allow you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00. Officers filed…

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