With K-State football finding its new head coach, a school board member drawing months’ worth of public ire with a post and 15 inches of snow covering Manhattan, 2025 was an interesting year in news. And every step of the way, The Mercury was there to note down the details.
Each year we revisit our articles to narrow down the 10 “biggest stories” — needles that are often difficult to separate from the haystack. With so many to choose from, we consider what news affected the most people, involved the most money or collected the most clicks. Seven staff members from The Mercury and News Radio KMAN voted on which stories would make the cut.
While plenty of important moments didn’t make the final cut, we’d say this list presents key moments from the past 12 months quite well. As we begin our journey into 2026, take a moment to look back on our biggest news from 2025.
1. Klieman retires, and Collin Klein takes over K-State football
Chris Klieman retired in December as Kansas State’s football coach, and the Wildcats quickly found his replacement in former Wildcat quarterback and offensive coordinator Collin Klein.
The Manhattan Mercury was the first to report on this coaching transition Dec. 3, and many national outlets followed suit. K-State and Klieman made his departure official at a press conference that afternoon.
K-State announced Collin Klein’s hiring the following day. A 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist and member of K-State Football’s Ring of Honor, Klein, who is now the 36th head football coach for the Wildcats, has been coaching for 12 years, nine of which have come at K-State.
2. USD 383 school board member Katie Allen draws controversy with post
USD 383 board member Katie Allen apologized Sept. 11 after replying to a post about Charlie Kirk’s assassination with “Well deserved.” Allen said she quickly removed the post, saying there is no rationale for violence of any kind.
The school board voted the next week to ask Allen to resign. Allen refused but did step down as board vice president.
Allen then filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, the state education department, and education commissioner Randy Watson, alleging she was pressured into quitting after her post. Allen said it was a violation of her First Amendment rights.
3. NBAF employees fired (and rehired)
At least 28 people were fired from the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan in February as part of sweeping cuts to the federal government workforce by the Trump administration.
However, later in the week some federal employees who had been cut — particularly those working on projects like the avian influenza response — were rehired.
Federal judges in March ordered the USDA to reinstate the employees. Officials told The Mercury that all NBAF employees who were fired in February were subsequently reinstated, but a source said as many as 40 employees took deferred resignation instead. Later in the year, federal employees, including NBAF employees, were furloughed during the government shutdown.
4. Clark Petersen tried, sentenced for sex crimes against patients
Former Manhattan chiropractor Clark Petersen was convicted Aug. 28 of 51 counts of sex crimes, including rape, against 16 clients after a jury deliberated for a day and a half in Riley County District Court. The trial lasted for two weeks.
Petersen’s crimes took place over six years from 2017 to 2023 while he ran the now-closed Petersen Chiropractic in Manhattan, before being arrested in August 2023.
He was sentenced to 32 years in prison on Oct. 31. Judge Grant Bannister doubled time for certain charges to emphasize the severity of the crimes.
5. Scorpius pulls the plug on billion-dollar facility in Manhattan
Scorpius BioManufacturing officials on Jan. 23 told The Mercury the original deal they made with the state to construct a $650-million, 500,000-square-foot vaccine and biologic medicine plant was off after they failed to meet an end-of-year timeline, though they said the door was open to renegotiate a new agreement.
In April 2022, Scorpius announced it would build the plant on U.S. Highway 24 east of Manhattan, creating around 500 jobs. After that there was virtually no progress, though state and local officials had reaffirmed the project would still happen. Since its end, no announcements resuming the project have been released.
6. K-State enrollment continues to inch upward, with record freshman enrollment
Enrollment numbers at K-State show continued growth in fall 2025. K-State president Richard Linton said in September the university had tallied 3,813 first-time freshmen, one of the highest in the university’s history.
The number of first-year students is up by 320 since fall 2024, when there were 3,493 first-year students.
As of Oct. 1, the university had 21,213 total for-credit students — its highest number since 2020. In 2024, K-State had a total of 20,295 students. That continues a trend of slow enrollment increases beginning in 2023 after about 10 years of decline.
7. January snow storm
City crews and contracted partners removed nearly 1 million cubic feet of snow in January after a storm dropped 15 inches of snow on Manhattan.
Officials reported the massive effort to clear streets after the historic winter storm Jan. 3 and 4 took 4,308 labor hours across 12 days to complete. The effort involved the city’s public works and other departments, as well as outside contractors. The storm led to power outages, traffic accidents and many people unable to leave their houses for days.
Officials reported that crews hauled away 2,605 truckloads or about 850,000 cubic feet of snow in January.
8. MHS football wins 4th state championship
Behind a suffocating, physical and wildly fast defense, Manhattan closed its seven-game run to the state title with a 27–0 shutout of Olathe Northwest on Nov. 29 in the Class 6A championship game at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium. It was the first shutout in a 6A title game since 1995 and the first in Manhattan’s championship history.
“We have a very physical and fast defense, and it showed today — it’s showed all year long,” head coach Joe Schartz said. “It’s a very dominant group.”
It was the fourth state title in school history and the second in four years.
9. Board changes school start times to make elementary students start class more than an hour earlier
Elementary students will start their days earlier next year, while middle and high school students will start later. The change was meant to address a bus driver shortage.
USD 383 board members in December approved a schedule that pushes elementary start times from 8:45 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. next school year. Middle school students will go from starting at 7:40 a.m. this year to 8:40 a.m. And high school students, who started at 7:40 a.m. this year, will start class at 8 a.m.
Many parents criticized the change, but board members said no matter what arrangement they chose, someone would be unhappy.
“I don’t know that there’s going to be an ideal plan,” board member Christine Weixelman said. “This one certainly isn’t.”
10. New rodeo arena opens as part of K-State ag projects
After nearly two years of construction, K-State’s $20-million, 3,000-seat Bilbrey Family Event Center opened in October.
The facility, off of Denison Avenue, will host about 40 events each year, including the K-State rodeo.
“This is the first of many building projects that we will celebrate this year as part of the agriculture initiative, which will keep the scissors sharp,” K-State President Richard Linton said, adding it was a transformational year for the College of Agriculture.
In addition to the rodeo facility, construction continues on K-State’s Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation. Other upgrades underway include a new Agronomy Research and Innovation Center and renovations to Call Hall and Weber Hall. The overall project is estimated to cost $200 million, which includes a 3-to-1 funding match from the state of Kansas.
