Author: Brandon Peoples

Editor’s note: A correction has been made in reference to Heather Bliss’ employer. She is a professor at the University of Kansas, not Kansas State University. The director of Riley County TK Fights Fentanyl is hoping to draw more attention to the fentanyl crisis. Heather Bliss, a professor at the University of Kansas, spoke during public comment at Tuesday’s Manhattan city commission meeting. “Between January 2023 and June 2023 there were eight deaths related to fentanyl poisoning in Manhattan alone, over 50 people were arrested in a drug ring that contained fentanyl for those people who died,” she said. To…

City commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution for a proposed island annexation of an approximate 1-acre property, east of Manhattan Regional Airport. The property at 5111 Murray Road is owned by Charles and Julie Brunner. They requested to use an existing shed on the property to store commercial items for their carpet cleansing business. The applicants could also pursue rezoning of the property at a future date. To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click here for more local news.

Larger aircraft are coming to Manhattan Regional Airport. Starting in April, American Airlines will use the larger, 65-seat ERJ-170 aircraft for daily flights to and from Chicago. To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click here for more local news.

Authorities are searching for a suspect who fled a traffic stop Monday night in rural Geary County. According to the Geary County Sheriff’s Office, deputies attempted to make a traffic stop on a dirt bike shortly before 10 p.m. on K-57 north of Junction City. The driver fled northbound, and crashed the bike near the K-244 spur. Authorities say the driver, who was wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans and an all black-full-face helmet, ran into the tree line to the east. Deputies searched the area but were unable to locate the suspect. The blue and black dirt bike,…

Franchisee Greg Shelton, CEO of MJC Huts, said construction is expected to begin before the end of March. The new building will be constructed in the parking lot, just east of the current Pizza Hut store, to allow the business to remain open during construction. “It’s going to be a free-standing DELCO, which means delivering carry out only,” he said. “It’ll have no dine in. It’ll be pretty much a mirror image of what we built in 2020 out on Kimball.” Shelton said the dining room concept still works well for Pizza Hut in smaller markets, while the deliver/carryout concept…

A St. George man is jailed in Riley County, accused of rape and kidnapping. Riley County Police arrested 30-year-old Ricky Dunklin on Friday on a warrant charging him with single counts of rape and aggravated charges of criminal sodomy, kidnapping and domestic battery as well as failure to appear. Bond was set at $125,000. An online criminal complaint filed in January alleges Dunklin committed the crimes in April 2021. Court records show Dunklin made his first court appearance on Monday and is scheduled for a 1 p.m. preliminary hearing on April 8. Click here for more local news.

Doug Russell, Deputy Fire Chief with Riley County Fire District No. 1 joined KMAN’s Morning News Tuesday to discuss the extreme fire weather conditions that continue across the Flint Hills region.

Officials with the Kansas Highway Patrol helped rescue a woman trapped in her wrecked vehicle early Monday morning on I-70 in Geary County. According to a social media post, a KHP trooper was called out to the scene of the rollover crash at around 8 a.m., though the exact time of the crash is unknown. The woman inside sustained serious injuries and was airlifted by Life Star helicopter to a nearby hospital. It’s uncertain how long the woman had been trapped in her vehicle. The name of the woman has not been released.

Street and utility improvements will resume next month in Aggieville, as part of the ongoing multi-year redevelopment of the business district. Manhattan city officials in February approved the next phase of a $5.4 million construction project along 12th Street between Moro and Laramie, in addition to alley improvements from North Manhattan Ave. to 12th Street. “We’re basically taking that block of 12th Street between Bluemont and Moro and moving it south between Moro and Fremont,” said Brian Johnson, Manhattan City Engineer. To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click here for more local news.

A red flag warning is in place across the area Friday as a strong storm system approaches. K-State meteorologist Chip Redmond says a “bomb cyclone” will elevate the risk for fires developing throughout the region. “That combination of 60 plus mile per hour winds and that low humidity can result in significant fire activity,” he said. “We could have fires blow up very fast.” Redmond says strong southwesterly winds will shift to a northwesterly flow as a cold front moves in Friday night through Saturday, creating additional fire weather concerns Saturday. “That wind shift also becomes a very big problem…