Author: Brandon Peoples

A Salina woman was killed Sunday in a head on crash east of Salina. The Kansas Highway Patrol says 38-year-old Jennifer Wangerin was driving westbound on Magnolia Road just after 4:30 p.m. when an eastbound Jeep went left of center and struck her Dodge Ram pickup head on. Wangerin died at the scene. An 11-year-old boy riding in Wangerin’s vehicle was hospitalized with a suspected minor injury. The other driver, 16-year-old Samuel Owens, of Solomon sustained a serious injury and was transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. The crash report says none of the three involved in the crash…

10 a.m. Monday update A Manhattan woman has been arrested in connection to starting a fire at a duplex at 903 Thurston Street Sunday. The Riley County Police Department says 37-year-old Mahbooba Babrakzai was booked on four counts of aggravated arson. Bond has been set at $50,000. According to the Manhattan Fire Department, six people were displaced from two units, including an infant child, four adult men and one adult woman. One person refused treatment for smoke inhalation. Two lizards were rescued from the adjacent unit. The fire scorched the 1-story building, causing an estimated $60,000 in damage. Firefighters extinguished…

Anthony Middle School is this year’s site for a joint active violence training exercise conducted by local emergency personnel. That’s USD 383 Board President Curt Herrman. The exercise will take place Tuesday through Thursday. The goal of the exercise is to streamline inter-agency cooperation during a crisis situation. RCPD Administrative Captain Josh Kyle says part of the training involves improving response times to get to the injured. Typically, he says EMS and fire won’t go into a building until police give the all clear. Kyle says a few years ago they encountered a scenario where fire alarms were going off…

Following intervention from the ACLU of Kansas, Atchison County Clerk Michelle Phillips has reversed a previous decision that ended voter registration for the Aug. 2 election early on June 23. That means anyone living in Atchison County, including the City of Atchison can register ahead of the July 12 deadline. The books will officially close at 5 p.m. that day. The reason for the initial closure of voter registration on June 23 had been in anticipation of the City of Atchison’s July 14 special election on a sales tax referendum. The ACLU worked with the Secretary of State’s office to…

The deadline to register if you plan to vote in the Aug. 2 primary is quickly approaching. Registration books will close on Tuesday, with advance voting by mail and in person beginning Wednesday, July 13. Manhattan/Riley County League of Women Voters past president Cathy Hedge says the League is encouraging people to be informed and vote. The Aug. 2 primary includes a question for voters regarding the constitutionality of abortion rights in Kansas, a topic that has had more attention in the past two weeks, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50…

Lightning is being blamed for sparking a house fire in Randolph Wednesday night. Crews from Riley County Fire District No. 1 were called out shortly after 11 p.m. to the home located at 13490 Fancy Creek Road, and found heavy smoke coming from the attic, roof vents and eaves of the home. While the home was occupied at the time of the blaze, no injuries have been reported. A preliminary damage estimate is at least $100,000. According to Deputy Fire Chief Doug Russell, the lightning strike shorted wiring and ignited the attic rafters and insulation. It’s the second structure fire…

St. George Police have removed four children from homes and arrested five individuals in connection to a drug distribution investigation. The police department says it served two search warrants Wednesday at 107 N. Lincoln Street and 215 Kelly Lane in St. George as part of its ongoing investigation into distribution of marijuana, prescription pills and possibly fentanyl to teenagers in Pottawatomie County. The search warrants allege adults have been using teenagers to distribute the illegal drugs with small children present in their homes. Police say four children were removed from both homes and placed into the custody of the State…

A suspect is in custody following an early Tuesday morning fire in Junction City that was intentionally set. The Junction City Fire Department says crews were called to the 100 block of East 12th Street shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday. As they responded, the fire department was alerted by the Junction City Police Department that a suspect had barricaded inside the burning home after setting it ablaze. The department staged crews a block away and eventually police were able to take the suspect into custody and clear the single-story home, which had became engulfed in flames and was venting from…

A September preliminary hearing is planned for a Fort Riley soldier accused of murdering another soldier in a February shooting in Aggieville. 19-year-old Tremelle Montgomery appeared in Riley County District Court Tuesday, via Zoom. Montgomery is charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Joshua Wardi. Online court documents list three counts of attempted first-degree murder against three other victims, including Donovan Bastien, Jared Musgrave and Tyrece White on Feb. 5. The shooting happened after a verbal altercation between Montgomery and Wardi, according to investigators. Montgomery reportedly fled the scene and was shot at by an…

Riley County remains in the high incidence rate category for COVID-19 cases for a third consecutive week. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment recorded 87 new cases county wide between June 25 and July 1 putting the incidence rate at 117.2. Any figure at or above 100 per 100,000 people constitutes as a high incidence rate, according to KDHE data. Totals do not include at-home test results. As of Wednesday, three COVID-19 positive patients were receiving medical care at Ascension Via Christi. No additional deaths have been reported. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are now available for free to every…