Author: Brandon Peoples

Pottawatomie County Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a conditional use permit request for a bed and breakfast to be located in the Green Valley area. The permit spells out seven conditions for the property, including having a limit of no more than eight rooms to be rented to guests, smoke detection devices to be installed in accordance to the adopted fire code and that the property be established in a residential-designed building. Commissioner Greg Riat requested an eighth be listed on the C-U-P, tied to inspections of the property. That language is already outlined in the unified development regulations, adopted…

A two-vehicle crash Saturday evening, north of Manhattan, injured two people and resulted in an arrest for DUI. Riley County Police responded near the area of North Seth Child Road and Top of the World around 6:15 p.m. Saturday and located a pickup driven by 64-year-old Robert Jandera, of Houston, Texas and a passenger car driven by 20-year-old Brenda Flores, of Junction City. Officers determined the pickup was north on Seth Child when it crossed over the center line and caused the southbound car to swerve into the opposite lane to avoid the truck. Both vehicles re-entered their original lanes…

A Manhattan man was among two killed early Saturday morning in a head-on crash on Interstate 70 in Geary County. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a Ford F-150 driven by 34-year-old John Wagnaar III was traveling west in the eastbound passing lane of I-70 at around 3 a.m. and collided with a Honda Civic head on. Wagnaar’s vehicle then rolled into the median and caught fire. The other vehicle came to rest partially on the north shoulder of the eastbound lanes. The crash occurred near mile marker 315, about two miles east of the Manhattan interchange. Wagnaar was pronounced…

Firefighters responded Saturday night to a fire at a mobile home in Manhattan’s Redbud Estates neighborhood, shortly before 9:30 p.m. According to Deputy Manhattan Fire Chief Ryan Almes, two occupants and one dog were able to escape prior to crews arrival. Initial reports stated people were possibly in the home at the time of the fire, but a thorough search was done and found no one inside. No injuries were reported. A total of 15 firefighters responded and had the blaze extinguished within 10 minutes. Damage was estimated at $35,000 to contents and an additional $15,000 in structural damage. The…

Local health officials are encouraging vaccinations as flu season begins, reminding folks also to consider getting vaccinated against COVID-19 as cases begin to tick up once again. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) recorded 48 new COVID-19 cases for Riley County between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4. It was enough to move Riley County into the substantial incidence category, after several weeks of being placed in the moderate category. One COVID-19 patient was hospitalized on a ventilator in the ICU unit as of Wednesday’s weekly report. In addition to high numbers of flu, Riley County Health Department Director…

Voters in Pottawatomie County have rejected a quarter-percent sales tax to fund road and bridge improvements in the county by a 53 to 47 percent margin. County officials had projected that the tax, which was proposed in addition to the existing 1 percent retail sales tax, could have generated roughly $1.6 million annually for about a dozen projects primarily between Blue Township and Wamego. Commissioner Dee McKee, in an interview Wednesday with KMAN noted she was disappointed the sales tax question failed. McKee admits a lack of publicity over the sales tax question likely hurt its chances of passage, citing…

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has won another four year-term, narrowly defeating Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt by a 49 to 48 percent margin. “Kansans voted for strong schools, for economic growth, for balanced budgets. And yes, they voted for a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions,” Kelly said to supporters late Tuesday night, when the election at the time was too close to call. Kelly edged Schmidt by over 14,000 votes, in one of the more competitive governor races in the country. Schmidt had sought to tie Kelly to President Joe Biden and blamed both  for high inflation.…

USD 475 board members will wait until next week to decide on a site for a proposed new early childhood center. The board met Monday and removed from its agenda a staff recommendation for the board to approve the retention of the former Junction City High School site, at 900 Eisenhower Drive, for the proposed facility. It was removed at the request of board member Dr. Anwar Khoury, who could not attend Monday’s meeting. It will instead be considered at the Nov. 17 meeting. Former school board president Rina Neal spoke during public comment, supporting the recommendation on behalf of the…

Advance voting ended Monday, with more than 8,600 voters in Riley and Pottawatomie counties casting the ballots ahead of Election Day. Riley County Clerk Rich Vargo reported 6,354 Riley County residents voted in-person and by mail. That number was down from the last mid-term election, in 2018. Vargo noted Monday there were still 800 paper ballots that had yet to be returned. Advance voting was up in Pottawatomie County, with Clerk Dawn Henry reporting 2,263 advance ballots were cast both in-person and by mail. That exceeds the 1,972 early ballots cast in the 2018 mid-terms. Polls are open until 7 p.m.…

A Manhattan man was struck and killed Monday evening while riding an electric motorbike in the Northview area of town. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the bike collided with an SUV shortly before 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of Tuttle Creek Boulevard and Griffith Drive. The SUV had made a left turn onto Griffith and as the bike traveled northbound, it struck the side of the SUV. The driver of the motorbike, 31-year-old Erik Dedrickson, of Manhattan, was transported to Ascension Via Christi, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities say Dedrickson was not wearing a helmet, but rather only…