Author: Brandon Peoples

A new plaque bearing the names of 50 Pottawatomie County veterans will be unveiled at a public ceremony Monday at the Veterans Memorial in Westmoreland. Last April, the county began collecting names of honorably discharged veterans that reside or have resided in Pottawatomie County and served in any branch of the military from 1947 onward. Those 50 names were received in December to be added to the memorial on a bronze plaque. The memorial was dedicated in 1992. The county continues to collect names of additional veterans and will have another bronze plaque cast when it receives 50 more names.…

Manhattan city staff will meet with the city commission Tuesday to discuss a strategy for increasing revenues to the general fund and a proposed sales tax question to be posed to voters. Agenda documents for the work session (see below) show city staff favoring a strategy to ask a sales tax question at the August primary, taking the current 1% permanent sales tax up to as much as 2%. The sales tax increase would allow the city to build up its general fund dollars an extra $7.5 million to $15 million annually. The city would need to draft a resolution…

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday issued a verbal disaster emergency proclamation due to increased fire weather risks this week. The declaration allows more resources to be available for fighting wildfires. Warmer conditions, strong winds and low relative humidity will create very-high fire weather conditions throughout the state. Local and state officials are advising all burns be postponed until conditions improve. “Weather conditions are such that a high risk exists for wildland fires,” Governor Kelly said. “I urge everyone across the state to use extreme caution and avoid burning, if at all possible. A single spark is enough to touch off a fire that…

Riley County property owners should be receiving change of value notices in their mailboxes this week. The Appraiser’s Office mailed out those notices on Friday, which reflect changes in property values due to fluctuations in the local real estate market. Residents will have until March 25 to file an appeal. In a Monday statement, Riley County Appraiser Anna Burson noted that the overall sales volume has decreased, but sale prices have increased on average around 4%, according to data from the Kansas Association of Realtors. The statewide average home sale price in December was just over $292,000, a 4.1% increase…

The Riley County Police Department is investigating a case of identity theft after a woman reported her social security number was used to obtain a credit card. The 44-year-old victim reported the crime Saturday afternoon. Police say the total loss associated is over $26,000. Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers.

Discussions surrounding taxes were front and center at a Saturday morning legislative coffee hosted at Manhattan’s Sunset Zoo. With the session reaching the halfway point, the tax bill has become the number one issue to be resolved before legislators depart Topeka in May. Sen. Usha Reddi serves on the Senate Tax Committee and says she expects more conversations to come as legislators work through different ways toward meaningful tax relief. “I think that even though the House has sustained the governor’s veto, it has resurrected in Senate, so we’re still going to be talking about it, and the reason that’s…

Students at St. George Elementary were briefly placed on lockdown Friday as authorities investigated a report of shots fired near the school. According to the St. George Police Department, dispatchers received a 911 call shortly before 3 p.m. in the city limits. St. George Police and the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office responded to the school, which was in lock down. An investigation determined there was no threat to the school and students were released. According to Rock Creek Superintendent Joan Simoneau, the lock down, which occurred toward the end of the school day, affected the southern bus routes from the…

Police have identified a Junction City man charged in the drive-by shooting death of a 26-year-old Wichita woman. Sedgwick County jail records show 38-year-old Dennis Leroy Alcox is charged with first-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and contempt of court. Wichita Police located the body of Audreanna Hidalgo early Thursday morning in a southeast Wichita neighborhood. She was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound. Alcox was taken into custody a few hours later after he was located in Junction City and transported to Wichita to face formal charges. He remains jailed in Sedgwick County on a $500,000 bond. Original…

Spring begins March 19, but spring construction season is already getting an early start around Manhattan. This week, the second phase of a Kansas Department of Transportation pavement improvement project south of Manhattan got underway. During this phase, traffic will be head-to-head on the northbound/westbound lanes of K-18/K-177, while the southbound/eastbound lanes are reconstructed. The intersections of McDowell Creek Road and Stadel Road will be reconstructed in subphases to keep them open to traffic. The K-18/McDowell Creek Road intersection will be restricted to right-in, right-out turning access only. Northbound K-177 traffic will not be able to turn left at the…

Riley County Police are investigating after two people were injured late Thursday in a crash at Marlatt Ave. and Kirkwood Drive. Officers filed a report for DUI/aggravated battery/collision shortly before 8:30 p.m. The drivers of both vehicles sustained injuries. Police say 61-year-old Tony Curtis was transported to Via Christi for evaluation of his injuries. 19-year-old Caitlyn Smith sustained minor injuries. Police say Curtis was at fault for the crash. Charges had not been filed as of Friday morning, pending his release from the hospital.