Author: Brandon Peoples

A Riley County judge has sentenced one of the four co-defendants in a 2019 Manhattan murder case to 15 years in prison. At a hearing Monday, Judge Grant Bannister accepted a plea agreement from 21-year-old Jaylon Hitsman to charges of second degree murder, attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated battery in the death of Tanner Zamecnik on Nov. 1, 2019 outside the Park Place Apartments. Hitsman was sentenced to 181 months, including 117 months on the murder charge and 32 months each on the lesser charges. He was also ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution to the victim’s family.…

The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed the death sentences for the Carr brothers, who took part in a horrific crime spree in December 2000 in the Wichita area. Jonathan and Reginald Carr murdered five people and robbed and kidnapped another in a series of three crimes, including a quadruple murder in east Wichita. Each was convicted of four counts of capital murder, one count of first-degree murder and 13 counts of rape. The Carrs were also linked to a carjacking and robbery of another man and the shooting death of another woman that same month. Deputy Riley County Attorney David…

The Kansas Board of Regents have approved an exception to the tenure clock extension policy. Vice President of Academic Affairs Daniel Archer spoke to the details of the tenure policy during Wednesday’s meeting. A one-time exception was granted by the Regents for tenure-track employees at universities including at K-State in April 2020, due to COVID-19 disruptions. Thus, those employees would not have to count the pandemic as one of their two extensions as the policy states. Archer says having the policy will include the faculty cohort hired in fall 2020. The extension request received unanimous board approval. Other items of…

A Junction City High School student vocalist has been selected to perform in the 2022 High School Honors Performance Series next month at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Senior Mahkayla Cole will perform Vocal Alto 2 with the High School Honors Concert Choir, putting her as one of the highest-rated high school performers in the world. USD 475 Geary County Schools says Cole auditioned for the Honors Performance Series earlier this year and was recently accepted after a review by the Honors Selection Board. A 10 year music student, Cole is a member of the Junction City High School…

The Wamego School Board is inching closer to having a new superintendent in place. Four special meetings are planned next week for interviews to be conducted by the board with finalists, after the application period closed recently. Meetings are scheduled Monday through Thursday and will be entirely in executive session. Each candidate will tour the district buildings prior to a dinner and interview with the board at 6 p.m. The candidates’ names are being withheld until the mornings of their respective visits, with the district also planning to release brief bios on each candidate. A special meeting will be conducted…

No injuries were reported after a brief fire ignited on the roof of Bluemont Elementary Wednesday evening. The school said on its Facebook page that a faulty heating unit ignited on the school’s roof after school Wednesday. There were staff and students in the building at Boys & Girls Club’s after school program. All were kept safe and were unharmed. The Manhattan Fire Department says damage is estimated at $500.

School resumed Tuesday in the Manhattan-Ogden district after an extended holiday weekend amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that resulted in several staff members being out sick. Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid joined KMAN’s In Focus Wednesday to discuss how much that extra day off last Friday, prior to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, helped alleviate some of the unusually high  staffing shortages the district has been experiencing. Board member Curt Herrman praised the many who have stepped up to fill in gaps where needed including some familiar public faces. Both Reid and Herrman admit that while there is great…

Kansas State University officials say they will no longer display student isolation and quarantine data on its dashboard following changes in protocols. Rather, they will be asking students to self-report symptomatic illness directly to faculty members, which means the data will no longer be collected centrally by the Office of Student Life. The move is an effort to keep from publishing inaccurate data, due to larger numbers of people testing positive elsewhere and at home. The university is also suspending support for contact tracing efforts. Those efforts will continue at the state and local health departments for another two weeks,…

The Riley County Law Board on Tuesday unanimously approved the removal of recruit pay for new police trainees. Recruit pay has been an incentive tool used by the department to pay new recruits in corrections, dispatch and police officers at a lesser wage prior to the conclusion of training, at which point they receive their regular salary. With an increasingly competitive job market, it has hampered the department’s ability of late, to attract personnel. Capt. Josh Kyle says when positions are advertised it’s been at the lower wage, which is less desirable to most new recruits. The change has no…

After three years and one month leading the Riley County Police Department, Riley County Police Department Director Dennis Butler sat in on his final Law Board meeting Tuesday afternoon at Manhattan City Hall. It was an opportunity for Law Board members to publicly thank Butler for his leadership of the only consolidated police department in Kansas. At-large board member Robert Ward stated that he has not always agreed with Butler on issues, but says they’ve always been able to amicably resolve their differences. He urged Butler to continue to advocate for law enforcement in other ways going forward. Law Board…