Author: Brandon Peoples

In its latest update Friday, the Riley County Health Department reported 37 new positive COVID-19 cases since Wednesday and 10 additional recoveries, bringing the active case count to 127 and the number of recoveries to 2,076. Two patients are currently experiencing symptoms severe enough to require hospitalizations. The health department also continues to monitor four active outbreaks and says three additional cases have been attributed to an Oct. 17 wedding held in Manhattan. The number of active cases from that wedding has grown to 40. In Pottawatomie County, 41 were added to the recovered list, as the active case count…

Clay Center continues to celebrate strong sales tax collections. For the fourth month in a row, the outlook was positive, with city officials saying collections since July are up 16 percent compared to a year ago. The reporting period, which lags two months behind shows collections from May, June, July and August. Mayor Jimmy Thatcher in a news release Friday said he was not surprised by the continued trend, noting traffic in the community was strong throughout the summer, with recreation activities, the open swimming pool and schools opening on time. Clay County Commissioners also reported 2020 home sales prices…

Campaign finance reports filed Monday showed Democrats leading Republicans in the area legislative races in terms of fundraising. Incumbent 22nd District State Senator Tom Hawk began the July 24 to Oct 22 reporting period with over $69,000 cash on hand and raised over $84,000 the past three months, spending just over $104,000 on his re-election campaign. Republican Craig Bowser’s campaign contributions tallied over $11,000 and he spent nearly $27,000 of his $35,000 plus in cash available this period. In the race for the open 67th District House seat, Democrat Cheryl Arthur raised over $41,000 this period and spent over $39,000…

Campaign finance reports were filed Monday, detailing money raised and spent by local candidates between July 24 and Oct. 22. Among the four candidates running for seats on the Riley County Commission, Democrat Fanny Fang, who is running for the District 2 seat, raised by far the most, receiving $13,700, more than twice the amount of any other candidate. The other Democratic candidate, Kathryn Focke raised $5,835. As of Monday, Fang still had just over $4,500 in cash on hand, while Focke’s campaign had just under $1,800. John Matta, the Republican candidate in District 3, raised $3,426 over the past…

Riley County Police say a man was found dead early Thursday morning at a Manhattan home. Officers were reportedly trying to make contact with a 21-year-old man they believed had information about an ongoing criminal investigation. When officers’ attempts to make contact with him were ineffective, a search warrant was issued for a home in the 2000 block of College Ave. Police found the man deceased upon entering the home. Foul play is not suspected. Police are not releasing any further information due to the ongoing investigation.

An Army veteran and CEO of the SAVE Farm is hoping to unseat longtime State Senator Tom Hawk in the 22nd district. Craig Bowser (R-Manhattan) says he’s running as a common-sense conservative and wants to curb the state’s spending. He says he’ll draw on his own business experience to accomplish that. “We’ve got to get government out of the way so that our economy can begin growing again. The economy, job growth and recovery from the pandemic will be my No. 1 priority as your next state senator,” he said. Bowser says there are other ways to grow the economy…

A trial in the sexual abuse case involving a former Manhattan restaurant owner likely won’t happen until early next year. At a Monday status hearing, Riley County Judge Kendra Lewison granted defense attorneys for Bob Iacobellis until mid-December to review the more than 2,000 pages of Department for Children and Families records tied to the case. Attorneys Lora Ingels and Brenda Jordan are both preparing for a trial outside of Riley County and have not had adequate time to review the DCF documents as a result. Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson noted his office has also received word of a…

A major reconstruction of the US 24/Green Valley Road intersection is going back to step one after Pottawatomie County commissioners decided Monday to rebid the project. The move comes weeks after initial bids came in more than 20 percent higher than the engineer’s estimate of $3.3 million. Hamm Construction submitted the low bid in early September, which was just over $4 million. Public Works Director Peter Clark informed the commission that the Kansas Department of Transportation has agreed to chip in an additional $250,000 to bring its total contribution to $2.75 million. Commissioners Dee McKee and Greg Riat both supported…

Local health officials say a wedding held in Riley County is the latest source of a COVID-19 outbreak, responsible for 22 of the 27 confirmed positive cases since Wednesday’s report. The wedding took place Oct. 17 and contact tracing staff are calling all known contacts in Riley County, but most guests were residents of other counties. The newlyweds have contacted all wedding guests to inform them of the outbreak. The health department also reported 16 additional recoveries. There are currently 82 active cases in Riley County and no patients currently in the hospital. Anyone who has symptoms, is a close…

Courts in the 8th and 21st Judicial Districts will briefly stop taking electronic filings and payments next week as the state begins moving all court case data to a single web-based platform. The courts will go offline from 5 p.m. Oct. 28 to noon Oct. 29. The courts are known collectively as “Track 1” in the Kansas eCourt Statewide Rollout Plan. The 21st Judicial District encompasses Riley and Clay counties. The 8th Judicial District encompasses Geary, Dickinson, Marion and Morris counties. The new system was adopted last year and more courts are transitioning to Track 1. Courts will remain open…