Author: Brandon Peoples

The Kansas Department of Health has been awarded a grant to support safer suicide care in state behavioral health and healthcare systems. The grant, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is for implementation of Zero Suicide in Health Systems, a model and framework for prevention. KDHE plans to work with partners including Veterans Affairs and the 26 licensed Community Mental Health Care Systems in every county, bringing in $700,000 per year for five years to those efforts. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, suicide is the second leading cause of death in people aged 10…

Wednesday’s program featured conversations with former Governor Jeff Colyer who is campaigning across Kansas for former Lt. Gov. Tracey Mann, a candidate for the state’s 1st district congressional seat in the U.S. House. We also spoke with a pair of Riley County Commission candidates in District 2, challengers Greg McKinley (below) and Phil Mattox (bottom of page).

School will start two weeks later than initially planned for Wamego students. The school board unanimously approved a calendar change Tuesday that will see sixth and ninth grade students start on Sept. 2 with all others except kindergarten and early learning starting Sept. 3. Early learning and kindergarten students will report Sept. 8. Superintendent Tim Winter says it was necessary as the district prepares for a competency based learning plan. “Essentially it’s a two-week later start to the school year. This will allow us three full weeks of preparation and planning,” he said. The district is preparing for in person…

Ascension Via Christi continued to monitor three COVID positive patients Tuesday, but the Riley County Health Department says there are no patients currently requiring a ventilator. Two additional positive cases and two more recoveries were announced, keeping with the steady trend. As of Monday, 110 were being monitored as active cases and 314 were listed as recovered, along with the four total deaths. Local Health Order No. 16 will be issued Wednesday at the latest and will take effect upon the expiration of Order No. 15 Thursday. It will not include a mask mandate as proposed by K-State President Richard…

Earlier this year, a Catholic church community in southeastern Pottawatomie County broke ground on a new $30 million building for worship. The Society of St. Pius X in St. Marys is constructing the new building it calls the Immaculata, which will hold more than 1,500 people and will be 12 stories tall, overlooking the small town. Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Jack Allston says his office is hoping to do an economic impact analysis on the project in the near future. “We might have hundreds of people moving in to the St. Marys, Wamego, Rossville area and we…

Manhattan Regional Airport is among many airports nationwide struggling through the impacts of COVID-19. American Airlines, which services daily flights from MHK announced it will suspend daily flights to Chicago O’Hare effective Friday. Service is tentatively set to resume September 9. This will take MHK down to 12 weekly departures, all to Dallas Fort Worth. Airport Director Jesse Romo says it speaks to the fluidity of airline schedules right now. “If folks are flying out, I encourage you to visit American Airlines website or visit flymhk.com because they are changing quite a bit. We’re hopeful that more and more people…

Riley County is beginning to see a flattening of the curve in terms of the COVID-19 cases reported by the health department. As of Monday, Riley County had recorded 426 positive coronavirus cases. That includes 110 active cases, 312 patients who’ve made recoveries and four deaths, the latest of which was reported Friday by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Three patients are currently hospitalized, including one on a ventilator. Local Health Order no. 16 is being drafted and should be announced later this week. It will look into preventative measures to put in place with an influx of…

A Manhattan man charged earlier this year with attempted second-degree murder was arrested over the weekend on new charges. Riley County Police say 18-year-old Jalen Gill was charged Saturday with aggravated assault, distribution of a hallucinogenic or marijuana, possession with intent to distribute paraphernalia and failure to appear. He had a scheduled court hearing Friday on the previous charge. He was arrested in the 3200 block of Ella Lane. According to the police report, a 56-year-old man, 40-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman were listed as victims after a known suspect allegedly threatened them with a firearm and was in…

Riley County Commissioner Ron Wells says he has unfinished business he’d like to complete, a major reason he decided to seek a third term. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Wells had been advocating for the resumption of funding for the Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction Fund, which hadn’t had any money put in it for almost 20 years. The fund is designed to help counties help balance the mill levy and lower property taxes. “I think that’ll still happen, it’s just going to be a couple year setback depending on how the federal government aids the states on finances. Number…

A long-time USD 383 Manhattan/Ogden School board president is planning a write-in campaign to challenge for the District 6 seat on the Kansas State Board of Education. Dave Colburn announced he would serve on the State Board of Education if enough constituents wrote his name on their primary ballot. “Some people who were really important to me strongly encouraged me to do it and they were willing to do a lot of the work, so I agreed to stand as a write-in candidate on the Democratic ballot,” he said. The move was prompted after the state board didn’t muster enough…