Author: Brandon Peoples

Fort Riley today is conducting a required, annual Full-Scale exercise to test the installation’s electrical grid and backup power generation. During the exercise, short term, rolling power outages will occur. Housing areas may be affected for short time periods. In addition, Saddle Horn Road, between Trooper Drive and Steeplechase will be closed to accommodate today’s exercise. Those living in the vicinity may notice an increase in emergency vehicle traffic and are asked to avoid that area. Fort Riley officials say the annual exercise tests and improves the installation’s emergency preparedness.

More people are expected to vote by mail this year, due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. Requests for mail ballots is up significantly in both Riley and Pottawatomie counties ahead of the August primary and voter participation is also likely to be high, especially with the presidential election coming. Riley County Clerk Rich Vargo tells KMAN his office had received 6,183 requests as of Friday. Compared to August 2016, there were 355 votes by mail with a total voter turnout that year of 6,337. Vargo will join Riley County Commissioner Ron Wells Tuesday for an elections update on KMAN’s…

There will be no Kansas State Fair in 2020. The state fair board voted to cancel this year’s event amid concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. The reversal comes just a week after the board had initially voted to continue with the fair. However, concerns from vendors and the community led them to adjust plans, with nearly half of the vendors cancelling amid worries about delays with travel quarantines, difficulties in putting crews together and the cancellations of other fairs, including Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The board says it is still interested in finding a way to safely hold its livestock…

Riley County currently is monitoring 153 active cases of COVID-19 with 195 people now listed as recovered. Pottawatomie County was monitoring six active cases Friday, with 83 listed recoveries. As of Friday, Ascension Via Christi was monitoring zero patients. One person who previously was on a ventilator has now tested negative and is now recovering at the hospital. That patient reportedly had been in the hospital since May. Riley County Health Officer Julie Gibbs says the health department is meeting almost daily with local school officials as they prepare reopening plans for the fall, based on guidance now out from…

Riley County Police arrested an Ogden man Friday evening on a warrant for numerous charges of sexual exploitation of a child. Online court records show 27-year-old Charles Eugene Connell III was booked into Riley County Jail on 10 total counts saying he possessed visual depictions of a child shown to be engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The charges stem from an incident alleged to have occurred in September 2019. Connell remains jailed on a $100,000 bond. He is awaiting a first appearance in Riley County District Court..

Ascension Via Christi continues to pre-screen for all surgical or planned interventional procedures for the coronavirus. So far two patients have tested positive at Via Christi and had to have their procedures postponed. Manhattan Surgical Center has postponed one due to a positive test. Via Christi President and CEO Bob Copple explains how different aspects of a procedure can complicate things for a COVID patient. “We don’t always understand all the science but there are documented incidents where patients who had some kind of anesthesia and were positive with COVID tended to have all kinds of different complications after the…

The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed drug-related convictions for a Riley County man stemming from a 2015 sting operation at a Manhattan motel. The high court ruled Friday the Riley County District Court did not err by allowing the State to present evidence that Anthony Brazzle sold methamphetamine to undercover detectives roughly a week prior to a traffic stop leading to his convictions. In its opinion, the court said the evidence was material to the disputed question of whether Brazzle intended to personally use or distribute the drugs found in the car. Also affirmed was the Court of Appeals’ holding…

The Kansas Court of Appeals panel will hear oral arguments next week by video conference including a case from Riley County. The judges will hear an appeal in State v. Daniel Earl Genson III. Genson was charged with failing to register under the Kansas Offender Registration Act. Genson raised an insanity defense and claims he was involuntarily committed just days after his time to register lapsed. The district court rejected the defense because failing to register is a strict liability crime and precluded evidence of his mental health at trial. Genson was convicted by a jury in early 2019. On…

A crowded field of hopefuls for the Republican U.S. Senate seat are making their rounds across Kansas ahead of the Aug. 4 primary. Republican businessman Bob Hamilton, long time owner of a successful plumbing business in the Kansas City area, was in Manhattan Wednesday and spoke with News Radio KMAN. Billing himself as an outsider, the first time political candidate says he’s running to fight off liberal Democrat who he says want bigger government and less personal liberties. “They’re looking for more control over our lives, which gives us less freedom and that’s what I’m fighting against. Trump needs another ally…

Geary County Sheriff Daniel Jackson says his office had to make a heartbreaking decision this week to euthanize the department’s K-9 companion Krew, after a vicious attack on his handler. Jackson, in a news release Thursday said Deputy Robison, the dog’s handler was preparing to respond to an officer reporting a vehicle failing to stop. When he opened the patrol vehicle’s rear door, he then opened the kennel door so he could put a collar on Krew and head out to the scene. As Deputy Robison reached in to put the collar on, Krew attacked him. It lasted for about…