Author: Brandon Peoples

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…

An injury accident in Jackson County Wednesday morning claimed the life of a St. George man while a Manhattan woman and her infant child were able to escape. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that they found a passenger car, just after 2 a.m., rolled over on the side of the road near a rocky ravine just south of 254th Road on K-62, south of Soldier, Kansas. The driver, who was entrapped, was pronounced dead on scene. The driver was identified as 30-year-old Clifford Joseph Walsh of St. George. The woman who escaped was identified as…

The Kansas State Board of Education has rejected Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order to delay the start of the school year until after Labor Day. (The full meeting video is below) The board voted 5-5, leaving the decisions to when schools can reopen to individual districts. District 6 board member Deena Horst, whose district encompasses Riley and most of Pottawatomie County, voted no on accepting the governor’s order. “It isn’t right for the state to impose a solution on non-COVID experienced communities that reflects on the COVID-experience which is occurring in more urban communities,” she said. District 7 board member Ben Jones, whose…

Update noon Wednesday Riley County Police have confirmed a body has been located on the Konza Prairie Nature Trail. Crews from RCPD, Fort Riley and K-State Police began searching the area early Wednesday after it was reported 38-year-old Nicole Grothe, a Fort Riley warrant officer from Manhattan, had gone missing. She was last heard from on Saturday and was believed to have been hiking on the nature trail. The investigation is ongoing and more information will be shared as it becomes available. 10 a.m. Wednesday Fort Riley, the Riley County Police Department and Kansas State University Police are seeking information…

The Riley County Health Department reminds people who have had close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient, that they are still required to quarantine for 14 days. If you test negative for COVID-19 during that period, you are still required to complete the 14-day quarantine, due to the up to two week incubation period for the virus. This means if you test negative, for example, on day 3, you may still test positive later. Riley County reported seven new positive cases of COVID-19 in its Tuesday update, as well as eight more recoveries.  That brings the total number of active…