Author: Brandon Peoples

Earlier this month, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced the City of Manhattan had received the maximum amount of grant funding for the North Campus Corridor project. According to a release from the City of Manhattan, the nearly $2.9 million is funding improvements of over 2,400 feet of Kimball Ave. between College and Denison and the construction of a new frontage road to the north. Kimball Ave. will also be widened and a protected median will be added to improve safety. An average of 20,000 vehicles travels the corridor everyday, according to a 2014 traffic study. Manhattan is responsible…

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is planning to sign an executive order Monday, delaying the start of the school year for K-12 schools until after Labor Day. “The additional three weeks will provide schools time to work with their counties to get necessary mitigation supplies like masks, thermometers and hand sanitizers and allow superintendents additional time to make plans for what’s best for their district,” she said. The governor made the announcement during a Wednesday news conference with Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman and State Education Commissioner Randy Watson. “Putting nearly half a million kids in…

There will be no graduation ceremony for the Manhattan High Class of 2020. Principal Michael Dorst, in a message to graduates and parents on the school’s Facebook page Wednesday said the in-person ceremony, which had been delayed to Sunday, Aug. 2 has been canceled. The ceremony had been planned outdoors at Bishop Stadium, but due to limits on gathering sizes still at 50, and not likely to rise much by that time, the decision was ultimately made to forego the ceremony. The ceremony typically draws between 1,500 and 2,000 people. Dorst says they’ve developed two alternative options for the Class…

International students currently enrolled at Kansas State University can continue their studies remotely and not have it impact their visa status. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced rescinded guidelines Tuesday for the Student Exchange Visitor program. Previously, it stated international students would be required to take some in-person classes. The action means they won’t have to stop their studies if the university would need to move to all remote classes. The guidelines would have barred international students from the U.S. if all their classes were to be online this fall. K-State joined other universities across the country denouncing the…

The Pottawatomie County Fair will go on, but with some adjustments due to COVID-19. The Fair Board, in consultation with the County Extension Office and recommendations with the Pottawatomie County Health Department announced plans Tuesday with some modifications. It will be open to the public July 30 through August 2. Some activities will be reduced to maintain safe social interaction. The fair board is asking attendees to check schedules carefully as some events have changed. Among them, the open class is restricted to just Pottawatomie County residents. All rabbit competitions have been canceled due to a rabbit disease outbreak. Additional…

Riley County’s top election official says the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the number of poll workers that will be available to assist in the Aug. 4 primary. “We’ve had 81 poll workers for the general election tell us they won’t work this (primary) election. The good news is our community has been responsive and have gotten a lot of new poll workers to sign up,” he said. Many of those long-time poll workers are senior citizens and at greater health risk for infection from the virus. He’s hoping some of them can come back for the general election Nov. 3,…

With less than a month until the official start date for school, members of the USD 383 Manhattan/Ogden School board Wednesday will be presented a first draft of the district’s reopening plan. In a letter to USD 383 families and staff sent Tuesday, the district announced it plans to move forward with both remote and onsite learning for the 2020-2021 school year. An official determination about which option will be in effect when school begins Aug. 12 will be made closer to that date. When selecting the remote learning option, parents would be indicating a desire to have all learning…

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…