Author: Brandon Peoples

A second round of emergency furloughs was announced Friday by Kansas State University. The furloughs impact 58 employees working within the College of Health and Human Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Parking Services and will occur in June and July. This follows an additional 349 furloughs announced earlier this month affecting Housing and Dining, Student Union, Recreational Services, the Child Development Center and Lafene Health Center. “Many of those employees rely on the income that those facilities produce to cover their costs and their employee expenses. With no revenue coming you get to that point where we have…

Demolition will begin next week of a west Manhattan property that sustained damage during the 2018 Labor Day flood. The Manhattan Fire Department Risk Reduction Division says the structure at 3003 Anderson Avenue will be razed and a slab floor will be left when finished. No public hazards are anticipated during the project. The Plaza West shopping center building, which formerly housed Golden Wok and La Hacienda was deemed unsafe through a public process last year after the department attempted to gain compliance with building owner Mark Samarrai. A demolition contract was awarded in April to Remco Demolition for $49,810.…

Manhattan Mayor Usha Reddi has suspended her campaign for the U.S. Senate. Reddi issued a statement Thursday morning stating that because of the unprecedented pandemic, her work as mayor has become her first and only priority. She initially paused her campaign March 14 as the statewide activity related to the coronavirus began to take shape. Reddi has called the joint response to the pandemic the most important work of her life and says COVID-19 meetings and calls will continue to demand 100 percent of her focus for the foreseeable future. While she’s stepping back from her candidacy, Reddi says she’ll…

Many Aggieville businesses remain closed until at least next week. The second phase of the Riley County Reopening Plan begins May 18 and will include bars and clubs, and gatherings will be increased to 30 people. As for now, none of the businesses in Aggieville are in danger of closing, thanks to support they’ve received from the federal, state and local levels. “That’s an amazing testament to what the government’s done and what the locals have done for these businesses because being out of business for eight or so weeks with no income, that should keep most businesses out of…

As election season draws closer, candidates will soon be circling the state asking voters for their support. Former Lt. Gov. Tracey Mann was in Manhattan this week, and spoke with KMAN about the challenges of the campaign trail amid the coronavirus pandemic as he seeks the open 1st Congressional District seat. Right now, he says a lot of that is happening via phone or online and says his campaign was helped immensely by a key endorsement from Kansas Farm Bureau earlier this month. “Kansas Farm Bureau has long been the gold standard in Big First politics and we’re delighted to…

Junction City Police are searching for two suspects believed to be linked to a double homicide last week. Police say 21-year-old Nathaniel Roderick Holmes is wanted on two counts of first-degree murder. The other suspect goes by “J” and is a person of interest in the case. The police department is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying and locating this individual. Anyone with information on either suspect should call Crime Stoppers or leave an anonymous tip on the JCPD’s p3tips website. Two men, identified as 21-year-old Dillon Spencer and 19-year-old Aaron Villareal were found dead May 7th at a Junction…

Downtown Manhattan businesses are slowly coming back open after the Riley County Health Department cleared some of them to reopen as part of a phased local approach. Downtown Manhattan, Inc. Executive Director Gina Scroggs tells KMAN the approach has been one of caution by business owners. “Each business has really decided how they can best keep the public and their employees safe and so they’ve really gone about the reopening much slower and more thoughtfully than I think we all had envisioned,” she said. Scroggs says those downtown establishments are delicately balancing how a business is operating now and how…

Riley County has now reported its first death attributed to coronavirus. Health Department Director Julie Gibbs says the patient was a Manhattan man in his 30s who tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month. He was tested for COVID-19 in late April after seeking medical care for an underlying health condition. The patient, whose name has not been released was being treated at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan until last week, when he was transferred to a Wichita hospital. Health officials say it’s likely he contracted the virus from community spread as the man was not a known contact…

Downtown Manhattan, Inc. Executive Director Gina Scroggs joined us for Tuesday’s update.

Two dozen Manhattan businesses have been added to the list of recipients of emergency dollars from the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce’s emergency assistance loan program. The second round recipients are receiving $111,970 in funding. The funds are drawn down from the City of Manhattan’s Economic Development Fund upon approval of the City Commission. Those funds are being utilized by for-profit businesses with an immediate needs to maintain operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 24 additional loans brings the total amount of businesses receiving funding to 69 since the program’s inception in April. More than $314,000 has been distributed.…