Author: Brandon Peoples

A small fire at the K-State Recreation Center was quickly contained but caused a closure of the facility Friday. The Manhattan Fire Department was dispatched around 12:30 p.m. According to Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Almes, firefighters located a light fixture inside the building which had caught fire. It fell onto combustibles and caused smoke to fill throughout the building. The fire was quickly contained. As a result, the Rec Center announced it would remain closed Friday with normal operations resuming Saturday. No injuries were reported.

A 15-time Grammy award winner will headline this year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills. Organizers of the annual event announced Thursday that renowned banjo player Bela Fleck, the longtime frontman for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones will be the featured performer alongside the Kansas City Symphony. This year’s event takes place June 13 at the Wade Pasture near Eskridge in Wabaunsee County. Fleck has been nominated in more categories than any other artist in the history of the award. Tickets go on sale to the general public March 7, with Wabaunsee County residents getting first-dibs at a pre-sale beginning Monday.…

Residents of a Manhattan apartment complex escaped injury but had to be displaced following a late Thursday night fire. According to the Manhattan Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched shortly before midnight to 3112 Heritage Lane. Upon arrival, crews found the three-story building with a fire in an exterior electrical box. The fire spread to the inside walls of the building and was completely extinguished within an hour. The building contains 12 apartment units. All of the residents living in the building had to spend the night elsewhere due to power not being able to be restored. The loss is estimated…

USD 378 Riley County Schools Superintendent Cliff Williams is keeping an eye on a pair of legislative bills that could alter state aid when it comes to bonds and interest, tilting the scales in favor of taxpayers. Williams says Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 2526 are similar in their approaches, but favors the Senate bill which increases state aid for those districts that have passed bonds between 2015 to 2020.  (A pdf showing language of both bills is attached below). “We would go from having 0% state aid to having 17% state aid and so just passing that would…

A home in Blue Township sustained minor damage following a small house fire Thursday. Pottawatomie County and Blue Township firefighters responded just before 1 p.m. to a house fire in the 3400 block of Dempsey Road. Assistant Pottawatomie County Fire Chief Alex Kinderknecht says the fire was contained to a room on the south side of the home and its contents. The home also had smoke damage throughout but only minor fire damage. No injuries were reported. The cause remains under investigation. The State Fire Marshall was being called in to assist in that investigation. A damage estimate is still…

RANDOLPH — USD 384 Blue Valley/Randolph Schools will be getting a new superintendent this summer. His name is John Cox and he’s the current middle school principal at Parsons Middle School in southeast Kansas. “I’m looking forward to getting a lay of the land and seeing the things we’re doing, what needs to be tweaked, what we need to do to expand programs and make sure that we have the top notch education that we have now. Under Mr. Burton they’ve done great things and I hope to be able to fill his shoes and expand them even farther,” he…

The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a possible arson incident near St. Marys. Sheriff Shane Jager said in a news release Wednesday that officers were dispatched Sunday to the Oregon Trail Park in the 23,000 block of Oregon Trail Road. An unknown person or persons entered the bathroom facilities at the park and burned contents within the bathroom. They also damaged a heater. Jager says there was no structural damage to the building and that the total loss was less than $1,000. Anyone with information is urged to call the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office or visit ptsheriff.com and leave…

Pawnee Mental Health celebrated Mardi Gras for Mental Health Tuesday, with its 2nd annual Pancakes for Pawnee fundraiser. It was a larger endeavor this year for the organization who, with help from Manhattan restaurant Early Edition, filled both restaurant locations with customers opting for breakfast for dinner to support a worthy cause. At the Early Edition west location, members of the Leadership Manhattan Class of 2020 helped cook and serve pancakes for three hours, filling customer orders both for dine in and take out. One of those volunteers was Abby Hoelting, who says this was the class’s choice for its…

A 23-year-old Ogden man has been arrested in connection with the theft of power tools and other items from a Manhattan Area Habitat for Humanity construction site. According to the Riley County Police Department, Nicholas Lambert is charged with five total counts including making false information, burglary, criminal damage to property and two counts of theft. Lambert is being held on an $8,000 bond. A trailer belonging to Habitat for Humanity was reported stolen on Thursday, containing various tools with an approximate value of $7,000. On Monday, two of the stolen items were recovered from Wildcat Pawn and Jewelry in…

A gathering of local government officials were briefed Monday on the importance of the 2020 census to the region. U.S. Census Program Supervisor for Kansas and Oklahoma Emily Kelley spoke at the Intergovernmental Luncheon about their push to get information out to military families, in particular to fill out the census survey for where they are physically living as of April 1. Since the Census only occurs every 10 years, much of the area’s federal programming dollars are allocated off of the count. Kelley says K-State students also need to be counted here in Manhattan. The Census Bureau will send…