Author: Brandon Peoples

MANHATTAN — The Riley County Police Department has a new director, Dennis Butler, the current chief of the Ottawa Police Department. Butler was unanimously approved as the fifth director of the RCPD during Monday’s Riley County Law Board meeting. Butler says he’s thrilled to be coming to Manhattan. Butler will succeed current director Brad Schoen who is retiring at the end of December. Butler has been chief of police in Ottawa since 2004 and prior to that was worked with the Alexandria, Virginia Police Department for 25 years, retiring in 2004 at the rank of Captain. Butler explains what made…

Green Apple Bikes, a local bike sharing program in Manhattan is putting the call out to round-up bikes during the holiday week. Volunteer Rod Harms tells KMAN that the organization is hoping to collect as many of the bikes this week for tuning up over the holiday break. Students from the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at K-State retrieved 40 bikes for winter repair and storage over the course of four hours and two days this past weekend. Eight additional bikes were gathered Monday morning. Collection efforts are ongoing. If you see a bike or have one in your backyard or…

MANHATTAN — A Manhattan man accused of first-degree murder involving an infant child earlier this month made his first appearance in Riley County District Court Friday. D’Khari Lyons, 23, appeared via teleconference in front of Magistrate District Judge James Kepple, who read the charges against him. Lyons has applied for a court appointed attorney. Judge Kepple stated in court it would likely be next week before an attorney would be appointed to the case. Lyons, if convicted faces life in prison with the chance of parole. He’s also charged with felony child abuse stemming from the Nov. 8 incident involving…

MANHATTAN — A northeast Manhattan neighborhood is a little more connected to essential services after the completion of the Old Blue River Trail. Local officials and patrons came out for a special ribbon cutting Thursday afternoon to mark the occasion. The 0.7 mile trail located just east of Tuttle Creek Blvd. near McCall Road gives residents in the Northview area an improved walkable trail to the nearby shopping district. City Commissioner and Northview resident Jerred McKee says this will help a lot of residents lacking access to transportation. Greater Northview Action team member Brandon Irwin has been an advocate for the…

Officers responded to the report of an injury accident near the intersection of Denison and Kerr on November 14, 2018, at approximately 5:40 PM. When officers arrived on scene, they found a 2007 Black Kia Optima driven by Liangliang Gao, 38, of Manhattan was hit by a 2006 Silver Chevrolet Equinox driven by Brooke Young, 34, of Manhattan. Young was transported to Via Christi for treatment of her injuries. Young was issued a citation for following too closely. Officers filed a report for motor vehicle theft in the 1400 block of College Ave. in Manhattan on November 14, 2018, at approximately…

Manhattan High School math teacher Dedra Braxmeyer has been announced as USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden’s 2019 Master Teacher. Braxmeyer has been teaching for 19 years – 13 of which have been at Manhattan High. She earned a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Secondary Education from Kansas State University in 1999, earning her Masters in Education in 2001 from Peru State College. According to the district, Braxmeyer is involved in the community, previously serving as an officer for the Junior League of the Flint Hills. She is currently a member of a three-person team, which is part of a quarterly…

Students at 42 Kansas schools including a couple in our region will have better access to breakfast thanks to more than $142,000 in grants through the Kansas State Department of Education to help bolster breakfast programs. Area grant amounts included: Wabaunsee High School: $3,000 Washington Elementary in Junction City: $1,200 The funding is said to boost innovative breakfast delivery models, sometimes called breakfast after the bell, so breakfasts can be served in non-traditional ways like in the classroom. Students also have the opportunity to get grab-and-go breakfasts. KSDE says research show eating breakfast at school improves student performance in the…

A Manhattan woman was arrested Tuesday on a Pottawatomie County warrant for a number of charges involving forgery and theft. The Riley County Police Department says 28-year-old Sara Marie Boatman is jailed on three charges of making false writing, five counts of forgery and eight counts of theft of property or services of less than $1,500. Each charge is a nonperson felony. According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, Boatman has previously been convicted of criminal use of a financial card and theft from two previous cases in Riley County earlier this year. Boatman is confined in the Riley County…

The future of water and conservation are the key areas of focus during the governor’s water conference going on this week in Manhattan. Among Tuesday’s speakers was Tom Kula, executive director of the North Texas Municipal Water District who shared some permitting reform recommendations his agency has noticed as they began construction recently on his state’s first major reservoir in 30 years. Part of that he says is improving innovative ways to share the reservoirs and resources they already have. Part of those new approaches, he says, come in the area of floodwater management. Kula also spoke to removing some of the…

PAXICO — The Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal has identified the man who died last week in a fire at the Wyldewood Cellars Winery in Paxico. According to a release from the Fire Marshal’s office, 32-year-old Evan Jolly of the Kansas City, Missouri area was the one who perished in the fire Nov. 8. The investigation has concluded the fire was incendiary, meaning it was intentionally set. It is believed Jolly was the one who started the fire. His body was found near the buidling’s entrance near a gas can. The damage to the winery has been estimated…