Author: Brandon Peoples

Interviews are scheduled to take place next week to fill a district magistrate judge vacancy in the 21st Judicial District, composed of Riley and Clay counties. According to the Kansas Judicial Branch, the District Nominating Commission will convene at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 18 to visit with three nominees. They include Dan Brenner, of Holton; John McNish, of Marysville; and Audrey Waid, of Clay Center. Brenner is a Jackson County commissioner and is the owner of Diamonds by Design, Inc. McNish is an attorney with Bolton & McNish LLC and also the city attorney in Marysville. Waid is an attorney…

Snowfall amounts are coming in from the Monday-Tuesday winter storm. Most reports around Manhattan and Keats ranged from about 4 to 5 inches. At the KMAN studios, 5 inches of snowfall was recorded Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service confirmed reports of 7.5 inches of snow at Onaga, with lower amounts in southern Pottawatomie County, where 3 to 3.5 inches fell in St. George and Belvue respectively. Further north, reports of 8 inches were noted in Washington County and 8.5 inches in Marshall County. There was one confirmed report of close to 11 inches near Overbrook, in Osage County, according…

Several residents woke up without power across Kansas Tuesday. Evergy says a large number of outages are attributed to the winter storm from high winds in excess of 50 mph. It’s impacting customers in both Kansas and Missouri. Crews have restored power to more than 36,000 customers since the storm began Monday and continue to work through more than 1,000 active outages. No timetable for restoration has been provided. Locally, Bluestem Electric Cooperative restored power to nearly 500 customers in the Manhattan area, following brief outages. Evergy has posted some tips to effectively manage a power outage during a winter…

Riley County Police have charged another individual in connection to past financial crimes. According to Tuesday’s police report, 23-year-old Zelayha Vincent, of Fort Riley, was arrested while in jail Monday on warrants alleging a host of charges including three counts of criminal use of a financial card and an attempted count, two counts each of property theft, identity theft and mistreatment of an adult or elder person. Vincent was also arrested on a Junction City warrant for failure to appear. The original charge was for driving while suspended. The crimes are alleged from September 2021. Vincent was released from jail…

Snow will be ending across the region Tuesday morning, but conditions will continue to be messy. Highways across Riley and Pottawatomie County remain completely snow covered and the Riley County Police Department has implemented the Emergency Accident Reporting Phase (EARP) until further notice. RCPD says K-18 and US 177 are particularly treacherous. When EARP is in effect, crashes do not need to be reported immediately as long as there are no injuries, it is not a hit-and-run, and does not involve drugs or alcohol. Crashes must be reported to RCPD within 48 hours. We have started Emergency Accident Reporting. We…

A number of government offices and school facilities will take the day off Tuesday, due to the wintry conditions, which are expected to dump 6 to 8 inches of snow on the Manhattan area. The City of Manhattan announced late in the day Monday, it would be shuttering facilities early and closing all city-operated buildings Tuesday, due to the weather. This includes City Hall, the Manhattan Public Library, the Flint Hills Discovery Center and Sunset Zoo as well as all city recreation facilities. Tuesday’s Manhattan City Commission work session is also canceled. City-operated buildings are closed Tuesday, January 9 due…

Authorities say a Topeka man was arrested over the weekend in Riley County after police recovered a stolen vehicle. According to the Riley County Police Department, 62-year-old Barry Sullivan was arrested Saturday on a probable cause offense of possession of stolen property, use/possession of drug paraphernalia with the intent to use, and possession of a stimulant. Police say the 2002 Jeep Wrangler was recovered in the 4400 block of Riverpond Road. Sullivan allegedly test-drove the Jeep and never returned it. Sullivan remains jailed on an $8,000 bond.

6 a.m. Monday update Two rounds of winter weather are expected as a winter storm warning is in place through noon Tuesday. The National Weather Service says the first wave will move through the area this morning and early afternoon, switching over from rain to snow by late this morning. Another wave of snow will then develop overnight through Tuesday morning, as much colder air moves through. All told, snowfall accumulation ranging from 4 to 10 inches will be possible by the time snow ends on Tuesday, with isolated higher amounts possible. Strong winds and frigid temperatures will then be…

The Kansas Legislature convenes for the 2024 session on Monday, with some big ticket issues likely to be front and center once again. On KMAN’s In Focus Friday, we visited with area legislators, including 66th District Rep. Sydney Carlin (D-Manhattan), 67th District Rep. Mike Dodson (R-Manhattan) and State Sen. Usha Reddi (D-Manhattan). Medicaid Expansion At the top of that list is whether or not to expand Medicaid in Kansas, something that has had growing support on both sides of the political aisle. State Rep. Sydney Carlin says the governor’s proposal does not allow for taxpayer funded abortions, but does include…

Riley County Police have arrested a second suspect in connection to a fraud, theft and forgery investigation in the area. Saturday’s RCPD arrest report lists 38 total counts against 36-year-old Candace Huffman, of Ogden, who was jailed Friday on a host of probable cause offenses. Included within that are six counts of forgery, four counts of perjury, three counts each of theft by deception, making false information, giving a worthless check and identity theft, two counts of interference with law enforcement and a single count of theft of property. Eight of the listed counts are connected to a criminal complaint…