Author: Brandon Peoples

A Manhattan man was arrested while in custody Thursday at the Riley County Jail. According to the Riley County Police Department, 30-year-old Austin Rowzer was arrested on a probable cause offense for violation of the offender registration act. The original charge was for failure to register as a drug offender. Rowzer has a past conviction out of Shawnee County for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Rowzer remains jailed on a $5,000 bond.

Two people were hospitalized Thursday following a two-vehicle crash north of Manhattan. According to the Riley County Police Department, an SUV and a passenger car collided just after 6 p.m. in the 5300 block of Tuttle Creek Blvd, near the dam. Both drivers were transported to Ascension Via Christi for minor injuries. The driver of the SUV, 74-year-old Jeanie Peters, of Olsburg was also cited for improper driving on a laned highway. The other driver was identified as 74-year-old Mia Efaw, of Manhattan.

Wednesday marked the final meeting for long time Manhattan-Ogden School Board member Darell Edie. First elected to the board in 2011, Edie served three terms and was part of the board that helped craft the process of the voter approved $130 million school bond to upgrade facilities and the construction of Oliver Brown Elementary. Superintendent Eric Reid says Edie’s forward thinking during that process inspired him as well as other board members. “Darell always tried to keep us thinking for the future, trying to stay away from short-term, think longer term. I remember you encouraging me multiple times when I’m…

A week after Riley County officials approved an agreement with the City of Manhattan to allocate funds from the city’s Special Alcohol Fund to support Community Corrections, another agreement was signed Thursday to support court services. The city is providing $3,000, allocated in quarterly increments of $750 for alcohol and drug services programs. Any funds leftover will be returned to the City of Manhattan. Last week, Riley County signed an agreement that will see those city funds supporting Community Corrections, including $23,500 earmarked for adult offender programs and $4,300 for juvenile offender programs. The City of Manhattan Special Alcohol Funds…

Kansas State University has named a new provost and executive vice president, following a nationwide search. The university announced Thursday that current Texas Tech University College of Education Dean Jesse Perez Mendez will assume those duties on or before June 1. Mendez will provide strategic oversight of academic planning, resource allocation and innovation in all academic programs and will focus on the quality of teaching and learning, among other duties. Mendez has been in his current role since 2019 and prior to joining Texas Tech and has additionally held administrative and professor positions at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis School of…

More people are working in Kansas than ever before. That’s according to data provided by the Kansas Department of Labor this week, which showed more stability in the Kansas job market. Nine of the top 10 employment months took place throughout the year, with unemployment at or below 5% for the past 38 consecutive months. Governor Laura Kelly took time Wednesday to tout those numbers, ahead of next week’s legislative session. “Hard-working Kansans have been the force behind our strong economic growth as a state. Now, we must continue to recruit more people to move here and more Kansans to join the…

Authorities are investigating a Manhattan man for allegedly making threats to another individual. Riley County Police say 46-year-old Seth Summers was arrested and charged with criminal threat. Police say a 17-year-old reported that Sumners made threats to him in the 400 block of Tuttle Creek Blvd, shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday Sumners remains jailed on a total bond of $8,000.

Gov. Laura Kelly has announced that more than $4.6 million in federal funds will be directed to the first six locations selected for the state’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula program. The awarded projects are required to provide a minimum 20% local cash match, bringing the total investment to $5.8 million. Kelly says this will help fill in the gaps across Kansas, which has other EV stations spread out along the I-70 and I-135 corridors. “With these awards, we’ll ensure electric vehicle charging stations are accessible to all Kansans for local and long-distance trips,” Kelly said in a Wednesday…

The Manhattan City Commission officially reorganized Tuesday. Susan Adamchak, Karen McCulloh and Peter Oppelt were sworn in, following the November election. They join John Matta, who was sworn into a second consecutive two-year term and incumbent Wynn Butler who will serve as mayor in 2024. Keeping with the city’s tradition, Adamchak, the top vote recipient in the election will serve as mayor pro-tem this year, then serve as mayor in 2025. “Initially I was told that I would become mayor right away and that was a little daunting to think about taking that on from day one, so I’m very…

State officials said Tuesday that the portal that allows anyone to search Kansas district court cases online is back up and running for the first time since it was temporarily incapacitated by an October 12 cyberattack. The Kansas Judicial Branch said the information within the system is temporarily out of date while courts in 102 of the state’s 105 counties, representing 29 of the state’s 31 judicial districts, work to input case information filed on paper over the past two and a half months. The cyberattack also impacted the state’s eCourt case management system which district courts use to process…