Author: Brandon Peoples

A Manhattan man was arrested over the weekend on a warrant for attempted first degree murder stemming from an October shooting at a house party. The Riley County Police Department says 18-year-old Marc Oliver is facing charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery, in addition to single counts of criminal discharge of a firearm and probation violation. The charges are from an early morning shooting at a house party Oct. 21 in the 400 block of Bluemont Avenue. Police say arriving officers that morning found two male victims with gunshot wounds. A third later arrived at the hospital with a…

No injuries were reported following a structure fire Monday afternoon east of the Kansas State University campus. The Manhattan Fire Department dispatched a crew of more than a dozen firefighters who arrived to smoke showing from the 2-story residence and made access to a kitchen fire in a basement apartment. One person was home at the time but was able to exit safely before firefighters arrived on scene. The basement unit’s occupant was displaced as a result of the fire. The fire department says the cause of the fire has not been determined, but remains under investigation. Loss is estimated…

Nearly two years after state and local officials announced a $650 million commercial-scale biomanufacturing plant was coming to Manhattan, the project has yet to see even a shovel move dirt at the northeast corner of Highway 24 and Excel Road. Scorpius Biomanufacturing, a subsidiary of Nighthawk Biosciences, announced the project in April 2022 at the Manhattan Conference Center, in front of a delegation of state, local and federal officials as one of the state’s largest ever economic development projects. At the time of its announcement, the San Antonio, Texas-based company noted it would bring 500 jobs to the facility within…

Former Manhattan City Commissioner Roger Maughmer died Friday at Ascension Via Christi Hospital, following complications from pneumonia. He was 78. Maughmer served six years on the city commission from 1989 to 1995, serving as mayor during the 1993 flood and was a longtime member of the Manhattan Optimist Club. A native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Maughmer moved to Kansas in 1965 and eventually settled in Manhattan, where he worked for Southwestern Bell for 25 years. He often returned to Wyoming to his family cabin and was involved in racing cars with his son.  He is survived by his wife Barbara and…

All this week we are taking a look back at some of the top news events in the Manhattan area for 2023. Today we take a look back at the fourth quarter of the year from October through December with KMAN News Director Brandon Peoples…. The final quarter of the year brought about a lot of change. For residents in northern Riley County ambulance response times improved significantly with the opening of the new north county EMS station in Leonardville. Commissioner Greg McKinley, who campaigned on the issue in 2020, recalled a turning point at a February 2022 community meeting…

All this week we are taking a look back at some of the top news events in the Manhattan area for 2023. Today we take a look back at the third quarter of the year from July through September with KMAN News Director Brandon Peoples…. July opened with a bang in Wamego as the community celebrated its annual Boomtown 4th of July celebration, though officials had to push up the fireworks display to avoid severe weather in the area. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office reported that a Wamego man was struck by lightning the next day while walking back from…

E-scooters will no longer be a mode of transportation in Manhattan in the new year. City officials announced this week that effective Sunday, the LINK/Superpedestrian e-scooters will no longer be available throughout the community or on the Kansas State University campus. The company that oversees those e-scooters, Superpedestrian, will cease operations after the new year, due to financial challenges as reported by Tech Crunch earlier this month. E-scooters were introduced in Manhattan in August 2020 after the city contracted with Superpedestrian (formerly LINK) for a pilot program, deploying about 150 scooters into the city, at the request of Kansas State…

All this week we are taking a look back at some of the top news events in the Manhattan area for 2023. Today we take a look back at the second quarter of the year from April through June with KMAN News Director Brandon Peoples…. Spring was an important time for Kansas State University, which broke ground on two major projects. The first, in April, was an expansion project for KSU Foundation President Greg Willems… “So this 80,000 square foot building is going to be the next addition into the office and lab and corporate space that we’re making available…

Local authorities are seeking the public’s help as it actively investigates multiple cases of fraud in the Manhattan area. The Riley County Police Department shared on social media that it was attempting to identify two individuals captured in surveillance photos. The images show two African American men reportedly associated with a rented gray 2023 Dodge Durango with a Missouri license plate tag of NK7T2W. The photos appear to be from one of the recent fraudulent incidents reported at Manhattan area liquor stores. At least four liquor stores reported fraudulent purchases made with someone else’s credit card on Dec. 21. Anyone with…

All this week we are taking a look back at some of the top news events in the Manhattan area for 2023. Today we take a look back at the first quarter of the year from January through March with KMAN News Director Brandon Peoples…. January began with a leadership change in the 22nd district State Senate seat as long time Manhattan City Commissioner Usha Reddi was sworn in to succeed the retiring Tom Hawk Jan. 5th, following a vote by the Riley County Democratic Party. Reddi defeated Katie Allen, who would go on to be elected to the Manhattan-Ogden School…