Author: Brandon Peoples

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…

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…