Author: Brandon Peoples

No structures were lost and no injuries have been reported following three wildfires over the weekend in Riley County. Firefighters from Riley County Fire District No. 1 were called out Friday evening to a blaze near Gehrt Road and Hwy 177, in the southeast area of the county. An estimated four acres of cedar timbers and dense forest burned, fueled by strong winds which blew embers across the highway. The fire threatened multiple homes and in some cases, came within feet of damaging property, according to Emergency Management Director Russel Stukey. “My best advice is to stay aware of the…

Region finalists were named this past weekend for the 2024 Kansas Teacher of the Year award. Among the finalists in Region 1, were St. George Elementary art teacher Erin Pittenger and Smoky Valley High School art teacher Gretchen Elliott. The pair will each receive a $2,000 cash award from Security Benefit, the program’s major corporate sponsor and are eligible for the Kansas Teacher of the Year, which will be announced at a Sept. 23 ceremony in Wichita. Pittenger and Elliott were recognized at a ceremony Saturday in Salina. They were among six Teacher of the Year semifinalists from Region 1,…

Fire danger will be elevated over the next few days, with a Red Flag Warning in place Tuesday, in addition to a Wind Advisory. Kansas Forest Service Assistant Fire Management Officer Eric Ward says his office advocates for the safe use of prescribed burning and using that cautiously, encouraging delayed burning until conditions are safer. He also notes that burns should be checked and rechecked again. Drought conditions have created more dangerous fire conditions as a lot of wheat that was planted hasn’t come up to create buffers for potential fires. Manhattan saw just 0.61 inches of precipitation in March,…

A teenager was killed Friday after crashing his motorcycle in a rural area of Pottawatomie County. Sheriff Shane Jager says deputies responded to the area of Gerard Road, northwest of Belvue and found 17-year-old Abbott Mumaw, of Louisville, who was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation determined Mumaw was westbound when he apparently lost control and crashed. The Sheriff says he was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. Responding agencies included the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, EMS and Consolidated Fire as well as Belvue Fire. The accident remains under further investigation.

Kansas taxpayers could soon be paying a flat 5.25 percent income tax rate after the House approved a bill that would create a new single-tiered system for filers. The measure would replace the current three-tiered bracket system. The lowest wage earners, including single tax filers making less than $6,150 or married couples filing jointly and earning less than $12,300 would be exempt. Under current law, single tax filers making less than $15,000 and married couples earning less than $30,000 pay a 3.1% rate. Manhattan 66th District State Rep. Sydney Carlin says she couldn’t support the bill in its current form,…

Riley County Commissioners took their meeting on the road Thursday for its first quarterly evening meeting of the year. The meeting lasted just under two hours and county officials were generally pleased with attendance. Commission Chair Kathryn Focke proposed the idea earlier this year in an effort to “make local government accessible to everyone.” The meeting included updates from the City of Riley. Mayor Darci Pottroff highlighted a few projects the city has recently wrapped up. “We just finished a major sewer project. It was a CDBG (community development block) grant, but we now have every city sewer line. Between…

An illegal outdoor burn Wednesday led to around 60 acres being scorched north of Manhattan. Riley County Fire District No. 1 was dispatched shortly before 2 p.m. to an area near High Plains Trail, southwest of Tuttle Creek Lake dam for an out of control fire. Officials say an Evergy electrical transformer junction box was also damaged, but no outages were reported. Two homes were threatened but no evacuations were issued and no structures were lost. No injuries were reported. Mutual aid was provided by the Manhattan Fire Department with more than two dozen firefighters responding to the blaze. Deputy…

A Manhattan man was arrested Tuesday on a number of charges including distribution of fentanyl. According to RCPD, a 22-year-old woman reported a 22-year-old man stole her car, which was later located in the 2500 block of Farm Bureau Road. Police say Shawn Samuelson ran from police and was arrested in connection for theft and interference. He was additionally charged with criminal use of a weapon and distribution of fentanyl after police found Samuelson in possession of a gun and had reportedly given a fentanyl pill away to another person. Samuelson remains jailed on an $18,000 bond.

The first phase of the Manhattan Regional Airport runway reconstruction is officially underway. The airport closed Tuesday night and will remain closed until 7 a.m. Friday. City Manager Ron Fehr briefed commissioners Tuesday on the temporary closure. “This is where we’re shortening the main runway down to 5,800 feet so what they’re doing right now is re-marking everything. Once they get the threshold changed and marked, there is a scheduled flight for later that (Friday) morning,” he said. The $31 million project was approved by the Manhattan City Commission last August. Fehr says the second phase of runway reconstruction will…

A Junction City soldier who had been reported as missing by family members out of state has been found incarcerated in Georgia. The family of 24-year-old Roberto Junior Familia had reached out to several Kansas media outlets concerned for his safety after not hearing from him for about a week and struggling to file a missing person report with the Junction City Police Department, which requires such reports to be filed in-person. His family resides in Florida, New York and Puerto Rico and they noted his mother, who lives in Florida, was planning to make the 21-hour drive to Junction…